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.

As I'm new to all this, what do I do next time I finish a book? Find my original post, copy and paste it and add the new one to the end, or just add another post with the review?

Up to you, hush (and hello). Most people just put the review of the new book and keep lists for new threads (if at all) but it’s all very relaxed round here. Mostly we just like hearing about what you read and what you think of it.

6 The World According to Garp by John Irving
I had never read this though I have read other Irving at various points. This was joyous; the sort of novel I don’t find often that sucked me in and kept me reading. Garp is a writer, the son of an ardently feminist nurse. He has a wife and two sons. He wrestles. But stuff happens and it’s heartbreaking and funny and it was just a wonderful story full of great lines and a large cast of characters. I think the sexual politics are still relevant after several decades and it doesn’t feel dated. I expect this will be a highlight of the year.

7 Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin
A Christmas gift from someone who knows I like a popular science book. I understood just enough of this short book to keep me interested, and even when I didn’t know what she was talking about I was entertained by her storytelling and endearing style. What I have taken away from this is that black holes are not something you survive but they are pretty cool. Someone more scientifically minded than me may be able to fill in the detail about Hawking radiation, quantum entanglement and the heat death of the universe.

18. The Madman’s Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities From History by Edward Brooke-Hitching

The title describes it well! Lots of odd books described here - some due to the way the book is made (tiny books, giant books, books bound in human skin, books written in blood) and some due to the content (religious oddities, supernatural etc). Very interesting and lots of lovely photos and illustrations. I learnt from this that apparently you can visit Jesus’s grave in Japan - he wasn’t crucified (that was Jesus’s brother who took his place) and Jesus himself escaped to Japan and died there when he was 106. I also learnt a new word which describes me very well currently - Blowsabella, which means ‘a woman whose hair is dishevelled and hanging about her face’ as set out in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue published 1785. This also tells me that eggs are known as cackling farts, which I think will catch on in our house!

19. Apple Of My Eye by Helene Hanff

This is by the same author as 84 Charing Cross Road and is another gem. Here, she’s been asked to write a tourist guide to New York City. Despite being a native New Yorker and thinking she knows her city well, she realises as she starts making a list of tourist attractions that she hasn’t visited many of them, so she and a friend start rediscovering the city. This was published in 1977 so is obviously a bit dated now but to me that adds to its charm as you read about parts of the city that will never be the same again - the section where they visit the World Trade Centre, which was newly built then, is especially poignant. It’s just nice seeing her pleasure as she discovers parts of the city she wasn’t aware of, and there’s lots of nice historical nuggets of information in there as well. Those who have enjoyed 84CCR should definitely seek this one out.

9. To The End Of The World: Travels With Oscar Wilde by Rupert Everett.
His latest autobiography. Sometimes a bit flat, as he talks about so many people he knows and the reader doesn’t- bit like visiting your Granny who doesn’t acknowledge that you don’t know the people she is talking about. Often poignant musings on his friends and lovers, particularly the ones no longer around. Flashes of hilarious bitchiness about Hollywood, producers and financiers. The background is the film about Oscar Wilde he spends years trying to bring to life and scattered with self-absorbed musings on how unfair it all is.
Not one to read all the way through in one go, but excellent to dip in and out of as you follow on his journey around Europe and beyond, despairing at how the odds are stacked against his project but never giving up on it.

Catching up on the last few pages.

@Midnightstar76 the Jennifer Worth books are really good, albeit the stories are a lot darker than the TV series.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I didn't read 'Normal People' but I read 'Conversations with Friends' and it was very boring. I had similar issues with the lack of quotation marks. A quick google tells me that it was subject to a seven party auction for its publishing rights ! Takes all kinds I guess.

@ElizabethBennetismybestfriend I looked up the croissant book - is it 'One More Croissant for the Road' by Felicity Cloake? 'The Other Bennet Sister' sounds good too. Making a note of both of these.

@barnanabas I liked your review of 'Rodham' and have put it on my TBR list.

