50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

I'm also a Bryson fan- one line that's always stuck in my mind from Notes from a Small Island and still makes me smile is: "It's on the front" "It's on the front of what?"

My little list:

1. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
2. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado Pérez
3. A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher
4. The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us - Lucy Jones

1. The Kingdom - Jo Nesbø

I was a bit up and down with this one - on the verge of not finishing it at some points but fully engaged with the story at others. It’s a thriller centred around the relationship between two brothers and told by the older brother, Roy. When younger brother, Carl, returns bringing his new wife to the small Norwegian town where Roy still lives on the family farm dark secrets from the past start to unravel. The characters are really all thoroughly unlikeable but the background to their actions is so well drawn that the author managed to make me feel a bit sympathetic towards them despite myself. Altogether though it was a bit over long with too many meandering descriptions of cars and the habits of local birds. The ending was unexpected but a bit unsatisfactory in my view, lots of loose ends left hanging.

4. Three Hours by Rosalind Lupton Already much mentioned on these threads, a thriller set in a liberal secondary school during a snowstorm one winter morning. I don't think it's as good a book as it thinks it is. However I did find parts of it quite affecting and rather unsettling, particularly the character of Beth, a mother searching through her memories of her teenage son whose whereabouts are unknown trying to will him to be safe.

Rosamund not Rosalind

I'm also a Bill Bryson fan - A Walk in the Woods is one of my favourites. I wasn't so impressed with The Body but it was OK.
My absolute favourite though is The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - the story of his childhood in 1950s Des Moines. Me and DD were listening to Audible in the car and we were both laughing so much at the descriptions of his mother's cooking we had to pull over. After 30 years of culinary abuse, his father's sense of taste had been reduced to "burnt" and ice cream".
I'm not a big fan of Bryson narrating himself though. A lot of his books are narrated by someone called Williams Roberts and I think he does better (and in my head he is Bill)

I keep looking at The Salt Path and pondering

bibliomania There's a lot about the trans stuff and the use of MN as an organising space for RL activism like #manfriday but it also talks about the webchats with politicians, the MN campaigns, the legal fight with shewhomustnotbenamed and publicly stated emphasis on free speech, the use of MN as a subaltern counterpublic space, it's position in fourth wave feminism etc etc. It's short (164 pages) and academic and in some ways doesn't tell you anything new if you've been hanging out here the last decade or two but I still found it an interesting read and considerably more knowledgeable and nuanced than coverage of MN in the press. It focussed mainly on the interaction of MN with politics rather than its role in broader feminism so e.g. there was nothing about how useful the relationships board is for many people.

Thanks Janina, I'm rather intrigued. Pricy online and not in my local library, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

I'm with you Terpsichore, I've never got the Bryson love at all. Maybe just the ones I've tried (can't remember all but including Neither Here nor There, Notes from a Small Island, Thunderbolt Kid), but he seemed to deal largely in lazy stereotypes. Maybe I'm not old enough yet - though at 51 I suspect I'm older than lots of you on this thread!

Salt Path is on my TBR list as I love Cornwall and have a bit of a hankering to walk a long distance trail one day. I think I'll still read it but be braced for whining. It sounds similar to a book I read about a guy who wanted to climb Everest and got everyone to sponsor him and donate money so he could achieve his dream. It's my dream to own a car with a 6th gear again but I don't think I should start a crowd funder for it!

7. Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

This was out 6 years ago so I expect you all read it then, and I am not as articulate with my reviews as some of you so I'll keep to how the book made me feel.

My dad passed away on New Year's Day just gone, he was only 66, and my mum died 17 years earlier, so I won't have to watch a parent slip in mental decline like the main character in the book. There is something to be said for my main memories of my parents being young and fit and healthy. The friction between the older lady losing her memory and failing connections in her brain and the frustrated daughter who answers the same questions several times a day is really well written. I was both sad there are decades I won't get with my parents that most will, but also relieved that I won't have to watch the painful end over months or years. Then I felt guilty for feeling relieved....

Still I like a book that makes me feel something, so that's a solid 4 out 5 stars for me.

A complicated mix of emotions, Razorstorm, but I'm very sorry to hear about your dad

1. Early Riser - Jasper Fforde
2. Good Habits, Bad Habits - Wendy Wood
3. Bear Head - Adrian Tchaikovsky
4. The Mere Wife - Maria Dahvana Headley

3 & 4 were both fantastic books that I don’t quite know how to review!

