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.

Misshapencha0s I used to be dogged in my determination to finish books I really wasn't getting on with, but now I'd ditch them without a second thought. There are just too many books I do want to read.

Tbh I now employ more of a - possibly subconscious - sifting process so I pre-assess a book before I start it properly. That way I've got a fairly good idea of whether I'm likely to stick with it. I don't mean I choose only books I know I'll like, but they have to have something to hold my interest, to a degree anyway. Enough so that I'll finish them, I guess.

Bit late to the party but I’ll join now if that’s ok?

1. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney I enjoyed it but both her books made me feel sad for a while after reading them! Not sure why!

1. The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin this was a book from a subscription service I use sometimes. It was about a young boy who contracts Meningitis and falls into a coma. When he wakes up, he finds out his younger sister was infected too but that she died. It’s a very moving story about how the family deal with this in their own ways. It’s set in Alaska and the family are immigrant Taiwanese. I’d definitely recommend it. It’s a meandering, atmospheric book. Going to try Naomi’s Room next.

4 A History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
I came to this with high hopes as I love books about people living in remote places and coming of age stories. Sadly I was disappointed. The central plot line is compelling and made me battle through to the end, but the novel is oddly disjointed and the characters seem vague and unreal.

@bibliomania

Another one here wanting to know what Pepe was doing to all those drunks.

Probably

@Misshapencha0s

Also how long do you stick with a book before you give up? Is it just when you know you know or a certain number of pages?

100 pages with paper books when I still read them, a lot less now I have the kindle as I am less patient now I'm vintage

Have you read The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall, LaBelleSauvage123 ? It's not a book I'd normally have picked up (I'd enjoyed her previous novel The Carhullan Army which is dystopian / SFF) but I thought it was a good read.

16. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (Audible)

I am going to wang on about this at length so feel free to scroll.

Read Cloud Atlas years ago, found it wanky and torturous - wasn't going to bother with him again, and then I saw Slade House was quite short and I tried it and absolutely loved it and then I had to read Bone Clocks because they are connected.

This book is also connected to Black Swan Green and Thousand Autumns so I am going to have to get on that.

Bone Clocks has been on my radar unread for years and so in the end I went for the Audible, and it was such a good choice. I found myself actively excited for every session with it.

So the story; we are introduced to a group of disparate characters and their lives

Holly Sykes : A stroppy 80's teen who has had a row with her Mum

Hugo Lamb : An insufferable Cambridge undergrad who is possibly a psychopath

Ed Brubeck : A journalist addicted to the adrenalin high of war zones

and

Crispin Hershey : A star of the literary world whose reputation begins to fade when a bad review goes viral

As these ordinary people go about their lives they are unaware that a war rages behind the scenes between two rival immortal factions; The Anchorites and The Horologists and that they will all be dragged in.

It's not without flaws.

The MAJORITY of Crispin Hershey's narrative and the MAJORITY of Ed Brubeck's narrative is irrelevant to the overarching Anchorites vs Horologists theme and just seems to exist for the sake of writing topical things about Fallujah and the state of the UK Literary Scene.

That said, I still really enjoyed both sections.

The "Irish Near Future Dystopia" section blew me away actually and I would gladly have read a full novel of that.

The Anchorites/Horologists story is the interesting bit and there isn't enough of it it did remind me of This Is How You Lose The Time War though.

Even though I would say it was flawed, I do think it was one of the best books I have read in the last 5 years easily.

The only flaw on the Audible was dodgy accentry but was otherwise engrossing and I strongly recommend.

Potentially too much sentiment for Cote but you liked Time War so I can see you potentially liking this if you've not tried it?

Buying Black Swan Green as my next Audible as a result of this.

Awesome 5/5

I rarely DNF I try to power through.

My DNF's last year were

The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier and Klay by Micheal Chabon

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

and

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

I intend to go back to all 3 this year though.

@Terpsichore I usually try to gauge beforehand if I am likely to enjoy the book enough to stick with it...but I thought maybe i should try some genres i wouldn't normally gravitate to in order to broaden my horizons. Maybe I should just go with my old strategy.

Drunks being brought to my sunlounger would be fun at first, then get tiresome quickly. And yes, it feels like another world now.

I tend to find that a DNF for me happens without intent. It will be more that I started reading, then got distracted by something else. I usually have more than one book on the go at the time, so it happens relatively frequently. I'd say around 10% of books that I start are DNFs. It's rare that I make a conscious decision to stop (although I did last night, with some awful trash that was sold to me as Crazy Rich Asians set in the US that had a monarchy instead of a presidency. I can't even be motivated to look up the title...).

And yes, Eine, Bone Clocks is dizzyingly good, isn't it? I also loved Black Swan Green although I was not a fan of Cloud Atlas (which went the same way as other DNFs, languishing unread for so long I just decided to abandon it).

Eine an interesting review.

