50 Book Challenge 2021 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first 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, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

So apparently I did maintain my reading momentum for the start of the year and am on to my 6th book. I'm back to (home) work tomorrow so the time I spent reading in the mornings will be given over to very panicky emails from students and applicants.

4. The Rules of Seeing - Joe Heap
This was...good? From the cover I didn't think it would get as dark as it does in places and both the main characters have their good and bad sides expressed in a believable way. There was just something about this (maybe it was the domestic abuse plot?) that stopped me from engaging with it as fully as I could have. In any case I loved Nova's rules for seeing as she taught herself how to use her new sight, and this had been on my kindle for years so it felt good to finally get it read.

5. Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow
This was a harrowing yet excellent book. The book covers his attempts to report on Harvey Weinstein's habitual sexual assault and abuse of the women he worked with, and the pushback he was met with from his network NBC. It becomes a story about the women who suffered, the men in power who silenced them with money and/or intimidation and controlled the media in a way that any attempt to report on itnwas squashed or "killed". There's no sense of triumph when Ronan finally gets The New Yorker to publish the story, just a weary knowing that the right thing has finally been done. It also goes on to discuss how the same thing happened around Donald Trump and Matt Lauer (an NBC reporter) but were also covered up and ignored. Some of this I knew, but a lot of it was news to me and I can only say that I hope Weinstein rots in a cell for the rest of his miserable life. Maybe Trump can join him soon.

on now to 6. Look at Me - Anita Brookner which is another one I heard of through Backlisted.

Are there any other bookish podcasts you lovely lot listen to? I've started Books Unbound which seems to be two dorky and bookish Canadians in very high spirits chatting about more contemporary fiction.

@SatsukiKusakabe Maybe I'll give it another look then!

Welcome Mummyplus7, looks like you're the only person on holiday there! Bliss. Maybe not too surprising in the current climate.

That's a ringing endorsement Cote and it's also true that I'm not sure how my sister in law who's living overseas would cope without Amazon either.

@karmatsunami85

Wow -- you are fast! This thread may help me to up my reading game a touch (or else I'll just cower down with embarrassment at my slower pace ).

Just started book 1 here! Bit of a snail here...

That's a relief! I'm on Book 1 and 2 simultaneously.

1. Coronation Everest - Jan Morris

First finish of the year, and unfortunately a slight (but not total) disappointment. I have read quite a bit about the Himalayas and climbing in general and for me this didn't capture the excitement of what was, after all, one of the most momentous climbs in history. Partly this is down to the writer's senses being dulled by altitude, as he himself admits. It does, however, capture the desolation of the area above Base Camp and the sense of loneliness at the higher camps, when you are miles and hours from the next nearest person. The most striking thing to a modern reader is the attitude of people at the time, including Morris, towards the Nepali people (other than the Sherpas), who are portrayed mostly as servants, and ones with an inconvenient liking for drink. Morris does correct this impression in a couple of chapters about the Sherpas and their society, and he also acknowledges in the introduction, written around 2000, that attitudes in the book are outdated. I did raise an amused eyebrow when he described how an Indian party had "discovered" a lake that he had earlier visited himself with his Nepali guide: "They claimed to be the first people ever to reach it, and gave it an Indian name. They were not. Sonam and I were the first, and its name is Lake Elizabeth." Not sure if that was tongue in cheek (I suspect not), but as this was several years after Partition claiming the lake for England seems doubly hubristic.

I did like his description of Sherpa women, at least the latter half: "Who would not be a Sherpani? Beautiful in youth, desired in womanhood, a real scream in middle age, respected and consulted until the final throes of dotage". Sounds good to me.

Hope I'm not too late to join!

I've lurked a bit for ages but feel I should contribute instead of just stealing everyone's ideas plus it might keep me on track.

50 books would be a lot but I would like to put my phone down and read more.

I'm trying to read Stephen King's entire back catalogue but it's taking a long time as I have to read a few other books in between to break up the darkness!

Currently reading 'Chasing The Dram' which is about whisky and Scotland, both of which I love.

I will go and learn to bold now!

