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.

Thrilled you liked it Sadik!. I've been promoting then on here. I swear I'm not the author.

Just finished A Biit of a Stretch, by Chris Atkins, about his time in Wandsworth Prison, which I was enthralled by. It's striking how white collar prisoners, with their confidence and articulacy, manage to gather all the perks for themselves, while the inarticulate and the mentally unwell suffer most. It's not deliberate corruption, just the huge advantage held by those who know how to advocate effectively for themselves. The account of an institution barely limping along, affected by political fads, managers who are out-of-touch and admin that is ridiculously cumbersome is very familiar from books about the NHS, the court system etc. Am I imagining a past where things seemed to function better?

Biblio I don't think you are imagining things. Too many managers these days who've never done a day at the coal face and don't understand how their decisions affect those doing the actual function. I say that as a manager.

Love that picture, Fortuna - I feel a bit like Dave at work these days!

I'm not sure actually. My mum worked for the NHS for 40-odd years (approx 1960 to 2000), and she always said all those things about it when I was growing up!

I picked up a Paul Theroux I'm a box some neighbours had left out, but have given up on it because a) I think I've read it before and b) he's a bit (lot) of a twat.

In not I'm

38. The Invention of Medicine: from Homer to Hippocrates - Robin Lane Fox

An exploration of the shift in the Ancient Greek mind, from viewing disease as an affliction sent by the Gods, to a natural process arising within the human body. It did get bogged down in a very detailed and speculative argument about the dating of one particular Hippocratic text (and I didn't read the end notes which somehow managed to go into this even further), but overall an interesting starting point for an exploration of ancient medicine - I think his notes and bibliography will come in very handy to me as this is an area I want to explore further.

Particularly fascinating (in a grim sort of way) was the exploration of ancient gynaecological ideas. If a woman had a prolapse, no problem, tie her upside down on a ladder and give it a good shake. If her womb had wandered off to the wrong part of her body, apply sweet smells to either the nose or nether regions to encourage it back up or down as appropriate...

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I picked up a Paul Theroux I'm a box some neighbours had left out, but have given up on it because a) I think I've read it before and b) he's a bit (lot) of a twat.

I so struggled with The Mosquito Coast

I also tried a Paul Theroux and had to give up on it - think it was Deep South.

I've enjoyed Dark Star Safari partly because I was in Kenya and Ethiopia at around the same time and partly as a hate read. On one occasion he heard gunfire in the distance and he referred repeatedly to being shot at for the rest of the book. He doesn't like people very much and feels enormously superior.

36 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke I’m afraid I’m filing a minority report on this one: it’s not the sort of thing I enjoy, and I didn’t enjoy it. It was a book group choice so I’d planned to give it 100 pages, only for it to win the Women’s Prize when I was nearly at that point so I decided to soldier on in case the end justified the means.

A man is stranded in a maze of Walls and Statues and Tides whose capital Letters were an Irritation. He has possibly been there for years and we read his journals documenting his harsh and lonely existence: he sees the Other character twice a week but is otherwise alone. After about 180 pages some sort of context begins to be developed, but I found it a slog.

I always find loneliness and abandonment very difficult to read about which didn’t help. I also don’t generally enjoy fantasy and have minimal knowledge about mythology and other references so felt it was just going over my head.

@bibliomania

I've enjoyed Dark Star Safari partly because I was in Kenya and Ethiopia at around the same time and partly as a hate read. On one occasion he heard gunfire in the distance and he referred repeatedly to being shot at for the rest of the book. He doesn't like people very much and feels enormously superior.

Yep - he's horrible. Tosser.

41. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

I added this to my list after a review on these reads and it's one of the best stories I've read this year, so thank you whoever recommended it.

Four siblings see a fortune teller to find out the date of their deaths and then the majority of the book is how they handle this information.

I actually think about this kind of thing a lot. My mum died at 53 so that's only about 13 or 14 years older than I am now. What does that mean for how I live the next decade?

This book doesn't answer my questions but despite being fiction I enjoyed the company on my journey for a while.

45 Period by Emma Barnett

This book really diluted its important message about the impact of period shame because of the deeply irritating chatty style it was written in.

