50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Eight

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth (and probably final) 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, it’s not too late to and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.The lurkers among you are also very welcome to come out of the woodwork and share with us what you've read!

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here and the seventh one here.

How have you got on this year?

39. Scott's Last Voyage - Through the Antarctic Camera of Herbert Ponting - ed. Ann Savours

Fulfilled a long-standing wish recently to visit the famous Barter Books in Alnwick, and picked up this gorgeous 1974 hardback showcasing Ponting's extraordinary photos of Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. With a concise narrative from Savours detailing the expedition - most of which I was aware of from reading The Worst Journey In The World and Scott's diaries, but I did enjoy reading about what happened to the rest of the expedition members, several of whom were still alive when this was published!

I think The Little Friend is widely considered Donna Tartt's worst novel by quite some way. There was such anticipation about it at the time after The Secret History was such a massive success. I have a high tolerance for stories where not much happens (I even finished The Unconsoled which I hated) so I quite liked it. Rather read Donna Tartt's worst novel than most writers' best novel.

That book sounds really interesting, Meg. Ponting's photos are incredible.

I liked The Little Friend. I agree the ending was unsatisfying though.

119. Appointment with Death, Agatha Christie
I really enjoyed the setting for this Poirot - set amongst 1930s tourists in Jerusalem and Petra.

120. In the Kitchen: Essays on Food and Life.. A mixed bag - found myself thinking most about an essay by a Nigerian about their different food cultures underlined the cultural gap between her and her English boyfriend.

69. Conviction by Denise Mina

The first of Mina's novels I've read, this was well-written and good fun as a caper but waaaaay too far-fetched for me. I like my crime novels a bit more realistic.

121. 60 Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home, by Malachy Tallack. Man who grew up Shetland explores locations at the same latitude: Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Siberia, St Petersburg, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Liked it although didn't entirely love it. The cover has a puff quote from Robert McFarlane and RM fans may well enjoy this.

Also, Joan Didion died. Which makes me sad as The Year of Magical Thinking is one of the most perfect books I have ever read.

40. Dan Leno & The Limehouse Golem - Peter Ackroyd

Made it to 40 which I'm pretty pleased with given what a shitty year it's been. And a great read - a murder mystery set in the music halls and dingy alleyways of Victorian London, with a cast including real-life characters like Leno (a famous pantomime performer), Karl Marx and Oscar Wilde. Very readable, clever and blackly funny.

Rip Joan Didion, thanks for telling us.

106: A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Maybe a bit of a cheat to count this, as it's so short, but it's an appropriate round-off to the year, and I'd never actually read it before, despite loving the iconic Alastair Sim film (which I'll doubtless be watching again, for the gazillionth time). Also, it was great to read this straight after the excellent John Mullan Dickens book. A brilliant bit of writing from Dickens; he really was a wonder.

I haven't done any Christmas reading as I have been very slowly reading Ninth House which is fulfilling a need for something escapist. Not sure if I'm finding it slow going because it's confusing (it chucks you into several unexplained plots at the start plus there's all sorts of magic and legends and other nonsense which I am letting wash over me) or because, like everyone, I'm busy and tired and sad.

I read The Dark is Rising either last year or the year before, and I can barely remember it! Which is strange as it's so well loved. The one that stuck with me was a re-read of The Box of Delights which is also set at Christmas and is quite strange and beautiful.

to you Meg and all those who've had a tough year. I hope this next week has happiness and love in it and that 2022 is a better year for everyone.

Eine

The one that stuck with me was a re-read of The Box of Delights which is also set at Christmas and is quite strange and beautiful.

I love The Box of Delights, unfortunately my DC take after their father and find it far too weird. I've just bought myself The Midnight Folk as a little Christmas present.

47. Summer Frost - Blake Crouch

This was a novella by the author of Dark Matter, which I read and favorably reviewed about 4 years ago.

A minor character in a new computer game starts acting outside the script, engaging with other characters and exploring the virtual world. The developer recognizes this as the accidental development of an AI, isolates and nurtures it. As the AI devours all human knowledge and becomes smarter with every second, he tries to align its interests with that of humanity.