Keith, or rather ex-Keith, here. Just to let you all know that I've gone for a name change, inspired by the Fitzroys ☺️

Nice work Viking Keith. We'll have a whole shipping forecast soon. Last one in is Dogger.

Going back to Amazon alternatives, like Cote I use Amazon all the time for Kindle and Audible, but I have also started using the Hive, who are all independent booksellers, free delivery or collect from your local bookshop (who get a commission- though the local bookshop pick up is suspended at the moment)

www.hive.co.uk

Sorry, haven’t managed to be on the thread until now because of a horrible collision between return to work and start of home schooling. Neither of them went tremendously well, and I would probably benefit from sitting down with an absorbing book to de-stress – but I fear that reading time is the thing that’s going to be squeezed over the next few weeks…

Keith (or rather, Viking) Thanks for the suggestion of Railhead - that looks really interesting (although probably a bit old for DS at the moment, as you said). We are actually members of the Calibre audio library but had let it lapse a few months ago – time to start borrowing again, I think!

Love the plums/icebox parody Satusuki (and good to have you back!)

Fortuna yikes, 45 hours is quite a commitment! I do normally listen on something between 1.1 and 1.5 speed (depending on how brisk or turgid the narration is), so hopefully it will be doable in less than that. I’m definitely tempted now – it sounds like the ideal way to pass the time while cleaning the kitchen or tidying up.

Thanks also for the incredibly generous offer! We already have a Roald Dahl collection (this one) which I bought when the Book People shut down last year (remember the chat about that?!). I’d love any CDs you have that aren’t already on that collection, though – thank you!

LadybirdDaphne thanks for a very interesting review of Inventing Ourselves .

Stokey Cressida Cowell is a great suggestion, thank you – I think DD (7) has already read one of the HTTYD books, and it would be great to have a series than can be enjoyed by both DCs at once. What a great thread this is for getting ideas!

ChessieFL DD watched a Brownies panto last month that had Anna McNuff in it – I think she’s some sort of ambassador for the Brownies. Her books sounded interesting but she came across as a bit self-consciously wacky, so I wasn’t sure about getting one. It’s good to have your take on it!

Razorstorm welcome! I read Chasing the Dram last year as I am also a whisky/Scotland fan. It was a very light read but I also learned quite a bit, especially about blended whisky (about which I knew nothing!).

I'm really slacking - must try and find some time to write reviews of my first couple of books as you're all putting me to shame!

@ForthFitzRoyFaroes

Nice work Viking Keith. We'll have a whole shipping forecast soon. Last one in is Dogger.

That made me laugh @ForthFitzRoyFaroes!

I finished Klopp Actually by comedian Laura Lexx last night but don't think I'm going to count it. I bought it as a Kindle deal because it has great reviews, but didn't realise it was based on a Twitter thread. The whole book basically consists of the author imagining scenarios where she is married to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp and she does something silly, to which he replies very sensibly and she gets incredibly turned on. It's amusing the first few times but definetly not a whole book. It is only 100 pages long and may be better suited to a downstairs loo book (assuming your kids can't read).

I've moved on to Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi which was on the Booker shortlist so at least will be a bit more high brow!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

4. The Duke And I (Bridgerton) by Julia Quinn

Remus got there ahead of me and is correct that it is a total turd but enjoyable in a trashy way.

I still stand by my recommendation of the TV series, but it proves one of those rare occasions, where, with several departures, the adaptation is a vast improvement on the source.

Did you particularly enjoy the first sex scene, Eine? Was your sheath well and truly tickled by it?

Stokey, Klopp Actually was my Christmas drunk-reading book (the book you read when you've had one too many sherries) and I completely agree with your review. Funny for the first five minutes.

1. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans Picks up the story of Noel as a 10 year old evacuee sent to live with Vee in St Albans. Where Old Baggage was dominated by the larger than life but ultimately quite straightforward character of Mattie, here we have to slip sideways into the mind of the not so instantly likeable Vee, and slowly get to understand where she's coming from, what has shaped her and what drives her. Noel has also grown into a complex and infuriating (to the conventionally minded people who have to deal with him) child, and the two of them make an unlikely pair. Don't worry, by the end you will be 100% Team Vee and Noel. Lissa Evans' writing feels authentically steeped in the everyday life, objects, dialogue, concerns and attitudes of the time. Punches are not pulled and horrible things do happen, but this somehow manages to pull off being a totally feel-good read, Wonderful.

