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.

I have been thinking about this since you posted.

Stumped.

Probably true of most books though. My A Level classes always say all literature is about love, death and war (via love and death). With occasional sex.

The Beano?

I googled. Whisky Galore is the answer.

26. All the Hidden Things by Claire Askew

The story of a school shooting in Scotland told from the point of view of three women - the senior investigating officer, the mother of the first victim and the mother of the shooter. I found this interesting and intriguing at first but it unwound in the second half. The ending was very odd and didn't seem to have much to do with the main story. This could have been an interesting examination of misogyny, the MRAs and violence towards women but missed the mark.

It's funny but the recent discussion about book snobbery has made me really think about what I am reading. I have always read way more fiction than non-fiction but recently I have realised that the books I have recently found more interesting and satisfying have been non-fiction. Like some recent posters I like the fact that I have learned something from my reading (not that you can't learn anything from fiction but you know what I mean). I'm not going to give up on fiction but I think I am going to try to read a bit more non-fiction, and steer away from the psychological thrillers that I am really not enjoying at the moment but keep coming back to. I'll still have some easy reads but definitely want to ask a bit more of myself with my reading.

@Sadik

"I think I'm going to look for a chick lit book next as I need something easy, and ultimately happy to get into after that." Have you read Crazy Rich Asians ? Would be my recommendation for an easy entertaining read if not.

Thank you, I'll look it up!

10, 11, 12

Dark Fire - C. J. Samson

The 2nd Shardlake book. I enjoyed it, but found the wait for the end a bit long if that makes sense? Anyway, another murder mystery set in Henry VIII's London.

This Naked Mind - Annie Grace

A popular quit lit book. I did dry Lent and started reading this for motivation. It has some really good points which I was nodding along with, but some of it seemed a bit...phoned in. Some quit lit cliché type chapters at the end, which honestly just about put me to sleep. I don't want to start drinking alcohol again though, so maybe it affected me more than I thought!

Everything That Remains - Joshua Millburn

This is a 'minimalist memoir'. The author is writing about his minimalist (sorry for this word) 'journey'.
Again, some really good points, some quite witty bits and self deprecating humour in parts which I thought suited the subject matter quite well. But I struggled with some of it too, as again, it seemed a smidge clichéed. But it is his life, (with some artistic licence), so maybe that's a bit of a mean comment. Can non fiction be a cliché? Hmm. Anyway, I mainly agree with him and I mainly like him.

About to start The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell. A whodunnit type thing, I think.

@Stokey

Typo fail should be sinner not dinner

I liked dinner better. I can't remember if I've read this, or if I read a bit and then stopped. It definitely feels familiar for some reason.

Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer
Not one of her best. Overlong, a bit repetitive. The hero and heroine were both a bit colourless, and the sprig muslin girl of the title was a trifle wearing. Enjoyable enough fluff, but not up to the standard of the others I've just re-read.

13) The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell

I think I read LJ's debut novel (Ralph's Party...was it her debut? I'll google). Anyway, I hated it. I was a pompous 15ish year old girl who really thought these sorts of novels were beneath me (haaaaaa! I know).

So, being older and less of an asshole these days, I thought I'd give this a go. Ugh, still HATE her writing style. Loads of people love her books and she has been around for decades, so this is clearly a 'me' problem. I can't stand 'suspense' novels like this one, where there is a big reveal at the end. Or, that isn't true; I actually love a few of these novels. I think the problem for me is when you start a novel and it's all 'I'm a mystery me! A mystery, shrouded in an enigma. Look out readers, there's MYSTERY in here. Did I mention I'm mysterious and enigmatic?' and at the same time, I don't like any of the characters. Those two elements combined just irritate me and that is exactly what I got here.

Anyway, I skim read this in a night. Honestly? I can't recommend it at all. It is so self consciously twisty, turny that it is actually quite boring. Not for me. BUT loads of people seem to love it, so maybe less grumpy people would get something out of it

Yes, it was her debut and I was 15 when it came out. I'm impressed by my own memory

not ! That looked weirdly smug

26. Hard Time by Jodi Taylor

The 2nd in her Time Police series (a spin off from The Chronicles of St Mary’s series).
The weird squad trio continue to do Time Policing in their own way, and St Mary’s make a guest appearance.
Very much in the style of her St Mary’s books, if you like those you’ll probably like the Time Police ones too.

27. Survival of the Sickest by Dr Sharon Moalem

Non-fiction. Talks about the connections between disease (particularly common hereditary diseases) and longevity. Also has chapters on parasites, mutations and epigenetics. Quite readable.

28. One Night For Love by Mary Balogh

A Regency romance.
It opens with a wedding, which is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the groom’s first wife, who’d been lost and presumed dead. Awkward. And it finishes with an extremely improbable secret about the first wife’s past.
It’s ok, but there’s a few too many coincidences for me here.

29. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Loved this.
Although I am a bit surprised by how wholeheartedly the narrator accepts and supports Maxim’s version of events.

30. The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson

This was a lovely sweet love story.
It’s set just before the beginning of the Second World War, when the Nazi’s annexed Austria. Ruth’s family have fled to London, but a mix up leaves Ruth stranded in Vienna.
An English family friend, Quin, finds Ruth alone, and the pair of them enter into marriage of convenience as the surest way of getting Ruth safely out of Austria.
Quin intends to have the marriage dissolved as soon as Ruth is in England, but this turns out to be trickier than he anticipated in more ways than one.