Bear Head is a follow up to Tchaikovsky’s Dogs of War
Jimmy is a bioengineered human, modded to build human habitats on Mars. He smuggles illegal data in his spare headspace (mostly to supplement his numbing drug habit), until Honey, world-famous civil rights activist and massive bear, turns up in his head. Add a liberal sprinkling of Bees, a Trump-esque nightmare of a politician, bioengineering for all the worst reasons and well, welcome to Mars. Loved this to bits.

The Mere Wife bills itself as “bold, feminist retelling of Beowulf.” It was incredible, and I have no idea how to describe it! From the blurb:

Dylan and Gren live on opposite sides of the perimeter, neither boy aware of the barriers erected to keep them apart. For Dylan and his mother, Willa, life moves at a charmingly slow pace. They flit between mothers’ groups, playdates, cocktail hours, and dinner parties. Gren lives with his mother, Dana, just outside the limits of Herot Hall. A former soldier, Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren. But now that she has him, she’s determined to protect him from a world that sees him only as a monster.

When Gren crosses the border into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, he sets up a collision between Dana’s and Willa’s worlds that echoes the Beowulf story ― and gives sharp, startling currency to the ancient epic poem.

The original Beowulf is full of alliteration, and the author pulls plenty in here too, and that, with the sometimes (deliberately) disjointed, sometimes magical prose gives this such an other-worldly feeling.

The chorus of “women of a certain age” is a fantastic touch. Harsh, unwielding, protective, (“tight and taut and taught”) they - not the animalistic men fighting pointless battles - are the backbone of the community. The mountain (and its spirits) also lend their voice as a character. The whole thing is magical and horrible and wonderful.

Now giving my brain a break by reading Devolution by Max Brooks, Bigfoot themed survival horror. It seems appropriate, given all the snow

41. A Traveller In Time by Alison Uttley

1930s teenager Penelope goes to stay at an old manor house and discovers she can travel back in time to when the house was owned by Anthony Babington who plotted to rescue Mary Queen of Scots. I think if I had read this as a child I would have enjoyed it but as an adult there were too many holes in the time travel aspect. Usually when someone goes back in time in fiction it’s either because they need to either prevent something from happening or to make sure something does happen, or it’s to learn something about themselves to help them in their own life. Neither applies here - Penelope just observed events and it would have made no difference if she was there or not. Also, nobody in the past seems to think it at all odd that this strange girl just randomly turns up at different times, and she has easy access to talk to the Babingtons despite passing herself off as a servant. As a child I probably wouldn’t have noticed any of this but as an adult it grated.

Now reading a chunky biography of the Mitfords which could take a while!

Doomsday by Connie Willis is on the kindle daily deals - has anyone read it and would you recommend?

@HarlanWillYouStopNamingNuts

Just catching up with the thread and I have one more Patrick Leigh Fermor recommendation, Dashing for the Post, which is a collection of his letters. It's very illuminating on his relationship with Joan, who he seems to have loved but not always treated very well. She was a free spirit and seems to have looked after herself, but I'm not sure it's what she signed up for. Also lots of background on when they set up home in Greece. There is also a second volume, More Dashing, which I haven't read.

That's interesting Harlan. I read a biography of Joan (Joan by Simon Fenwick) a couple of years ago and she came across as rather tiresome and (aside from her money and the fact that she was quite beautiful) I couldn't fathom why he found her attractive. It made a slight dent in my very high opinion of Patrick Leigh Fermor and was one of the few books that I have given away.

I bought the Connie Willis, Chessie. I've read three others by her, all about time travel, and it's odd - I found them slow-moving and didn't entirely love them, but some of the scenes did stick in my head and i enjoyed them more in retrospect than when I was actually reading them.

11. A Chip Shop in Poznan, Ben Aitken
An account of the author's year in Poland, at the time of the Brexit referendum. He goes on a whim and doesn't like to research to much in case it gets in the way of his observations, so you're not going to learn much about Poland. It's quite a shallow book really. What I did like is the way he captures the feeling of being in an unfamiliar country, wide-eyed and enthusiastic, when normally mundane things are fresh and exotic. At his best his artless style can sometimes strike a plangent note. I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend this, but I've read three books of his and I think he's getting better. I really enjoyed his more recent Gran Tour.

