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?

That’s interesting that you thought reading Demon Copperhead without reading David Copperfield was a positive. I’m planning on reading Demon soon but wondered if I’d be missing out having not read Dickens first.

@BoldFearlessGirl I've got Winter People saved for my holiday to Ireland this summer. It doesn't exactly sound like holiday reading from your review! Then again, not much Irish literature is.

I started reading David Copperfield in preparation for Demon @TattiePants but got about a quarter of the way through and decided I didn't have time for 2 enormous tomes so would stick with Demon. I may go back to David at some stage but am not generally a Dickens fan. I did love Demon though.

I was having the same dilemma as to whether to read David Copperfield before Demon Copperhead or not.

I did start Demon Copperhead the other day but couldn’t get into it but that was more of a reflection on not being able to settle into any book at that point rather than any issue with the book. I will be revisiting it - and won’t bother reading Dickens first.

My dilemma is that I loved David C so I'm a bit put off.

20. The Rainbow and the Rose by Nevil Shute
OK its not that I read this in an hour, but I slipped it in before Demon C abd was going to ignore it because it's so inconsequential. Have decided to put it in anyway because at least it's another fiction, and because I'm seriously worried I'm not going to make 50 this year at this rate.
One of Shute's lesser efforts, but a pleasant bath read anyway. The story of a pilot going to rescue an older pilot he knew years before, who's been injured in a remote part of Tasmania. One of his more mystical stories. Perfectly enjoyable if you like this kind of thing.

I picked up Demon Copperhead when it was in the deals a while back and read the sample, and I’m afraid I was so spooked by how similar yet dissimilar it was to David Copperfield that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get along with it.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I will fight you for him!

Sharpens nails…

I need a really, really good post-apocalyptic not silly sci-fi summer read. Extra brownie points if it’s a proper doorstop. Extra, extra brownie points if it makes me cry. Basically, I need The Stand don’t I?

Yep. You feeling ready for a reread? If not I'll have a think as I used to love post apocalyptic books (I find it a bit more difficult to read now I feel we are much closer to complete environmental collapse / nuclear Armageddon)

Not a door stop @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie but Shelter by Dave Hutchinson might fit the bill for you if you don't mind violence. It would have been a bold for me I suspect apart from having to skip too much that was critical to the plot (I have a very low tolerance level these days).

I'm assuming you've either read or can't bear Riddley Walker. (Which actually might be an ideal reread for me, it moved out with my ex-H but I could always get another copy!)

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie Robert McCammon’s Swansong? It’s the most like The Stand I’ve ever read.
Alternatively Octavia E Butler’s Parable of the Sower is good- a bit more like The Road in terms of bleakness than The Stand though. I really enjoyed it apart from some of the new religion bit.

My top 4 (can’t think of a 5th) are all nonfiction this year.

A Heart That Works - Rob Delaney
The Full English - Stuart Maconie
When The Dust Settles - Lucy Easthope
Into The Silence - Wade Davies

What about the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey? I haven’t read it yet but picked it up after a few recommendations on these threads.

My thought was The Passage by Justin Cronin - absolute doorstop, and 2 sequels

I'm making the assumption you've read The Road ?

I thought that too @EineReiseDurchDieZeit but books 2 and 3 go sharply down hill IIRC

I can't remember how you feel about China Mieville Remus - I seem to remember you and Cote differing wildly over the city and the city - but Perdido Street Station could work? More Steam Punk but it's a massive tome.

I was just about to suggest Swansong. Agree with @BaruFisher - if I recall correctly it is both hefty and rather good. Nuclear apocalypse rather than virus, but equally absorbing.

@Stokey

It is absolutely true that Book 3 was shite.

He has a new one called The Ferryman though. Sounds dystopian

Top 3 so far (harsh i know but I just can't bold any of the others, though enjoyment was had):
*1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

1. Vietnam by Max Hastings
2. The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight*

My last two reads were both women's prize for fiction nominees (one from this year and one from last year):

34 Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith. This is set in Vietnam and the first line of the blurb is "Two young Vietnamese women go missing decades apart", but the actual disappearances, while central to the plot, aren't really dwelt upon. The novel is more about the build-up and repercussions and the characters involved. It's a very original book, with elements of magical realism, and I really enjoyed reading something so different from the norm. Lots of people have already reviewed this, but I particularly remember @ABookWyrm's review up thread: "I didn't feel like like I fully understood everything that happened... Still a very good read though" - this is exactly how I feel!

35 The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. I really enjoyed this one too. I thought it was interesting, compared to most historical fiction books, to choose a little-known time period and heroine and bring them to life with such rich and evocative descriptions. I didn't love it as much as Hamnet though!

Thanks, everyone.

I've read or given up on most of them. Hated Wool and couldn't finish it. Was bored by and gave up on The Parable of the Sower - my tolerance for religion is very low, tbf.

I LOVED The City and the City but haven't got on with any of CM's others. P Street Station did my head in and I couldn't complete it.

Read:
Swansong (okay)
The Road (okay)
Riddley Walker (odd - and not as clever as it thought it was imo, unless I was missing something)
The Passage (loved), 2nd (decent), 3rd - a pile of shite - The Ferryman is on my wish list, but I'm waiting for it be be reduced.

I'll get the sample of The Shelter

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I really enjoyed Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice this year. It’s set in an indigenous Canadian community who are quite cut off from the apocalypse which adds an interesting dynamic. Not a door stop but there’s a sequel out later in the year.