Steve Cavanagh's The Devil's Advocate (new Eddie Flynn book) is 99p on Kindle. Saw the author share that on Instagram. It's not long been published so I bought it to see what happens next after Fifty Fifty

CornishBlues I felt the same about Piranesi
RazorStorm The Immortaists sounds interesting.

Thanks SapatSea, glad not to be alone on this, I don’t like the feeling that I’ve not been able to access something that has clearly been enjoyed and admired by so many people.

41. Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
Twenty year old Aviva Grossman has a fling with her boss who is a Florida Congressman. She becomes an object of public ridicule and struggles to find another job, so leaves Florida, politics and the name Aviva Grossman behind to create a fresh start. This novel moves back and forth through different (all female) perspectives and time periods to show us how the affair came about and how things turned out for Aviva/Jane over a decade later.
This was a quick read but funny and clever with a cast of interesting female characters from Jane's fantastic daughter Ruby through four generations of her family and the Congressman's wife Embeth. The author writes the different sections in very different styles which I enjoyed. An excellent read.
42. Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor
The latest novel from the author best known for Reservoir 13, this opens with three men facing a storm in Antarctica. We get a little of the backstory of the three characters and get to know what they are each like, but as the storm rages and the men find themselves in real danger, this is by far the most dramatic, plot driven piece of writing I can recall from what I've read from McGregor previously and it developed brilliantly.
From there, the rest of the novel deals with the aftermath of what happened in Antarctica, particularly focussing on one of the men and his family. I am reluctant to say more as I really enjoyed how things were revealed by the author in the novel, but there is a theme of 'in sickness and in health' as a couple adjust to a new relationship with one caring for the other, and I wonder if it would be difficult reading for anyone currently going through this themselves, so a word of caution there. It really made me think about my own family (particularly my parents). The latter two sections were more like the Jon McGregor I have read before - slower paced with clever writing and smart observations. I loved the way he returned to the three words of the title, revisiting them in different contexts with different meanings. I listened on audio and thought that the narrator did a great job of conveying the tone of the writing, including some very dead pan humour, although I would also have been curious to see how the author set some sections out on the page and to be able refer back at times on paper. I thought this was fantastic - I am curious to hear what others think of it!

49. The Backward Shadow - Lynne Reid Banks A sequel to The L-Shaped Room. Jane is living in an isolated cottage inherited from her Aunt, bringing up her baby in absolute solitude until her past life in London intrudes and brings her out of her loneliness but stirring up emotional disquiet at the same time.

The attitudes expressed regarding race, homosexuality, the class divide and gender roles are rather shocking to the modern reader. I suppose this book is of its time but makes for uncomfortable reading at times. There is a lot of drink-driving and leaving babies alone in the house as well. That said, it was an interesting insight into what it must have been like for an unmarried mother back in those old unenlightened days.

Very interested in both Lean Fall Stand and Young Jane Young, clueless [updates Wanted Books List yet again]

91. Sorrow and Bliss, by Meg Mason
Fictional account of young woman's experience of growing up with an unnamed mental disorder and it's impact on her family life and marriage. This has had great reviews and I can see why many liked it - the relationship with her parents and sister is funny and touching. What made me uncomfortable is her treatment of her husband, which is outright abusive. I wouldn't say it's glossed over, but we see it very much from her perspective and there's lots and lots about how bad she feels. It ended up being something of an apologia for abuse as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure it's not the author's intention, but it didn't sit well with me.

92. Last One at r Party, Bethany Clift
A new pandemic strikes, this time leaving only one survivor. What does she do, all alone?

Those of you who like scientific plausibility in your pandemics should steer clear - the author isn't interested. She wants to know what the experience feels like. It comes across as being composed as a lockdown experiment. There's a flavour of chick lit - Bridget Jones meets the apocalypse. Some on here would loathe it. It doesn't pretend to be great literature, I enjoyed it.

Very late to bringing list over (apologies to those who thought we'd entered the list free part of the month!)

1. Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater
2. Merry Midwinter
3. Twas the Nightshift before Christmas - Adam Kaye
4. Bridget Jones' Diary
5. Rupture Ragnar Jonasson
6. Murder Mile Lynda La Plante
7. Bone China Laura Purcell
8. No-one is too small to make a difference Greta T
9. Whiteout Ken Follett

10. The Sealwoman's Gift Sally Magnusson 11. A Mind to Murder PD James 12. Middle England Jonathan Coe 13. Hidden Depths- Ann Cleeves 14. Home- Bill Bryson 15. Diana In Her Own Words-Andrew Morton 16. Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett 17. Nothing Stays Buried- PJ Tracy 18, Shroud for a Nightingale- PD James 19. Findings Kathleen Jamie 20. The Familiars- Stacey Hall 21. One by One- Ruth Ware 22. Spain for the Sovereigns- Jean Plaidy 23.The Holiday T.M Logan 24. The Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen 25. Past Caring Robert Goddard 26. Finders Keepers, Belinda Bauer 27. A Long Petal of the Sea- Isabel Allende 28. Telling Tales- Ann Cleeves 29. Pies and Prejudice Stuart Maconie 30. The Unseen Roy 31. The Road to Little Dribbling- Bill Bryson 32. Conclave Robert Harris 33. The Plot 34. The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald 35. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 36. The Girl Who Played with Fire 37. The Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest

Cheating slightly as have too many some chapters of n37 still to finish. But I'll say what I think about all 3 now. Decades too late, but I hardly ever read anything in synch with the rest of the world and never watch films really. So, I knew nothing. Except they've been discussed for years and the author died. What I imagined was Scandi Noir- Wallander meets Saga Noren etc. What I got was Ken Follett's breasts meets JK Rowling's lack of editing meets Mo Hayder's gratuitous gore meets, well, a bit of everything really.

TL:DR (I wish)
Over-hyped to glory
Misogynistic
Stereotypes
Where the fuck's the editor?
About 75% of the characters were totally superfluous yet we needed extremely detailed info about all of them
Too much inconsequential (in the scheme of things) political background.

If only yer fella had stuck to quirky girl and investigative journalist solve crime. I quite liked the Vanger family bit.

Anyway....onwards

@SapatSea- I tend to guffaw slightly these days at every book that Marian Keyes purportedly claims to be the best she's read this morning as no human being could possibly be reading every book she champions. She's rather plummeted in my estimation with all the soundbiting.
I read the first ever Deborah Moggach a million years ago- You Must be Sisters it was free with either Cosmopolitan or Company magazine and looking back, it was probably a bit of an outrider for the aforementioned Marian and co with their chick lit with a bit of oomph and serious stuff. Haven't read much of her later stuff, but remember her being televised with Keith Barron playing the Dad (as ever) who dropped dead of a heart attack 5 minutes in (as ever) Poor bugger used to say in interviews "whenever I get a script I know I'm going to be killed off in the first ten minutes"

@YolandiFuckinVisser The L Shaped Room trilogy is one of my most read stories. I agree the overt racism and homphobia make for extremely uncomfortable reading, though as does LRB very pro-Israel stance which comes through in her later books. Shallowly, it's the Jane and Toby story I love so very much. I think we've all had a Toby and I'd like to think I've been someone's Jane at some point.

SOLINVICTUS You are right about Marian Keyes. Ian Rankin is another one who appears to endorse endless thrillers/detective novels. Do writers get paid for their endorsements, is it their publisher writing them on their "behalf" for other books in the publishing house or do they get plaudits in return? I tend to skip through the endorsements these days as I think they have no merit.

I also remember getting a free Deborah Moggach with a glossy. She was a "big" writer back in the day. You have a much better memory than me though.

I heartily agree with with your Girl with the Dragon Tattoo reviews. I thought in retrospect the books were dreadful, strange pacing and I concur - so misogynistic. I kept on with the original trilogy (as you did) as I thought I must have missed something as everyone seemed to rate them and it would be revealed.

90. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Subtitled Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed For Men.

Wow. This was eye opening.

Obviously, we all know sexism exists, but reading about the sheer extent of the way women and our needs have been ignored in so many areas - work, city design, medicine, public life, disaster response and more - was mind boggling. And infuriating. Some of the consequences of ignoring how women and their needs are different to those of men are quite literally killing women.
This is well written, and in a very readable style. It took me quite a while to finish it because I kept getting annoyed about the things detailed in the book, but that’s not the book’s fault.

It’s an excellent book, and well worth reading.