50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2022, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it’s not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here and the third one here.

What are you reading?

37 Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi
Autobiography of Ypi, born in Albania in the late 1970s from her childhood under the Hoxha regime through the fall of communism, the period of 'structural adjustment' under the World Bank aegis, civil unrest in the 90s until she left the country for good at the end of her teens.

This is absolutely fascinating. I knew very little about Albania, and Ypi's account of the experience of growing up through a period of political turmoil is excellent.

The only negative was that I listened to the book on audio, and the reading is really distracting, with all the less educated characters given faux-'working class' accents. I should have returned it to audible & bought the paper version, but I'm really busy at work so reading very little not on audio at the moment.

33. Open Water - Caleb Azumah Nelson

I am sure someone else on the thread has read this but, if so, I failed to find their review - not loving the new search function!

The book is told from the viewpoint of a young black man from south London who meets a girl from north London. We never know their names but we know how he feels about her and his identity. The book veers between joy in a relationship and the fear he feels at being who he is (ie a young black man) in London and at expressing his vulnerability. It’s very short and not my usual reading fare but the emotions felt very real.

I read it, GandT. And would also have reviewed it but I can't get the search function to work at all on the new "improved" site. I thought it was moving and beautiful. More like a prose poem than a novel and made me think a lot about the experience of being a young black man in London. I saw the neighbourhood I live in and the people I share spaces with differently after reading it, and I guess that is the sign of a good novel.

Making a mad effort to catch up on the thread after going AWOL again. The weird things MN have done to the site don’t help. I miss advanced search; it was very useful for tracking down previous book reviews. Like others, I can’t find bloody anything with the new search facility.😡

@Boiledeggandtoast, this is a very late comment, but I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the Deborah Levy memoir trilogy, since I was one of the people who recommended it so warmly! And you and I do have quite similar taste in some respects as I recall… I do remember that one of the things I liked about the trilogy was that Levy and I seemed to have read a lot of the same books, and I enjoyed coming across references to them. But one of my RL friends said she found the trilogy pretentious. When I reread it I will do it with a more critical eye. I liked her novels too, Hot Milk which had a Medusa theme, and The Man Who Saw Everything, which had a quirky non-linear narrative, with the same scenes being replayed in different ways. I did a degree in Comp Lit long ago and muddled my way through a fair bit of psychoanalytic theory, and her books do feel very comp-litty to me. They bring back nostalgic memories of grad students chain-smoking, wearing black and earnestly discussing Lacan. In fact, come to think of it, we were pretentious as hell. 😁

Pepe, you have really made me want to reread South Riding! Agreed that it’s amazing.

Janina, the Mary Wollstonecraft account of her Scandinavian travels does sound fascinating. What a family the Godwin-Wollstonecraft-Shelley lot were. I’d like to read more of both Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley.

Thanks Pepe - good to know I didn’t imagine your review. I know what you mean about seeing things differently - I live in London and it’s given me a different viewpoint and perspective. I also liked the positives - his enjoyment of his time with “her” and music and his culture. It took me a while to get into it but once I adjusted to his voice and style it was moving.

@Boiledeggandtoast I think my effort to tag you in the post above was unsuccessful!

Some more Women’s Prize reads:

22. Careless, Kirsty Capes 3/5 (longlisted)
    I don’t think I can add much really to Fortuna’s review, which I agree with entirely. This was a charming book in many ways but did feel a lot like YA lit, and some of the characters seem a little one-dimensional. That said, the author has clearly drawn on her own first-hand experience of life in care, and it was compelling to read this novel after reading Lemn Sissay’s memoir My Name Is Why. Like Sissay, the protagonist of Careless lives with the same family for many years, but they still don’t treat her like their own child. The social workers for the most part come off much better than the foster carers. But the whole system is clearly fucked.😢

23. Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason 4/5
    An engaging and thought-provoking read. I started to read it at a fast pace but then slowed down because I realised it was really good. The first-person female narrator paints a very convincing picture of what it’s like to live with depression/mental illness, and how selfish it can make you. Her illness itself is never given a label, which is an interesting move on Mason’s part – you can slot bipolar or borderline personality disorder or schizophrenia or whatever you want to really into the slot. Some elements of the novel’s treatment of mental illness irked me though. I don’t want to be spoilery so I’m trying to keep this vague, but honestly, it’s not just a matter of discovering which condition you have, taking the ‘right’ meds and then becoming a functional person. I suppose that’s one possible scenario, but mental health disorders are often messier than that, and don’t fit neatly into a single category. Rant over.

