50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Ten

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the tenth (and final?) 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
9

I've just checked and these threads this year have moved more quickly than any other year since they started back in 2012! We'd never reached ten threads in any other year.

34. Devolution by Max Brooks

This was not high literature and not even as good as the author's earlier book World War Z, but I liked it more than I expected to. Its characters were quite unbearably smug upper class Americans in the beginning, gradually becoming more grounded, real, and "raw" as their comfortable lives crumbled around them.

I enjoyed this book's Lord of the Flies vibe in an adult flavour and would recommend it as a light read.

35. Queens of the Kingdom - The Women of Saudi Arabia Speak by Nicola Sutcliff

Women from different ethnic backgrounds, interests, socioeconomic status, and professional roles talk about their country, their rights and struggles, their view on various subjects such as covering their faces, segregation of the sexes, driving, and working.

It was interesting to see Saudi women's wide spectrum of opinions and personalities, as well as traditions and beliefs. I also found their lives claustrophobic and and their brainwashing terrifying (e.g. in how many of them say driving isn't a good idea for women since traffic is bad enough without the additional cars , and women wouldn't be dependable at work because they are emotional and hormonal).

The pages detailing the history of Saudi Arabia and cultural background well done and nearly as interesting as the interviews.

Recommended.

Oooo really? Thanks a lot @Lotsofsocks x

76. Heartburn - Nora Ephron

I am probably the only person on the thread who had not thread this book which is a fictionalised account of the breakdown of Ephron’s marriage as a result of her husband’s affair when she is heavily pregnant. Witty and entertaining whilst still revealing the pain it caused. Very good.

TimeforaGandT I've not yet read Heartburn but did finish the first chapter on Monday, I bought it a couple of months back in ebook format but forgot about it until I was unable to get up and pick up my current book from the bookcase due to a comfy cat on my lap, so opened up the Kindle app on my phone instead and that's what I picked. Hope to get it finished before I start on the usual round of Christmas re-reads.

Thanks for the recommendations on Gingerbread, I've just downloaded the audiobook from the Borrowbox app. Again, no queue either!

InTheCludgie - if you have the same electronic version as me you will finish it sooner than you expect as approximately the last 10% is a sample of one of her other books!

Place marking. Nothing to report.

77. The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I am not certain I should count this- someone reviewed it on an earlier thread and I thought it sounded good, but the library only had the audiobook, and I am not good with audiobooks- I listened whilst packing up a house, and it did seem good, and the narrator's voice was lovely, but I am sure I missed bits of the plot. Will look out for it in book form.

75 Persons Unknown Susie Steiner.
A police procedural, with a female detective, Manon Bradshaw, as the main character. The crime is the death by stabbing of a wealthy financier, who has links to Manon’s family. As important in the story is the portrayal of Manon’s personal life :her pregnancy and relationships with her adopted son and her sister ,which are profoundly affected by the investigation of the murder. It was this aspect of the story that kept me interested. I was less convinced by the way the crime investigation developed, which seemed disjointed to me. I wish I’d read the first novel in the series as I think some background knowledge would have been useful.

Yeah it was me @Tanaqui - if you missed bits, the series is VERY faithful, and in full on Netflix

@HeadNorth

48. The Island of the Sea Women - Lisa See

I heard of this and read it based on the positive reviews on this thread - which sums up why I love this thread, I would not have come across it otherwise. I won't add to what has already been said, it is an engrossing exploration of a fascinating culture - the female haenyeo divers in Korea - a tragic love story between two female friends and an insight into a terrible period of Korean and global history I knew nothing about. A big thumbs up.

HeadNorth one of the best things has got to be seeing an excellent book recommended on here and then finding out you've already got it on your kindle from a previous 99p deal.

Terpsichore it's good to see that you found a comforting read.

Cote I'm glad to see you liked Queens as I read it a few months back and also recommended it on here. I'm in good company.

Oh thank you @EineReiseDurchDieZeit, I only have a phone so couldn't search. I will need to relax with netflix when this blasted move is over!

@bettbattenburg, @CoteDAzur, I liked Queens too, thank you for the rec Betts.

