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?

Just checking in to keep this on my watchlist. I'm reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson which (as per normal for him) is thorougly enjoyable but long - which combined with a busy few weeks means I suspect I'll struggle to finish it before my e-loan is up. (Unhelpfully my reservation of Girl, Woman, Other has just come up early as well)

Anathem is very good! It's one of Neal Stephenson's last great books, before he started writing disappointing rubbish likeReamde, Fall, or Dodge in Hell, and Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O..

43. 10 minutes 38 seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak. Set in Istanbul, this follows the lives of Tequila Leila, a prostitute, and her unusual group of friends. This is the second book by Shafak that I've read (the first was The Forty Rules of Love) and I really enjoyed it. She seems like an awesome woman too.

Tara I read that last year and thought it was absolutely bonkers.

180. The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue Set in Ireland over the course of a few days in 1918, a junior midwife is left in charge of a small quarantine ward of expectant mothers suffering from a new form of flu that's killing most who come down with it. Lacking supervision and struggling to cope she is sent an unqualified skivvy from the local convent and runs across a new female doctor, rumoured to have taken part in the 1916 Easter Rising. Each of these three women will go on to have a profound effect on each other's lives.

Not for the squeamish! The midwifery angle plays a huge part. Also deals with soldiers returning from war, poverty & religion in Irish society and the lives of women at the time. I thought this was really well done. I have both of her other books sitting on a shelf and haven't yet got round to them, but will now. This was really captivating, even if the ending was a little fanciful.

181. Remain Silent - Susie Steiner A police detective with a somewhat messy home life discovers a body on her day off. It is the body of a Lithuanian immigrant that ties in with a few other local deaths and sparks off a murder investigation. She is pulled into the team that is looking into it, while dealing with her own issues.

I really liked this. As well as being a typical police novel it also made some very astute observations about modern life/ society and delved into issues surrounding trafficking and modern slavery. I like her writing and immediately looked to see if she had written anything else. It turns out this is the third in a series, but I wouldn't have realised otherwise. It stands alone without feeling like you've missed something. I will be going back to the first two. I think if you like the Ruth Galloway series then these would be right up your street. Entertaining with a slightly deeper edge.

It is a bit bonkers! But in a good way

Hi all, not posted for a while and still to catch up on the whole thread but posting my up to date list meantime:

1. Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
2. Vinegar Girl – Ann Tyler

3. Me – Elton John

1. First Lady – James Patterson
2. Wakenhyrst – Michelle Paver
3. Bad Spell For The Worst Witch – Jill Murphy
4. Run Away – Harlan Coben
5. Funhouse – Diane Hoh

9. The Five – Hallie Rubenhold 10. Melmoth – Sarah Perry 11. Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman 12. The Dutch House – Ann Patchett 13. The Dilemma – B A Paris 14. The Girlfriend – R L Stine 15. The Foundling – Stacey Halls 16. The Guest List – Lucy Foley 17. Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel 18. The Widow’s House – Carol Goodman 19. Cat Among the Pigeons – Agatha Christie 20. Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris 21. When Will There Be Good News? – Kate Atkinson 22. The Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay 23. The Guest House – Abbie Frost 24. The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewell 25 Wolfheart – Richard A Knaak 26. Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham 27. Morgan’s Passing – Ann Tyler 28.Nevertheless – Alec Baldwin 29. The Kennedy Curse – James Patterson 30. 11.22.63 – Stephen King 31. The Nine of Us – Jean Kennedy Smith 32. Searching for Caleb – Ann Tyler 33. The Sunwell Trilogy – Richard A Knaak 34. House of Hell – Steve Jackson 35. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward

Currently reading 36. Moving by Jenny Éclair. I ended up picking this book from the library as I was limited to what they had to offer in the building, they aren’t doing reservations from other libraries at present – the majority are still shut here. A work colleague had recommended this before lockdown so decided to go for it. So glad I did, it’s a great book. The story starts with Edwina, an elderly widow deciding to sell her large London home and she reflects on memories of raising her family from the previous decades, then it later goes into the scandal which changed everything. I’m over two-thirds of the way in and hoping it doesn’t have a disappointing ending. I felt Sing, Unburied, Sing started with great promise but fell flat close to the end – I think it may have been the ghost element, which I wasn’t quite expecting.

