50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

A Town Like Alice would definitely have featured in my top ten favourites.

Olly - I want to read The Panopticon at some point, having really enjoyed the one of hers I read a few weeks ago. Don't think I'm feeling strong enough for it just yet though!

@MamaNewtNewt I was tempted by I, Claudius too but suggested it to my book club a could of years back and they all ended up giving up after about 50 pages! I had to change my selection to something more modern. But it is a work of genius and actually very funny IMO.

FFS I've already changed my mind!
Because I forgot The L Shaped Room, I never Promised You a Rose Garden The Men's Room and well, just LOADS of others.

Anyway.

14. Bill Bryson At Home

Bill, Bill, Bill....Don't really know how he got away with the working his way through his own home for each chapter thing, as almost nothing was in any way related to the various rooms. Interesting as ever, as I said on an earlier thread, you just imagine Bill wandering through life being passionate and grumpy about little bits and bobs and the minutiae of life. Which, in his words, is rather splendid.
It was way too long mind you. I started at Christmas and have dipped in and out ever since. I think I'll reward myself a reread of his totes hilaires ones this year at some point.

Kevin! We Need to Talk About would be on the "everyone should read" list.

I'm going to stop now.

67. The Man I Didn’t Marry by Anna Bell

Average chick lit about a woman whose husband gets amnesia, forgetting everything about their marriage. Predictable and easy reading.

68. Hungry by Grace Dent

Memoir by the food writer. I don’t really know her other than seeing her on a couple of things on TV but I’m always up for a food based autobiography. This had some good stuff on 70s and 80s convenience food and the parts towards the end as her parents age were touching.

69. Falling by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Not quite sure about this one yet! She’s a fabulous writer but reading this made me feel very uncomfortable at times although that is rather the point. It features Henry and Daisy who are in their sixties and start to fall in love - but it’s clear early on that Henry isn’t who he says he is. It’s written in Henry’s first person perspective and Daisy from third person, and Howard does a great job at giving you enough of Henry’s thoughts to realise that things aren’t quite right.

70. Lies We Bury by Elle Marr

This was my Prime first reads freebie and I’m glad it was free. It’s a thriller about a woman who was born and raised in captivity until she escaped at age 7 with her mother and sisters. Years later murders start happening which are linked to the woman somehow. It was ok but I would have liked a bit more explanation about her childhood and the reveal didn’t really make a lot of sense.

20 The Cut by Christopher Brookmyre.
Brookmyre takes on the Old Lady With A Past genre, puts it in a bag, shakes it up, sprinkles on lashings of gore, a huge helping of film nostalgia and a likeable couple of central characters determined to solve a 25 yr old mystery and miscarriage of justice. With sly nods towards media moguls and their dreadful offspring, corrupt politicians and the moral panic around ‘video nasties’ this was an absolute hoot from start to finish and I have a book hangover now.

I left out Harry Potter from mine. It had such a big impact on my reading life but I don’t think it needs to be on any list (at least that’s my excuse for leaving it out).

1. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
2. The Diving Bell by Jean-Dominique Bauby
3. Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain
4. Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend
5. Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness
6. Hollowpox Jessica Townsend. Lovely third in the series middle grade fantasy that rivals Harry Potter for me.

Belated thanks for the new thread. My reading has been so slow due to homeschooling, new job and my West Wing obsession. But quiet house from tomorrow so hoping things speed up. Not even going to make 50 at this rate. I don’t care about the numbers (lie) as much as my toppling tbr.

Palegreen I bought a second hand West Wing box set last year and we have spent the winter introducing our teens to it. Fortunately they both love it, and we're loving the re-watch.

@VikingNorthUtsire for some reason I’d only watched a few series before. It’s so good. I want to be C.J. When I grow up.

I left out Harry Potter from mine. It had such a big impact on my reading life but I don’t think it needs to be on any list (at least that’s my excuse for leaving it out).

I am old enough to have read it as an adult and agree. Rereading some classic children's novels for the DC now and HP doesn't compare. The writing in books like Carrie's War, A Traveller in Time, or Tom's Midnight Garden completely outclass HP. Even Narnia with all its faults is a million times better.

21. The Warden - Anthony Trollope

This was my first foray into Trollope. My parents were big fans of the television series (in the 80s) which I have not seen but it meant that I had a passing familiarity with some of the characters. The story, unsurprisingly, is about the clerical warden of a charitable hospital/almshouse - Mr Harding. Mr Harding is a quiet clergyman who is a good musician and has a close relationship with his unmarried daughter, Eleanor. His elder daughter is married to the son of Mr Harding’s good friend, the Bishop of Barchester. Mr Harding’s son-in-law, Mr Grantly, has a forceful personality and this combined with his role as Archdeacon means he takes most of the decisions in the diocese.

