50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Four

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

What are you reading?

Perhaps not. Well, can't really offer an informed opinion as I haven't read or watched Romeo & Juliet. The only Shakespeare I've read in full is Macbeth. We did bits in Year 9 & for GCSE our teacher pulled Macbeth & Romeo & Juliet out of the suppy cupboard and asked us which we wanted to study. Some card asked which was shorter & on that basis Macbeth was chosen (despite others protesting we'd already 'done' Macbeth). Times have changed (not least I don't imagine there are many schools with multiple class sets of plays hanging around anymore).

I loved The Outsiders film when I was a teen! I've never read the book though.

@AliasGrape I do hope you enjoy Book Lovers on your holiday.

@RomanMum @So1invictus I thought A Thousand Ships was great too, though like others surprised about all the awards nominations. It's maybe about the lesser known women of the Trojan war rather than forgotten, I certainly encountered a couple I hadn't heard of. It covered a lot of similar ground to the Pat Barker books, but much less bleak.

@Owlbookend Love Marriage was a bit underwhelming for me as well, a shame as it had a lot of good ingredients.

Ended up picking up a thread favourite in a charity shop. The cover caught my eye and I realised it was Cold Comfort Farm so thought I'd give it a go. Pretty sure I have an American copy because it has the stepped pages.

Onto book 25, very highly anticipated for me - Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, one of my absolute favourite writers. I think l it would have been almost impossible to fully live up to my expectations.

Sally is a writer on a Saturday Night Live style comedy sketch show. She notices, and becomes a bit obsessed with the idea, that her geeky male colleagues often date incredibly beautiful female celebrities but the opposite never happens. Until she meets pop mega star Noah and they hit it off over the week he guest stars, and reconnect later during the pandemic.

CS has a very dry, cynical style which maybe doesn't lend itself to romance. Sally and Noah communicate very carefully and thoughtfully but don't exactly sizzle together. Perhaps that's the point though?

She has done a huge amount of research on how Saturday Night Live is put together, which was of less interest to me as I've never watched it. I also felt the fictional sketches just weren't quite funny enough.

It definitely didn't resonate with me emotionally the way Prep or American Wife did. Though I keep thinking about the characters at odd moments so there's clearly something there that's caught me.

I don't really understand why Before The Coffee Gets Cold has been such a big seller, I found it rather mawkish and got really quite irritated at the big choice one of the characters made. For a completely different and more realistic style of Japanese novel try reading Mieko Kawakami instead. Or if you liked the light romance of BTCGC try Hiromi Kawakami.

Kristin Lavrandatter II: The Wife by Sigrid Undset. Translated by Tiina Nunnally

Second in a trilogy set in medieval Norway, I read the first part last year and loved it. That ended with her pregnant and newly married, this installment covers the first decade or so of her marriage. It is divided into three parts, roughly focussing on her relationship with God, her relationship with the land snd its people and finally her husband and his political ambitions. This is wider ranging than the first part of the trilogy (The Wreath) which mainly focussed on her romantic relationships. Looking forward to the final part.

I've just completed Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes' take on Medusa. I enjoyed this, and actually fond it really sad. Her retelling focuses on how 'monsters' have been defined and what that means. the gods and goddesses as ever are arrogant and capricious and Medusa is positioned as a victim. The version of Perseus as a petulant and rather pathetic hero is interesting!

I thought the book weakened by having too many strands and (spoiler! Not really, surely?) once Medusa's head is lopped off the story actually becomes less interesting, possibly because living Medusa evokes much pity.

I have the Jesse Burton version of this tale on the TBR pile. I'm intrigued to see what the differences will be.

Loved The Outsiders back in the day. Also enjoyed The Moth and the Mountain.

A few easy reads from various train journeys:

40. Touching Cloth, the Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie
A young C of E priest's account of his first year post-ordination. I feel like he is still developing his skills as a raconteur, and his anecdotes need a bit more polish, but I was interested in his experiences. For anyone who enjoyed the TV series Rev, this might be of interest as a real-life account.

