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?

My typos do occasionally make me sound like the 'French' policeman in Allo Allo , so I do apiligise.

We saw mine yesterday, Satsuki. Normally my mum would come and see us at least once a month but I don’t have a car and she doesn’t drive on motorways, my dad doesn’t drive and none of us wanted to risk a train (well, I’d happily go on a train but my dad wasn’t comfortable with us coming that way, which is fair enough). Anyway, we borrowed a car and went to see them for the first time in months. Not hugging them was really hard.
(Sorry to distract from book chat, but I’m feeling very glum today, for various reasons...)

Pepe I'm glad you got to see them even though you couldn't hug them. My mother has never been the hugging type so at least we don't have that issue.

Mackerella We do campsites without electricity too. I have a solar charger which gets pressed into use, not so much bought for camping trips but when sitting all day at cricket matches.

Piggy your DS1 sounds like my DS1. He's brought a book with him to the campsite but it's not come out of the car yet and I doubt it will. He discovered the camp site has 4g so has been making use of it, only on his phone and not mine though. The next site we go to has no signal apparently

Thanks mackerella. It’s only now that I am reading them in order and close together that I have focussed on the variety of occupations of the main characters. I think beforehand I would have just thought they were all jockeys or worked for The Jockey Club or a trainer but they are surprisingly diverse. Looks like Trial Run is up next from Dick Francis but I am currently reading The Weekend by Charlotte Wood whilst sweltering on the sofa.

Luckily, I absolutely love camping, Pepe, so even the hot weather wasn't enough to deter me. I've added an event shelter to my wish list for next year's trip, though, so I've got somewhere shady to read! (And a solar charger - thanks for the tip, betts.)

to everyone who's missing friends and family - I would also give anything to be able to give my mum a hug (or even see her properly) right now. We've been making up for it by phoning each other up to enthusiastically recommend audio books from the local library app (we live in the same county). And by throwing paperbacks to each other from a distance of 5 metres - last time, she lumbered me with kindly passed on to me a weird Ukrainian satire that my brother left behind last time he visited. No doubt I'll review it here soon .

Reviews of the last week's books coming soon, as soon as the children have actually bloody gone to bed...

Just dropped in to catch up and now I've gone and bought three books on the Kindle Daily Deal!

@mackerella

Luckily, I absolutely love camping, Pepe, so even the hot weather wasn't enough to deter me. I've added an event shelter to my wish list for next year's trip, though, so I've got somewhere shady to read! (And a solar charger - thanks for the tip, betts.)

to everyone who's missing friends and family - I would also give anything to be able to give my mum a hug (or even see her properly) right now. We've been making up for it by phoning each other up to enthusiastically recommend audio books from the local library app (we live in the same county). And by throwing paperbacks to each other from a distance of 5 metres - last time, she lumbered me with kindly passed on to me a weird Ukrainian satire that my brother left behind last time he visited. No doubt I'll review it here soon .

Reviews of the last week's books coming soon, as soon as the children have actually bloody gone to bed...

I have this one.

Thanks, betts!

Just popping in to say that there is an excellent Provincial Lady during the coronavirus pandemic thread here.

39. To Love and Let Go byRachel Brathean. This is the memoir by the instagram influencer Yoga_Girl. My daughter is the same age as hers and I like her and yoga so picked this up on the 99p deal as I’m enjoying memoirs right now. But this is one of the most self indulgent things I’ve ever read. I knew she was privileged but online she has been open in discussing the darker sides of the yoga industry racism and #metoo feature often enough. There’s light and real tragedy but there’s also a scene where she sits on the floor by airport security and wails because she’s not got the right papers for her dog to fly until she gets her way and many other similar moments where she tantrums to get what she wants.
40. Ramble Chat by Adam Buxton. One half of Adam & Joe’s memoir. Another privileged persons memoir but this is naturally much more self depreciating. I laughed a lot. Saying that I listened to the audio (which has lots of bonus jingles and things) and my husband (also a posh nerd who loves the 80s) laughed more in the half hour he listened than I did the whole time. Excellent section on teenagers that includes an email from a 13 year old daughter with her list of requests (Demands) for her birthday. This book is mainly focused on the death of his father and I’ve seen that his mother passed away recently and that he’s filmed more rambles with Joe since lockdown. I think he speaks very well about death as many comedians do, much the same tone as Grief Cast which is one of my favourite podcasts.

