50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh and (and probably) final 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, and even though it's late in the year, it’s not too late to join. Please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

How have you got on this year?

I've had the 40% off voucher a few times, probably because I've not used it. I'm really stingy and wait until everything is 99p.

I've had 40% off a specific wishlist book a few times, but it never brings the price down to my £1.99 limit for kindle books. I don't seem to get notifications until the offer is about to expire. The other one that comes up is a £5 voucher when you spend £15 on kindle books in a month, which I manage even with my £1.99 limit.

Thank you. I'll keep an eye out for those!

I really liked The Mermaid Of Black Conch! Surprised myself as I'm not big on magic realism and adjacent genres, and am usually lazy/impatient with books featuring non-standard English/dialect words etc. But I thought it was poetic and vivid, and at the same time earthy and very believable.

Oh I get the 40% off specific wishlist titles quite a lot. I do always use them, even if the price is still above my "limit". But I think they pick books where I've put the physical version on my list and they offer the discount on the kindle version instead. Maybe that's the trick for those that don't get them if you're putting the kindle version on your list?

36. Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery that Inspired Twin Peaks by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens I've never watched Twin Peaks so I probably wasn't the target audience for this book but it was an Amazon first reads on a month where I didn't fancy anything else on the list. In July 1908 twenty year old Hazel Drew's decomposing body is found in a stagnant pond on a mountain in upstate New York. Despite an extensive investigation, her murderer(s) is never found. The police contend with two questions: who murdered Hazel Drew? And also who WAS Hazel Drew? Her life was full of mystery and unanswered questions that the police struggled to get to the bottom of. The two authors carry out an extensive investigation, not an easy feat on a cold case that's more than 100 years old with all the police records having been lost/destroyed. But they are confident they've solved the mystery of who murdered Hazel and why.

The book was well-written (the authors describe it as "creative non-fiction") and the research is thorough. The most fascinating aspect for me was the role the press paid in the original investigation. Whilst some aspects of the case were kept quiet, mostly the press knew absolutely everything the police did. They were even invited into the police station to physically examine the victim's clothing. There was certainly no concept of keeping details out of the press, either to aid the investigation or to preserve the privacy of involved parties

37. Fifty Shades of Royal Sex Scandals by T. S. Wiseman This is one of a series of four books covering royal sex scandals throughout history. Each book is short (takes less an hour to read). I suspect they were self-published and judging by the amount of incorrect words used I suspect there was no editor involved. Unfortunately Wiseman isn't as good an historian as they think they are and nor are they as good a writer as they think they are. But the book was extremely short and required minimal concentration so was perfect for the 3am feed last night

34 Taste - Stanley Tucci
After spending 6 hours and 49 minutes listening to him talk to me about food, and tell me anecdotes from his life, I have fallen hopelessly in love with Stanley. Recommended to all foodies, although possibly not vegetarians...

Okay, I'm DNFing The Extra Man by Jonathan Ames, which turns out to be a bit niche. The writing style is quite droll and the premise is interesting - a single man, Louis, leaves his teaching job at a private school in Princeton and takes a grotty room with a suave older man who survives on a mixture of teaching and escorting rich older ladies. Louis likes to think of himself as a "young gentleman", but quickly discovers that he may prefer to be a young lady. This in itself is fine and I was interested to read his journey of self-discovery - it is an unusual one to read about. However, his journey largely involves visiting prostitutes (for spanking) and transvestite bars, where he has his bits aggressively squeezed while discussing contouring. While repetitive, this is all fine with me. What I couldn't get past in the end was his fetishisation of the female, using real-life women as unwitting props for his fantasies. For example, after phoning a woman for work reasons he would imagine her showering and shaving her armpits (he has a thing for armpits). I can't tell whether the author thinks this is okay, or whether we're meant to judge the character for doing this - I suspect that the author thinks that's just the way it is, men fantasise about women, so what. It made me feel a bit queasy and I don't want to spend another five hours on it (thank you, kindle). Rant over.

I've just had an email offering me 40% off a list of books I don't want, that aren't on my wishlist and at least one of which my Dad already owns (we do the family library thing). Having said that a couple might have made good Christmas presents for him if I hadn't already got some titles picked out so perhaps not such a bad shout on Amazon's part.
I'd like them to give me 40% off some books that I want though!

