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?

Sorry, I need to correct something in my previous post about Rosie Loves Jack. Jack doesn't have DS. Only Rosie does. Rosie states in the book that Jack's 'Head got hurt when he was born, and that he gets angry, but it's not been explicitly stated what his disability is yet.

10 This Charming Man by *CK McDonnell.
I read the first Stranger Times book a while ago and thought it ok, with quite a lot of room for improvement, so I waited for the second one in the series to come down to £1.99 on Kindle. It’s a lot better! Although the humour is sometimes still a little forced, the characters are more developed and I love the inclusion of folklore figures such as Cogs, Ferry and John Mor (can’t work out what/who Margo is yet!).
It’s not up there with Pratchett, Fowler or Connolly for effortless, thoughtful spooky comedy, but it’s not bad.

6. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Another reread which probably doesn't need a review. I'm working my way through Jane Austen ATM and enjoying them a lot. I am now on Mansfield Park.

7. The Word is Murder - Anthony Horowitz

I enjoyed this. A twist on a classic murder mystery where he writes in the first person as the author. It was well done and I enjoyed the characterisation. Wasn't convinced by the ending but it didn't ruin the book

Love your DDs picture @Passmethecrisps !

11 Stories I Might Regret Telling You - Martha Wainwright

Had I not read this so close to Miki Berenyi’s outstandingly good memoir, I might have enjoyed this autobiography more - but where Fingers Crossed was unflinchingly raw and honest, this came across as a bit… shallow. Partly due to its length (barely over 200 pages to cover what must have been a rich and interesting life as part of a multi-generational folk family) - it felt to me like it dodged much real introspection and was just a surface level recounting of things that had happened, and as such I found it hard to warm or relate to her.

9. A Tale for the Time Being: Ruth Ozeki.

I had typed out a long review and much like the disappearing words in Nao's diary in this novel, in an instant, it disappeared off the page. sigh

So, a shorter review. Ruth, a novelist, lives on a remote island in British Colombia with her husband who is an environmental conservationist. One day she finds the diary of a Japanese girl, Nao, washed up on the shore and it seems to date back to 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami occurred in Northern Japan. Ruth is completely engrossed in reading the diary and hopes to find out what happened to the girl.

This is a hefty book that deals with the value that we place on time and on living our lives, how life is fleeting and precious. Ozeki is an enthusiastic and conscientious writer who delves into the philosophy of Zen Buddism, quantum physics and debates in the novel include ecology, geology, meteorology and marine biology. Footnotes and appendices abound. Nao's narrative is very compelling but deals with themes such as bullying, prostitution and suicide ideation which are sometimes difficult to read.

The story takes a fanciful turn into magical realism towards the end, which is unexpected, as up to then it was very factual and it leans on quantum physics and alternative time-lines to suggest the ending. If you like neat endings, you could find this unsatisfactory.

Overall, I thought this was an ambitious book. A good story, somewhat weighed down by big debates, but interesting and some parts were well drawn and memorable.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh

Time Being has been on my TBR since 2014

Thinking of making March a TBR Turfings month, so hopefully should do it soon

Let me know what you think of it Eine, if you get round to it!

I read Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow which I loved and went on to read his Rules of Civility.
Excellent and beautifully written. Set in '30s New York.
Katey Kontent is a believable and gripping narrator.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

The case in question was what appeared at the time (18 years ago) to be a satanic cult ritual from which a baby was rescued. The baby is about to turn 18 so journalists are sniffing around to try and uncover the real story. As with her previous novels this is told entirely through texts/WhatsApp messages and conversation transcripts, so if that annoys you this isn’t the book for you! I like it though, and I enjoyed this story although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as her previous books.

Exiles by Jane Harper

Another one that I enjoyed but not as much as her previous books. Here detective Aaron Falk investigated the case of a woman who disappeared from a town festival a year ago, and whether there’s any connection to a hit & run six years ago. This was good but the ending seemed to wrap everything up a bit suddenly.