This was an interesting take on the AI topic. Personally, I think developing AI a self-defeating quest for humanity for which we can have no winning strategy, and its interesting to see how other people view the challenges and potential pitfalls. Recommended.

48. Emergency Skin - N K Jemisin

Another SF novella and a pretty decent one, too. The world's elite have upped and left for another planet as the climate crisis deepened and it looked like the Earth was doomed. Now, many years later, they send someone to get HeLa cells from what they fully expect is a dead planet.

I liked the premise of this story, and I also liked the interesting way it was told.

There was some talk about Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes so some of you might be interested in this.

I don't remember seeing any Marian Keys books on 50-Book threads.

We may have scared off chick-lit fans a long time ago or I might just be zapping any memory of those books as soon as I see them.

I love Marian Keyes so she’s definitely been on my lists!

Who is talking?

I can't see you

There's plenty of people reading genre fiction on here. We've talked before about how women's fiction is often dismissed as 'chick-lit' when good writers like Marion Keyes are creating more complex and meaningful literature than that title suggests (and 'lad-lit' gets more plaudits).

36. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. Miss Pettigrew is a down on her luck 1930s governess who takes an interview with Nightclub singer Miss LaFloss and we follow that life changing day. Honestly this was one of the most perfect books I’ve ever read. Everyone is pretending to be someone else. Just joyous.
37. Sunburn by James Felton I have enjoyed Felton’s pandemic take tweets and so picked up this as my book to read on my phone if I’ve nothing else to hand. 99 headlines from The Sun and Felton’s unpicking of how influential The Sun actually is.I started this book hating The Sun but having avoided it for a very long time it’s a good reminder of its consistent awfulness. It is pretty light I suppose in that it targets ‘The Sun’ as an org rather than the genuine humans that wrote this garbage (with the odd Murdoch reference for good measure).
38. Shuggy Bain by Douglas Stuart. Much reviewed Booker winner that follows Shuggy and his mother Agnes living in poverty, drenched in alcoholism and violence in 1980s Glasgow. I loved this. Some beautiful writing and a good balance of realistic misery with touching moments (which makes it sound corny but it’s not). Staying with my Glaswegian MIL ‘I don’t have to read it, I lived it’. Which made me more curious about the stories she doesn’t talk about.
39. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. A poetry collection published by the author in her early 20s. I felt it read her age, big dramatic statements of love and passion and break ups with a little less depth. But there was something quite raw about it too.

I love Rachel's Holiday and can't wait for Again Rachel although if it's not good I will be v disappointed!

@VikingNorthUtsire I liked Ninth House very much but I was glad to read a physical copy because I had to spend so much time flicking back and forth between the text and the maps to remind me what on earth was going on. Much harder to do on a kindle.

I love Rachel's Holiday and can't wait for Again Rachel although if it's not good I will be v disappointed!

Same here noodle!

Janina - I was joking but since you want to play...

"There's plenty of people reading genre fiction on here."

What is "genre fiction"?

"women's fiction is often dismissed as 'chick-lit'"

What is "women's fiction"? I hope that is not what you call superficial stories about everyday women's everyday feelings and minor squabbles with friends, husbands, and kids, marketed in pink covers and titles like The Errand Boy's Sister or The Tailor's Wife in cursive letters. As a woman, I would find that offensive.

To the best of my knowledge, we are all women here and those books are not universally appreciated or even frequently seen on these threads. So how do you justify calling them "women's fiction"?

"good writers like Marion Keyes are creating more complex and meaningful literature "

Really? Does Marion Keyes write complex and meaningful literature now?

I enjoy my share of beach reads all through the year, but I don't call them literature, let alone "complex and meaningful literature" in a world that has books by Leo Tolstoy, David Mitchell, and many others of similar talent and vision.

Everything is relative, of course, and Marion Keyes's stories might be complex and meaningful compared to the other books you read, but please don't assume that this viewpoint is shared by all women.