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?

I just went back and got Lanny, Leonard and Hungry Paul and The Inugami Curse

40 The Night Visitor Lucy Atkins A psychological thriller about an up and coming celebrity historian and the older,socially awkward woman she enlists to help her write a best selling biography of a Victorian lady. I often find books in this genre soon lose their way, as the plot relies on increasingly far fetched events and protagonists behave in unlikely ways, but this was was a real page turner . Told from the POV of both women, who are believable and rounded characters , the author skillfully builds the suspense throughout the story. Thinking back there are holes in the plot but they didn't matter as the characters and tension carried me through to the reveal, which was quite original.

however by the end it becomes a bit thankless but you just never know there might be a gem lurking beyond “Crazy Rich Cajuns”

That's exactly what I tell myself, Satsuki

129. Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

I have mixed feelings about this book. While reading it I felt pulled in and I kept wanting to pick it up and read more. However, once I had finished and thought about it more I didn’t really like most of the characters and the plot wasn’t as good as the blurb makes it sound. It’s apparently the story of twins who are psychic, and one of them predicts a big earthquake. The other, who hides her psychic abilities, has to reconcile her current life with her twin’s life. This all sounds really interesting but Sittenfeld didn’t really make the most of it in my opinion. However, I did very much like her writing style so am looking forward to reading more by her.

130. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

I cheated and read ahead! Won’t say anything here other than I have thoroughly enjoyed this readalong.

131. Bricking It by Nick Spalding

Comedy book about a brother and sister renovating an old farmhouse. Bit too much toilet humour but still quite funny.

132. The Something Girl by Jodi Taylor

This is by the same author as the St Mary’s series and is the second book featuring the people who live and work at Frogmorton Farm. I do like these books but they’re not as good as the St Mary’s books.

133. Three Hours by Rosalind Lupton

This has had rave reviews but I was more ambivalent. It covers three hours where a rural school is held hostage by gunmen. While I was gripped to find out what happens, I was put off by the setting. I live near where it’s meant to be set and nothing about the setting rang true to me. I know it’s fiction and therefore there is some poetic licence, but for me it jarred. I also found it really hard to follow the layout of the school which affected my understanding of certain plot points. It’s also obvious very early on who one of the gunmen is, and I didn’t feel engaged with any of the characters except one, as there’s too many for them to be fleshed out properly. However, the ‘real time’ way the book is written does make it very engaging.

The 1st of July and I've just squeaked into having read 50 books in six months, so on target for 100 by the end of the year. For the last few years it's been around 75 so I'm pleased. Very behind on reviews however.

41. I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell.

Much read and reviewed on here. Very readable, although as someone with a dread of being trapped underwater and drowning, one or two passages brought me out in a cold sweat. I wonder which of us, reading this book, have added up how many near misses we've experienced in our own lives? Personally I can recall two for me and three for my kids which I still can't bear to think about for too long. An unusual and memorable book.

42. The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills.

For people who like Christopher Brookmyre and Iain Banks, so dark Scottish humour basically. A young English man is put in charge of a fencing team. The enclosure type, not the graceful sword-play sort. They live in a squalid caravan, it rains all the time, there's a fair bit of skiving and drinking with various misadventures along the way. Not everybody's cup of tea but I liked it. It possibly helps to be Scottish although I find that hard to judge.

43. The Five by Hallie Rubenfold.

Again, very popular on this thread, and thanks to everyone whose reviews pointed me in the direction of this book because I thought it was excellent.
I admired Jacinda Ardem, the NZ PM, when she stated why she would never use the name of the white supremacist responsible for the massacre in the Christchurch mosque. To refuse to grant him the notoriety he sought was such an inteliigent and appropriate response. Instead, she focused on those who were killed and the people who loved them.
In a sense HR has done the same with this book, and not before time. Why should their brutal killer be immortalised as a mythical figure while the women he killed are not just nameless but completely wrongly represented? HR does a great job in challenging the misogyny that allowed this shameful version of reality to survive for so long.
The Five stands up as fascinating social history as well as a fitting tribute to Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane. A really important piece of writing on many levels.

Chessie I think American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, is well worth a read.

You almost understand why an apparently intelligent and sensible woman like Laura Bush, fell for the fairly unappealing Dubya.

Although now that DT has come on the scene, old George doesn't seem half as bad ..

44. The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis

A murder mystery set in ancient Rome with a young woman as the detective. I was quite impressed by how LD brought the city alive, but on the other hand I wasn't convinced by the story. It was OK. I like crime novels generally but I probably wouldn't read another in this series.

45. If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot.

Nice cosy stories about the experiences of a young vet in his first job, in Yorkshire in the 30s. It's exactly what you expect having seen the TV series although Siegfried in the book was very different from the middle-aged Robert Hardy of my memory.

46. Part of the Furniture by Mary Wesley

Yet another fairy-tale story where a young woman whom nobody really cares for ends up being saved, adored and incredibly lifechangingly happy in a quite unrealistic way. I used to read Mary Wesley years ago and possibly this isn't one of her best or more probably my tastes have changed a lot since then.

47. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.

Eine did a very positive review of this book upthread. I loved it too.

The story of a mother and son fleeing danger in Mexico and risking everything in an attempt to get to the US. Completely gripping, this was an effortless read. I'd like to go back and reread as there were some passages of great writing too, but I was so caught up in their plight I charged through it somewhat.
I'll be recommending this to all my friends.

