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 I did think that too - something similar to Brandon Sanderson taking on The Wheel of Time series? (another 'epic' I'm planning to get properly into at some point)

Tayto I agree that Shrines of Gaiety was a confusing read. It's one of those I wondered what the point was by the end of, because it didn't really go anywhere and wasn't very satisfying.

Demon Copperhead it's very good, but I wouldn't rave. It's too long. Sadly I think it probably will win all the prizes, but I'm not convinced it deserves to.

Maame - Jessica George
20 something Maddie had lived a fairly sheltered life as the primary carer for her father with Parkinson's. Her overbearing mother returns from her native Ghana which gives Maddie the freedom to move out and start navigating London life as a young woman, but not everything goes to plan.

The obvious comparison for this is Queenie as it follows a young black woman straddling 2 cultures but it has a very different feel. You can't help but root for Maddie as she tries online dating, deals with a crazy boss, family and difficult flat mates. It deals with some difficult topics with a light touch. It draws a lot on the author's own experiences. I really liked this, it's a strong debut. Not for those who don't do feelings.

I've just finished The Reading list. I enjoyed itthe premise was good. But I thought it dragged a bit 3/4 of the way through. Nothing much really seemed to progress. But glad I got to the end. Now reading Girl Forgotten by Karin Slaughter. It's a standalone from her Grant Country and Will Trent series. Just getting into it so hoping it's gripping!

Just checking in and catching up on recommendations and chat.

I think I’ll give Demon Copperhead a go -
debating whether to use an audible credit or wait for it to be available from the library either paper version of through Borrowbox.

I like the sound of Maame too, thanks @FortunaMajor

I’ll also get to Shrines of Gaiety at some point as KA is definitely one of my favourite authors, but none of the reviews I’ve read have made me feel the need to rush!

May have been me who mentioned Mhairi Macfarlane @MamaNewtNewt - glad it hit the spot! I enjoyed that one when I read it last year I think.

I’ve finally finished How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen - Joanna Faber and Julie King which I started absolutely ages ago. Some good advice which was mostly stuff I already knew/ had come across but still forget to do most of the time. I could have done with just the one page ‘reminders’ section from the end of each chapter without a lot of the anecdotes in between but I suppose that wouldn’t have been much of a book!

I’m also currently enjoying Adam Buxton’s Ramble Book at bedtimes at the moment - struggling with sleep a bit so I like to have something to listen to. Really is a ramble in my case as I tend to doze off, rewind a bit, go back to the beginnings of chapters because I can’t remember where I was up to etc. None of which really matters as it’s all quite chatty and anecdotal anyway.

Also have started Starlight by Stella Gibbons thanks to the recent chat about CCF/ her other work.

@coolmum123 I believe it was me who recommended that. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I agree with you it does drag a bit towards the end, but it's a lovely story and I loved the friendship between the two main characters. I've pre ordered Sara Nisha Adam's second novel, 'The Twilight Garden,' which is out this July.

I'm loving You, which I'm both reading and watching on Netflix at the moment. The story is gripping and the writing is brilliant.

@AliasGrape I've pre ordered Maame as well 👍

And @MamaNewtNewt, I've read 'Last night.' And loved it!

7/50 - The Long Walk - Stephen King/Richard Bachman
DH is still grumpy that I am classing each of these as a full book for my count :D
The Long Walk was as good as I remembered from my previous read a long time ago. I enjoyed it, definitely need to read something a bit light-hearted now!
**
**

@InTheCludgie dh has long held the belief that grrm will pass away before completing the series. He refuses to start reading the books for this very reason. It's a morbid thought but unfortunately I think quite likely

I've added Maame to the ever growing wish list too.

Just finished State of Terror by Louise Penny & Hillary Clinton. This was ok but nothing special really. It has a few references to Penny's Three Pines world and a good central relationship between the secretary of state and her best friend (based on Hillary's own best friend). A couple of plot points didn't ring true - like why the president would make someone he loathed SoS, and the SoS taking her daughter on state visits, as well as taking AF3 and going rogue.

I also got to Waterstones to spend my book token. Most of the potential Woman's Prize ones were still in hardback, but am very happy with my stack.

@Stokey Great haul. I have the Doerr in my TBR pile and read Love Marriage by Monica Ali last year and liked it. Miller's valley and The Colony sound great - gone on my Wishlist, two writers I've not come across before.

@InTheCludgie yes I can see the potential for multiple rereads in the Strike series. They do feel wonderfully refreshing. Just the right balance of clues and misdirection, so you don't get the ending too early but you feel like you could/should have got there sooner.

Talking of series that may never get finished my bugbear is the name of the wind - I loved book one and two but it feels like he's having trouble trying to pull it all together.

@ICrunchCrispsNotNumbers yes it was 😊 thanks for the recommendation. It was a lovely story I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Wembley too which are very accurate as we used to live there and go to the library mentioned in there. It really did close down but is now a community run library.

Just finished The Windows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Mistry. Parveen Mistry becomes the first female lawyer in Bombay working for her father's firm in 1920s India. She is restricted in the cases she can take on, but is able to take on a case interacting directly with three widows and their inheritance when a murder takes place and she begins investigating alongside the police.

This is a time split novel which looks at Parveen's personal life and her married life, leading to her separation.

A bit slow in places. I liked the book and will look at others in the series.

Would you say Name of the Wind is still worth reading despite being unlikely to be finished? I have the first book as I heard great things, but I haven't started it yet as I'm a bit worried about being left on a cliffhanger after book 2!

I've also read all of the GoT books and get really frustrated with GRRM's hollow promises about finishing the series. I just need a better ending than the TV series!

