50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh 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, the fifth one here and the sixth one here.

46 Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi. Translated by Marilyn Booth

This won the international Booker a couple of years ago and is the first book published in English by an Omani woman. The entire 'plot' such as it is is on the back cover: three sisters get married at the end of the 20th century. But each short chapter jumps backwards and forwards in time from the 1890s to the present as an omniscient narrator tells us about the inner thoughts of the sisters and other members of their family. A first person narrative from the husband of one of the sisters appears regularly, he is on a plan to Frankfurt in the present day but reminisces about his life. The book has a poetic quality to the writing and there's not a lot of dialogue which makes the book feel almost mythical, although the characters are very rooted in the real modern world (albeit that 1980s Oman was very different to Europe at the same time). There are a lot of characters and I needed to refer regularly to the family trees. I feel like I need more time to form an opinion on this, the unusual structure and descriptions of a world I know nothing about will take a while to digest. Suspect this might not be for everyone but I'm glad I read it and I want to learn more about this country I knew nothing about.

I DNF My Brilliant Friend - boring as.

@SOLINVICTUS I love the TV adaptation so will keep an eagle eye out in Series 3.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie the TV series is worth a try....brings the first book so much more to life. It's one of the best series I've ever watched.

I was the same Remus, think they're quite marmite. Lots of friends raved about them.

147. Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine - Derren Brown
     The long form version of his book on being content. This is a really good primer on the basics of ancient philosophies and how they can be used to inform modern life, plus a bit of psychology thrown in for good measure. He explores why we react the way we do to different scenarios and how to reframe your response to take things less personally and therefore feel happier as a result. He also looks at the meaning of life, why we are here and how to approach death be it distant or imminent. There is a lot of really good stuff in here about human behaviour which I found fascinating and would have liked more of, however the history of philosophy part was also quite interesting. I recognised myself in a lot of the examples and will try to amend my behaviour as a result. Not sure I can give up a mild case of road rage though. That might be asking too much, but I will endeavour to take things less personally as they are probably from a place of thoughtlessness rather than malice.

148. The Women of Troy - Pat Barker
     Bit of a strange one this as briefly touched on above. Picks up straight after The Silence of the Girls and follows Briseis again. It explores the fates of the major female players such as Hecuba, Helen and Cassandre and how they cope with the changes to their lives after the fall of Troy and how their relationships with one another change. The Women are dealing with changes in status from royalty to slavery, freedom to capture, new relationships, pregnancies and coming to terms with grief/death. In terms of plot, there isn't one. Troy has fallen, the men await a good wind to get them home and the women live around them waiting to see what becomes of them. While it is beautifully written with some really interesting elements, it's also very slow with no real sense of where it is going as nothing much really happens. If you are looking for a fast paced adventure set in Troy, there are ample other books available. If you're happy with an exploration of human relationships to further your understanding of often overlooked characters adjacent to the men in a story you know well then you will love this. It's a good addition to the recent plethora of Greek retellings, but a distinct change of pace and direction. Not a bad thing if you know what to expect.

I’m looking forward to The Women of Troy but I’ve always found the Andromache storyline very hard to take (even as an undergrad in the classics dept) and since I’ve become a mother I imagine it would be even more difficult. I can take all sorts of gore and horror and medical detail, but peril to sprogs is much harder

I quite like the Elena Ferrante books but (and I don't know if it down to the translation) I found there was a lot of repetition of information, clunky prose and like most current books, could have done with the editor's big red pen.

The TV adaptation is just superb, especially season 2 when the story about the friends gets more interesting as they progress into young adulthood. It is superbly shot- all the colours and light. There is a scene where they are stuck in a traffic jam in downtown Naples and the red and pastel coloured cars stretch for ever that is epic.

@SapatSea I have one episode of season 2 left. I've been eeking it out as we need to wait so long for season 3. I totally agree with you, it's stunningly shot and amazing that the main actors were only 14 when they filmed it!

I read that they actually built the "neighbourhood" as an outside "set." I was convinced it was real.

Another one who abandoned My Brilliant Friend after the first couple of chapters. It's probably a me problem, not a Ferrante problem. But I was bored.

Janina, Celestial Bodies is wonderful, isn't it? I had the most transporting experience reading it, and felt as if I was right there in the village. I have been to Oman - it's a beautiful country and fascinating in terms of how far it has come and how quickly in a few decades, without going full on Dubai-glitz.

@LadybirdDaphne

I’m looking forward to The Women of Troy but I’ve always found the Andromache storyline very hard to take (even as an undergrad in the classics dept) and since I’ve become a mother I imagine it would be even more difficult. I can take all sorts of gore and horror and medical detail, but peril to sprogs is much harder

It's more the effect on her after that's covered with passing reference to the death. I found the whole book quite flat and lacking in any sort of emotional response despite covering the emotional effect on the women. There's no drama, everything is matter of fact and the whole book feels quite detached or I am a cold hearted bitch

I hate being the first to read something, I always feel like I'm pissing on everyone's chips if I don't love it. Hopefully by now you all know I'm a grumpy bugger and to take it with a pince of salt.