24. The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki 4/5
    At first I didn’t like this novel much, but it grew on me. Things I liked: the endearing characters, especially the two main protagonists (a single mother who is a hoarder and her teenage son who hears voices); the critique of American consumerism; and the vivid depiction of a huge public library (apparently based on the public library in Vancouver, though the novel is set in the US). On the other hand, I found the novel’s style quite prosaic and heavy-handed at times. I could have done without the talking book as a character. And as with Sorrow and Bliss, I found some of the details relating to the treatment of mental illness rather implausible. I have a close family member who went through a stage of psychosis/hearing voices. And in this novel, the psychiatrist leaps straight away to a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, and hospitalises the kid. Really?! Psychosis and voice-hearing are far more common than people realise, especially in teenagers, and even though this psychiatrist isn’t a very sympathetic character, I had a hard time believing any doctor today would jump to that conclusion so fast. I have the impression that Ozeki knows more about Zen Buddhism than about voice hearing. It’s a bit of shame because she clearly wants to reduce the stigma around voice hearing (good!) but when the trained psychiatrist in the novel seems to see voice hearing as catastrophic, it’s not very reassuring.

The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili. Translated by Elizabeth Heighway

18 year old Lela still lives at a crumbling children's home she grew up in on the edge of Tbilisi while she plans her future and that of Irakli, a young boy whose mother has abandoned at the school. The children are subjected to neglect and abuse in this post-soviet Georgia. However, the children's lives are not entirely without joy; local weddings are held in the home's dinner hall and the children are all invited and enjoy the food; they have a midnight raid on a neighbour's cherry tree; the old dormitory at the top of the building is full of old bed frames that the children use as trampolines. The writing is sensual, the smells of the buildings, the pleasures of the food, the heat of the sun and relief of the rain are all described in detail, as are the sexual experiences of Lela. The story digresses and has vignettes about peripheral characters building a broader picture of the community Lela lives in. Can something be both bleak and hopeful? This beautifully written, complex novel seems to manage it.

Thank you Cassandre, I can see how the Deborah Levy trilogy (well, the one and a half that I read) fits perfectly with your description of Comp Lit!

Incidentally, have you seen Happening, the film based on the Annie Ernaux autobiography? It's rather gruelling (especially the scenes of her attempted terminations) but very timely in view of the current debate in America.

The Pear Field sounds really interesting. Thanks for your review Janina, I'd not heard of it before. Another one for my wish list.

Boiledegg, I'm going to see The Happening next week! I've bought the book too; it's quite short so hopefully I can finish it before I see the film. Yes to the unfortunate timeliness of the film given the precariousness of Roe v Wade 😟

Lovely review of The Pear Field, Janina. I love the way you read so many women writers in translation.

cassandre I've not read the book but I'd be very interested to hear how you feel it compares to the film.

53. The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin
The second Malcolm Fox novel, and Rankin seems much more at ease with the character. A gripping if not entirely plausible plot (why do crime writers think shaving off a beard makes someone unrecognisable even to people who know them well?) about present-day repercussions of Scottish Nationalist extremism in the 80s.

Just popping in to mark place and wave at Betts. Nothing new to add as I’m rereading old favourites at the moment but have bought lots.

14 The Fell by Sarah Moss
Set in the Peak District in November 2020. A small cast of neighbours are struggling with the pandemic and its restrictions. One reaches the end of their tether and breaks quarantine, which affects them all.

