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?

Adding to the good wishes and welcome home to @FortunaMajor .

I shall read Spare sooner or later.
One of my MN alter egos rather enjoys poking sticks at the obsessed loons scattergunning MN at the moment. (And they have succeeded into turning me into much more of a royalist than I thought I'd ever be, just to be different to and distanced from their utterly batshit insanity)

It's been really popular on here, as sad as it is it's so well done

I’m sure Spare will turn up on our staffroom book swap shelves at some point and I won’t rule out having a whizz through it, perhaps……
Not a fan of ghostwritten books generally.

I'm another who will wait for Prince Haz' misery fest to flood the charity shops, no way can I spare the £28 RRP

My first two reads of the year...
1. Someone We Know by Shari Lapena
Suburban Mum discovers that her teenage son has been sneaking into houses in their neighbourhood. He hasn't stolen anything, but has been practising his hacking skills on their computers. If you were this mum, what would you do? Around the same time, a woman who lived locally is reported missing, and is later found dead. It seems like everyone in the area has secrets, but who is the murderer?
I watched the first few series of Desperate Housewives and the setting and tone of this novel reminded me of that...I thought at first it was just the audiobook narrator's voice but came to think it was the writing too. An okay premise but a fairly forgettable read overall.
2. Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson
Having read Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? in December, it felt great to stay with author for this absolute treat of a book. Twelve short stories with connections to Christmas, interspersed with seasonal recipes shared with humour and anecdotes about the author's friends and family and Christmases past. The humour carries across into the stories. They often have a magical or supernatural element, not what I would usually pick up in novel form but I loved these short stories, even the ghosty ones! I got this from the library and would happily now buy a copy to keep and dip into around Christmas every year. (Didn't finish it in December but on Twelfth Night which was appropriate as that is when Winterson closes the book).
Currently in the final quarter of H Is For Hawk and halfway through The River King by Alice Hoffman.

Same, might be a few months wait as I'm number 64 in the queue but that's fine with me, not in a massive rush to read it tbh.

I have caught up! Hooray!

I was so annoyed at the page repeatedly crashing and reloading.

i will share my list again:

1. Mythos - Stephen Fry
2. Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan
3. Rizzio - Denise Mina
4. Hex - Jenni Fagan
5. A Thousand Ships - Natalie Hayes
6. Foster - Claire Keegan

I have mentioned 1-4 already and I am delighted to see to many people pick up Hex as I think it was wonderful.

A Thousand Ships is a retelling of the Trojan war from the perspective of the women. It alternates between penelope, calliope, Cassandra etc and gives their own story. I have read Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls and while this is similar I would say it wasn’t as good but still very enjoyable. I do like a Greek Myth and have read a number of books on the topic. I am not sure how much sense this would have made had I not done so. Enjoyable for the most part, moving at points and generally pretty good.

2023 seems to be the year of the Novella for me. I saw Foster mentioned on here and thought I would give it a go. I was very glad I did. A small girl who remains unnamed throughout finds herself fostered out to distant family friends over summer while her mum prepares for the birth of another child. Set in Northern Ireland in an unclear decade (maybe the 70s) ot manages to set a scene without swamping in detail. Read in an hour while waiting for swimming lessons to finish I found it moving and very well written.

I have downloaded the audio book of the World I Fell Out Of for my commute and I am pondering my next read. I have the first Ambrose Parry but was also wondering about The 5: the Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

#10. A light in the dark - Horatio Clare. A journal of the author’s winter depression. I read this because I suffer badly with SAD but was underwhelmed by it and just didn’t gel with it. Overly fluffy writing but he is a creative writing lecturer
#11. Death at the auction - EC Bateman. A murder story set in a nearby town, the reason I read it. Flimsy story, fluffy writing, caricature characters, could well be the result of a creative writing class from the above Mr Clare
#12. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald. Oh my. Listened to this on Audible. An utter delight. Didn’t expect to enjoy it but I did and I can’t stop thinking about the story. Started watching the 2013 film adaptation this morning and, so far, it’s stunningly beautiful (only about 20 minutes in though). I now want to read the actual book again

@Passmethecrisps The Five is an excellent book. A rich social history and a really good attempt to give the women their stories back.

@FortunaMajor , welcome back, and I’m so sorry to hear of your near-death experience. That sounds like a trauma in the purest sense of the word. I love your reviews and especially your Women’s Prize reviews.

