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

My suggestion would also be to get the Kindle app on a new Amazon account and start again, Remus. Or join a library virtually and borrow ebooks on Libby. I’m signed up to Kensington & Chelsea libraries and I’ve never set foot in them but I can borrow ebooks; I did the whole thing online and it took 5 minutes to set up.

53. May the Twelfth - ed. Humphrey Jennings & Charles Madge

This is a really niche one but I enjoyed it a lot. The Mass Observation project was set up during the 1930s with the aim of getting ordinary people to write about their everyday lives. The idea was sociological and tbh a bit high-flown and waffly, but it came spectacularly into its own during WW2, and in retrospect has proved a goldmine for historical research. In fact the Mass Observation project never stopped and still runs today (and I'm one of the many contributors).

Probably the biggest event tackled by MO prior to the war was the coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth on May 12, 1937, and this volume gathers together the reports of the many observers who sent in responses about how they spent that one day. As I’m incurably nosy I just loved reading these eyewitness accounts in granular detail, often unintentionally funny or bizarre (lots of Alan Bennett-style remarks), and tbh almost exactly like the day of the recent coronation despite it happening 80+ years earlier - just proving that people don’t really change. The main difference is that people listened to it on the wireless rather than watching it on television. It also began what became a Mass Observation tradition of asking its observers to keep a diary of their day every year on May the 12th.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It’s our last day here, so I’ll try dp’s Japanese thing. Most people here are German and I haven’t seen a single book!

😂 sorry no idea!

Nice to see you, @bettbburg . Condolences @Piggywaspushed and I feel your pain, @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I also tend to bring a fall-back physical book in case disaster strikes.

@FortunaMajor I had a play with the Choose your Midlife Crisis book yesterday - good fun, although give me an axe-swinging orc over a dull work meeting any day.

Some recent reads, nothing too demanding:

91. The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill, C S Robertson
The narrator is a "death cleaner", cleaning homes where bodies have lain undiscovered for long periods. She tries to tell the police that there is more than meets the eye to some of those deaths, but they won't listen, so she decides to take action herself. This is decent genre fiction, distinctive and competently done.

92. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, Janice Hallett
A true crime writer investigates cult murders from nearly two decades ago. As with her first book, it's told through emails, Whats App messages, transcripts etc. I still think it's quite a clever trick, but with diminishing returns. It does sometimes feel like a chore to get through.

93. Rhododendron Pie, Margery Sharp
The author's first book, written in a month when she was 25 in 1930. Ann admires her intellectual family, who look down on the more ordinary families around them. But then she starts to see the charms of the ordinary, and one ordinary young man in particular. An enjoyable period piece.

94. The Cliff House, Chris Brookmyre
Hen party on an island - dark secrets from the past - murder. A bit over the top but kept me turning the pages on a long train journey.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie sorry to hear about your kindle. Good to know that you will be able to download again soon. @Piggywaspushed I hope that you are feeling much better and can get to Norway

I've just finished another of my old TBR pile (I decided to see which were my oldest kindle TBR books) and read Mum on the Run by Fiona Gibson. An easy read, and very funny in places.

Pathogenesis: How germs made history by Jonathan Kennedy
I didn’t like this as much as a previous poster on this thread ( I didn’t buy this on the posters recommendation as this is the sort of think I would have brought anyway). The issue for me was that it covered a lot of ground I was already aware of, I think anyone with a good basic understanding of history will not be learning much new. The first couple of chapters covered ground I had already read in Sapians and later the author attempted to cover the transatlantic slave trade, the Haitian revolution and parts of the American civil war within 33 pages which meant that information was either left out or very simplified. I did learn some things such as the effect of plagues on the Roman empire but given how simplified the later chapters were I now question the information in the earlier ones.

Ohio by Stephen Markley
I liked this one a lot. This is about a group of adults who were friends in a small town in the Appalachian mountains, a couple left, a couple stayed but all are in town on the same night for various different reasons. The book is split into four different narratives which covers their struggles, attempts to leave the town and accumulates into the solving of a mystery. Its quite gritty, time jumps ALOT and I would urge caution because of descriptions of sexual violence, its also quite melancholic but I enjoyed the overall descriptions of the community and the changes brought to it over the decades.

The Shipping News by Anne Proulx
I had just finished this when I saw posters mention this! I had also have this on my bookshelf for a good few years and decided to pick it up. This isn’t quite what I expected as from the first few chapters it focused very much on Quoyle who marries, has two children and then loses his wife. However once he then moves to Newfoundland this book opens up to include his new community and all these new characters get to tell their stories as Quoyle and his children settle into the rhythm of this new life.

After reading Ohio and then The Shipping News I’ve realised that books focused on a community and therefore have a strong sense of place is very much my thing. I loved this, the writing and the story slowly weaves itself as some threads go somewhere and others really don’t. Quoyles transformation as a Newfoundlander felt organic and not rushed or contrived, definitely somewhere I could live though!

