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.

to those that need them today.
And thank you to @southeastdweller for the new thread.

Currently reading The Push - Ashley Audrain which I was really looking forward to. However, I've seen rave reviews for The Last Thing to Burn - Will Dean and my delivery came sooner than expected so I do have half an eye on that for the next read

Also looking for some opinions. My boss at work bought me The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy for Christmas. Did people enjoy this? Love it, hate it, think I should 100% read? I'm not sure and I'm also not used to people buying me books I haven't suggested.

Oh god, the sex in Pat Barker. Thanks for reminding me Remus. Otherwise, good.

Retreated into Bill Bryson again having read

House of Glass - Hadley Freeman - been reviewed on here often but sad story of how her Jewish family escaped persecution in Poland only to face it again in Paris in the Second World War.

The Chalet - Catherine Cooper Okayish thriller set in a chalet. 20 years after two skiers go missing, a body is found. Have to admit to skim reading bits as it got a bit boring.

A Good Catch - Fern Briiton romance set in Cornwall. Not for me. Plot was obvious, characters one dimensional and again I skimmed much of it.

Best - we'll probably both have nightmares tonight now. I find myself feeling really embarrassed for her. Will never read another of hers.

Oh dear Cote, I had Circe on my TBR list, I'm debating if it's worth my time now.
I enjoyed Song of Achilles

Re comfort reading Harry Potter or Bill Bryson does it for me.

"Never fancied Circe. I'm not quite sure why you read it Cote"

Because it was 99p on the Kindle and because there were so many glowing reviews on 50-Book threads.

I would have stayed away, if not for the memory of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - a wonderful book which was also magicky and written by a female author. I thought I would give Circe a chance, given how much people loved it on these threads.

"If you haven't read Mary Renault's Greek novels Cote you might enjoy them rather more"

Thanks for the recommendation but I've had enough Greek mythology feeeellliiiinnnnggssss to last me a lifetime

Magimedi, I'm so sorry for your loss, and all my sympathy to you too, FiveGoMad.

I liked Song of Achilles, but I thought Circe was even better: richer and more complex. If you are into Greek myth, it's impressive to see how Miller weaves different myths together and fleshes out the characters. I was amused by Circe as a single mum (hope that's not too much of a spoiler!); even goddesses have a hard time on their own with a crying baby!

I also liked Barker's Silence of the Girls. Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships left me cold though. I just didn't think it was very well written, or offered much of a fresh perspective on the myths. It felt too workmanlike to me.

What is truly fantastic though is Emily Wilson's translation of the The Odyssey. Highly recommended!

Remus - re "I gave up on it after a few pages for being dull as fuck."

We rarely like the same book but it is fascinating how we hate the same books with comparable venom

I agree with you re "dull as fuck", except that the human race would have died out within a generation or two if sex was this dull.

Cote - thankfully all of the sex I've ever had, apart from one very drunken episode as a student, has been much more fun than Circe.

All I can actually remember happening in Circe was that we were told how beautiful she was three trillion times in the first three pages.

Even worse was the many cringetastic paragraphs such as:

how does your divinity feel? ‘What do you mean?’ I said. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘let me tell you how mine feels. Like a column of water that pours ceaselessly over itself, and is clear down to its rocks. Now, you.’ I tried answers: like breezes on a crag. Like a gull, screaming from its nest.

Matilda2013 I loved The God of Small Things although I think it can be a bit marmite.

@cassandre

Magimedi, I'm so sorry for your loss, and all my sympathy to you too, FiveGoMad.

I liked Song of Achilles, but I thought Circe was even better: richer and more complex. If you are into Greek myth, it's impressive to see how Miller weaves different myths together and fleshes out the characters. I was amused by Circe as a single mum (hope that's not too much of a spoiler!); even goddesses have a hard time on their own with a crying baby!

I also liked Barker's Silence of the Girls. Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships left me cold though. I just didn't think it was very well written, or offered much of a fresh perspective on the myths. It felt too workmanlike to me.

I completely agree with your opinions on all of these. Natalie Haynes tried to jump on a ship that had long since sailed and too many other people had already done it better. I've read another of hers and it was dreadful.

I'm still wondering what on earth Cote was thinking reading Circe though. Recipe for disaster!

@Matilda2013

I read A God Of Small Things around the time it won the Booker.

I remember very little about it except there were I think, twins, and I was about 17, found it a trudge, and felt like I was only reading it because it had won a prize and I was still very much learning about adult novels at that stage and it just made me feel a bit thick that I didn't "get it" or "rate it"

Little did I know that this would begin a lifelong Love/Hate with The Booker Prize

"I'm still wondering what on earth Cote was thinking reading Circe though. Recipe for disaster!"

I am happy to have entertained so many people tonight

Matilda2013 - I liked the god of small things but it is such an atmosphere heavy book so I has to read it quite slowly, found it rewarding though

How does your divinity feel?
Am I the only one whose mind slid completely into the gutter here?

Oh god a marmite book I don't normally do books that win prizes. That normally puts me off guess I will get to it one day.. Don't feel like I have to rush now if it's going to be a read that takes time. Not in the right frame of mind for that just now.

Just finished 1. The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K Dick which I found ended very abruptly. This is the second of his books I've read recently, and I felt the same way about the other! Fantastically written, a bit of a mental workout but I'm glad I read it. I don't think I'll be reading any more of his for a while..

Cote - Mary Renault was a woman but she tended to write from the perspective of male (often gay) protagonists, and many early readers were convinced she must have been a man to write such things. So her books set in Ancient Greece definitely aren't women's 'feelings' books. In fact the two about Theseus (starting with Bull from the Sea) demythologise the story, setting it firmly in a Bronze Age world without supernatural elements. The characters obviously believe in the gods, but they aren't present as actors in the narrative. Theseus is a womanising agent of the patriarchy (although also manages to be likeable) - and we see the story entirely from his POV.

Sorry, need to go to sleep - the first Theseus one is The King Must Die.

Oh dear, I've got Circe (unread) on my Kindle and A Thousand Ships as a library reservation (available from 20 February, unless all the people before me in the queue return it in disgust after 1 day). This discussion isn't doing much to validate my choices .

Mack Circe is wonderful and I think you will really enjoy it. I really wouldn't bother with A Thousand Ships especially if you have already read Song of Achilles or Silence of the Girls as it doesn't do anything different to either of those only a lot worse.

15. Dark Light by Jodi Taylor

The sequel to White Silence which I read upthread. This was bonkers but I still liked it. This is her supernatural series so it’s a bit different to St Mary’s but you can recognise Taylor’s writing style. The plot felt a bit disjointed but if you just go along with it, it’s good fun.

I liked Circe, but I love a myth retelling. Have enjoyed the Stephen Fry series, although I am a bit stuck on Silence of the Girls at the moment. I am currently reading Tony Robinson's retelling of The Odyssey to my class, and it is very very funny, definitely the best Greek myth retelling!