50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, the third one here, the fourth one here and the fifth one here.

So, we're now almost half way through the year - how's the first half of the year gone for you, reading-wise?

Still catching up on reviews.

43. What’s Left of Me Is Yours, Stephanie Scott. 3/5
    I liked the Japanese setting and cultural context, but like @EineReiseDurchDieZeit, I found this love story largely unconvincing. I also thought the murder was underexplained (not a spoiler because we learn that the heroine’s mother has been killed very early on in the book). And the book seems to be encouraging us to sympathise with the killer – but honestly, any man who decides to kill his beloved in a moment of domestic violence is not someone I’m going to empathise with much! As a pedantic aside, the book had a couple of copyediting errors that recurred throughout (someone seemed to have hit ‘find and replace’ incorrectly). This was a bit distracting and a shame for the author to have her work so sloppily proofread.

44. The Mercies, Kiran Milwood Hargrave. 4/5
    I feel like I should just link to @mackerella 's review on the previous thread because I agree with it entirely. The concept of the book (a fictional re-imagining of the 17th c witch trials in northern Norway) was excellent, the realisation less so. I’ve read a lot of 17th c literature, and although I don’t expect a modern historical novel to sound like a 17th c text, this book did feel to me as though it was set in today’s era rather than a pre-modern one. The fact I’ve just read several Roy Jacobsen’s novels probably accentuated this lack of plausibility for me; his books convey such a strong sense of time and place in Norway. And as mackerella noted, there’s no attempt in The Mercies to understand religious conviction, so religion is depicted purely as hatred and bigotry (which admittedly it can be, but it is generally also much more complicated than that), and the villainous characters are unrelentingly villainous. Four stars because some passages are beautifully written and the background about the indigenous Sami people was interesting.

45. Eyes of the Rigel, Roy Jacobsen. 4/5
    The third novel in Jacobsen's beautiful Barroy series. Ingrid sets off across Norway and Sweden, her baby in tow, to track down the baby’s father / her lover (a war refugee). It’s a kind of Odyssean quest narrative, as she retraces her lover’s steps and encounters different characters along the way, most of them with their own secrets to hide. As with Jacobsen’s other books, I read the novel twice in quick succession; he describes the characters so sparsely that I understand the understated implications much better the second time round. I’m still in love with his writing style, with Ingrid and with the island (where Ingrid does return in the end). I’ve seen that a fourth volume of the series has come out in Norwegian; now I just have to wait for it to be translated into English!

Interesting review of The Glass Hotel, Stokey, it’s on my TBR list, as it had excellent critical reviews and I loved Station Eleven (ducks away from Cote, ha).

Sol, I’m so glad you liked The Unseen! Fascinating observation that it’s like a hybrid of Tove Janssen and Garcia Marquez, I would never have thought of that but I can see what you mean

I usually enjoy Tana French a lot but The Wych Elm is the weakest book I’ve read by her so far, I think. I’ve already forgotten what it was about which is not normally a good sign…

SapatSea, I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Strout and would love to read another book about Lucy Barton – thanks for the Oh William! review.

@magimedi, I think you can read any of the Ali Smith season books as stand-alone books. In fact, having read each one a year apart, I didn’t notice that some characters reappeared in multiple books until after I’d read them and had a look at reviews

43. Six Poets Hardy to Larkin - An Anthology by Alan Bennett.

A very enjoyable read and selection of poetry with short insightful summaries of each poet by Alan Bennett.

44. The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid.

Highly recommended on this thread and I wholeheartedly agree. Melanie Reid is a journalist, horse-rider and lover of outdoor activities, who in her 50’s falls off her horse, breaks her back, becoming tetraplegic. This is the story of her accident and life since then. Emotional, inspirational, educational (on disability and ableism) with rays of black humour; Melanie Reid successfully avoids preaching ‘Pollyanna’, urging us all to embrace being present in our lives and recognise the golden times when they come along.

And now I am listening to and reading Anna Karenina, one of my reading goals for this year. Excellent so far.

