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?

@BookWitch I generally found it a lovely journey down memory lane. I mean a bit of fat shaming and gender stereotyping but It’s heart’s in the right place and I loved remembering the different escapades.

Biblio glad you liked it, and yes, agree with you about the birth. I didn't realise how that all worked then! A Chelsea Concerto is a bit more graphic and quite harrowing at one point, partly inevitable because Faviell worked as a nurse at a first-aid post so dealt directly with casualties from the Blitz and stayed in a central part of London near prime bombing targets.

Terpsichore I rate Blackwells too, and had no problems with the service either.

Nothing to add at the moment, other than I love these threads. Where else would you find Dostoyevsky immediately followed by Enid Blyton?!

We're an eclectic lot, Remus!

I too really appreciate the diversity of books read and reviewed. I’d love to browse your bookshelves, all of you. Only if invited of course, not in a weird burglar kind of way.

And thanks for the heads up on the Olivia Manning deals on Kindle. I read both trilogies on a bus trip through South America thirty years ago, and remember being engrossed. Those copies are long gone, so I shall download them and enjoy them this summer.

Thanks Terpsichore and EliotBliss . A Chelsea Concerto successfully ordered from Blackwell's with price reduction and free postage.

remus you haven’t read my dissertation “Crime, Punishment and Lashings of Ginger Beer: Law enforcement in Dostoyevsky and Blyton”

I love these threads because I used to feel quite well-read and knowledgeable about books until I came here, and have now been thoroughly humbled as well as introduced to many more new favourites.

I agree I love these threads. I used to be embarrassed about some of the less literary stuff I read but I like how diversely others read (and how specific some tastes are). I enjoy the robust debate (although still not touching that Darkness book for fear of getting kicked out). Really I just love talking about what I’m reading and hearing others. My real life people don’t get it quite so much.

Eliot - I disagree with your proposition that people can't discuss books unless they enjoy the same books, or approach the subject in a sterile, criteria- or issue-based scholarly manner.

People on these 50-Book threads have very different backgrounds and tastes in books, and yet we have managed to have many lively discussions.

It's just like how I can talk about why I love Bach's music with someone who does not know any music theory and listens only to hard rock and blues. I can tell her about the inevitable sense of order in Bach's music even if she has never heard of Tonic, Dominant, or Cadence - how every note feels exactly where it should be and how it progresses through beauty and agony to bring various melodic threads together and arrive at such satisfying conclusions. I can talk about how much pleasure I get from playing 4 or 5 different melodies with only 2 hands to someone who has never heard of a Fugue.

Even if she has never heard of the word Counterpoint, I can tell her that all instruments have their own, equally important melodies in Bach's orchestral works, and that it's wonderfully stimulating to try to follow 2-3 of them at the same time. I would talk about how Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin also do this - quite often, the lead singer's melody is no more prominent than that of the guitar or the bass.

To someone who has never heard of the term Deceptive Cadence, I would talk about the pleasurable agony of delaying an anticipated climax

What I would not say is that I play three instruments, continue studies in one of them at a Conservatoire, sing Soprano at said Conservatoire, and could not possibly have a conversation on music appreciation with anyone who doesn't have the same tastes, lexicon and frame of reference as me.

Re chick-lit - My earlier comment was not a judgement on relative "cultural value" or worth of one genre above any the but what I personally like and dislike, which followed from you assuming that I'm a Dan Brown/Dean Koontz girl.

"If I did read chick-lit and I read your scathing comments about it, and were a less confident person I would be hesitant to contribute to this thread, because who wants to feel put down for what they read? "

We have been talking openly about books on these threads for many (8?) years and I would think that their atmosphere of candour and bonhomie is well-established. Remus's taste in fiction is the polar opposite of mine, and we have had some great debates over the years. It is OK to say I can't stand a genre, don't understand why people would want to read it, and it's OK for others who do to talk about how they enjoy it.