I was just finishing the previous book, Missing, Presumed, by Susie Steiner. You did spoiler me a bit about the adopted son, but I don't care that much. This is crime fiction done really well - I really enjoyed it.

Sorry, that was to Blackcountry and it was book 122.

@bibliomania
I am sorry about the spoiler. All the more reason to have read the first book first!

170. Daddy by Emma Cline

Short Story Collection. Overarching themes of fatherhood.

Solid but not earth shattering. Won't remember much about it in a couple of weeks.

253. The Girl Who Just Appeared by Jonathan Harvey

A nice bit of light reading about a woman who was adopted as a baby, looking into her birth family. She rents the flat where she was born and finds a diary written by teenage Darren who used to live in the flat. The ending wasn’t the predictable one I expected.

Unfortunately I also wasted two days getting halfway through My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante before giving up. I know this series is very popular but it’s not for me. I found it very boring and I just didn’t care what happened to any of the characters.

You are graciously forgiven, Black - and yes, I think it's a good read.

123. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops, Shaun Blythell
This might be a strategic read for anyone trying to bump up their numbers, as it took me an hour to read. It's pleasant enough to be back in his dusty, grumpy, rainy world for a bit, even with this very lightweight offering.

Queens of the Kingdom sounds good. Might add that to the tbr.

Ready Player Two came out on Tuesday. Am most excited. Ready Player One is one of my favourite books. I hope this lives up to the first one, although I suspect it won't.

I haven't posted for ages (used to be on here as RubySlippers) as I was doing some serious house cleaning and job hunting; the house is now (more!) under control and the job hunting is going nowhere at the moment, so I'm trying to catch up on my reading again!

My list from the last time I posted:

1. Dianne Freeman - A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder
2. Ali Sparkes - Frozen in Time
3. Deanna Raybourn - A Treacherous Curse
4. Emily Organ - Christmas Calamity at the Vicarage
5. Michelle Paver - Wakenhyrst
6. Bella Forrest - Darklight
7. Bella Forrest - Darkthirst
8. Bella Forrest - Darkworld
9. Dianne Freeman - A Lady's Guide to Gossip & Murder

