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

Thinking of you today Sadik

It’s been a tough year for a lot of people on the thread and my heart goes out to everyone grieving.

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear about your mum, Terps. I'll be thinking about you and Sadik today

Palegreenstars, I'm currently halfway through The Vanishing Half and racing to finish it (for a book club - it's quite a book club-y type of book, isn't it? Lots to discuss). I wasn't that grabbed by it at first, but it's crept up on me - I'm much more interested in Jude's story than in her mother's or aunt's (I've reached the part that is focused on Stella now). It is very well written, though!

I shall be thinking of you today Sadik and send best wishes.

49. A place of greater safety by Hilary Mantel

Ah I've been a while reading this tome

This follows three main players (Desmoulins, Danton and Robespierre) in the French revolution from their childhoods, their personal lives and their political ambitions.

Overall I much preferred the sections on the characters domestic lives as this was easier to follow than the political stuff. I know very little about the intracites of the French revolution and dispite using wikipedia on a few occations, I still didn't always know quite what was going on.

Still I stuck with this for all 860 pages (with tiny writing) as it managed to simultaneously cover decades of time and still show small actions and conversations peppered with humour and wit, this kept me very engaged and it never felt like a chore to read.

I have picked up 11.22.63 and the bone clocks from the library so will be sticking with the large books for a while.

I loved Greater Safety I found the end choices odd though

badspella I really enjoyed both those books so hope you do as well. Need to get to A Place of Greater Safety but might save it for beginning of next year as I spent so long on Cromwell earlier this one.

@mackerella so book club-y. I agree it grows on you as the book develops and I loved the ending. I did write my review as soon as I finished the book and probably should have sat with it a few days as it probably has a few flaws.

Perhaps I should persist with The Vanishing Half as I gave up after a couple of chapters. I wasn’t grabbed and couldn’t see what the return would be if I continued to invest. But you are all talking me back into it.

What can I buy/read? In need of autumnal comfort, or a cracking good ghost story or mystery.

I don't read many ghost type stories but Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield would fit the remit Remus

Mexican Gothic has been tempting me for a hallowe’en read - less than 300 pages and sounds quite Rebecca-ish

@Terpsichore

Yes, 2020 is turning out to be awful for everyone.

for Sadik, TimeforaGandT, noodle and BookWitch, and betts I haven't forgotten you. Thanks again for the kind thoughts.

There have been too many bereavements on the thread this year, of course 1 would be too many.

It's coming up for 12 months since I saw my father (he lived overseas) which is on my mind. His ashes will be scattered in his home country soon and the borders are closed so we can't go; I was hoping to do a flying visit for that since we also couldn't go to the funeral.

Terpsichore & Sadik take care of yourselves, it's a difficult time

Pale and Eine - thank you. Mexican Gothic doesn't appeal but I've got the sample of B&B to try.

Betts - I'm so sorry that you haven't yet been able to say goodbye properly.

I'm sorry I haven't caught up with the thread. to so many of you who need them right now. A tough year for so many.

71. Afropean, Johnny Pitts

An engaging and original travelogue, in which the author (feeling cut off from/dissatisfied with mainstream Black British culture) sets off with a backpack to travel around Europe and investigate the lives of black people there, particularly those of African heritage. In Paris, Brussels and Lisbon he explores the history of empire and colonialism, but also considers the positive experiences that some black people have had, particularly looking at figures such as James Baldwin who found something different in Europe to what American could offer. He visits areas with high numbers of black residents, often run-down suburbs on the edge of cities, and talks to people there. He talks to people in the backpacker hostels and cheap hotels where he stays, and in bars, and on buses. The words and opinions of the people he talks to were the best part of this book for me, being both authentic and varied. Pitts is an open-minded and adventurous travel companion, but he has his own opinions and experiences which, as they do for all writers, saturate his words and the things he chooses to write about; in including so many interviews, he is not afraid to quote, at length, people who disagree with him. He listens, and things about what they say, and so the book becomes so much more than "this is where I went and this is what I saw, and this is what I thought about it". It encompasses a wide range of black African/European experience, both historic and contemporary, and in doing so strikes me as being genuinely original. It's illustrated with Pitts' own black and white photos which are beautiful.

I've found a book I'm sure we'd all enjoy. Any volunteers to check?

Surely it's got to be Cote?!

Great review, Keith.

Ha Fortuna that book would need its own thread!

keith enjoyed that review.

fortuna what a discovery!

211. Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights - Helen Lewis
     Helen looks at the main moves forward in the feminist fight including some of the more controversial figures. She isn't afraid to look at the taboos and confront them head on. She takes a nuanced view of difficult issues and recognises most women aren't perfect. Well written and interesting.

212. The Bass Rock - Evie Wyld
     Set in a small coastal village in Scotland, 3 women across the ages deal with violence and control from men. One is accused of being a witch, another deals with being the second wife with stepchildren in the aftermath of the war and in the present the other suffers from depression and has been sleeping with her sister's husband. Linked by time and place, each seeks to find freedom from the men who threaten their lives and happiness.

This jumps around from one timeline to another so quickly that it is difficult to differentiate or even care about any of the characters. The author is trying to cover so many different themes that none are really covered and it becomes a checklist of issues. It's aiming to have a gothic vibe but misses the mark for me. This is the second book by this author that I've read this year, I wouldn't be rushing to read another.

fortuna I read the first chapter or two of The Bass Rock and was interested in reading more but it was a bit expensive, glad I didn’t commit as it sounds like it would have disappointed. A problem with a lot of modern fiction is how “workshopped” they can seem without regard to which bits service the story best.

I reserved Difficult Women before lockdown but still haven’t got it.

@FortunaMajor

I've found a book I'm sure we'd all enjoy. Any volunteers to check?

I think it should be compulsory reading for all who enter here

Satsuki It had a lot of promise, but didn't do anything with it. It was too busy. It needed a better editor to say choose fewer things to focus on. Her last book had similar issues. I think she could be a better writer if she stuck to one timeline or issue rather than trying to write about all the things all at once.

Fortuna

I’m looking forward to reading Difficult Women when it becomes available at my library.

I’ve just finished Lethal White (one of the Robert Galbraith series) and enjoyed it, as much needed escapism. I watched the televised series up until the previous episode and liked how the characters and their relationships develop.

I might have to get my Tom Burke fix this weekend though and watch the LW episode.

Wishing strength and peace to all on here who need it just now.