I also snapped up The Great Circle. Thanks for the heads-up, Terpsichore.

35. Olive by Emma Gannon

This is about a women who doesn't want children and her three friends that do/already have them.

It's ridiculous. All the clichés about the mums ignoring childless friends, a lot of insensitivity towards the one who is doing IVF and the selfishness of the one who doesn't want kids is pretty breathtaking at times!

As a childless by choice woman who is on Mumsnet to better understand what her mum friends go through, I couldn't relate to anything in this, and couldn't see any of my friends reflected.

I wouldn't recommend, and I think less of the person who recommended it to me!

Just finished How To Be a Tudor, an interesting Day in the Life of Tudor people by Ruth Goodman. She goes through eating, work , drinking. sleeping and even sex. She has tried out most things (no die about the sex bit!) such as sleeping , making bread and a cheese and beer and this is entertaining to hear about. I did skim a few bits.

@RazorstormUnicorn that sounds crap. Kinda want my 99p back!

74. The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly

The most recent in the Jack West series.

This whole series is basically about a sort of Indiana Jones type historian with military experience, who’s performing all sorts of extreme challenges against the clock to repeatedly save the world (with his trusty team of friends and allies), with various mythological bits woven into the storylines. Lots of running around ancient monuments and so on.

This time, not only will the world end if the challenge isn’t completed, but the entire universe will too, as failure will trigger a Big Crunch (opposite of the Big Bang) that will crush the entire universe completely. This is really starting to push my suspension of disbelief.
It’s one thing having the fate of the world at stake, with champions having to complete challenges set up by mysterious ancient beings (immensely powerful game playing aliens? If they mentioned who was responsible for all these potentially world ending events in a previous book, I’ve forgotten 🤷‍♀️), but having the entire fate of the universe hanging on a thread like this is just taking it too far.

Anyway, an fast paced entertaining action adventure. There’s just one left to go in the series.

75. Millions by Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Children’s book about a pair of brothers who find a bag of stolen money that’s been thrown off a train.
It’s set just before the currency will change, so there’s not long to spend it. There’s lots of badly thought out spending and some mild peril. DS1 (9) liked it a lot more than I did.

76. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

A reread of one of the earlier Discworld books.

A dying wizard looking to pass his staff onto an 8th son of an 8th son thinks he’s found a candidate, but forgets to check the newborn baby’s sex before passing the staff on. Turns out it’s a girl.

An enjoyable read, although not my favourite in the series.

I've picked up the Great Circle too & the Rachel Cusk that is on the Booker longlist.

63. Girl A - Abigail Dean. I'm pretty sure this has been heavily reviewed on here. Girl A escapes from a house of horrors where her parents keep her and her siblings imprisoned and starved. Lots of reviewers seem to find this boring, which I can understand if you were expecting a thriller, but I found it interesting. I would have liked a bit more about the mother and her motivations, and more from the other children's perspectives, but in the whole I thought it was well done.

"I loved Station Eleven (ducks away from Cote, ha)"

Really? Even after the past year and half when you saw what a pandemic really looks like?

I hate to say "I told you so" but I told you so in 2015: None of it made much sense. A viral infection that becomes symptomatic in several hours and kills in a day is the easiest disease in the world to contain, since it would burn itself off very quickly. Just broadcast everyone to stay indoors for 1 day - what seems to be the problem?

You are welcome

@Palegreenstars

Oh no have you bought it too? Maybe you'll have a different take on it?

@RazorstormUnicorn it’s definitely going to the bottom of the list - your description sounds like a lot of things that would make me angry.

Bought Boys Don't Cry this morning on the daily deals. I saw it recommended on one of the threads and it gets excellent reviews. Could be worth a look...

41. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

My husband was on a Mitford reading jag recently so I thought I should finally get round to reading this. And it was...fine. Very funny in places. But the airy arch style isn't really my thing and whilst I like plenty of books where the characters are challenging and unlikeable, I just found Linda really, really annoying. And I think you have to find her at least a bit enchanting for the book to work properly. I have a two-volume version which also includes Love in a Cold Climate, so will give that a whirl too, but I don't think I'll be delving into all the Mitford letters etc.

