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.

I normally only lurk on this thread, but just wanted to commiserate with fellow overseas posters about how Brexit has really put a spanner in the works for those of us who used to buy books from the UK. I used to order a lot from AbeBooks but the customs duties would probably cost more than the books themselves now.

I used to have a Kindle Paperwhite, but replaced it with a Kindle Fire after I'd dropped it in the bath (I had an old one that wasn't waterproof) as I borrow a lot from the library and can read both Kindle and library e-books on it. The Paperwhite is definitely superior and I know there's a workaround, but I didn't want to risk buying one without being sure it would work so I went for the Fire.

I joined Oxfordshire libraries six or seven years ago as you could apply online and only needed to have a UK address for the library card to be posted to (I used my parents'). However, I've just checked and you now need to go into a library to complete the application and collect the card, so that's no longer an option if you're not nearby. I remember there were a few others I could have joined at the time, though - I wish I could remember where (I'm sure one was in London but that's very little help!).

Solihull and Kent look like they could be options, but I'm sure there are others too.

Seem to have come to a bit of a slump reading wise but so far

1. Courtiers - Valentine Low
2. Machiavelli - Patrick Boucheron
3. HIdden Hands - Mary Wellesley
4. The Anglo Saxons - Marc Morris
5. Vile Bodies - Evelyn Waugh
6. Revenge - Tom Bower
7. How To Stop Time - Matt Haig

DNF - Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. Set in 18 London, war hero Harry Corsham discovers that his passionately abolitionist friend has been murdered for being apparently in possession of a secret that will cause irreparable damage to the slaving industry. Every cliche about the 18c - bad teeth, tarts with a heart, squalor, misery, deprivation and corruption and homoerotic subtext. Our hero plunges into Deptford in pursuit of the truth and doesn't even take backup or tell anyone where he is. Gave up about page 202 after the second (or was it third?) time he'd been beaten up and bounced back like Wile E Coyote- and flicking through the remainder and checking the Amazon reviews, it was more of the same to the end.

Absolutely garlanded with superlative reviews so bviously I missed something. And the friend is called Thaddeus, usually called Tad. I got more than a Tad annoyed of that name by the time I gave up.

I use kindle for iPad as well. I use my iPad for so many things it helps to have it there.

Thanks for the new thread south

My list:

1. What You Did; Claire McGowan
2. Me; Elton John
3. She Lies in Wait; Gytha Lodge
4. Watching from the Dark; Gytha Lodge
5. Lie Beside Me; Gytha Lodge
6. Little Sister; Gytha Lodge
7. Broken Summer; J. M. Lee
8. Secrets of the Sea House; Elisabeth Gifford
9. The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Agatha Christie
10. Gallows Court; Martin Edwards
11. Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family; Omid Scobie & Carolyn Durand
12. Stealing the Crown; T. P. Fielden
13. City Dark; Roger A. Canaff
14. An Eye for an Eye; Carol Wyer
15. The Housewarming; S. E. Lines
16. Return to Fourwinds; Elisabeth Gifford

1 The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey
2 What Could Possibly Go Wrong, Jodi Taylor
3 Lamentation, CJ Sansom
4 City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert
5 Tombland, CJ Sansom
6 House of Glass, Hadley Freeman
7 Sorrow & Bliss, Meg Mason
8 A Terrible Kindness, Jo Browning Wroe
9 10 Minutes, 30 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak
10 The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng
11 Lies, Damned Lies and History, Jodi Taylor
12 Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford
13 Carrie's War, Nina Bawden
14 Things Fall Apart, Chinus Achebe
15 Human Croquet, Kate Atkinson

16 The Railway Man, Eric Lomax
This is Lomax's account of being a PoW during WWII. During the 1930s, Lomax was living an ordinary and rather sheltered life in Scotland, fascinated by trains and engineering. He joined the army soon after the outbreak of war and was shipped to India and then to Singapore, arriving shortly before Singapore surrendered to the Japanese. Lomax was captured and spent the next two and a half years as a PoW, firstly working on the notorious Burma - Siam railway, then in prison after he and his fellow officers were found with an illegal radio.

