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?

Thanks remus

Satsuki yes, I was impressed with Nervous Conditions and will be tracking down the sequel. My dd is almost a teenager and would probably enjoy it.

My latest reviews:

181. The Unexpected Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke

Borrowed this from DH and enjoyed it more than I expected to. There are 13 chapters, each featuring a slightly undervalued animal. I particularly enjoyed the Sloth chapter but was also slightly unnerved to learn that some natural vanilla flavouring comes from a gland situated quite near the anus of a beaver.

182. The Other People by C J Tudor

I raced through this and enjoyed it - it’s a thriller with a slightly supernatural theme. Can’t say too much without spoilers, but Gabe spots his daughter in a car on the motorway yet later discovers his wife and daughter were attacked at the time he saw his daughter in the car. He spends the next few years trying to track his daughter down.

183. Murder In The Caribbean by Robert Thorogood

Novel based on the TV programme Death In Paradise. I enjoyed the story but didn’t feel the characters came over as well in the book as they do on TV - but this is the fourth in the series (I haven’t read any others) so maybe the characters are explained more in the earlier books. Good read if you like the programme.

184. Where Was Rebecca Shot? by John Sutherland

I read two other literary puzzle books up thread and someone pointed me in the direction of this one. This covers ‘modern’ fiction, which here means 1900 to around 1998 when the book was published. Unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with most of the books mentioned here so didn’t enjoy this as much as his other 19th century focused books.

185. Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet? by John Sutherland

This is another of the 19th century focused books so I enjoyed it more than the one above!

186. More Ketchup Than Salsa by Joe Cawley

Kindle unlimited book about a couple with no bar experience going to run a British themed bar in Tenerife in the early 1990s. Unsurprisingly it’s hard work! Quick inconsequential read.

187. Even More Ketchup Than Salsa:The Final Dollop by Joe Cawley

The sequel. As it was on kindle unlimited I thought I may as well read it to see how things ended up for them. Things don’t get much better!

188. Angels by Marian Keyes

Listened to this on Audible. I love Marian Keyes, particularly her Walsh sisters books, but this is probably my least favourite of that series. Still very good though because everything she writes is.

189. J Is For Judgment by Sue Grafton

The latest in the series featuring female PI Kinsey Millhone. In this she’s on the trail of a man who is believed to have faked his own death. I like this series, it’s a good read and undemanding.

190. Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

I seem to have lost my reading mojo at the moment so am turning to these as comfort reads. This is the fourth in the Walsh sisters series and is very good. I have recently listened to the first three on Audible but for some reason this one isn’t on Audible (except as an abridged version) so read it in paperback.

Has anyone on this thread read The Porpoise by Mark Haddon? He wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime but this is a totally different book - in fact different to anything I can think of. I loved it but it is quite strange and I would love to know what someone else thought of it.

26. Valiant - Simon Forward (I think. I forgot to note down the authors name and I’m too lazy to go get the book to double check ).

Begins when a knight called Valiant decided to get a shield with snakes that can paralyse the opponent. He then makes his way to Camelot to participate in the Camelot tournament, so he can win the prize of 1000 gold pieces.

I have to say—in the series I did think it felt like Valiant wanted to kill Arthur, yet it seemed from his thoughts that it was an afterthought (after all). More close friendship between Morgana and Gwen was nice to see

Someone on here LOVED it @TheNavigator I've gone back to the lists and checked and it was @mackerella - so the lists are handy sometimes!

I think 3 of us have read The Porpoise. It was generally enjoyed while noting the 3 parts didn't quite work as a whole.

193. The Less Dead - Denise Mina A GP in search of her birth mother discovers she was a murdered prostitute and that the killer was never found. Her newly found aunt draws her in to the case and she starts to get threatening letters.

I liked this. Convictions was a bit too far fetched and ridiculous for me, but this has more credibility to it. Decent plot and well paced.

194. The Boy in the Field - Margot Livesey 3 teen siblings discover a half dead boy in a field which has an impact on them for years afterwards. Each struggles with their own issues as they approach adulthood and come to terms with the world around them.

This had something about it that made it completely compelling. It wasn't challenging in terms of reading, but had a lot going on beneath by the surface. Unusual coming of age that I couldn't put down. Beautifully written.

195. The Stars are Fire - Anita Shreve In Maine in 1947 wild fires devastate a whole area. One woman is rescued with her two small children, but nothing is known of her husband who was a volunteer fire fighter. She goes on to rebuild her life with the spectre of her abusive husband hanging over her.