10. Meera Sodha - Made in India, cooked in Britain 11.Deanna Raybourn - A Dangerous Collaboration 12. Anthony Horowitz - Raven's Gate 13. Delia Owens - Where the Crawdads Sing 14. Emily Brightwell - The Inspector & Mrs Jeffries 15. Emily Brightwell - Mrs Jeffries and the one who got away 16. Sarah Moss - Ghost Wall 17. Stephanie Garber - Finale 18. Enid Blyton - Five on a Treasure Island 19. Simon Barnes - Rewild 20. Rhys Bowen - Queen of Hearts 21. Elizabeth Peters - The Crocodile on the Sandbank 22. Prentice & Weil - Black Arts 23. Karen McManus - One of Us is Lying 24. Ann Patchett - State of Wonder 25. Karen McManus - Two can keep a secret 26. Enid Blyton - The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage 27. Terry Pratchett - Witches Abroad 28. Terry Pratchett - Maskerade 29. Terry Pratchett - Carpe Jugulum 30. Rhys Bowen - Love and Death among the Cheetahs 31. Mark Richards - Best Dad, the Beginning: 1 family, 3 children, 800 stories 32. Mark Richards - Father, Son & the Pennine Way 33. Louise Welsh - A Lovely Way to Burn 34. Marsali Taylor - Death on a Shetland Isle 35. Stevyn Colgan - A Murder to Die For 36. Ken McClure - Wildcard 37. Ken McClure - The Secret 38. PD James - Cover Her Face 39. Elizabeth Peters - The Curse of the Pharaohs 40. Clare Chase - Mystery on Hidden Lane 41. Rhys Bowen - Heirs & Graces 42. Emily Brightwell - Mrs Jeffries and the Missing Alibi 43. Clare Chase - Mystery at Apple Tree Cottage 44. Helena Dixon - Murder at the Dolphin Hotel 45. Helena Dixon - Murder at Enderley Hall 46. Ken McClure - White Death 47. Frances Lloyd - The Greek Island Killer 48. Frances Lloyd - The Bluebell Killer 49. Frances Lloyd - The Shetland Killer 50. Neil Forsyth - Delete This at Your Peril: The Bob Servant Emails 51. Lucie Whitehouse - Before We Met 52. Frances Lloyd - The Gallows Green Killer 53. Frances Lloyd - The Moon Killer 54. David Long - Bizarre England 55. JM Worgan - Life on the Spectrum. The Preschool Years. Getting the Help and Support You Need 56. Mark Richards - Father, Son & Return to the Pennine Way 57. Mark Richards - Father, Son & the Kerry Way 58. Alice Boardman - TOAST: Autism in the Early Years 59. Emily Organ - The Gang of St Bride's (Penny Green Series Book 9) 60. Laura Purcell - Bone China 61. Elizabeth Edmondson - A Man of Some Repute 62. Elizabeth Edmondson - A Question of Inheritance 63. Elizabeth Edmondson - A Matter of Loyalty 64. Maureen Johnson - The Hand on the Wall 65. Hazel Holt - A Time To Die 66. Hazel Holt - No Cure For Death 67. Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus 68. Emily Suvada - This Mortal Coil 69. Edward Marston - The Railway Detective 70. Bill Bryson - At Home 71. Edward Marston - The Excursion Train 72. Edward Marston - The Railway Viaduct 73. Terry Pratchett - Jingo 74. Edward Marston - Inspector Colbeck's Casebook 75. Edward Marston - The Iron Horse 76. Juno Dawson - Margot & Me 77. Jodi Taylor - Just one damned thing after another 78. Jodi Taylor - Doing Time 79. Edward Marston - Murder on the Brighton Express 80. Edward Marston - The Silver Locomotive Mystery 81. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - The Wife Between Us 82. Carole Lawrence - Edinburgh Twilight 83. Michael Siemsen - The Dig 84. Kayte Nunn - The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant 85. Agatha Christie - Poirot Investigates 86. Anthony Horowitz - Alex Rider: Skeleton Key 87. Anthony Horowitz - Alex Rider: Eagle Strike 88. Olivia Harvard - Confessions about Colton 89. Anthony Horowitz - Scorpia 90. Anthony Horowitz - Ark Angel 91. Anthony Horowitz - Snakehead 92. Anthony Horowitz - Crocodile Tears 93. Anthony Horowitz - Scorpia Rising 94. Anthony Horowitz - Never Say Die 95. Anthony Horowitz - Nightshade 96. Edward Marston - Railway to the Grave 97. Edward Marston - The Stationmaster's Farewell 98. Edward Marston - Peril on the Royal Train 99. Rachel Abbott - The Murder Game 100. MRC Kasasian - The Ghost Tree 101. Elizabeth Peters & Joan Hess - The Painted Queen 102. Sophie Hannah - Haven't They Grown 103. Michelle Paver - Dark Matter 104. Rebecca Tope - The Staveley Suspect 105. Freda Lightfoot - The Amber Keeper 106. Frances Evesham - A Village Murder 107. Stella Cameron - Folly: A Cotswolds Murder Mystery 108. MRC Kasasian - Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire 109. MRC Kasasian - The Room of the Dead 110. Jodi Taylor - A Symphony of Echoes 111. Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 112. Karen McManus - One of Us is Next 113. Simon Brett - The Body on the Beach 114. Simon Brett - The Death on the Downs 115. Simon Brett - The Torso in the Town 116. Simon Brett - Murder at the Museum 117. Suzanne Mulholland - The Batch Lady 118. Debbie Young - Secrets at St Bride's 119. Ann Cleeves - A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy 120. Ann Granger - Mud, Muck & Dead Things 121. Ann Granger - Rack, Ruin & Murder 122. Lisa Riley - Honesty Diet 123. Jodi Taylor - A Second Chance 124. Anthony Horowitz - Magpie Murders 125. Marie Browne - Narrow Minds 126. Emma Kennedy - The Tent, The Bucket & Me 127. Enid Blyton - Faraway Tree (three books)

