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.

9. Goodbye to Malory Towers by Pamela Cox

This is the last of Pamela Coxes Malory Towers sequels, and I think the sequels I’ve enjoyed the least.

It’s Felicity’s (Darrell’s younger sister) last term at Malory Towers, and there’s a new teacher, who will be giving the sixth form Finishing School lessons in deportment, etiquette and so on.
I rolled my eyes a bit at that, as it seemed rather at odds with the impression of Malory Towers I’d got from previous books, and then even more so when the new teacher was revealed to be Gwendoline Mary Lacey
There’s a whole sub-plot around Gwen having changed her ways and turned into a nice young woman, but given the way Blyton wrote Gwen’s character in the original Malory Towers books, I really, really struggled to believe that Miss Grayling (the headteacher) would choose to employ Gwen as a teacher a mere 4 years after she’d left.

There’s also a reunion of the original main characters shoehorned in at the end of the book, which was another moment. The 3rd formers are all conveniently off camping in the last week of term, so Darrell and friends all take over the 3rd form dormitory for a few days, have school meals at the 3rd form table and so on. I admit that I don’t have any real life experience of boarding school, but it sounds like an odd set up for a reunion to me, and it feels like the reunion is mostly added in so that Cox can tell us what she imagines the characters did after leaving school.

The other main sub-plot, involving a 6th former who works too hard, was much more believable and entertaining to read.

But overall the plot stretched my suspension of disbelief too far for me to really enjoy this book.

@ForthFitzRoyFaroes

8. Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry This is (chronologically, not by publication) the first prequel to Lonesome Dove. It is the origin story of Gus and Call's friendship, joining the Texas Rangers as very young men. Like Lonesome Dove, it involves an arduous journey across vast uncharted distances. The violence is brutal and grim, but the writing is beautiful, clear and simple, just a yarn told in the right order, with a beginning a middle and an end. The characterisation is great, he can do a lot with just a few words, and, perhaps surprisingly for the subject matter, he does women as well as men. I enjoyed this from start to finish, including the very strange interlude towards the end, when the situation is looking desperate for our remaining hard men standing, and salvation comes in a slightly surreal form, where they are all taken well out of their comfort zone by, amongst other things, scones. Yes, really.

Scones!

I can't remember if I've read this one or not, but think I've got it on my Kindle.

Remus I think it was your review of Lonesome Dove way back which got me to pick it up in the first place. I wouldn't say Dead Man's Walk is quite on a par with that, but it's got the same two main characters, same feel, same 'going on a dangerous journey' vibe, and definitely one to enjoy if you were invested in the original. The scones were a genuine surprise served up by a bizarre deus ex machina character. You'll either really enjoy that bit or be going WTF? I was kind of both.

Late to the discussion

Scones - butter and jam, no cream
Tea - work of the devil with or without milk
Bacon sarnie - crispy bacon, white bread, butter, no sauce

the Thursday Murder club much reviewex and really seems to be a marmite booknas I did enjoy it

1. Dear Reader - Cathy Rentzenbrink. A kind of adult Bookworm from the author of The Last Act of Love. The central message of the comfort found in books resonated hugely with me, but I did think it was laboured here, and the synopses of her book recommendations were irritating and perhaps a way to pad out the book. Similarly with her two previous books, her writing doesn't really sparkle or soar and maybe the material would have been more effective as a magazine article but I'd recommend it if you see it on Kindle Daily Deal.

11. 1, 2, 3, 4: The Beatles In Time by Craig Brown A chronological biography, told in 'postcards' (from the FT review) - small glimpses and stories. I'm not sure what Brown's overall aim was; I was looking for a rich illustration of the story of the Beatles and that's what I got. I was left rather feeling that the impressions I had of the Beatles and the people in their lives, hearing about them in the 70s, were in fact the right ones: that Yoko Ono really did contribute to breaking up the band (though as soon as Brian Epstein died, it had basically already happened), that Ringo really was quite a simple character who was a bit lucky, that John was a very difficult and selfish man, that Paul was also a bit selfish but much more able to cope with normal life and particularly with family life, that the criminals and hangers on who surrounded them were criminals and hangers on, that the Maharishi was a conman that everyone apart from Cynthia Lennon did see through to some extent quite rapidly, and that attempting to come to a final 'statement' or 'conclusion' about the Beatles in context is a mug's game.

