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?

I have a Scouse accent and I'm saying On Human Bondage and im saying it and nothing?

Oh, I got so excited at seeing A Tree Grows In Brooklyn was on offer (thanks @TattiePants ) that I rushed straight to Amazon and bought it. Except that I accidentally ordered the paperback at £9 instead of the Kindle version at 59p.

I already have two copies upstairs - the one I read and re- read as a teenager until it fell apart and the replacement copy. Aargh. Ho hum, might as well get the Kindle version too.

I get it Remus.

Oh, the penny has dropped

Did it in Year 8 or Year 9

Help, I don’t get it! When I lived in Manchester my NE accent was often mistaken for Scouse?!

Oh no, that’s the type of thing I would do. Is it too late to cancel the order?

I’ve attempted to cancel it. I’ll be amazed if it works though.

Liking the delayed success @EineReiseDurchDieZeit

@TattiePants Here's another clue - 'I was just oiling it for you'

Got it (and want to watch it now).

It’s so good!

22. The Schoolhouse Sophie Ward 99p unwisely spent on a random kindle deal. 'Stylish pacy & genuinely frightening' according to the review excert that appeared at the top of every page. Well not to me. In the 1970s, Isobel attends the schoolhouse of the title. It is an alternative private school where many of the pupils have additional needs. We quickly learn that all is not well at the school and that Isobel has experienced a major trauma. In the 1990s we follow Isobel who is now grown and living an isolated life and Carter a police officer investigating the disappearance of a 10 year old girl. The atmosphere of the 70s set school is somewhat menacing, but the 90s section was like a rather boring police procedural. The integration of Carter's perspective seemed like almost a different book. Didn't work for me as either a thriller or a character study. All seemed a bit odd, but not in an interesting way

Saw it in the cinema with my grandmother a few months before she died. We both cried.

Rita? I find the ending makes me more tearful the older I get. And Michael C is so very, very good in it.

Yes, Rita. My gran was a clever woman who missed out on an education. I think it must have resonated quite a lot with her. I must watch it again.

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler Read this following Eine’s recent review but unfortunately I didn’t take to it in the same way (though I was unruffled by the tenses). I read the Author’s Note and Afterword first and found these by far the most interesting parts of the book, but they gave me the impression that much of the book would be about the aftermath of John Wilkes’ assassination of Lincoln and the repercussions on his family, whereas that part is only the last few pages. For most of the book we follow the family as they suffer tragedy after tragedy and the theatrical careers first of the father and then of various of the sons. We see their different attitudes to slavery, most other than JW are champagne abolitionists oblivious to the plight of their own and their neighbours’ slaves. The trouble for me was that the family dynamic was set up quite early and then it just went on remorselessly with plays and tours and sibling rivalry then battles and plays and tours and sibling rivalry. There were brief sections about Lincoln every so often which were more interesting but then we went back to the Booths. Perhaps this would have resonated more with me if I knew a little more about the period.

Oh Cornish I'm sorry you weren't keen I did feel it might be marmite.

I had no preconceived expectations

I also knew quite a lot about Lincoln anyway having read both Team Of Rivals (non fiction) and Lincoln In The Bardo (fiction) Happy to recommend both though I know Remus didn't care for the latter

This has been much loved and reviewed here - Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.
I was a little girl in the 70s, growing up in (sectarian West) Scotland about 35 miles across the water from Belfast and I remember watching the Troubles on the news. Later on, kids would turn up at our school for a few weeks or months from NI then disappear again. It was so tribal and that's the atmosphere Louise Kennedy creates so brilliantly.

88. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Audible)

I'm not going to bore on with a big review - everyone knows the score. Suffice to say I didn't particularly like The Cuckoos Calling on release and left it there. (found it lightweight and silly) Someone on here mentioned them as Audios and I felt THERE'S AN IDEA - because lightweight is exactly what I need from Audible and it worked so I'm moving on now to Career Of Evil, Book 2 was also much better than its predecessor

Couple of thoughts :

What's with the really highbrow quotes at the start of every chapter that don't match the tone of the book at all?

Matthew is an arsehole, hope he gets packed off soon but I suspect he'll hang around being an arsehole for some time to keep the will they won't they going - ding spoil me

"ding spoil me" should say DON'T spoil me

Matthew is an arsehole
A boring fucking arsehole with lots more boring fucking arseholery to come.

Personally, I hated Worm and nearly gave up on the series after it. The others have all had a bit more to enjoy in them imo, although horribly flawed.

She carries on with the stupid quotes. They continue to add nothing.

Not at all Eine, all part of why I love this thread! Team of Rivals looks interesting. I tried Bardo but didn’t get past the first page or 2.

29. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Recommended on here after I read and loved Poisonwood Bible a couple of summers ago.

The books follows Tambu as she tries to raise herself from the poverty of her homestead through education whilst trying to avoid becoming "too English".

It's a thought provoking book but stops quite abruptly. I see there is a second book released so I will read that, as I do want to know what happens next. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars? Not sure it will stay with me. But a quick review of my read list suggests books come and go quickly from my mind anyway...

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
I read those Paul Gallico stories a few years back, maybe the first year I joined this thread actually, after picking them up at a jumble sale. They’ve really stayed with me.

You have reminded me that I wanted to give Mrs Harris goes to Paris a go.

32 Bonjour Tristesse - Françoise Sagan (in French) Thanks to @StColumbofNavron for the recommendation! This was a short and simple book, which worked fine for me as I was reading it in French! Very good considering it was written by a 17-year-old, and it must surely have an autobiographical element as all the emotions feel so real. Lovely evocation of 1950s south of France, and very Great Gatsby-ish in its portrayal of decadent opulence - it all feels so glamorous to start with, and ends up leaving a bad taste in your mouth. I blame the father for everything, incidentally…

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

I had never come across this book before but spotted it in a bookshop on holiday last week. The beautiful cover got my attention first then the description sounded good so I thought I would give it a chance and I was so glad I did! I really liked it. It was written in 1922 and is about four women, previously unknown to each other, who end up sharing an Italian castle for a month on holiday. The descriptions of the castle and the flowers in the gardens were lovely, and the way the relationships between the women developed was also done really well. I’ve recommended it on the Rather Dated thread so if you’ve been enjoying the books on there this will probably be right up your street.

Nobody Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara

Something very different! Sive gets her two daughters on the Tube but the doors close before she can get on. When they get to the next station one child is there but the other isn’t - and nobody saw where she went. I did like this, but it did say a bit in the middle when they’re just trawling round different tube stations looking for her before things kick off again.