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50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Seven

999 replies

southeastdweller · 23/07/2020 10:25

Welcome to the seventh 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, the fifth one here and the sixth one here.

What are you reading?

OP posts:
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6
TheTurnOfTheScrew · 04/08/2020 20:17

No Rylance story for me, so I'll offer up another Wolf Hall related celeb spotting. DH and I bumped into (sadly, quite literally) Hilary Mantel as we were coming out of Wolf Hall at the theatre. I was too star struck and embarrassed to do anything other than mumble an apology. And it would probably be a bit rude to crush someone's toe and then demand that they sign your program.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 04/08/2020 20:25

But, but @bettsbattenburg HE IS THE BFG!

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/08/2020 20:31

He also voiced the character of Flop in the cartoon series Bing, just so my post doesn’t sound plain crazy Grin

He was in Dunkirk and played Cromwell in Wolf Hall. He has a lovely speaking voice. Even if he’s sending people to the tower with it.

Palegreenstars · 04/08/2020 20:31

Bloody Flop. Perfect weird flannel parent to the most annoying giant Rabbit around.

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/08/2020 20:33

turnofthescrew that’s hilarious!

I once saw Rosemary Harris at the theatre but all I could think of was that she had played Spiderman’s Aunt and it didn’t feel like a grown up thing to say.

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/08/2020 20:35

perfect weird flannel parent GrinGrinGrin

He made everything seem all right. Even things that really weren’t, like shoplifting and killing a butterfly and flushing a shoe down the toilet.

bettsbattenburg · 04/08/2020 20:43

Satsuki Don't go into marketing will you? Grin
Eine I've not seen that film.

Anyway, Remus didn't know who he was either so I stand in extremely good company which is quite a relief since I have only just escaped the TTOD refusers corner (which reminds me, Team Jemmy here) but am now in the bad grammar corner as well as the Rylance ignoramuses corner Grin

perfect weird flannel parent Grin

A few years ago my daughter made me a flannel animal at Rainbows, it looked quite cute to be honest and so I kept it rather than using it as a flannel - it's still on my bedside table nearly 2 decades later. Some of the other mothers were complaining about how rubbish it was [shock Angry

nowanearlyNicemum · 04/08/2020 20:59

I have nothing to add to the hobnobbing with Mark Rylance discussion but love hearing about your shoulder-rubbing Wink
My previous book was quite depressing so I needed to go to my happy, carefree place. Cue...

  1. The Bookshop on the Shore – Jenny Colgan Half-way through this I thought I'd lost the love for Colgan but then it picked up massively and I got 'all the feels'. Not for everyone but just what I needed this afternoon.
Palegreenstars · 04/08/2020 21:12

@bettsbattenburg That’s lovely.

I do enjoy Rylance in most things. His episode of Desert Island Discs is well worth a listen - one of my favourites.

Palegreenstars · 04/08/2020 21:22

I know you guys will appreciate this - my husband recently found out he’s through his firms redundancy process and to celebrate he just came home with a little stack of booker nominees for me. Obviously didn’t mention that I’ve been buying a fair few myself since we found out but I was so touched as it’s been such a crap time for him. That’s it though no more books for a while.

nowanearlyNicemum · 04/08/2020 21:34

Aaaah, that's just lovely, palegreen

Piggywaspushed · 04/08/2020 21:36

Oh, what a lovely DH .

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/08/2020 21:44

palegreen that’s lovely. All the best to you both, what a tough time this has been Flowers

(And thanks for DID tip)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/08/2020 22:05

PaleGreen - that's so sweet

Betts - You now need to get hold of Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button by Nick Hazlewood, for more #TeamJemmy reading.

bettsbattenburg · 04/08/2020 22:15

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

PaleGreen - that's so sweet

Betts - You now need to get hold of Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button by Nick Hazlewood, for more #TeamJemmy reading.

Palegreenstars That's lovely Smile

Remus It's now on my wish list, thank you.

bettsbattenburg · 04/08/2020 22:23

@nowanearlyNicemum

I have nothing to add to the hobnobbing with Mark Rylance discussion but love hearing about your shoulder-rubbing Wink My previous book was quite depressing so I needed to go to my happy, carefree place. Cue...
  1. The Bookshop on the Shore – Jenny Colgan Half-way through this I thought I'd lost the love for Colgan but then it picked up massively and I got 'all the feels'. Not for everyone but just what I needed this afternoon.
I thought the same about The Bookshop on the Shore. It's not what I'd normally read any more but, like you, it was what I needed on the day I read it.
StitchesInTime · 04/08/2020 23:46

That’s lovely Palegreen Smile

I had to google Mark Rylance Blush

I have seen far far too many episodes of Bing. And I have spent far too much time wondering what the deal is with Flop and why he’s stuck caring for an enormous rabbit that’s about 3 times his size.

TimeforaGandT · 05/08/2020 09:07

50. Middlemarch - George Eliot

I have never read any Eliot so trying to plug some of my reading gaps. It’s a monster of a book at just over 800 pages so has taken me a week to read. It follows the life of the inhabitants of Middlemarch, an unassuming town, with a focus on certain individuals. Dorothea is part of the landed gentry and marries at a young age a much older erudite clergyman because she is attracted to his intellect. The clergyman should have remained a bachelor. Rosamund is the upwardly mobile daughter of a factory owner who marries Tetris, a young doctor who is new to town. She is attracted to his family connections and an alternative to the boys she has grown up with but overlooks his dedication to his work and lack of financial substance. Fred, Rosamund’s brother, has wasted his education in the hope of inheriting from a distant relative and being able to marry his childhood sweetheart. Lots of good characters and storylines which weave together and who you fall in and out of sympathy with - or never sympathise with (Rosamund!). I could have done without the political backdrop of the Reform Bill as I was more interested in the individuals than the wider setting. I found the language in some parts meant I could only read in small chunks or I lost concentration and had to re-read paragraphs.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 05/08/2020 09:45

Forensics by Val Mcdoodah whose name I can never remember how to spell, is in the Daily Deal. Worth a read. I tried one of her novels and it was eye-wateringly, embarrassingly awful, but this is non-fiction and decent.

BestIsWest · 05/08/2020 11:14

Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus: Sandi Toksvig

As it says, Sandi Toksvig reminisces about her life while taking a journey on a London bus. A nice light read, a bit of autobiography, a bit of London history with a good chunk of Feminism thrown in. Enjoyable even if she does tend to name drop (they all do though).

Tanaqui · 05/08/2020 11:40

I have never seen Bing, but I liked Mark Rylance very much in Bridge of Spies.

  1. Get Back Jack by Diane Capri. More entertaining Jack Reacher spin off.
EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 05/08/2020 11:54

who marries Tetris

Excellent spellcheck accident Grin

TimeforaGandT · 05/08/2020 12:11

Bum - Tertius not Tetris - bloody autocorrect

CoteDAzur · 05/08/2020 12:47

betts - re "have only just escaped the TTOD refusers corner... but am now in the bad grammar corner"

I don't know which is a worse place to be on this sub Grin

highlandcoo · 05/08/2020 12:55

How lovely palegreen - a perfect present.

I really wanted to see that production highland, incredibly jealous. I did hear he was going to make a comeback to the role which would be exciting if theatre was a possibility.

Yes so so worth going to Jerusalem if you possibly can at some time in the future. I also saw him in La Bete which begins with a forty minute monologue in rhyming couplets from MR ..sounds challenging but it was totally riveting.

And in Farinelli and the King, written by his wife, we ended up unexpectedly in the side stalls on the stage .. amazing.

I will stop going on about Mark Rylance now Blush