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.

I also thought of you lovely lot when I saw Never Let Me Go yesterday and then Station Eleven today on the daily deal!

I have bought both so that I can see what all the fuss is about and form my own opinion. I also have TTOD on my kindle too....

Just to add to the chorus, I found The Buried Giant unreadable and that wasn't at all the case for NLMG (or Remains of the Day )

7) Sing A Song of Sixpence by Agatha Christie and read my Hugh Fraser An ageing barrister begins to regret past events when an old flame asks him to investigate the murder of a wealthy eccentric aunt. I did not like this one as much as The Dead Harlequin far less interesting but not totally rubbish. It won’t put me off these Agatha Christie short stories though. I give this a 3/5 although was thinking of a 2 but it wasn’t that bad.

8) Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth First physical book read of the year. I really enjoyed this book. It is the third book in the series and I think everyone is familiar with Call the Midwife on which the books are based. I have read Call the Midwife several years ago now. I have Shadows of the Workhouse sitting on my bookshelf and I am certain I have read this too but they will all be a re-read in future. The latter two books were given to me from my MIL and I am sure she gave me Call the Midwife but I gave it away to the charity shop I think but wish I had kept hold of it. I give this 4/5.

Next physical book lined up is The Familiars by Stacey Halls I have had this sitting on my shelf fo a while.

Looking forward to your review of Charlotte Mackerella (as someone who likes that sort of thing!)

10. Pied Piper by Nevil Shute

During the early stages of the Second World War John Howard takes a holiday to France to help him to overcome a recent loss. As the Germans advance through France he finally realises he shoud get the hell out of Dodge (with the benefit of hindsight I felt like it took him a ridiculously long time to get this) and this book is the description of his attempt to reach the safety of England, along with an assortment of children. Although we know Howard survives, as the book begins with him telling his story to a fellow club member, I did find that there was a certain amount of tension as the fate of the other characters was not clear from the outset. I loved the main character who came across as very realistic as a thoroughly decent, old school, kindly British gentleman. This was a really enjoyable read that managed to convey the impact of war on civilians without descending into mawkishness or sensationalism- the focus on the loneliness of old age, as well as the frailties of young and old were also beautifully drawn.

11. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I haven't read The Great Gatsby for years and apart from one major plot detail I'd forgotten pretty much everything about it, apart from the fact I did not like it. At all. Given the fact that my perceptions of a number of books have changed quite a bit recently upon re-reading I decided to give this a go once it was selected by my Random Number Generator. I particularly enjoyed the class themes, particularly the behaviour of the careless rich who never have to face the consequences of that which they destroy, and leave others to pick up the pieces. I wouldn't say it was brilliant but I did enjoy it, despite the dearth of pretty much any appealing characters.

12. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Ten years after the disappearance of 15 year old Ellie Mack, her mother Laurel meets a new man whose 9 year old daughter is the image of Ellie. I'm not sure how much was due to the fact that I could see where this was heading from a mile off, the ridiculous coincidences, the flat / terrible characters (Laurel came across as thoroughly unlikable, pushing her remaining family away for reasons ranging from not being Ellie to not dealing with Ellie's absence in what she considers to be the correct way) or a combination but I hated this book.

Managed to finish my first book before the end of the month and the end of the thread! Phew!

1 - Early Riser, Jasper Fforde

Fantasy comedy. In an alternative Wales, winter temperature drops so low that winters are barely survivable. People hibernate (oh god yes please thank you) thanks to a new wonder drug, or wander the snowy plains, at risk of a frozen death, various maybe real maybe mythical winter creatures and villainous bandits descended from royalty/Tory party members. Charlie Worthing, a junior winter consul, charged with keeping order during the winter, discovers the wonder drug has some quite horrible consequences, unearths an infectious dream with mysterious consequences, and spends a lot of time not really knowing what’s going on. Enjoyable Ffordness. If you’re a fan of Thursday Next, you’ll probably get on with this.

