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.

I loved Delderfield as a teen too. And H.E.Bates.
DH when I met him back in the 80s was a dead ringer for John Duttine in To Serve Them All My Days. Ah the 1980s and moustaches!

@BestIsWest

I loved Delderfield as a teen too. And H.E.Bates. DH when I met him back in the 80s was a dead ringer for John Duttine in To Serve Them All My Days. Ah the 1980s and moustaches!

Yes! John Duttine and his moustache was in everything! Wasn't he in A horseman riding by as well? Off to Google.

I've no idea how I managed to miss the TV adaptation of The Dreaming Suburb - A Horseman Riding By and To Serve Them All My Days were absolute required viewing in my childhood too. Turns out John Duttine was in it, as ruthless/crooked Archie Carver, self-made businessman and shagger . He must have done quite well out of Delderfield at one point in his career.

Think it was Nigel Havers in A Horseman Riding By …..

Feeling very uneducated here as Delderfield is completely new to me! TBH if I have ever seen the name written down, I have probably assumed it was the same person as EM Delafield (as I did when I read Terpsichore's review if I am honest).

Intrigued by all the Delderfield love. I realise I mixed him (?) up with AJ Cronin. Time to investigate further.

49. Inside Story: A Novel by Martin Amis
Almost wanted to write an honest to God essay about this to try and sort out my thoughts, but I'm not a writer so I won't. Firstly, I recommend it, it's very funny. Amis deploys the possibilities of a physical book really well. I laughed out loud at an asterisk, and at the placement of a picture. Things that caused scolding in reviews I read seemed very obviously to be jokes.

Secondly, it's about death. He's in his 70s now and has lost many people, and brings their last months to life, thereby talking about cancer and its treatment, and Alzheimers. But mostly about the people he loved, or the people they loved. So, Saul Bellow, Christopher Hitchens, fragments of Kingsley Amis and a tiny amount about his sister Myfanwy, and a tender piece about Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Thirdly, women. Oh. I would defend Amis on women. He does at least acknowledge that we read and are in his audience, and generally that we are always a factor. I couldn't help but smile at his page on Germaine Greer as his kind nurse when ill. But the whole bit about Phoebe Phelps his pneumatic and neurotic lover is all a bit - well, I didn't mind reading it but it's a bit lifeless, compared to the vivid love for his favourite men.

Fourthly, the bants with Hitch. Was this how it really was? Probably. I prefer monologue to dialogue I think, because bants just gets dull. It's why I love Nancy Mitford - no reaction shots, all the dialogue is actually monologue. I've no doubt it pleased him to recreate it.

Well, I loved reading it but I'm talking myself out of liking it now so I'll stop. Maybe another go at Saul Bellow, who is impenetrable to me

Sounds intriguing, PermanentTemporary - you've just convinced me to buy it.

Managed to finish my school homework, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. The title is misleading. Venkatesh , a Masters student at the University of Chicago, spent several years alongside a Chicago gang, befriending some of them, getting caught up in drive by shootings , beatings and other things ( without doing it himself). It's a famous and fascinating study, in that no one really feels much can be learned, theses days outside of hard data, which us very much favoured in social research. He discusses the benefits of the research , his findings tge obvious ethical issues, and discoveries : but it still doesn't sound like this groundbreaking ( and accidentally achieved) methodology did alter anything for the people living in poverty. Funny in places, and also distressing and troubling.

I've just finished The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald, reviewed by @FortunaMajor a couple of pages back. I thought the introduction was spot on, that the bill is as much about what she doesn't say and explain as what she does. It's told so simply but beautifully, and feels like an art that has been lost somewhat in the overly long outpourings of the likes of JK Rowling and pretty much every SF writer. The ending is very poignant.

I'm moving on to the House of Trelawney which was recommended on the last thread. It's been a stressful week with Dd1 accepting a very last minute place at a grammar school so we had to totally source everything again. So I'm hoping HOT will be suitably light to help me relax!

Great review Piggy. I read Gang Leader for a Day a couple of years ago when my (then sociology student) son recommended it to me and I found it really interesting but depressing for the reasons you describe. Incidentally, it's also mentioned in Gary Younge's Another Day in the Death of America which I know has been much reviewed on here.

Oh, I had forgotten that. That's an excellent book.

I think I’m going to revisit the books of my teenage years - Delderfield, AJ Cronin, HE Bates, JB priestly. My local library must have specialised in the like.

