50 Books Challenge 2023 Part One

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2023, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Who's in for this year?

Another one who probably read The Catcher in the Rye too late - really wanted to read it as an angsty teen but couldn't get hold of a copy (this being way before the internet!), finally read it when I was about 40 and couldn't work out what all the fuss was about

I loved Memoirs of a Geisha @EineReiseDurchDieZeit (although I don't think I realised originally that it wasn't true!) - tried to re-read it and thought it was tripe...

I do however enjoy The Woman in White again every time I read it @FuzzyCaoraDhubh and most of the Dickens books, which I probably get more out of than originally as I have more of an appreciation of the social background. Another series I probably get more out of now is Harry Potter, I read them all when they came out twenty or so years ago as a young adult; re-reading them now with my young DC I've actually found it quite sad about how young Harry's parents were when they died trying to protect him, and how lost he is throughout the series as he misses having a family so much. Made me quite emotional, which I wasn't expecting!

The St Mary's books are great @TattiePants and @MamaNewtNewt but I surprised myself by enjoying the Time Police books more! Maybe because the plots tend to be a bit less convoluted? There's a Jodi Taylor convention this year which I'd love to go to, but it's probably not possible as it's during the DC's school holidays

@TattiePants

I would bump up Wuthering Heights. I can't really comment too much as I have somewhat over-read and overanalysed it due to studies and I just don't know what the first time experience would be.

The Great Gatsby didn't resonate as a teenager and then I saw the film, and then it hit me in a big way, so that too. It's about the human ability for self delusion, the way we see people not necessarily having any relation to who they are and revisionist history, and it hit me somewhere sensitive. I stayed up all night.

Can't vouch for House Of The Spirits its been too long and I actually can't remember anything except that I loved it at the time. Can't even name a character.

Didn’t read Catcher in the Rye at school because (gasp) it was the lower set book. If you were in the top set you had to do Silus sodding Marner. Now that’s a book I won’t be revisiting.

Agree that books you love are so enmeshed in the time you read them. The Persian Boy is one of my absolute favourites, but it was read in the romantic haze of a highly unsuitable relationship with an older, more powerful man, so I completely over-identified with Bagoas’ relationship with Alexander the Great; suspect a reread would churn up all sorts of all stuff I don’t need to revisit.

When I read Madame Bovary in my mid twenties (about same time as TPB tbh) I was her; a couple of years later a slightly more jaded me thought on a reread that I used to be like her (but now was, obviously, much more sensible); I suspect 40-year-old me would get all nostalgic for when I was young and daft (but free).

In terms of boring butlers, I’ve only read When We Were Orphans by Ishiguro, which was weird and baffling. Haven’t been inspired to read any more of his, although vaguely feel I should.

Lots of interesting discussions here! I definitely agree that where you are in your life can affect how you view a book. Some books also stand up to rereading more than others.

I have a weird relationship with Ishiguro. I loved Never Let Me Go, and also really liked A Pale View of Hills. When I first read The Remains of the Day I thought it was meh, but I did try again a few years later and got a bit more out of it. Klara and the Sun was ok. I tried the first few chapters of The Buried Giant and didn’t get on with it, and I got about a quarter of the way through The Unconsoled which I thought was the biggest pile of tosh I had ever read! It’s odd because with most authors, if I liked one of their books I usually like their others - some I like better than others obviously, but they’re usually on a similar-ish level. But Ishiguro runs the whole range from love to absolute rubbish!

Loving all the discussions! I read Never Let Me Go when it came out and felt like such an oddball because I was the only person I knew who hated it! It put me off trying any more Ishiguro. Maybe this is the year to change that- would I be better going with Klara and the Sun or The Remains of the Day?

I agree so much about when you’ve read something- I read Catcher in the Rye at school and loved it- not sure I’d feel the same way now. My first attempt to read Wuthering Heights was in my late 20s- I say attempt because I couldn’t finish it- still couldn’t when I tried again in my thirties- I reckon I must have missed the window for that one as a few people whose opinions I respect, absolutely love it.

I’m still working my way through my second book The Woman in White, and thoroughly enjoying the melodrama!

I think I’m in the hating it camp at the moment!
I read Rye many years ago then re-read it for my book club. I am in the ‘it’s a good book and I feel sorry for him’ team. I like flawed characters. So I love Remains of the day too!
The books I can’t stand are ones where the main character is perfect (perhaps a thinly-veiled representation of how the author views themselves?).

