50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Eight

[southeastdweller]

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

What are you reading?

@BestIsWest

I promised mine were untidy- here’s the ones in my so called office, most of which I can’t actually get to since DS came home from uni and dumped all his stuff in there. I promise the ones in the rest of the house are tidier.

I have found somebody with bookcases like mine I also can't get to them because of stuff stored in front of them.

High Five @BestIsWest

I like Settlers of Catan @highlandcoo Partly because it's the first Eurogame I played, but I still find it pleasing & enjoy the negotiating aspect. Having said that I'm not big on Carcassone, I prefer resource allocation games to ones drawing more on spatial awareness skills (mostly because whilst I generally lose games, I always lose REALLY badly at the latter ).

Yay @bettsbattenburg. I feel better for knowing I’m not alone.

BestisWest. Definitely not alone!

72: Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons - Matthew Fort

More foodie writing. A sequel to Matthew Fort's Eating Up Italy (reviewed somewhere upthread), but this time he heads for Sicily on his trusty red Vespa, Monica. Once again he eats and drinks hugely, exploring the varied history of the island's food traditions - Greek, Roman, Arabic, Spanish influences all come to bear, as does the lingering legacy of cucina povera, a relic of the grindingly hard lives of the contadini who eked a slim living from the land and had to raise large families on very little in the way of food, sometimes eating meat only two or three times a year (yes, a year).

Fort is a cheery companion whose love of food shines off the page, and he's also endlessly curious about the people he meets and the places he finds. Some lovely recipes too, even if the prevalence of tomato sauce and aubergines starts to feel a tiny bit repetitive. Actually, at this point, after no holidays for what seems like forever, forget that - Sicily, here I come....

120. IT by Stephen King (Audible)

Long Sigh.

Where to start?

The thing is with King is that I have this FOMO. How is it that I can’t get on at all with one of the most popular and prolific writers of our time? And I keep trying.

I have read I think 9 now.

First Four Dark Towers (gave up during the fourth) The Green Mile, Different Seasons, Dolores Claiborne, The Stand and IT

The only one that genuinely blew me away was The Gunslinger.

I still have Under The Dome and The Shining on TBR so I cant say I am “done with King” until after those two but I think it’s likely unless Remus or the many King fans can suggest one I’ll love.

My folly was that I initially bought the paperback realised I’d struggle holding it and got the Audible. Of the narrator Steven Weber, I have no complaints.

The audiobook is nearly 45 hours long. About exactly halfway through I knew I absolutely hated it but having come thus far I soldiered on.

I’m just going point by point

Clunky, Folksy, Cliched Dialogue
Repetitive, Mediocre Prose “And then they all fell about laughing” (at something that wasnt fucking funny to start with)
Repetitive past/future contrasts
Richie Fucking Tozier. Had Stephen King ended the book by Richie being horrifically and graphically killed or at least mutilated beyond all powers of speech? Five Stars. Because I would have been like Fair Play, he may have created one of the most aggravating characters in all of literature, but he understands the reader, and gives them what they want.
Chud and The Turtle - who fucking knows, who fucking cares.
Weird Underage Sewer Orgy which struck me as maybe originally intended as a gang rape sequence, that he chickened out of and redid/made ok by making the only female the instigator. Absolutely fucking excruciating to read/listen to. I think her genitalia is referred to as her “underdeveloped sex” or something equally nauseating.
Audra and Tom - also in the who the fuck cares category

But ultimately, ultimately my overwhelming struggle with IT?

The Racism (also extends to homophobia and misogyny) but mostly THE RACISM (and I dont know if audio made this more horrific)

I dont really think of myself as either woke or a snowflake and I also know that the reality is that the USA in the 1950’s was very racist and so historically resonant I guess.

It was PAINFUL to listen to and not just the N Word.

The offensiveness of some of the language used is off the scale. And it is intense and incessant. I was FLINCHING. At times it is like 10 racial slurs a paragraph.

