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?

Prettiest much everything by Steinbeck is brilliant and a lot of it is also short.

Read a few and given up on a few since I last updated. Here’s one I liked:
A Company of Swans by Eva Ibotson whose spelling I have forgotten and cba to check
Her usual tropes of a remarkably compelling heroine who everybody loves except the nasty people who will ultimately meet their comeuppance; an odd man who deserves only a ridiculous form of love and not that of the heroine; s stately home; secrets from the past; a happy ending after toil and trauma etc.
All her heroines are the same person and all her heroes too but it can be forgiven as she’s clearly having so much fun writing them,

Ahead of the women's prize announcement today, my list would be:

1. Fire Rush
2. Demon Copperhead
3. Black Butterflies
4. Trespasses
5. Pod
6. The Marriage Portrait

I'd love to see Fire Rush or Black Butterflies win, but feel like the momentum is with Demon or Trespasses.

@Tarahumara thank you!

@Stokey My list is the same except I would switch Demon and Black Butterflies and I agree with your prediction too.

Love Steinbeck and envy those going in for the first time! Cannery Row is my favourite, not as crushingly sad as some of his others.

The only Steinbeck I’ve read so far is Of Mice and Men which I loved and does have the benefit of being short! I’ve owned a copy of The Grapes of Wrath for a couple of decades but never got round to reading it.

An Instance of the Fingerpost and Glory are in today’s daily deals. They’re not on my wish list but I’m sure I’ve seen them both mentioned on previous threads. Are they worth a try?

An Instance of the Fingerpost and Glory are in today’s daily deals. They’re not on my wish list but I’m sure I’ve seen them both mentioned on previous threads. Are they worth a try?

That's very interesting, Tattie - neither of those appears in my Kindle Daily Deals for today. Where are you seeing them? I get the daily email and always visit the site, and I still can’t see them anywhere on the headline deals page. I’m regularly mystified by how Kindle advertises its deals, or doesn’t!

@FortunaMajor looking at your list of decluttering books. If you were to recommend just one which would it be? I'm currently on a decluttering drive and looking for an inspiring book to help me

@Terpsichore they're on my daily email. How strange.

Not one of the one's I've just read, but Decluttering At The Speed Of Life by Dana K White, I've read 2 of hers and she "gets me" and my ongoing struggle with stuff and life. The one I've just read is more of a get off your arse and clean your house one. She blogs and podcasts as A Slob Comes Clean. I listen to her books on audio and I find her very motivating. I find I get up and start doing stuff while I listen. She has a very sensible basic step program to deal with stuff that works brilliantly for me. I've been to the tip twice already this week and the charity shop once to drop stuff off. She's genuinely changed my life for the better.

I also really rate Cassandra Aarssen who is online as The Clutterbug. She looks at 4 different types of people and hope they deal with clutter and has strategies for each. The one of hers I read was Real Life Organising, which was very good.

I've read many many others which are ok, but didn't do that much to help me.

I too would very much like to see Fire Rush win, despite Trespasses being the stand out for me.

I still haven't finished Pod or got my hands on Black Butterflies, which I must sort out.

I’m going to take a look at the decluttering books too. We have so much stuff here plus I have DMs house to do as well. Now I have time to do it I may as well get on with it.

Lost track of the last thread, found again now

1. The Last Chairlift by John Irving
2. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
3. Alex Rider: Secret Weapon by Anthony Horowitz
4. Once Upon A Crime by Robin Stevens
5. Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam
6. Scream by Nigel McCrery
7. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
8. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
9. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
10. The Island Of Sea Women by Lisa See
11. Fall From Grace by Tim Weaver
12. Picture You Dead by Peter James
13. Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Tochikazu Kawaguchi
14. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
15. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
16. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
17. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
18. Under The North Star by Väinö Linna
19. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
20. The Guest House by Robin Morgan-Bentley
21. Under The North Star: The Uprising by Väinö Linna
22. The Cleverness of Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
23. Under The North Star: Reconciliation by Väinö Linna
24. You Don't Own Me by Mary Higgins Clark
25. The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
26. Beneath The Skin by Nicci French
27. Hags: The Demonisation of Middle Aged Women by Victoria Dutchman-Smith
28. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
29. The Grand Tour: Letters and photographs from the British Empire Expedition 1922 Agatha Christie
30. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
31. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
32. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
33. The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Currently reading A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, before I read the next set of Rick Riordan books (DD has read the first two of this next set in as many days so I'm guessing they are going to be fun reads!)

Agree with the Cannery Row love. The Wayward Bus is another Steinbeck I really liked.

I have not posted for a while as have been away for 6 weeks touring in Europe and have come back to building renovation work

1. An Unwanted Inheritance -Imogen Clarke This had been on my Kindle unread for ages Finished it on hols but I found all the characters intensely irritating
2. An Adventure in English Melvyn Bragg Loved this and would like to quote pages of it when posters on MN moan about "Americanisms
3. Stepping Up - Sarah Turner Improbable tale - meh!
4. Golden Hills - Jennifer Weiner Short story but memorable and would like to read more of her
5. But you Are in France Madam - Catherine Berry Account of a family from Australia who moved to the Annecy area for 2 years
6. Weaving A French Life - Catherine Berry. How the family adapted to life back in Australia
7. A Springtime Affair - Katie Fforde Standard fare from this author
8. Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfield I enjoyed this though it's not my favourite Sittenfield book
9. Thirty Days in Paris - Veronica Henry Not great literature but I enjoyed it It was the story of a recently divorced women who went back to Paris to live for one month to try and make sense of what had happened there in her youth Intersting idea and I certainly needed to know how it was all resolved
10. How to be Danish - Patrick Kingsley I read this on hols before we got to Denmark and it was useful to read a perspective on both the country and its people
11. Reading in Bed - Sue Gee A calm comforting read
12. Perfect Felicity Clarke I love reading cookery books again I find them comforting and sometimes they inspire me to greater effort. However I have no real kitchen at the moment - when I have an oven and more than one ring hob I plan to work my way though this book

I have been reading the thread and have appreciated the recommendations. My total books read are 20 (but I couldn't get the numbering to work

That’s mighty weird - mine are completely different! I can’t cope with the possibility that everyone is being sent different daily deals…..😱

@grannycake I'm a Sue Gee fan although I haven't read Reading in Bed. I especially rate Earth and Heaven and The Mystery of Glass. She deserves to be more widely read imo.

