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?

I've just read a review of the new film The Quiet Girl in today's Observer. It's obviously based on Foster, but I'm not sure if I could watch the film as I love the book so much. I'd be very interested if anyone who has read Foster does go to see it.

I'm delighted to see Claire Keegan at last getting the wider recognition that she so richly deserves.

@YnysMonCrone I got the distinct impression that JT wrote it that way so that she could get it out and onto people's bookshelves - "oh, it's the new Alan Grant" rather than "complex bit of controversial history". It was the Golden Age of the Detective Novel, wasn't it?

And let's face it, you'd never get away with "Thomas More was Henry the Eighth" in a serious tome

Unlike you I was left with a definite (if mild) desire to read the Alan Grant series!

Have you been to Leicester @YnysMonCrone? The King Richard III Visitor Centre is fascinating, and the cathedral isn’t far from it. If you have your own transport, you can also go to Bosworth Field.

I also enjoyed spotting an advert for the Richard III nursery 😹

@YnysMonCrone Try earlier Val Mc. I think she's become a victim of her own fame and reputation. For a standalone A Place of Execution is excellent, and so are the Tony Hill books (serialised in the Wire In the Blood TV series some years ago) Apart from these 2, I don't think any more of hers have been anything other than run of the mill police procedural. Which has its place, and I read lots of them almost as comfort reading, but nothing special.

Thanks BoiledEgg, I'll look out for the film but I definitely want to read Foster first.

113 Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Classic crime written in the 1930s. Thirteen guests are staying at a country house when dead bodies start turning up. I’m not sure how this became a classic as I found it rather boring and struggled to keep track of all the characters.

114 Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Will save my comments for the readalong thread!

115 The Editor’s Wife by Clare Chambers

Written by the author of Small Pleasures, this is one of her earlier works - I think from 2007. Don’t be put off by the ‘female relative of male job’ title - this precedes the recent trend for that type of title and is, in my opinion, a cut above the average book with that sort of title. Not as good as Small Pleasures but definitely still worth reading. Christopher is divorced in his forties and looks back on an affair he had with an older woman.

23. My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young. Set in WW1, this is the story of Riley, going off to the war as a teenager, his childhood friend Nadine, working as a VAD, his Commanding Officer Peter, Peter's wife Julia, waiting at home for her husband, and cousin Rose, who is working in a hospital for soldiers with facial injuries. This is so good - vivid descriptions of the soldiers' experiences at the front line, but also an understanding of the challenges faced by the women left behind and the men sent back to England with injuries. Wonderful.

24. Those People by Louise Candlish. Nightmare neighbours Darren and Jodie move in to Lowland Way, disturbing the peace for the existing residents. This is the third book I've read by this author (the others were Since I Don't Have You and Our House) and it's definitely the worst - I think because noisy, unpleasant, inconsiderate neighbours just aren't that enjoyable to read about. Also the ending is bizarrely abrupt.

Tarahumara I agree that My Dear I Wanted to Tell You is an excellent book. A rather strange title, and my copy has a chick-lit style cover, so for those reasons I suspect it hasn't been recognised as the serious, intelligent novel it is. There's a beautiful love story in there too; something that is hard to do really well imo.

I've read the two following books which are fine however I think MDIWTTY is the best.

I've got to catch up but popping in to say Shackleton: How the Captain of the newly discovered Endurance saved his crew in the Antarctic is 99p for the kindle today.

@SolInvictus The Museum of Whales you will never see is excellent.

I'm another Edward Rutherford reader, Sarum is easily his best book.

39 Stone's Fall by Iain Pears
A wealthy industrialist / arms manufacturer falls to his death in an apparent accident in the early 20thC, leaving a will which includes a hard-to-fulfill bequest. His widow hires a young journalist to try to unravel the mystery, which involves questions of national security as well as the personal.
I've enjoyed other books I've read by Pears, but this was a real mixed bag. It's (very) long, and parts are excellent. I really enjoyed the spy story side of the book which is largely set in the world of business / finance. Unfortunately all (ie both) of the significant female characters are utterly implausible. This isn't so problematic in the first sections where the narrator is a very young man, and it reads largely as his inexperience with women. Later in the book it's much more problematic, and by the ending of the book it really gets silly leading to a very disappointing ending / resolution. I wished he'd stuck to his business / finance / affairs of state plot.

40 Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence by Vanessa Springora, trans. by Natasha Lehrer
At the age of thirteen Springora was groomed and then sexually abused by a well known French author. He not only made no effort to hide his 'girlfriend' but also wrote about his many liaisons with young girls & boys in his books - which were received as works of art & celebrated.
Springora writes movingly about the emptiness of 'consent' given in these circumstances, about the way her abuser manipulated her and others, and the way the French establishment allowed him to do so.

This is hard to read, but incredibly powerful, and the translation is also excellent.

Checking in to say I'm still reading Humble Pi and enjoying it quite a bit but have been very slow reading it due to y6 SATs (Joy of working in y6 this year). Am always amazed at how much some of you read.