With Richie’s “comedy impersonations” particularly, they are almost exclusively described by racial slurs.

I was so astounded and put off by it I googled “Racism in It” and found very little discourse. I just think that even though it was published in the 80s and set in the 50s a coked up privileged white guy wrote all these words and found the amount of them acceptable. I was embarrassed listening to it and felt so uncomfortable.

I hated IT. IT was ShIT. But it's 80 percent 5 stars on Amazon so I am clearly wrong

Not my most hated this year but easily third.

(Hides Forever From Remus)

eine I think Stephen King is a weird one for Audible. His power (for me) is in his ability to make you keep turning pages and I don’t know how that translates.

You might prefer something like 11.22.63 which is a bit less...everything you described. But folksy grotesques are a bit his stock in trade.

When King got hit by a van, and sustained very severe injuries, the guy who did it said “I was just driving out to get some of those Marses bars they have up at the store.” and King thought “I’ve nearly been killed by one of my own characters”.

Misery is great, short and tense and meta, but with some real cockadoody dialogue.

Oh dear Eine ! Not to make light of your suffering, but I want to know what the two worse books you've read this year are

Eine, don’t tell Remus but I really don’t like IT. And I say that as a firm King fan. I think it’s long, boring and not very scary. Your review made me chuckle.

I do think King does not do women all that well although Rose Madder - despite veering off into insanity about two thirds of the way through - is one of the best depictions of abuse from the woman’s perspective I have read. And IT is certainly very problematic in terms of its choice of language around race though I don’t think King has a racist bone in his body.

If you want scares, The Shining is much better and tighter. Misery is much more coherent and well put together. And 11.22.63 is very very good. I’m a big fan of some of his earlier shorter works - I think The Long Walk is heartbreakingly good on adolescent boys and desperation, for example. There is something for everyone in his bibliography, I think. I know many people who have loathed the Dark Tower books, but loved all the classic horror.

And before someone else says it, The Stand is just perfect. Sure, it is too long and the ending is terrible but my word, it is a great novel.

I’ll be back soonish to report on The Dark Half. King at his best, in my view. Though I have doubts about where and how we may end it.

Also I’m not a huge admirer of IT and read it a long time ago but I don’t think the sewer scene was intended as anything other than it is. It serves a purpose in the story that an assault wouldn’t, like it or not (And I’m not a fan)

Enjoyed all the shelfies. My solution to the teetering bedside pile. I’m sure soon I will overstack it and spoil the effect. I had to remove a spider that was dangling above it before I took the photo. How to be Both has been there for some years now, with ever-changing companions

Also not a King fan, have never been able to do horror. My late dad convinced me to read 11-22-63 and I did enjoy that.
I saw the series Under the Dome, thought it was terrible and have no desire to read it.

Thanks for making me laugh this morning Eine with I hated IT. IT was ShIT.

It’s been years and years since I read It so I don’t remember the details of it very well.

The Shining is one of my favourite Stephen King books.

Under the Dome, though - I’ve read a lot of King’s books, I’ve liked most of them, some better than others, but I just could not get on with Under The Dome at all and abandoned it quite early on.
Not sorry I gave up after reading the comments upthread about people throwing it across the room because of the ending!

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

I’ve had this on my Kindle for ages, and finally read it as it was featured on Backlisted podcast this week. A forbidden affair spills over into a murderous plot, and the novel examines in detail the motivations of the main characters; Thérèse and her lover Laurent, as they act according to their desires and attempt to live with the consequences. It is a luridly written study of morality, with some descriptions of a Paris morgue among the most horrific and unsettling I’ve ever read. For a short novel it feels remarkably dense, so you feel confined in the small rooms with Thérèse, watching from the shadows.

