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?

Thanks for the new thread south

Sorry, it's maybe a little late for lists but I'm going to bring mine over.

1 Christmas is Murder - Val McDermaid
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
6 Daisy Jones and the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
7 Rizzio - Denise Mina
8 Queenie - Candace Carty-Williams
9 How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen - Joanna Faber and Julie King
10 Ramble Book - Adam Buxton
11 The Diary of a Bookseller - Adam Buxton
12 The Etymologican - Mark Forsyth
13 A Net For Small Fishes - Lucy Jago
14 Starlight - Stella Gibbons
15 Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
16 I'm a Fan - Sheena Patel
17 Book Lovers - Emily Henry
18 Mad About You - Mhairi McFarlane
19 The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

and just today finished 20. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin - much reviewed already so I'll just say that I liked it a lot though not sure it's a bold.

I'm not sure any of my bolds are bolds - and I think I previously may have bolded the Ozeki then changed my mind. I'm not sure there has been a great 'stand out' yet.

For any fellow Strike fans out there - the new book in the series, The Running Grave, is being published on 26th September.

Welcome back Mackerella and Best wishes to Best

I am considering doing the whole Strike series when my Audible credits renew though I have already read Cuckoo and didn't massively rate it.

I would very much like you to read the others as I have a feeling your reviews would be very similar to mine. 😂
I'll read the others, but I think I can only cope with one HUGE AND CLEARLY UNEDITED dose per year tbf.

I've been merrily listening to Wolf Hall on audible and have just realised it's an abridged version (along with the other two in the trilogy). Not clear at all when I bought it and very irritating as I'm about 5 hours in. I was enjoying it though so might have to buy the full audible versions as I've tried and failed to read the book on several occasions.

Thanks for the new thread, Southeastdweller!

Here is the continuation of my list.

18. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Ann Brontë
19. The Menopause: Dr Deirdre Lundy
20. Trespasses: Louise Kennedy
21. The Fortnight in September: R.C. Sheriff
22. The Definitive Guide to the Menopause: Dr Louise Newson
23. The Marriage Portrait: Maggie O'Farrell
24. The End of the Affair: Graham Greene.

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Hope I haven't missed anything by not reading the new thread and assuming it's mostly just lists.

A Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
I really liked this for about 80% of the book and thought it was going to prove to be one of her best. It was silly, a bit irreverent, nobody died who you needed to care about and I like Alleyn, the detective. Unfortunately, I thought the ending was very stupid indeed.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie it's a shame about A Surfeit of Lamphreys not being great as it is my all time favourite description of a monarch's demise so my interest was instantly piqued.

Yes - what a way to go!

This one is a family called the Lampreys, all of whom are endearingly silly potential suspects in the gruesome murder of a rich relative.

My list
1.One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Olivia Hawker

1. Passing, Nella Larsen
2. Take My Hand, Dolen Perkins-Valdez
3. Abide With Me, Elizabdth Strout
4. So Sweet A Changeling, Ruth Adam
5. Im Not Complaining, Ruth Adam.

7.The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah

1. Human Kind, Rutger Bregman
2. Talk Bones, Anna Bailey

10. Watching Neighbours Twice a Day, Josh Widdicombe 11. The Game, Micah Richards 12 Devotion, Hannah Kent 13. Love Marrisge, Monica Ali 14. I'm Not Scared, Niccolo Ammaniti

I was reading Beartown by Frederick Bachman, but it disappeared off Borrowbox when I forgot to renew. Really irriating as I was about halfway through. Wasn't really enjoying it, but I'd invested a lot of time (it's quite long) so musing on whether I should source another copy elsewhere.
Now reading The Cut Out Girl by Bart Van Es. This is non-fiction about a Jewish girl sheltered by a family in wartime Holland.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller
I've been mainly lurking, having not picked up a book for all of April - new job, plus very busy weekends, both of which are about to settle down, I hope.
My very little list:

1. In a Good Light by Claire Chambers
2. Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

3. Lean, Fall, Stand by Jon McGregor

1. The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns

5. The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS by Simon Garfield

1. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
2. Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova

Currently reading Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett. It's fine so far - a good slice of interwar London life which is always my kind of thing.

Thanks for the new thread SouthEast.

Really enjoying reading people’s thoughts on the women’s prize lists.

My latest is This Book will Change Your Mind about Mental Health by Nathan Filer. Whether you are a voice hearer or not, whether you experience psychosis or not, Filer takes you on equal terms. Filer practiced as a mental health nurse and gives five case studies interspersed with essays. The case studies are fascinating and often manage to convey what it is actually like for the people experiencing psychosis, as well as giving a professional’s perspective. The essays shed light on such topics as why disadvantage increases the risk of psychosis, the pros and cons of schizophrenia diagnosis, and, most intriguingly, how universal thought and behaviours even of the ‘sane’ might relate to psychotic experience. The book has done what it says in the title and is a definite bold from me.