Mr Harding’s quiet life is upset when local activist, John Bold, takes issue with the disparity between the income received by the almshouse pensioners and that received by Mr Harding as the warden from the charitable trust set up under the will of the founder and argues that it is not consistent with the terms of the will. The cause is taken up locally and is then featured in the national press. Mr Grantly takes action on behalf of the diocese to defend the case but Mr Harding is deeply affected and starts to question his position. The whole matter is complicated by the fact that John Bold is also a friend and suitor of Eleanor.

The characterisation of Mr Harding and Mr Grantly is very good and the depth of Mr Harding’s doubt, concern and anguish is portrayed very well. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!

Janina I remember trying to read HP aloud the my kids. It just didn't flow. Great plotting and characters but you're right, the writing just doesn't stand up to the classics.

Palegreen hell yes. CJ is my shero.

CJ is great - love The West Wing (must rewatch when time allows).

I also like Grace Dent and find her reviews very readable. She wrote a really poignant piece recently in The Guardian on grief following the death of her mother. I must add her book to my TBR list.

Struggling with and giving lots of though to my top 5.

16. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami A 15 year old boy runs away from home under the shadow of an oedipal prophesy. An old man damaged by some unexplained childhood affliction kills a man who decapitates cats in order to make flutes from their souls. Both end up at a private library in a faraway town where they fulfil their destinies, unknown to each other but somehow linked.

I enjoyed this book but I'm not sure I understood it!

I love I, Claudius but I’ve been overexposed, it’s one of the few I’ve reread several times. I watched the TV series on video over and over as a teenager, and did my undergraduate dissertation on Livia (the real one, who was presented as a paragon of virtue in her own lifetime and almost certainly never poisoned anyone...)

22. More than a Woman,. Caitlin Moran
Just finished my library copy although I see it's a kindle deal today. More of the same - if you didn't like How to Be a Woman, this won't convert you, as it's largely a catch-up a decade later. I think her heart is in the right place. We're similar in age and both have daughters (well, just the one for me) so I had a degree of fellow feeling.

ChessieFL - I remember reading falling years and years ago and it's stayed with me. I believe they made a film out of it

17. Why You?: 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again - James Reed
Thorough, very conversational in tone, hopefully I can put it to use soon!

18. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens
I’ll save my thoughts for the readalong, except to say that I enjoyed this much more than I was anticipating, and will definitely be Dickensing much more often in future.

10. The Quantum Spy by David Ignatius

I enjoyed this for what it is, although it was not the best spy book or the best tech book that I've ever read.

The author is a political columnist at The Washington Post and the author of Body of Lies that was filmed by Riddley Scott and starred Leonardo di Caprio. He has interesting things to say about quantum computing and the games countries' intelligence services play to gain the upper hand, but he is not a great novelist and the story gets a bit boring in parts.

I missed all the top 5s over the weekend. Will have to have a think and come back to you - the problem is that quite often I forget how much I like a book until I re-read it, and I don't think there's time to do that before you close the list!

On which subject...

10. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

This one will definitely make the list. Yes, there's a bit of a clunky coincidence partway through, but if you ignore that it's an amazing book and I shouldn't have waited 20 years to re-read it. Love it.

11. Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte

Urgh, this was definitely the weakest in my Bronte Sisters trilogy. I think it's semi-autobiographical, but it just didn't interest me. Agnes came across as too self-righteous and I found the whole tone a bit preaching. As an aside, it's odd that the publishers chose to use this, and not The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for the trilogy - I wonder if it would have just made the book too big, but I'm now put off trying it based on Agnes!

17. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum My copy of this book dates from the time I used to play libraries with my book collection. According to my classification system this one is "Book 8 TWWOO HOIFZ"

No rush! Entries to the list still welcome.

Top 5 five of favourite books quite difficult really. Mine probably includes a lot of children's books (though as the late Diana Wynne Jones said a good book should be appreciated by all ages...) I think a lot of favourites change with time and mood.

Not in order:

1. The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper
2. The Lives of Christopher Chant (very difficult to choose between this, Howl's Moving Castle, Archer's Goon and the later Deep Secret)
3. The Icarus Hunt Timothy Zahn (ferrets in battle armour)
4. Beauty Robin McKinley
5. Alphabet of Thorn Patricia McKillip

So after assume pondering, I'm going for...

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
The Stand - Stephen King
Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer ()
The Grapes Of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magician

But ask me tomorrow and I'll have a different answer! Those are my favourite books by the way - I don't have so much of a view on books people "should" read, so will leave others to make that list.

I've been agonising over favourite five all week end!

If I wait any longer I'll change my mind again.

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
Raj Quartet - Paul Scott
The Map of Love - Adhaf Souief (was thriled to see someone else picked this)
Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

OK, I'm going to do it. Not going to overthink it this time. And, as with BookShark I would never presume to tell anyone what they should read, so these are my personal favourites (as of today only, and with a tiny pang of angst about the ones that nearly made it, and the ones I've undoubtedly forgotten about).

The Bone Clocks
Fingersmith
This Thing of Darkness
The Poisonwood Bible
Half of a Yellow Sun

I'm only reading easy things slowly in March, as I have a totally non-reading related all consuming project on the go, so I have nothing to update.