I have very mixed feelings about this. Ultimately it was emotionally manipulative misery lit masquerading as something else.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit - thank you! I haven't encountered anyone else who has read The Porpoise, which is strange when his other book was such a hit and so many people read it. I get the point about the 3 parts not working as a whole but in way that was almost its strength for me - the driver of the book was not narrative and story but timeless themes and resonances. Anyway, good to know at least other Mumsnetters have read it

Yes, it was me who was very enthusiastic about The Porpoise, but Fortuna and Tanaqui have also read it this year (and Fortuna was extra diligent and even read Pericles as well!).

You can find our reviews here, if you're interested: Fortuna's, Tanaqui's, and
mine.

I also haven't come across anyone in real life who has read it, but would be really interested to hear what you thought about it, The Navigator. It's a flawed book in some ways, but quite unlike anything else I've read, and has stayed with me for a long time. It's the kind of book I'd really like to discuss with someone else!

@mackerella I've read the reviews and yours really chimed with me. I just found the imagery so powerful it swept me along and stopped me questioning the plot. The scene where George Wilkins is at sea and the wraiths appear and start whispering then a lamprey with a woman's face - Haddon created such a clear and disturbing visual image that didn't exactly advance the plot but seemed to meld so well with the hideous truth of Angelica's incarceration. Also the recurring image of the deer and women as objects of prey, who have to try and blend in and not be spotted and always be alert to threat. It has really jammed in my brain, I'm trying to persuade my book reading friend to give it a go.

Book 50 The History of Bees by Maje Lunde

A story told through the eyes of three people in different eras. Tao in China is living in the future when pollinating insects are extinct on earth and China’s agriculture is maintained with human hand pollination. George is living in the present, at the time of global bee colony collapse. Bees are disappearing and George’s US mobile bee farm business is at risk of closure. William is a troubled 19th century academic studying bees and is driven to inventing the perfect hive for modern beekeepers.

All these narratives come together to describe the precarious ecological balance of insect and human activity on earth and the dystopian future awaiting us should this relationship crumble.

I love bees, have studied beekeeping and as I liked the premise was really looking forward this book, but I struggled to keep engaged with it. The three separate voices alternate through the chapters, which I found a bit irritating after a while. The opening quarter was good but then it was like trying to follow a story through numerous short sound-bites, but with no real connection beyond the obvious bee theme the characters failed to keep my interest. I wanted their stories to pick up pace at the last half and enmesh together cleverly somehow. However they seemed to amble along predictably but in increasingly shorter and more depressing episodes until they fizzled out. It left me feeling a bit flat.

I haven’t read any of Lund’s other books and probably wouldn’t scramble to do so after this one.

82. Dark Light by Jodi Taylor

This is the second in the Elizabeth Cage series. Elizabeth is psychic, and events at the end of the first book have sent Elizabeth fleeing in the hopes of getting out of the reaches of the Sorensen Institute, which seems determined to try and control Elizabeth and use her powers for their own ends.

This book required quite a lot of suspension of disbelief.
Near the beginning, Elizabeth stumbles into a village that has practiced ritual human sacrifice for centuries. Elizabeth has a feeling that this is a Bad Place, tries to leave - and the leader of the bloodthirsty cult stops her and tries to pressgang her into being one of the 3 main cult figures (maiden, mother, crone) I mean, seriously?
I could buy them deciding that she’d go down well as an extra sacrifice, but trying to force someone into one of the main roles in your cult when they’re making horrified exclamations about the evils of human sacrifice and how they’ll never cooperate with it? The justification given for this later on is very flimsy.

And apparently half of these murderous villagers look terribly inbred, despite claims that they only ever give birth to girl babies and the fathers come from all over the place and aren’t there for longer than a year. That’s not how inbreeding works, unless I’m missing something.

Anyway, Elizabeth continues having incredulity straining adventures, and by the end of the book I wouldn’t have been surprised if there’d been a revelation that she was a minor deity with amnesia.

So, it was all getting a bit too far fetched for me by the end of this, like I said at the start, serious effort on suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy this one.

@southeastdweller

32. I Love the Bones of You - Christopher Eccleston. This is an exceptional memoir, mostly very absorbing and deeply moving at times when he writes about his family dynamics and his struggles with his mental health and anorexia. As a fan of his acting and some of his films for many years it was fascinating reading his very candid thoughts on his performances and those films. There was a simple honesty and authenticity running through this book which made it a joy to read. Fab.