And the books I've read since are:

128. Ann Granger - Rooted in Evil
129. Ann Granger - Dead in the Water
130. Ann Granger - An Unfinished Murder

Campbell & Carter police procedural murder mysteries set in Yorkshire. A bit plodding but entertaining except for - pet hate alert! - a character changing name mid-story and no-one noticing, presumably including the editor, proofreader etc

131. Anthony Horowitz - Moonflower Murders
132. Anthony Horowitz - Moriarty

I really enjoyed both of these, particularly Moriarty which I actually wasn't expecting too much from, but it happened to be in the library last time I was able to go! Clever twisty turny mysteries.

133. Kate Saunders - Beswitched

Taken from a recommendation on here, so thank you to whoever reviewed it, as I really liked this modern take on the 'Charlotte Sometimes' time travel school story. I even had a tear in my eye by the end!

134. Robin Stevens - Death Sets Sail

The last in the 'Murder Most Unladylike* series of murder mysteries set in the 1930s. Robin Stevens was taking part in a literary festival near me last summer, talking about these books, and I'd have loved to go but we were on holiday (bad timing!) - never mind I thought, there's always next year. Maybe not, as the curse of 2020 had struck by then...

135. Enid Blyton - Last Term at Malory Towers

Found this in the loft whilst tidying and couldn't resist a re-read oh how I wanted to be with Darrell and her friends in their lovely boarding school in Cornwall, whilst attending my grotty 70s comp

136. MC Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the dead ringer
137. MC Beaton - Agatha Raisin - Beating about the Bush

Two of the latest Agatha Raisin books (I've just got the last ever one from the library - sniff). Now I've enjoyed this series over the year but think they've jumped the shark by this point, I'm only reading to find out what happens rather than a genuine desire to savour the plot...

138. Lesley Cookman - Murder and the glovemaker's son

Another in the Libby Sarjeant murder mysteries series. I do actually quite like these - just got another two from the library - but they are frankly improbable and a bit samey by this point.

139. Clare Marchant - The Secrets of Saffron Hall

Time slip book between modern day and English Civil War time, between two women who can relate to each other's situation and with a mystery to be solved. Easy enough read.

140. Cressida McLaughlin - The Canal Boat Cafe

I love books about life on narrowboats. Must be escapism as I'd never be able to live on one, but anyhow, this was a pleasant enough book about a woman making a new life running her mother's (you guessed it) canal boat cafe, and finding love along the way.
.
141. CJ Sansom - Dark Fire

A Shardlake novel about the search for Greek Fire, and one of the better ones. Still gutted that I missed the Kindle special offer buying up all of these, although I don't think I'll ever re-read the most recent one, it was pages and pages and pages too long.

142. Hazel Holt - Mrs Malory and the Fatal Legacy
143. Hazel Holt - Mrs Malory and the Lilies that Fester
144. Hazel Holt - Mrs Malory and the Delay of Execution
145. Hazel Holt - Mrs Malory and Death by Water

For some reason Mrs Malory (gentle middle aged sleuth in seaside town) is not very popular at our library, and I've had to buy these via ebay anyway, I like them very much, and it's nice to see the background stories progress as well throughout the series.

146. Jonathan Stroud - The Screaming Staircase
147. Jonathan Stroud - The Whispering Skull
148. Jonathan Stroud - The Hollow Boy

The first three of the Lockwood & Co YA fiction series, set in an alternate present day timeline where teenagers deal with ghosts and everyone lives in fear of the 'Problem' getting worse. Much, much better than I am describing it, well written and witty - think this is my third re-read

147. Anthony Horowitz - Groosham Grange

A kids/ YA book about a problem child being sent to a strange boarding school on a remote island. Obviously I'm not the target audience for this one but didn't enjoy it much.

148. Christopher Edge - Twelve Minutes to Midnight

Another YA book - my brain has turned to mush after having the DTs and I can't cope with anything too complicated! - about a mystery solved by the teenage author of the 'Penny Dreadful' magazine, set at the end of 1899. I did like this although they set it at the end of December and completely fail to mention Christmas?!

