50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Two

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second thread of the 50 Books 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, it’s not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The first thread of the year is here.

What are you reading?

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit great point that it's in the deals right now. I've had it a while, I caught it on an earlier daily deal, but if it makes you feel better I really thought it was a very good book and worth spending money on!

@FortunaMajor I think you were talking about pre-reading some potential Woman's Prize books? I've just been given a £50 book voucher so thought that may be a good thing to spend it on if you have any recommendations.

1. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche.

I've very late to the party on this one and actually thought I'd read it but I think it came out in 2013 when I was dealing with never sleeping DD2, so was only reading easy page turners.

It's about Ifemelu who moves from Nigeria to the US for college and then later back to Nigeria. A lot of the story is told in flashbacks, around her first boyfriend in Lagos and then 2 boyfriends in the US. She starts a blog in the US about what it is like to be a non-American black.

I thought this was a great read, well written and engaging with vivid descriptions about Nigeria and America without being overly preachy. It definitely made me more aware of a lot of issues I will never have to experience as someone who appears white.

No pressure Stokey

The only ones that have stood out so far are Trespasses - Louise Kennedy which was excellent and I quite liked The Book of Goose - Yiyun Li.

I've also read
Best of Friends - Kamila Shamsie
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell
Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson
Hester - Laurie Lico Albanese
The Whalebone Theatre - Joanna Quinn
Lapvona - Ottessa Moshfegh
The Furrows - Namwali Serpell
The Birdcatcher - Gayl Jones

None have been anything particularly special (and are also not terrible) but I am notoriously unimpressed by anything.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
I liked this, but don't think it's prizeworthy.

I'm 25% into Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver which has pitched itself as the US answer to David Copperfield. Dickens it isn't, but fairly compelling so far.

I've still got the following to go
Lucy By The Sea - Elizabeth Strout
Babel - RF Kuang
Ithaca - Claire North
The Rabbit Hutch - Tess Gunty
Memphis - Tara Stringfellow
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Vanfelt
The Swimmers - Julie Otsuka
The Candy House - Jennifer Egan

I'll be interested to see what the actual list is, because last year's was nothing like predicted.

It's 7th March for the Longlist announcement, so not that long to wait.

Your Women's Prize reviews are a public service @FortunaMajor! I have Trespasses on reserve at the library.

Thanks for that list @FortunaMajor - I have a few of those on my shelves but haven’t read any of them yet- maybe I should try to get through a few before the longlist is announced. I love the sound of Trespasses and as someone from Northern Ireland I have high hopes for it.

Thanks @Fortuna I'm going to disregard Namwalu Serpell, Ottessa Moshfegh and Claire North as didn't like other stuff they've done. And will probably read the Kate Atkinson for the same reason. My dislike of Dickens makes me unsure about the Barbara Kingsolver but I'm sure she'll make the list.

There's quite a few on there I haven't heard of though, so plenty to go along with.

Am also thinking there are a couple of books from the Booker list last year that were well-reviewed that I never read - The Colony & The Map of Our Spectacular Bodies - so may pick up those.

The Colony was one of my top reads last year and I also highly rated Spectacular Bods

Anything I've already read that makes the list, I will make an effort to review properly.

The only other thing I've read recently that I have been particularly impressed by is Wearing My Mother's Heart - Sophia Thakur. I usually hate poetry, but the audio of this was really good.

I've read little Dickens, and not David Copperfield, but I thought Demon Copperhead was a masterpiece. I wouldn't say it was pitched as 'the US answer to David Copperfield'; it's more a reworking of it, which is a bit different IMO. I'd also say it absolutely stands on its own, though, whether or not you know or like David Copperfield. I found the social milieu it takes place in utterly fascinating and fresh and the narrator's voice funny, knowing, naive, infuriating, admirable, loveable and many more things besides. Kingsolver's anger at the social inequities it depicts is obviously something she shares with Dickens, and it's palpable, but it never gets dogmatic; we are made aware of everything in an organic way through character, voice and action.
This is another one I bang on about, I know, but I'm not apologising ; I think it deserves all the prizes and all the readers.

Book 8 Bring up The Bodies, Hilary Mantel followed alll your advice and dives straight in. Whoever said it was packed than Wolf Hall was right the story moved on at pace. I thought the first half was better than Wolf Hall, the second half not as good, perhaps it was the rush to finish or a clever comparison between the slow removal of Katherine and the rapid removal of Anne reflected in the pace of the writing. The Mirror and the Light is next!

Carrie Soto Is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid
20 times a tennis grand slam winner, greatest of all time, Carrie Soto, makes a come back seven years after retirement when a younger rival equals her record.
Possibly not one for non tennis fans (I was obsessed as a teenager though not so much now) but there’s also the focus on father-daughter relationships, female friendship and rivalry and a love story to keep the interest.
I absolutely loved it.

Just finished book 7, Murder in Mesopotamia, by Agatha Christie. One of the Poirots and narrated by one of the characters who is acting as his assistant. I thought this was quite a successful version of the Captain Hastings role, though not a buffoon like him. A woman accompanies her archaeologist husband on a dig and is killed in baffling circumstances; Poirot is brought in to solve it. Apparently he was on his way to catch the Orient Express at the end! I must say I've never thought about reading them in order and had to read the Caribbean Mystery after Nemesis because of all the references to it!

