50 Books Challenge 2022 Part six

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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.

What are you reading?

Thanks @ChessieFL Not interested in anything set post 1960 but the tube would be okay if set before then!

I'd settle for a boat if it was historical crime too, I think!

I’ll put my thinking cap on. I can think of several books with scenes on trains but not where the majority is set on a train. Are children’s books acceptable? There’s First Class Murder by Robin Stevens which is part of the Murder Most Unladylike series set in the 1930s.

I have a boat one - Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys. Set in the 30s, I think, and I enjoyed it.

For boats I can offer :

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

and the childrens/young adult classic

The True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

All historical settings

Just interrupting the railway chat briefly while I remember to note down my latest:

79: Black Narcissus - Rumer Godden

Nun-fiction! Read for the Rather Dated book club on here, and I haven’t quite had enough time to write my review for that yet, so I won’t say anything much now other than this was a hugely enjoyable re-read.

Strong Sense of Place podcast did a show about trains. Won't all suit your needs but might be worth a look at their list.

strongsenseofplace.com/destinations/trains/

43. Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce

Based on a true story of a historical serial killer. Brynhild grows up in punishing poverty in late 1800s Norway. Falling pregnant by a wealthy farmers son she naively presumes marriage will follow; but is violently disabused of her fantasies. She follows a sister to Chicago for a fresh start, but the episode has left her bitter and vengeful, with a taste for blood...

This is tough, because I thought it was a great idea that somewhat failed in in the execution. Two things would really have improved it.

1. Telling it "back to front" beginning where it ends

2. The chapters alternate between Bella (Brynhild) and Nellie, her sister. Nellie's sole job is to act as some kind of conscience or moral centre to the book which is repetitively done "oh I'm so worried, I won't believe what people say though"
   They do detract from the centre, from the theme.

Bella is a villain, let her be the villain and stop handwringing over it and you've got yourself a far darker, more original book, likely to generate a lot more buzz. It was OK.

The occasional train journey is involved @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes has chunks set on both a ship and a train, and I always think of it as a very travel-y novel - probably not what you're looking for though

46. Wolf Pack by Will Dean
Recent release. Book five in the crime/thriller series featuring journalist Tuva Moodyson in rural Sweden. This didn't disappoint - I love the setting and enjoy following Tuva as she sticks her nose in to pursue the story/do the job of the police. The pacing was spot on until the ending which felt a bit rushed to me. There was less of the grotesque/gruesome in this one than some from earlier in the series and that suited me too.
47. Taste by Stanley Tucci
Foodie memoir by the American actor, not my usual thing but I've enjoyed his TV programmes about Italian food and heard this recommended on Currently Reading podcast. It was good. I listened to the audiobook and love Stanley Tucci's voice, but there are recipes and occasional lists which would be easier to follow on paper. Some fab anecdotes that made me laugh, no tears until the choice of title became apparent at the end. I think bits of this will stay with me. I think I understand what it is to be a foodie more than I did before.
Currently reading The Winners by Fredrik Backman - another recent release, more rural Sweden, third in the Beartown trilogy. I'm enjoying it so far but am only about 110 pages in and it's a 670 page long hardback from library.

Thanks for all these. Will look at them properly tomorrow. I’ve read Triflers Need Not Apply.

I felt similar irritation towards Nellie

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Was that while I was off thread ill? What did you think?

Crosspost. Yes. No one cares. It was padding. There was a much better more defined novel in there.

47 The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson specialises in biographies of scientific and techie people - I enjoyed his Einstein a few years ago, and I have Steve Jobs on my tbr list. This one is about Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist who has done ground-breaking work in the field of CRISPR gene editing and won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2020. It's a fascinating story, and Isaacson does an excellent job of explaining the science in a way the layperson can understand, plus a bit of gossip about the personalities involved. There's a bitter patent battle thrown in, and a section about using CRISPR to test for, treat and vaccine against viruses such as Covid, but the most interesting section in my opinion is the one about the ethics of gene editing. This is the best non-fiction book I've read so far this year.

No trains or boats involved though - sorry Remus.

@Tarahumara

I've got that quite high on my TBR. I have false started a couple of times ie I could tell it was for me but I was not in the mood at the time

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit it is rather long - so worth waiting until the timing is right!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
Night train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier?
Features a journey by train but also describes the destination and gets across the atmosphere of Lisbon.
(May be biased as it's my favourite city).

Remus, have you read The African Queen by CS Forester? Boat not a train but historical.

i remember it being on my school’s recommended reading list but have to admit I never read it!

Just a quick public service announcement: Wolf Hall has been added to Amazon Prime, so free to download to Kindle if you have a Prime account.

Remus have you read the other Agatha Christie train books? 4.50 from Paddington and The Mystery of the Blue Train spring to mind.

63. Keeper of Enchanted Rooms - Charlie Holmberg. This is set in an alternative mid-19th century where some people have inherited magical abilities in one of 11 disciplines likes necromancy, chaos or augury. Non magical Merritt inherits a haunted house and a magical housekeeper Hulda comes to help him manage it. There's romance, humour and an evil English magician to keep the plot running along, but I felt it was a little shallow.

64. Nightcrawling - Leila Mottley. This follows 17 year old Kiara who lives on the poverty line in Oakland. Her father is dead and her mother is in prison, her elder brother is determined to become a musician so won't get a job. When the landlord raises her rent, Kiara turns to prostitution to try and make ends meet. This was incredibly intense and disturbing, awful things happen to Kiara, but it's brilliantly written with a really strong voice. I found it very stressful to read but gave it 5 stars.

I read this a couple of months ago and agree, no where near as evocative as the island.

How about Strangers on a train by Patricia Highsmith @Remus? 1950s psychological thriller.

There's also Last train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton, set in 1930s Florida that looks quite good although it's the 3rd in a series.

I feel like I should have lots of suggestions about trains and ships, but they all seem to be brief scenes in books about other things. I always enjoy the Provincial Lady on trains (realizing in horror that her flowers are dripping on other passengers) or boats (to avoid mal de mer, one must remove one's hat and lie down quite flat) but I seem to remember you're not a big fan, Remus.

If ships will do them I've heard amazing things about Rose George's Deep Sea and Foreign Going. It's about life in container ships.

I read her book about blood Nine Pints and it was amazing.