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?

@PepeLePew I am sorry, but I do need to know how you know 😂

Singled Out- Virginia Nicholson

This was really interesting- it's about the 'surplus women'- the 2 million that existed after WWI with no hope of marriage due to the number of men killed in the trenches. The level of misogyny they faced as single women was pretty horrific- and it made me think about the number of books I've read with a caricature of a maiden aunt somewhere in the mix- that caricature of an unmarried women comes straight from the misogyny of that time. It also made me think about how- even now- a single woman is viewed in a very different way to a single man.

I didn't think this was completely impartial, there's a good bit of speculation and the author's own assumptions at work- for example, she speculates that the reason so many women became nannies was to fulfil a thwarted maternal instinct- as opposed to it being one of the few opportunities to earn a living open to women at that time. There's definitely a general assumption throughout the book that all these unmarried women wanted to be mothers- and maternal mortality isn't mentioned at all- I would have guessed it was still high enough at that point in time for some women to be happy to avoid childbirth. All in all though, very glad I read this- and makes me appreciate all the more how important equal pay legislation and the right to earn your own living are for women.

The Dr who writes Davina's book is good and knows her stuff. I follow her on Instagram. Haven't bothered with the book itself as figure there won't be much.

A brief break from literary fiction for me to read a couple of thrillers

39. The Writing Retreat - Julia Bartz. Fairly silly gothic thriller. A group of young women win a competition to go and stay on a writing retreat run by their favourite reclusive mysterious writer. Tensions build and things go bump in the night. This did read rather YA, although would be a bit sexy for my teen, but it's got those angsty characters that you just want to slap and tell to actually speak to each other. That said, it was very readable and I got through it in a day.

40. The Rising Tide - Anne Cleeves. She's probably my favourite detective writer and this was a good one. It's Vera with a group of older people on Holy Island. There's past and musings on the elderly, Vera is mellowing a bit. The whodunnit bit was reasonably obvious but there are a few other shocks. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dinosaur porn, you say? Sounds like it might be rip-roaring fun, unless somebody saurus.

In other news, I've just signed up for a free trial of Kindle Unlimited. Anything I should be looking out for, other than dinosaurs?

It’s mind blowing to think that somewhere out there, someone’s watched Jurassic Park and then gone home and written erotica about the dinosaurs 🤯

So, @InTheCludgie , are the human characters in these books are still alive at the end? Or have they all been killed by the dinosaurs?

Weekend away with friends and we got talking about how almost anything was someone's kink. A (drunk) friend confessed she liked dinosaur erotica and then we spent hours downloading books onto our kindles and weeping with laughter. We all felt awful the next morning - horribly hungover and a bit guilty we'd porn-shamed her. And then I got stalked on Amazon for months with recommendations for titles like 50 Scales of Grey...

Weeping.

Tricera-tops and bottoms 😁

I read this thread all the time and each year I make about one post... and then don't bother for the rest of the year.

That'll be this year's post done and dusted then!!! 🦕

Jurassic Spark.

Fifty Scales of Grey 😂

😁

But....

If the dinosaurs tiny hands are anything to go by what are the logistics 🤔

Was suggested to join this thread - can I ask what the bits in bold are meant to mean? Is this to highlight the best reads?

God, yes. Like going to bed with Donald Trump but with sharper teeth and better morals.

Nothing about the logistics makes sense 🤣

For all we know they could have been corkscrew shaped like ducks 🤔

It’s completely bonkers 🤣

Hi @Namechangeallchange and welcome to the thread. Bold can mean a highly recommended book (if part of a list) or it can just be a way of making sure the book's name is obvious (if part of a normal post).

Hi @Namechangeallchange

I am pretty sure it was me said come on over.

It's a 50 Book goal, but no one has to stick to it. All books count including childrens, poetry, graphic novels.

On "The Lists" that some posters do, anything that was found to be particularly good is emboldened as that posters recommendations and everything else just normal.

People tend to bold the name of the book when reviewing as well before the book goes on the List

37 Cuddy by Benjamin Myers

History comes alive in here…..and the centuries overlap

If I only had one book to read this whole year I would choose this one. Split into 4 periods of history (with a short play script interlude) it is elegiac, ambitious in scope and just marvellous. The sparse writing of the beginning sections interspersed with excerpts from historical reference books represents how little we still know from primary sources. The Jamesian parody of the acerbic academic who despises all things Northern and religious is pitch perfect. The last section made me cry, great big gulpy sobs.
Names are repeated, emphasising the continuity of history. Vicious monks, owl-eyed boys and violent men stalk the pages, with women’s voices ringing calmly and clearly above the chaos.

It helps that I love Durham, its Cathedral and its surroundings. This novel articulates just some of the reasons why that is. You know when it feels like an author has mined your dreams for material? Superb.

Sorry, welcome @Namechangeallchange .

<floats off on Book High cloud>

<refuses to entertain logistics of Dinosaur Sex>

Sounds great. I've got one Benjamin Myers so I'll see how I go with that first.

46. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Humanity has reached the stars. A scientific expedition is working on a project to terraform a planet, and they’re also planning on using an uplift nanovirus to accelerate the evolution of monkeys on the planet.

But then it all goes a bit wrong. There’s a terrorist attack, all the monkeys are killed, but the nanovirus still makes it to the planet’s surface.
So while war rages and humanity tears itself apart, the nanovirus works to accelerate evolution. Of spiders.

And then, the humans turn up. The last remnants of humanity, fleeing a dying Earth, desperate for a new world to live on.
It’s all set up for a big human spider confrontation.

This might not be a book for someone with arachnophobia, but the spider evolution, and the description of the spider civilisation is fascinating. I preferred those bits to the parts which follow the humans on their spaceship, but both strands of the narrative are interesting. It’s a great read.

I feel like I should go back to that ward and borrow one of the books for research purposes. However, Life really is too short to spend reading what I know is going to be absolute garbage! 😂 made that mistake with the first Bridgerton novel, never again.

Those of a sensitive disposition should not read on. Those curious about the arms...

"Bumps suddenly appeared on its length in random spots, and grew until they were several inches long. She jerked back, then realized what she was seeing. Male dogs had barbs on their organs to hold the female in place until mating was finished; Rexes must have the same kind of barbs on theirs. They weren’t sharp or spiky, but she was sure they’d do an excellent job. Compensation for their spindly little forearms, she decided."
^
You're all welcome. I promise no more.^