I know Christie accompanied her second husband on archaeological digs and the references to how these things work seemed quite plausible though not overdone, they weren't shoehorned in but I definitely got the impression she knew what she was talking about. However, I haven't checked and it may be she wrote this before she married him and I'm only imagining the authenticity

11. The Quantum Curators and the Missing Codex by Eva St John

The third in the series and Gods or quantum anomalies (depending on who you ask) are causing trouble on Alpha Earth. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first two in the series but it was good fun.

12. The Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham

I love John Wyndham, and am working through his books on audible, most of which are free as part of the audible plus catalogue. This one has an interesting central concept, a lichen is discovered which can prolong expected lifespans. I just don’t think the impact of the lichen, or the after-effects on society and individuals was explored anywhere near enough. A bit of a missed opportunity. I seem to recall someone (pretty sure it was @EineReiseDurchDieZeit ) listened to this last year and wasn’t that impressed either.

@ClaphamSouth I believe Agatha Christie met her second husband on an archaeological dig so she knew about them before they got married.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage goodness! Depends what you liked about Gaudy Night. My favourite DLS is Murder Must Advertise, but purely because of the jokes about office life (eternal) and the specifics of the advertising trade in the 30s - all very authentic. If it was Harriet Vane you liked most, then maybe work backwards with Have his Carcase, which is terrifically creepy and atmospheric, and then Strong Poison. She does always seem to get really bored with the crimes though.

Hey @MamaNewtNewt - yes it was me. I find John Wyndham such a great writer but Lichen was total cack. A lesson in how not to write an intelligent female character, with seemingly no ideas as to what a real intelligent woman would do.

8 Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay. This is Gay's memoir about being morbidly obese - why she became so big, and what it's like to live as a larger lady. This is an important subject and she was brave to write it so I feel mean to criticise, but it did start to get a bit repetitive after a while.

9 Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin. I had never read this before, although I remember seeing some of the series on TV back in the late 1980s. Humorous, nostalgic and enjoyable. Some interesting bits particularly from reading it so many years after the event - at one point he asks a man in China whether he thinks there will be free elections within 10 years and the man says "yes" (this was 35 years ago). Also funny that when he was in Japan, Palin felt he had to explain the meaning of karaoke and sushi. And at one point he refers to a "lady barrister"!

10 The Fell by Sarah Moss. I absolutely love Sarah Moss but I didn't like this one at all. I don't think it was the style that was the problem for me (as mentioned by @Palegreenstars upthread), but just the subject. It turns out I really don't want to read about lockdown!

Thank you JaninaDuszejko, I didn't know that. I have two books about her life (the recent Lucy Worsley one and an autobiographical one of her memories from archaeological digs), it looks like I actually need to read them!

19. My Life In Orange by Tim Guest

This was discussed/recommended on thread last year. Can't remember offhand who I spoke to about it

A memoir of the authors time being dragged up brought up in a cult environment after his mother falls under the sway of spiritual guru Bhagwan Rajneesh.

Obviously there is a biggest story in play about the cult which I believe was the topic of a Netflix series, but this is very much one child's experience up until around age 10.

Because of this, my main reaction and focus was the sheer anger I felt at the selfishness, ineptitude and emotional cruelty inflicted on him by both parents. I'm judging away but I genuinely found them sickening.

Though he had the kind of freedoms children can long for, it is pure neglect and a very sad childhood indeed.

Worth a look if you are interested in these sort of themes.

Just wanted to thank you I have just bought Notes on an execution I will have to live to 200 to finish all the books I have bought

@PermanentTemporary thank you! I will look out for those as a starting point .

@MarkWithaC thanks for your suggestion to try Sarah Moss again, I have Nightwaking so I’m sure I’ll get to that and some point.

I’ve currently reading Becky by Sarah May which supposedly takes Vanity Fair’s Ms Sharp and moves her to 90s tabloid England. So far not seeing the comparison except in clunky ways, but I’m enjoying it and anticipating it getting sensational.

I'm late to the party on this topic, but I have to say: Coldplay is shit. It's a very good RL example of what happens when teetotaler, totally sober people who say "No" to drugs try to write and perform rock music.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - Another thing we agree on

4.. The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick

Whoa! This was excellent

I had a rather long period of PKD obsession that lasted a good few years, where I thought I had read all of his worthy books and many of the ones he wrote after his brain was addled by too many drugs and he spoke to God. This one has somehow slipped the net.

A global war has left the surface of the Earth toxic and so humans are living in subterranean tanks in cramped and desolate conditions, producing robots for the war effort and barely surviving. Those who dig and climb to the surface never return. Then one day, the head of one of these tanks had to go to the surface to find an artificial organ to keep their only mechanic alive, so that their tank can live on.

Philip K Dick is at his absolute best in this novel, and his trademark brainhurty "What is real? What is an illusion that they want us to believe?" pulls the rug under from reader more than once. His carefully crafted Catch-22s and even the occasional time travel marks a great PKD novel, up there with A Scanner Darkly, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, and Martian Time-Slip which was and is still the best and the most brainhurty time travel book ever written.

Recommended.

@CoteDAzur perfect description of Coldplay 😬