@highlandcoo Thanks for those recommendations. We're away for another 6 weeks in Autumn so I'm compiling a selection for that

@grannycake have you read The Year of Living Danishly? I really enjoyed that one, it was very interesting to read about the culture differences!

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl yes I did read that one I thought it was good on the cultural differences and also the particular issues when you move countries for a partners job I may reread that after visiting Denmark to see if it chimes with anything we noticed.. If you like that sort of book I recommend Why the Dutch are Different by Ben Coates - I thought it excellent I also have friends who have lived & brought up children in the Netherlands and they confirmed a lot of what he has to say

Love The Grapes of Wrath I think that end will stay with me forever.

I have most of his other books, really need to get some of them read!

Thanks for the new thread!
I'm SO behind with my reviews. A few here:

9 The Visionist, Rachel Urquhart. 19th-century America and a girl and her mother flee their family home and the girl is left at a Shaker community. She has to find friends, settle to their way of living, and try to come to terms with what's happened/what she's done to her family.
I can't give it a rave review; good subject matter, but it didn't really come to life.

10 The Colony, Audrey Magee. Much reviewed on here so I won't say much. I liked the dry humour and the pompous academic arguments between the two men. Thought it was very interesting on the attitudes to the Irish language of the French linguist (thought it was important to use and preserve it, very romantic about it and scathing about English) and the young island-dweller (who pragmatically says you need it to get work these days). I found the climax quite brutal and surprisingly emotional.

11 The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller. Again much reviewed. I was surprised at it being marketed like a lovely romantic 'women's' read; it kind of is, in the nostalgic summer-in-the-Hamptons setting and some of the action, but I found it a much darker novel than the puff quotes and the jacket design suggest; the protagonist is very bitter at times and some terrible things happen/have happened. That said, it's a good novel IMO.

12 Incredible Journeys, David Barrie. Non-fiction on the science of animal navigation: dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way; ants and bees that navigate using patterns of light invisible to humans; sea turtles, spiny lobsters and moths that find their way using the Earth's magnetic field, etc etc. A good, lively and accessible read.

13 On Friendship, Michel de Montaigne. One to dip in to. The originator of the essay as literary form – or of the modern opinion column, as I always think of him. Some of his opinions are... of his time, especially about women, but he's a delightful writer and I love hearing his voice coming down from the 16th century and still sounding fresh.

More when I have time!

Thanks @Southeastdweller
Just typed a big post and lost it so this will be brief!
Steinbeck...really enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath.
Daily Deals...today I've bought Ultra-processed People and All The Beauty In The World, have been looking forward to reading both of these.
Recent reads...
27. Homecoming by Kate Morton
Lots that Kate Morton readers will recognise...dual timeline, setting in Australia and UK, family secrets to unearth, descriptions of big houses and gardens. Just my kind of thing, took a long time to get going and for the author to give us any kind of tiny clue as to why she was setting us up with so many locations, characters and back stories to remember, liked it overall.
28. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
You've all heard of this one. It grew on me but I liked it rather than loved it and I already feel like it isn't staying with me.
29. Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
Having seen Brady on Taskmaster and read positive reviews on here, I grabbed this as a 99p deal as a teacher with an increasing interest in autism. From the very first chapter, I felt like Brady did a brilliant job of describing her experiences with clarity and humour. I found it really impactful, thinking of children I have worked with and seeing them in a new light. I also loved her descriptions of her Scottish family and of her university life - I was a student in Edinburgh just a few years before Brady and enjoyed seeing the familiar through the lens of her very different experiences.

Thank you for the new thread, Southeast! When I get a moment I will bring over my list plus a few new reviews.

For the Women's Prize I think my personal ranking is:

1. Trespasses
2. Fire Rush (like Fortuna I'd be very happy to see this win)
3. The Marriage Portrait (but O'Farrell has won recently for Hamnet so I'd rather see someone else win I think)
4. Demon Copperhead
5. Black Butterflies
6. Pod

MarkWithaC, I'm happy to see some Montaigne love! He is an amazing thinker and I have loved him since first encountering him as an undergrad. It's true that some of his attitudes toward women are problematic, especially in On Friendship. He himself doesn't seem to have had much in common intellectually with his wife, and I think he extrapolated from his own situation in order to theorise that you can't have women as sexual partners AND as intellectual soulmates. Which is a shame. But the stuff about gay love that he added to the later version of On Friendship is very interesting.

Btw on the topic of doorstop books, I'm reading Ducks, Newburyport. And have been reading Ducks, Newburyport for what seems like forever, ha. I made a few false starts as I found it a real effort in the beginning to keep paying attention. But now that I have a sense of who the main characters are, I find the book simultaneously easier to read and more gripping. It is still LONG though.

As for the dinosaur porn and train porn digressions, what I can say, that's why I'm here for these threads. Because they are so impressively VARIED. 😂

And @Sadik, this comment is absurdly late, but I love and covet your kitten! Ginger kittens are my favourite as my first ever cats were ginger! My current jet black darling is lovely too but god I would love another ginger kitten.