Interesting review of The Women of Troy, Fortuna, thank you. I definitely want to read it eventually.

Hmm, I loved the whole Ferrante tetralogy, but I did enjoy the later volumes more as the feminist themes become increasingly explicit. It sounds like I need to see the show as well.

On another topic, please wish me patience and tolerance because my book group is gathering to discuss Untamed by Glennon Doyle tonight. I read it last year and it didn't improve on a second (skim-)reading. It's weird because there is a lot about the message and themes of the book that I appreciate and agree with, but the style is so saccharine and relentlessly American. (As an American I'm allowed to say that, ha.) What really struck me this time was how much she uses direct discourse in the book and how fake it sounds to my cynical ears. There are so many anecdotes about how someone has a problem and she delivers a long, canned-sounding speech to them. On the other hand, I think her heart is in the right place. It's just Oprah-esque to the nth degree.

So yeah, send me strong thoughts so that I can embrace my inner cheetah and not ruin everyone else's experience of the book

For the non-initiated, the cheetah is an Untamed allusion by the way. I wasn't crazy. I was a goddamn cheetah.

@SapatSea

I read that they actually built the "neighbourhood" as an outside "set." I was convinced it was real.

Have a look on Good Reads, I think on the last of the quartet of books. There is a picture review that shows the actual neighbourhood they think the author was from, it has the sam tunnel and matches the other description. Also, Richard E Grant visits there in Write Around The World.

Will stop being a My Brilliant Friend bore now! Currently mid Never Let Me Go and Rivers of London on Audible.

Write Around The World is a three part book series on iPlayer.

PepeLePew very jealous you have been to Oman. Jokha Alharthi has another book out next year so I think I might have to check it out.

Not read My Brilliant Friend but have The Lying Life of Others on my TBR pile (it was on offer in Waterstones). The TV series looks gorgeous.

Another one who gave up on My Brilliant Friend, think I got about halfway through iirc but was so bored I couldn’t carry on!

I definitely wouldn't watch the TV series of a book I didn't like, but that's because I hardly ever watch TV and have no staying power for a series.

39. Big Magic: creative living beyond fear - Elizabeth Gilbert

Some useful tips for living as a writer (or other sort of artist, but mainly writers), mixed in with a woo approach to inspiration which I’m sympathetic to but wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste, and lots of name dropping (as my friend Brene Brown says…). The style is very conversational and funny at times, and I did get a lot out of it. My favourite insight was ‘argue for your limitations, and you get to keep them’ - I don’t think that’s original to Gilbert, but I hadn’t come across it before.

I haven't posted for ages and ages due to the torturously long school holidays and starting a new job; will be back soon to update my list but in the meantime, there's a charity auction where you can bid for book-related stuff, in case anyone's interested:

https://authorsforstarlight.wordpress.com/auctionlots/

I love the Jonathan Stroud books so will probably bid for those but pretend they're for my DC if I actually win the dedication

Hello all waves

I'm late to the thread (as well as late with the challenge) - work has been off the scale busy, plus I'm studying, plus applying for a new role. So my brain has been frazzled and reading just a few pages at bedtime sends me straight to sleep!

Nonetheless, I'm halfway through!

25. A Goat's Song - Dermot Healey

Another Backlisted book, but for once it's one that I didn't love. This tale of the breakup of a drunken playwright and just as drunken actress, set across Northern and Southern Ireland, is in general beautifully written but not quite satisfying; it doesn't help that neither of them is really very sympathetic. The interwoven tale of her father, a retired RUC officer, is more compelling and would have made a better standalone story.

Also, there are a few moments where the writing about his female lead character's body and sex life is just a bit cringey. Are there any male writers who can write about female sexuality without tipping into wishful thinking, or banging on about breasts in a way that no woman ever does?

95 A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles

Post the Revolution, Russian Count Alexander Rostov is held under house arrest in one of Moscow's best hotels. Now a Former Person he builds a life and a community all within its four walls.

This was a very slow burn. I struggled to get going on it, and I found it quite dull at times, but I persevered and found a "gentle read" quality to it as the Count is unfailingly unflappable and kind to all around him constantly making the best of it.

Closing it just made me think "that was nice"

Not for all though I wouldn't have thought

Just scooped up Rose Tremain’s Islands of Mercy for 99p in the daily deals

Thanks for the heads up on that one Ladybird

Relics of the Reich: The Buildings the Nazis Left Behind - Colin Philpott
A fascinating, albeit occasionally clumsily written examination of a collection of sites important in Nazi Germany, and some of the decisions made about what would be done with them. Interesting, but generally a subject that has been covered better by others.