I think I get the 40% off a few times a year but it's always for kindle books on my wishlist and like mamanewt they never reach my price threshold, plus I have so much unread on my kindle that I don't tend to use them.

53. Family Secrets: The Things We Tried to Hide by Deborah Cohen
Thanks to @Terpsichore and @ChannelLightVessel for posting about this. I won't go on at length - I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the research fascinating and the writing good quality. I liked the thinking about privacy and secrecy and the differences between them.

From a personal point of view, I had a great uncle who was born with Down syndrome in about 1910, so exactly as the described change from Victorian privacy to Edwardian secrecy was happening. He lived most of his life in an institution, dying in his 50s before I was born. I believe he was rarely visited and my mother could hardly speak about him. She greeted each family baby with the question 'is it all right?' and I didn't understand for a long time what she was asking or the fear behind it.

66. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Danny and Maeve grow up in an impressive and unique property. Their mother walked away, and they are given a Cinderella type Wicked Stepmother who slowly disenfranchises them before cutting them off entirely following the sudden death of their father.
As the years go by the house becomes a focal point both in their memories and literally as they sit outside and reminisce about what was and what might have been.

I loved this actually, I was like "this is what a proper fiction novel" reads like. I did have one quibble. The novel is narrated by Danny and it felt like Maeve was supposed to seem enigmatic and elusive but in reality it was as if Ann Patchett didn't know how to develop her character after Danny goes away to school, and just gave a character who was once full of life and opinion and ideas just nothingness, absolutely mundanity, isolation and loneliness. Justice for Maeve.

Otherwise, very good.

Weirdly, after the whole thing upthread about money off from Amazon, I suddenly got an email offering me a discount on books by 'an author you follow' - I wasn’t aware I was following anybody but it turns out I allegedly am - all sorts of people I’ve never heard of! Maybe I should start with some of the people on my wishlist, then they might offer me a useful discount…

Anyway, to resume… 89: At Freddie’s - Penelope Fitzgerald

A re-read, but it’s at least 20 years and probably more since I read this and I’d forgotten how wickedly funny and sharp it is. The titular Freddie runs the Temple stage school for children, and is a legendary and mysterious figure in the business, shamelessly manipulating every situation to her advantage. Two new teachers arrive at her establishment, Hannah Graves and Pierce Carroll, and are gradually drawn into the life of the rackety, crumbling school, with its perpetual money troubles and host of knowing, ever-performing children. I hadn’t realised that Penelope Fitzgerald used to teach at the Italia Conti theatre school, which explains how authentic it all feels. She always writes children so well and there are some joyous examples to be enjoyed here.

76. Circe - Madeline Miller

I loved this! An ingenious exploration of the Circe story, weaving together the many mythic strands in which she's intertwined, and giving a plausible voice and narrative arc to a character usually sidelined as the stereotypical witch temptress. I love books that give a vivid sense of the protagonist's physical reality (in this case, a goddess who cannot die but can very much suffer harm, both physically and emotionally). Definitely a bold.

I really loved Circe too. Thought it was much better than Song of Achilles. I loved Circe's character and her lifestyle, with her pigs and her plants.

64 Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman

Subtitled 'Time Management for Mortals', an interesting, short read tackling the habit ingrained in most modern humans to cram ever more stuff into their life, leading to a feeling that nothing ever gets completed and meanwhile the clock keeps ticking. With some helpful hints on how to let go of the illusion of control over our time, and find more fulfilment in the here and now.

I loved The Mermaid too & Circe.

Just finished the Booker winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Those who dislike magic realism, this is not for you. Also it's written in the second person which again I can imagine being marmite. But I absolutely loved it. Photo journalist Maali has woken up dead in a nightmarish afterlife populated by the many people murdered by various factions during Sri Lanka's civil war. He has seven moons to come to terms with his death, get his photos displayed and find out who killed him. It's chaotic, descriptive, disturbing and a brilliant history of one of the most brutal wars of recent times. Definitely one of my books of the year.

