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?

I remember that connection (that was Joan who I really liked) but I still don’t get how he fits into the themes etc- he seems a bit incidental to the whole story- I’ll look up your review which sounds like it’ll give me a bit more clarity- thanks!

I also really liked the letter the unwell guy got when he was like THIS person is CRAZY

It’s a very weird book for sure- I’d definitely read more by her. I just read your review- I also was disappointed we didn’t find out more about the new mum- I liked their story- and the nasty woman who wanted to put the dead mouse on their doorstep!

Increasingly I go for weird these days see also The Vegetarian or Build Your House Around My Body because so many books blend together but these really standout. Maybe it doesn't always work but I appreciate the effort in doing something different

A genre which I'm sure somebody will have already invented.

I'm surprised we haven't seen Rimming With All The Trimmings In The Cornish Christmas Roundhouse By The Sea in the deals

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit Bravo!

Eine 😁

Eine the filthy Cosy fiction writer you never knew you needed 😆

So, after a couple of weeks of really terrible sleep I’ve re-read the Potters.

Do they get sloppy and overlong as they progress? Yes, although the final one is tighter?

Did I occasionally wince at the grammar? Hell, yes.

But I thoroughly enjoyed them and they were just what I needed during a bit of a tough couple of weeks.

28. We Are Not Like Them Jo Piazza & Christine Pride This seemed like a strange mixture of hard hitting social justice and chick lit. It was taglined on borrowbox as 'The most anticipated and important crime thriller you'll read in 2021'. The one thing it wasn't was a thriller - what had happened and the likely conclusion is apparent from the opening chapters. The story focuses on the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager and examines the responses of two friends - Jen (whose police officer husband was involved in the shooting) and Riley (a reporter investigating the case). The central tradegy is heartbreaking and there was one scene that brought me to tears. However, overall as a novel it just didnt work for me. The central friendship never rang true.

29.The Hours Before Dawn Celia Fremlin
Someone on the thread mentioned Uncle Paul another one of Fremlin's novels. I thought I might enjoy it, but couldn't track down a cheap secondhand copy so instead went for this. Written in the late 50s it focuses on Louise, a suburban housewife struggling with a non-sleeping baby and two primary aged daughters. In order to help cover the bills, the enigmatic Miss Brandon moves in as a lodger. Is Louise's overtired mind playing tricks on her or is there something sinister about Miss Brandon?
I loved this and it might be a bold. This is mainly because it is one of the most accurate and empathetic portraits of the hell of endless sleepless nights I've read. I had a non-sleeping baby and many of Louise's experiences snd feelings mirrored my own. The picture of 50s motherhood it paints is often familiar, but occasionally jarringly different. As well as a domestic potrait, it also works as a mystery. Although I didn't find it as chilling as some of the reviews I've read, it does have a satisfying conclusion.

That was me, Owl. I think The Hours Before Dawn is Fremlin's best book. She can feel a bit formulaic when you've read a few, but I like her disenchanted view of family life.

Glad the Potter books brought you succour, Remus. I want to go back to them at some point.

82. Plainly Murder, by Isabella Alan. Murder in Amish country, as recommended by Passme's sister. I think this was a prequel to the series, and Petunia the goat was not on the cast list. It was a soothing read, with very low jeopardy.

It’s ages since I’ve updated. I can’t remember when I last did update so I’ll just talk about the last few things I’ve read. As it’s Wimbledon fortnight quite a bit of my reading has been tennis themed! Does anyone have any other recommendations for tennis-based fiction?

The Wild Card by Judy Murray

Andy’s mum has written a book! And it’s not bad. It’s not great literature but it’s a good story and, if you like tennis, it’s fun to read about what it’s like behind the scenes at Wimbledon. It’s about an older player staging a comeback.

Wimbledon: The Official Illustrated History by John Barrett

Full of interesting details.

Bringing Them Up Royal: How The Royals Raised Their Children From 1066 To The Present Day by David Cohen

I was disappointed in this. I was expecting more insight about what it’s like growing up in the Royal Family but this was really just all about everything the various Royal parents did wrong, usually linked to Freud.

Sea Change by Robert Goddard

Although Goddard is one of my favourite authors, this is one of my least favourite of his books. In fact this is the first time I have reread it whereas all his other earlier books I have reread at least three times each. Anyway it’s still a well written book, I just struggle to get into the story (which is all about people who lost money during the South Sea bubble and the machinations that led to).

Double Fault by Lionel Shriver

The story of a marriage between two tennis players. While I liked the tennis aspects of this I didn’t like either of the characters and therefore didn’t really care about their marriage.

Happy Place by Emily Henry

A couple that has broken up had to pretend to still be together in front of their friends. I found this frustrating because it doesn’t explain for ages why they broke up so their behaviour is baffling as they clearly still like and fancy each other. Anyway this was OK but not sure I would rush to read more by her.

The Fall by Gilly Macmillan

A lottery winner is found dead in his pool and the only people nearby were the neighbours, a young couple and their housekeeper. Their setup is very odd and the reasons for this are gradually revealed. This was OK.

The People’s Wimbledon: Memories and Memorabilia from the Lawn Tennis Championships by Richard Jones

Lots of Wimbledon history and people’s personal memories of visiting there (or playing there) over the years. Really interesting.

