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?

Thanks Eine, Satsuki and Mackerella I might look into a credit bundle then. It is possible I might be doing more driving soon so that would be my listening time

1. The Enchantment Of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt

Lily Dahl is a 19 year old waitress and aspiring actress in small town Minnesota, who lusts after a visiting painter; blissfully unaware she has attracted the unwanted attentions of local oddity Martin Petersen and a reckoning is coming.

Follows in my grand tradition (started 2020 ) of finding that short novels are quite often, really weird.

This is like 220 pages of small town meanderings going nowhere followed by 60 pages of what the fuckery. Really strange.

Someone on the last thread mentioned What I Loved also by Siri Hustvedt, I read it many many years ago and thought it brilliant. This however, is not in the same league.

@mackerella

Eine

Mog I signed up for Audible last year and, following advice on here, switched my subscription immediately to the 12 credits/year version rather than 1 credit/month one. It's cheaper overall and also gives you more control over when you spend your credits. My audiobooks are still mainly from the library, but I use Audible for things that aren't available on Borrowbox or RB Digital, which works well for me. I've returned a couple of things after discovering that I'd already got them as a 99p Kindle deal and they refunded me with no quibbles at all.

I used to listen to audiobooks/podcasts a lot on my commute, which involved a couple of 30-minute walks and a train journey. I found I got through a lot of books that way! I've been wfh since March, which has reduced my audiobook time, but I still listen a lot while cooking dinner, or at any time when I want to tune out the sound of my DCs squabbling yet again over something inconsequential. I've also been going for a walk or a run when the DCs are in bed (I wear bone conducting headphones so I can still hear what's going on around me), which is a really nice way to wind down in the evenings.

SOL DH and I literally lol'ed at your review because we have a similar love/hate relationship with old Nige. I got Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter last week (which I ordered in December, so it's not counting towards my list of purchases for 2021 ) and, although I like the recipes and the writing very much, it's all a bit screamingly precious as well. There is an essay at the end about the meaning of the calligraphic brushstrokes that punctuate the chapters: a typical extract is "The brushstrokes in this book are, again, not pictures of things. Each one is a record of a thought or feeling or simply a movement manifested through my use of a square-edged brush for a few concentrated seconds. They are informed by what came before, but they have a knowingness, a memory about them which was not possible for those in the first book. I've let them be a little more idiosyncratic and sometimes not so sure of their path." cont. p.94

bless him. I feel almost guilty criticising him because I've read (and believe) he's the loveliest person, (and I remember him coming on here years ago for a webchat and he seemed so genuinely pleased that people were interested in him- unlike Nigella who just kept answering "recipe is in the new book" ) but ye gods to that paragraph

chessie I enjoyed Olive Kitteridge then hated Lucy Barton too so haven’t gone back for any more!

Also I can never remember how to spell it.

Chessie I felt the same about Lucy Barton and it's put me off the Olive books too.

I'm reading a Jojo Moyes for book club and I'm surprised to be enjoying it. The writing is terrible but the plot has legs.

I've also started Azadeh Moaveni's Honeymoon in Tehran which is her memoir of 2 years in the city as a correspondent for Time magazine covering the 2005 election. It's an interesting companion to Reading Lolita in Tehran as it brings more modern Iranian life into focus and shows the contrast with life during the revolution.

To be clear, the calligraphic essay is by the designer/brushstroke consultant, rather than by Nigel himself, but he evidently sanctioned the whole conceit, so I'm still holding him responsible. Considering an anonymous submission to Pseuds' Corner... .

I've got Greenfeast (A/W) but haven't read that paragraph before.
It's a lovely looking book, but there's not much in there that I actually fancy cooking/eating.

Apologies @mackerella! I liked Lucy Barton too, but I liked Olive more.

I HATED Olive Kitteridge absolutely loathed it. Actually it should have made my 💩 list but there were greater offenders!

