50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2021, 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. Could everyone embolden their titles and/or authors as well, please, as it makes the books talked about easier to track?

The first thread of the year is here.

Best There is a British Library Crime Classics one called Crossed Skis: An Alpine Mystery. Haven't read it yet because I've just been reading The Chalet.

Very nice to see that Stokey is joining me in the gutter (but looking at the stars?).

I DNF’d black Leopard, red wolf I did not get it at all. I think it needed reading in bigger chunks.

Thank you Harlan, I’ve downloaded the kindle sample.

Eine - I'm surprised that you hated Cloud Atlas but loved The Bone Clocks. The two books are nearly identical in format, method, and even themes. IMHO The Bone Clocks is a mere shadow of Cloud Atlas, which is cuts much deeper and has a bigger punch.

This was my review:

14/10/2014 15:05 CoteDAzur

49. The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell

I liked it and was definitely gripped by it, but I am not in awe of this book like I was of Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Yet, there are many similarities between these two books, to the point that this one feels like an imitation of Cloud Atlas:

• 6 stories
• ... all of which are first-person accounts
• ... spanning decades
• ... starting in the past (1984) and extending far in the future (2043)
• ... and ending on a roll rather than winding down, as if they were cut prematurely

The themes are similar, too:

• Man's selfishness & cruelty, especially towards each other
• The yearning for safeguarding our knowledge/self/experiences for posterity
• Growing old
• Dystopian future

Cloud Atlas was original, gripping, and well... perfect First halves of the stories marched towards an inevitable conclusion, with the dystopian and post-apocalyptic two feeling incredibly real. Then came the second halves, and the reader is locked into the epic ensemble, with no escape from the author's logic as shown over and over in a variety of ways across continents and centuries. People are cruel and exploitive, we kill and enslave when we can; we have not changed, will never change, and this will be our downfall. Our technology will disappear in a single generation, just like our experiences and memories do as we grow old and die. It is a powerful blow to the gut, made all the more painful because of the hopeful note it ends with (1st story, so 1850s... but the reader already knows how the human story will end because the last story was laid out in full in the middle of the book).

A similar theme plays out in The Bone Clocks in a similar format, but in a less effective way imho and for it I blame its fantastical/supernatural subplot of warring immortals. I'm not quite sure why the author has felt the need for this subplot, especially since it takes up almost 25% of the book and imho doesn't add much to it (or maybe I haven't figured it out yet), while the other 5 narratives take up between 14%-17%. I will think a bit more about this and post my thoughts on here. If you read this book, please do the same. It would be interesting to see what you think.

There is a lot I want to say but I don't want to give any spoilers. Suffice it to say that David Mitchell is a brilliant author and he knows it. He is a master storyteller who (1) manages to change his 'voice' with every character he is voicing the inner thoughts of and make the personal accounts feel truly individual, (2) keeps you hanging on every word (I hear this book is 600+ pages - seriously didn't feel like it), and (3) succeed at every level, be it the feelings and perceptions of a child or sweeping predictions about life half a century in the future.

Can't believe how many people on here are nonplussed about cod atlas - I thought I was the only one and it put me off David Mitchell for ages.

The bone swan I have asolid 3/5, parts I really enjoyed esp the dystopia part at the end.

The thousand autumn's however I loved.

"David Mitchell was on ‘A Good Read’ a couple of months ago, and his choice was Circe..."

I don't believe it

Was it this David Mitchell?

4) The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle and read by Robert Hardy This was an audiobook short story. One of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories.
This is about cheating in an exam and papers being disturbed. In steps Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. Three students are possible suspects.
I was underwhelmed by this story. Maybe because there was no murder plot involved. It was only 30 minutes as an audiobook but I won’t be revisiting. I give 2/5.

So many to reply to!

@CoteDAzur

It's maybe 10 years since I read Cloud Atlas but I really remember disliking it strongly, particularly the future bit in dialect I just could not be arsed with. And also the Timothy Cavendish section. I just liked the strands more here. I think I only liked 2 of the strands in Cloud Atlas.

@Palegreenstars @bibliomania

Black Leopard

I just didn't have a clue what was going on and I also didn't care. They did it no favours at all by calling it "African Game Of Thrones", the two have zero in common from what I could see

@Stokey

Really helpful RE Utopia Avenue
I have gone with Thousands Autumns over BSG going off blurbs I think I fancy it more.

Can you (or Cote) confirm which Mitchells are in the one (Horology) universe? I have Utopia Ave already but I want to fill the gaps in.

I've worked out that :

Black Swan Green
Slade House
The Thousand Autumns
Bone Clocks
Utopia Ave

Are part of one universe, but what about Ghostwritten and number9dream does anyone know?

