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.

Hmmm I've got Thursday Night Book Club waiting for me on Audible. I think I might have panic bought as I was about to pause my membership for a while for me to catch up and I had some credits to use up.

Remus, yes, Willmouse was great. Have you seen the film? It's rather odd because Susannah York as Joss looks ridiculously old, and so does Kenneth More (!) as Eliot. But a very young Jane Asher's in it too, more convincingly. It pops up on Talking Pictures quite often. Worth catching if you happen to notice it coming up.

Thanks, Terpsi. I didn't know there was a film. I'll look out for it.

If you put "Greengage Summer" into the search box of the BBC News one of the results is an article about a journalist searching for remnants of Rumer's French summer. It's full of lovely old photos of the town and swimming at the river, a delightful and interesting article!

@southeastdweller

Did finish it, but it is generic, very cliched and underwhelming. Couldn't wait to finish

I DNF Thursday Murder Club either. Why on earth has it been such a hit? Spielberg’s even making a film. Who is buying all these copies?

Thanks, Ada. Will make that part of today's reading.

Morning. I've rather taken against The Thursday Murder Club without knowing anything about it, so it's been gratifying to hear these views!

1. Airhead by Emily Maitlis Emily Maitlis presents a daily evening news show on the BBC (in case there are non-UK people or news-avoiders on here). Each chapter tells the behind-the-scenes story of an interview/news story - mostly, as you'd expect, they are well known figures (Clinton, Trump) and major news stories (Hong Kong protests). She reflects on how the interviews got made, what she wished she'd done differently and how it appears in hindsight. There's also discussion of how news gets chosen and the role TV news plays/should play in our lives. I found it very readable and interesting and warmed to Emily herself.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

The Greengage Summer I knew absolutely nothing about this, other than that I'd seen it mentioned on here, and it was very different to what I'd assumed it to be. It's slow and sultry and every time I thought it was going in a particular direction, it then swerved into a different one. I really liked the slow build towards the big revelation, but thought the ending was too abrupt. Best thing in it - Willmouse. I ADORED him.

I loved The Greengage Summer when I read it at the age of 15/16. I've never re-read it as I thought I'd be disappointed but after your review it's going on to my TBR pile.

Two Under the Indian Sun by Jon & Rumer Godden is a semi- autobiographical novel of their childhood in India & is well worth a read if you enjoyed Greengage Summer.

I agree about The Land of Maybe. He did like being with the big boys off hunting. He's a lot less interested in what the women might be up to, for example.

The film is called The Loss of Innocence and it was on Sony Movies Classic (Freeview 51) yesterday afternoon, so it's bound to pop up there again too.

Thanks for the link Ada and the recommendation magimedi.

11: Civil to Strangers - Barbara Pym

In the small Shropshire village of Up Callow, a ripple of excitement builds when handsome, dashing Hungarian Stefan Tilos moves into a local property. The village curate, Mr Paladin, is relieved, because now he'll have some peace from the flirtatious attentions of Miss Angela Gay, but Mr Tilos is more interested in sensible, quietly-efficient Cassandra Marsh-Gibbon, wife of writer Adam, whose lack of commercial success hasn't prevented him from having a very high opinion of his own modest talents. When Cassandra decides to take a holiday alone in Budapest she gets more than she bargained for, and the village gossip-mill goes into overdrive.

This slim volume was Barbara Pym's second novel, written in 1936 but not published until the 80s; it's very short and far from being a fully-developed piece, but great fun, and with all the elements of later, classic Pym firmly in place. A much-needed pick-me-up at this point.

(Re The Thursday Murder Club - I decided to reserve it from the library too, so I could see what the fuss was about, but I'll have to wait until March...I'm in two minds as well, having read a sample chapter and Private Eye's skewering of it in the last issue. Apparently there's a sequel soon to appear...)

1. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - compelling and thought provoking read. Very philosophical account of surviving Aushwitz.
2. Little by Edward Carey - Madame Tussaud's life set during the French Revolution. Nicely written with very nuanced characterisations. Definitely recommend.

5. Lift Like A Girl by Nia Shanks

This is non fiction by a personal trainer who thinks most women should try weightlifting. As someone who does CrossFit and prefers the strength stuff to cardio, I agree.

It does mean the book was fairly redundant for me, but it ticks off an unread book in my kindle library

She is passionate about encouraging you to forget about number on the scale and focus on the weight on the bar you are going to lift, and she is right, but it's not new news to me.

If anyone was thinking of getting into lifting, this is a great starting point. It's encouraged me to keep picking up the dumbbells during lockdown.

@MamaNewtNewt I didn't know someone else was doing a whole King re-read and we are on the same book! I think it's Tommyknockers next which I know nothing about. I am going to read a lighter story first then dive into this I think.