Remus: Hope your new kindle search goes well. I still have my touch screen kindle from 2011 (amazingly it still works) - tend to swap between physical books and kindle so would be interested to hear what you go for.

@merryhouse I think it just wasn't what I was expecting.
@ChannelLightVessel no I haven't but I would like to. I think I will reread Sunne in Splendour first.

@SolInvictus I might try Place of Execution was that the one where there was a TV series with Juliet Stephenson in it. I think I saw it on Netflix (or it might have been Britbox)

@highlandcoo I love the Shakleton story. Def worth a read.

@bettbburg I love Sarum. London and Paris were quite good. The Forest was a bit of a drag. Thinking of having a go at Russka or China but worried I'll get confused with the names

@YnysMonCrone London was definitely my favourite of the Rutherfurds. It's the sort of book that leaves you with a vacuum when you've finished it IYKWIM.

Also I think The Daughter of Time benefits from a reread. I've read it a few times over the years and enjoyed/understood it more last time round (2021).

@ChessieFL Thanks for your reviews- added more to my TBR list... also reminded me to reread DTDD2000, I think it's been sitting on my shelf since 1999. Saw Andy Hamilton live a couple of years ago. I love his writing.

I did the long-awaited Shandy Hall tour on Saturday - highly recommended to anyone finding themselves in N Yorks at the right time of year.
The tour is led by someone who lives in the house, and it's as much a performance as a tour. Really enjoyable.

51. A Year on the Life, by Lucy Leonelli
Sorry, can't remember who mentioned this - it's a non-fiction account by a young woman who joins various sub-cultures around UK: 26 in total, one for every letter of the format. The alphabetical order is a bit of a constraint and some entries are pretty shallow, but I love her willingness to be open to new experiences - made me want to go out and sample new things too.

I also re-read Fierce Bad Rabbits, By Claire Pollard, about the joy of children's picture books. It's exactly the kind of thing I like to read.

@bibliomania oh, I'm going to move that up my list of things to do, we are localish to it but tend to revisit the same old favourites rather than trying new places.

It's well worth planning, Janina - there are 2 tours a day on weekends between May and Sept, so take the chance while you can!

Val McDermid's Anatomy of Crime is in the daily deals today - it's very good. I hated her fiction, but this is non-fiction and it's informative and very readable.

Doreen by Barbara Noble Many thanks to Terpsichore for recommending this. Doreen's working-class mother had kept her in London at the start of the war but as the Blitz began, she reluctantly sent her to the country to live with the wealthier, childless Osbornes. (I loved BN's description as Francie Osborne tries to define their "kind": "... People who no longer have the staff to run a house comfortably, but know how it ought to be run. People who took their holidays abroad before the war as units, not in gangs. People with the smattering of culture required to fill in the clues of the Times crossword puzzle.") Written in 1946, the book explores some interesting issues, not least of class, as Doreen's loyalties are torn between family and opportunity.

Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi, translated by Frances Frenaye in my Penguin Modern Classics edition. CL trained as a doctor before focussing on politics, literature and art. In 1935-6 he was confined to a remote and barren area of southern Italy for his anti-fascist activities. This is a fascinating account of the hardships and poverty of the peasants he encountered alongside the petty and bullying bureaucracy of Fascist Italy. Although he was obviously a remarkable man, I didn't really warm to him as a person but I was carried along by the beautiful and poetic translation.

@eitak22 I've gone for the Paperwhite, but they didn't have any covers in stock, so I've not tried reading anything on it yet. A quick play shows it's very easy to set up and seems pleasant to read from. It's weird to not be able to switch onto reading the news/MN etc though!

41 The Age of the Strongman How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World by Gideon Rachman
Examination of the rise of authoritarian leaders around the globe with essays covering leaders from Putin & Xi through Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Modi, & others to Trump & Johnson.

This is a really interesting book, though with some flaws. Rachman never really engages properly with the reasons why so many voters in western democracies are drawn to populist leaders & the ways in which the neo-liberal period has left substantial groupings within the population feeling disenfranchised and economically excluded. It's also a shame that it was published a little too early to cover Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and the potential consequences. But still overall well worth reading.

I'm only at no13 - not doing so well have a huge pile of books I've started and given up after a few chapters. Am also studying so think I'm struggling with reading for pleasure but have just read the first two volumes of Heartstopper after watching the series on Netflix . Hadn't realised it was a graphic novel (or what I call a comic!) and initially was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a novel but it is brilliant- so enjoyed reading it. I'm a big fan of posy simmonds who is another contemporary comic writer/ illustrator ( there are probably loads of others but these are the only two I've read) . Makes me think maybe I should explore others as I loved things like Tintin and peanuts as a kid
Anyway if anyone doesn't know the story it's a romance between two high school boys- the good looking out and proud nerd and the good looking seemingly straight star of the rugby team and it's just lovely and romantic and optimistic. It's very soppy and lovely . Apparently some bookshops have totally sold out of the book since the series came out .

My ds2 (13) loves this series! He's read all volumes
I think they've sold out since the Netflix show aired