16. Return to Fourwinds by Elisabeth Gifford This is a multi-timeline book which follows two couples, Peter & Patricia and Ralph & Alice. Peter & Patricia's daughter, Sarah, is due to marry Ralph & Alice's son, Nicky, at Ralph & Alice's country home of Fourwinds. Alice and Peter share a past, as Peter lived in Alice's childhood home as an evacuee during the first World war. The book jumps around between various timelines, following the main characters through their lives, looking into the experiences that shaped them. This book has been on my Kindle for years and I've never read it. I also didn't realise until I started reading that it's by the same author as Secrets of the Sea House which I read last month. It's an interesting look into life during the wars, especially for the working classes. The book meanders around a lot and I spent a lot of time wondering what the point of it was. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I think that might be a me problem as it's a well-written and interesting book. The title is a bit misleading as no one is "returning" to Fourwinds and the house is irrelevant to the story so I'm unsure why it features so prominently in the title

5. Hell Bent, by Leigh Bardugo. This is a follow up to the first in the trilogy, Ninth House, which I loved. Before starting on this book, I went back to read a summary of Ninth House and when you see it all crammed into a precis it really does sound fully bonkers. This, if anything, is even more bonkers, but I loved it, not least because now I understand the world building and have a better grasp of who's who. In this installment, our trusty heroes attempt to rescue their colleague Darlington from hell. It's jam-packed with plot, which is not normally my favourite type of writing, but this is so well done - she lays a carefully constructed trail and has tons of fun with myth, lore and magical objects. It's a ripping yarn, sometimes funny, sometimes full of grief - it made me cry at one point which is very rare. Hard to review without spoilers, but I can't wait for the next and presumably final part.

This may be my first DNF of the year. Can anyone convince me that it’s worth persevering with Austerlitz by WG Sebald? There are no paragraphs, no chapters (by personal bugbear), long rambling sentences and many detailed description of Belgian buildings. I’ve made it to page 70 but think it’s time to give up.

@TattiePants definitely give that a miss. It doesn't sound like a good read at all.

Don't give up! I love Sebald; he is somewhat of an aquired taste but I'd urge you to try and finish it and see what you think at the end.

acquired not aquired, obvs.

On paper it should be my kind of book. A man in his later years starts to remember things from his very early childhood and discovers he came to the UK on the Kindertransport and his foster parents then erased his identity. I’m just not sure I can read any more about Antwerp’s train station!

I’ve moved onto Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth but maybe I won’t consign it to the charity pile just yet!

24. Babel by R.F Kuang

This has been big on the socials of which I am somewhat sceptical due to the amount of trashy romance involved, but it was 99p in the deals at some stage so here we are.

Children are drawn from all over the world to be groomed as linguists for an alternate 19th Century Oxford/England. In this world England holds the majority share of silver ore and through ingenious matches between languages the silver can be imbued with magical properties.

Oxford University houses Babel, a translation institute which develops the silver and trains scholars.

Robin becomes one of the chosen to study at Babel alongside his cohort, Ramy, Letty and Victoire.

I mean the authors absolute love of Oxford, language, academia and etymology really shines through and I was really fascinated by the premise early doors. There's a shadowy underworld. I was into it.

At a certain point, the group visits China and this really was a turning point for me. After this, it stops being this academically imbued work and turns into a goodies vs baddies thing reminiscent of the third act of a Marvel film. It feels overblown, silly and a bit childish. There would have been an opportunity here to go for a dark and sinister ending over a heroic type one and I think this would have elevated it.

Final Third = Letdown. Syndrome

I agree Sebald is an acquired taste, @TattiePants - I love his books, but reading life is too short and I wouldn’t have too many qualms about moving on if you aren’t feeling it (plus, when I do this I often find myself going back to the book later, and really getting into it).

Hey @Southeastdweller - you're needed

I should perhaps have said encourage rather than urge!

1. Manifesto - Bernardine Evaristo. Short memoir from the author and lecturer, and she evokes the 70s and 80s she lived in really well. But her arrogance and lack of self-awareness meant this wasn't as emotionally engaging as it could have been.

1. With Nails - Richard E. Grant. 80s and 90s film diaries from the writer and director, a re-read for me, and just as entertaining as it was 20 years ago with just the right amounts of gossip, humour and pathos. This is a must read for anyone who loves reading other people's diaries or about film-making.

1. Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason. Pacy to begin with but increasingly I felt frustrated with the shallow characterisation of the main character and I have no idea why the author says - as she does at the end of this book - that she invented a mental illness for this novel. She deals with the 'illness' in the book with no understanding or depth. I thought some of the dialogue was witty but most of it unfunny. A poor and wildly overrated book, lazily written.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4741594-50-books-challenge-2023-part-three

@Southeastdweller I agree that using an unspecified, "made up" mental illness didn't work for me at all.