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?

I’ve just finished book number three The Anthology of English Folk Tales published by The History Press and currently free on Kindle Unlimited.

Not my usual thing, although a few years ago I went through a phase of being quite interested in fairy tales and their origins/ interpretations so not a million miles away I suppose.

Mixed bag, definitely enjoyed some more than others. Felt a little ‘lightweight’, I think I’d have liked a little more analysis and context although perhaps that would be missing the point.

3 The Bastard of Istanbul - Elif Shafak Well this was…different. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I really struggled with the writing style to start with, but soldiered on and eventually got interested in the characters, and I think overall I liked it. But there were plenty of negatives too so I’m a bit ambivalent about it.

The book is about a Turkish family of women in Istanbul - the main character plus her mum, lots of aunts, grandmother and great-grandmother, with no men in the house; and an Armenian-American girl who wants to find out more about her family’s history including the terrible treatment of the Armenians at the hands of the Turks in the early 20th century. The female relationships are the best thing about the book, and there are some funny moments; on the other hand, some of the characters and plot are a bit unbelievable, and I wasn’t keen on the magical stuff. It was good to learn a bit about a part of history I had never come across before, but I feel like someone with Armenian or Turkish heritage would get a lot more out of the book than I did.

I’d be interested to know what others have thought about this book, if anyone has read it!

1. A rule against murder by Louise Penny
Inspector Gamache investigates a murder that happens in an isolated hotel that he happens to be staying in near Three Pines. There is a family reunion at the hotel.

I quite enjoyed this. I see what the poster means that she is too besotted with her detective and he can do no wrong. The food descriptions continue to be great and I love learning about Québec. Will continue with this series but not straightaway.
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@TattiePants My favourite Atkinson is Human Croquet - I like most of her books, but the earlier ones are so much better in my opinion. Started to go downhill with Emotionally Weird and I hated Transcription. I have re-read Human Croquet more times than I care to remember!

First book was The Born to Travel Collection, by Jules Brown, a compilation of short travel pieces. Nothing to set the Tiber on fire, but offers some January escapism.

Also on travel, but more demanding, is Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk. I'm halfway through and confused - I understand the short essays on her moments in transit, but what's happening with the story of the man whose wife and child disappeared while on holiday? What's the relevance of the seventeenth century Dutch anatomist who dissected his own leg (after it was amputated for medical reasons)? It's a bit of a leap up the literary scale from my first read, and I only ever claimed to be middlebrow [cries].

Just finished my second book of the year, and the first after a long succession of Agatha Christies (17 books, all I've read since August except listening to Mantel Pieces on Audible):

2. Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively
This is the story of a woman's memories of her life as she lies dying in her hospital bed. I really enjoyed it, and wonder why it took me so long to get round to it. It was poignant but not mawkish, there were some lovely, vivid descriptions of places which took me right there, and even a few lines about how we feel differently about things at different stages of our lives which I read coincidentally just after I'd read the discussion about re-reads and perception on this thread.

For the record, I quite like Ian McEwan and have read and enjoyed a few of his books over the years. I don't mind the feeling of distance he creates, I rather like it. Also, I liked ROTD a lot, much more than NLMG, but haven't read any other Ishiguros although I do have several on my shelves waiting TBR.

This thread seems only to be adding to my book wish list, but it has encouraged me to an read actual book rather than doom-scrolling at lunchtime so that is a habit I hope to keep up.

I picked it up for the brilliant title, but hated the writing style and DNF. Well done for persevering!

@BigMadAdrian glad it’s not just me! It did get less annoying as it went on but I don’t think you missed out on anything much by not finishing!

@BoldFearlessGirl I started the Lighthouse Witches last night on the Kindle. I almost abandoned after the first two pages as it felt like the author was trying to use a thesaurus to find longer adjectives than perfectly adequate ones. That seemed to stop though and I raced through about a quarter of it.

@ClaphamSouth I received Moon Tiger for Christmas so looking forward to reading it after your review. I saw it recommended somewhere and didn’t realise it was as old or was a previous Booker winner - no idea how it had passed me by for so long.

Book #3 complete. Miriam Margolyes This much is true I love Miriam so was keen to read this and it's mostly enjoyable and interesting and you can hear her voice throughout. That said it's very luvvie with constant thanking and paying respect to other actors, it jumps around a lot and is repetitive in places and she talks about sucking off random blokes far too much. Glad I read it. Wouldn't read again

I read The Lighthouse Witches when we were in Cornwall during October half term - obviously Scotland would have been better, but I did enjoy reading it at a moody time of year by the sea. I ended up being a bit disappointed - I didn't like the direction it ended up going in and preferred the, more plausible, Wicker Man vibe that it started out with.

@TimeforaGandT I found Old Filth a bit of a slow burn but a book that's stayed with me for a long time. I'd picked up the whole trilogy in the Oxfam bookshop so went on to read the other two volumes; essentially the same time period told from the point of view of the other main characters. You learn a lot more about what was really going on. I enjoyed the second very much, however by the time I got to the end of the third I felt the bones of the story had truly been picked clean!