Hi 50 Bookers. I'm in for this year. I've been with you all on and off for the last few years under various usernames, and have followed all the threads since 2013, but have been a somewhat feeble and intermittent poster. Aiming to improve on that this year.

First book is Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, a reread of what I think (although I dither over this from time to time) is my favourite book. I haven't read it for a good few years and have thoroughly enjoyed going back to it. Nearly finished, so will probably post a review tomorrow.

Loving the Fitzroy-inspired name changes

OK, I was Plornish, but I feel I need a shipping forecast name as well.

4. This is going to hurt - Adam Kay

I expect you’ve all read this already, so I’ll be brief. My XH is a hospital doctor, and Kay’s portrait of the life of a junior doctor rings horribly true, so I’m glad he wrote it: this is a perspective that is rarely heard in public. However, I thought some of the humour is rather forced, and the diary format, while making it an easy read, stops Kay from reaching the profundity of other writings by doctors e.g. Henry Marsh’s Do No Harm.

(Wails- but I don't know who anyone is anymore!!)

3. Tiny Pretty Things by Dhonielle Clayton. I read this on the back of encountering the Netflix show last week (definitely trashy but so far weirdly engrossing!), unfortunately I found the book a bit flat. I used to love ballet books when I was younger and I hoped this would be like those but with sex, but I have to say I think the TV show is better (although this is a very specific version of better! It is not quality TV!).

I haven't namechanged! I am so wedded to my name that I now think Piggy is actually my name...

All these name changes are very confusing!

1. Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent

This is the story of three brothers. It opens at a funeral of one of the brothers, but we don’t know which one. It then tells each brother’s story. The good - Nugent is good at writing unlikeable characters but still holding your interest in the story. Nobody in this is likeable but I still wanted to know what happened to them. The bad - this takes a bit of concentration. It’s split between each brother’s POV and then within each section it jumps around in time so one minute you will be reading about events in 1994, then it jumps back to 1983, then forward to 2016. I kept having to remind myself which brother was speaking and the date otherwise I was getting rather confused. I was also expecting a big twist at the end which didn’t come.

I've finished number 2.

A comfort food reread of Bridget Jones' Diary

I won't review, but I'll explain why it's stayed with me for 24 years. Christmas 1997 I received a signed copy from my Mum and read the whole thing in Milan airport while on an 8 hour wait. I was the same age then as Bridget so I got it, totally. And laughed-out-loud, lots.

HF should have stopped after the second one, possibly even after the first, but the first, IMO is perfect. It's a shame it spawned such a multitude of shite wannabe chick lit writers, and sure, it still irks that RZ was made to put weight on etc etc. But still...

I also agree with Cote about Amazon. I often buy second hand books from World of Books, but having been out of the UK since 1994 and living through the times when you had to swap English language books with randoms and would read anything (that's how I ended up reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum which I didn't love back then but hey, it was in English! ) I just totally love the fact that in just one week I can get Kindle books, 2kg of Quality Street, shampoo, Paxo Stuffing, a graphics tablet, contact lens cleaner and Yorkshire tea delivered to my door.

I'm another Ragnar fan, and when I've finished number three I might treat myself to one.

@HarlanWillYouStopNamingNuts maybe I would have liked it more after a few gins! Also thanks for the Ragnar Jonasson recommendation, I am definitely going to read more of his.

I'm with Cote re Amazon. I live in France so buying Kindle books is a godsend. I have to admit to feeling nostalgic for my wanderings round the book shelves of UK charity shops though.....thanks Covid.

Just finished book 3 Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi. I'm late to the party on this one so I'm sure it's been reviewed many times. I enjoyed it. It starts in colonial 18th century Ghana and ends in the early 21st century. We follow generation after generation of descendants who lived in Ghana or were either shipped off on the slave ships to the southern states of America. Each chapter follows a descendant so at times it got a bit confusing, and some characters were better described than others. Overall, however, a decent and thought-provoking read.