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?

66: Return to Paris - Colette Rossant

Further adventures, culinary and otherwise, of the future food writer. Colette grew up in Cairo in the home of her Egyptian grandparents (as chronicled in Apricots on the Nile ) but when her perpetually unreliable French mother returned out of the blue, she was taken back to Paris. At first young Colette saw this as a longed-for reunion with her mother, but all too soon, she was abandoned yet again and left to live with her forbidding maternal grandmother, who took to staging convenient 'heart attacks' at any sign of disobedience.

There's much more memoir and less food in this second volume - which details Colette's eventful life through to her eventual marriage to a young American and their departure for New York - but for lovers of enticing descriptions of delicious dishes, there's plenty to keep you happy here (plus more recipes).

magimedi hope he has a swift recovery.

I've had fewer stinkers this year, but I think it's because I'm getting better at abandoning books I'm not enjoying. The odd one has slipped through, but they have started well and then disappointed far enough in that I've been too bloody minded to stop.

Eine I read The Colonel for A-level Spanish Lit and though it was ok. I really didn't get on with One Hundred Years and think someone would have to pay me to read another of his after that. That really was a bloody minded read and it took me over a month to finish it. I photocopied and laminated the family tree to use as a bookmark in the end.

magimedi

Thanks for the new thread Southeast.
Bringing my list over:

1. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
2. Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh
3. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
4. Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan
5. Calmer, Easier, Happier Homework by Noel Janis-Norton
6. Skeletons by Jane Fallon
7. The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
8. Red: A Natural History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey
9. The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F Hamilton

10. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 11. 99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter 12. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini 13. Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy 14. The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson 15. The Silver Dream story by Neil Gaiman & Micheal Reaves, written by Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves 16. By Light Alone by Adam Roberts 17. The Treatment by C L Taylor 18. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 19. The Escape by C L Taylor 20. The Chalk Man by C J Tudor 21. No Dominion by Louise Welsh 22. How to Lose Weight Without Being Miserable by Richard Templar 23. The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig 24. Chimera by Mira Grant 25. God Bless the NHS by Roger Taylor 26. Bring Me Back by B A Paris 27. The Shape We’re In by Sarah Boseley 28. The Understudy by B A Paris, Clare Mackintosh, Holly Brown and Sophie Hannah 29. Someone Like Me by M R Carey 30. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 31. Calmer Easier Happier Screen Time by Noel Janis-Norton 32. The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley 33. Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott 34. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 35. First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 36. Night Film by Marisha Pessl 37. Second Form at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 38. Third Year at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 39. Believe Me by J P Delaney 40. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 41. The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion 42. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer 43. The Demon Code by Adam Blake 44. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey 45. Everything Begins With Asking For Help by Kevin Braddock 46. Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz 47. Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig 48. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson 49. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman 50. Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones 51. The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin 52. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker 53. Early Riser by Jasper Fforde 54. Friend Request by Laura Marshall 55. A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena 56. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge 57. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan 58. The Naked God by Peter F Hamilton 59. Big Fat Lies by Hannah Sutter 60. The Migration by Helen Marshall 61. Circe by Madeline Miller 62. Sleep by C L Taylor 63. The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed 64. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor 65. Gone by Leona Deakin 66. White Cat by Holly Black 67. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena 68. White Silence by Jodi Taylor 69. The Institute by Stephen King 70. All New Wolverine Volume 1: The Four Sisters 71. Dracula by Bram Stoker 72. Roman Quests: The Archers of Isca by Caroline Lawrence 73. Malory Towers Upper Fourth by Enid Blyton 74. Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan 75. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly

Having just read the thread properly I’ll just add that I don’t mind the lists, they’re generally just there for the first few pages.

Hope your DH is doing ok, magimedi.

mackerella, I was thinking the same about stinkers! I've only had one this year, and that was mediocre rather than awful. This thread must definitely take some of the credit, as it is a big contributor to my tbr list.

I like the lists by the way - I'm another who uses the bookmark function, so I only see them once.

magimedi.

I'm fine with the lists because I bookmark the last post I've read. Happy either way, though.

Angela Kelly's memoir is 99p on the daily deal today and has been recommended to me by a friend. One for fans of clothes and royalty .

I like the lists too but prefer them to be just at the start of each thread, rather than each time a review is added.

for magimedi

I meant to add my best wishes for magimedi and Mr magimedi

Re lists - I only add mine once in each new thread when I post for the first time, and I do like seeing what others have been reading (and I’m another place-bookmarker so wading through already-viewed lists isn’t a problem).

