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.

44. Jews Don’t Count - David Baddiel

Powerful exploration of how Jewish identity is often excluded from the narrative driven by what Baddiel calls ‘the progressive left’ (aka the painfully woke). Nobody raises a Twitter storm when a non-Jewish actor plays a Jewish part in film or TV; no one counts a Jewish person in a position of power as a BAME first; no one listens when Jewish people try to define what, to them, feels anti-Semitic. It’s short and really has just one point to make, but it’s an important one.

It did inspire me to immediately go and download Jeremy Irons reading the poems of T.S.Eliot from Audible, which probably wasn’t the desired effect… (Baddiel points out that R4 happily aired a reading of these despite the anti-Semitic content, when it would shy away from similar content focused on other minorities.)

99. The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight

As you might guess, this is advice about being more selective about what you give a fuck about.
Amusing in parts, but quite a lot longer than it really needs to be.

100. Killing Floor by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher book.
Lots of action, lots of violence. And I learnt a bit about how paper money is made.

45. The Editor's Wife by Clare Chambers

New book by the writer of Small Pleasures much reviewed and generally liked on here. This one is set in 1984 and the early noughties and follows Chris Findler as a 21 year old aspiring writer in 1984 London with jumps back and forth to about 20 years later as a newly redundant, disillusioned and divorced financial professional who feels he hasn't achieved anything in life and is living in a ramshackle rural Yorkshire cottage. Chris is contacted by an academic researching the life of an obscure deceased writer whose editor, Owen Goddard mentioned Chris in a note. Thinking back to his 20's and his relationships with the Editor and his wife opens up new pathways and reveals hidden "secrets" in Chris's life.

I didn't find this story as tightly written or as invovling as Small Pleasures. There were things I could see coming a mile off and some things just didn't really add up but it zipped along nicely, easy to read, some humour and overall I rather enjoyed it.

63. The First Last Kiss - Ali Harris

I had bought this book a couple of years ago and discovered it in my unread books on my kindle. I had no idea about the book, didn’t read the blurb, just trusted my own choice to buy it. The cover made me think chick lit, but other than that I had no idea. I’m pleased that I read it like this, sometimes a book can be more (or less), than you expect, this way you have no expectations and, for me at least, this can lead me to review in a more instinctive, heartfelt way. I almost said genuine, but didn’t as that implies my other reviews aren’t, and they are.

The story of Ryan and Molly follows their love story through their teens until late 20’s, it starts with the kind of misconceptions and insecurities that teens have, but soon becomes more. Molly is friendly, likeable, and we delve more into her character as the book progresses, but Ryan is my absolute favourite, genuine, not afraid to be who he is, loving, a nice guy, not simpering, he’s one of the lads too but doesn’t put on a façade to be so.

Ultimately the book is about love, life, mistakes, regret, finding your way back to what you left, happiness, loss, and heartbreak.

So don’t just do, BE.

‘“I’m going to make every kiss, every touch, every moment last a lifetime. I’ll savour every single kiss from now until the . . . not the end, until forever”

Ot of 5 stars i'd give it 4.5, there are two reasons that made this book fall short of 5 stars for me. The book moves around in time, I never quite knew where we were, until reading a few lines into the next chapter, and even then I only knew if it was before (I couldn't remember the dates), although we know that life goes on and happiness can be found again (indeed we want that for people), I felt this book was/should have been Ryan and Molly’s story alone.

The stories of peoples real life kisses at the end was lovely.

64. Naomi's Room - Jonathan Aycliffe

I read this as it sounded like the kind of book I’d like but also because of the title, I have a close friend called Naomi (silly reason I know, but it caught my eye)

It was ok, I could never really get into it, though I’m not sure why. It’s a book I will try and revisit as on paper (pun intended), it’s my kind of thing.

65. P.S. I Love You - Cecelia Ahern

I love this book, it's a re-read for me.! It deals with life, love, loss, and grief, and I found it heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny, and gives the message that no matter how hard things can be, there is always happiness to be found.

