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 see Pattern Recognition by William Gibson is on Kindle deal today - definitely an enjoyable early-millenial read if anyone likes tech-y thriller-y novels. I hadn't realised it was the first of a trilogy (it's a self contained novel) but will probably read the other two at some point.

Thanks biblio and Satsuki for your reviews of A Theatre for Dreamers. Sounds like I can cross it off my wish list.

I don't think you'll be missing out greatly, Boiled.

Thanks for the new(ish) thread southeast and apologies for going MIA (work has been ridiculously busy). Here is my list:

1. My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
2. Damaged- Cathy Glass
3. Wonder- R.J. Palacio
4. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
5. Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries- John Ronson
6. Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television- Louis Theroux
7. Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks
8. Lord of the Flies- William Golding
9. The Beatrix Potter Collection- Beatrix Potter

10. The Cold War: a History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 11. The Subtle Knife- Philip Pullman 12. The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman 13. Nine Perfect Strangers- Liane Moriarty 14. Brazil- Michael Palin 15. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald 16. The Collector- John Fowles 17. Ready Player One- Ernest Cline 18. Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life- Peter Godfrey-Smith 19. Engleby- Sebastian Faulks 20. Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure- John Cleland 21. The Boy at the Back of the Class- Onjali Q. Rauf 22. Prison: A Survival Guide- Carl Cattermole 23. The Children- Alice Meynell 24. The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller 25. This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay 26. Mummy Told Me Not to Tell- Cathy Glass 27. The Aerodynamics of Pork- Patrick Gale 28. Aztec Civilisation: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 29. Cannery Row- John Steinbeck 30. La Belle Sauvage- Philip Pullman 31. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line- David Nott 32. The Bookshop that Floated Away- Sarah Henshaw 33. The Imperial Phase: The Rise & Fall of British Indie Music 1986-1997- Ray Dexter 34. Lunch with the Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and Excess in 13½ Chapters- Phill Savidge 35. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer 36. Frost in May- Antonia White 37. Lyra’s Oxford- Philip Pullman 38. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 39. A History of Loneliness- John Boyne 40. Here Comes the Clown: A Stumble Through Showbusiness- Dom Joly 41. Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich 42. Inside Broadmoor- Jonathan Levi & Emma French 43. The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath 44. Doctor Sleep- Stephen King 45. The Lost World- Michael Crichton 46. The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger 47. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?- Jeanette Winterson 48. The Perfect Child- Lucinda Berry 49. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- J.K. Rowling 50. To Siri with Love- Judith Newman 51. Prognosis- Sarah Vallance 52. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit- Judith Kerr 53. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- J.K. Rowling 54. Another Forgotten Child- Cathy Glass 55. The Children Act- Ian McEwan 56. And the Ocean Was Our Sky- Patrick Ness 57. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne 58. In the City, by the Sea- Kamila Shamsie 59. Fleabag: The Special Edition- Phoebe Waller-Bridge 60. Winston Churchill: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 61. The Rehearsal- Eleanor Catton 62. The Saddest Girl in the World- Cathy Glass 63. Sal- Mick Kitson 64. It’s Not About You- Tom Rath 65. The Nanny State Made Me- Stuart Maconie 66. Sonic Youth Slept on My Floor- Dave Haslam 67. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time- Mark Haddon 68. I Was Britpopped- Jenny Natasha & Tom Boniface-Webb 69. A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner- Chris Atkins 70. My Brother’s Name is Jessica- John Boyne 71. Unnatural Causes- Dr Richard Shepherd 72. Bookworm- Lucy Mangan 73. Innocent- Cathy Glass 74. Eye Can Write- Jonathan Bryan 75. The Covid Companion: 52 Ways to Be Happy in Isolation- Muzzammil Ali 76. Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division- Peter Hook 77. Strangeways: A Prison Officer’s Story- Neil Samworth 78. Finding Stevie- Cathy Glass 79. Horn Life, or What’s Your Proper Job?- John Pigneguy 80. Keeping On Keeping On- Alan Bennett 81. Julius Caesar: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 82. Fun Home- Alison Bechdel 83. Swallowdale- Arthur Ransome 84. Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory- Lucy Mangan 85. The Scream: The Music, Myths and Misbehaviour of Primal Scream- Kris Needs 86. The Men Who Stare at Goats- Jon Ronson 87. 84 Charing Cross Road/The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street- Helene Hanff 88. Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel 89. I Capture the Castle- Dodie Smith 90. Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East- Benjamin Law 91. The Spanish Flu: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 92. Do it Like a Woman… and Change the World- Caroline Criado Perez 93. Broken Greek: A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs- Pete Paphides 94. The Chilbury Ladies Choir- Jennifer Ryan 95. Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island- Ben Aitken 96. Happier at Home- Gretchen Rubin 97. The Boy on the Bridge- M. R. Carey 98. Infection: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Novel- M. P. McDonald 99. Isolation- M. P. McDonald 100. Invasion- M.P. McDonald 101. Titanic: the Story of the Unsinkable Ship- Hourly History 102. Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution- Selina Todd 103. Nerd Do Well- Simon Pegg