1. The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn. Overall I enjoyed this, although not as much as the salt path. It gives you more background to Ray and Moth’s marriage and how she came to write the book. I wonder if she will write another though.

1. Night Waking by Sarah Moss. My second Sarah Moss this year. I think she’s a tremendous writer, but I found some elements of this book so annoying. She’s a long suffering wife and mother of two precocious non-sleeping children. Her husband disappears for hours on end and she is reduced to hiding from her children in order to write her book. I must admit I skimmed parts of this.

1. Still listening to The Thursday Murder Club and very close to the end now.

I am not keen on Lucy Barton, but adore Olive Kitteridge.

Realised I didn’t really explain Night waking. Anna and her toff husband are living on a remote Scottish island and he’s studying puffins whilst she’s left holding the children.
A body of a baby is found and Anna starts to investigate the island’s sad history which had high rates of neo natal death. The chapters are interspersed with letters written from a nurse on the island in the 19th century.

10. La's Orchestra Saves The World by Alexander McCall Smith

I had really really low expectations from this because I hated the frankly terrible, twee title.

And unfortunately the hideous title may be what puts a lot of readers off what is a lovely, touching and moving book.

La moves to a Suffolk village, having been abandoned by and widowed by her husband within a year. As she begins her new life, war breaks out, and La must throw herself into the war effort.

I absolutely loved it. First bold of the year. Put me in mind very much of the Lissa Evans books, very similar vein, so if you liked them this should be on your radar.

5/5

@Magicbabywaves

I absolutely hated Night Waking for very similar reasons to those you describe.

I think Sarah Moss is quite popular on this thread, but you really couldn't pay me to read another of hers.

I’ve only read Ghost Wall and liked it, but she hadn’t appealed before that.

2 The Duke and I
3 The Viscount who Loved Me
Both by Julia Quinn, with apologies to Remus okayish
4 The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, this was a re-read as I can't seem to settle to anything at the moment

1. Detroit 67: the Year that Changed Soul by Stuart Cosgrove

A month by month history of Motown, its artists and associated events, which were a turning point for the company, the city and soul music. Recommended on a list of great music books I think. I enjoyed it, it touched on a lot of unfamiliar history to me and expanded my music knowledge too. Some very sad stories - the music industry has never been notably healthy and supportive. Quite a rounded picture of Berry Gordy I think.

3.Butterfly Kisses - Patrick Logan
Continuing on the theme of kindle unlimited books. I ended up reading this as my dad (a non-reader) seen it advertised on Facebook thinking it was a new crime TV show. Detective Damien Drake comes across a man bound and murdered with a butterfly drawn on his back. He is not the first victim or the last. Drake's last serial killer case cosy him his partner and now he has to solve this case before he loses everything.

Glad I came across this author that was new to me - he apparently does horror normally going by the afterword - and a new detective series. May try fit the second book in before the trial runs out.

I haven’t read any Elizabeth Strout

6. A Body, Undone - Christina Crosby

A moving memoir of living with very significant impairment and continual pain. Crosby, a professor of English at Wesleyan University, at 50 has a freak cycling accident that leaves her quadriplegic. Very frank about her grief for her past life, Crosby does not provide any trite life lessons, though she does celebrate human interdependence, with loving portraits of those who care for her, particularly her partner. This is not an autobiography, but we get touching vignettes of her family, childhood and coming of age, although she does not see her pre-accident self through rose-coloured spectacles.

The only caveat I have is that this book is published by an academic press as part of a ‘Sexual Cultures’ series. This means there’s some academic jargon and discussion of theory, and while I’m glad she talks about sex as a disabled woman, I’m not convinced that being a lesbian necessarily makes a great difference to her experiences of disability.

As light relief, I have Country by Michael Hughes, a novel about the IRA reworking the Iliad, up next

1. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - a satire on religion / gods that I enjoyed although I often find that the footnotes are the funniest part of his books and there just weren’t many of them in this one.

1. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez - I first started reading this in 2020 but stopped as it was making me so angry. Managed to finish it now and would thoroughly recommend. A stark picture of the data gaps and lack of representation that have huge impact on women’s lives presented in a very readable way.

2. Wintering by Katherine May
This was mentioned earlier on in the thread and as someone who's struggles in these winter months I found it a beautifully written meditation on working with this challenging season. Her own struggles with periods of wintering are interspersed with tales from others, of journeys across the artic circle, Finnish saunas, and snow.

3. Away with the Penguins by Hazel Prior
This was recommended by a friend after I met her while out walking. It's about an older lady in her 80s who goes off on her own adventure to Antartica. It's got bittersweet humour and a big dose of whimsy. I wouldn't have chosen it personally but I spent a lovely few hours passing the time reading it.

@highlandcoo I really enjoyed While I was gone. I really like Sue Miller's protagonists and the way she portrays their relationships with adult children. Worth a go, I'd say.
I love the sound of Christmas in Austin - family sagas with a focus on daily details are right up my street. I really enjoyed The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo in a similar vein recently.

Not starting anything new at the moment here - I have something reserved at the library to pick up on Tuesday but can't remember what it is! Hoping it's for me and not one of my daughters...

I really liked Lucy Barton and the sequel - I think the title was Anything Is Possible? Haven't read Olive Kitterage yet though.

morning 50 bookers.

I am the other remaining person not to have read Olive Kitteridge. I have no plans to read it either, after losing a chunk of my life to the rubbish My Name is Lucy Barton.

2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Noemi is a feisty 20 year old preparing to go to university in Mexico City. Her plans change when her father receives a disturbing letter from Noemi's cousin Catalina, who, after a whirlwind romance, moved to her husband's ancestral set in the hills. Catalina's letter reveals her to be terrified of strange goings-on in the house, and Noemi is dispatched to visit her and seek psychiatric care for her.

The first part of this, as Noemi moves into the gothic mansion, is pretty good, creepy ghost-story fare. However, there is unfortunately a Big Reveal for the weirdness, which is preposterous even by ghost story standards. I thought this really spoiled things.

@TheTurnOfTheScrew

morning 50 bookers.

I am the other remaining person not to have read Olive Kitteridge. I have no plans to read it either, after losing a chunk of my life to the rubbish My Name is Lucy Barton.

2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Noemi is a feisty 20 year old preparing to go to university in Mexico City. Her plans change when her father receives a disturbing letter from Noemi's cousin Catalina, who, after a whirlwind romance, moved to her husband's ancestral set in the hills. Catalina's letter reveals her to be terrified of strange goings-on in the house, and Noemi is dispatched to visit her and seek psychiatric care for her.

The first part of this, as Noemi moves into the gothic mansion, is pretty good, creepy ghost-story fare. However, there is unfortunately a Big Reveal for the weirdness, which is preposterous even by ghost story standards. I thought this really spoiled things.

I'm avoiding anything with any twee sounding female name+surname in its title as they all seem a bit marmite and there seems to be a lot of bandwaggoning in the manner of the chick lit explosion following Bridget Jones. (Did anyone see the not one, but two threads which could only have been started by the author themselves a while back saying "if I really loved Twee Name plus Twee Surname is quite fine thank you" what shall I read next? I actually thought she'd forgotten Eleanor O's name but there appears to be a copycat.

I loved Sarah Moss's Names for the Sea (cold-check, Iceland-check) but started one of her novels on Kindle and sent it back.

I realise that sounds very dismissive of namesurname books, sorry! It's just that I know I'd end up with the one that makes me want to chuck it on the fire

I spent my Audible credits last night and have suspended my subscription for now.
2 Barack Obama
1 Michelle Obama
1 Greta Thunberg
1 Michael McIntyre
The Christmas one from Dr Adam wotsit.

And a partridge in a pear tree.