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've dropped off this thread quite badly, just been catching up.

13. Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed I quite like Brian Blessed as an actor and personality, and I certainly like his voice, so chose to listen to this on Audible. Fairly typical anecdotal autobiography starting with his childhood and up to the present. Some amusing anecdotes and some good stories about Peter O'Toole, Katherine Hepburn and his time filming Flash Gordon (a favourite in our house) At times he is a bit repetitive, and a decent editor should have pulled him up on the numerous repeated phrases such as "Needless to say", "We got on like a house on fire" and "It was hilarious". But a decent enough easy read.

@BestIsWest In one of her more recent books, Louise Penny talks about her husband being diagnosed with dementia. I wonder if this took its toll on her writing as she was taking on more caring responsibilities. The books read to me like she planned to finish the series about book 9-10 but then has kept going for another 10!

17. Allegiant - Veronica Roth. This was the final in the Divergent series and really utter dross. She splits the book into two characters narrations but doesn't give them different voices so you're constantly checking back to see whose chapter you're on. She introduces a new storyline that is basically an information dump and renders the second book meaningless, and introduces a raft of be characters that you have little interest in. When I first read Divergent about 5 years ago, I didn't like it enough to read the rest of the trilogy & looks like I was right!

Yes, Stokey, I think I’m on no 11. It does seem like there should have been a natural conclusion a couple of books ago so that makes sense.

Place marking so I don’t drop off the thread! I’m in the process of moving countries so haven’t had any time for reading really. But now have passed the frantic packing stage and am in the lounging in hotels/ long- haul flight stage, to be followed by quarantine, so should generate a few reviews soon!

1. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Well, if I achieve nothing else in 2021 I'll be very proud of myself for ticking this epic off my TBR pile originally I was going to read a chapter a day over the course of the year but once I started I became obsessed and just kept going!

It's been a pretty immersive experience as I've read the novel alongside a couple of websites offering chapter by chapter summaries and analysis and re-watched each episode of the excellent 2015 BBC mini series as I finished the volume that corresponded to it.
(It is this adaptation that was responsible for making me think of this as a novel I'd like to read in the first place rather than just thinking of W&P as a byword for anything too long or too boring!)

There are three levels to War & Peace the micro level of the five families; Bezukov, Rostov, Bolkonsky, Karagin and Drubetskoy, and the interactions between themselves, their friends, enemies, colleagues and servants.

The macro level of the Napoleonic War as it effected Russia between the years of 1805 and 1812, (which also forms the back drop and much of the impetus for the micro interactions) here Tolstoy pans out and looks at the historical characters involved, key battles fought and strategies, mistakes and triumphs on both sides. Napoleon's place in history as a 'Great Man' is constantly undercut, whilst the Russian General Kutuzov is afforded more respect and credit by Tolstoy than history has seen fit to award him.

The final, and for me the least interesting aspect, is the philosophical level where Tolstoy occasionally stops the narrative to talk about the meaning of life, love and happiness. To examine the nature of free will and the way the minutiae of human interaction and decision making can, when taken as a whole, change the course of history. He also examines the cult of greatness in historical writings, always as he points out, written by the victors with the benefit of hindsight.
I'm guilty of speed reading/scanning many of these chapters and this is particularly true of the second part of the epilogue which is basically a series of rather dry essays.

Whilst this was a novel that ended with a whimper rather than a bang (deliberate on Tolstoy's part I know, as the long epilogue moves forward 8 years from the romance, drama and epic sweep of the character's youth and plonks us down in rural domestication rounded off with the aforementioned philosophical essays)
it was also a bloody good read that I thoroughly enjoyed and which will undoubtedly be a highlight of the year.

22. Reports from coastal stations Geoff Saunders Recommended for shipping forecast aficionados, Saunders travels to the coastal stations on the extended version of the shipping forecast - Valencia, Greenwich Light Ship and others. It's a good read, the author has a plesant writing style and it's interesting.

5 - The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
A so-so read. I watched Bridgerton at the Xmas break and it was enough to satisfy my curiosity about what happens next in the TV series. The heroine is afflicted with the horror that is having slightly too big lips and being tall.

6 - V for Victory by Lissa Evans
Third in a trilogy. Probably my least favourite in the series but well written and with just the right dose of humour and sentimentality. I'm reading Their Finest Hour next by the same author and set in the same era.

7 - Heartstone by CJ Samson
The fifth book in the series with a couple more too come I think. This is my favourite one so far. A couple of seemingly separate plots and action on the Mary Rose ship. I love these books. There's a lot of humanity in them as well as an insight into Tudor life.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit, The Lost Children Archive was a 5-star read for me. I loved your review. At times I was afraid the story of migrant children was going to get lost in all the quirky literary experimentation of the novel, but I thought that in the end Luiselli pulled it all off with panache. Unlike you I liked the depiction of the hyper-precocious children -- I can see that it was a bit exaggerated, but I thought it captured the way that kids can ask you such insightful and impossible questions.

And wow, Desdamona, congratulations on your War and Peace feat! I definitely want to read it at some point, but I don't know when that will be. Someone left a pile of free books on our street last year and I nabbed a nearly pristine copy of the Penguin edition, so I think it's my destiny to read it (my DH was a little taken aback when I got home from my jog bearing a fat copy of War and Peace, ha ha). I like the idea of watching the BBC miniseries alongside the reading.

Well done Desdamona! I bought it five years ago - I'll get round to it one day!

