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

"It sounds like he's giving evidence in court about the antics of a cardboard cut out." Fortuna
*
82. Troy* - Stephen Fry (Audible)

Agree with the others who've already reviewed that this is brilliant. It does an excellent job of linking the less well-known build up to the war with the central events of the Iliad. The characterisation is enhanced by Fry's wonderful voices - I particularly enjoyed the puffed-up self-important folly of Agamemnon. One tiny gripe was that the final appendix on the historical reality of the Trojan war was a bit muddled in its chronology (and he was a bit too convinced of the reality of the war imo), but that's beside the point really.

satsuki

Now I want a dinner of chicken, noodles and intrigue. Admirable work, Satsuki.

Satsuki

Flesh that out a bit and you could have a best seller on your hands!

I think his genius is not in the writing, but in the convincing of that many people to think it's good. It's upsetting that much better authors don't see the same sort of return, but when you consider The S_n is the most widely read paper in the country, it explains a lot. Easy entertainment is king.

Has anyone tried the National Book Tokens Hidden Books Quiz this year? It's a lot harder than usual.

Satsuki and Fortuna I love these threads so much!

@SatsukiKusakabe I want intrigue for dinner, keep going.

Can we stop calling The DaVinci Code a book. It’s a screen play.

I'm just doing the Hidden Books Quiz now! Couldn't get any at first, but once I realised they all seem to be very recent books (unlike previous years, where they mostly had classics), I managed to get a few.

I got them all mackerella if you need help

Trustee...

Keith : IMAGINE ME, KEITH STEWART, IN A PLACE LIKE THIS, EVER SO 'UMBLE M'LUD

Everyone Else : YOU'RE KEITH STEWART?!?! BUT I'VE READ EVERY ISSUE OF YOUR EXTREMELY NICHE MAGAZINE, YOU'RE A GENIUS, OLD CHAP, HAVE SOME MONEY

And repeat

Very dated.

Yes eine, that’s exactly what I liked about it

The thing is, it worked for me because of the level of detail in the niche topic, not the kind of thing you could make up as you go so I was more forgiving of the far fetched story that surrounded it. I found it comforting when I was very ill earlier in the year to read about someone patiently working on problem after problem in a simpler time. It would be very easy to pick apart but I don’t wish to.

73 The Life Project Helen Pearson
This is an engaging overview of British birth cohort studies, from the first one that started in 1946 and following subsequent studies up to 2015. Whilst the accounts of how the studies were founded and run are fascinating, it is the portraits of the scientists, idiosyncratic and obsessed, , that I found most enjoyable. The author writes with humour and flair. Scientific and research methods are clearly explained, and I know more about them than I ever did before. Looking back through my list of books from this year I have had a better “hit rate “ of non fiction books I have enjoyed than fiction.

Troubled Blood - *Robert Galbraith

This was frustrating. I really enjoyed about 90% of it, although, as always, it needed editing. I liked the cold case, and I liked the fact that bloody boring bloody Matthew hardly featured. I enjoyed seeing Strike in Cornwall, and I thought the Robin/Strike will they/won't they stuff was on the whole nicely done.

And then I reached the whodunnit revelation and it was, frankly, ridiculous. Honestly - it was Scooby Doo levels of stupidity. I was really expecting to write a positive review, so this threw me a bit. I just can't imagine why she thought it was a good idea. It was almost like she changed her mind near the end of writing and thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if it was X". Well, it wasn't funny; it was really, really stupid.

but there’s only one Kermit the Frog.

Praise the Lord!

Satsuki you summed up how I feel about Trustee perfectly.
Blackcountryexile Thanks for the review of The Life Project, it's now on my TBR.

I'm engrossed in Rosmund Lupton's Three Hours at the moment, it's exceptionally good.

I thought Trustee was just lovely. A nice man doing a nice thing and being helped by nice people. Sometimes this is exactly what one needs. Niceness isn't dated.

Satsuki that's amazing. I don't name change, but if I did my next name would be TooManyLegsAndNoPlot.

betts I loved Three Hours, couldn't put it down.

It wasn't the niceness I thought was dated, it was the written style. Can't all agree where would the thread be without its bones of contention

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

It wasn't the niceness I thought was dated, it was the written style. Can't all agree where would the thread be without its bones of contention

The bones of contention, good natured as they are, are part of what makes the threads as good as they are.

The written style is going to be dated, I wonder if it was about right for the 1950s/60s (it was written in 1960) or if it was dated even then?

^ published in 1960. It was written earlier, not sure when.

I'm going to have to spend 99p on Three Hours now, aren't I?

Wuthering Heights is one of very very few books which I actually had to draw a diagram to remember who everyone was

I agree that disagreeing is all part of the fun.

@KeithLeMonde

I'm going to have to spend 99p on Three Hours now, aren't I?

Wuthering Heights is one of very very few books which I actually had to draw a diagram to remember who everyone was

Yes, quite simply, you are.

Don’t bother Keith, I didn’t rate Three Hours.

@ChessieFL

Don’t bother Keith, I didn’t rate Three Hours.

I do think it's a very marmite book.

The Life Project was excellent, definitely worth a read Betts

I've just started Jonathan Strange which I'm enjoying, but my kindle app is being very weird with & keeps saying 'still downloading' & being slow to pick up pages which is annoying.

@bettsbattenburg I hope you enjoy The Life Project, Did you review it on here @Sadik? If so thank you for leading me to it. By happy coincidence I have Three Hours on my TBR pile.

I did Blackcountry but it was back in 2016 so maybe not me. I think a few of us have read it in the last few years.