50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2020, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here and the fifth one here.

So, we're now almost half way through the year - how's the first half of the year gone for you, reading-wise?

Not sure I can cope with a Dickens readalong, but am another one that's bought TTOD and not yet read it, so perhaps those of us in that boat (sorry, awful pun not really intended) should do a TTOD readalong

Best, thank you for mentioning Imogen, might have to give it a re-read as a palate cleanser.

I’m in for an Our Mutual Friend readalong. I bought the complete set of Dickens from The Book People a few years ago and have only read a couple since so I definitely need a kick to read more. The ones I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed so I know I will probably enjoy the others - they’re all just so long which puts me off! The read along format works well for me with longer books. For that reason I’m also up for a Tolstoy readalong. I’ve never read any Tolstoy so don’t mind which one it is.

Interesting views about Great Expectations. I read it for GCSE and I did enjoy it. I haven’t read it since though so I keep thinking I should reread and see if my view changes. Last year I reread Mansfield Park for the first time since reading and hating it for A Level and I enjoyed it much more this time round, so maybe I’ll like GE less now if my tastes have changed!

I’m another who bought TTOD a while ago and not read it yet. I only bought it because of this thread as it’s not something I would ever have picked up otherwise. I think that’s why I haven’t read it yet - the blurb just doesn’t appeal to me. Like others I’m also worried about being expelled from the thread if I don’t like it!

128. Thornfield Hall by Jane Stubbs

Another retelling of a classic novel. This time it’s Jane Eyre, told from the point of view of the housekeeper and starting from Bertha Rochester’s arrival at the Hall and ending with the events that end Jane Eyre. I suspect your enjoyment of this will depend how well you know and how much you love Jane Eyre. I’ve only read it once a few years ago and can’t recall all the details, but this new retelling does put a different spin on some of the characters and gives a different explanation for some events, which you may not like if you know the original very well. I liked it personally but I can see why some wouldn’t.

We won't really throw you off the threads if you don't like TTOD.*

*Well, perhaps just a few of you as a sort of ritual sacrifice to deter others from expressing such negative attitudes.

Keith thank you for your review of Girl Woman Other. I reviewed it earlier in the year but not nearly as well as you - I think i liked it a bit more than you but you perfectly expressed my feelings about it.

Welcome slightly

We post lists generally when we start a new thread, or if you want to for your own reference, and then review as we go along.

Quite a few Neville Shute fans on here.

I loved Corelli and it does take a bit of commitment to get into, I’m not sure I agree about the first chapters though. The threads which run through the rest of the book are all set up there even if they don’t flow directly. The main character’s family background, the small island community and the external forces beyond that will impact on both.

Glad to see so many, ahem, Mutual Friends up for a readalong.

TTOD second wavers probably need a separate thread so we can form a united front when we report back to Remus and the others. Safety in numbers and all that

@SlightyJaded another A town like Alice fan, how wonderful! It's one of my favourite books.

The rest of you, I'm back after a break from social media - now with a somewhat less regal name. I'll post my latest list when I can find it. It's good to be back.