Catcher
Read it in my 20s and thought it was awful. Liked it in my 40s. Have loved F&Z on every read.

The Eggs are incredible up close; DH and I saw the ones they have in the Faberge Museum in St Petersberg. My favourites were the one with all the snowdrops and the one with the hidden carriage.

That must have been amazing @Zireael even just googling them I found them so beautiful and intricate.

Murder Before Evensong by Richard Coles. From the blurb and the celebrity endorsements, I went into this thinking it would be a Vicar of Dibleyesque cosy mystery. Whilst the book itself was nicely written, the characters were all a bit dull and one dimensional and it took about 100 pages before a murder even happened. As a 'whodunnit' it was actually rather pedestrian, as there were very few clues to lead to the murderer and the reveal was very hurried within the last couple of chapters. 2/5 from me, and I won't be rushing to read the second in the series.

Happy to out myself as an Ishiguro fan. I read Never Let Me Go years ago and loved it. On one level it worked for me as a simple horror/mystery. I didn't know what the central premise was when I began it and found the gradual revelation unsettling. To me it also works as an allegory about how humans deal with the inevitability of death and the stories we tell and create to try and shield ourselves from the truth. * I get why people question the protagonists reactions to the situation and remember discussing it at the time - but this didn't spoil it for me. I also liked The Remains of the Day. *
I always say my favourite* Ishguro and perhaps my favourite book is A Pale View of Hills. *Although I know I absolutely loved it it when i read it, I have to admit it was decades ago and now I can't remember anything about it 😳. Just read the Wikipedia summary and although it sounds like something I'd enjoy - i really dont have a clear recollection of it. Maybe time it's for a reread.

Let out a short cheer when I completed book 1 yesterday. It was long & I was losing hope I'd ever get to the end.
1. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow Olivia Hawker
I've been struggling to finish this for ages & if I'm honest I'm not quite sure why I didn't give up earlier. I just thought I've come so far, better journey on to the inevitable predictable ending. I chose it because I was intrigued by the premise. Two neighbouring women are forced to cooperate in 19th century Wyoming as they have lost their husbands. One husband has been murdered, the other is in prison for killing him. I quickly realised that it wasnt my type of book. There was a lot of spiritual stuff. Characters have conversations with the dead husband via his grave and hear and sense things accross the prairie. I found Beulah (one of the women's teenage daughters) particularly annoying. She has a way with animals and is connected with the prairie ...... There is a lot about her 'blossoming into womanhood' and seasons of life. Yes really - not for me. The hardships and dangers the women are facing just never seem to come to life.

Very interesting, Owlbookend. I think that discussions about a book like Never Let Me Go are good to highlight what isn't immediately obvious at first glance and to figure out what the intention of the author is and what they are trying to achieve.

I also remember borrowing The Buried Giant from the library and returning it rather swiftly. I might go back to read A Pale View of Hills this year. Am I right in thinking that Ishiguro is quite diverse in terms of writing style across his books?

I've not had much luck with books lately so decided to do a "palate cleanse" to kickstart the year with something easy going for a re read. I plumped for Lissa Evans and her trilogy Old Baggage, Crooked Heart and V for Victory. I had read them as they were published, Crooked Heart was the first published and there were a few years between each publication, so it was interesting to read them in chronological/time line order as a binge read. I still liked Crooked Heart best but enjoyed them all. Lissa Evans writes so well, the narrative flowed along. No POV chapters or time jumps and flashbacks - just good old fashioned story telling!

I loved Lissa Evan's trilogy and enjoyed Our Finest Hour and a Half too. I like the way Evans explores the close and nuanced relationships that develop between individuals thrown together by events beyond their control.

Re Ishiguro, it's unsurprising that he and Ian McEwan followed the same Creative Writing course at the University of East Anglia. There's a similarity in their writing style I think.

I can see it's very well done and the themes they choose are interesting but there's a selfconscious cleverness and literariness and almost a coldness about their novels that means I just don't enjoy their stuff the way I do loads of other writers with more heart.

I enjoyed Lissa Evans's trilogy too. I particularly loved Old Baggage. Mattie Simkin is such a wonderful character, cantankerous and opinionated. Just wonderful.

3. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

I assume this one needs no introduction! I listened to this on Audible and really enjoyed it, despite having seen the film first (I generally like to have read the book first) this differed just enough to enhance my enjoyment. I liked the expansion of the scientific info from the palaeontologists observing the dinosaurs, as well as Ian Malcolm's speeches which were a lot more detailed than "Life finds a way" in the book. The 'escape from dinosaurs' section felt a little bit long, but did work given that it was interspersed with the additional scientific info I mentioned. The dinosaurs were terrifyingly rendered, I think I now have a small phobia of raptors! Lex was incredibly annoying and Hammond was less of a bumbling dinosaur fan and more of an evil megalomaniac, but otherwise I thought the characters were pretty similar to the film. I preferred the ending in the book, much more open, and I will definitely read the next one in the series.

I decided I needed to declutter my bookshelves, and got thinking about what I read... and I ended up buying 6 more books.

Book 2 of the year is Naomi Novik's The Golden Enclaves, the final part of a trilogy about a magic school. I didn't enjoy the first two as much as Spinning Silver and Uprooted, but she earned enough goodwill from me for the Temeraire series that I'm sticking with her.

Book 3 will be The Marriage Portrait - both of them arrived in the post today.

On Ishiguro - my first of his was Never Let Me Go which I absolutely adored. The sheer horror of realising what they were and why chilled me to my bones. His writing is always spare, and there's a stark beauty and humanity in it that don't get from McEwan. McEwan seems to me to hate human beings while Ishiguro sees the fault lines and loves people anyway. Loved The Buried Giant which felt like a retelling of a medieval myth, loved Klara And The Sun because, like NLMG, it was about what is and isn't a person.

2. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

I've been wanting to read this one for a while but was actually disappointing when it came to it. It's overly long and quite disjointed, almost like two different narratives have been squashed together. While some of the description is beautifully written, the plot just seems to meander along and, given the length of the book, not much actually happens.

I have finished my first book The Beautiful Visit by EJH as inspired by the rather dated book club thread. Thought it was enjoyable but not totally gripping like the Cazalet Chronicles. Not sure I have anything meaningful to say about it really. I think I need a few more easy reads like this before I dive into anything more complex. Might read The Familiars by Stacey Hall next.

I have enjoyed Ishiguro - I have read When we were Orphans, Remains of the Day and Neve let me go.

Like a PP, I struggle to retain much about books I read in recent times. I think sleep deprivation and kids has really impacted my memory.

Actually that’s technically my second book I think, as I will count Midnight in Everwood as didn’t finish it until the new year I think?! Can’t actually remember already….

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh I think with Ishiguro the 'genre' and settings are quite diverse, but there are recurring themes about memory and how we construct our own reality, which I enjoy. God - that me sound pretentious 😁I'm in no way qualified to comment - as I've admitted on these threads I haven't read a classic 19th century novel since school. I know others have read War and Peace, which would be way beyond me.
@highlandcoo I've only read two McEwan's. Atonement that enjoyed. Can definitely see similarities in the theme and style to Ishiguro. They are both quite cold and detached. Also enjoyed The Comfort of Strangers. Would recommend if you want to boost your numbers. It's a very short macabre novella set in a fictional Venice. I have Saturday sitting on the bookshelf, but never got past the first few pages.* *

Several words missing in that post (sorry). The MN grammar police wouldn't be happy & it's not really added much to my credibility as a literary critic 🙂

Thanks @Owlbookend That's more accurate than what I was saying in my post and it makes sense, thank you :)

I love Ishiguro, even ‘The Buried Giant’, although it’s the one I liked least of his. Love ‘The remains of the Day’ and ‘Klara and the sun’ and read another one years ago but can’t remember which! Was the one where the main guy ends up running through a war-torn town when all the buildings are destroyed.
I do like McEwan too and have read nearly all of his books. I will read a new one when I see it in the library but don’t get as excited as I used to. I agree that he is cool towards human beings generally but I quite like that! I loved ‘Atonement’, ‘Sweet Tooth’, ‘Enduring Love’, ‘On Chesil Beach’ and ‘Saturday’. Not so keen on the others but I do want to re-read ‘Amsterdam’ as I was only in my early twenties then and didn’t really get it. Like other people have said, I was too young to appreciate a book about writing symphonies and assisted death!
So I like authors that are pessimistic about human nature.
What I can’t stomach now are ‘shock fiction’ type novels that I used to love. I have no desire to read Irvine Welsh or Chuck Palahniuk these days.