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 had Legionnaire's Disease once. The only thing I was capable of doing whilst in hospital in Turkey and then recovering was reading 'Kevin'!

I really like Lynne Ramsay's film : the performances of the 3 Kevins are fabulous and the screenplay strips away a lot of faff.

Pst OMFers, don't forget today is the last day of February!

Oh darn, missed the Daily Deal for the House of Glass which is high up on my wanted list. Ah well.

Really enjoying Fire and Steam; how the railways transformed Britain by Christian Wolmar, and already thinking of the review im going to write...

10. Too close to home by Linwood Barclay
    A couple and their son are murdered in their home. As it is investigated the story is told from the view of the neighbour and he begins to question whether it was a case of mistaken identity, did the murder/s get the wrong house.
    It was a nice read, kept me gripped however once I had finished I felt it was very unrealistic to have so many strands to the story. I also worked out ‘who done it’ half way through so am either very clever or the story wasn’t that great (I suspect it is the latter ).

11. Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, reviewed earlier by someone else (apologies I do not remember who). Edward is the 12 year old sole survivor of a commercial flight. This story is about his recovery whilst also going back to recount the flight and lead up to the tragedy. It is well written and I very much recommend this book.

21. The Last, by Hanna Jameson
Nuclear bombs have obliterated most of the major cities, but a small band of survivors are holed up in a remote Swiss hotel. But is one of them harbouring a murderous secret? Our narrator is determined to find out.

Pretty derivative stuff. I wasn't that impressed.

@MogTheSleepyCat I was sad to see on Twitter that one of the ravens mentioned in the book has 'gone missing' and has probably died. Hopefully they've had some young recently and can make sure the numbers stay up.

@Hushabyelullaby I have tried a few times to get into We need to talk about Kevin and failed. I eventually concluded that they may indeed need to talk about him but I certainly don't need to read about him. @Piggywaspushed you must have been seriously ill to be unable to read anything other than Kevin

Hurray for the end of February, it's been an awful month but today the sun is shining and we've got a thread to finish.

Fire and Steam looks like it might be worth a read, I do hope it's on the Kindle. I've spent too much extra money on WBD related stuff this month though so it'll have to wait at least until next month

I'm reading a book about Princes William and Harry at the moment, I'm not a fan or critic of the royals but it's interesting enough though the author makes no bones about who he likes and doesn't like in the royal family. It's not my usual type of book but I'm glad (if embarrassed to admit it) to be reading it.

I love we need to talk about Kevin it’s a great example of a book where most characters are in likeable but it still works.

It did frame a lot of pre-motherhood worries for me though.

Bett , it was the only book I had with me at the time . It wasn't exactly jolly fare!

Terpsichore It wasn't me that first recommended A Chelsea Concerto, but I read it on the back of the original recommendation and loved it too. The follow-up, The Dancing Bear, about her time in post-war Berlin is also excellent.

@bettbattenburg you're the only other person I've 'met' that I know wasn't keen on LTAK either.

I wouldn't describe the book as having a twist per se, something made me say 'oh right', but I can't say it surprised me.

I'm that bothered I can't even get the title right, obviously it should have been WNtTAK, not LTAK

WNTTAK really got under my skin, in a not good way. I read it with a rising sense of horror. And I saw the twist many miles off, which didn't make it any the less traumatic. I wish I could unread or forget the book, as it makes me ill thinking about it. I read a wide range of books and don't shy away from difficult themes, but that is the one book that really got to me.

11. All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot Lovely comfort read. I've accidentally read these out of order as this is a pre-war one, and I've already read the one where he was serving in the RAF during WW2. It doesn't matter a bit as it's anecdotes all the way, there's no plot as such.

Unnatual Causes - Richard Shepherd Recommended on here and by a friend this is the eminent pathologist writing about his life and the cases he’s worked on and his subsequent PTSD. It’s very interesting but something about it didn’t engage me in the way I hoped.

A great Reckoning - Louise Penny we’ve discussed the unevenness of the Inspector Gamache series on here before and I have to say this one was pretty ridiculous. Probably the worst so far. Total nonsense about super guns.