My book parcel has arrived:-

'84 Charing Cross Road' by Helene Hanff
'The Heart's Invisible Furies' by John Boyne
'The Wild Silence' by Raynor Winn

I'm going to start with Book No. 5 '84 Charing Cross Road'. For some reason I've never read the book or watched the movie. It's a slim book and all letters so I'll probably get through it very quickly. The print is tiny though - I really need to arrange an eye test. @Sadik there's not much between us in age.

I've more books on order but they'll take another week or two.

Thanks biblio. I enjoyed To Say Nothing Of The Dog by her so I think I’ll give Doomsday a go. It’s only 99p!

I liked Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Although I agree with biblio that it can be slow moving at times.

Not entirely sure if it counts, but I have read James and the Giant Peach to dd over the past week. I really enjoyed it! It has clearly dated a little, but not that bad considering how old it it. Dd loved it too.

I'm calling it book 6 for me, since I had a false start with my last one.

Now reading book 7, The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. So far, hmmmm, I don't love it. I feel like the characters are all a bit soulless, despite the author doing her damndest to make you feel something for them. I am continuing with it though. Will reserve judgement a bit till I've finished!

The Doomsday Book is Connie Willis's best work in my opinion. It has much more narrative drive and pace than her other books.

My list:

1. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
2. Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh
3. The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
4. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
5. Pale Rider by Laura Spinney
6. White Mughals by William Dalrymple

Posted by mistake!

The Doomsday Book is Connie Willis's best work in my opinion. It has much more narrative drive and pace than her other books.

My list:

1. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
2. Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh
3. The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
4. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
5. Pale Rider by Laura Spinney
6. White Mughals by William Dalrymple

Blue Ticket was a Handmaids Tale style distopian read, a compelling book but slightly frustrating ending. The Unthinkable is my best book of the year so far, it's a non-fiction book investigating how people respond in a crisis, and what systems & behaviours give you the best chance of survival in an event like a plane crash or terrorist attack.

I didn't sleep last night so have sampled bits and pieces of 6 different books, a chapter here and there. I did manage 20% of Hamnet and so far so good.

8. Passing by Nella Larsen this was reviewed on here last year. It was only 49p on KIndle well worth the money. It is short and ends very suddenly leaving unanswered questions but I really liked how the narrative flowed and found the discussion around "passing" interesting.

It is about a mixed race woman in 1928 called Irene who could" pass" for Spanish rather than black but who chooses to marry and live in Upper middle class Harlem with her black doctor husband. She has a chance meeting with her a childhood friend, the beautiful Claire who is "passing" as white, her heritage unknown to her racist rich husband. Claire is longing for some interaction with "her people" but is also someone "who always seems to get what she wants." Clare's reappearance causes a lot of soul searching and strife for Irene.

The writer, Nella Larsen, is mixed race and had success with this book and an earlier one but never published again and returned to nursing. She, like the protagonists had difficulty in finding where she "fitted" in life. She also wrote the book whilst her husband was having an affair and the introduction of a suspected one in the novel rather dilutes the main focus.

9.Nightmare Alley by Lindsay William Gresham
Wow, this book was incredibly depressing and also strangely unbelievable. Stanton (Stan) works at a travelling carnival, he longs to be rich and successful. He has an affair with an older woman who also works in the "carny" whose husband Pete is an alcoholic but who once had a very famous and successful "mind reading act." After Pete dies, Stan takes his secret code book and along with Molly, the girl he really fancies at the Carny, moves to New York and becomes a famous "mind reader." He meeets a psychitarist who has a very wealthy client and they cook up a plan to fleece him (a plan which is quite unbelivable). However, Molly can't go through with the deception and the psychiatrist cheats Stan. Like Pete before him he falls into alcoholism and ends up back at the carny.

This book has been reissued to coincide with a new upcoming film of it with Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett. A big budget film noir, starring Tyrone Power was made of this book (in 1947)and bombed at the box office. I think this new one is likely to do the same. I think during lockdown we need something a bit less depressing. The writer's life also seems tragic, he too was an alcoholic, his wife left him. She later married C.S. Lewis and Gresham later committed suicide back in the motel room where he had written this, his successful book. Grim.

I'm sorry you didn't sleep, bett. At least you did some reading. I was awake for ages in the night and spent it uselessly, fretting about work and then in desperation watching an episode of Selling Sunset.

Carlo Rovelli's Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is in the Kindle Daily Deals today. If you have even the slightest interest in space, time, physics or the mysteries of the universe, I would highly recommend it. It's short, accessible and very well written. I give it as a gift to lots of people, and it's been universally well received.