Quick! I’m in the WiFi! What shall I buy????

@Terpsichore that's so interesting about the Mass Observation Project. I had no idea it was still on the go and have been inspired to sign up so thank you.

A guy in my French class commented at the end of one session (we discuss politics/what's in the news generally each week) "you have a lot of opinions don't you?"

Yes I do mate 🙄

I'm sure he would agree that the MO project is an ideal place for me

What did you go for Remus?

Excellent @highlandcoo! there’s a good Summer Directive, the latest one just out, to get your teeth into to start ☺️

I’ve opted for Mr Mercedes for a potential safe re-read, plus The Exorcist which I have never seen or read. Thought it might be light and fluffy for the plane.

I reviewed and enjoyed Exiles recently so this might have been me. I haven't ready any of her others yet, but I will.

I've been away for a few days and catching up with the thread reminds me why I love it so much, from the group effort to get @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie something to read, to learning that the Mass Observation Project is still a thing. And of course remembering Willy Fog

Also thrilled to see @bettbburg join the thread, hoping @TimeforaGandT feels better soon, and gnashing my teeth on behalf of @Piggywaspushed.

@Sadik I’m not an only child but spent a lot of time trying to avoid my little brother…I particularly remember reading an 1800s diary of a gentlewoman (or something along those lines) on a wet week in an ancient cottage near Alnwick 😄

@Terpsichore The 12th May book sounds great! As does the project - how interesting to be part of it!

@highlandcoo I’d take that as a compliment - the more opinions the better 😊 I’m definitely increasingly opinionated as I get older.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie glad you found something to read! I love the description of The Exorcist as “light and fluffy” 😂

@noodlezoodle thanks for the recommendation! And @GrannieMainland , I’ll look out for The Survivors - it sounds good 😊

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella I'd just started The Shipping News when it was mentioned on the thread and I'm finding it a bit dull so far but think I will persevere a bit longer as the previous poster loved it too.

Light and fluffy

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage to be fair, he's a nice guy and wasn't so much critical as bemused
The Dry by Jane Harper is also good btw.

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella I'm really pleased you enjoyed The Shipping News. I've been trying to think of other novels with that sense of community. Have you read any Mary Lawson? She sets her novels in a rural community in Canada. Crow Lake is the first. Similar to Ann Tyler or Elizabeth Strout's Olive books.

@MamaNewtNewt I would persevere. It's a slow start but I grew to care about the characters as the book progressed and her sense of place is terrific.

It's years since I read The Shipping News but I remember enjoying it at the time. Though on the whole I'd say I preferred her Accordion Crimes from a couple of years later.

62. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld I loved the first third of this, when the protagonist is working in late night TV comedy, and thought it was going to be a bold. The middle section (emails sent during lockdown) was OK but I feel like I've seen the same device too many times now in Covid novels. Then I found the final section a real letdown, very average romance with the tension depending on poor communication between the characters. I also felt the ending was a real cop-out.
    I do feel that 'literary' novelists often fail at genre fiction - well known lit-fic authors writing sci-fi badly is another classic example.

oops, hit post too soon.

63. Foster by Clare Keegan

Short novella much reviewed on here. I enjoyed it, very atmospheric.

For One End Street fans, it made me think very much of Holiday at the Dew Drop Inn re-written as literary fiction

@Sadik I haven't read Romantic Comedy yet but I know what you mean about unsuccessful attempts to write in what is essentially a different genre. I thought American Wife was a great read; Rodham I liked less well but was still interesting, however Eligible - a reimagining of P&P I think - was a load of nonsense.

I do like Curtis Sittenfeld as a person. There's a good interview with her, mainly discussing American Wife, on James Naughtie's Bookclub, available on BBC Sounds.

Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene.

I found this amusing and entertaining - the story of how a quiet shy retired bank manager's life is turned upside down when his eccentric Aunt Agatha turns up and sweeps him off on rackety adventures around Europe, completely changing his life. The last page however - that left a bad taste. I guess it was a book of its time but still ..

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji.

A Japanese variation of And Then There Were None. Seven students, part of a mystery thriller society, decide to spend a week on an island where a series of mysterious murders/deaths occurred in the past. There is no way of getting off the island until the boat returns to pick them up a week later, and no means of communicating with the mainland. What could possibly go wrong? A bit far-fetched but an entertaining read, and a good translation which really helps.

Oops Aunt Augusta not Agatha I should have said!

@highlandcoo American Wife was definitely a better read for me. I find the ethics of writing in that way about a living person questionable though - & skipped Rodham for that reason. I read Sisterland earlier in the year, & it's my favourite of her books that I've read to date.