Now reading The Night Hawks by Ellie Griffiths, the latest Dr Ruth Galloway which I am enjoying but keep hearing “‘Allo ‘allo, this is Night ‘awk. Are you receiving me?” in my head.

I have no idea why it took me so long in my life to read Adam Bede but I have just rectified this. What a lovely novel. I guess when I was a teenager , Hardy was in fashion and now Dickens more so, so Eliot has been a bit overlooked.

Must admit I skimmed the Methodisty bits (much like the inhabitants of Hayslope!) and was bamboozled by some of the dialogue but the glorious bucolic descriptions and the solid plot kept me going. I always think of Tess as the ultimate fallen woman plot and didn't actually know the central conceit of Adam Bede at all (for which I blame the title). Poor Hetty. Adam is a solid chap but , boy, is he dim where it comes to women!! I did laugh at Bartle's casual misogyny. I could hear Eliot tutting at her own creation. The end chapter bothered me a bit. Just seemed harsh on Dinah. But hey, that's the patriarchy for you as DS would remind me.

The introduction to the Wordsworth edition is very interesting , particularly on the ambivalent presentations (or readings of) key characters.

All things bright and beautiful is one I'd like to read, I used to enjoy the tv series as a child. At least I have rose tinted glasses perhaps, maybe I didn't enjoy watching what my parents watched but I think I did and I would now. In other words I'm an old codger, or a dreaded boomer as the young 'uns on MN would put it even though I'm too young to be either

Have you all have good weather today? It's cold but sunny here so the laundry is out and I've done some gardening - oh the things you can find to do when you are avoiding work! I'm supposed to be reading an academic article or three but it's progressing slowly.

I'm intrigued to know what the twist or non-twist is in WNTTAK but I won't be reading it, can somebody enlighten me as I am curious now, obviously with a spoiler if needed.

Has anybody spotted any really good monthly deals before they all end tomorrow?

@bettbattenburg

SPOILER ALERT for We Need to Talk About Kevin

Throughout he's always had a pretty awful relationship with his mum, his dad is the buddy who he'll talk to, and his little sister who is 7 years younger adores him. When we hear about the shootings at the school, we also find out that he's shot his dad and sister.

I guess I wasn't surprised because he says things as he sees them, and his mum is very straightforward and doesn't hide her dislike for him. I can see how he'd respect this. He sees his dad for the fake he is. That's jmo by the way

As I remember We Need to Talk about Kevin (and it is many years since I read it), it was written from his mother's point of view and she isn't necessarily a reliable narrator.

Thank you @Hushabyelullaby my curiosity is now satisfied.

Thanks boiledegg - I had an idea it might have been you! I bought The Dancing Bear too, and I'll definitely be reading it now.

I also watched the Lucy Worsley programme and was (predictably, perhaps) a bit irked by their decision to describe Frances Faviell as a 'socialite and painter' and depict her as wafting about with glass of sherry in hand. A bit one-sided, I felt, and very much fitting her into the posh-shaped hole that the programme had pre-determined - given that the other people featured were also very recognisable 'types'. So a bit of sotto voce muttering happened on my part throughout.

I loved WNTTAK as I thought that Shriver had done an excellent and subtle job of capturing the mother as this well-meaning but very entitled and self-pitying liberal type. Then I read another of her books, which was awful and which had a very similar character in it, and I heard her speak and read some of her opinion pieces, and thought perhaps she isn't actually all that clever, perhaps that's just what she thinks people are like.

Anyway, after an absence from the thread I will attempt to be less wordy than usual to catch up with my reviews.

16. The Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman
Noir-ish thriller set in 1960s Baltimore. A rich white woman divorces her husband and, determined to get a job as a newspaper reporter, becomes involved in investigating the death of a black woman. An interesting portrait of the time and with some thought-provoking perspectives on privilege and prejudice. I found it hard to engage with the central character though and as a result got a bit bored.

17. How to Be Right.. In a World Gone Wrong, James O'Brien
JO'B is the lefty talk show host from lBC, well known for arguing against pre-Brexit, anti-immigrant callers with sharp logic and a good grasp of facts. I liked this book more than I expected to - O'Brien IS a bit full of himself but he says, convincingly, that he actually really likes to hear well-thought out opinions which differ from his own, and that the times that he challenges people are when they have just swallowed prejudices fed to them by others without stopping to think about them. He reserves his anger and scorn for those who are cynically feeding these views, such as the right wing press, businesses and some politicians.