Hyperion is one of today's Kindle deals. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to try some great Sci-Fi with grand ideas.

Terpsichore (Re The Thursday Murder Club - I decided to reserve it from the library too, so I could see what the fuss was about, but I'll have to wait until March...I'm in two minds as well, having read a sample chapter and Private Eye's skewering of it in the last issue. Apparently there's a sequel soon to appear...)

If only we lucky enough to have just two to endure. He sold a series of 3 to the publisher as he'd already written them before looking for a book deal. Also coming to a TV near you...

I won't bother with the next one. TMC started well enough but by the end I didn't know who anyone was and didn't care.

@FortunaMajor

Terpsichore (Re The Thursday Murder Club - I decided to reserve it from the library too, so I could see what the fuss was about, but I'll have to wait until March...I'm in two minds as well, having read a sample chapter and Private Eye's skewering of it in the last issue. Apparently there's a sequel soon to appear...)

If only we lucky enough to have just two to endure. He sold a series of 3 to the publisher as he'd already written them before looking for a book deal. Also coming to a TV near you...

I won't bother with the next one. TMC started well enough but by the end I didn't know who anyone was and didn't care.

Urgh. I suppose it was pretty inevitable that, as Private Eye said, a top TV exec would write a series of books destined for TV adaptation with very little extra script-work needed. Any bets on who'll be cast as the 'elderly' crime-solvers? (a rhetorical question really - a selection of our 'best-loved stars™️' familiar from other franchises, no doubt)

@ForthFitzRoyFaroes I've had Mythago Wood on my TBR list for ages but haven't tried it. I loved Piranesi too so may give it a go. Thanks for the heads up on Hyperion Cote, may be time for a reread.

Also really sad to hear Thursday Murder Club is unloved. One of my friends was involved in the editorial process and was reaching about it, so I've been looking forward to reading it for ages! I also find Richard Osman very amusing so was hoping for good things.

Not reaching raving autocorrect

@Misshapencha0s

2. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - compelling and thought provoking read. Very philosophical account of surviving Aushwitz.

1. Little by Edward Carey - Madame Tussaud's life set during the French Revolution. Nicely written with very nuanced characterisations. Definitely recommend.

Little has been on my 'I quite fancy that' list for a long time.

Cheers, Magi re the RG rec. I'd definitely try more.

Sorry I have not been on in a couple of weeks - I got caught up in reading a book series, so I decided to wait until the end.

I read the MS Morris Oxford Murder series (4 books, 5th coming in April) about Di Bridget Hart and her team in Oxford.

I won't go too much into the story so you can all enjoy them as you read them. The books were OK as a detective series with a female lead. I would not rate them as highly as the Maeve Kerrigan/ Ruth Galloway or Manon Bradshaw but they were light relief, while I continue to read Man's Search for Meaning.

Observation 1.

Why do all successful women in modern fiction seem to drink a bottle of wine every night? Is it just me who find this irritating?

Observation 2.
I had gotten rid of all my body hang-ups by the time I was 40. (and believe me I had loads being a very short person in a family of tall, thin, women and men). Too much time was spent on the internal monologue of the main lead berating herself for eating cake.

Is all this supposed to make the main lead more relatable? Personally, I don't want relatable, I want aspirational - please can they just have a normal husband and a normal set of kids (any make up will do) if they are a working mum in their late 30's / 40's / 50's??????

Finally, a weird one:

I was reading these with the Victor Frankl book and the Victor Frankl book referenced Thomas Mann and Friedrich Nietzsche - and so did the MS Morris book (just thought it was a bit 'woo' to see the same quotes in 2 completely different types of book .)

I quite enjoyed Little but I found the ending rushed.

And now, since you won't hear from me until I finish Man's Search for Meaning, or my next murder series, whichever is first (TBF, I am 60% through the heavy one), I have just started reading Val McDermid. How have I missed this woman?

I am on book one of her Tony Hill series. It feels like time travel to go back to the 1990's (Carol is wearing a trenchcoat, that takes me back . But I see that Val has loads and loads of books so I can move on to a more recent detective if this feels like a history book.

Well I enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club and am looking forward to the sequel! Not great literature, no, but I found it good fun.

23. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Another one where I am out of step with the general opinion of the thread! I picked this up from our local book swap as I recalled reading good reviews on this thread. Based on real life, a little girl and her grandmother spend summers together living on an isolated Finnish island. According to the blurb, it’s a profoundly life-affirming story and shows a fierce yet understated love between the two characters. However, I found it really boring, thought the child was rather petulant, and didn’t get any sense of love between the characters. If it had been a longer book it would have been a DNF but as it was very short I did finish it.