I absolutely love Adam's podcast, palegreen, and was so sorry to hear that his mother had died recently - he talked about it quite a lot in his most recent podcast with Joe. He's hilariously funny but also a gentle soul at heart I think, with a very thoughtful and enquiring turn of mind, which for me is a winning combination.

I'm definitely going to read this; at the beginning of the year I'd intended to book for his show at the RFH in May on his Ramblebook tour but never quite got round to it. Just as well, as things turned out.

@Terpsichore yes I think if you are a fan you will love it. I really enjoy his stuff but didn’t listen to all the podcasts as sometimes it gets too much and I’m only mildly into Bowie. Totally worth the audiobook though as there’s lots of extras,

Yes, I tend to skirt the Bowie bits but I do really enjoy his talks with comedians particularly. And the Louis Theroux ones have had me crying with laughter occasionally.

65 Mindfck by Christopher Wylie*
Wylie is the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who shed a light on its manipulation of the political landscape through micro targeting on Facebook. This is an extraordinary story of greed, and how a small group of people were able to smooth the path for Brexit and Trump. Wylie is irritatingly self-satisfied and his whole “I couldn’t live with myself” schtick is kind of irritating given how long it took him to get out, but it’s a fascinating and horrifying read nonetheless. It gave me the push I needed to delete Facebook, and made me think long and hard about what we read online and what the consequences are.

64 The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombard
I enjoyed each page of this novel about a well off American family individually but it was less than the sum of its parts. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters apart from the long lost son, I didn’t care who his father was so the big reveal was a bit of a wash out and I found the back and forth of the timeline distracting. A shame, as it had all the component parts of something I thought I would really enjoy.

65 Action Park by Andy Mulvihill
Mulvihill’s father opened Action Park, a New Jersey amusement park, in 1978, which included one of the first modern water parks. The Wikipedia entry says it all - “Action Park’s popularity went hand in hand with a reputation for poorly designed rides, under trained and under aged staff, intoxicated guests and staff and a consequently poor safety record”. The issues range from the amusing (guests would often exit rides minus their bathing suit) to the extremely serious - six fatalities over twenty years and any number of hospital visits. Snakes in the pools, riders’ teeth embedded in the water chutes, rabid raccoons on the loose - as the author says “an illusion of risk is the backbone of amusement parks, but at Action Park, risk has never been an illusion. If something looks dangerous, that’s because it is.”

I came across the Wikipedia entry for Action Park a few years ago so was intrigued by this book. It didn’t disappoint - Mulvihill deals sensitively with the deaths but tells an extraordinary story of entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, family loyalty and crazy teen years. It’s funny (very funny in places) and terrifying in equal measure.

66 The Evenings by Gerard Reve
This is a post war novel by a Dutch writer. I don’t know why. Frits is 23, lives with his parents in Amsterdam and works in an office. The novel’s ten chapters each describe the evenings from 22 December to 31 December 1946. Frits bickers with his parents, has odd dreams, and goes out with his friends. Not much else happens. Apparently in 2007 it was voted one of the top ten Dutch novels. This fact does nothing to make me want to read the other ten. As is often the case, I think it may be me, rather than the book as the other members of my book club seemed to enjoy it.

Thanks for the Action Park review, @PepeLePew. I've been looking for something completely different and that sounds perfect. I'm terrified of amusement parks and rides (vertigo) so this could be a white-knuckle read!

Thanks from me too Pepe, like Three I'm not a fan of the more extreme amusement park rides so could be in for some hair raising moments.

I'm trying to make an effort to review books so here goes:

Queens of the Kingdom I'm glad I read this one, it was as interesting as I'd hoped. As I was reading I ranged from thinking that some of the women were very naive in their explanations of restrictions on them but then that is was possibly because they were accepting of them and didn't want to criticise Islam. Others were more critical but explained them in a context of comparing it to the West but at the same time being of the view that women had a better life there than in the West as they are looked after and seen as special - who are they trying to convince? The book suggested that women in the more closed environment will go out with other women, whether as friends or as a romantic type liaison; it was never really clear whether this was just making the best of a situation with limited contact with men or if there are more lesbian relationships there than there are here. Obviously women are likely to be reluctant to say.

