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

28 One more croissant for the road - Felicity Cloake
Mixing two of my favourite genres, travel writing and food writing, this didn't disappoint. Nothing earth-shattering but a very pleasant jaunt round several regions of France in search of the perfect croissant, tasting other local delicacies en route.

34 Crystal Singer

35 Killashandra

36 Crystal Line

by Anne McCaffrey

34 After failing to become a lead solo vocalist, Killashandra decides to become a crystal singer. Crystal singers are elite and mysterious Guild members from the planet Ballybran that can find, cut and tune the precious crystal, only found on that planet, that is used for communication throughout the universe. After only a few days on Ballybran humans become irreversibly infected by a symbiont that physically alters them making them stronger and hardier and prolongs life span but can also enhance or impair their senses. However, they can never leave the planet permanently, although it is possible in the short term, as this would be fatal. Crystal singers, possibly through working more closely with crystal than the support staff, eventually lose their memories and can become so enthralled to crystal that they can lose their sense of danger and cutting can be a dangerous exercise with potentially fatal storms. They are so sensitive to crystal that they become suffused and need to leave the planet to become comfortable but also if they are away too long can become ill and possibly die. Killashandra excels, outshining her fellow recruits and is able to find the rarest and most expensive black crystal.

35 Killashandra desperately wants to get off planet but does not have enough credit. The Guild Master offers her an assignment to Optheria, a peaceful planet that is so perfect none of its citizens ever wants to leave, to repair a sabotaged crystal organ unique to the planet before the famous annual music festival. She is given a secondary task of discovering whether Optheria is really peaceful and its inhabitants truly free. She is installed in the music academy on the mainland and finds it and the high ranking members of the planet overbearing and pompous. After an argument with security she leaves the academy and is kidnapped by Lars Dahl and left on a deserted island with provisions to survive. Due to her enhanced abilities she is able to swim to an inhabited island and reunites with Lars Dahl who does not recognise her. She appreciates the easy-going islanders and is attracted to Lars Dahl and they start a relationship. She meets dissatisfied inhabitants and realises that the population is being repressed. She returns to the mainland with Lars Dahl misrepresenting him as her rescuer. They discover that the crystal organs are being used to control the population subliminally which is an illegal act and she is able to disable some of the crystal organs but leaves others as evidence. She leaves taking Lars Dahl with her to protect him from the government “under arrest” for her kidnapping. Unfortunately at his trial their relationship is not divulged and her anxiety is interpreted as fear of him and he is sentenced. She returns to Ballybran disconsolate that Lars Dahl is imprisoned and that their relationship has had to end. However, he comes to her planet and successfully transitions to become a crystal singer having eventually had his sentence overturned and tells her that their plans were successful and the oppressive Optherian government was overturned.

36 Centuries after the previous book Killashandra and Lars Dahl are partners finding and cutting crystal. Killashandra is starting to present with memory loss, paranoia and is making mistakes. The guild master sends them off world to investigate a recently discovered mysterious entity which they nickname Jewel Junk that they realise is sentient and possibly is trying to communicate. Soon after they return the guild master dies searching for crystal although Killashandra suspects he committed suicide. Lars becomes the new guild master which annoys and alienates Killashandra as she wants to continue their professional relationship so she carries on alone and they split up. Lars realises that the Guild is outdated and expensive and recruitment is low as is crystal discovery. He intends to overhaul many of the processes by allowing crystal singers to exploit other’s older crystal sites splitting the profits. Also a Ballybran medic has discovered a hypnotic process where some memories can be returned to affected crystal singers but Killashandra is suspicious. Using this process singers are able to remember past claims thereby speeding up the process of crystal collection as they no longer have to search. Meanwhile there is a crisis regarding the “Jewel Junk” which is still being investigated decades later as it will either be labelled sentient and be protected or not and be exploited. Killashandra is sent back and the Jewel Junk (now bigger and more active) appears to recognise her. She places crystal within it and accidentally touches it and all her memories are returned to her. Jewel Junk is deemed sentient. Killashandra returns to Ballybran and is reunited with Lars who she now remembers loves her. There is now a potential remedy for Crystal Singers memory loss/dementia and the Guild may now prosper.

46 The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama

This month's Shelterbox pick, a novel set in 1930s Hawaii in the sugar cane plantation town of Hilo. Daniel, a local boy made good, returns from his medical career in Chicago after a mistake causes permanent damage to a patient. Through the memory of other characters, we learn about his and their complicated pasts, with the present given an urgency by the eruption of one of the many island volcanoes, which threatens the town. I know absolutely nothing about Hawaii and its immigration patterns so this was an interesting read. The descriptions of the island, its flora and fauna were a highlight. The story itself was nothing revolutionary and I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters, but the writing was warm-hearted and it rattled along.

47 Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

I'm late to this as it was shortlisted for the Booker last year, I think, but someone gave me a copy which I've only just got round to reading. If there's meant to be some deep meaning in this very short novel it passed me by, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, particularly the action packed comic book section. The protagonist is Joe, a young boy with a lazy eye, who meets the titular rag and bone man and discovers he can see what appears to be another world through his good eye. I really liked the depiction of his entry into the other world, part of which comes via a 1940s comic strip, the boundary between which and his world becomes as thin as the paper it is printed on. There is a physicality to the descriptions of Joe's movement between realities that I really enjoyed, and a genuine element of menace to the chase from the cartoon characters. Treacle Walker himself engages in wordplay which is alternately enjoyable and a bit annoying. The mythic elements of the climax rather passed me by, but there is a sadness and emptiness to the ending. So no idea what most of it was meant to be about but having enjoyed Garner's books as a child, I also enjoyed the nostalgic feel this gave me.