1.The xenophobes guide to the English, Anthony Miall

1. Between the stops, Sandi Toksvig

3.Once gone, Blake Pierce 4.The Guilty Mother, Diane Jeffrey 5.The little book of hygge, Meik Wiking 6.It’s too late now, A.A. Milne 7.The world I fell out of, Melanie Reid 8.The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley 9.Christmas at Rachel’s pudding pantry, Caroline Roberts 10.The Patron saint of lost souls, Menna van Praag 11.The octopus nest, Sophie Hannah 12.The 50 list, Nigel Holland 13.The power trip, Jackie Collins 14.The lost child, Patricia Gibney 15.Heads you win, Jeffrey Archer 16.Titanic survivor: Life boat number 6, Pierre Beaumont 17.Sunny Side Up, Susan Calman 18.Honeysuckle House, Christina Jones 19.Double take tales, Donna Brown 20.The deal of a lifetime, Frederick Backman 21.My life in comedy, Nicholas Parsons 22.Seahouses, Richard Barnett 23.Little fires everywhere, Celeste Ng 24.A crime short story collection, Bloomsbury 25.Little girl missing, J.G. Roberts 26.The second book of general ignorance, John Lloyd (QI) 27.New Zealand calling, Alex Richards 28.Swimming with orca, Ingrid Visser 29.The sealand incident, Brent Saltzman 30.Ka Mate, Dan Coxon 31.Fresh of the boat, Simon Collins 32.New Zealand, James Boyle 33.The british colonisation of New Zealand, Charles River 34.The laughing policeman, Glenn Wood 35.Trustee from the toolroom, Nevil Shute Norway 36.The very picture of you, Isabel Wolff 37.Cop Out, Glenn Wood 38.The divine storyteller, William McCandless 39.Swell: a waterbiography, Jenny Landreth 40.If clouds were sheep, Sue Andrews 41.The telephone box library, Rachael Lucas 42.Two old fools down under, Victoria Twead 43.You’ll never see me again, Lesley Pearce 44.Keep calm and swim to France, Mark Ransom 45.Step by step, my life in journeys, Simon Reeve 46.Christmas at the lucky parrot garden centre, Beth Good 47.The MacFarlane guide to descriptive text: recommended reading whilst sitting on a glistening rock after a stroll along a gently babbling brook, Robert Macfarlane 48.Hourly Histories American Revolution 49.Squashed possums: off the beaten track in NZ Jonathan Tindale 50.All balls and glitter, Craig Revel Horwood 51. The Photographer's Saga, Petra Durst-Benning 52. Pulse, Felix Francis 53. The Sealwoman's Gift, Sally Magnussen* 54. QI Book of general ignorance 55. The pants of perspective, Anna McNuff 56. Breaking Borders, James Asquith 57. The corner shop in Cockleberry Bay, Nicola May 58. If street lights could glow ultraviolet, Katherine Highland 59. The Seedwoman, Petra Durst-Benning 60. Secrets at At Bride's, Debbie Young ^Returned for refund* 61. New Zealand: 36 days in wonderland, Mark Wallace 62. Pied Piper, Nevil Shute 63. Round the bend, Nevil Shute 64. The Flower Shop, Petra Durst Benning 65. Mythos, Stephen Fry 66. Hope Close, Tina Seskis 67. Walking Shorts, Mark Richards 68. Father, son and the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 69. A wedding at the beach hut, Veronica Henry 70. The complete Uxbridge English dictionary, Graham Greene et al 71. Father, son and return to the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 72. Father, son and the Kerry Way, Mark Richards 73. All that she can see: every little thing she bakes is magic, Carrie Hope Fletcher 74. Travelling in a box, Mike Wood 75. Two in a box, Mike Wood 76. While the world is still asleep, Petra Durst Benning 77. Family life on a narrow boat, Richard MacKenzie 78. Unsinkable: my story, Jane McDonald 79. The Champagne Queen, Petra Durst Benning 80. Fierce Bad Rabbits, Clare Pollard 81. Stories from the heart, Amanda Prowse 82. Mr Portobello's morning paper, Amanda Prowse

Fierce Bad Rabbits was a recommendation on here (thank you, one of the best books I've read in ages) so I used my Audible credit to get it, I'm so glad I did - especially as an audio book -
I'm a new convert to Audible having resisted for ages but I'm now listening to a wide variety of books, though I am disappointed in Bill Bryson's choice of narrator. I'm currently listening to Steve Backshall read his book Expedition and it's excellent, my teenage DS is enjoying it too in snippets.

I got the Jane McDonald book when it was 99p, I didn't have a positive opinion of her from her travel programmes but having read the book I'm seeing her in a new light. She's very different to how she comes across on the tv programmes, though I disagree that people all look forward to her song at the end of each programme - I switch off before she sings. The Complete Uxbridge Engish dictionary is a must read, it's hilarous.

I’d love to join a War and Peace readalong as have been meaning to read it for ever. I got left behind on the Copperfield thread as lockdown got in the way but I have a bit more time again now.

I seem to have about 12 books on the go right now but am enjoying them all.

Talking of books we never would have read if it weren't for this thread, I have just finished Dark Fire the second Shardlake book. I like a good , rollicking tale but the jury is still out for me. One of the reviewers cited compares Sansom to Mantel. Ermmm.... no....

I'll still read the next one, though, no doubt!

We look forward to Jane's song, just to see what she will murder at the end of the programme!!

Nice to meet you @SlightyJadedand @raspran
39 The Late Scholar Jill Paton Walsh This is an Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mystery which follows on from the originals. Entertaining enough , which was what I was looking for after a couple of books which took some commitment to finish, but I missed the wit and lightness of the Sayer's novels. I did enjoy the descriptions of Oxford in the early 1950s where this one is set.

piggy the Shardlakes are only comparable to Mantel in the time period and there are a few of the same Thomases. I’m not that keen on modern crime but do quite enjoy a history mystery and find them quite nice for between heavier stuff. I also mainly enjoy the Tudor swearing and counting how many times he uses the word “stink”

I far prefer Shardlake to Mantel, largely because I think Sansom is just trying to tell a good story without pissing around.

'stink' and 'hue and cry' satsuki!

@SatsukiKusakabe

Welcome slightly

We post lists generally when we start a new thread, or if you want to for your own reference, and then review as we go along.

Quite a few Neville Shute fans on here.

I loved Corelli and it does take a bit of commitment to get into, I’m not sure I agree about the first chapters though. The threads which run through the rest of the book are all set up there even if they don’t flow directly. The main character’s family background, the small island community and the external forces beyond that will impact on both.

Glad to see so many, ahem, Mutual Friends up for a readalong.

Thanks for explaining. I'll review from this point on. I'm sure nobody wants to read my back-reviews....

Keith, great review of Girl Woman Other. I also wanted to like it more.

I would join a War and Peace read-along. It would be so helpful to have other readers to encourage me along with that epic!

66. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

This has a terrifically gripping first chapter. It starts in 1952, when a meteorite hits earth on the eastern seaboard of the US, killing hundreds of thousands, and wiping out Washington DC. Elma York - physicist & ex WW2 transport pilot - and her new husband are just on the edge of the main area of devastation, & narrowly escape with their lives. It becomes clear that this is just the beginning, and that the strike is going to trigger catastrophic climate change. As a result, a worldwide space race begins, with the aim of enabling humanity to flee earth before extinction.

Post disaster Elma works as a human computer (a la Hidden Figures) for the NASA equivalent, but is determined to be accepted onto the astronaut training programme. However, since we're in the early 1950s, the idea of women - or non white people - becoming astronauts is inconceivable to those in power.

Unfortunately this really didn't live up to it's initial promise. As a minor point, it never addresses the question as to why, if they're aiming at a Mars colony, as is suggested, & given it's no more amenable to human life you wouldn't put the resources into self contained living spaces on earth? There is some discussion about maintaining political momentum when climate change doesn't seem that rapid, but none around alternative survival strategies.
More seriously (plenty of SF gets away with handwavy 'because' reasons for such plot holes), too many of the characters are cardboard vehicles for worthy messages.

Also, for me the book lacks one of the key joys of SF, which is to see how the author imagines a world that is radically different from our own. There are mentions of rationing and major crop failures, but they never really impact on the characters in any meaningful way, and in practice the novel could easily have been set in the real-life NASA a few years later minus the meteorite strike without any significant differences.

Overall this felt rather too much like book group fodder, and not enough like SF. It also has seriously dreadful sex scenes.
Having said that, I did read it in a couple of days, and kept picking it up, so there was something there - I'm not yet sure whether I'll be inspired to read the sequel.

Thank you for the new thread, @southeastdweller. This really has been such a great thread over the past few months. Here is my list so far:

1. Idiot by Laura Clery
2. Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
3. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty
4. She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
5. The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty
6. The Holiday by T M Logan
7. Force of Nature by Jane Harper
8. The Secretary by Renée Knight
9. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

10. The Chalk Man by C J Tudor 11. Standing In Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin 12. The Bigamist by Mary Turner Thomson 13. Midnight at Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham 14. Twas the Nightshift before Xmas by Adam Kay 15. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 16. The Lost Man by Jane Harper 17. The Summer Before The War by Helen Simonson 18. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue 19. Close to Home by Cara Hunter 20. In The Dark by Cara Hunter 21. The Black House by Peter May 22. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 23. Murder in Belgravia by Lynn Brittney 24. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell 25. The Offing by Benjamin Myers 26. In An Instant by Suzanne Redfearn 27. Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton 28. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch 29. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 30. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 31. The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh 32. The Man With No Face by Peter May 33. Between The Stops by Sandi Toksvig 34. Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari (still reading this one)

I've been reduced to tears by what I've read twice in the last 24 hours. I finished Between The Stops and wept at the end. I loved this book. It was funny, engaging, brilliantly written and, as I listened to the audiobook version, wonderfully narrated by Sandi herself. My husband is very 'meh' about Ms Toksvig so I might encourage him to read it too.

Then I started Chasing The Scream and found myself in shocked tears at the story of Billie Holliday's life story in the opening chapter. I've not finished this yet but it's a gripping and informative story of the history of the 'war on drugs' that originated in the US. Having given a lot of brain space to the systemic ills in our society over recent weeks, this is a reminder of how far we have come in a relatively short period of time, and yet how far we still have to go. Thoroughly recommend this book.

35. French Exit by Patrick DeWitt

After losing almost all her fortune, Frances and her son Malcom travel from New York to Paris on a sort of last ditch Grand Tour. Along the way there's a medium, a cat who isn't all he seems, and an is she-isn't she fiancee. This is extremely weird and extremely good. Frances is a tour de force. The book is a strange mix of biting wit and satire and oddly touching moments, in particular, telling little vignettes of female friendship and a mother's love for her son. Reminded me of Muriel Spark which, some of you will know, is pretty much the highest praise I can give.

Going to go against the grain and say that I love Great Expectations. Read it at school and have re-read since.

I'd relish an Our Mutual Friend readalong'

I've read the fucker twice both times against my will. Once for uni and then for Book Club

I'd be up for another read-a-thon, I've been on the David Copperfield one.
Is there going to be a War and Peace one or a Our Mutual Friend one or both. If both, I am pondering which one to go for. I have enjoyed DC, and would like to read more -I have also read Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great expectations
I have a degree in Russian literature (Many, many years ago) and have read War and Peace - including significant chunks of it in Russian, but I remember virtually nothing about it. I've reread Anna Karenina this year though.
Not sure if I could keep up with 2 read-a-thons though

I agree that two readathons is not workable.

I had Hard Times to suggest but was saving that as a suggestion after DC.

Happy with OMF. If W and P will have to reread the bits I already read but no biggie.

DC due to finish at the end of next month so plenty of time to decide!