You should try it As I said before, I would be interested to read your thoughts on how and why you feel The Master and Margarita is a great novel.

I also love the fact that we discuss a wide variety of books on here. Thanks to 50-Boom threads, I've read and loved books like This Thing of Darkness which I would probably have never found otherwise.

As a (mostly) luker, who starts each year full of good intentions to note down every book, can I say that I love these threads & find the discussion & wide range of books read really interesting .

The only downside is that I spend far more on kindle than I should!

PS On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming is one of today's daily deals. I read it (from library) & found it boring & DNF, but I know others enjoyed it.

Absolutely love this thread and the sheer variety too. I’m an unashamed lover of chick lit and detective fiction but there are books I’ve read due to this thread that I would never have attempted otherwise - This Thing Of Darkness, Cryptonomicon, It, All Quiet, The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, Into Thin Air and many more outside my normal comfort zone. Rereading Lord of The Flies is something I probably wouldn’t have done if Remus hadn’t egged me on and now it’s in my top 10.
So thank you all, 50 Bookers.

I love these threads too, and I agree that the diversity of our reading choices is a huge part of that.

Just dipping my toe into the Master And Margarita debate - I read this about 20 years ago and really loved it but haven't read it since - I was big into 'magic realism' at the time but have found that my taste has changed over the years and some of the more whimsical stuff that I once loved I now find irritating (see my rereading of Stone Junction last year). I have become more of a fan of tight, uncluttered prose and extremely high-quality storytelling. So I'd be fascinated to reread and see if I get more out of it, or less.

It'll be a while though because I've just started The Count Of Monte Cristo and that's bloody massive

33. An Unsuitable Match by Joanna Trollope. After two fairly challenging non-fiction books, I was ready for something that was enjoyable, character-based, easy to read and just a tiny bit predictable. This fitted the bill perfectly. Also, kudos to Trollope for featuring a 63-year-old protagonist - we need more books about older women (and men).

34. Me by Elton John. I listened to this on Audible and it has taken me ages, because I only listen while driving and I've been driving much less than usual (normally I drive to work, but have been wfh during lockdown). So I started this in March! Luckily, it's the kind of book you can easily get back into after a break. Elton John comes across as likeable although an absolute nightmare at times, very dramatic and OTT but great fun and with lots of stories to tell about his family and relationships, the music industry, other celebs and getting clean from drink and drugs. Never a dull moment! The film is similarly entertaining.

35. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney. This book, published in 2018, considers all aspects of the 1918 pandemic - historical, medical, geographical, cultural and sociological. Fascinating.

36. On The Beach by Nevil Shute. Set in Australia, the northern hemisphere has been laid to waste in a nuclear war and the southern hemisphere is waiting for the same to happen as the radiation gradually spreads south. While I have to agree with the critics questioning whether the characters would realistically behave like this (planting gardens they know will never come to fruition etc), I still really enjoyed reading this.

Oh the Count of Monte Cristo is a good read. I feel the same way about magic realism. I really like detail and writers who enliven the everyday without magic.

This is not true of films though. I find it all very interesting, what we grow into and out of and what remains steadfast throughout.

I love the variety of books on these threads too.

48. Operation Ironman: one man's four month journey from hospital bed to Ironman triathlon by George Mahood I like a book that does what it says, and this book's title almost reviews itself. A nice straightforward account of how the author was diagnosed with and treated for a spinal tumour, and then almost immediately started training for an Ironman. Zipped along with lots of self deprecating humour about his attempts to train for the disciplines and family life.