I have been horribly tempted to buy Spare as it’s half price at Amazon and Waterstone’s! I almost bought it at Blackwells today (Blackwells, my local bookshop, is now owned by Waterstones). But I don’t think I can bear to spend the money on it. I reserved it at my county library branch and I am literally number 100 in the queue. Ha! I have a lot of sympathy for Harry and Meghan, but I agree with the standard Guardian take, which is that the monarchy is an abominable institution. And H and M are happy to criticise the monarchy but aren’t willing to go so far as questioning the legitimacy of the whole institution.

1. Canterbury Tales, Chaucer 5/5
   I started this in the summer but only just finished it now. I mostly read the prose and verse translations by David Wright (which he did 20 years apart), but I had the Middle English on hand to glance at as well. Eventually I’d like to become more proficient at Chaucer’s Middle English. I loved this. I see now why medieval English studies is so dominated by Chaucer. I’ve spent much of my life reading medieval French literature (yes, I am niche! I am very niche!), so it was a curious experience to see how Chaucer embraced those texts and made them his own. A big difference between the Canterbury Tales and the tradition they draw upon is that Chaucer doesn’t limit himself in terms of genre. The Tales are amazingly hybrid: some are raunchy, some courtly, some religious. The narrators’ voices are always diverse. In this sense the Tales differ from other big premodern collections of stories I’ve read, like Boccaccio’s Decameron, where the register seems much more consistent across different stories. Chaucer is clearly extremely interested in women and gender and marriage, and I’m keen to read some of his earlier works.

2. Greenwitch, Susan Cooper 4/5
   I’m working my way through the Dark Is Rising series. I really liked the feminist emphasis in this one, where the women in Cornwall marshall female power. On the other hand, the character Will emerges as a bit bland.

3. The Beginning of Spring, Penelope Fitzgerald 5/5
   I read this on the recommendation of @Welshwabbit (I think?) in a previous 50-books thread. A gorgeous story that I devoured in one go. This is an excellent follow-on read from War and Peace. There’s even a (rather horrific) scene with a bear that is clearly a riff on Tolstoy. I don’t know how to summarise this book exactly, but such a vast world is evoked with so few words. It made me want to live in Russia. And the child characters are brilliant.

Btw, @GrannieMainland , I agree that The Colony by Audrey Magee wears its literariness on its sleeve, but it was one of my favourite books of last year. I gave it to my DH for Christmas as he is a big art lover and I thought he would enjoy the art theme, mingled with the colonial politics.

My book group is reading Foster by Claire Keegan next week, so I'll reread it. We're also thinking of having a film night when we watch The Quiet Girl, an Irish film based on the book. It has superb reviews.

I'm partway through Spare and <whispers> so far I think it's really well done.

Welcome back @FortunaMajor, that sounds terrifying. Glad to have you here.

10. Spare by Prince Harry, Duke Of Sussex (Audible)

I don't want to turn this thread into the Royal Family section but my take before this was that I felt that the press treatment of Harry and Meghan was absolutely deplorable and definitely racist. However I found their Oprah interview disingenuous at best.

It surprises me that the main story coming out of this is the fight with William. For me it's the fact that if you add together all the little anecdotes about Charles, he's a bit of a shit. Yes like many aristocrats he has the emotionally stunted boarding school male thing going on but, if Harry's claims about Charles persistently (even post Cambridge marriage) using and controlling them for favourable press coverage, both he and William, then he's a bad narcissist.

The pro here is the ghostwriter is excellent, he's done a good job.

The main con is that past a certain point (for me it was slightly after halfway) compassion fatigue sets in. There is no accusation too small no gripe too petty. He is so negative about everything all the time.

William had a better view in the nursery
William and Kate got their own letterhead and he wasn't married so he didn't have one
An equerry complained about him and The Queen didn't side with him.
He got the shit bedroom at Christmas
He was doing drugs and the press reported he was doing drugs
Charles would only pay for his suits so, shock horror, he was forced to shop in TK Maxx

There's also some weird shit about Meghan singing to seals and them using Diana's hair as a fertility totem.

Certain anecdotes made me feel that he as much as any Old Etonian has the arrogance and superiority going on. You kind of get the idea that he knows he can't call those he considers beneath him "Peasant Scum" but that he wants to.

There is also the frequently mentioned (in the press and on here) lack of self awareness, some of his assertions as well as his grievances are laughable and childish.