If I wanted to read the best of Craig Brown, I'd recommend One on One, which I think is extraordinary, rather than this one, but everything he does is high quality. There's every possible type of book about the Beatles out there; this is neither one thing nor the other, not a straight biography or a description of the music or purely about The Sixties and yet I can't help feeling at the end of this you probably do have a strangely rich and intriguing picture of the suddenness and unexpectedness of their fame, its extreme quality, how they courted it, and what it did to them, almost none of which is very pretty. The book is shadowed, sometimes explicitly, by the alternative possibilities, the what ifs, the narrow chances that led one way rather than another.

5. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett
This isn't my usual pick of book, but my friend and I are doing a mini book club this year so this is the one we chose. The book is about two twin girls who both leave their hometown at 16. Both end up following different paths and one of the two ends up living a live as a white person. Obviously explores issues around race, identity and others' perception of people. I really enjoyed it but found the ended quite weak. Still would highly recommend, a solid 4 star.

6. Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell
Second instalment about Wigtown Bookshop. I listened on Audible and it was perfect to accompany me on walks and doing chores around the house. Particularly enjoyed the addition of Emanuela to the shop, an Italian work experience student, who gave me a lot of laughs.

I'm now reading The Truths We Hold - Kamala Harris and The Nakano Thrift Shop - Hiromi Kawakami (which is rather odd in places, but still very readable)

14. Dead to Me by Lesley Pearse. Sorry to whoever gave this a good review upthread, but I thought it was weakly written drivel. Lots of cliches, stilted dialogue, unbalanced plot progression- the initial idea of two girls from different classes meeting and becoming friends before and during the war is a nice one, but this has none of the charm or sense of history that Lissa Evans Crooked Heart had. Disappointing.

12. Red Dust by Ma Jian. Ma Jian was living in Beijing in the mid-1980s (a few years after Mao's death) when he found himself identified as a target in a campaign against 'spiritual pollution'. He decided to leave Beijing, and spent the next three years travelling around China with the aim of finding out about his country and himself. He travelled by bus or train at times, but also covered an incredible distance on foot, with his possessions in a backpack.

As a student I spent five weeks travelling around China with my then-boyfriend at a time when it was quite unusual to go there as an independent traveller rather than with a tour (actually I think it still is). This was in 1991, so just a few years after Ma Jian's journey. I took Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux with me, and enjoyed it, but I wish I'd been able to take this book too (it wasn't published until 2002), as it is fascinating to read about the experiences of a native rather than a foreigner - and hard for us to comprehend it being illegal to travel within your own country. Ma Jian gets by with a series of notes of introduction (some fake, others written by a friend) but he does have a couple of close shaves with the police.

The writing style is rather sparse, and Ma Jian comes across as a slightly irritating person (I feel a bit bad saying that ), but I found his experiences so interesting that I didn't mind.

12. Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce

Light fluffy WWII read about an uncomplicated young woman Emmeline who gets a job for a magazine called Woman's Friend, helping the fearsome Mrs Bird answer problem pages.
The author has an annoying habit of capitalising certain phrases- I understand what she is trying to do - these were the British stiff upper lip phrases that got trotted out, she is trying to give the narrator an authentic 1940 young lady voice, but honestly it was overused to the point of being jarring.
She has a two dimensional horrible boyfriend who dumps her by letter early on and spends the rest of the book pretending Not To Want A Boyfriend. She has a Very Jolly Friend called Bunty (I used to read a comic called Bunty in the 1970s) and is Doing Her Bit by volunteering for the fire brigade during air raids. Bunty has a Very Fine Young Man and Emmeline has a Falling Out with him. Before they can make it up, the Very Fine Young Man is killed in an air raid and Bunty is No Longer Talking to her.

Honestly is was kind of an interesting story but it was all very two-dimensional and very simplistic. I think 12 year old girls of a Certain Type might like it, but I just found it annoying. The ending was very Happy Ever After and far too tidy. It would make a good Hallmark movie - do they still make those?

20. Christmas Island by Natalie Normann. A disgraced doctor goes to Norway to a small (fictional) island to spend some time with her brother and his family. She is very intolerant of trying any new cuisine and criticises it throughout and generally behaves like you'd want to slap her round the face with the gravadlax that she turns her nose up at. It was more enjoyable than the article I was supposed to be reading about the meaning of ideology and it's impact on politics and education but that is about all that can be said in it's favour.