Anyone caught the Twitter/Goodreads furore about Kate Clanchy? I reviewed the book really positively. with soem reservations about her slightly Mother Teresa attitude) but am currently reevaluating and accepting the critques are valid. Not sure why Kate can't do that tbh.

I also think she lacked a good editor. But am worried about what the Twitter spat will do to her MH. For those of you who are unaware, so called Edutwitter, is a vicious place, worse than MN!

Talking about poor editors…

I just finished Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. This is the fifth in the private detective crime series and focuses on a 40 year old unsolved case about a missing GP. This started off well but became increasingly tedious to read as there were too many subplots and characters to keep track of. The reveal was ludicrous, completely lacking in impact, and as so many of you have said, she needed a strict editor because so much of this book - 1073 pages in paperback - was extraneous e.g. content about Robin and Strike's ex's. Disappointing.

Yikes about Kate Clanchy. I saw the original fracas when it erupted late last year but didn't realise it had become an issue again. I agree with your take, Piggy. I thought the book had some amazing insights but agree that some of the language she used was problematic. And the way she has handled the criticism is almost a case study in how NOT to handle criticism. She originally responded to a teacher's one-star review of the book on Goodreads by threatening to report her to her workplace -- I mean really, that's such bad form. I do think she has removed most of her angry responses on Goodreads now, because I've just had a look and I can't see them. But she would come across so much better if she treated the matter like a learning experience. I suppose that it's hard to stay calm when you've been accused of racism. However, she said that terms like 'chocolate-coloured skin' weren't in her book, and they are...

She's a brilliant writer IMO, and the stuff she has done in terms of teaching poetry to children is amazing. Full disclosure: she lives locally to me and she has done a lot of good in terms of reassuring middle-class parents about sending their kids to state schools. There is a big state/private divide in my city (as there probably is in a lot of other places).

I'm concerned about her MH too, especially as she lost both her parents in quick succession quite recently. She wrote a piece about it in the Guardian that had me in tears by the end:
www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/06/letting-go-my-battle-to-help-my-parents-die-a-good-death I knew her parents a little and they were absolutely lovely people. I have a feeling she'll be fine though as she is part of a very supportive, close-knit local community.

Basically, she writes about multi-culturalism from a white middle-class perspective; she herself acknowledges that repeatedly in the book. But she should not be appalled when people point out the limitations and blindnesses of that perspective.

And Cote, point taken about the verisimilitude issues in Station Eleven when it comes to containing a deadly virus!

Well summed up cassandre. I thinks he frames and imagines all her readers are white and middle class too (guilty as charged) and herein lies the problem perhaps.

Yes, exactly, Piggy! DH and I both read the book and had some lively white middle-classdebates about it over the dinner table. For instance, I thought her treatment of weight and healthy eating was quite insensitive at points, and could have been more body-positive. DH thought she was just telling it like it was: there's a correlation between economic privilege and nutritious diet. A lot of the book's appeal lies in the fact that she's so honest about her views, even though whether you necessarily agree with said views is another question.

'white middle-class' was meant to be wittily struck out but obviously I can't format

But to echo your point, yes, I do think her target audience is composed of white middle-class Guardianistas, and she genuinely wants to induce them to broaden their horizons. And when readers who don't belong to that group point out that she's inadvertently 'othering' ethnic minorities and working class people in the process, she's full of indignation.

Yes, exactly that. Which is the bit that doesn't sit well, rather than what she did in the first place. I am a teacher so I can say this : sometimes teachers react very negatively to criticism. It feels threatening and personal because teaching is so intense and all consuming and we think we are the 'goodies' of society. It doesn't help that she ahs soem Edutwitterati egging her on to believe she has been cancelled.

Piggy, in general I would say teachers receive far too much criticism and not nearly enough appreciation!

Oh that's nice to hear! Thanks! (we tend not to take praise well either...)