I adored Black Swan Green and really really liked Thousand Autumns

Found Slade House a great premise with a disappointing ending and Cloud Atlas clever but ultimately unmoving

Not sure from all that whether I'll enjoy Bone Clocks or not but it's on my TBR!

Stitches yes I knew that Jodi Taylor was bringing out a new Elizabeth Cage book this year - there’s also going to be a new St Mary’s book and a new Time Police book too so she’s clearly been busy in lockdown!

Sadik no - will look it up now. Thanks!

I think the problem with all these reworkings of Greek literature/myth is that the complexity is already there in the originals, eg nobody can say anything about the plight of women in war that isn’t in Euripides’ Trojan Women.
If you’re interested, the best thing I’ve read recently is the catalogue from last year’s Troy: Myth and Reality exhibition at the British Museum. Pricey, though, I’m afraid.
David Mitchell was on ‘A Good Read’ a couple of months ago, and his choice was Circe...

Great review Eine. I think I actually preferred Cloud Atlas to The Bone Clocks just to buck the trend, but the bit in Bone Clocks that has stuck with me is definitely the Irish dystopia part which was brilliant. He's obviously building a whole world of his horologists and various connections. I read his latest Utopia Avenue last year which was a bit uneven. It's basically a rock bio about an imaginary band in the 60s with lots of random name dropping, for example they go to a party with Leonard Cohen & Janis Joplin. But the guitarist in the band is a de Zoet, the great grandson I think of the one in A Thousand Autumns, and there is a bit where it goes off into horology again and some of the characters from the Bone Clocks make an appearance. It's actually kind of jarring with the rest of the book, but makes sense if you've read his other stuff.

Hello, I'd like to join though a bit late and I doubt I'll be able to keep up as it's such a popular thread but I have dipped in to the previous thread and excited to make some nots for books to try. Some years I read prolifically but last year I barely read anything due to concentration level being really low. I ended the year finishing The Book of Dust which I enjoyed but less than the His Dark Materials trilogy. Never managed to find a copy of Belle Sauvage so that might be one to read this year, though I fear it might give me reader's block too. I am, I think, quite an eclectic reader.

My first proper read for January is Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart and I saw that it was a popular read so will go back and see what others thought.

I found it heart rending, tough and depressing but completely absorbing and in the current world of food banks, free school meals and rising poverty and all the other challenges emotionally draining and relevant. The writing is that rare thing, brilliant.

However, I can't think of anyone I could recommend it to among family or friends as it was such a difficult read but would say read it to people I don't know! I look forward to his second novel whenever that comes.

My next read is another Christmas present The Mermaid of Black Conch Monique Roffey.

Eine, I also DNF Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Very violent.

@Sadik

Have you read The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall, LaBelleSauvage123 ? It's not a book I'd normally have picked up (I'd enjoyed her previous novel The Carhullan Army which is dystopian / SFF) but I thought it was a good read.

I thought it was a good read too

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit
A very good review of Bone Clocks which I have always avoided as I did not enjoy Cloud Atlas

some awful trash that was sold to me as Crazy Rich Asians set in the US that had a monarchy instead of a presidency

I think that one may be American Royals. I bought it when it was 99p to read when mindless trash is required. Speaking of which ...

4. The Chalet - Catherine Cooper

To be fair I revised my opinion of this half way through. It's not the best written book, but it rattles along quite nicely and elicited a couple of "ooh!"s and "nooo!"s. I am having trouble focusing at the moment and this was a nice distraction.

Toying with the idea of reading Arsene Lupin in French, inspired by the wonderful Netflix series. I have downloaded it, just need to get in the right headspace.

Currently reading one of the Alexander McCall Smith No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, The Way of All Flesh and The Heat of the Moment by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, which is about decision-making in high-stress situations. She is a senior firefighter who has carried out academic research on this subject and so far it is very good.

I loved The Bone Clocks as well, despite very much not being a fan of sci-fi/fantasy. Agree that the Irish dystopia section at the end is amazing, and I totally related to the mundane North Kent life at the start, which is a bit similar to Black Swan Green. By contrast I thought Cloud Atlas was impressive but not all that enjoyable.

That's an eclectic list, Harlan.

A friend of mine is a big fan of the Cohen-Hatton book and keeps suggesting it to me.

pepe Yes, I would recommend it based on what I've read so far. She writes very vividly about the various fire and rescue scenarios. She is upfront about the fact that some of these have been changed to protect identities, while others have been tweaked to illustrate her points. As she is an academic and a trainer that's perfectly fair and I appreciate her honesty. There was one book I read recently, I think Ben Judah's book about London, where he described experiencing something that I had definitely seen elsewhere, and it made me doubt the credibility of the whole book.

I think Bone Clocks is far more traditional than Cloud Atlas and on the whole I enjoyed it more although I did get a bit bored with it. There were bits of Cloud Atlas that I thought were great and some bits were unreadable.
Do you think it’s best to read his books in order of publication? I felt I was missing some kind of back story with the Horologists etc?

I would like more books set in snowy places, ski chalets etc. And some hot chocolate to go with it.