50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Nine

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the ninth 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 still not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The previous threads of 2020:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Thanks Southeast.

My two most recent books are both recommendations from this thread so many thanks for these too, as I am sure I would not have come across them otherwise.

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd Interesting and compelling first-hand accounts from overseas visitors with a wide range of views and experiences. As one of the reviewers cited at the beginning rather depressingly (and not unreasonably) concludes: "...people see and hear only what they already want to see and hear".

Business as Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford A recent graduate leaves her rather dull fiance in Edinburgh to spend a year earning her own living in London. This was written (and illustrated with wonderful line drawings) in 1933 and is great fun while also touching more soberly on social conditions of the time. Jane Oliver has an amusing turn of phrase which I found very entertaining.

209. The Little Princesses: The Story Of The Queen’s Childhood By Her Nanny Crawfie by Marian Crawford

As it says on the tin (except she was actually their governess not their nanny). It was first published in 1950 and caused a massive scandal at the time with Crawfie being ostracised by the royal family for the rest of her life. Compared to some of the stuff that gets published about the royals now, this is very anodyne and almost sycophantic as there’s almost nothing negative in there, so it’s hard to see why the royals got so upset about it. However, I suppose this was the first example of a book breaching their privacy so maybe they wanted to put anyone else off doing it. It’s not really that well written but does contain some nice anecdotes. My favourite was one of the Queen’s wedding presents - two women got so excited when they heard the engagement news on the wireless that they had burnt their toast so they packaged up and sent the toast as a present!

@bettsbattenburg I suspect it will be hard to find a book that we have all read as we all have very different tastes. Probably the best chance would be something like Pride and Prejudice but I’m sure there will be some who haven’t read that. I know there are some other books that are always popular on here but there’s always someone who hasn’t read them (e.g. This Thing Of Darkness - I am one of those who hasn’t read this!).

@Welshwabbit I read The Haunting of Hill House earlier in the year and thought it was atmospheric in the haunting but ultimately not my genre as I hated not knowing whether it was in her mind, she was the instigator or there was something supernatural occurring. I much preferred We have always lived in the Castle.

62. Marking Time - Elizabeth Jane Howard

The second book in the Cazalet chronicles following the family in the early years of WW2. This was a great read and the focus on the teenagers and the life of the household is a good insight into the social history of the period and the impact of the war. The story covers first love, infidelity, terminal illness, death and we see how the characters are driven by both duty and love as (mostly) they try to do the right thing and the difficulties of growing up in these years.

Something that we've all read?

Of Mice and Men?
Little Women?
The first Famous Five book?
Hans Christian Anderson?

I doubt there's anything at all.

I think it's unlikely too. I don't remember having read Of Mice and Men, I read Little Women reluctantly for university and hated it.
I reckon you are on to something with Hans Christian Anderson or Enid Blyton.

Harry Potter? The first one?

I think I have read all that you mention remus but was more of a Secret Seven girl so may not have done the FF.

What about Swallows and Amazons or Malory Towers?

Swallows and Amazons - I've only read as an adult. I suspect it was more of a 'middle class thing' than books I'd have encountered as a child.

Harry Potter - pretty sure that Cote won't have read it!

Of Mice and Men is excellent, Betts. Give it a go!

The books that I assume everyone (who claims to be moderately well read) has read would be:
Pride and Prejudice
The Hobbit (at least, even if not LotR)
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men
1984

Interesting question

I am not going anywhere near Tolkein or Little Women . I've not read To Kill A Mockingbird either.

I would probably guess at Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, The Handmaid's Tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Great Gatsby as most likely to have been universally read.

I'd venture that 50% or fewer on here have read Gatsby and that fewer than that have read Jane Eyre all the way through.

Roald D a good call.

Oh dear - I have not read Of Mice and Men or LOTR - have read The Hobbit but didn’t do much for me so could not face LOTR.

Haven't read 1984.

I have an American mother so my childhood reading is a bit different because of this. I don't think a single American hasn't read Charlotte's Web or Little House on the Prairie

Reading habits are also influenced by what was on telly : so for me Railway Children, Ballet Shoes, Peppermint Pig, aforementioned Little House...

Going off my experience of sheer volume of the same title working in a charity shop with used books.

I would go with :

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
50 Shades Of Grey by EL James

and

Extreme by Sharon Osbourne

On any given week we'd have at least 5 of each of the fuckers

Read Gatsby and Eyre (polishes Halo)

Sorry Eine not read any of those three...but have also read Gatsby and Eyre

@Piggywaspushed

Harry Potter? The first one?

I think I have read all that you mention remus but was more of a Secret Seven girl so may not have done the FF.

What about Swallows and Amazons or Malory Towers?

