50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh 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, the fifth one here, and the sixth one here

If I win the lottery, my plan is to buy up a small old factory and convert it into a bookshop, cafe, bar and indie nightclub.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
I loved it! It’s a bit cutesy but not mawkish or saccharine. Firmly in my top 3 of the year and firmly in my, ‘Something Nice’ book list. Very nice.

I’m due a re-read of Goodbye to Berlin. Saw Cabaret recently- superb.

I’m on holiday in the Yorkshire Dales this week and spent a happy rainy afternoon poking around Sedbergh, which claims to be “Yorkshire’s book town” and has a fine selection of second-hand book shops. My favourite was Westwood Books, like a calmer and cheaper version of Barter Books. Recommend to any 50 Bookers passing the area.

Ooh, I’ve been there, Meg, it’s good, isn’t it!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - if your "Something Nice" list exists in any form at all, I'd love to see it. That type of book isn't my go to read though I do enjoy one when I come across it, but I have a dear friend who always wants recommendations for such things. I'd love to buy her a pile of "something nice" books as a gift, but never know where to start.

Only in my head!

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Tuesdays with Morrie
Trustee from the Toolroom
84 Charing Cross Road

Otherwise mostly Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and a bunch of children’s classics.

Can I suggest Leonard and Hungry Paul as a "Something Nice" book too? Gentle and heart-warming.

@Piggywaspushed thanks for the heads-up about Sally Magnusson's new book. It's cheap in hardback at the moment so I've just ordered it.

I haven't read her second novel although I enjoyed The Sealwoman's Gift. There was just one short section that veered into Mills and Boon territory, otherwise it was well-written and interesting I thought. And an aspect of Icelandic history I had no idea about previously. I'd wrongly thought of the slave trade as taking place in one direction only so to learn otherwise was fascinating. She has a talent for homing in on interesting historical events and writing fiction around them.

Would I Capture the Castle belong on this list?

Yes!

Also Jeeves and Wooster

And what was that lovely one some of us liked last year? Somebody and Park?

Just grabbed 'Storied'. Is anyone else having trouble buying kindle books? I keep getting a message saying something along the lines of 'we're having trouble doing what you asked', but when I go back to the previous page, I have actually bought the book. It's really weird.

Eleanor and Park?

Perhaps The Enchanted April too? I haven't read that one but it seems to be much-love on the thread.

As the Vice President and Executive Editor of Alfred A. Knopf publishers you might decide one day that the hour you spend each evening sitting on the toilet seat while your two toddlers are in the bath could be put to use writing a novel on that laptop balanced on your knees. And it would only take 4 months.

Eureka. Pineapple Street and Jenny Jackson is the author.

Milieu: the super rich 1%, Brooklyn Heights, New York
Themes: existential angst upon discovering money makes you horrible,
tablescape trauma, finding a billionaire to turn to when your husband loses his job due to getting shafted at work, the psychological mess arising from having a mother called Tilda who can only communicate via losing to you at tennis, the pain of failing to notice something everyone else knows about your hot date and finding out just how hard it is to stop being so very very rich
Characters: 2 dimensional
Twists: something about bangs and whimpers here, bizarre.

This book is well written with only a couple of typos.

Chuck James Herriot on the something nice pile.

Late reply @StColumbofNavron but yes Vera is thought to be one of the inspirations for Rebecca (that i haven't read, but suspect I would like a lot more). Vera itself is supposed to be based on von Arnim's second marriage to Frank Russell (older brother to Betrand). If Wemyss is in any way accurate potrait, Frank wasn't a very nice man to say the least.
I'm away in France on holiday at the moment. Currently plenty of reading time as it is blowing a gale, chilly and rainy. First two holiday read reviews below.
31. A Trip of One's Own Kate Wills
I thought this light travel writing would be ideal holiday reading, but I thought wrong. Descriptions of historical female travellers who have completed various challenging journeys (like circumnavigating the world on a motorbike or crossing an Australian desert) are interspersed with Wills's reflections on her own (much more mundane) travel experiences and relationships. The coverage of the female travel pioneers felt superficial and I didn't really get on with the rest of it. Might search out some of the sources in the bibliography though.
32. Small Pleasures Clare Chambers
Loved and a definite bold. I have one tiny caveat that I can't elaborate on for fear of spoilers, but overall I thought it was superb

Set in the 50s Jean, a journalist on a local paper, is tasked with investigating a mother who claims to have had a virgin birth. Someone told me about this synopsis ages ago and I have to admit I thought 'that sounds stupid - I won't like that'. Again, I couldn't have been more wrong (I gave it a chance because I'd seen it mentioned positively on these threads). I loved the depictions of the characters and the gradual unfolding of the central mystery.

Not sure what to tackle next. Will take a look through the kindle while viewing the rain from.the patio of our mobile home.

A rather random selection of Something Lovely:
Barbara Pym
No1 Ladies Detective Agency
Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan
Diary of a Provincial Lady

On the something good front, I am going to recommend once again the Laetitia Rodd series by Kate Saunders - no-one else seems to have read them, but I promise they are lovely.

Also The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but you can stop reading after the first eight.

Oh these are lovely, thank you. I absolutely have Enchanted April on my list (thanks to Terpsichore) but will save my review for another day. Lots to work with here and this will keep me going for several birthdays.

I haven’t had that with Kindle books but I bought some carpet cleaner yesterday and got the same message from Amazon, so I think it’s a site-wide problem.

I had a strange message when buying something about 2 days ago, noodle - I had to ‘reconfirm’ it, which was definitely odd.

Yes, yes and thrice yes.

Yes - but I reckon stop after 5 or 6.

I have started reading The North Water. It most definitely does not belong on anyone’s Something Lovely list .

It is a most unlovely book, that one.