Thanks for the new thread, Southeast

magimedi - I hope that your DH feels better very soon

I don’t mind the lists at the beginning of each thread but agree it would be annoying if the list was posted every time a new review was added, particularly later in the year when some of the lists are getting very long! I’ve only seen a couple of people doing this though.

Thank you all very much for the good wishes - it means a lot.

I don't mind the lists at the start of a new thread. Sometimes they are quite helpful to me as I'll be thinking what was that book X posted about and seeing the person's list is an easy way of remembering.

I enjoy the lists - helps get to know everyone and remind me of what people have enjoyed. Although I don't always post my own anymore as it takes me a while and I like to get onto the new thread asap.

thank you so much @southeastdweller continues to be my favourite bit of the internet.

43 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell. I haven't been blown away by her other books but have enjoyed them. This I did like a lot. Much reviewed but the story of Shakespeare's family. For me despite the clever attempts to remove him from the story Shakespeare was still very much front and centre of this novel. His personality and imagination and how his wife recognised this. I do think Farrell loves Shakespeare a lot and this jarred with me a bit as she paints a picture that is in awe of his talent and justifying all his behaviour in a way I couldn't follow.

I'm now purely focused on The Mirror and the Light as I finally have a library deadline. Slow going as it's just too heavy to read sometimes but enjoying the experience.

Thank you for the new thread @southeastdweller
As we seem to be divided about lists I'm putting mine on this time. I don't look at threads on my phone so I'd put myself in the yes camp . I like to see the similarities and differences in our choices.
1 Motherland-Jo McMillan
2 Force of Nature-Jane Harper
3 Silver Dark Sea- Susan Fletcher
4 The Immortalists-Chloe Benjamin
5 Fierce Bad Rabbit -Clare Pollard
6 Platform Seven-Louise Doughty
7 Fighting on the Home Front-Legacy of Women in World War 1 Kate Adie
8 The Truants Kate Weinberg
9 Paper Ghosts Julia Heaberlin
10 Strange Meeting Susan Hill
11The Murderer’s Apprentice Ann Granger
12 The Turning Tide Catriona McPhereson
13 Diary of a Bookseller Shaun Blythell
14 Lost Girls ;Love, War and Literature D J Taylor
15 All the Hidden Truths Clare Askew
16 The Gustav Sonata Rose Tremain.
17 The Body on the Train Frances Brody
18 Y Marjorie Celona
19 The House at the End of Hope St Menna Van Praag
20 The Confession Jesse Burton
21 Force of Nature Jane Harper
22 The Benefit of Hindsight Susan Hill
23 The Words in my Hand Guinevere Glasfurd
24 The Age of Light Whitney Scharer
25 The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker Joanna Nell
26 The Museum of Broken Promises Elizabeth Buchan
27 Haven’t They Grown? Sophie Hannah
28 Before Wallis Rachel Tretheway
29 The Nightingale Kirstin Hannah.
30 One Enchanted Evening Anton Du Beke
31 Our Dark Secret Jenny Quintana
32 The Wild Air Rebecca Mascull
33 Educated Tara Westover
34 Saving Missy Beth Morrey
35Love After Love Ingrid Persaud
36 Flip Back Andrew Cartmel
37 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
38 Hamlet:Globe to Globe Dominic Dromgoole
39 The Late Scholar Jill Paton Walsh
40 The Night Visitor Lucy Atkins
41 Machines Like me Ian McKewan
42 Valentine Elizabeth Wetmore
43 The Dry Jane Harper.
44 The Amber Shadows Lucy Ribchester
45 Bitter Orange Claire Fuller
46 The Widows of Malabar Hill Sujata Massey
47 A War of Flowers Jane Thynne
48 The Chelsea Girls Fiona Davis
49 Kick Paula Bryne
50 The Library Book Susan Orlean
51 A Year Without Summer Guinevere Glasfurd
52 The Giver of Stars Jojo Moyles
53 These Wonderful Rumours May Smith
54 The 24 Hour Cafe Libby Page
55 The Disappearance Katherine Webb
After the disappearance of her friend at the end of 1918 the now adult protagonist becomes involved with her family and the mystery of her disappearance. This was an intriguing idea but was let down by the writing. I found the portrayal of a large, dysfunctional family realistic but the story lacked pace. I also found the constant "if only I could remember.." device irritating . Although it was set in both world wars I didn't feel that, apart from a description of bomb damage, that their was any effort made to evoke the experience of living through those times.
Wishing you and your husband well @magimedi

to magimedi and your husband

Thanks for the new thread, southeast.
I like seeing the lists at the beginning of a new thread.
Mine doesn't take long to scroll past if desired