Fortuna I love that you are on number 181, I wish I was able to read that many - it would massively cut down my virtual TBR pile (which stands at nearly 400 books)

Tara agree. Another author I have more of sitting on a shelf unread. I really need to get back into print books.

Cludgie It's a blip this year. The joys of audiobooks and an unprecedented amount of free time. I was also a bit WTF? with Sing, Unburied, Sing I wasn't expecting the ghost thing and it didn't sit well until I went on to read Beloved and realised it's a thing.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley, author of the much discussed Hunting Party is 99p at the moment. From the description it looks very much like it is more of the same - 13 guests on an island for a wedding, one of them won't leave alive.

I'm not sure whether to read it or not to be honest.

Sorry to double post, just seen that you've read The Guest lIst @InTheCludgie - what did you think of it?

(and welcome back)

Keith, loved your review of Swing Time, that's going on my Wanted Books list (which already takes a while to read in itself)

FortunaMajor really glad you liked Susie Steiner's latest - I loved her first two in the Manon Bradshaw series and am looking forward to reading the third. I saw on Twitter that she sadly has an incurable brain tumour - I don't normally follow the personal lives of authors I read, but was quite shaken by that.

I'm reading the other book by the World War Z chap. Not enjoying it at all so far!

IRe "The Guest List bette, it depends if you liked the first book. It's more of the same, crime fiction by numbers, dipping into characters' consciousness to uncover their motives and see if they're the killer. Sometimes that's way you're in the mood for. Not in the category of wonderful books you have to read.

91. Sleeping Murder, Agatha Christie
Woman buys house, gets mysteries flashbacks, Miss Marple helps to disentangle. Late Christie, so she's not at the height of her powers, but the opening chapters are nicely atmospheric and she does well she does so well.

91. Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther. Published in 1939, a middle-cladd woman reflects on everyday life and the looming war. It's almost plotless, a series of very short essays for focusing on tiny moments - this is what it's like to stand here with flowers in my hand and a little fire in the grate, suspended between summer and autumn, youth and midlife, here right now. Long before the cult of mindfulness, she's all about being in the moment. I had to take off my class warrior hat (shaped like a 'miner's helmet) to relax into it, but I found some of her observations quite piercing and this will be a reread.

Bloody autocorrect mangles everything I say.

Currently on Dublin-set police procedural, Too Close to Breathe, by Olivia Kiernan.. Finding it a bit lifeless, tbh. I do like the review on the inside cover from The Irish Times, which says the lead detective is exactly "who you'd want investigating your own murder". It never struck me as something I would have an opinion on.

Welsh that's really sad about Susie Steiner. I have a feeling she's someone who'd be brilliant to chat to from her observations.

I'm not sure I'd be rushing to read another Lucy Foley THP wasn't terrible but I think 'paint by numbers' sums it up perfectly.

Ooh Mrs Miniver, good shout. Never read it. My favourite half remembered fact about Jan Struther is that as a non-believer she was challenged at a dinner party to write a hymn, and wrote 'Immortal, invisible'.

Yes, the bio at the front of the book says she wrote quite a few well-loved hymns.

I'd somehow picked up the impression that Mrs Miniver was a cheery Cockney undaunted by the Blitz. Definitely not! My favorite line was how anti-German sentiment in WWI made people look at Daschund puppies "with the mixed emotions of a devout churchwoman dandling her daughter's love-child".

Thanks betts, I found The Guest List to be quite similar to The Hunting Party, almost as if the author is following a formula of some kind. It was still an enjoyable enough read but nothing spectacular.

That’s terribly sad about Susie Steiner. I’ve finished her Missing, Presumed just this morning and thought it was really excellent.

I think I was right not to get The Guest List for 99p.

After reading all the threads about opening schools last night despite having vowed to stay away last month I wanted a quick read so settled for More confessions of a GP and started and finished it overnight. There should be a Confessions of an Education Secretary. I'm not sure what I'll read next, I've got several books which I've started but can't seem to get on with despite them being good.

I read both Sing, Unburied, Sing and Beloved this year and found that the latter really helped me resolve my misgivings about the former.

I could not finish Sing and that is so unusual for me.