and here is a brief update on what I’ve read or listened to since my last post:

104. Alone at the End of the World- M. P. McDonald I read the original trilogy (Infection , Isolation and Invasion) during the previous thread and enjoyed it. This one is set in the same world (of a flu pandemic) but with different characters and storyline. I couldn’t quite see the point of it.

105. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- J. K. Rowling Read by lovely Stephen Fry.

106. Where Has Mummy Gone?- Cathy Glass I usually allow myself to read one of these (guilty pleasure) fostering memoirs per month, but last month I lost my reading mojo a bit, so I read two. This is quite an interesting story of a young girl whose mother suffers with early-onset dementia, probably caused by years of drug abuse.

107. A Long Way from Home- Cathy Glass This was also a pretty good one , this time about a small girl adopted from an overseas orphanage (the country is not named but sounds like Romania) who is overly indulged by her adoptive parents, demonstrates challenging behaviour and spends some time in foster care.

108. How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You- Leil Lowndes This book has a stupid title but it contains some useful advice about dating. I’ve recently dipped my toe into the world of OLD again, as lockdown has made me feel somewhat isolated, and a reread of this book has given me more confidence.

109. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce This was reasonably enjoyable but is hugely overrated. I much preferred The Music Shop.

110. All the Rage- Cara Hunter I really enjoyed Hunter’s first novel Close to Home, but the subsequent ones have suffered from the law of diminishing returns. I’m not sure if I’ll bother with the fifth one when it comes out. I do enjoy the Oxford setting though, as it’s a place I know well.

111. Pandemic 1918- Catharine Arnold An interesting and informative account of the ‘Spanish Flu’. I also enjoyed (?) the final section about subsequent pandemics.

112. John F. Kennedy: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History Too young to have lived through Kennedy’s assassination (and never having studied it), this filled in some of the gaps.

113. The Star Outside My Window- Onjali Q. Rauf This shares some features with The Boy at the Back of the Class (‘worthy’ subject matter expertly handled; a secret expedition to London by children) and is almost as good. I’m looking forward to Rauf’s third book.

114. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- J. K. Rowling Although beautifully read by Stephen Fry, I do think this one is slightly too long!

44. In between our time by Maria Duenas.

I was glued to this. It's a biggie at over 600 pages but fascinating. The story of a young seamstress in Madrid whose life takes a turn for the worse after being betrayed by her lover, and becomes a spy for the Brits. It starts off just before the Spanish Civil War and takes the reader to the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco then back to Madrid again in 1939/40. I really enjoyed it and found the historical setting really interesting. If you liked Shadow of the Wind you'd probably like this too.

Finished Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala.