How has this thread got to 400 posts already? I must be going even slower than normal! Though I have been in hospital for five days with DS1 who had emergency appendix surgery - a scary time but he's on the mend now. Mostly I had zero concentration for anything more than watching old episodes of Friends on Netflix, but I did take a book in me which turned out to be a good choice:

19. The Exploration Of The Colorado River And Its Canyons - John Wesley Powell

A classic of exploration literature, as the one-armed Civil War veteran and a slightly random crew take off in 1869 down the then-uncharted reaches of the Colorado. Along the way there are dangerous rapids, wrecked boats, mutinous men and some of the world's most astonishing landscapes. Powell's attitude to native Americans is reasonably forward-thinking for the times, and his eye for interesting ethnographic as well as geological details really makes you feel you're there. So all in all a good escape into another place and time.

@chessieFL I felt much the same about Three Hours. It was very predictable in parts and too much of it didn't ring true.

How worrying Meg. You must be hugely relieved he's over the worst

@ terpsichore

Thanks for Cloudstreet review remus

highlandcoo I know Siegfried in the book is one of my favourite crushes characters and I could not get on board with the less alluring slightly older and more staid casting for tv. I always enjoyed the story that the real-life Siegfried had in fact been toned-down for the books.

chessie That is the frustration of Sittenfeld. She is a great writer but you don’t always feel it’s been put to good use. Agree with highland re: Amerian Wife.

meg how frightening, glad he’s doing well now

48. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot.

More of the same. A nice easy read. Very of its time:

"following her across, I was struck by a thought, this new fashion of women wearing slacks might be a bit revolutionary but there was a lot to be said for it". Can't wait for his courtship of Helen to get even raunchier in the next volume

49. In a City by the Sea by Kamila Shamsie

I thought Home Fire by the same author was excellent. This, her first novel, I would rate less highly, although her child's-eye view of living through a state of emergency in Pakistan is very well done. I have to say he is an extremely articulate 9-year-old.
The agony of having a member of your family imprisoned without the likelihood of a fair trial is convincingly recounted and is the strongest part of the story. At times the plot-line is rather disjointed, and there's a strange magic realism episode that doesn't really fit with the rest of the book. So a bit of a mixed bag.
I will read further books by KS; she has an interesting voice.

Thanks for the Sittenfeld recommendation. I’ll give American Wife a go.

I always enjoyed the story that the real-life Siegfried had in fact been toned-down for the books

Wow! He must have been really something.

I saw the TV series first and I suspect it works better the other way round. I liked Peter Davison as Tristan best, Christopher Timothy was a bit too clean-cut for me.

He fell out with “Jim” because he wasn’t keen on his portrayal as eccentric; “Tristan” however was happy with his. He comes across as so laid-back and fun. There is a sense of the youthful frivolity of 3 bachelors just out of education in the early books that the series didn’t quite get.

They did make it up though and were good friends.

Meg glad your DS is on the mend. I went through the same with DD, scary.
I am back to an old faithful friend, probably my go to book in times of stress, illness etc Bill Bryson’s Down Under. I think it’s my favourite of all his books and as I’ve been reading Shute, it follows on nicely.

Meg - how scary. Glad he's recovering.

Best - Down Under is my favourite Bryson too.

Sometimes on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I make dp put old episodes of All Creatures on and wallow for hours. I very rarely watch TV, but that is a guilty pleasure. I love the guy who plays Tristan - just perfect.

89. Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Much reviewed on here.

What I will say is that I felt like the beginning and the ending had issues.

The TV thing felt silly to me, whilst the beginning felt like a deliberate "hook" perhaps designed by the publisher to generate discussion rather than what the novel is actually about.

The meat of the sandwich is where this book is at, a discussion of the kind of pervasive, casual racism that manifests itself as paternalism, fetishisation, white saviour complex, and the idea that the presence of black people in your life, is an external advertisement of your character, but failing to see that as being a user.

All this has a lot to say, especially a scene were Emira's white boyfriend and white boss row over who has her best interests at heart, which comes across very much like an ownership conversation.

Worth tolerating the missteps for the thought provoking stuff.

Yes I agree about Fun Age eine a lot of books seem to have this slight gimmicky thing now, when actually the writing is good and could be allowed to just tell the story without it. The characters and interactions were very well drawn and the balance of discussing quite serious stuff in an entertaining and comic way was deftly maintained.

I honestly think that it got to whichever publisher and they were like

"So this is sooooo great, the writing is really gooood, but like, could you add in a like racist moment that goes viral on social media, maybe involving the white kid, because you know that will REALLY help us with marketing and sales"

Agree about Such a Fun Age. I know a lot of people who have raved about it and I struggle to articulate why I don't feel the same. Not that I didn't like it, more that I thought there was a better book in there without the OTT bits. They drag it down to a good book rather than a great one.

Meg I hope your son has a speedy recovery.

Highlandcoo I don't know whether you've seen the previous series Lindsey Davis did also set in Rome? Known as the Falco books. They are a lot better. The one you read is her new series and I don't think she found her feet with a different character straight away. I love the original series and prefer that character, but the real joy is how vividly she paints ancient Rome.

Thanks for your Cloudstreet review Remus.

Now I need to stop reading all your fantastic reviews and get on with actually reading

36. Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves

Third in the Vera series, perfectly serviceable but I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the first two. It didn't properly grab me, although I was drawn in by the second half. A bit forgettable.

I have bought:

Ordinary People (been waiting for that one for ages!)
Dominicana
Square Haunting
Tony Hogan Bought me an Ice Cream Float before he stole my Ma
Grave Mistake (Ngaio Marsh)
Haven't You Heard
Faces in the Water

in the monthly deal. I seem to remember earlier this year saying I must not buy any more books til I've made a proper dent in my TBR list. Fail.