There's a Radio 4 serial which started off being based on an A J Cronin novel, The Citadel, which I have on my Kindle, thanks to one of the publishers' reprint series and really want to read some time. I say the radio serial started off, because there seem to have been several series and as far as I know the novel isn't actually over 1000 pages long. It's about two men who work as GPs in South Wales before the NHS, and has been very much billed as about why the NHS was so needed and important.

I think I read several of H E Bates' books in my teens - I've bought them all for Kindle now too.

I picked up Freedom by Jonathan and also Shadowplay – happy with those although my kindle books are somewhat building up now.

Also way behind with my list so here are 5………………….

51. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
    A geopolitical book which answers questions like ‘why is north Europe richer and more powerful than south Europe’ and why is ‘Russia so interested in Crimea’. The book was broken into chapters by geographical location and I personally found it fascinating.

52. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
    I must be one of the few people on this thread that know very little about Greek myths aside from what I’ve learnt watching Disney’s Hercules and the film Troy. As a result I knew nothing about many of the characters in this so this was all new to me and some of the endings took me by surprise. Loved reading this and have already brought The silence of the girls.

53. Men who hate women by Laura Bates
    A look into incel culture and the trickle down effect of this, particularly among young men. Having been on twitter and a big lurker on the feminist boards this past year this unfortunately was not as shocking as it would have been had I read this a couple of years ago. But neither the less in view of recent events this is something which people are becoming more aware of.

54. Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup
    I cant recall the plot as it was all over the place and at points I wasn’t sure what was going on. The writing was were beautiful and dense and reminded me a little of the god of small things. But where the god of small things had a very tight and structured plot, this one didn’t.

55. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman
    You need a big helping of disbelief going into this one, read this on holiday and it was perfect for that.

Good luck to your DD at her new school Stokey! My DS2 has also just started at secondary.

Belatedly joining the new thread, thank you southeast for keeping us up and running.
40. On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
This novel tells the story of Bri, a sixteen year high school student who is determined to 'make it' as a rapper and sees this as a route out of the financial challenges her family are facing.
This works as a standalone novel but takes place in the same universe as The Hate U Give and so has some overlap in themes of race, poverty and gang violence. I thought the author did a good job of portraying a teenager who is sure that she understands the world and knows her family history but is more naive and vulnerable than she realises. I listened on Audible and the narration by Bahni Turpin really added to my enjoyment of another good read from Angie Thomas.
I know many of you have read it, but The Vanishing Half was my favourite read in August and I think it is a Kindle Daily Deal today.

I read a few AJ Cronin books as a teenager - lots of sweeping emotion IIRC. On the same sort of lines, did anyone read How Green Was My Valley, I remember loving that, not sure it would withstand a re-read though.
A couple of good reads, have been waiting to review because I've not really had time to do the first one justice.

86. The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson
    I've had this on my Audible wishlist for a while never quite reaching the top, but it came up on daily deal so I went for it, & very glad I did.
    At one level, it's a biography of American biochemist Jennifer Doudna, who was one of the key players in the understanding of the bacterial CRISPR anti-viral defence system, and it's development into a method for gene editing. However, there's a whole series of layers to the book - hung off the biography is an explanation of what the scientific concepts mean (I'm sure very simplified, but I found it clear and helpful as a total lay reader), an exploration of the way collaboration and competition work in scientific advances and of ethical considerations around human gene editing, an account of the court battles around the patents on gene editing techniques - and subsidiary consideration of how / whether the current balance between freely available academic research and IP driven motivations is serving the world. The latter part of the book then recounts the drive as the Covid pandemic spread to develop tests and make them available, and to contribute to the development of a vaccine.
    
    Despite the sheer volume of content, it's a pacy and easy read (or listen in my case).
    
    The one criticism I would have is that despite the extensive discussion of gene therapy and leading on from that possibities for and ethical issues around human germline gene editing, there is pretty much zero mention of agriculture. Obviously that's my particular interest, but realistically it is where CRISPR based gene editing is going to make a lot of money for a small number of very large businesses. The author makes a throwaway comment in the post-script about people who object to GM crops without understanding them, but doesn't consider that very many of the human germline ethical questions (necessity for the work, unintended consequences, power dynamics and ownership of IP etc) apply just as acutely to gene edited crops. And indeed that many of those querying the current way in which gene editing is likely to be used are geneticists / plant scientists and other well informed players. [rant over]

87. The Menopause Manifesto by Dr Jen Gunter
    Recommended on here, an excellent feminist-infused explanation of the biological changes around menopause, possible symptoms, and potential treatments by the well known gynaecologist. Really good, I can't remember who recommended it, but thank-you!