When someone dies are they ever really gone? Gerry's notes were the physical reminder for the few months in time they covered (and obviously always something tangible), but the message they gave showed Holly a side of herself that she is encouraged to bring forward. She does, and in doing so realises that there is still a rich life for her.

The characters are likeable, we laugh, cry, and empathise with them. All in all this is a beautiful book. Do not let the crap film put you off, i'm so pleased I read it before seeing that awful excuse for a story.

32. Summerwater, by Sarah Moss. I'm possibly the last person on here to read this, but I loved it. 12 different people on incredibly depressing, rain-sodden holidays at a Scottish holiday park on the longest day of the year. Incredibly clever and atmospheric, and I didn't mind the glacial pace. I do think it sped up TOO much at the end, which left me very taken aback, but overall I thought this was excellent.

33. Northern Spy, by Flynn Berry. A BBC producer in Northern Ireland is watching the news about a Provisional IRA robbery, and is dumbfounded to see CCTV of her sister being unmasked as a participant. We follow the two of them through the next few months and unravel how and why this came to happen. I thought this was brilliantly done, mixing the mundane with the horrifying in a way that will be very familiar to people that know NI. Some of the goodreads reviews are hilariously affronted, my favourites being that it was "disappointingly anti-IRA" and the person whose whole review was "Over half the book was about babies. It claimed to be about spies."

34. The Night She Disappeared, by Lisa Jewell. Good, not great. This story of a missing persons cold case brought back to life was very well done, with good characterisation (if a bit too heavy handed on the good vs evil front). It had a satisfying, well tied up, albeit slightly ludicrous ending. If you're fine suspending disbelief and like thrillers or mysteries, it's worth a go. The 3 different timehopping strands initially drove me mad, and I had to make a timeline for the first 25% while I figured out WTF was going on.

35. Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty. Joy Delaney has disappeared, and her four grown children are starting to wonder if her husband had a hand in it. Part mystery, part slow-moving family saga, this was right up my alley. Not for anyone who likes lots of fast-moving plot though.

36. Dope, by Sara Gran. Absolutely pitch-black noir set in '50s New York among the poor and the desparate. If you're a fan of the brilliantly hard-boiled or craftily plotted, this is fantastic, as are all things Sara Gran. However if you're looking for a light read or cheering up, I would give this a very wide berth.

@noodlezoodle, I've still got Summerwater on my Kindle tbr, fear not!
@ChessieFL- I know what you mean about Deborah. I have her cookbook, and almost the first thing she states is that obviously, she's never cooked anything in her life. It's almost as if, as a "lesser" known, or at least less (in)famous Mitford, she wanted to get her name out there as something other than the wife of the Duke of D. She comes across as pretty detached and cold in amongst the pie making and egg pickling too.

That’s interesting Sol - I haven’t read her cookbook although I have read another of hers which was a collection of magazine articles mainly about life at Chatsworth. Not much emotion in those although you wouldn’t expect it in that format - but I do expect some emotion in a memoir!

Hi all. I am really enjoying One of Them by Musa Okwonga too. I am reading it on the back of a recommendation on here. I am also reading American Dirt which I am finding a little brutal. I am trying to finish it in my breaks at work. It’s tough going for me.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

A tennis loving family falls apart when a strange woman comes to stay, then the mum disappears and the husband is suspected of her murder. As Noodle said this is a bit slow moving, but enjoyable. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this made into a TV programme soon, she seems to be popular for book-to-TV adaptations at the moment!

Lights Out In Lincolnwood by Geoff Rodkey

A family battling some demons is thrown into chaos when one day everything that relies on electricity suddenly stops working. Phones go dead, planes crash, shops can’t sell stuff, the water runs out. This was an easy read and I did enjoy it, but I found the ending frustrating. I think a bit more could have been done with the implications of the event e.g. there’s mention that hospital equipment is no longer working but because our family don’t need hospital treatment we don’t see the effects of this. However, it’s quite scary thinking about how dependant we now are on electricity to keep everything running and how easily things could fall apart if it all suddenly stopped.