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

Not really been reading anything much worth discussing - I’m continuing my reread of Robert Goddard’s books but the latest, while still very good, wasn’t one of his best. I’ve also been reading some kindle unlimited books to make the most of my cheap membership which finishes soon (don’t want to renew at full price!). I read a couple of Joan Aiken’s adult books which I quite enjoyed. Currently reading a book about a man travelling through the middle of America which I’m enjoying, and need to catch up with Anna Karenina and The Old Curiosity Shop for the readalongs!

I'm about 10% into Still Life by Sarah Winman but am finding it really dull and a bit irritating. Is it worth sticking with it? The fact that I'm even asking instead of just slogging through is down to the fine training I got on the taming the TBR pile thread 😊

I'd be interested to know this too. I tried reading it last year after rave reviews on here but abandoned it for similar reasons (although I found it more than a bit irritating, especially the parrot). It was a present so I can't bring myself to get rid of it but nor do I have any inclination to pick it up again.... awaiting inspiration.

27. A Feast of Crows - George RR Martin

The fourth book in the Game of Thrones series. The focus was on Cersei and Jamie with some storylines from Sansa, Arya and Sam. Nothing about Daenerys (who I find annoying in the books). I enjoyed it more because of that but having read the note at the end it seems the next book is all about those characters not featuring in this book: Daenerys, Jon Snow, Tyrion and Stannis so I may have to steel myself to read that one.

Picked up A Girl Called It in the Kindle deal and now reading that (along with Great Expectations)

@MamaNewtNewt I really liked it but it is a slow burner. You gradually get more involved with their lives, and I definitely enjoyed it more when the action shifts to Florence. But if you're not feeling it, you're not missing out on a work of startling genius I'd say, just an enjoyable yarn.

30. Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey. This is on the International Booker shortlist this year. The narrator is a woman in her thirties called Laura who decided long ago that she didn't want children. All her friends started having them except her friend Alina. Laura decides to get her tubes tied while Alina decides that she does want children after all. The book follows both their journeys and deals with motherhood, feminism, and childhood in different ways and types. It's a really interesting book and the two stories are interspersed well. I sometimes found the writing a little clunky, which may be the translation aspect, but on the whole I'd recommend it.

I really didn’t like the first chapter of Still Life but as I was on holiday I stuck with it and I ended up loving it. However I think by 10% through I was already enjoying it so if you’re that far through and not liking it maybe it’s just not for you.

I thought Still Life was annoying and rather twee, but I wanted to find out what happened to the characters so* *I stuck with it. I liked the setting. My main gripe was that everyone was talking all the time. The parrot was the quietest of them, probably because he couldn't get a word in edgeways!

I found the early chapters of Still Life when they’re still in London slow but loved it once they were in Florence.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think on the basis of your comments I'm going to give it a bit longer to see if it draws me in.

26.Exactly What You Mean - Ben Hinshaw

Some reviews have this down as a novel, but the links between some of the chapters are so tenuous that I found it easier to look on them as connected but separate short stories. Brothers Tom and Ned and their friends and family are common to most but not all of the chapters. The recurring themes are lost innocence and lost opportunity - teenage Ned tries and fails to establish a relationship with Penny, only to lose touch with her in adulthood; Melissa retreats to France when she is unceremoniously ditched by her married boss; timid Roger is almost drawn into a liaison with his neighbour's daughter.

Though all the female characters are strong, I felt there was an element of male wish-fulfilment in the execution - many of the relationships involve some combination of manipulative teenage girls, married men and blow jobs.

I was sufficiently drawn in to finish this in two days flat, but ultimately I liked but didn't love this.

DNF I Will Find You. Just couldn't get into it.

Currently flickering between 'The Favour' by Nicci French, and 'The Day We Meet Again.' By Miranda Dickenson. ❤️

66. The Confessions Of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

In the Early 1800's Frances grows up an illegitimate mixed race housegirl on a plantation; before being given as a gift to a rich couple in London.
She then develops a sexual relationship with the lady of the house. A crime is committed, but did she do it?

Hum.

It wants to be a Sarah Waters or like Michel Faber's Crimson Petal And The White but it's just too lightweight it's not literary enough. There's no heft in it.

It's also a bit messy timeline wise and on occasion unclear. There are interesting side characters but they are never fleshed out. The trial aspect was tedious.

That said, I will probably now watch the series on ITVX as a result

North Water by Ian McGuire I finished this it should have been right oil my street but I really didn't like it. It's not that the characters were unlikable, which they were, it's something else. I think it may be the casual violence to the bear cub and the descriptions of the deaths of the deals and whales but I am not convinced that is my reason for disliking this. After all I enjoyed The Sisters Brothers.

Slow Horses by Mik Herron this was a re-read as I just bought the whole series on Amazon, thoroughly enjoyable spy romp.

Mastered by Love by Stephanie Laurens absolutely mindless historical romance, the end of a series. I have been unable to sleep and this was enjoyable enough to keep me entertained in the night