Sadik yes, I loved all that kind of stuff How Green was My Valley plus Alexander Cordell - Rape of The Fair Country and Jack Jones - Off to Philadelphia In The Morning*. Not sure how it would bear up now.

77: The Only Plane in the Sky - Garrett M. Graff

The approach to the anniversary of 9/11 seemed an appropriate if sombre time to read this much-recommended oral history of the events of the day. As everyone else has said - utterly absorbing and tragic beyond words.

@Tarahumara good luck to your son too, first day seemed to go smoothly, phew.

75. House of Trelawney - Hannah Rothschild. I really wanted to like this but I was a bit disappointed by it. I was hoping for something a bit Jilly Cooper and a bit satirical, and while there were moments of that, I didn't think it hit the mark. It's about an aristocratic family who owned had of Cornwall and were ridiculously wealthy for 8 centuries that are now down on their luck, struggling to keep hold of their crumbling family castle. It's set in 2007-10 and some of the history around the 2008 crash is really well done as well as some amusing historical anecdotes and a brilliant eccentric aunt. But some threads of the story just seem to get lost or fade away - the husband disappears for about 200 pages having a breakdown in London and then reappears again with no real explanation of what he's experienced or why he's come back. There's a half daughter whose story seems unfinished, and the sons stories aren't really followed through. The romance is a bit unconvincing love at first sight stuff. I felt this could have been better than it was.

45. Greenwood - Michael Christie Starting out with a woman called Jake in a post-apocolyptic 2038 where nearly all the world's trees have been wiped out by disease, the book takes us back in time to the stories of Jake's ancestors and the trees they have known, back to 2008, 1974, 1934 and 1908 before reversing the sequence and giving us some further detail regarding the fates of the various characters. Kind of like Cloud Atlas in structure but nowhere near as clever or interesting.

I kind of disliked this book in the 2038 section, was marginally more gripped by 2008 and 1974 but actually enjoyed 1934 and 1908. Strangely, the quality of writing diminished again as I made my way back into the future. It wasn't a bad book but I'm not rushing to seek out more by this author.

Have never read Delderfield although the books seem ubiquitous in libraries and second-hand bookshops. Must add to the pile.

Latest:

84. The Consequences of Love, by Gavanndra Hodge
Already mentioned that I enjoyed this memoir: a woman comes to term with her chaotic childhood, including the sister she lost and her adored father who plied her with alcohol and drugs.

85. Summerwater, by Sarah Moss
As recommended on here. I sympathise with the charactersb staring into a rainy Scottish loch and wondering if this really is the best way to spend your summer holidays. I liked the way we saw characters from the outside and then the inside. I didn't like the flurry of Plot or at least Happenings in the last few pages.

86. The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald
Another copycat read and like others on here, I enjoyed the sly humour even if it's all a bit downbeat.

87. Doing Time, by Jodi Taylor
Wasn't sure I would like this St Mary's spin-off, but I think the change of perspective brought a bit of freshness to the world she has created. Have ordered the next one from the library.

88. Trace Elements, by Donna Leon
More crime in Venice. It's not a pretty picture of Italy - the over-tourism, the political and legal failures, the environmental degradation - so it's not straightforward escapism, but it hits the spot if you're in the mood.

36. Still Life by Louise Penny I needed a very gentle, cosy mystery and was hopeful that this, the first in the Gamache series, would fit the bill. It’s really uneven - at first it seemed exactly what I was looking for and I enjoyed the wit and the Nice Guy detective, but there were a few plot elements and characters that seemed written in a really amateurish way. Nevertheless I’m looking back on it with goodwill and if I see another in a charity shop might pick it up for next time I am in the same place.
37. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor Abandoned and lonely widows reduced to living in a hotel, the penultimate stop as they aren’t allowed to die there. Not much entertainment available to them beyond petty snobberies, cruelties and rivalries. Yes, Taylor could write - the bleakness and loneliness are skilfully conveyed - but I wish I hadn’t picked it up.

A House Called Solace by Mary Lawson
This was longlisted for the Booker, but I'm not really sure why. A girl has gone missing and the book is written in three third person perspectives - her little sister, the old lady who lives across the road and a man whose past is connected to the old lady. The sections for the young girl are what made me finish this, but a lot of it was pretty boring with loads of detail that added nothing to the plot. Some really clumsy references to real events to set the novel's time period and a couple of unpleasant and unnecessary descriptions of fat people both jarred with me. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't rush to seek out anything else by her.

46. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams Silly sci-fi concerning the further adventures of Arthur Dent & friends