@Sadik both your books (the Addie la Rue book and 'Pilgrims') sound interesting and have also been added to my TBR list.

@highlandcoo great review of 'The Sealwoman's Gift'. I've added it to my TBR list also. I had never heard of that story. That's one of the things I love about reading - you pick up things along the way and it adds to your knowledge of the world. I also loved the line you quoted.

@noodlezoodle have you read 'The Queen and I ' by Sue Townsend? It's wonderful. I saw a recommendation on MN when Sue Townsend died. The book is based on the premise that the UK elect a republican government and the new government decide to abolish the monarchy. Rather than executing the royal family, the government inform them that they must move out of their palaces/mansions and move into houses on a council estate. The book follows the various family members as they adapt to their new lives and get to know their new neighbours. I must look out for 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole'. Like @FortunaMajor I vaguely remember the TV series - think I watched the first episode or two but didn't stick with it.

@Mumtotwofurbabies Kate Mosse sounds promising

@ChessieFL your strangest book sounds intriguing and I also liked the sound of the New York book.

Hope the libraries open soon or I'll end up spending a small fortune on books.

I hope you don't mind me tagging you. If anyone would prefer not to be tagged in future, just let me know. I'm an early bird but I'll try to remember not to tag anyone before 9 a.m.

Has anybody on here read anything by Jenni Fagan? The Guardian had a glowing review of her latest a couple of days ago. I've bought one of her earlier ones, The Sun Pilgrims, which I'm really enjoying so far.

Goodness this moves fast
Will catch up later
1 After the fall Charity Norman
2 We begin at the end Chris Whittaker
3 The happiest man on earth Eddie Jaku
4 Close to home Cara Hunter
5 The housewarming SELynes

Now on...
6 The glass woman Caroline Lee

Chessie Thanks for the review of The Madman's Library - I am hoping to get a kindle voucher for my birthday so I've added it to my wishlist. The vulgar words book will be right up there as a first choice as well.

I'm reading the Susie Dent words book at the moment. I'm only on mid-January but already the book has 5 stars because it has introduced me to the delightful mumpsimus which I am going to take great pleasure in using on AIBU. I think we should have a 50 bookers campaign to have this word enter the contemporary vernacular forthwith.

chessieFL 19 books ....how ? I am both impressed and a little jealous.

Just finished Offing by Benjamin Myers. No 3 for me. Really enjoyed this story of a 16 year old boy from the coal mines in Durham who sets out on a journey on foot and meets an eccentric older woman who introduces him to pleasure in food and writing and swimming and more. The two are from very different backgrounds but get in very well. A lovely gentle story.

Remus - Jenni Fagan is a local author to me and my rl book group read The Panopticon last year, about a young woman in care. Very dark but funny in places. I went to see the theatre adaptation of the book too.
Just bought her new one Luckenbooth too. I'm a bit of a fan!

I like the sound of the Helene Hanff New York book but it’s not on kindle and appears to be extortionate as a paperback.

I was obviously lucky Best, I got it for a couple of £ in my local second hand bookshop!

@weebarra

Remus - Jenni Fagan is a local author to me and my rl book group read The Panopticon last year, about a young woman in care. Very dark but funny in places. I went to see the theatre adaptation of the book too. Just bought her new one Luckenbooth too. I'm a bit of a fan!

Thanks, Wee. On current evidence, I'm definitely going to buy her others (although will wait for the newest to come down in price on Kindle).

Jumping on the back of that review from Emcl, my second book of the year was
The Offing by Benjamin Myers.
It took me a while to get into this, partly due to a bit of a book hangover from my last read and partly because the style of writing didn't grab me straight away. I felt it was a story that had been told before...young person from a small town background meets wealthy, wordly older person in what turns out to be a pivotal encounter in their lives. It is a novel that grew on me though. I enjoyed the second half more than the first and liked the ending.
The cover of this on BorrowBox has a brilliant, bright illustration of a coastal landscape and a newspaper quote which said something like 'A novel for our time' and I kept thinking about why it said that. There is a theme around our relationship with Germany and Europe as the novel is set after the war...perhaps that theme was being linked to Brexit? I'm not sure I would have thought about it if I hadn't been trying to fathom out the cover quote.
Now reading Birdcage Walk.