@Panda89 Hmm that's a great question I would say the answer depends on two factors 1) is fantasy, the whole swords, magic, prophesy, demonic creatures and wee bit of tragic romance your kind of thing in general

and 2) do you have the sort of mind that enjoys the vague ponderings of fan fic esque I wonder what happens next ...

If the answer to both of these is yes than I would absolutely recommend it, the story telling is of a kind of before and after progressing narrative, so even if he never finishes it it is still (sort of) all there it's just a bit vague and lacking in detail of exactly how the world went from a to b

If you're one yes one no I'd still say maybe start to read it as you've got it - but just see how you get on and if you're a couple of hundred pages in you're not feeling it just pass the book along to a charity shop or something.

Pros
genuinely novel and coherent magic system that simultaneously feels workaday, understood, predictable - the kind of thing that can be taught at a university AND ineffable, awe inspiring and mysterious - the kind of stuff of which tales are told and myths are built.

Places - feel real and really different, different places have different casts of characters who belong and fit in those places but would be almost unimaginably uncomfortable in other settings. The protagonist is almost unique in his ability to move between these different places 'fitting in' to each whilst somehow still remaining himself, just displaying a different facet of his personality. And even this ability to adapt and edit himself feels like a coherent and consistent element of his personality.

Characters and relationships - are rich, detailed and feel true and real.

Cons is as I said there is a before and after - the speed at which the then is catching up with the now it would take about 6 more books to complete the story and I'm not so sure Patrick Rothfuss is making as much progress as I'd like

Pros (simplified) if you can cope with an old man telling great tales of his youthful adventures without being explicitly told why he killed the King and started a war (they're called the Kingkiller chronicles so not really a spoiler) they're stories that are worth listening to.

@Panda89 it's my goto audiobook too so I've listened / read about two dozen times at this stage - and yeah I've some pretty clear (but vague) ideas on how the world went from a to b but I'd still love to read the (missing) book(s)

It may be worth adding that after the books required to catch the story upto the 'present day' it would still feel in need of a redemption arc to fix the world. So PR certainly wrote some big cheques in the scale of the narrative.

Wow thank you for the comprehensive reply!
I am a huge fan of fantasy, it's my go to genre, I'm a big Brandon Sanderson fan but I find him a little too clean/straight laced at times. I love a well built fantasy world with unique magic, characters and creatures.

So I think I would definitely answer yes yes to your points, I'll get it on my physical TBR for this year.

Also he's finished book 3 and it's due to be released this year so hope remains

😀sorry I kinda geeked out a bit at you there - good to find a kindred spirit

I'm onto the inaugural meeting of the fairvale ladies book club and really liking it.
Just finished malibu rising and really liked that one.

22. French Braid by Anne Tyler

So if you are familiar with Anne Tyler you know the score, Americana portraits of individual characters or families over generations, light on plot.

This, about The Garretts is not her finest, the title is an odd choice too, and as we speculated on thread might be the case for a long time in 2020, the pandemic gets shoehorned in needlessly.

I wonder if down the line we will see such titles as Bright Skies Over The Singletons Covid Ward or Stars Align At The Booster Jab Walk In Centre

I digress. Meh. I won't remember this.

14. An Eye for an Eye by Carol Wyer Pretty sure this was an Amazon first reads freebie too, it feels good to get some of these cleared off the tbr. First in a new police procedural series following DI Kate Young. Kate is off work on extended leave following a traumatic case but she's called back in when a local prominent businessman is found brutally murdered. He's a personal friend of Kate's superior, who claims Kate is the only person he trusts to find his friend's killer.

There were two twists in this book and I worked them both out extremely early. I had a full knowledge of whodunnit at the 80% mark and almost stopped reading as it seemed pointless. I did carry on to the end but didn't find out anything new at all. Unfortunately Wyver is not as clever or subtle as she thinks she is and signposts her answers so blatantly it's all a bit disappointing

Also the opposite gripe to Eine in that the events of this book take place in January, March and June of 2021 yet there is NO reference to covid or any lockdown restrictions at any point. No one wears masks or social distances and everyone is continuing with their normal lives, including social events and holidays abroad. I feel like you don't have to state the year that events take place when writing books, just the month would do. So why make a point of putting the year at the beginning of every chapter yet completely ignoring something like lockdown!

@SapatSea Miller's Valley was recommended by a friend - reviews compare it to Elizabeth Strout so am hopeful. The Colony was recommended on here last year.

10. Cat Brushing - Jane Campbell. This was a debut collection of short stories written by an 80 year old, and all featuring different old women as their main characters. I love people who get their first book published later in life as it gives me hope! In an interview, Campbell says that old women in literature tend to either be cosy grandmas baking and knitting or eccentric "when I'm old, I'll wear purple" types. Campbell's women certainly don't fit into either of those categories, they are acerbic, brittle, intelligent, lustful and raging against the dying light. A couple of reviews on Good Reads criticise them for not being optimistic, but for me this misses the point. The first story starts "The lust of an old man is disgusting but the lust of an old woman is worse". The stories cover passion, death, suicide, murder and a couple of speculative technology. I thought the characters were very well written and the stories have some amazing lines. In the eponymous Cat Brushing, where the narrator identifies with her son's ageing cat, she says "Ageing is often represented as an accumulation of disease, of discomfort, of wrinkles, but it is really a dispossession of rights, of respect, of desire, of all those things you once so casually owned and enjoyed." She goes on to say "Once I was loved and feared... Now I am loved, I suppose, but also expected to be sweet and fluffy. And quiet. What a fate".

Anyway I thought it was great to read something so original from a viewpoint that is so often overlooked. I'd recommend this.