@StitchesInTime I agreee that The World I Fell Out Of is excellent. Melanie Reid is very honest in her account of the frustrations as she works to adapt to such a massive life changing event. It's a couple of years since I read it but I remember her talking about issues like incontinence, and losing your sex life, and thinking that this is important stuff that is rarely discussed. And yet it's not a depressing book; there is humour in there too. And for those of us who are lucky enough to move around easily and without pain it reminds you - not in a mawkish way - not to take such freedom for granted. I used to follow her column in the Saturday Times and the book is also well worth a read.

@SolInvictus it does have overwritten moments, but they are fleeting (or ephemeral wisps of amaranth discourse, if you’re the author ).
@BigMadAdrian I would have been happy with the Changeling tack it was on, but it’s a good enough yarn for a January evening.

From recollection, The World I Fell Out Of is the only book on here that's had unanimous praise from everyone who's read it.

Oh excellent - go for it, I thoroughly recommend!

I've also just spent far too long (unsuccessfully) trying to find out when the first Costa coffee shop opened in Glasgow as it jarred with me that in 1983 she found out she was pregnant in the toilet of a Costa. Hmm. Surely it was more likely to have been a Wimpy?

3/50 The School at the Chalet - Elinor M Brent-Dyer

This was a wee quick read yesterday. I read lots of Chalet School books when I was younger, but I didnt read this one, which is the first book in the series.

Madge Bettany sets up a school in Austria as its cheaper than England and good for her sister Jo's health. I'm finding Jo's hero worshipping of Napoleon a bit odd, but hey ho. I'll be reading the rest of the series as a bit a light reading in between the other books.

Absolutely! I think even the first McDonalds in Scotland wasnt until 1986? Cetainly not Costa. Possibly an Italian coffee shop like Eusebi's?

Just found this thread

I've 3 on the go the new Richard Osman - The Bullet that Missed, a Robert Galbraith - Troubled Blood and a Kindle freebie DI Jack Knox Mysteries by Robert McNeill.

I tend to have 3 or more on the go because I have a low attention span!

Just finished a couple of books that I started in 2022.

4 My grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry by Fredrick Backman. Elsa's grandmother dies and sets her the task of delivering letters of apology to those she has wronged, during which Elsa finds out more about her grandmother, her parents, her neighbours and herself and the threads that bind them all together.

I expected to like this a lot more than I did, as Ove, Britt-Marie and the Beartown books are some of my favourites but I found the Land of Almost Asleep aspects really quite hard to engage with. However, the quirky characters do touch your heart and I did enjoy the ending.

5 The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern. Sabrina's father has suffered a stroke which has affected his memory and he's now living in a long term care facility. She receives some boxes of his belongings which have been in storage and finds out that he has a marble collection and two pieces are missing. Whilst trying to find out what happened to the missing pieces, she uncovers a whole side of her father's life that she knew nothing about.

A beautiful heart-warming tale. I really enjoyed this; particularly the parts around Fergus' childhood and his relationship with his brothers.

6 I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. I listened to this on Audible. The book details Michelle's exhaustive search to find the Golden State Killer (aka East Area Rapist/Original Nightstalker). It's a great piece of investigative journalism; however, for me the real story is around Michelle herself. She put so much of herself into this, and sadly passed away before the book was completed, and two years before the GSK was finally captured. As her late husband Patton Oswalt said upon the GSK's arrest - 'I think you got him, Michelle'.

Finished my first book of the year, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing by Mary Paulson- Ellis. She has written three novels on the connected theme of Inheritance and identity, with some characters appearing in every book. I haven't read them in sequence but it doesn't matter. This one focuses on the eponymous Solomon who is an heir hunter and also overweight , lonely and miserable. There are several time frames and lots of characters with symbolic names which are easily confused! One of the stories is set in WWI and a traumatic truth unravels. The other main narrative is set in 2016 with mentions of change and choices re referendums, gambling yes or no being a recurring motif. I enjoyed the book because it includes themes I gravitate towards, is set in Scotland , and she writes well. It is, however, very intense and confusing even with family trees!

She doesn't ever write in the present tense though!

Off to make a list for my 2023 random number generator!

No McDonald's in Glasgow until 1988.I used to go to The Wimpy for a milkshake.

I honestly think I first went to a Costa after 2000.

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The first McDonalds in Glasgow didnt open until 1988?! I remember in (what I think was) the late 80s going into Glasgow with my DF on Saturday afternoons and walking past the Trongate McDonalds hoping we would go in. We wouldn't 99% of the time so it was a real treat when we did! Can't remember when the first Costa popped up tbh, think it's one of these places that just appeared and exploded overnight.

I've almost completed Halloween Party by Agatha Christie but I think I'll watch the David Suchet adaptation this evening before I finish it as it's always better to watch the tv version when you have no idea (or can't remember!) whodunnit.

How many books do you all have on your wishlist or TBR pile? My wishlist is up to about 650 now, it's going to take me about a decade to get through them all, assuming not many DNFs. Most are ones I'll likely need to get from the library, only about 70 or 80 are actually on my bookshelf or on my kindle.