I think Sarah Moss is brilliant at conveying people's inner monologues, with the effect that everything here felt very real and relatable. She details her characters struggles with the oppressive, unsettling mood created by the extra restrictions in the North, and how they begin to question even the most basic of actions. There's a sense of peril and suspense as we wait to find out how and whether one character's actions place the others at risk. Loved it.

Madly trying to catch up with you all!

Quick update of recent reads:

13 British Summer Time Begins- as I said halfway through- an entertaining look at what (very posh and usually very rich) families did in the school holidays. Definitely more Malory Towers and Boris Johnson than Waterloo Road and Shameless, but interesting nevertheless

14 The Haunting of Alma Fielding Christ on a bike. How to make a supposedly true story of paranormal activity read as interestingly as your council tax bill terms and conditions. Can only presume that Kate Summerscale a) didn't give a fuck about the subject b) was racing towards a crest-of-Mr-Whicher-wave deadline. Truly awful. Boring. Mrs Fielding did this and then a teacup flew out of her knickers and everyone went home ad infinitum.

15 The Day of the Jackal. Obviously, have seen the film loads of times- read this as the updated foreword intrigued me- how such a pacy, amazing, breaking the mould thriller managed to be so, given that we know what happened in the end, when the opposite should surely be the main objective of every thriller writer. It was OK. Dated (obviously) and FF can't seem to decide if he wants to do spies or thrillers, and I don't think he writes people very well. Came away thinking for one of (if not the only) time in my life that the film (for all its gung-ho flaws and liberty taking) is much better.

About to finish n 16 How Iceland Changed the World by Egil Bjarnson. It's FABULOUS. Interesting, funny, thought-provoking, and about Iceland. What's not to like? The family are starting to weary of my "Did you know Iceland...." anecdotes though.

Slim pickings in the May deals for me:
Dominion
Where did I go Right
Long Summer Day (Delderfield)
52 Times Britain was a Bellend
On Bloody Sunday

Going back now to read the rest of you!

MUST get around to the Sarah Moss books on my tbr pile. I've only read her Names for the Sea (Iceland!!!! What's not to like!) biography but have a couple of others lying around and she seems to be a writer universally liked on these threads.

@FortunaMajor Love your WP list work! As you know, Great Circle was a DNF for me for the same reasons others have mentioned- loathed the modern day strand.
@noodlezoodle I've got a few books by Nick Hornby including the pretentious wankery titled Polysyllabic thingy and I'm not surprised he's an arse really. I've seen him interviewed and he comes across as one of those thinks-he's-funnier-than-he-is-and-should-be-presenting-HIGFY when really, he came along at the right time- when the market was being flooded with the first wave of post Bridget chicklit and writers like him, Tony Parsons and Mike Gayle thought oh! we can do this too! We can be on that top 10 in Asda list! They aren't offensive books, they aren't bad, they're just nothing special. The perfect 99p kindle target. If NH had stuck with the Fever Pitch stylee, he'd have a better rep with me, but he just seemed to go full on romcom after that.

Also agree very much with the analysis of book buying v book reading. I buy books not only because I need something to read, but because one of you lot recommends something, so I buy it in order not to forget to buy it! My physical book tbr list has about 50 on it. It's a shelf, let's face it, rather than a pile. While my kindle one has <ahem> about 400. Only ever 99ps though.

@CluelessMama Have added Beartown to my wishlist (Sweden!) Dd has applied to some universities in Sweden, and though I don't think she'll go, part of me would love her to!

@yoshiblue I also read Kane and Abel about 25 years ago. You know, those old JAs (can't bring myself to type his name) were actually pretty bloody good, kept you reading, long sagas with family and political intrigue. Be interesting to see how they stand up so many years later.

@JaninaDuszejko and @bibliomania Tristram is known as Fucking Tristram Fucking Shandy in our school - only the most ambitious 5th year teachers approach it with the kids, (Italians remember) and dd's teacher is one of them. I've never attempted it but kudos on both of you!

It’s becoming clearer why I make no progress on my tbr pile/ list. I added Piranesi to the list based on discussions on this thread, and picked it up when it was reduced on kindle.