And nailing my colours to the mast:
NLMG was excruciating.
Station 11 was bearable, liked the start but not the rest.
TTOD - marvellous

I enjoyed Nelly Dean, with a few small reservations. (Wuthering Heights from the Housekeepers POV)

I've just pulled The Other Bennet Sister out of my TBR pile.

On the front cover, The Guardian describes it as "Immersive and engaging". Mind you, after the rave reviews of Death Comes To Pemberley from people who should have known better ...

Will return in a few days to report

The Guardian reviewer was Jo Baker, who wrote Longbourn. Bites tongue...

@MamaNewtNewt I read then she was gone last year, honestly one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

As I enjoyed The Other Bennet Sister so much, I'm going to pull Longbourn out of my TBR list

I was feeling a bit grumpy this evening so I read

1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, Sue Townsend

to cheer myself up. I'm not grumpy any more but now fancy a Mars bar and some
Lucozade.

@Palegreenstars me too, it was just awful.

@Boiledeggandtoast

Great reviews cassandre. I've added Memoire de fille and Magpie Lane to my wish-list.

Thanks Boiledegg, I should probably say that Annie Ernaux might be a bit of a marmite author -- I love her, but there's not much plot, it's more about psychological complexity and time/memory (in a sense she's quite Proustian, though massively more 'readable' than Proust!). There is lots of concrete detail though about how she left her working-class childhood in northern France behind, and found herself in new contexts where she felt like a fish out of water. Autobiography/memoirs is a genre that appeals to me in general, and Ernaux does it so well...

Magpie Lane is packed with plot though. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Heroicalien. Apparently Lucy Atkins went to Corpus Christi College as an undergrad, and even though the college where the novel is set is never named, it seems to be located very close to where Corpus is. One of the characters also gives guided tours of Oxford, and is constantly conveying nuggets of historical information to other characters

The discussion about Longbourn is interesting! I haven't read it, but I read A Country Road, A Tree by the same author; it's a historical novel about Samuel Beckett's time in the French Resistance during WW2. I admired the novel, but it took me ages to finish -- the pace was very slow, and the tone was quite serious. I can't decide yet whether to go for Longbourn or not.

And I share everyone's dislike of Death Comes to Pemberley. Totally forgettable!

At the risk of starting the debate again:

8. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mantel

I'm not quite sure what I think about this book.
In case anyone wants to know the plot.....
It's a post-apocalyptic story of a band of traveling Shakespeare performers called the Travelling Symphony who roam between small and sparse settlements that have established themselves in the twenty years or so since the collapse of society when the Georgia 'flu has wiped out 99.9% of the population. The time line flips back and forth between the life story of Arthur, a famous actor who died on stage just before the pandemic hit, Jeevan who performed CPR on him and Kristen, one of the child actors who was on stage with the actor and is now part of the Travelling Symphony.

It had a massive scope - the downfall of society (we are there at the beginning when the flu breaks out and we are invested in Jeevan's story as he tries to save Arthur's life and then hears of the flu and goes and stocks up on groceries before sealing himself and his brother into the apartment- but then we don't encounter Jeevan again for about 150 pages). We also get a LOT of backstory about Arthur's multiple ex-wives, (remembering Arthur dies in Chapter 1) and a prophet, whose story sounds promising but just fizzles out, plus some former members of the Traveling Symphony who had settled in the same town as the prophet but are now missing. It is all a bit messy, and an awful lot to cram into 350 pages, so it all seemed a bit rushed and not much is resolved. I read on thinking it will all link up in the end and it kind of does, but not in a terribly satisfying way.
That said, I did think it picked up a bit when we get the the settlement at the airport, but really it was all just a bit haphazard. I must have been skimming towards the end because I am not entirely sure what the point of the Station Eleven comic books was, apart from giving the book the title. I like the premise but it was all way too disjointed for me. I didn't hate it but wouldn't say it was amazing either, so I will sit on the fence.