I know I could Wiki/Google but I am trying to avoid accidental spoilers, I know that the link to Black Swan Green is slight.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Classic and apparently well loved children’s story set in a mansion on the Yorkshire moors. Mary is an abandoned, orphaned posh girl who returns from slapping servants and swooning from the heat in India. Colin the sickly young heir of the Grand Estate lays in bed screeching demands at servants in his big house. The children discover an overgrown locked away garden, break in, and decide to play in it secretly.

Simple, hearty country folk from poor (but very clean and goodly) local cottages, flock around to rehabilitate the troubled, aristocratic children at their own expense. Lambs, fox cubs and various birds are employed to assist in the worthy cause.

The garden is brought back to full vigour and loses its sinister reputation. Mary becomes pretty and better tempered with bouncy hair as good girls should be. Colin learns to stand up straight, issue orders at a more reasonable volume and step up to his role as young lord and master.

The simple rural creatures, including animal and human varieties, are grateful and content that order is restored.

Eine - I think you need to give Cloud Atlas another chance. 10 years is a long time.

Mishapencha0s I give up on it after three chapters, I didn't expect it to be brilliant but god it was dire.

I looked back over my comments at the time, and I couldn't face Sloosha's Crossing the first time so I'm not sure I could a second

Was the film worth a damn out of interest Cote ? I avoided because I really doubted that it would work

I hope you don't mind me joining. I read a lot usually, but am increasingly listening to audiobooks too (do they count?)

My list (currently reading in bold)

1. Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris

A heart wrenching book, often difficult to read, but gives you so much admiration and respect for the women of concentration camps. I didn't know anything about post WW2 Russian gulag camps. The woman was so strong and overcame so much. I really enjoyed (not sure that's the right word), this book.

1. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

The follow up to The Handmaid's Tale. Gives a new/previously unknown perspective to the first books. I enjoyed it.

1. The Baby Group by Caroline Corcoran

Somewhat obvious but ok

1. Who Killed Ruby by Camilla Way

I like the way the story was told, although had a good guess (and was right), about who did it

1. The Angina Monologues by Samer Nashef

Fascinating book, that gives you a peek into life as an NHS Cardiothracic surgeon. There were descriptions of medical processes that I found I didn't understand (or really need to know), but not enough to take away my general understanding of the situations. This book is written by said surgeon, shows of his contact with his patients and his warm, caring, nature. His (along with a small team of colleagues), experiences doing surgery on the Palestinian West Bank as volunteers, is enthralling. This is everything that fans of Adam Kay would find boring I suspect!

1. The Shelf by Helly Acton

This book enraged me! Everything the book sounds like it is (after only reading the blurb), is reinforced by actually reading it. I truly can't see why it's a book about feminism, For the situation to end up as it was (all power to strong women, we don't need men etc), I found was wholly undermined by the fact that the women couldn't have discovered this thinking themselves, but had to be physically placed in that situation by the man in the first place! Looking at the reviews women seem to really like it so maybe I've not 'got' it.

1. To Scared to Tell by Cathy Glass

Evocative and thought provoking, showing the variances of human nature. I liked this book.

8. I Can't Believe You Just Said That by Danny Wallace

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit it reminded me of the famished road in the sense that the magical realism of the ‘journey* makes it to inaccessible to follow. I loved his previous book though.

Apologies for my spelling, was meant to be 'Too (not To) scared to tell'

7. Olive, Mabel And Me by Andrew Cotter.
Perhaps only one for Labrador fans, but it hit exactly the right tone for me, despite not really liking books about people’s animals.
His videos helped get me through 2020 and missing my own beloved Lab. The same arch tone and gentle sarcasm runs through the book and he’s an engaging writer about dogs, unexpected lockdown fame, sports reporting and climbing mountains.

Ah we bought that for my mil for Christmas - I’m glad it’s good.

@LaBelleSauvage123

Ah we bought that for my mil for Christmas - I’m glad it’s good.

It is! I say that as someone who sat stoney-faced through Marley And Me.

Runforwine oh good glad it's not just me then. I don't like abandoning a book but the little that I did read was more than enough!

@Tanaqui DS would like to say thank you for the Tony Robinson recommendation. He's a huge Greek myths and Blackadder fan, so is very happy with that find!

Hushabyelullaby Welcome...feel free to count audiobooks, lots of us do

I'm a bit surprised by the Cloud Atlas hate, I loved it, one of my top 10. I'm not very taken by the Luisa Rey sections but love Frobisher and Zachary.
I can't quite reconcile the timeline in my head though, surely Luisa and Cavendish would have been alive at the same time? Am I missing some important detail?

Eine they're all interconnected. The Hong Kong banker in Ghostwritten is Taylor's school bully in Black Swan Green for example. Vyvyan Ayres's daughter from Cloud Atlas is the old lady who takes on Taylor's cultural education in Black Swan Green.