1. The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
2. The Unexpected Joy of being Sober – Catherine Gray
3. Ta deuxième vie commence quand tu comprends que tu n’en as qu’une – Raphaëlle Giordano
4. L’élégance du hérisson – Muriel Barbery
5. Three things about Elsie – Joanna Cannon
6. Restoration – Rose Tremain
7. The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth – William Boyd
8. The girl you left behind – Jojo Moyes
9. Antigone – Jean Anouilh
10. The Light Years – Elizabeth Jane Howard
11. Scissors, Paper, Stone – Elizabeth Day
12. Standard Deviation – Katherine Heiny
13. Behind the scenes at the museum – Kate Atkinson
14. The Well-Kept Kitchen – Gervase Markham
15. The Passion of Artemisia – Susan Vreeland
16. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
17. Marking Time – Elizabeth Jane Howard
18. Smoke gets in your eyes – Caitlin Doughty
19. American Heart – Laura Moriarty
20. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward
21. An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
22. Beloved – Toni Morrison
23. Ultimate Care – J M Farmer
24. Still Alice – Lisa Genova
25. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
26. Transcription – Kate Atkinson
27. 84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
28. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street – Helene Hanff
29. The Buddha in the Attic – Julie Otsuka
30. The Bookshop on the Shore – Jenny Colgan
31. Run – Ann Patchett
32. I am, I am, I am – Maggie Farrell
33. Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain – Sarah Jayne Blakemore
34. The Sealwoman’s Gift – Sally Magnusson
35. By the light of my Father’s Smile – Alice Walker
36. Where the crawdads sing – Delia Owens

Today's finished book is How To be Right In a World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien. This is quite the polemic and he certainly makes his position clear on range of matters. A quick read it did get me thinking about why people think the way they do and whether their views can be changed. the title is misleading : I don't think there are terribly may examples of when he has won someone round!

@Magimedi

magimedi So sorry to hear your husband is unwell.

On the subject of lists, I really enjoy reading them and would miss them if they didn't pop up at the start of each thread. I find the variety gives me ideas for future reads and always look out for highlighted books. For example, I probably wouldn't have read The Five if I hadn't seen it pop up so many times. I also find the impressively long lists inspiring!

I have definitely read less this year than last. This is probably down to not having my daily commute, but also because for a large chunk of time around March/April my ability to concentrate on reading suffered, probably because I was watching the news too much.

1. Anatomy of a Scandal – Sarah Vaughan
2. Childhood: The Copenhagen Trilogy 1 – Tove Ditlevsen
3. Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
4. Animal Farm – George Orwell
5. Hazards of Time Travel – Joyce Carol Oates
6. Ghost Wall – Sarah Moss
7. Florida – Lauren Groff
8. This is Pleasure –Mary Gaitskill
9. Only Killers and Thieves – Paul Howarth
10. Milkman – Anna Burns
11. Ladder of Years – Anne Tyler
12. Youth: The Copenhagen Trilogy 2 – Tove Ditlevsen
13. Motherwell – Deborah Orr
14. The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
15. The Five – Haillie Rubenhold
16. Slack-Tide – Elanor Dymot
17. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
18. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
19. A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry
20. The Garden of Evening Mists – Tan Twan Eng
21. Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell
22. Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
23. Amnesty – Aravind Adiga
24. Hurricane Season – Fernanda Melchor
25. The Gathering – Anne Enright
26. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
27. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys – Viv Albertine
28. Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
29. Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
30. Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy 3 – Tove Ditlevsen
31. On Chapel Sands – Laura Cumming
32. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
33. Invisible Women : Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado Perez
34. My Face for the World to See – Alfred Hayes
35. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernadine Evaristo
36. After Midnight – Irmgard Keun
37. Blue in Chicago – Bette Howland
38. Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
39. The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo
40. Shane – Jack Schaefer
41. Saltwater – Jessica Andrews
42. Slaves of New York – Tama Janowitz
43. Segu – Maryse Conde
44. A Luminous Republic – Andres Barba

magimedi

No long list from me as I've never mastered how to save, find and bring it over to a new thread . Lists at the start of the thread don't bother me either way although I usually only scan them for the bolded books.

I'm twelve books behind on my reviews so another attempt to catch up with myself!

54. The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

A book group read; the story of Frannie, brought from a plantation in Jamaica to be a maid in London, and subsequently accused of the murder of her employers. I remember Remus saying something about the ridiculous metaphors and yes, you are tripping over them on every page, especially near the beginning. Just in the first two pages:

a river of faces in flood
A noise that hums with all the spite of bees in a bush
the barristers .. idle as cattle
his face soft and blank as an old potato
a smell like milk on the turn
jaws going like paddles
His voice laps steady as water against a hull

You get the idea. It's exhausting. Steinbeck has an ideal writing style IMO , so this was not my thing at all. However, the plot was fine and the author's tendency to overwrite did calm down as the book went on. I'm surprised at the rave reviews tbh.

55. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

It's hard to believe this was written as long ago as 1937; so many of the themes are still relevant today. As a young black girl Janie is married off by her grandmother to a much older man; she subsequently marries another two very different men and her life choices and happiness are almost wholly determined by the man she is with at the time.

Like the above book, TEWWG is full of poetry and metaphor, but unlike Frannie Langton in this case it really works.

I liked the character of Tea Cake in particular. Is an unreliable and sometimes not completely honest husband worth having if he also brings you joy and laughter and makes life more fun than you've ever known before? And should you make your big decisions based on how other people will judge you anyway?

Janie is a brilliant character. I might search out the film with Halle Berry, although reviews seem to say it doesn't do justice to the complexity of the book.

56. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

It's a long time since I first read this and I'd forgotten just how good it is.

Really important themes of racism, abuse, poverty .. but also strength, religious belief, love and hope. You care about the characters, especially Celie and Nettie, and you desperately want things to work out for the best for them. I can see why it's judged to be a classic of African-American literature .. and it's very readable at the same time.

57. Let Sleeping Vets Lie by James Herriot

Number three in the series (with a remake of the classic TV show just starting I believe) and a nice comforting read.

58. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

This is hugely liked and praised as ground-breaking writing. I found it a strange mixture of serious issues and complete trivia, which was perhaps something to do with Queenie's age. . and me being much older maybe. It just didn't completely convince me somehow.

I liked Celie better.

Back with my list, always enjoy reading everyone else's. I re-do my bolds for every new thread, and sometimes what I remember and how I feel about a book on reflection changes over time. I'd fallen out of the habit of italicising. In an out of character fit of niceness I decided it was a bit mean spirited, but actually, if what I personally didn't enjoy (which is not necessarily to say it's a bad book*) helps anyone else to avoid a stinker trap, I'm going to reinstate it.

*but some of them are

1. Gods of the Morning by John Lister-Kaye
2. The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Grey
3. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
4. Ten to Zen by Owen O'Kane
5. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
6. The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner
7. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
8. Black and British by David Olusoga
9. The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid

10. Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie 11. Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves (Vera #4) 12. Wonder by RJ Palacio 13. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 14. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky 15. The Chosen Dead by MR Hall (The Coroner #5) 16. This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health by Nathan Filer 17. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot 18. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale 19. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy 20. The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves (Vera #5) 21. The Affair by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #16) 22. Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit 23. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry 24. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn 25. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris 26. Heartburn by Nora Ephron 27. The Dry by Jane Harper 28. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 29. Dry by Augusten Burroughs 30. The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly 31. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky 32. Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves (Vera #6) 33. Darkmans by Nicola Barker 34. Death Toll by Jim Kelly 35. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Dummies by Rhena Branch and Rob Willson 36. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver 37. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami 38. The Dead Season by Christobel Kent (Sandro Cellini #3) 39. High and Low: How I Hiked Away from Depression Across Scotland by Keith Foskett 40. Regeneration by Stephanie Saulter (Revolution #3) 41. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot 42. Handstands in the Dark by Janey Godley 43. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 44. The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech 45. Black Water Rising by Attica Locke 46. Findings by Kathleen Jamie 47. The Infatuations by Javier Marías 48. Operation Ironman: one man's four month journey from hospital bed to Ironman triathlon by George Mahood 49. The Silk Road: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan 50. The Book of Dust Volume One: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman 51. Sunny Side Up by Susan Calman 52. Women of the Dunes by Sarah Maine 53. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari 54. The Sound of Echoes by Eric Brent 55. Tangerine by Christine Mangan 56. The Only Way is West by Bradley Chermside 57. Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health by David Nutt 58. Dishonesty is the Second Best Policy by David Mitchell 59. Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie 60. The Whisper Man by Alex North 61. The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves (Vera #7) 62. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively 63. Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind by Anne Charnock 64. The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek

Highlandcoo I see you're reading the All Creatures Great and Small series, just as I decided to bold it this time round on my list. I did wonder whether watching the first part of the new series last night had renewed my enthusiasm for the book, which is so much better than the adaptation. It looks good and the actors are good, but they have messed about with the story too much. Or maybe the 70s and 80s series with Peter Davison is just my series and you can only have one.

Ham - I'll buy it. I trust your judgement!

Magi - wishing you all well.

Controversial idea:
How about at the end of each thread, we open two new threads - one just for lists, and one to dive straight into conversation? Too complicated?