50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Three

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

That’s interesting, Sadik, out of curiosity I just looked up all those books and the only one they have is Hex (on loan). There are screeds of romance titles and thrillers and they’re obsessed with LGBTQ books, always prominently displayed on the front page. The history and biography section (which I’m interested in) isn’t that great at all.

I’m trying to walk for at least an hour every day and started listening to Queenie on BBC Sounds but it’s very abridged - think 3 hours instead of 9. Just investigated my local Borrowbox and whilst the selection is not brilliant (lots of romance here too), there’s enough to keep me interested for a couple of months.

I haven’t used the library in years so I’m in the process of joining then I’ll give it a try. There’ll definitely be no walking today as the wind is terrifying!

I looked up my loans on Borrowbox for last year. Seventeen books borrowed and read. Not bad. I have Trespasses and Still Life coming up in March and for some strange reason I have taken out Finnegan's Wake which looks like a whole pile of mumbo jumbo :) I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see a title I want turn up on Borrowbox.

Voyaging Out by Carolyn Trant I enjoyed this exploration of British women artists from suffrage to the sixties, some of whom I had heard of, such as Winifred Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, but many were unknown to me. It covered a wide range of artists which on the one hand was a strength because many had hitherto been sorely neglected, but on the other meant that it sometimes read rather like a catalogue. There was also one very obvious contradiction in the first chapter which should have been edited out and made me wonder if there were any more, less-obvious errors. That said, it was particularly good at highlighting the many difficulties faced by women artists as compared to their male counterparts and is well illustrated throughout. I'm lucky enough to live in London and was interested to see some of the artists mentioned in the new re-hanging at Tate Britain, eg Ethel Sands and Edna Clarke Hall. Recommended for those who like this sort of thing.

If people are disappointed by their local library service's online offerings, you can try joining in other areas. Some restrict borrowing ebooks to their area or want real proof of address. Borrowbox only allows you to use one library service on a device at a time. Some library services have far more on Overdrive/Libby than on Borrowbox - this includes my own borough and several of the neighbours, and Libby allows you to have several library cards logged on the app - there is a lot of overlap but some services have unique books.

Some libraries also allow you to make suggestions via the Libby app - no guarantees that they will buy the books you suggest, but I have had some success with this. And some of the books I've suggested have proved very popular, which I hope will encourage the staff choosing books to look at suggestions.

I returned the Sally Rooney As suspected it wasn’t for me. I can see why someone in their twenties might like it but it seemed like tedious drivel to me.

13 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

A sad couple of weeks chez Meg, as my dear MIL died - so this was just the ticket for some gently amusing listening. Some very dodgy British accents courtesy of regular Bryson narrator William Roberts though!

Meg. I always find Bill Bryson perfect when I need comforting.

Every library has a web address for their library so if you do have multiple Borrowbox accounts, you don't need to use the app to access them, you can use it via the website.

It's usually

Libraryname.borrowbox.com
Or
LibrarynameUK.borrowbox.com

For those.mentioning certain authors not being available, it depends on the publisher. Some will not allow digital library lending of their titles. Others have a 90 day restriction, so titles won't be available in digital libraries until 3 months after trade publication dates.

The other minefield is ebook vs audio, they are sometimes with different publishers for the same title so you get one medium available and not the other.

Meg

So sorry to hear that, Meg 💐

So sorry Meg. I am up to book 22 A Terrible kindness which I loved. I went to the physical library today and they had Demon Copperhead just sitting on the shelf so I have that, Prague Spring and Anxious People as my next few reads

Meg

Ah this is interesting. Because I recently couldn't use my phone for the app.and couldn't for the life of me get into it online

Meg

Book #9 Hilary Mantel The Mirror and the Light I enjoyed it, I don't think it was as good as Wolf Hall. I wasn't close enough to the history to know who brought him down and therefore was surprised and disappointed in some of the characters and their behaviour. It was a long old read but I don't think it could have been trimmer. I'm not sure I agree with her creation of the daughter as a character. Not sure it added anything for me

Sorry for your loss Meg

i just finished Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. This is basically 5 different narratives very loosely connected by a lost Greek text by Diogenes known as Cloud Cuckoo Land. In 15th century Constantinople we have Anna, a young girl who is living with nuns and teaches herself to read Greek, and discovers the fragments of the Diogenes book. At the same time, Omeir, a boy with a cleft palette and twin oxen is with the Sultan's army approaching the city. In the present, Zeno, an old man, is putting on a production of the text with 5 children in the local library. An autistic young man Seymour is planting a bomb in the library. We go into the back story of both of these. And in the future, Konstance is on a space ship going to colonize a new planet and writing bits of the text out.

I think this suffers from the same issue as most multiple narratives - there are too many and some are just not that interesting. They kind of come together in the end but not enough to warrant trudging through 500 odd pages of not much really. 3/5 at best for me, I was actually quite bored.

So sorry to hear you lost your dear MIL Meg 💐

Sorry for your loss Meg

Sorry to hear that @MegBusset Re-reads of favourite children’s books can also be very comforting.

11.Someone At A Distance - Dorothy Whipple
A very good read. See the dedicated thread for details.

12.Grey King - Susan Cooper
Fourth, and saddest, book in the superlative ‘Dark is Rising’ series.

13.The Tempest - William Shakespeare
Saw this at the RSC a couple of weeks ago, with Alex Kingston as Prospero.

14.Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble - Alexis Hall
Romance blossoms on a GBBO-esque baking show. The main character has anxiety and low self-esteem, and I found it more upsetting than I think the author intended.

15.The Seven Ages of Death - Richard Shepherd
Whereas I found this much less upsetting, despite the subject-matter: a forensic pathologist looks at some of his more interesting cases, grouped by the age of death. Obviously won’t appeal to everyone.

Sorry to hear of your loss Meg. I second comfort reads at such a difficult time.

Stokey, I received Cloud Cuckoo Land for Christmas but your review is not encouraging me to read it. A pity as I had high hopes having really enjoyed All the Light we cannot see.

I found it a lot slower and less gripping then Cromwell's downfall to be slightly rushed as if she was trying to get it over with; and like you, I wasn't sure what the introduction of the daughter was meant to convey. Probably that he should have stayed in Antwerp. 😄I assumed that the daughter was to link him with the Anabaptists and sectaries (as she referred to believing in the 'end times') and provide another handle for his enemies to bring him down.

@MegBusset so sorry to hear about your loss

@Meg ❤️💋

I've finished 'The Paris Library,' and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Currently reading 'The Best Days Of Our Lives.' By Lucy Diamond. It's a chic lit novel following a year in a life of a family following their sisters/daughters death. LD is one of my favourite authors so I'm hoping for a good read ❤️

Also reread 'Scorpia.' By Anthony Horowitz, in preparation for watching the third series of the tv show (which is going to be based on this novel) it was as brilliant as it was when I first read it ❤️