I hated Circe and couldn’t finish it. It was like listening to an utterly vacuous teenage girl talking to her mate on the late night bus, with too many pornstar martinis inside her.

#TeamCirce

I loved Circe, really really loved it. In my current slump I considered a re-read as it really stood out when I was trying to think ‘when was the last time I totally unreservedly loved something?’

But I didn’t re-read it because Sod’s law I’d not like it second time round - especially in my current mood (I feel like the issue is me at this point!)

Continuing with my "This isn't following me into 2023" vibes

67. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Last to the party on this Booker winner which is not so much a novel, as it is a bunch of chapters of interconnected portraits. As such, some were better than others, and some felt maybe a bit clichè. Representation is very important, but I didn't think this was bringing anything surprising or new into the conversation. It wasn't for me, and that's OK.

46 The Changeling (or possibly just Changeling) Philippa Gregory.

Another pile'o'shite off the Kindle random number generator. Didn't realize it was "young adult" till I googled it.

This is the second time a Philippa Gregory has been randomly selected and the second time I've muttered "how do these things get published"

The premise was quite exciting. Loony nuns running amok in the night (first we think it's visions and satanic goings on but it turns out to be belladonna in the gruel) a Morgana style Abbess disemboweling dead ones, a Veela style bewitching floozy dressed in silk and a couple of dudes sent from Rome to investigate. It was like Narnia meets JKR meets Shardlake meets Merlin. Badly.

It's the first in a trilogy. Won't be reading 2 and 3.

I'm a bit late to the party on lovely books for @AliasGrape but I did wonder about Tessa Hadley? Some of her books are quite sad but others, like Clever Girl are more uplifting. And I don't think she's ever cynical. I've also just collected The Whalebone Theatre from the library which seems very charming, upper class siblings running amok in a country house between the wars.

I must read Circe as I think it would be up my street. I just felt I'd reached my limit for feminist Greek myth retellings for a while.

Onto book 64 which is...

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer. In 2010, college student Greer (yes really) comes into the orbit of a famous, older second wave feminist and starts working for her foundation. She starts to become disillusioned as years go by and eventually establishes herself as a new feminist writer. With subplots about her high school boyfriend and college best friend whose lives veer off in unexpected ways.

I like Meg Wolitzer and I like her writing style, very zippy and poppy and readable. In theory there was a lot in here about second and third wave feminism and different kinds of activism. Unfortunately it didn't go much deeper than 'everyone is just trying their best' which was a bit of a shame. Still enjoyable though.

Thanks for the recommendation @GrannieMainland - adding to the list, that’s an author I’ve never read.

I haven’t actually picked up anything yet! Working my way through How to talk so little kids will listen as having a rather intense time of it with toddler currently, and also listening to The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson on audible (think it’s included in membership).

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit you are going for it clearing the tbr pile! Making me feel bad, I swear there’s stuff on mine that’s 10 years old! I wonder if I’ll ever get round to them.

@AliasGrape

I'm actually fighting a bit of flu right now so I've got time on my hands, sick of looking at the same titles on the Kindle screen. I've got even more in physical books which I'm not even looking at because the Kindle is more convenient right now.
I do have some that have sat on that Kindle bloody years though. The Sonambulist is one, there since 2012, and a few there from 2011, and one from 2010. It's curious how some just never move. With The Sonambulist I started several times and just went nowhere, ironically it sent me to sleep. Only since I started this thread really have I given myself permission to say, fuck it off, DNF. It's quite liberating, I'll have to give those dregs at the bottom one more chance before doing a big DNF cull in the New Year Maybe.

I have finished shrines of Gaiety. I think I recall a couple of other reviews on here.

I have always loved Atkinson's writing and that is on form. It's great to read her books and prose after so much clunkiness in other novels this year.

But the plot is a bit of a mish mash. It's a bit like KA had a concept and a historical context and then introduced too much to it. I got confused by all the people at several points.

She captures the hedonism and danger of the 1920s scene well but it felt a bit superficial - perhaps deliberately.

As many on Amazon reviews have said, the ending fizzles out an dis very matter of fact and speedy. Too many plot strands and not top form Atkinson but still a good read, I think.