15 Murderous Contagion by Mary Dobson.
Thank you to whoever on this thread recommended this one. Absolutely fascinating and unsensational look at contagious diseases through the past few hundred years. Quite glad there are no illustrations for the Worm-y chapters

1. From Gangland to Promised Land. John Prodmore

This has been sitting on my shelf for a while after my husband saw the author talk and bought his book. Memoirs of a gangster (doorman, drug dealer and general thug) who finds God after knocking someone out outside a club. Whilst I’m sure for anyone with a strong sense of religion may enjoy this I found that like many people that aren’t naturally writers but do an autobiography it was like reading a week by week account of his travels after he converted but never really getting to a point. Will be returned to the book shelf to gather dust.

@Saucery

15 Murderous Contagion by Mary Dobson. Thank you to whoever on this thread recommended this one. Absolutely fascinating and unsensational look at contagious diseases through the past few hundred years. Quite glad there are no illustrations for the Worm-y chapters

I haven't finished it yet - one chapter every day or two is proving enough for me. I like it a lot though, so far.

I liked Murderous Contagion though I had lots of questions that she didn't answer, which I found frustrating.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I don't read many of these "must read thriller" type books but this came highly recommended from a friend over the weekend. It was fine as a distraction from the unutterable tedium of lockdown - the recommendation came after I told her a story about going to buy a double adaptor and the shop not having one but the man sold me a triple one for the price of a double. She suggested I read a diverting book so that we could stop talking about it, as I was boring her. And this was her suggestion. It was more interesting than my double adaptor story but not much. The absolute implausibility of the many coincidences that created a fairly unpredictable but ultimately "who cares" denouement was the most memorable thing about it.

Lost track of numbers and can't find my list. Think this is number 14.

Just read another two chapters in the bath. So...many...worms...

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Just read another two chapters in the bath. So...many...worms...

It was a relief to get on to malaria tbh. Less.....squirmy.

20. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton 30 something woman navigates the horrors of online dating while dealing with feeling left behind by her friends who have married off and started having kids. At the same time her parents are ageing and early signs of dementia in her father start to take a more serious turn.

This was a pretty good take on modern life that touches on a lot of issues. It's a compelling read, but ultimately left me dissatisfied as it lacked any real depth to the characters or insight into the problems women face. One that while I enjoyed it now, I'll have forgotten it in a fortnight.

21. Summerwater - Sarah Moss Novella that takes place in a Scottish holiday park over the course of 24 hours. The pouring rain is keeping people cooped up so they start to observe the comings and goings of people in the other cabins.

The writing in this is divine and really captures the mood and atmosphere of the place. It ends very abruptly though which left me a little annoyed. I felt like I wanted more from it.

Can you all please keep your worms in your own baths/homes and not let them spread around the thread.

🙈🙉🙊

I was blown away by Summerwater. Shocking ending. Abrupt, yes, but on reflection I was glad she didn’t go into the aftermath because the impact would have been lessened. I do like an abrupt, disturbing ending in a book, though!

Saucery I completely agree, but also reserve the right to be cross about it!

@Saucery

I was blown away by Summerwater. Shocking ending. Abrupt, yes, but on reflection I was glad she didn’t go into the aftermath because the impact would have been lessened. I do like an abrupt, disturbing ending in a book, though!

Without a spoiler, is it a scary ending that will stop a wuss like me sleeping? I was thinking of reading it.

No Betts you'll be fine. Definitely worth a read.

I have to remember to come on here more often! So many books discussed. And my DD decided earlier to make scones this week - cream first here, need a solid base of clotted cream to drop the jam on.

Summerwater is on my pile to read this year, I really liked parts of Night Waking and loved Ghost Wall so looking forward to reading it.

@SOLINVICTUS I love kitchen sink novels and plays, I wrote my dissertation on some of them (20 years ago I realised the other day ).

My read list is still very small, but I have been getting through The Overstory in fits and starts (I feel like it should count for about three books). I had to take a break from it so read -
5. Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley - I had high hopes for this as I liked The Loney but felt that Hurley hadn't quite got there with his writing so thought this would be better, but it felt a bit too slight. Two parents grieve for the death of their child a year before in their own ways, and through a group called The Beacons possibly open the door to some supernatural occurrences. I do love folk horror so the mythology/supernatural aspects appealed and enjoyed it overall (although the the main character rational Richard rejects his wife's beliefs but accepts something completely fantastic without a murmur which rankled).
So, back to The Overstory which I have to hurry up with as I got a bit overexcited with free reservations at the library, and made a few (some due to this thread) and picked up four books last Saturday which was sooner than I expected!

@FortunaMajor

No Betts you'll be fine. Definitely worth a read.

Thank you Fortuna. It'll also have the bonus of being worm free