This is an unapologetically searing examination of race (and also social class) in Britain : , specifically England really : he has a Scottish mother and , yet, I find his views on Scotland and race naïve (he likes football and doesn't know about the racism of Rangers FC??)

It's an excellent, erudite book (although there was a glaring factual error about the abolition of the death penalty which made me wonder if there were other incorrect 'facts'). the chapters on sport and the one on schools (well, his school : again I would have liked him to probe beyond his own Camden experience more) were the ones I found most interesting.

It'd be interesting for him to update this book in the wake of the last election and the surge in BLM protests : his book finished post Brexit vote.

A really interesting read overall, part biography , part polemic with some food for thought, particularly on our rather complacent attitudes towards race and racism. I feel he is very London centric and could take a wider view on race beyond his personal reach, perhaps.

32. Lorna Doone by R.D.Blackmore

Should have stopped reading after 50 pages but carried on, mostly bored til the very end. I love the area of the country it's set so the place names kept me going I think.

John Ridd lives in north Devon, one day he accidentally meets lorna doone and falls madly in love with her. However the doones killed his father and spend most of their time terrorising the local area.

I liked the historical aspects of the story but thre main character is a bore. His mum and one of his sisters spend all their time doting on John's every command, his other sister is the 'bad' one because she dares question some of John's choices. Lorna herself can't walk far or put up with any kind of shock without fainting and is continuously described as having 'sweet laughter' and 'eyes filled with tears'

I didn't like it

May have to put aside The Silk Roads: A New History of the World for now and read something frivolous. I am so disappointed that neither part of the title is applicable (I do like a book to be about what the title suggests it's about; years later I can still work myself into a rage about Behind the Scenes at the Museum ). I have already invested heavily in it though, so I will finish it sometime soon and give it the review it deserves.

Ham I will... give it the review it deserves

That sounds quite ominous and I find myself strangely looking forward to it.

18. Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid. I think I liked this much more than others on the thread who've read it recently. Well written and engaging, even though all the main characters bar Emira and Briar are awful. It did go off the rails a bit towards the end, but it was the first book in a while that I sped through rather than plodded.

19. The Third Rainbow Girl, by Emma Copley Eisenberg. HARD WORK. There's some beautiful writing in here, but this is a mess. 3 books unsuccessfully jammed together; a true crime book about two young women who were murdered, a book about Appalachian culture (albeit by a privileged person who arrived there as an adult), and what I assume are allusions to the author coming to terms with her alcoholism and sexuality, although it's never very clear. It's also ridiculously complicated, as there is an enormous cast of characters who all seem to be related to each other. I'm still quite annoyed that I struggled all the way through this one!

20. Lanny - Max Porter

A quick read which I did enjoy but thought was good rather than great - the idea itself interesting and some great prose passages but the characterisation was thin (verging on cliché in several places) so I found it hard to be really invested in.

noodle I was bit picky about some aspects of it on reflection but thought it was a great read, I enjoyed it a lot, one of my favourites of recent weeks

91. The Wall by John Lanchester (Audible)

In a dystopian Britain young people are conscripted to serve on The Wall (very Trumpesque) to defend the nation from Others

Flimsy, I thought and not adding much to the already oversaturated dystopia market.

Strange ending. Didnt really get it. Only bought it because it was £3 on Audible and I'd heard of the narrator (Will Poulter)

Felt it was more suited to YA category and going by Amazon am not the only person to think this.

Don't think it was worthy of a Booker longlist

Just finished The Jeeves Omnibus 4 - wonderful stuff. Wooster is what Whimsey could have been, if he didn't talk such crap with Harriet Vane all the time.

I'm disappointed that I didn't convince any of you to pick up Black, Listed in the monthly deals. It's only 99p and I thought it was great. I'm going to repost my 2019 review of it then I promise not to mention it again.