DNF: Full Dark House (Bryant and May), Christopher Fowler
Picked this up as I had heard positive things in discussion of B&M here. Didn't get on with it unfortunately; the writing style was strangely dense and I frequently found myself lost at the end of a sentence not knowing what it had said. The murder that happens near the beginning relied on a confusing description (maybe deliberately? but I just couldn't work out what was supposed to have happened), and when we got onto long-winded technical discussions of theatre equipment, I was out.

18. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, Imogen Hermes Gowar
Much reviewed here last year. Plusses: great historic atmosphere, feminist without being anachronistic, lovely sumptuous bits of description especially of Georgian London (and the Deptford docks, where I lived for a bit). Minuses: weird plotting and pacing, people drop in and out of the narrative and are never heard of again, nothing happens for ages, weird magic realism subplot which didn't work for me.

I have started on Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country but decided I would probably enjoy it more if I start with Stasiland to set the scene, so I have that lined up and am looking forward to it after some really positive reviews here.

I have to say I got about a chapter into Kevin, thought the 'twist' was patently obvious even at that point and DNFed it about a further half chapter along as total trash. But having said that it's exactly the sort of middlebrow book club fodder that I tend to hate - I think I feel about MEANINGFUL books the way Cote does about feeeeelings.

23. The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles
    I see ChannelLightVessel beat me to it on this one - & I'm in agreement, lightweight but well done. I'd say of KJC's Heyer pastiches I preferred Band Sinister but still entertaining as her books always are.

24. The Pupil by Caro Fraser
    I saw this series recommended on another thread, this first book deals with the first year pupillage of Anthony Cross as he aims to become a barrister. Cross is a highly academically successful graduate from a single parent / low income background, and the novel centres around his struggles to deal with fitting into the wealthy public school / Oxbridge. It was published in 1992, and definitely feels very much of it's time (I hope!) It was OK but not fantastic, but the impression I get from reading amazon reviews is that the series picks up as it goes along, and since the online library has several of them I'll definitely try at least one more.

Hated Kevin. And have read a few interviews with LS which made me really dislike her, although I can't remember why.

I see we are nearly at the end of the thread again! Have failed to do a great deal of reading over the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping I'll get back into the swing of it once the kids are back at school on the 8th. I have been reading Guest House for Young Widows, an account of several young women who joined ISIS - which is absolutely excellent, but got a bit heavy for me when I had a lot going on at work (I've picked it up again now). So I raced through:

12. In Black and White by Alexandra Wilson

I'm a barrister myself so was keen to read this recent memoir by a young black criminal barrister - not least because I had no idea how she had found time to write it as a pupil/very junior barrister! I think the book is probably aimed primarily at non-lawyers, and intended to show young people who might not even consider the Bar that a career as a barrister is possible. As such, it didn't say much I hadn't heard before and I found the writing a little stilted, but it was interesting to see what had and hadn't changed from my experience as a criminal pupil barrister 20 years ago. Less overt sexism but still plenty of racism, I think. Wilson is a likeable narrator and it is good that her experience is out there for others to read and hopefully follow in her footsteps.

@Sadik Caro Fraser's Caper Court series was my guilty pleasure for a bit - the plots get quite silly (and after a while a little repetitive), but I enjoyed all of them in an "engaging romp" kind of way.

I thought WNTTAK was brilliant. Awful, but brilliant. I got to the twist a little before she did, but not much, and it was one of the most shocking things I've ever read. Her other books are nowhere near as good and I've given up reading her now.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Hated Kevin. And have read a few interviews with LS which made me really dislike her, although I can't remember why.

I remember seeing a tv interview with LS remus and I felt the same!

I think it was how she dealt with the audience during a Q&A. I remember her being a bit spiky about the whole nature v nurture question. She doesn't strike me as my cup of tea as a person, (as far as anyone can tell), and I did find the book a bit 'MEANINGFUL book for discussion at book club', as a pp said.