31. Archangel by Sharon Shinn

The god Jovah (from descriptions in the text, Jovah’s coming across more as an AI on a spaceship) has overseen peace on Samaria for five hundred years. Every year, a member of every clan and every race must attend the 'Gloria' to sing praise to the heavens in a show of unity. Or else Jovah will send them destruction.

Every twenty years, a new Archangel is appointed to lead the people of Samaria and lead the singing.

The old archangel, Raphael, is reaching the end of his reign, the new one, Gabriel is getting ready to take over. But first he must find his bride, his Angelica, allotted to him by Jovah. Which doesn’t go as smoothly as he hoped.
I enjoyed this.

Good morning all! I fell off the thread weeks ago, I'm afraid, and have only just managed to get to the end (it's taken me about a week to catch up on everything I've missed - and I've been taking notes like crazy, as you've all mentioned so many interesting things to follow up). I've very much enjoyed reading it - thank you to all of you for being such interesting reading companions!

I'm tempted to post my list here, right at the end of the thread, just to piss Remus off, but I'll wait until the next one

I have got a backlog of about 20 books to review, which is rather daunting! I'll start posting them in due course - but in the meantime, I just wanted to duck my head through the door and say that I'm currently 20% of the way through Whisky Galore, but finding it rather slow going (and not quite as hilarious as I'd hoped). I think it's because I'm mainly reading it very late at night, and keep getting all the characters mixed up. Maybe I need to read it in longer bursts, when I'm more alert! Have any of you read it?

mackerella I started Whisky Galore once, and like you I found it tricky to keep track of the characters and generally harder going than I expected. I thought it was me. Didn't get as far as you are and always intended to give it another go.

104. Unnatural Causes: The Life and Many Deaths of Britain’s Top Forensic Pathologist by Dr Richard Shepherd

Another fascinating book about how much can be learnt from dead bodies. Covers a lot of well known events such as 9/11 - I hadn’t realised they were still identifying bodies until 2013. However, I could have done with less about his family life and he does come across a bit arrogant at times.

I have just spent an hour browsing in the library. First time in over a year. Can't tell you how happy it made me.

25. Maurice - EM Forster The story of a young man coming to terms with his sexuality in Edwardian England. Maurice is a mediocre boy in a mediocre school with nothing more unusual in his future than taking his late father's place in the family business, and marriage to some suitable girl in due course. Maurice is slow to discover that he is actually homosexual, a concept he'd never even heard of until he meets Clive at Cambridge. Clive Maurice's superior in class, intellect and emotional development and the two of them embark on a platonic love affair (once Maurice gets over the shock of the idea of a romantic relationship between 2 men).

Clive's ardour wears off after a time and he marries a woman (in a letter to Maurice he describes himself as having "become normal" against his will. Maurice wishes to become normal too and seeks a cure through hypnotism, but succumbs to lust when Clive's attractive young gamekeeper climbs into his room one night. Having confessed his love for the gamekeeper to Clive, he disappears one evening to begin a new life unfettered by class or homophobia in some more enlightened country where they can live together in peace.

Written in 1913, this novel was not published until after the author's death. It's an emotional love story, dealing with Maurice's confusion at his own desires, his resistance to his own nature and eventual acceptance both of the possibility of love and the human status of the working classes. The language used is certainly of its time, with attitudes to match but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

I’ve just read the plot summary of The Cone Gatherers : it sounds a laugh a minute! At what age are Scottish children made to read it?

DM and I enjoyed re-watching the film of Whisky Galore recently with DD(12) - I like to make her watch something that isn’t Disney+ now and then.

About the same age as English children are reading the jolly japes that are Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies

I'm Scottish and have never heard of The Cone Gatherers - is it a more recent thing to be read in schools? I left high school 25 years ago. I did read Tess in high school though which sounds about as uplifting as The Cone Gatherers (read the summary earlier and not sure i will be rushing to buy it!).

Yolandi, I have Maurice unread on my bookshelf and your review has just nudged it up my TBR pile. I have Where Angels Fear to Tread sitting next to it.....if anyone has read that?

14) On Connection - Kae Tempest

A quick, but really enjoyable read, which I found very insightful and uplifting.

24. The Luck Factor - Richard Wiseman

Another solid evidence-based self-help effort from the psychology professor. He argues that ‘luck’ isn’t something supernatural, but that lucky people persistently follow a set of 4 behaviours that improve their life satisfaction:

1. make the most of opportunities
2. listen to gut instinct
3. look on the bright side
4. turn misfortune into opportunity It did get a bit repetitive though, could have been shorter, and didn’t enter into the philosophical issue of whether ‘lucky’ people had objectively better lives or just saw everything more positively and hence were happier. Anyway, by Wiseman’s analysis, I am quite a lucky person so it’s probably better not to worry about it.

Maurice is excellent.

46. Ulysses by James Joyce (Audible)

Well, Jesus Fucking Christ, there's a reason this is the worlds most unfinished and lied about book. Absolutely tedious and probably worse as an Audible because he sang

Forty Two Hours Of My Life.