1. The Order Of Time - Carlo Rovelli

Short and very readable pop-science book exploring the nature of what we perceive as time. Properly mindbending in places but it's the closest I've ever come to feeling like I almost have a small understanding of special relativity and quantum gravity, and what time is (spoiler, it's really not what it seems to us).

Sorry this is book 8 not 7!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and @BestIsWest I'm looking at Master Georgie on Kindle if you fancy that Bainbridge read-along?

5. Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

A reread.
The fire breathing dragons of Pern and their riders defend the planet from the incursions of deadly Thread falling from the skies.

This book (the second in the series) is set 7 years after the first, which concluded with Weyrwoman Lessa going back in time 400 years, and bringing hundreds of dragons back into the present with her.
Things are not going well. The old timers haven’t been adjusting well to the social changes that happened over the past 400 years, and have been causing all sorts of unrest. Couple that with unexpected changes in the pattern of Threadfall, and things are about to come to a head.

A good easy read for the most part, although some bits have not dated well.

I enjoyed Eligible. Also enjoyed Nelly Dean that a pp mentioned.

27. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Children’s book - three children enter a parallel world to try and save their father. This isn’t one I read as a child and I know it’s seen as a classic, but it wasn’t for me. I’m not sure it’s one I would have enjoyed even if I had read it as a child.

28. West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

This was a free Amazon First Reads book so I didn’t really have high hopes but I loved it! It’s based on a true story, when in 1938 two giraffes were driven from New York to Sam Diego. This tells the fictionalised version of that journey, told by a young homeless man who manages to talk his way into driving the giraffes’ truck. I just loved the idea of people suddenly seeing giraffes drive past them in their town! I have no idea how accurate the fictionalised journey is (probably not at all) but I don’t care because the whole idea was lovely.

Longbourn was a DNF for me. It was a library book, and I just wasn’t finding it interesting enough to finish it before it was due back.

I did finish Death Comes to Pemberley, and I share the general dislike of it.

One Pride and Prejudice sequel that I did enjoy was The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, although admittedly the plot definitely gets very far fetched in places.

@Magicbabywaves
The Shell Seekers and September are two of my favourite cosy, but not "little cafe by the harbour" cosy, comfort reads. I actually read September first.
I think the faults as such come from them having been written by a writer who was already getting on a bit but I like that in a way. I love the descriptions of places, food and perfumes. Penelope's children were all foul in their own way. I preferred September which seemed to have more of a point to it rather than being a "saga" of sorts.

I have finished:

7 Bone China by Laura Purcell

Enjoyed this. Much more than Silent Companions which, as I said the other day, I found meh due to it having been recommended on a "most terrifying" thread. So I read it (TSC) waiting for something scary to happen, rather than really concentrating on the atmosphere and the characters.

I read BC in a better way- and the pseudo-supernatural bit was definitely more creepy than the idea of cardboard figures moving round a house (which in TSC just made me remember the paper cut out dolls from my Bunty comic)

In brief: a lady's companion/nanny has bad luck with all her families, turns to drink, pinches a snuffbox from last family, changes her name and gets a job as companion of sorts to Miss Pinecroft who sits all day in a room staring at a bone china collection which we discover was made locally.
The house has a Mrs Danvers in the form of Creeda, and the cook from Wuthering Heights in the form of Mrs Quinn. (Character wise, not job wise) The former being creepy and weird, the latter the vox pop and filler-in of missing info when the reader needs it. There's the obligatory (and unnecessary) local parson (I don't think LP writes men very well, they seem very much to be stock characters even when not meant to be)

We change timelines and find out why Miss P sits looking at the plates all day.

It's a shame that the reason she does this, was telegraphed in one obvious sentence, and once I'd read that and thought "oh" I did race to the end a bit.

Still good, definitely, and I'll read more of LP now.

Am now having a "breast-fest" I'll leave you to guess with whom.

The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
Ugh, enough with the multiple viewpoints. Horrible shallow people, truly unpleasant and full of holes. Did not like.

@MegBusset like the sound of Master Georgie.