149. Nancy Barone - No Room at the Little Cornish Inn

Yes, it is utterly cheesy - single mum goes to sort out failing Cornish pub at Christmas time with inevitable happy ending involving ridiculously good looking man - but it kept me entertained. I will forever fail to understand though why American authors trying to write as English people don't get their work checked to remove the most obvious Americanisms...

150. Cecily Gayford - Murder under the Christmas Tree

Collection of classic Christmas murder mystery short stores.

151. MG Leonard & Sam Sedgman - The Highland Falcon Thief

Aimed at kids really but a mystery set on board a train which rattles along (the train and the mystery!).

152. Josephine Tey - The Franchise Affair

I thought I'd read this but turns out I'd only ever seen the TV programme! Good to read the book after all this time even if I did remember the ending.

153. Ant & Dec - Once Upon A Tyne

Nothing in depth here, just a collection of anecdotes about Ant & Dec's long TV career. Good fun though and quite nostalgic for those of us old enough to have watched Byker Grove.

154. Ally Sherrick - The Buried Crown

Kids book set during World War II about the search for an Anglo Saxon crown and an imminent Nazi invasion. Would be good for primary aged kids as an introduction to the issues of the time.

155. Penelope Farmer - Charlotte Sometimes

I read this probably 35 years ago and was surprised now by how short it is, and how sad the ending is! Probably neither struck me at the time.

Catch up finally accomplished!! Off to read through the thread and add some more to my TBR list

Inspired by Bookworm , I picked one of my Antonia Forests off the shelf. I managed to acquire all her books a few years ago (with the exception of The Thursday Kidnapping which, ahem, just fell into my online basket during a recent sleepless night) but for some reason hadn't read....

.... 87: The Attic Term - Antonia Forest

Fans of the Kingscote series - of whom I am definitely one - will fall delightedly back into the familiar and wonderfully-evoked school world of the Marlows and their friends and family but, I dunno, it was a bit of an odd one. It was written in the 70s and the sudden references to Star Trek, Up Pompeii and mini-skirts (not to mention drug-dealing) sit most strangely alongside the idea of teenagers who call their parents 'the papa and mama' and have conversations about their Elizabethan ancestors whose portraits they just happen to have hanging in the family mansion (not for the first time, I also kept wondering how much it must have cost Papa and Mama Marlow to send their enormous brood to Kingscote).

But I was still completely absorbed by it and by the cloistered (nun-like?) world Forest creates. Even if the endless Kingscote rules seemed mind-bogglingly petty and too many of the form-mistresses unduly severe. Oh, and you really need to have a grasp of what happened in the Catholic Church after Vatican II . Other than that, Mrs Lincoln...

61.) Threads of Life: The History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, by Clare Hunter - This was gorgeous. It looked at the social, historical and political aspects of embroidery and other textile arts. It's painful to read at times, but never fails to be engaging and thought-provoking. I was particularly fascinated by the descriptions of cemetery quilts, where little coffins for each family member are stitched in readiness for the day when each family member dies and they can be moved to the part of the quilt which represents the burial ground. The bits on how textile arts work in protest movements (the arpilleras of Chile) or as a visual history (Hmong story cloths) stood out as well.

The descriptions are excellently and very vividly written, but it's strange that a book so focused on the visual arts doesn't include any photos. I found myself using Google images to look up some of the pieces described here quite a bit.

55. Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care - Madeleine Bunting. This is an interesting and well-researched book with a lot of food for thought. I don't agree with all the author's views, but I admire her willingness to bring out into the open that intractable and slightly taboo dilemma facing many people (let's face it - usually women) about the wish and societal pressure to care for the vulnerable members of your family (whether that is dependent children, ageing parents or a partner with a disability), set against the desire to maintain and nourish your own career and identity. Similarly, when discussing nurses, she addresses the tricky balance between the importance of continuity of care and fostering a caring relationship against the issue of expecting degree-educated nurses to perform menial tasks. No easy answers here.