28. And Away - Bob Mortimer (audiobook)

I've just started an Audible trial and used this as one of my free options. And I have to say it's hands down my favourite book of the year so far. Read by Bob, it made me laugh, cry and at times feel quite sick. I'm having a bit of a tricky time healthwise atm and this was the perfect distraction.

I had two books set in Brixton (where I live) on my Kindle and decided to read them one after the other to compare.

55. Hold by Michael Donkor

A cross-cultural coming of age story set between Ghana and Brixton. Belinda is a housegirl, living with and working for a rich family in Ghana alongside her much younger friend Mary. She catches the eye of their London-based relatives, who are looking for a companion for their wilful 17 year-old daughter Amma. Belinda is taken to London, where the family arrange for her education, but in return expect her to be a good influence on Amma (and although she is told not to do housework, Belinda is unable to resist her training and cleans at odd times of the day and night). Initially Amma is prickly, but a relationship develops between her and Belinda, although their different cultures at times lead to estrangements. Just as they are reaching a rapprochement, a tragedy takes Belinda back to Ghana, whereupon the book, I felt, ended rather abruptly.

I really liked parts of this book - the characters of Belinda, Amma and Mary were well-portrayed, as was Amma's mother. I thought the male author did female characters very well. But the ending spoiled the book for me; whilst it was mainly Belinda's story, and ended with her alone, it was frustrating to have the Belinda-Amma relationship cut off, and not to know what happened at the Brixton end. I'd really enjoyed reading the bits set in the high street I walk up and down most days!

56. Brixton Hill by Lottie Moggach

Quite a different prospect although also with frequent references to the said high street, this is a sort of mystery/thriller type novel centring around Rob, who is coming to the end of a lengthy prison sentence, and working in Brixton on day release, and Steph, a woman he (apparently coincidentally) bumps into on the street one morning. Obviously, things are not what they seem. I won't say more about the plot, which I thought was clever and neatly put together, for fear of spoilers. I liked the writing; the book is told alternatively from Rob and Steph's point of view and I felt she inhabited both characters well. A good read, and I'll look out for her other novels.

I used to live in Brixton, welshwabbit. I loved living there, and I really enjoy it turning up in novels. I will definitely seek out Hold. I remember starting Brixton Hill and not getting too far; I really can't remember why. Perhaps I was annoyed by Steph? Anyway, if you've read A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins, you may be interested to know (if you didn't already) that Lottie Moggach was his partner while he was in prison, which makes me think she would have a good idea of what she was writing about.

79 Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes

This was a blast. I watched the movie years ago, but don't think I really took on board that it was based on a book. The un-named narrator is a teenage photographer, pinging around London in the 1950s. Each chapter is set in a day across a four month period and the novel culminates with the Notting Hill riots. There's a lot about race, and class, and sexuality - it feels very contemporary in many ways. I loved the use of language and narrative style. Can see why it has cult status - I think it deserves to be more widely read.

@PepeLePew I didn't know that and haven't come across Chris Atkins' book - I might seek it out! The prison parts sounded authentic, although I have very little knowledge myself (a few prison visits from back in the distant past when I briefly practised in criminal law).

46.What is Written on the Tongue by Annie Lazurko
Having spent most of his teenage years during the Second World War avoiding the Nazis and their forced labour camps in occupied Holland, Sam is then conscripted at 18 into the Dutch army and sent to put down the insurgency in Indonesia. The narrative flips back and forward from what is happening in Indonesia to his experiences in WWII. Sam is basically a good guy but as war and violence go hand in hand with corruption he can't be the principled man he wants to be. I didn't know anything about rebellion against the Dutch in Indonesia in 1946, so I found that interesting. I felt it had a lot of parallels with the U.S. involvement in Vietnam(young soldiers who don't really believe in what they are meant to be fighting for, combating guerilla warfare tactics, moral corruption and atrocities etc).