@ShakeItOff2000 oh I couldn't agree more about Behind her Eyes, until the 'twist' it was actually promising (I felt robbed too)

Thanks cassandre and Tara, you should both give it a go, it's honestly much less daunting than you think it's going to be.
I really think the adaptation helped me get into it, and I had a cheat sheet of who was who initially to help get the characters straight, but didn't need it for long. It's really quite 'Soapy' on a micro level lots of intrigue, romance and black hearted villainy to keep the story bowling along! I can recommend the Anthony Briggs translation which I found a bit less clunky than the other I tried.

Currently 70% of the way through Behind Her Eyes knew there was a twist people spoke about but I thought it was a good one.. Now to go on and see

Well done Desdomona
I ploughed through Anna Karenina last year and think War and Peace is even more impressive!

That is a a so much better review than mine of W and P! Mine read as basically 'took me ages. Phew, I finished. Liked bits. Bits were boring'

Well done des!

21. Ouch by Margee Kerr & Linda Rodriguez McRobbie (on Audible)

The subtitle to this is "Why pain hurts, and why it doesn't have to", but this really isn't a self-help book, more an exploration of different facets of pain and how it is experienced in our culture now and historically. It's essentially sociological rather than medical / scientific. Some of the areas covered include - how are different people treated by the medical establishment when they are in pain? how do athletes & others deal with pain? how and why do some people use physical pain to manage other conditions? Inevitably with this type of book I found some sections more interesting than others, but overall it was absolutely fascinating.

I had W&P on my TBR pile for 25 years. But I am very glad I waited till my mid 40s to read it. It is a book for grown ups and I would not have appreciated it if I had actually read it when I first tried to at 20. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it .

Impressive work Desdemona, does it have lots of bits about farming? I really enjoyed Anna Karenina a few years back but got a bit bored by the farming methodology bits, I seem to remember.

Yes I do remember skimming through the long sections on farming 🤣

@cassandre

I loved reading it, but just found it flawed

1. Space (Manifold #2) by Stephen Baxter

Whoa! This was outstanding In the near future, Americans has dropped out of the space race and the Japanese have set up a base on the moon. One of them finds signs of extraterrestrial activity in the asteroid belt, and the future story of humankind begins.

It took me a while to realise that Space is a loose sequel for Baxter's book Time which I was not terribly impressed with in 2016 but I loved everything about this book. It took me a long time to read, not just because it is a long book, but also because I wanted to take my time savouring it.

If H G Wells's The Time Machine and Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem trilogy had a love child, it would be this book - A massive tome spanning millennia, with solid science and fascinating theories about the idiosyncrasies of the Solar System, multiple characters with great story lines of their own, contemplating the future of not only our planet and our Solar System but also our galaxy.

Very much recommended to fans of The Three-Body Problem books on here.

Hello again everyone. Can't remember what number I'm on but here are recent reads:

Transcendant Kingdom Yaa Gyasi.

Quite different from Homecoming. This is contemporary fiction about Gifty's life in the US, her relationship with her mother (an immigrant from Ghana), struggle with her religious beliefs and her work (she's a scientist) and the loss of her older brother to addiction. It's a superb read - very readable but also deep on so many levels.

My Dark Vanessa as Sadik said a while back it's been much reviewed on here (although I missed that; had never heard of it until someone mentioned it was on Kindle daily deal). An excellent read. Really disturbing in the way it shows how manipulative the abuser is and how brainwashed (and damaged) the victim is. An eye opener.

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell. Seventeen (?) brushes with death. Really enjoyed this. I found it very moving especially when she talks about her childhood illness and her own children. And the first chapter gave me the heebie jeebies!!!!

Unorthodox Deborah Feldmen. Read this fascinating account of her 'escape' from the ultra orthodox Satmar Hasidic community on the back of the Netflix series. Had me researching on Wikipedia for a long time afterwards.

Thanks guy's Piggy that sounds like a very concise, intelligent and to the point W&P review! (Now I need to get in to my OMF chapters for the read along which has been sadly neglected this month!)
Stokey I think the farming bits are swapped for philosophy and war strategy! Ravenclaw I'm definitely putting Anna Karenina on the TBR list because I know a lot of people prefer it to War & Peace, but maybe not this year!

Adding to the admiration for @DesdamonasHandkerchief for finishing War And Peace. I read it years ago when I had a three hour round trip commute each day. I genuinely can't remember any of it, but I know I read every word. One to read again some day, but as I'm now working from home, it would require a change of job to get that much reading time!

Which is actually something I really miss. I used to read loads on my commute. I love working from home for the additional home time, but it is at the expense of the time I used to get to switch off on the train after work. There's a reasonable chance of my job changing this year, and as DS is moving to secondary and therefore no need for a school run, I'm seriously considering something that involves a commute, as it's lovely to have that guilt free reading time.

Thanks Bookshark, but you're a better man than I if you read every word of W&P, some of those philosophy / free will vs determinism chapters are heavy going! I really strongly recommend the BBC miniseries if you want to jog your memory of the plot without the hard work.

I agree Janina it's not a book I would have stuck with in my 20's I don't think.

18 Dead Head by CJ Skuse. More Grand Guignol escapades from serial killer Rhiannon Lewis. Not for the faint-hearted, but a refreshing change from a morose detective tracking down murderers, as in the Sweetpea books you get to accompany the murderer on her journey instead. Very over the top and gory in places, but rest assured, she never harms children or animals. That’s about her only redeeming feature, in fact
Screamingly funny in places, due to the unrestricted internal monologue of someone who lives by her own moral code and takes it to the limit frequently. Cross her and she won’t just cut you off, she’s likely to just cut something off you and leave you to bleed to death in a remote place.
Escapist fun for the strong of stomach.