The Wonder Spot by Melissa Banks

I find it hard to describe what I think about this -the writing in it is some of my favourite that I’ve read anywhere; a Nora Ephron movie on the page. Witty and acutely, wonderfully observational on the high comedy and small sadnesses of human interaction and a really great study of how relationships with friends, family and colleagues change and develop over time, shaping your own character and expectations. It is a coming of age novel, but follows Sophie Applebaum from early teens to midlife in a series of snapshots. We dip in and out of her life at intervals, witnessing an important relationship or job or to see a friendship falter. The characterisation is really good, and the vignettes interesting, but it didn’t quite work for me here, as the intermittent nature of it became a little frustrating; once you felt settled in a set of characters it moved on to the next situation and felt like beginning all over again and again. This does mirror Sophie’s life as she struggles to find her path through adulthood so it’s not a failing as such, but I just would have preferred more of an overarching story. By the final couple of chapters I didn’t really care to meet yet another erstwhile boyfriend or work scenario. Sometimes it was just getting absorbing and then skipped on somewhere else. I felt it outstayed its welcome by around 50 pages and lacked narrative drive overall. But it’s a shame because I could have pulled out almost every other sentence to read aloud, there were so many good lines.

My experience with King is mixed. My first King was 11.22.63 which I thought was fantastic.

However, I then read Carrie which I thought was terrible. I’ve since read a few others that I thought were in the ‘ok to good’ range.

Haven’t read It so can’t comment on that!

It's 25 years since I read IT and while I loved it at the time, I can't disagree with the comments. A lot of books really don't age well.

I'll blame Tim Curry over King, but I still check behind things in bathrooms at night, even in my own house to make sure Pennywise isn't lurking there. I wish I was joking.

190. The Living Mountain - Nan Shepherd
     A love letter to a mountain. Exploration of the Cairngorms. Nature writing at it's finest. I didn't bother with Robert Macfarlane's intro, I didn't want to ruin it. Beautifully narrated audio version.

191. The Imperfects - Amy Meyerson
     The three grandchildren of a woman who fled from the Nazis find their inheritance is complicated by the discovery of a priceless missing diamond from the Austro-Hungarian crown jewels amongst her belongings. It's on them to prove she owned it legitimately. It's also an exploration of difficult sibling relationships.

I really enjoyed this even though the ending is a bit naff. Nice light non-taxing read that rattled along.

Sorry to derail .....
....but my Kindle Store is now all in Spanish. I have checked my language setting is English for my Kindle and restarted but still in Spanish. Anyone else had this? Or have any suggestions as to how to revert to English?

Just checked TimeForAGandT and mine is in Spanish too.

Looks like it’s a ‘known issue’. As they like to say.

I'm not a fan of horror so I haven't read much King. But I enjoyed 22.11.63 and loved The Stand.

No entiendo por qué eso es un problema, es hora de un gin tonic.

@SatsukiKusakabe

I get that it marked the transition from childhood to adulthood but the writing was gross and the intent subtle as a brick

@Sadik

Delta Of Venus by Anais Nin. Badly written misogynistic offensive "erotica" somehow a "classic"

The Gift Of Fear by Gavin De Becker

Aka I Have Met Loads Of Famous People Even Oprah. I Am Considerably Richer Than You. You Were Raped Because You Weren't Scared Enough And Didn't Protect Yourself Enough. Hope That Helps.

UTTER GARBAGE.

Hello all - I joined the 50 bookers either last year or the year before and promptly fell off the face of the thread after a poor year of reading.

I started this year pretty poorly too, but oddly lockdown was the kick up the bum I needed (plus a house move that happened at the end of May resulting in two weeks of no internet) and I've rattled through loads since then. So, in search of recommendations for books I'd actually enjoy I've returned and am working my way through all of the posts inbetween my actual reading. I have added an absolute bundle to my wishlist/TBR pile thanks to you lot and laughed out loud at some of the reviews/books you loved or hated as I've gone through.

Is it far too late to join? I reckon I could actually hit 50 books by the end of the year, currently sitting on 33 after giving myself a goal of 25 this year.

Siempre!

Karma never too late! Get involved.