49. The Silk Road: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan This was not a terrible book, but it did not do what it said. Firstly, it was not really about the Silk Road, it was about how the balance of power and influence has shifted from East to West and started to shift back again, through history, and although the movement of goods and ideas along the silk raods played a part in how the author described that, it seemed to get lost in the too ambitious scale of this book. The claim that it is a new history of the world also did not ring true, as it felt very European / Western centric, and there was some detail about parts of history that didn't seem to fit into the East as main influencer of civilisation narrative. If this was called 'The Big Highly Selective Book of the Shift of Power Through History as Seen in a Fairly Traditional Way by a Western Academic Historian Who Studies Eastern Type Things' I would have known what I was about to read and probably enjoyed it more (or not read it in the first place).

50. The Book of Dust Volume One: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman It was good to be back in Lyra's world for a while. The first half was intriguing, introducing the character of Malcolm, a lively and likeable 11 year old, who lives in a riverside pub. The second half became rather tedious padding, as it became a journey with a series of pointless and fantastical encounters, which was wrapped up with a rather abrupt ending, no doubt to encourage moving on to the next volume. It was ok, but lacked the subtlety of the original trilogy. Pullman unfortunately does my pet hate of rendering speech phonetically for characters who are clearly supposed to be a lower social class than he is, and as this includes his main character Malcolm, there was barely a page without a dunno, summing, probly. Any character who is a scholar or other professional gets standard English. Do they all pronounce words exactly as they are written then? It's pure lazy snobbery. Why don't editors pick this up?

51. Sunny Side Up by Susan Calman Ironically, after not being very kind about the last two books I've reviewed, this was a book about being kind! Susan believes that we should all be kinder to each other and ourselves and that we should concentrate on what gives us joy. She shares her own views alongside a few anecdotes, making this a very light read. I would have enjoyed a bit more structured autobiographical stuff, e.g. more about her time on Strictly and how she built her career up, rather than the snippets we got. However, definitely a feel good book if you like her, which I very much do. Incidentally, she has a section on the toxicity of the internet and it's ability to suck the happiness out of everything. This thread is definitely the exception to that!

Cote maybe in this instance just learn to take no for an answer. And I've also been on these threads off and on in the past, I name-change frequently so I've witnessed some of those discussions and great if that's what you and others enjoy. I don't.

My last three books have been recommendations from this thread so I will just give my thoughts rather than a synopsis of the plots which have been detailed previously. Thanks as always for all the wonderful and thoughtful reviews.

My Dark Vanessa This was a good if unsettling read; I thought the description of Vanessa losing her virginity was particularly disturbing. I also thought Vanessa's responses to her "affair" reflected how deeply she had been manipulated and the complexity and difficulties facing victims trying to overcome their abuse.

If Beale Street Could Talk A heartbreaking read exploring not only racism but the importance of love. Very powerful, I will certainly be reading more James Baldwin.

Autumn Journal I absolutely love this. It is atmospheric, emotional, intellectual, philosophical and beautifully written. It is one of those books that has so much in it that I know I shall return to it again and again and still find something new in it.

Satsuki - I'd buy it!

PaleGreen - coward!

Eliot - the whole point of these threads (imho) is their lively (and sometimes pistols at dawn) levels of debate.

Tara (and at risk of setting Cote off on another On the Beach diatribe!) - you've just made me think of something. During lockdown, I've enjoyed some gardening for the first time ever. I wonder if there might be something of the, "In the midst of death we think of life" about them planting gardens they'll never see fully grown? The idea of sending out green shoots when things are unknown/scary/abnormal seems like rather a sensible coping mechanism then, perhaps?

Boiledegg so glad you like Autumn Journal, and yes it’s the sort of book to return to, definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year so far. It was quite a revelation to me because I so rarely read poetry, but will definitely return to this too.

While I admire the scrupulous accuracy of "The Big Highly Selective Book of The Shift of Power through History as seen in a Fairly Traditional Way by a Western Academic Historian who Studies Eastern Type Things', it would have to be quite a big book cover. Or quite small font.

I am going to give up officially on the Frankopan after reading your review, Museum. I really wanted to like it but keep getting stuck around chapter 3. So am deleting it with a clear conscience as it’s not as if I am short of things to read.