50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Six

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, the fourth one here and the fifth one: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4793238-50-books-challenge-2023-part-five?page=20&reply=126860721

What are you reading?

What puts me off is that the book club questions are almost always about the issues in the book, not the writing. I recognise it's a personal preference, but when I've read, for example, Station Eleven, I don't want to discuss where global warming might lead the human race, I want to discuss the characters, the world-building and the plot.

My personal bugbear is the portentous inclusion of "... A Novel" on the cover. It's mostly a US thing, but it seems to be saying "this is a real literature (not like that mass-market stuff everyone else is reading)".

@countrygirl99 try deleting all your cards from your Amazon account then starting from there. Has worked for me when I've had the same problem

Yay, that worked. Thanks @Sadik

How strange @countrygirl99

I am in the same boat

Had a preorder cancelled as they could not process payment despite the card being correct, money in the account and the preorder not even due to October

There must be an issue their end today.

Definitely wasn't due to credit limit as I later used the same card to buy petrol and a supermarket shop that came to a lot more than 99p😆

I’ve had a message pop up on Amazon a few times this week saying there’s a problem with the payment and the order hadn’t gone through but then I get a confirmation email and the book appears on my Kindle. They must be having problems.

Two short ones

103. For Thy Great Pain, Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie

Much discussed already. Found this so interesting, could easily have read more.

104. Chronicle Of A Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

My fourth Marquez. Two brothers vow to kill the Nan who dishonoured their sister.

122 pages of severe hard work - resent the 50p it cost me frankly.

Lol I've just seen my typo of Nan instead of man. That would've been a better book, Nan vs Twins 😂

Two brothers vow to kill the Nan who dishonoured their sister.
**
@EineReiseDurchDieZeit Sorry but this made me chortle 😆

😂Poor nan!

Laughing at the Nan dishonouring the sister.

Probably told her she’d catch her death if she went out with her hair wet.

That typo really made me laugh Eine and made me think of nanageddon from the Mighty Boosh

Pardon me but I'm on a roll

105. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Audible)

Strike investigates a missing GP. Robin investigates perfumes

I feel comfortable with the common consensus around IBH up next in saying this is probably the best Strike book. The personal stuff is great and it had the most interesting investigation. It remains flawed.

More extraneous waffle than a Birds Eye campaign

JKR terrorises The Fairie Queen needlessly this time.

Charlotte still not believable as a real person

If anyone from Hachette is reading can you get JKR to knock phrases like "working class accent" on the head?! Dreadfully prejudiced. I could rant for a while on that but I won't

I'm also not keen on her depictions of people with LD I have to say, it's not a first either.

Some interviewing sessions gave me cringe especially the old lady

Terrible ending. Not believable in the least and so rushed. Got to agree with the summing of Remus there

But on with the show! Another 30 odd hours to go.

I've had the pre-order issue with Amazon today too. They said it's a known issue, seems like it has affected quite a few of us.

Latest reads, Alan Hunter - Gently with the Painters - I'm working my way through my oldest unread kindle purchases (quite a challenge ). This was quite a plodding police procedural where Gently, now a superintendent, escapes his desk role to investigate the murder of a woman who is a member of a painting group. An ok read.

Elif Shafak - The Island of Missing Trees - I watched Lost Worlds with Ben Fogle and the episode where he went to Cyprus which brought this book more to life for me. I wasn't keen on the chapters narrated by the fig tree and preferred the chapters based on the family. Again, an ok read, but I expected to enjoy it more.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit That ending! So stupid after what had been a relatively decent read until then.

I’m re-reading the Harry Potters for lack of anything else. Sooooo many words…,

Eine loving the Nan twist! It sounds like a game from I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue: improve a book's plot with a one letter typo.

I need to do a Potter reread before the series starts I've got time.

The ending AS IF! I mean surely the smell for a start!? And their 1:1 was ludicrous

More crimes of passion involving Nans I say

Weapons concealed in a Sholley

Knitting needles at the ready

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit a hat pin is quite a weapon too.

Plus a walking stick could conceal weapons, or be a weapon on its own. A sharpened crochet hook ...

What series?

I'm about a third of the way through The Island of Missing Trees @SilverShadowNight and not liking it as much as I thought I would, but hoping that will change as I carry on. Also finding the fig tree narrator a bit annoying and an unnecessary plot device - the story is dramatic enough without using it.

This one Remus

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/harry-potter-tv-series-release-date/

39 Les Cahiers d’Esther: Histoires de mes 12 ans - Riad Sattouf (in French) Third in the series of graphic novels / comic strip collections following the daughter of the author’s friends from her own perspective. In this book, she starts secondary school - I’m reading these books to coincide with DD1’s school progess, as she will be starting secondary in September, and it’s good to get a bit of insight into what she’s experiencing! DD1 has now read the first two Esther books and loved them - she can’t wait to get her hands on this one!

Thanks. I so rarely watch TV and had no idea that this was a thing.