His writing is quite sparse but he doesn't shy away from the cruelty, torture and near starvation that he and his comrades endured. After the war he is a broken man but he returned home to a country that had moved on from the horrors of war so he buried his memories for decades at the expense of his first marriage and relationship with his children. Despite his hatred for his captors, Lomax is finally able to come to terms with the brutality he experienced with the help of his second wife. This has been made into a film with Colin Firth as Lomax so I'll hunt that out.

Harry Corsham is so irritatingly smug - I did finish it but found him unbearable (agree he does get out of an implausible number of scrapes, but so does Shardlake and everyone loves him). Don't know if you read the historical notes, but it is based on a real event - The Zong - also depicted in Turner's painting, The Slave Ship. I found the reality far more disturbing than the fictionalised account and I ended up feeling like the author had trivialised it somewhat by turning it into a historical whodunnit.

@BigMadAdrian I was aware of the Zong incident (although not the name) so was in the position of knowing right from the start what the 'mystery' was that Tad had discovered. I glanced at the blurb for her next book and it's one where his wife investigates something so obvs writer is going for 'husband and wife detective team' genre.

Shardlake irritates me so probably I was getting echoes of that.

Have not even finished reading thread two yet only at the first few pages so will start afresh with thread three lol. My reading has slowed right down but will bring my list over.

1. Fearless by Ant Middleton
2. The Secret Gift of Lucia Lemon by Celia Lemon
3. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
4. How to stop time by Matt Haig
5. The Foolish Virgin by Margaret Penn

Just finished The Foolish Virgin by Margaret Penn , which is the second in a trilogy. It is the year 1910 and Hilda Winstanley arrives in London to live with her family she has never known. Hilda has such promise in this book of a bright future. Now I know her life after this book does not go well so I am going to have a break before picking up the third and final trilogy series. I am taking some solice in the fact that the author is Hilda Winstanley and she managed to successfully write and have her works published which is an amazing accomplishment so some good has come from the unhappiness which I am putting off for The Young Mrs Burton.

@Natsku @nowanearlyNicemum do British Council libraries still exist? In the pre-Kindle days, that was my go-to for English books abroad. I read some pretty random stuff there but most of it's quite literary - Massive Lawrence Durrell saga is one I remember.

What did you think of the Matt Haig? another one that all the reviews raved about, I struggled to finish (as in, this really isn't gripping me and is a waste of a fascinating concept) and the ending was clearly added on to make the ending for a projected film.

@Stokey good idea. However in France I think the only British Council Library is in Paris. Presumably there is some kind of digital access though. Not sure about other countries... @Natsku are you in Finland?

I enjoyed the second book more - she is a lot more likeable and interesting than he is!

What do we think?
amp.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/11/you-can-read-it-in-the-time-it-takes-to-have-a-one-night-stand-authors-on-their-favourite-romcom-books

Thanks for the new thread!

Have read one since thread 2:

8, Sovereign by CJ Sansom. As I mentioned on the previous thread, this is set over a period in York when Henry VIII came on a great progress to shore up support after an attempt at a Catholic rebellion.
This was my favourite of this series so far. There is always excellent period and place detail, and this is no exception, but I particularly loved the York setting and the sense of frantically making ready for the king. Made me think that nothing much changes; I was reflecting on stories you hear about celebs demanding rooms repainted, specific paintings/furnishings put in place etc.
The plot (conspiracy and possible treason, basically) is complex and there's an air of melancholy and loss. Shardlake and Jack's relationship is tried, and they have rocky patches; and Shardlake's emotions come under a lot of strain generally (without spoiling anything!)
Very much looking forward to the next one, although I'll have a break from the period first.

The BC made its digital library free to all in 2020 as a goodwill COVID gesture. I remember sending the links to my students. Not sure if it continued.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain not much and won’t be seeking out any of Matt Haig’s other books in a hurry. Have just found my review from thread two about it ….