41. Have You Got Anything Stronger? Imogen Edwards-Jones
Bog-standard MummyLit. Where Bridget Jones once bemoaned her lack of husband and offspring, a whole genre has sprung up to complain that it's not much fun having them. I had higher hopes for this author, as I really liked her Tuscany for Beginners, which was a send-up of the whole Toujours Provencegenre, but she doesn't do anything fresh here. Very similar to Why Mummy Drinks and its ilk.

42. Kate Hardy, D E Stevenson
Originally published in 1947, this is comfortably old-fashioned: a writer moves to an English village and becomes acquainted with the various characters, including a couple of possible love interests. It's gentle, although a few acerbic comments about our heroine's annoying sister prevent it from becoming too saccharine. The post-war setting is interesting, including the portrayal of one working class man who rose to the officer class during the war and now is finding it difficult to be accepted when he tries to return to his original role.

43. The Golden Hour, by Lucilla Andrews
A bit of nostalgia - I read this author in my teens. Her hospital-set 1950s doctor/nurse romances were an easy transition from my childhood reading of Sue Barton, Student Nurse. I'm more interesting in the workings of the hospital than the romance side. This was pleasantly soothing.

eitak, that looks like a lovely copy of Cold Comfort Farm.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit
Have you had your teaser e-mail from Mr B?
They are going to send me something by Andrew Greer- have never heard of him before.

Nooo

Excited now though

Andrew Greer rings a bell to me.

Never read it. How confusing

Sorry Eine, should have gone back and searched. I really need to either work or Mumsnet, I obviously can't be trusted to do both 😊

@GrannieMainland - I think we might have similar tastes as well as not loving Love Marriage I also really enjoyed Prep & American Wife
15. I'm Not Scared Niccolo Ammaniti trans Jonathon Hunt
The first book that has really grabbed my attention in ages. It's not long - I finished it in a couple of days. It was a recommendation on Between the Covers. They described it as a psychological thriller, but it is much more individual than that. Set in 1978, it opens with 9-year-old Michele playing with his friends in a dusty impoverished Italian hamlet. The children's relationships and the claustrophobic atmosphere are incredibly well portrayed. The bored listlessness and petty cruelties they inflict seemed are very real. Michele makes a horrifying discovery when they are exploring the countryside and from that point on his world unravels. It isn't without issues, but I found it quite dark evocative and compelling.

@Owlbookend i also added I’m not scared to my list after seeing it reviewed on Between the Covers. Glad you liked it.

Can I ask a Kindle question? I’ve recently added the Kindle app to my phone and read a couple of books that were free with Amazon Prime. Can I take advantage of the 99p deals that are talked about on here or do I need to pay a monthly subscription first?

You just buy the 99p books the same way you got the free ones, no subscription necessary. 😀

@TattiePants sign up for the daily deal email- that way you will see most of them. Then there is usually a sale at the beginning of each month.

Thank you. This could could be dangerous….

My God The Innocence of Youth @TattiePants - You Are Ruined Now! Ruined I say!

Godspeed, Tattie.

44. A Devon Night's Death, by Stephanie Austin. Cosy crime set, surprise surprise, in a small Devon village. This is book 5 but the first I read, which may not have been the best approach. Competently done, although it didn't entirely hook me in.

Just finishedBlack Plumes by Margery Allingham a bit old fashioned by good fun even if the language was a bit dated.
I have nearly finished The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller this is the third time I started this book and for some reason this time I really enjoyed it. I know it's years after everyone else has read it. I might start on some of the books mentioned above as I tend to get stuck on a theme until I can't read anymore

15. Divine Justice by David Baldacci

I was delighted to find this in the hotel bookcase on holiday, because it seemed to be the kind of thriller I can manage - frequent mentions of the CIA, FBI, Vietnam, hot coffee made by taciturn but somehow irresistible women in small towns etc etc. What i can't deal with is extended vile torture scenes. Anyway, there is a bit of that towards the end, but my engagement with the characters was so superficial that it hardly bothered me, and I'm not sure it was really the author's bag as it didn't go on. Anyway, a fluffy holiday read, all fine, though I might not read more of his - I'd imagine there's a certain amount of similarity.

@bibliomania I just bought my mum the first 3 books in the Devon series and am planning to borrow them back once she's read them so glad to see you found it ok

Yes, not bad at all satellite.