This Thing of Darkness - what can I say that has not already been said? I found Fitzroy and Darwin annoying in equal measure at times. They needed their heads knocking together at times. Darwin for his views and complete lack of tact and Fitzroy for his determination to take down his former friend's efforts, though I suppose at least both were sticking up for what they believed in even when those beliefs were changing in Darwin's case. The whole business with the Fuegians was appalling, obviously it was of it's time. I thought that the author dealt with it well and from what I've read elsewhere he seems to have stuck closely to the facts.

Forest Therapy Sarah Ivens. I was disappointed to have wasted the time on this book, I'm glad it was a kindle unlimited one as it just stated the obvious and did so in not a very interesting way. By the by, I've cancelled my kindle unlimited membership as I have many books waiting to be read that are better.

Kidnapping my daughter by Rachel Jensen. I found this infuriating because she was maintaining contact between her daughter and her father when it was obviously not in the child's best interests. I'd be interested to know what happened (and how old she is now) as the book does go into more detail than I'd expect for a family apparently trying to hide from a parent who shouldn't have contact. I'm cynical about how true it as and, if I'm honest, it was a waste of time.

31. Run - Ann Patchett Based in Boston, this novel tells the story of a family of Irish origin, as events unfold over a period of about 24 hours. Patchett creates an atmosphere of reassuring warmth and shows great affection for all of her protagonists, without ever becoming gushing and gooey. The plot may seem unlikely, but I was eager to believe and followed Patchett willingly as she told this family's story, or stories.

betts

I thought you were in 'Refusers Corner'

The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West It took me a couple of attempts to get going with this, but when I did I rather enjoyed it. It is based on the true story of betrayal and double-agents among Tsarist exiles and Russian revolutionaries in France in the early years of the twentieth century, told from the point of view of 18-year-old Laura, daughter of an English MP and grandchild of an exiled Russian royalist. The writing was good and genuinely tense at times, and there are some lovely details, for example Laura is given "still" (not flat!) Champagne as a suitable drink with her supper. (I have to admit I had no idea that you could get still Champagne, but apparently, although relatively rare, you can and it is sold as Coteaux Champenois.) Not a top read, but enjoyable nonetheless.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

betts

I thought you were in 'Refusers Corner'

I was, I had the book for ages before being in the mood to tackle it. Summer holidays and camping changed that

57: Life Among the Savages - Shirley Jackson

Reviewed recently by quite a few others, and I was impelled by that to buy it. Light-hearted tales of domesticity and motherhood by the author of The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle....quite something to get the head around, as it's light-years away from the kind of writing she's known for.

In fact much of this (according to the biography I haven't yet read but dipped into for clues) is taken straight from life, and uses her childrens' real names and many of their sayings - often pleasingly bizarre - and experiences. In places it reminded me of my beloved Betty MacDonald (who also died young) but I couldn't help thinking of what I know about the reality of Shirley Jackson's philandering, unpleasant husband, which rather took the shine off this often very funny book.
(Oh, and she seemed to bear the brunt of doing all the tedious domestic work in the house as well....I know those were the times but it rankled when she booked in to have her third baby, gave her profession as 'writer' and was put down as 'housewife'.....).
Now to read the biography, which I suspect will incense me on her behalf.

Lovely 50Bookers, can any of you suggest anything for my DM to read. She’s just finished Cider With Rosie and loved it - she also loved Lark Rise to Candleford and Cranford so I’m looking for something along those lines. I’ve just left her with Diary of a Provincial Lady but she wasn’t sure if she’d read it.

Off the top of my head I'd suggest Middlemarch and anything by Barbara Pym.

Barbara Pym is a good shout. I know she’s read Middlemarch.

Of what I've read this year The Lost Art Of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice might be the ticket Best also Anne Glenconner's Lady In Waiting maybe?

Best, maybe she'd like The Enchanted April?