I thought that although the subject matter was interesting that the narrative was a little flat. I felt that Sam's experiences in WWII felt more alive and vibrant than the Indonesian story with it's predictable tale of Sam falling for a local girl whom he hardly knows and taking risks for her. Ultimately, I found the book a little dull..

47. Peaces by helen Oyeyemi
This is a surrealist,"flight of fancy" story about Otto and Xavier and their "companion" Arpad, the mongoose travelling on a strange, private train on their "non-honeymoon, honeymoon." The train is heading through otherwordly scenery to an unspecified destination and the other passengers seem to be the woman who owns the train and two other people who may be guards. Who knows? It's all a bit of a crazed, magical yet fevered dream.

It's a long time since I've tackled a book like this. I don't know maybe I'm just too old and jaded and lacking in intellectual curiousity at the moment but I found it all hard work. I can see that others with a lighter spirit could find the tale exciting, quirky and a fantastic journey.

48. Transit by Anna Seghers
Published in English in 1944 and drawing on Seghers own experiences of fleeing Germany in 1933 for France and then for Mexico in 1940, Transit has been described as "an existential, political, literary thriller that explores the agonies of boredom, the vitality of storytelling, and the plight of the exile with extraordinary compassion and insight".

Having escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany in 1937, and later a camp in Rouen, the nameless twenty-seven-year-old German narrator heads for Marseille in the hope of getting aboard a ship leaving France. Along the way he is asked to deliver a letter to a man named Weidel in Paris and discovers Weidel has committed suicide, leaving behind a suitcase containing letters and the manuscript of a novel. As he makes his way to Marseille to find Weidel’s widow, the narrator assumes the identity of a refugee named Seidler, although the authorities think he is really Weidel.. In Marseille amongst terrible chaos there is a giant waiting room where the narrator hears the stories of those like him, trying to escape and who are desperate for transit papers.

I really wanted to like this book but I found it a hard slog. The first third moved at a frantic, disjointed pace that made it disconcerting to read while the final third was repetitive and slow. There wasn't much of a "thriller" element. It is interesting as a contemporary account of the contrasting chaos, boredom and desperation of being a refugee (illustrates how some things never change) but as a cohesive, satisfying fiction read it doesn't quite hold together.

It did prompt me to read a bit about the writer, Anna Seghers who led an interesting life.

Hello,
I fell off the thread a while ago, and have name-changed, but trying to spend less time messing around on social media and more time engaging with my interests constructively online.
Reading going well this year - I've pasted my list below (I know they're not for everyone, but I really like them!).
New books 2021
1. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
2. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld

1. Airhead - Emily Maitlis
2. Eight Pieces of Silva - Patrice Lawrence
3. Christmas in Austin - Benjamin Markowitz
4. The Guest List - Lucy Foley

7. Untangled – Lisa Damour

1. Magpie Lane – Lucy Atkins
2. Only Mostly Devastated – Sophie Gonzales

10. The Art of Losing – Lizzie Mason 11. Get Out of My Life...But first take me and Alex into town - Tony Wolf and Suzanne Franks 12. Monogamy – Sue Miller 13. Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff 14. Eligible – Curtis Sittenfeld 15. You Should See Me in a Crown – Leah Johnson 16. The Golden Rule – Amanda Craig 17. The Art of Being Normal –Lisa Williamson 18. Furious Thing – Jenny ? 19. Love After Love – Ingrid Persaud 20. Ghosts – Dolly Alderton 21. The Girl with the Louding Voice –Abi Dare 22. Modern Lovers – Emma Straub 23. Lighthouse – Tony Parker 24. Reasons to Be Cheerful – Nina Stibbe 23. All Adults Here – Emma Straub 24. The Arsonist – Sue Miller 25. The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett 26. How Do You Like Me Now – Holly Bourne 27. Exciting Times – Naoise Dolan 28. The Lamplighters – Emma Stonex 29. Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid 30. Unsettled Ground – Claire Fuller 31. Small Pleasures –Claire Chambers 32. Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell 33. Because of You –Dawn French 34. Grown Ups – Marion Keyes 35. Writers and Lovers – Lily King 36. The Weekend – Charlotte Wood 37. Pretending – Holly Bourne 38. Luster – Raven Leilani 39. Just Like Us – Nick Hornby 40. Firefly Lane – Kirsten Hannah 41. Decoding Boys – Cara Natterson 42. Atomic Habits – James Clearly 43. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo -Taylor Jenkins Reid