I heard Jeffrey Boakye talking to Michael Rosen on Radio 4 a few weeks ago and it prompted me to seek this out. It's a project that sounds simple and turns out to be anything but - Boakye lists, then analyses, as many terms as he can used to describe black people or blackness. From the official to slang to insults to those strange sly adjectives that only seem to get used in certain contexts about certain people ("powerful" athletes, for example). Boakye is an English teacher (now a Head, I think) and reading this book is like a great lesson with your best English teacher - he knows the context, he knows the history, the allusions to other texts, but in the end he comes back with clear focus to the words themselves. Why do we use phrases like "mixed race", "ethnic minority"? Is "urban" experience synonymous with black experience? What's the significance of there being an accepted female equivalent of "rudeboy"?

If you want an approachable, witty book that will really get you thinking about race and black experience in modern Britain, I can highly recommend this.

OK Keith, you've convinced me! Just bought it.

@bibliomania

Also Wild Remedy.

And Forest therapy too.

I just got wild therapy on kindle unlimited, thanks.

@KeithLeMonde I bought it. I just felt slightly embarrassed about the volume of books I bought this month. Also the Revenant and Cloudstreet that others recommended. And then to assuage my Amazon guilt my local book shop opened yesterday so I made up for a 4 month gap there.

oh, go on then Keith. I've spent enough on Kindle deals this month that another quid is a drop in the ocean. Now just need some time to read them all!

Reading Akala’s Natives recently I did enjoy one of the ways he defined himself as successful as having ‘more books in my house than I could ever possibly read’, so it’s not crazy it’s just a sign that we are really successful.

Keith, you must have convinced me to buy Black Listed before as it’s been sitting on my Kindle for a while (I think it’s been priced at 99p before).

33. The Winter of the Witch (Bk3 The Winternight Trilogy) by Katherine Arden.

Last in this enjoyable fantasy series set in Russia, using Russian folktales as inspiration. A fitting end.

34. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams.

Lauded by the press, there are things to like about this book but it’s not very subtle. Mental health issues, looking for love, friendship, partying, starting careers and boys - all from very a 20-something standpoint with the addition of race and black lives matter issues as the protagonist is Queenie, a Londoner with Jamaican heritage.

35. Salt on Your Tongue by Charlotte Runcie.

Part memoir, part paean to the sea prominently featuring Scottish coastlines and their creatures but also mythology, poetry and art. These facts wash in and around her story of her first pregnancy, labour and baby girl. Some nice writing, the author is clearly passionate about seascapes.

Keith, your description of Black, Listed has persuaded me to buy it.

Hope you like Wild Remedy, betts.. I had to download it to my phone because my Kindle is too old to cope with its fancy format and illustrations, which means reading on an annoyingly small screen (I know, first world problem).

69. Nine Perfect Strangers, Liane Moriarty. I enjoyed this - it's an example of how to do genre fiction well. Nine people gather in a wellness resort to have their lives changed, and get more than they bargained for. Genre fiction doesn't have to mean paper-thin characters and generic prose. I liked her characters and the occasional sly wink at the reader, as well as wanting to know how it ended.

Feeling the pressure now! I hope you all find Black, Listed as interesting and well-written as I did.

Thank you Biblio. My kindle is a couple of years old so I'll see what it's like.

I'm not buying any new books this year so I haven't bought these ones on the monthly deals....

Forest Therapy
Botanical folk tales of Britain and Ireland
The lost lights of St Kilda
A pocketful of crows
The shell collector
Dancing by the light of the moon
Face it - a memoir (Debbie Harry)
Tall tales and wee stories (Billy Connelly)

At the moment I'm reading and very much enjoying Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer about her experiences in a horse race across Mongolia. I took a chance on it being worth a read and I wasn't disappointed, I'll finish it today but will be sad when I have. It's 99p at the moment so I'd highly recommend it if you like horses or travel or just a good read to distract you from daily life.

Whistles nonchalantly, sharpens pitchfork for Keith.. I know the sudden fear that strikes after making a recommendation, but 99p isn't too much of a risk.

Bett, that's a good haul that you, ahem, resisted.