The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver

Latest in the series featuring missing person investigator David Raker. I really like this series and this was no exception. Here he’s investigating the vanishing of someone’s mother when the children were only very small, and how this links to the recent disappearance of a man and his son from a theme park.

Chasing Points: A Season on the Pro Tennis Circuit by Gregory Howe

What it’s like playing on the lowest rung of the professional tennis circuit. This was fascinating and I enjoyed spotting names of players who later became well known (the events described were in 2007/2008).

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Another tennis comeback story. I really enjoyed this.

Freaky Monday by Mary Rodgers and Heather Hach

A sort-of sequel to Freaky Friday. Here a girl swaps bodies with her teacher. Not as good as the original.

A book I read 2 years ago Lost Girls by Robert Kolker, it seems they've finally found the killer. Some of the bereaved now dead themselves- I'm just amazed they've got him, no one cared because they were sex workers. Film on Netflix.

33 Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan

An intriguingly different detective series set in immediate post-partition India. Persis Wadia is India's first female police officer, who has reached the rank of inspector, albeit in Bombay [the name used in the book] backwater Malabar House (shades of Slough House here!). Surprisingly, she is called in to investigate the murder of a prominent British man, Sir James Herriot (Khan obviously enjoyed his names!). Why has she been asked to investigate such a high profile murder? Is it a poisoned chalice? Persis's tribulations amongst her all male force are well-documented and she is a sympathetic but not saintly character. The partition backdrop means the fairly traditional murder story takes place against a background of constant tension. The solution was fairly pedestrian but I very much enjoyed the ride, and will seek out the rest of the series.

ChessieFL I enjoyed the tennis references in Apples Never Fall by Lianne Moriarty. Noting down a few of your tennis reads. Have Carrie Soto to read this summer but haven't quite got to it during Wimbledon as planned.

Hope you’re ok Remus 💐

All the best to you and your dad Sadik💐

The Fremlin review was really helpful @bibliomania I'd never heard of her so it was another 'hit' I found by reading these threads.
30. Metronome Tom Watson * *
I think it was @TattiePants who gave this a lukewarm review recently. I had some of the same issues. To reprise Aina and Whitney have been sentenced to years living alone on a remote island where they must take a pill every 8 hours to avoid being poisoned by environmental toxins. These pills are dispensed by an automated pill machine that scan their thumbs. You really have to suspend belief to accept this incredibly convoluted way of punishing people. How are the machines powered to last over a decade? How big are they to store the pills? Why would a dystopian regime bother with all of this? More potential issues occur later, but would be spoilers if revealed.
To be fair I did just go with it, and the first half describing their grim predicament and the slow reveal of the 'crime' that led to their exile was okay. However, the final section just felt rushed with the ambiguous ending very aggravating.

107. Trust by Hernan Diaz

Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer, this is a highly convoluted novel about a wealthy New York financier in the 20's

Setup as 4 draft excerpts from different works, it's essentially about whose version you trust and why.

It starts with a "novel within a novel" called Bonds by Harold Vanner which depicts Andrew Bevel in a fictionalised way as a man named Benjamin Rask. Bevel is incensed and starts about writing an autobiography to right wrongs. We then discover Bevel had a ghostwriter, and the novel ends with excerpts from the elusive Mildred Bevel's diary.

There is some good writing but I found the concept very unsubtle, very on the nose. There was also for me the sense that a writer started a book from several angles and then just dumped them together and made something of it.

I'd be very interested in others reviews but it's not a bold from me.

@Owlbookend yes it was me that read Metronome earlier this year and you’re right, you really do have to suspend belief. I really wanted to know more about the dystopian world they lived in and what had brought them to it. Also, just tell me the ending, don’t leave it ambiguous!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I’m so behind on my reviews (again) but I read Trust last month. I liked the concept of four different books / points of view but agree it wasn’t 100% successful. It isn’t a bold for me either but I did enjoy it.

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm okay - very ready for a holiday!

Can't find anything I want to read at the moment, so am busying myself with sewing instead.

@TattiePants

You ARE behind! I couldn't cope with that

I feel sad about Metronome I bought it in good faith sort of buying the hype . It was going to be a Mr B as well but I declined because I had already had it. And now off people whose opinions I trust it's a stinker

Mildred's diary was pointless in Trust also I thought the one revelation was very obvious

34 Foster by Claire Keegan

Gosh, this is good, isn't it? I think most on this thread will have already read, or at least read others' reviews, but it's the story of a young girl who lives for a summer with her aunt and uncle (I am fairly sure that's who they are, although it's never definitely specified). The difficulties of her home life are shown in glimpses, and the joy of the book is in her unfurling as she comes to trust in her new home. So short but so much packed in. Absolutely beautifully written. I'm going to have to go back and read it again.

35 Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The last in Jenkins Reid's "women quartet" (also comprising Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and Malibu Rising (Nina Riva)). I did enjoy this as I was a big fan of 90s women's tennis and it evokes the world very well. The story is fun, I enjoy Carrie as a character and I loved the relationship with her father. But for me it didn't live up to Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones. I think Daisy Jones is the best of the lot - really cleverly done with both genuinely sad and laugh out loud moments.