50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

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

What are you reading?

@Sadik

I admire you for keeping bees, it's really important I don't have the room but I think if I did I'd be too freaked out and wussy, not bothered by a lone bee but shitloads of them I'd just run away!

37. Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks. Not much to add to the previous reviews here! I liked Yamaye's unique, musical voice, and especially the depiction of Jamaica, although I think I admired rather than enjoyed the book overall. I'd love to see this win the Women's Prize as it's stylistically so interesting, though I suspect the momentum is with Trespasses or Demon Copperhead.

38. Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors. Young penniless artist Cleo meets older advertising executive Frank in 00s New York. They get married following a whirlwind romance and the book follows their troubled relationship as well as the lives of their friends. There is a lot of hype about this but it didn't quite work for me. With one exception, the characters all felt like collections of problems rather than rounded people. That's especially true of the two leads - people are constantly becoming obsessed with Cleo but it's not clear what attributes she has beyond being very thin and very sad. The later chapters make some nice points about love and relationships, but unfortunately I found it hard to engage with any of the characters enough to feel moved by it.

Thanks! I wasn't aware of this but will check it out.

@GrannieMainland Cleopatra and Frankenstein was a DNF for me. It’s not at all my usual thing, and I can’t even remember why I picked it up.

Lovely kitten. I like kittens, but then they turn into cats.

Love the kitten- and the puppy.
@Mothership4two and @MamaNewtNewt thanks for the info on the St Mary’s books. I bet I saw some of you recommend them here when I was lurking last year. I was hoping some would be on today’s kindle deals but alas! Audible could be a good call- I’d imagine they’d be a good listen.

There are two books that I’d highly recommend in the Kindle sale:
Mayflies
Our Wives Under the Sea

Not seen anything I’m interested in so far, but will keep slogging through the rubbish as a public service.

I couldn’t find much I wanted to read on the monthly deals but I’ve bought:
Our Wives Under the Sea
Great Circle
The Ratline
I almost bought Mayflies but it’s £3.49 so will hold off for now.

Other 99p books I spotted that I’ve liked:
Malibu Rising
Oryx & Crake trilogy
Young Mungo
Beartown
Dissolution
March Violets / Bernie Gunther (also books 2 & 3)
Old baggage
Old Filth

Just came back on to mention the Bernie G books. I like them, but I know others don’t.

Having been all through, I can now confidently report that there’s not a single thing of interest for me.

Sounds like it could be a cheap month on Kindle deals for me - not a bad thing!

I didn't buy anything but noticed that The Gift of a Radio by Justin Webb is in the sale and several people here enjoyed reading it.

I got a handful of things, most of which were mentioned in Tattie’s list. I also got Still Born and The Birthday Party, both of which were on the International Booker longlist.
I recommend Bitter Wash Road for anyone whose into crime fiction, especially Aussie outback noir.

@GrannieMainland I think you are right I can see Demon Copperhead winning, a sfae bet from an acclaimed writer, although I found it contrived. I really liked Trespasses as I thought it was just really well written. It was a "straight" book that evoked a sense of the time and places well ( I might be biased as I know the areas written about well) which may count against it. Fire Rush has a voice all of its own from a new talent and would be a worthy winner but I didn't enjoy it

I love Winifred Holtby books, so sad she died so painfully, so young. I prefer the Crowded Street and especially The Land of Green Ginger to the more popular South Riding. Persephone books have a "new" book out that also has Yorkshire as it's star if anyone wants more reading in the South Riding vein. https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Provincial-Lettice-Cooper-ebook/dp/B07KFQVMMB/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Thanks. Will look again at the Aussie thing. Would be nice to find someone better than Jane Harper.

@sadik very very cute kitten 🥰

The St Marys series does come up on the kindle deals from time to time if you are happy to be patient @BaruFisher?

36 The Other Side Of Never edited by Marie O Regan and Paul Kane

Finished the last couple of stories in this last night. The theme of this dark anthology is Peter Pan. My favourites below:
Fear Of The Pan Child - Robert Shearman. The blanking out of the name Peter Pan grated on me at first, but it gradually became apparent why this conceit was used and it is heartbreaking.
The Lost Boys Monologues - Kirsty Logan. Members of a boy band reminisce.
No Such Place - Paul Finch. An ex veteran detective investigates the disappearance of young teenage males. Chilling.
Far From Home - Muriel Gray. A Gwendolyn becomes ensnared.
Boy - Guy Adams. Gritty first person account of young, violent males.
A School For Peters - Claire North. Allegorical tale of male entitlement and the ruling class. Cheered at the end.

Full of malevolent Peters, closer to Pan than Disney and a range of Wendys, not all benign. I’m not a fan of the whimsical surface of Peter Pan, so this collection was right up my street.

I rarely DNF (one last year, and so far this is the first in 2023) but I was listening to Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes, an autobiography where she talks about her life as an author, and decided I just couldn't be bothered to go any further with it! I've read one or two of her novels and liked those well enough but this was boring! She reads it herself on audible and I'm a sucker for an Irish accent but her intonation is awful, quite monotone, so that didn't help bring any added interest. Sadly the occasional little pithy quips were not enough to keep me coming back.

20. SomeTame Gazelle Barbara Pym Two middle-aged spinsters live in in English country village - and not a lot happens :-).
    i found much less to enjoy in this than in Excellent Women. There was some gentle comedy and it was a quickly finished easy, holiday read. Have I just been influenced by @EineReiseDurchDieZeit review? I don't think so. My main problem was that whilst I quite liked the protagonist Mildred in Excellent Women, she had a bit of steel about her, I found the sisters (particularly Belinda) more tiresome I couldn't quite work out why Belinda had spent decades mooning over the archdeacon. I'm not sure what is redeeming qualities were - he seemed pompoms and annoying. The number of proposals that Harriet & Belinda receive might perhaps stretch credulity too - they based on Pym and her sister ..... Snobbishness also seemed much more prominent here and a number of characters espouse frankly racist views. I still count Excellent Women as a hit, but this was more than a miss for me.

@Owlbookend totally agree with your review of Some Tame Gazelle it's a great title for a book though.

Just out here, with my book addiction casually ruining things for other people

Hoping to make a major dint in my current book tonight (The Lincoln Highway) as I won’t be getting to bed till 3am. DD is off on a school trip and has to be at school for 2.15am so there’s no point in going to bed first!

@BoldFearlessGirl that Peter Pan book sounds really interesting.

@TattiePants good luck staying awake! I don’t think I’d manage it without a nap, definitely getting middle-aged! 😂

And I forgot to say last time I posted - I love the adorable puppy and kitten pictures! More please 😊

Oh thanks for the recommendations. I've been wanting to read The Birthday Party so will definitely pick that up and the Aussie crime. I read Still Born recently and thought it explored interesting topics but the writing didn't really pull me in. I did wonder whether it was a translation issue.

38. French Braid - Ann Tyler. Usual Tyler fare following a family through generations. It's ok but not going to set the world alight.

I've also picked up a couple of detective ones - the 17th Gamache by Louise Penny and the 10th Vera book by Anne Cleeves.

There's also Glory by NoViolet Bulwayo which has been on various prize lists and at the other extreme a load of Co-Ho for my teen!