Just reporting in book 4 done.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig was not to sure about this one to be honest but as it went on was not that keen. I don’t think I will recommend. I listened on borrowbox and it was narrated well but I kept daydreaming so it didn’t hold my attention and was quite boring in parts. It was about a man who lives for centuries and does not age at the same rate. Interesting concept but did nothing for me.

Yeah I'm in Finland, British Council doesn't seem to have a library service here.

8 - The Foundling - Stacey Halls
Set in Georgian London, I was caught up in this storyline based on the Foundling hospital that existed to care for orphans or babies that were given up if their families couldn't look after them.

Good choices! I like all the ones I've read that are featured here.

Oh wow things are moving so fast - just catching up. Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Bringing my list over

1. The Lives of Christopher chant - Diane Wynn Jones
2. No Such Thing as Normal - Bryony Gordon
3. One Last Secret - Adele Parks
4. Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano
5. Spare - Prince Harry
6. A Funny Life - Michael McIntyre

7. The Keeper of Stories - Sally Page

saw that @TakeNoTweetsGiveNoQuacks you DNF’d The Keeper of Stories - it’s my favourite of the year so far (but then I’m partial to a sweary dog).

Thanks for the new thread south

1. Christmas is Murder- Val McDermid
2. The Christmas Chronicles- Nigel Slater
3. The Anthology of English Folk Tales - The History Press (Pub)
4. The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki
5. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (Audible narrator Hugh Grant)
6. Daisy Jones and the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
7. Rizzio - Denise Mina
8. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams
9. How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen - Joanna Faber and Julie King

goodness - another thread! Thanks South for keeping us in order.
I didn't add a single book across the other thread, mainly as I wasn't enjoying what I was reading, so watched too much telly instead.

My little list:

1. In a Good Light by Claire Chambers
2. Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
3. Lean, Fall, Stand by Jon McGregor

And I've just completed 4. The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns. A 1970s reworking of the Grimm fairytale. Bella is a single mother working in an antique store. She befriends a childless couple who are regular customers at the store, frequently attending concerts with just the husband. Anyone familiar with the fairytale will guess that soon a tragedy befalls the wife, and Bella moves in.

I so wanted to like this. It was quaint and slightly sinister and all the things I normally like, but my god it was boring. The characters were flat as pancakes and so I simply didn't care about them.

Thanks for new thread SouthEast Here's my list so far:

1 The Anomaly - Hervé Le Tellier
2 The Tip of My Tongue - Trezza Azzopardi
3 The Secret Life of Special Advisers - Peter Cardwell
4 Perhaps The Stars - Ada Palmer
5 Taste - Stanley Tucci
6 The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune
7 Escape from Model Land - Erica Thompson
8 The Last Days of New Paris - China Mieville
9 Shelter - Dave Hutchinson
10 Dear Reader - Cathy Rentzenbrink
11 Beautiful World, Where Are You - Sally Rooney
12 Bad Data - Georgina Sturge

Now reading Demon Copperhead rather slowly, interspersed with Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor which is an easier read, but involves lots of stopping to listen to music he talks about.

Was sent my first subscription book by Mr B's Emporium (fabulous bookshop in Bath) a few days ago.
You fill in a questionnaire about your tastes and they send you a book a month ( they will also tell you what they plan to send in advance so that you can tell them if you've read it already or it's not for you).
They've sent me The Strangled Vine by MJ Carter. I am half way through and it's brilliant. I'd never heard of MJ Carter so this is a find.
It's set in India in 1837. William Avery (young, arrogant but redeemable ) is sent by the East India Company to find Xavier Mountstuart, an agent feared to have gone rogue. He is sent with Jeremiah Blake, all round man of mystery. At the moment they are in Thugee territory and about to meet a local Prince.
It's Kipling meets Sherlock Holmes and if you want a historical thriller that could be described as an old fashioned 'romp' then it's up your street.