50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

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?

I haven't had time to post lately but wanted to check in. Sometimes this seems like the only safe place on mumsnet, let alone the internet. I posted on a thread asking about shower gel the other day and even that ended up in a discussion about MLMs, climate change and gender.

Betts, very graceful handling of grammar-gate .

Sorry to hear about your various tribulations, hope all the 50 bookers are looking after themselves.

who marries Tetris

I'm sure they were a good fit for each other.

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

I'm not sure but given the accusation of bad grammar was from somebody on thread who I don't think is a regular participant I decided to ignore it apart from have a bit of fun. My grammar is never at it's best but hey ho, my father was dyslexic and so are my sister and nephews so who knows (or cares!).

Betts, very graceful handling of grammar-gate wink.

Thank you Harlan

posted on a thread asking about shower gel the other day and even that ended up in a discussion about MLMs, climate change and gender.

Did you dare to ask for shower gel for a specific sex? Oh dearie, dearie me

I'm keeping my thoughts on shower gel to myself from now on!

I have joined the Our Mutual Friend readalong. I've never read any Dickens so this will be interesting - hoping to benefit from chat with more experienced readers. (Of Dickens, that is.)

palegreen What a lovely present and a lovely thing to do! Glad your DH is sorted, it's a horrible position to be in, I know from experience.

highlandcoo I loved Farinelli and the King - not just Mark Rylance, but Iestyn Davies too (double swoon)!!

Who knew shower gel could be so controversial?!

I know, Chessie, who knew! Good to be back in the boring corner.

DH drives me nuts because he insists on old fashioned (green!) soap in a hard water area and has no concept of the words soap scum, limescale or , even, cleaning

I have no idea what any other issues might be on a MN thread but clearly LTB is the answer.

harlan I have read a lot of Dickens in the distant past, and have slipped on reading any classics of late so looking forward to the readalong too.

This thread is usually a welcoming place, just as long as the spinecrackers and page-rippers don’t rile the rest of us up with their tales of wanton destruction

The OMF references keep making me think that somebody is swearing. Clearly I am a barbarian, whose mind would rather see 'fucking' than Dickens.

@remus

It may well stand for that by the time we’re a few chapters in...

Very good betts - I feel I may not live this down! Sadly, Tetris/Tertius and Rosamund, whilst attracted to one another, were not a good fit and made each other miserable.

Looking forward to re-reading OMF, which made a huge impression on me many years ago.

Latest to add to the list:
55: Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper - Alexandra Harris

This study of English Modernism in the 30s and 40s charts the tension between the arch-priests of abstract art, rejoicing in all things stripped-back and reduced to their stark white ultra-modern essence, and those who, increasingly, found inspiration in the folk traditions of a specifically English rural landscape and came to celebrate a past that included the elegance of Georgian style and even the excesses of High Victorian. Despite influential painter and critic Roger Fry (founder of the Omega Workshop) railing against the 'impure taste' of anyone who disagreed with him, the likes of Edward Bawden, John Piper, John Nash, Eric Ravilious all embraced new ways of balancing past, present and future...as did writers (John Betjeman, Virginia Woolf), food historians (Florence White, Dorothy Hartley) and even gardeners (Geoffrey Jellicoe).

This is quite a literary read but a marvellously interesting one for anybody with any curiosity about the interwar period of the arts, and it's also beautifully produced with ravishing illustrations of impressively high quality.

I’d have thought shower gel was a safe, boring topic!

(Unless you were asking about that tingly mint and tea tree shower gel, I can see a thread on that veering wildly off sideways)

To get back to books, I have just finished:

44. Maigret Takes a Room - Georges Simenon

The completist in me now wants to read all the Maigret books, handily listed on an insert in the Penguin editions. This is unlikely as there are 75 of them, but I will definitely read a few more. The characterisation is very succinct and it is impressive that Simenon manages to convey so much about his characters in so short a book (less than 200 pages), and this about thirty books in to the series.

45. Adults - Emma Jane Unsworth

Sally Rooney with jokes. I was wary of this one because I suspected I was just too old for a book which is largely about how the main character's relationships are affected by her obsession with social media. However, it did a good job of exploring why she preferred Instagram over real life and her recovery of her real-world relationships.

I've fallen off this thread a bit, my mum is under palliative care and it's all a bit shit really. Finding it hard to pick up a book, but I enjoy it when I do, need to find something easy to read, but no fluffy stories about coffee shops by the sea.
I have managed to finish this one though, (even though I started it first week of July!)

46. The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick The story of Aoife, the daughter of the Irish king of Leinster, Diarmait, and English nobleman Richard de Clare. Based on some historical fact, but obviously fictionalised, Richard is frustrated by his lack of progression in the English nobility as he is not part of Henry II's inner circle, so when he gets the opportunity to ally himself with Diarmait and gain land and influence in Ireland, he leaps at the chance. Marriage to the independently minded Aoife is part of the part of the package.

It was OK. It is an interesting period of history, it covers the rebellion of Henry II's sons against him and the imprisonment of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and I enjoyed the developing relationship between Aoife and Richard, both were interesting characters, but I felt it dragged a bit in places. It was quite fast paced at the beginning, and picked up at the end, but the middle was a bit flat.
A decent enough read though

Thanks Terpsichore, Romantic Moderns sounds right up my street; I was at Tate Britain on Tuesday following their 1930s-Now route and would be very interested to read it.

Sorry to hear about your mum Bookwitch, sending you all best wishes at such a difficult time.

Sorry about your mum Bookwitch

bookwitch so sorry about your mum

terpsichore that sounds interesting. I really like Ravilious and seem to be seeing a bit more about him lately, which is nice.

Bookwitch, sorry to hear about your mum, it must be very tough. Impossible to know at a time like this what's going to hold your attention, but I'm sure you're being kind to yourself. I've recently enjoyed Dangerous Crossing - nothing too terrible happens, for the most part, and there's enough of a plot, period detail and foreign locations to keep it interesting.

Bookwitch all my best to you

Bookwitch so sorry about your Mum.

Bookwitch