Then thought ‘wasn’t Susanna Clarke the one who did Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? I never did read that. So requested that via the library borrow box app, and it became available last night so I’ve started on that. Heart sank a bit when I saw how many pages. Quite enjoying it though. Making me want to visit York again soon mainly, we used to go quite often.

But yeah. I’m still catching up on books from 2004, I’ve no chance really.

@SolInvictus I love Tristram Shandy but no-one should make 5th years read it. Do they study it in English or in translation?

@AliasGrape I completely get where you're coming from - I read this thread, like the sound of loads of books and add them to my wishlist (which now totals about 600-odd). I can't read books fast enough to balance it out and help to reduce the size of my wishlist though.

Why We Kneel, How We Rise by ex West Indies cricketer and now Sky presenter Michael Holding is a powerful and impassioned book written after he spoke out on Sky after the murder of George Floyd.. He speaks to black sportspeople but also runs through many shameful parts of our histories. As someone who reads a lot of books about black history, I did know much of it, but some readers will be rightly shocked , upset and have their eyes opened. I liked his section on black inventions and found his outspoken narrative really engrossing. One of his repeated phrases his 'Are you kidding me?' which I rather thinks sums him up! He has no time for Trump, Johnson and the 'war on Woke' and does not at all mind saying so.

In English- and just extracts. This system irritates me beyond belief- they skim the surface of everything. Everything. And come away not really having "got" anything.

I've just read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. I thought I'd read this before as I read a lot of Indian literature in my 20s but I'm not sure that I had. It's a huge door stop of a book that follows a Parsi widow Dina, who is trying to make ends meet by renting out her spare room to a student (also Parsi from the mountains) Maneck, and by hiring 2 low caste tailors, Ishvar and his nephew Omprakash, to make clothes for an export firm. Set in the 70s in an unnamed City by the sea, clearly Mumbai, it goes through the back stories of each of the characters, and then moves forward to when they're all working and living together. The book is pretty unrelentless on the utter poverty and devastation the characters experience, as a result of the caste system but also Mrs Gandhi's "emergency" government. It's heartbreaking but beautifully written, with such vivid characters. Rather depressingly, many of the reviews on Good Reads by modern Indians draw parallels between this and the current Modi regime.

I’ve given up worrying about my tbr with so many recommendations here. I mean it’s not the worst habit in the world.

15. Brain on Fire by Susanah Cahalan. A memoir about the authors experience with a difficult to diagnose brain condition. Well reviewed on here. This was incredibly well written (unsurprising as the author is a journalist) and fascinating. Cahalan gave only a cursory thought to the privilege that saved her, but other than that, an excellent read.
16. Alexa, what do you know about love? by Brian Bilston. A very sweet poetry collection by the Twitter celebrity.
17. Verity by Colleen Hoover. Honestly one of the worst books I’ve ever finished. I thought this was going to be a Gone Girl-Esque thriller but it was much more 50 shades of Grey (I’ve time for the former but not the latter). Unbelievable and one of those nasty story’s that uses tragedy as a gimmick.
18. Slouching towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. A collection of the authors magazine articles about California in the 1960s. I think I could read anything Didion wrote and appreciate it but this was a bit forgettable.

54. The Female Eunuch - Germaine Greer
Obviously impossible for me to read this in the way the original readers in 1971 would have done. Some parts seem rather dated, particularly the influence of Freudian psychology (not surprisingly, she rejects penis envy etc.); some parts are depressingly relevant, especially on misogyny and violence. She wrestles with the problem of motherhood and childcare, but I’m not sure we’ve really found a solution.
A much more intellectual book than I expected: I know Greer is very clever, but I didn’t expect discussion of the Petrarchan sonnet. Nor is she humourless: there’s a wicked comparison of DH Lawrence and Barbara Cartland, for example. Although it was clearly meant to be an intervention at a particular historical moment, I still got a lot out of it, and it provided an interesting perspective on growing up with DM, a 1970s feminist.