Thank you for that review Southeast, I bought the book after hearing CE interviewed about it on Radio 4 a while back and didn't get round to reading it, I was about to start it when my father died very suddenly and I haven't picked it up since but I do hope to. Coincidentally I saw it on my Kindle when browsing earlier but I'm not ready to yet.

I was at work today and unexpectedly saw the trailer for the new Pixar film Onwards about two brothers who want to bring their late father back to life for one day. I don't think anybody saw the tears in my eyes, it's the unexpected things that get to you isn't it? I need to get a grip.

Battling through War and Peace at the moment!

Every book I read seems to have its prescient covid references! Today, Pierre saw propaganda posters in Moscow, announcing the French were not on the way to Moscow! Don't Panic!

Pierre concludes it is time to panic and the Russians are on the way.

They all go out panic buying. Meanwhile, Napoleon gets a 'cold' and loses sense of taste and smell!

Tolstoy knew...

@Piggywaspushed

I am aiming to cross W and P off in the next calendar year. How far until you felt "in" ?

I am reading it in volumes, and then putting it back in the TBR after each volume. It does mean I forget stuff but makes It more manageable.

Been reading it this way since 2018! Some of it is interminable but I did just get a livelier bit when the overweight Pierre decides to go to war and juts basically gets in everyone's way... as you do...

That’s my favourite bit of W&P. There’s something very human about his bumbling and bimbling while war wages around him.
On the subject of long book strategies, if anyone has any handy tips for getting beyond book 8 of Ulysses, please share. It’s been pushing 9 months now and I am lost and stuck and bored. But would love to get through it this year if I can.

I did opposite to piggy and did shock and awe on W&P in two weeks. But to be honest I felt in from almost the start - I remember thinking “oh this is actually good” straight away. War bits are great most of the way through, there is strategising waffle later on but you’ll know it when you come to it. Pierre is a wonderful character.

@PepeLePew

I was toying with the idea of "doing" Ulysses as audio. Don't know if this is an option for you

The Nickel Boys in the Daily Deal for 99p this morning

I also did War and Peace in one push although I think it took me about a month but momentum does carry you along. There were a few bits of the military side which dragged for me but in the main it was fabulous and well worth it.

34. Summer - Ali Smith
This is the last of her seasonal quarter, but it although it completes the cycle it also feels like the middle of something perpetual. Melancholy, hopeful, beautiful and wondrous.

35. 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hannf
Read after seeing this reviewed and loved here. I devoured this in one sitting and found it delightful. Her letter about some busybody editor's miserable collection of EXCERPTS from Pepys' diary was excellent. Is the film worth seeing?

36. The Institute - Stephen King
Good, reliable, page-turnery King. This was pretty horrific in places re: child abuse but jings I couldn't help but keep reading to find out what happened.

Currently reading 37. Piransei - Susanna Clarke and greatly enjoying it. I am entirely unsure what to make of anything or anyone and it is both absorbing and really unsettling at the same time.

Hope everyone is doing okay at the moment - I've finally caught up on all of this year's threads and now have a TBR pile taller than me (although I'm quite short so that's not too hard...)

Also I did W&P on the Kindle even though I had a hard copy and found it much less daunting that way.

Ulysses would be good on audio I think. I got stuck about where you are, pepe and had a big break after going along nicely till then. I had been trying to match it up to the Odyssey a bit to make sense of it, but in the end stopped worrying about how much I understood and just got through it. It’s one I’ll probably have to reread.

Sorry about the unexpected hurts, bett.

karma, I think the film of 84 Charing Cross Road does capture the feeling of the book pretty well. They resist the temptation to sex it up.

War and Peace - waiting for a broken leg before I undertake it. Like karma, my tbr teeters at head height so must be tackled for safety reasons if nothing else (now it would be ironic if the pile collapsed on me, breaking my leg, so I really did have to undertake W&P).

Finished 100. The Killer in Me, Olivia Kiernan
Most unworthy of being book 100. Dublin-set police procedural. None of the characters has snagged my interest or affection. I read it largely because it was due back at the library so I might as well get it out of the way (how not to read W&P tip 32).

My worry (worry is possibly a little strong) about Ulysses as an audiobook is that it will be all to easy to disengage, which is something I struggle with a lot when listening. Whole chapters will slip by un-noticed. I realise it's not exactly plot driven but it does seem to warrant close attention. Perhaps I will give it another go, with your encouragement. I hate not finishing things.

I think i may have to finish off some loose ends of reading though and focus entirely on that. It's too easy for that not to be the book I pick up when I have a few on the go, so I do probably need to get through the half read books I have currently got "live".