Currently reading Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. I think it might be one of my books of the year. But it's devastating. I've only had a very brief brush with (self-diagnosed) depression in my life, but, oh God, it takes you right into those feelings. Cover endorsement says that the reviewer just wanted to buy it for everyone they know and, although it's brilliant, I feel rather the opposite and as I though I wouldn't dare offer it to many people I know. But it's much funnier and warmer than that makes it sound too.

Also, a question in my effort to spend less time pissing about on Facebook - anyone got any book podcasts they recommend?

maudmadrigal My favourite book podcast is Currently Reading, first heard it in January and went back to listen to all the previous series

I get a lot of my reading inspiration from Backlisted, although they aren't to everyone's taste. I have been enjoying the Slightly Foxed podcast recently as well. Lots of great book chat there.

51. His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnet Faux-historical documentary on the case of Roderick Macrae, a 17-year-old crofter who murdered 3 people in a remote highland village in 1869.

Presented as a real crime discovered by the modern-day author while researching his family history, this is in fact a work of fiction. The novel starts out with some witness statements detailling Roderick's crime, so we know what he did and how right from the outset. The second part is Roddy's own memoirs, written in Jail while awaiting his trial, detailling the reasons for the murders, his early life and the events leading up to the crime. The third part is an account of the trial including some interviews with criminology experts of the day.

I really enjoyed this. I admit I had to google whether this was real or not, apparently plenty of people have done this search before because Google did that thing where it predicts what you're going to ask. Roddy's description of events is dispassionate yet compelling. The learned criminal psychologist who plays a large part in the trial section was a real person, heavily invested in the theory of criminal "types" as evidenced by earlobe size and skull shape.

An interesting read, I might have to look out some more from this author.

SapatSea I was really interested to read your review of Transit by Anna Seghers as I am currently half-way through The Seventh Cross by the same author, which is also about an escaped prisoner from a concentration camp and, so far, has proved to be a gripping read. There's a very good edition of the Virago podcast Ourshelves from a couple of years ago with Rachel Seiffert discussing the importance of Anna Seghers's books in post-war Germany.

Boiledegg The Seventh Cross sounds like a tighter more focused story. I listened to the podcast, thanks. I'd not come across Ourshelves. In the Anna Seghers wikipedia page it mentions that The Seventh Cross soon after publication was made into a Holywood film with Spencer Tracey in the lead, one of the few films to depict a concentration camp whilst the war was still ongoing. I might see if I can find it on Youtube or the like.
I guess Anna Seghers must have been a really committed Communist as she returned from Mexico to live in the Western zone of Berlin but moved by choice to East Berlin (GDR).

I feel a bit mean now with my critcism of Transit I think I was expecting too much from it and so felt a bit disappointed. My concentration at present isn't as good usual either. It was worth reading and I can see it would have been a very important book to write at the time.

SapatSea Don't feel mean, I think some books are just more emotionally engaging and as you say, it can depend on expectations and your frame of mind at the time of reading them. I remember being disappointed by Han's Fallada's Alone in Berlin, which came highly recommended by a friend and received much praise on here, but I failed to be moved by it.

Absolute Beginners has been one of my top ten books since I was a teenager Pepe - as you say, I'm never sure why it's not more read. My DPs met & used to hang out in Soho jazz clubs in the 1950s, & said it was very true to life, including the fact that even as a working class kid from south London you could end up at all sorts of glitzy parties.
I always thought the film was unfairly slated, I think it does a good job of conveying the atmosphere of the book - plus, some great music.