I remember the days when PH was considered the most likeable and relatable Royal, those days are long gone and he's torched them himself.

I think he will live to regret this. It was read by the author and I was exhausted by and bored of the sound of his voice by the end.

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

A couple live in a small house in the lush gardens of a large house. A cat,Cibi, begins to visit them on a daily basis. The husband does not care for cats but as we could all predict, Cibi soon has him arranging places for the cat'comfort.
On the face of it, that is the novel. But the book is full of treasures: dragonflies, frogs, beautiful flowers, trees, shrubs, small animals, and Cibi. All are richly described. All stimulate philosophising in the author. He examines the nature of change, of belonging, of attachment, of cats, of relationships - all with the lightest touch.
The book is not just for cat lovers!

Book 2

A Woman in Berlin by Anon

Fascinating diary of a woman in Berlin when the city falls to the Soviets in 1945. She writes well of the daily difficulties in getting food supplies, of the characters she lives in the basement with, of the Soviet troops who are savage in their cruelties and yet surprisingly kind sometimes, strikingly
intellectual.
This is reality for women caught up in war.

Oh no I'm being drawn into discussing Spare. I can't help myself.

Agree the ghost writer found a good tone of voice, it was quick and light and fun to read (mostly, I still skipped whole chapters about army manoeuvres)

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I've also been quite pro H+M in that I think they've dealt with a lot of unfair press coverage and should be able to live how they want, but I've ever been clear what their grievances are with the royal family and I'm still not, really.

The allegations about giving stories to the media are vague, and anything specific is very minor. William clearly didn't assault him because of a dispute over lipgloss. Things escalate so fast and so dramatically that I'm sure that there is lots left out.

It also becomes clear that absolutely nothing is Harry's fault which is tiring - from the racist language to the naked pool pictures to the current crisis with his family, someone else is always responsible (usually the 'paps')

Overall I mainly found it incredibly sad as despite years and years of therapy he is still utterly consumed by the loss of his mother. I lost a parent at a similar age so I found the sections on being a grieving child heartbreaking, but I was struck that he still views all his relationships with his family and wife through the lens of what happened to Diana.

There are no big revelations beyond what had already been briefed but I did enjoy picking up little titbits of royal life and marvelling at the immense privilege he lives in!

Oh I had not spotted it reviewed on here! I found the ending incredibly moving, I hope your DH liked it.

Glad to see you Fortuna, and sorry things have been tough.

I'm currently on book 3, At Bertram's Hotel, by Agatha Christie and am really enjoying Miss Marple taking a trip to London, buying reduced linens and reminiscing about her Edwardian girlhood. It's so hard to keep absent-minded clergymen from going missing and young girls from taking up with the most unsuitable men. Good fun.

Oh, I'm also down on a very long library list for Spare . How could you not be a narcissist, raised in the Royal Family? It is not a healthy way to be raised.

I’ve just finished book 4 on audio- A crown of Swords- Robert Jordan. It’s the seventh book in an epic fantasy series of 14 books. I’ve read them all before though many years ago and am enjoying this listen as a bit of nostalgia.
I’m now reading books 5, 6 and 7 which are
5 The Elements of Style- Strunk and White- I’m in the middle of editing my own first attempt at writing a book and am using this to see if there’s anything viral I haven’t considered.
6 Exiles by Jane Harper Aussie thriller- enjoyed most of her others, so hoping this one is good and
7 The Iliad- Homer- I’m listening to this one on audio.
My aim for this year was to diversify my reading more (book 1 was horror/ 2 was a classic and 3 was a short story) so I’m pleased that I’ve started as I mean to go on.

Wish Mumsnet had a filter that let me mute Prince Fucking Harry

The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald
Another Raymond Chandler style hard boiled crime novel, featuring Lew Archer. I really like his books, but this one had a few too many characters and coincidences for me. I guessed the killer too.

I'm with you Remus, I'm bored of it all, particularly all the threads about how amazing K&W are compared to M&H... They're all just people who are famous by virtue of birth and as uninteresting as each other - not a royalist as you can probably tell!

@SammyScrounge A woman in Berlin blew me away, so fascinating.

A Woman in Berlin definitely worth a read.

No more comment on The Family from me now, other than to say that I bet Rishi is loving the fact that it’s diverting the public gaze from his antics.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie couldn't agree more. I strongly recommend hiding the entire Royal Family section on here, if you haven’t done it already!