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?

On the subject of lively debate on this thread I was doubtful about reviewing a novel by Anton Du Beck, but a kind person reassured me it was fine . I'm sorry I can't remember who it was.
43 The Dry Jane Harper This has been reviewed several times here. I enjoyed for the claustrophobic sense of place and the realistic characters .

There certainly have been lots of lively debates on here! I checked earlier today and the threads this year are moving more quickly than ever before (since 2012).

Ring for Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
I absolutely loved this. Bertie Wooster isn't in it - he's gone off to a school for gentlemen to learn how to cope in post-WW2 society, bit it was none the worse for his absence. Jeeves, meanwhile, is helping a friend of Bertie's, a chap with a pile of bricks but no money, to try to earn his living as a bookie. It was really funny, and I especially enjoyed spotting all the references to other literature in it.

Has anyone got through The New Silk Roads ? That managed the impressive feat to my mind of being desperately boring about the increasing economic dominance of China, the Belt & Road initiative, etc. (TBF, I gave up after about 20%, so it may have improved.)

98. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Much reviewed etc

I have to say that though overall I found the book enjoyable and it had a tremendous sense of atmosphere and place, I also found it mawkish and unbelievable.

Ambivalent.

Remus - yes I agree with you actually. I think it’s quite possible that gardening would be something that people would carry on with even if the end of the world was nigh. There were many other examples of refusing to acknowledge reality though!

Quick question for Kate Atkinson fans - is Transcription a stand-alone or does it follow on from Life after Life and A God in Ruins (which I haven't read)?

It's a stand-alone, nowanearlyNicemum

I agree that people might carry on with the gardening even in the face of the impending doom portrayed in On The Beach.

I know a few people who really love gardening and can happily spend days pottering around in their gardens. I can easily imagine those people carrying on with their gardens in that scenario, both as a way to relax and as a coping mechanism or a way to take their mind off the inevitable.

Thanks Terpsichore. The blurb wasn't very clear and I knew I'd get a reliable answer on this thread!

Stitches - yes. In a similar way, I can imagine that my sister would approach the apocalypse still crocheting blankets for babies who will never be born.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. I find that a very touching thought.

remus I think you’re right and I suppose the bigger picture is we’re all just pootling around planting trees whose shade we’ll never sit in or whatever the saying is. My kids were learning about Egyptian burial and I told them their great grandmother had been buried with her knitting. Humans are always finding meaning in small, ostensibly useless ways.

I listened to the Backlisted podcast on Autumn Journal from some time ago last night and it was very lovely, especially as it featured Samuel West reading sections as beautifully as an accomplished actor can.

48: David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

I’ve come to the end of this for our readalong. I won’t comment, as we’ve got a final gathering to discuss it, but what a wonderful book and what a writer. Thanks so much to Piggy for hosting. Now looking forward to our next Dickens venture - hopefully Our Mutual Friend.

Pleasure!

" people might carry on with the gardening even in the face of the impending doom portrayed in On The Beach "

That is a on a different level than debating whether fishing season should be respected this year, knowing very well that they will all be dead in a couple of months. It is also a world apart from a husband/father saying he will go away for business, knowing that means his wife and child will die without him. That is just ludicrous.

I'm happy to be corrected on this but I doubt if there has ever been a doomsday scenario in the history of this planet where people have just carried on gardening knowing about certain death in a few months if they do nothing. Even if the situation appears hopeless, people will do anything, try anything, to protect their families if not themselves.

Eliot - "Cote maybe in this instance just learn to take no for an answer... I've witnessed some of those discussions and great if that's what you and others enjoy. I don't."

No problem. I look forward to your future reviews which we will not be allowed to comment on unless pre-approved according to our literary tastes and agreed-upon criteria. Got it

BookWitch - "I did a degree in Russian Literature... so I have read a lot of pretty obscure stuff, but out of all the Russian literature I have read from pretty much forgotten 17th century folk tales, to Soviet era dissident stuff, I found The Master and Margarita the biggest waste of time. Unnecessarily confusing and just odd. Unfortunately I had a lecturer who was a Bulgakov nut. "

I would be interested to hear what your lecturer had to say about The Master and Margarita. What made it so special, in his view? Are there many hidden references to Russian history or cultural references that I would have missed?

It is also a world apart from a husband/father saying he will go away for business, knowing that means his wife and child will die without him. That is just ludicrous.

Can you imagine her thread in AIBU?

terpsichore I’ve been anxious to watch the film of David Copperfield it’s had some great reviews, and also looking forward to OMF when others are ready.

Satsuki - AIBU to LTB after DH fucked off on a business trip, leaving me alone with 6mo DS to face the end of the world on our own?

Hundreds of mumsnetters wasting their precious last moments on Earth typing

“LTB!”
“Show him this thread!!!”

With a smattering of

“You’re being kind of controlling tbh. It’s his apocalypse too”

49: The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger

Re-read for book club. I can’t remember how many years ago I first read this but I fear its deep pathos escaped me. How very sad and lost Holden is, as he careers from one abortive encounter to another. Yes, the humour’s there, but my overwhelming impression was of a grieving adolescent desperately in search of someone to help him make sense of the world. His kid sister Phoebe was beautifully evoked, too.

Satsuki

@Sadik

Has anyone got through The New Silk Roads ? That managed the impressive feat to my mind of being desperately boring about the increasing economic dominance of China, the Belt & Road initiative, etc. (TBF, I gave up after about 20%, so it may have improved.)

Not I, it's languished on my kindle for years and years.