@BestIsWest there seems to be quite a few of the New York book second hand on Amazon at the moment. I’ve just ordered a copy for just over £3 including p&p :)

I think I only posted once on the last thread - fascinating discussion though.

My list thus far:

1. Val McDermid - Christmas Murder
2. Christopher Brookmyre- Siege Mentality
3. Matt Haig - the Midnight Library
4. Ian Rankin - a Song for Dark Times

The Midnight Library was a BBC Radio 4 audio book. It didn’t say anywhere but it must be abridged I would have thought as it seemed rather short. So it perhaps doesn’t count for this list.

The premise is that there is a middle space between life and death where the protagonist, Nora, finds herself. With the help of the librarian she examines her deepest regrets and what she actually wants in life.

I enjoyed the book mostly although I found the central character a bit dismal. She appears to be exceptional in so many things but gets joy from nothing. I am not sure how the narration may have coloured my opinion though as I found it slightly irritating. Especially the male characters who all had the same gruff slightly dopey way of speaking.

the Song for Dark Times was another Rebus/Fox/Clark/Cafferty story but I found it more engaging than the last couple after Rebus being brought back. I finished it genuinely interested in what lay ahead for Big Ger and Rebus whereas in previous recent books I have been left flat.

I am very slowly plodding my way through The Librarian reading a page or two at a time. I keep thinking that this is it getting exciting and no, more letters. I am nearly 200 pages in but have barely dented it. I can’t decide whether to force myself to focus on it for a week or so or start something else more gripping.

@sallyjuliet thanks, I’ll have another look.

Got one now for £3.68. The first time I looked it was £31!

weebarra I loved The Panopticon so will definitely look out for Luckenbooth.

1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I know a number of people read this last year, with varying opinions. I absolutely loved it, beginning, middle and end. I found it satisfying to understand more about what was happening as the story progressed, and really enjoyed the echoes of other books. I thought the length was perfect, short & sweet, & it felt like a perfect book to read at a challenging time.

My dad, OTOH (with whom I share a kindle account) got about 1/3 through it before abandoning it as a load of pointless tosh, and I can totally see where he's coming from too Probably one for lovers of magical realism and/or fantasy only. I also suspect it might not withstand a re-read.

Ok thanks @PepeLePew

I read Garp years and years ago as a teenager so am tempted to revisit it based on your review Pepe. I do like John Irving.

1. Feersum Endjinn - Iain M Banks. This was a reread for me but had read the original when it first came out in the 90s so didn't remember much about it. Although it's an Iain M Banks, it's not one of his Culture novels and is quite experimental. It's set in the far future on Earth where the sun is expanding and is going to destroy the planet, the Encroachment. The book is very nicely structured, it's 10 chapters, each of which follows 4 different "people". The first is Asura, a girl who is a construct of the Crypt which is kind of like the internet on a much wider scale, then two people who are conspiring against the government, and the final part is a phonetic 1st person narration, which can be a bit of a struggle to read. I really enjoyed it, but probably not as good as some of his Culture stuff.

I only read Labyrinth by Sarah Mosse, but I hated it and thought it was tripe, sorry! I also disliked The Other Bennett Sister once it got past the events of Pand P. However, I love Nerve- when I last reread it I found it really evocative of the time and place too.

9). Alchemy by Margaret Mahy. The Changeover is a favourite of mine, but thos is really much the same plot redone, and I found it rather a limp echo. I do like Mahy's writing style though.

My library has online lending (I use BorrowBox), it's saved me a small fortune! It has digital books and audio books. I'd definitely recommend checking out if your local authorities libraries offer this service.