I've read Swallows and Amazons and Malory Towers. Does it count if I only read HP#1 to see if it was suitable for DD? I've read The Hobbit, it's where my spider phobia came from as I was reading it in the car when I was a child and a dead spider fell out on my knee. Maybe to The Great Gatsby, To kill a mockingbird and P&P Yes to 1984, Jane Eyre, Animal Farm, The Handmaids Tale, C&C Factory, Charlotte's Web and Little House, Railway Children, Ballet Shoes, Peppermint Pig, The Da Vinci Code. Never heard of Extreme.

I plead the 5th re 50 Shades - it was trauma enough learning that my mother had read all 3 of them when I was browsing on her kindle when we went on holiday together a few years ago.

How about The day of the triffids?

I've read your five @BookWitch! And Jane Eyre and Gatsby. Also HP1. Never read any Famous Five or Secret Seven as a child because my mother was very anti Blyton, but I did manage to sneak The Magic Faraway Tree. @EineReiseDurchDieZeit I have read The Da Vinci Code but not the others you mention!

@TimeforaGandT, I have also read and much preferred We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Yes I'd say Jane Eyre should be on that list
I've read most of Enid Blyton but that's showing my age, a lot of hers have dated badly

I haven’t read The Hobbit, To Kill A Mockingbird, or 1984 (I do have copies of the latter two on my TBR list though). I have read Gatsby and Jane Eyre. I have read The Da Vinci code but not 50 Shades or the Sharon Osborne one.

Quickly updating my list so that's it's in the first few pages. Bolds will change every time if they even work this time .

1.The Dilemma - B A Paris 
2.<strong>Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys</strong>
3.The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
4.A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve 
5.The Other You - J S Monroe 
6.<strong>To The Lions - Holly Watt</strong>
7.Here to Stay - Mark Edwards 
8.The Bigamist - Mary Turner Thomson
9.The Other Wife - Claire McGowan 
10.Finding Cupid - Bridget E Baker
11.All the Rage - Cara Hunter 
12.The Donor - Clare Mackintosh 
13.Who Did You Tell - Lesley Kara
14.I Wanted You to Know - Laura Pearson 
15.The Recovery of Rose Gold - Stephanie Wrobel
16.I Did It For Us - Alison Bruce
17.Half a World Away - Mike Gayle 
18.The Suspect - Fiona Barton
19.War Doctor - David Nott 
20.<strong>Tell Me Your Secret - Dorothy Koomson</strong>
21.<strong>My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russel</strong>
22.In Safe Hands - J P Carter 
23.Anything You Do Say - Gillian McAllister 
24.<strong>The Flatshare - Beth O'Leary</strong>
25.Keeper - Jessica Moor
26.Blood Orange - Harriet Tyce 
27.Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
28.How to Marry Your Husband - Jacqueline Rohen
29.The Chain - Adrian McKinty
30.Just My Luck - Adele Parks 
31.Strangers on a Train - Patricia Highsmith
32.<strong>Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid</strong>
33.Little Disasters - Sarah Vaughan
34.The Craftsman - Sharon Bolton 
35.His & Hers - Alice Feeney
36.Missing Pieces - Laura Pearson 
37.Little White Lies - Philippa East
38.The Ice Cream Girls - Dorothy Koomson 
39.Pretending - Holly Bourne 
40.Seven Days - Alex Lake 
41.Those People - Louise Candlish
42.We Know You Know - Erin Kelly
43.All My Lies Are True - Dorothy Koomson 
44.The Dead Line - Holly Watt 
45.Just Between Us - Rebecca Drake
46.If You Could Go Anywhere - Paige Toon
47.The Volunteer - Jack Fairweather
48.Invisible Girl - Lisa Jewell
49.Last Lesson - James Goodhand
50.American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins
51.The Angel - Katerina Diamond 
52.The Promise - Katerina Diamond
53.Truth or Die - Katerina Diamond
54.<strong>Woman in the Water - Katerina Diamond</strong>
55.Missing, Presumed - Susie Steiner
56.The Switch - Beth O'Leary
57.Blurred Lines - Hannah Begbie
58.My Everything - Katie Marsh
59.The July Girls - Phoebe Locke
60.The Seven Sisters - Lucinda Riley
61.In Case You Missed It - Lindsey Kelk
62.The Heatwave - Katerina Diamond
63.<strong>The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid</strong>

Currently reading 64.The Other Passenger - Louise Candlish.

Of the books mentioned above that I can remember I had read Gatsby, HP 1, 50 shades unfortunately and the Da Vinci Code. Not sure what else was mentioned.

Forgot to preview before posting and the bold isn't on again!

Haven't read any of those, Eine and never heard of Extreme.

@Matilda2013 the bold isn't working because you can't have other punctuation in it as far as I know.

bold
bold -

OK, I was wrong! It did work.