61 Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
The last of my Cornish holiday let books! I read The Dark is Rising every couple of years, so I don't know why I haven't read the other books in the sequence for decades, especially as they were among my favourite books in childhood. This one, which predates TDIR, is lighter and more conventional - it's a classic quest to find King Arthur's grail (somewhere near St Austell) before the baddies get to it. It feels very much more of its time (1961) than TDIR, and some of the attitudes (especially towards poor Jane) haven't worn well, but the blend of myth and menace that Cooper does so well is still there.

62 Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
I don't have much to add to Welsh's review above: I was similarly both entertained and slightly bemused! I read somewhere that it's about quantum physics - but if it is, then those aspects completely passed me by. I loved the timeless-yet-familiar feel, though, and also its grounding in Englishness - funnily enough, Garner is like Susan Cooper in that he is thoroughly steeped in English history, dialect, myth and magic. Several bits made me laugh, especially when I found out that Stonehenge Kit the Ancient Brit was a real comic book character! The short sentences and oblique, allusive tone were quite hypnotic, too.

43. Divine Lola by Cristina Morato translated by Andrea Rosenberg Non fiction covering the life of Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld. Lola certainly lived an extremely fascinating life, born in Ireland, raised in India before reinventing herself as a Spanish noblewoman. She then lived in Paris and tried to make it as a dancer before moving to Bavaria where the king became so infatuated with her he made her a Countess and ended up having to abdicate his throne for her. Lola then lived briefly in Switzerland and Paris again before eventually travelling to America. She toured all over America, including making a dangerous trip to the mining towns in the West, and also travelled to Australia. For a woman in the mid 1800s she was exceptionally well travelled. She defied social convention constantly and was vilified in the press for her lack of talent as well as her immorality. Her life had a lot of tragedy, almost all of her lovers died young

This was a fascinating history of a woman I've never heard of. It was well researched and, mostly, well-written. The only negative was that the author has that annoying habit of some historians of imagining dialogue between characters and not doing a good job of it. The dialogue is wooden and awkward. Although I'm not sure if that's the original author or just poor translation. But it was quite tedious

Just popping on here to mention that, for all those of us who’ve longed for an ‘Edit’ function to correct our own fat-fingered typos - there now is one! I’m about to try it and there’s a thread in Site Stuff explaining all.

(My inner pedant is rejoicing)

Instructions here

Ooh! Great news. Thanks Terpsichore.

About bloody time, but, uptight as I am, I’m not crazy about anyone seeing my edit history.

Wish they’d put some effort into stopping those noisy adverts.

15 The Leviathan - Rosie Andrews
Norfolk, 1643: Thomas Treadwater returns home from the army for Christmas, with a niggling injury to his thigh and a disturbing letter from his sister niggling at his mind. On his arrival he finds the sheep dead and dying, his father incapacitated by a stroke and the servants arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. An enlightened young man, Thomas doesn't believe in witches and endeavours to free the maid from jail. It soon becomes apparent that not all is as it should be, and Thomas is forced to accept some difficult concepts.

This was OK, a bit silly really, and it lost me a bit towards the end. Are sea-monsters supposed to be real, or is it all just some allegory for difficult teenage sisters? How was the sea-monster able to cause a shipwreck and appear as a visual entity when it was supposedly trapped in the young woman's body? Either I wasn't concentrating sufficiently or this wasn't properly explained. The passages dealing with Thomas playing detective in Norwich didn't really appeal to me either.

Nice cover though (I was tempted by The Essex Serpent based solely on the lovely cover, which is similar to this one, and similarly disappointed in a vague kind of way)

I enjoyed The Leviathan but with reservations similar to yours @YolandiFuckinVisser . The sea serpent metaphor didn’t seem to come to much, belonged in a different novel.

Hi all, I fell off these threads ages ago but I do pop in for inspiration when I can't find anything that interests me in my tbr pile!
Has Kindle daily deals disappeared? It no longer appears on my kindle and when I search for deals, it's just the 1000+ ones that turn up.
I thought if anything had happened you would probably know!

It's still going, @weebarra - they've moved the homepage, I think, though. It’s here. You can also sign up and get an email every day, that’s what I do so I don’t miss them.

57. Strong Female Character - Fern Brady

I’ve enjoyed watching Fern Brady on various TV comedy shows, including Taskmaster, and I noticed a few people had reviewed this book, so got it on hold from my library, which allegedly had it in stock. Months and months later (!) they finally produced it, and I have to say I found it quite a hard read. Fern is autistic, but wasn’t diagnosed until adulthood, and her childhood sounds incredibly hard and difficult, growing up in a family where nobody understood her need for order and quiet, she was mocked and punished and spent time in a grim unit for teenagers with mental health difficulties. While all this was going on she was a model student learning multiple languages and practising Chopin nocturnes, desperate to maintain routine and stability in a world she found overwhelmingly chaotic.

Things get, if anything, even more extreme as she makes it to university to study Persian and Arabic and becomes a stripper to earn money in between her award-winning student journalism. Her longing to try stand-up comedy finally comes to pass but there’s no heartwarming ending here - she says this herself. So don’t expect any happy-ever-afters, but this is a very well-written and mordantly-funny book, with piercing and often (to me) shocking and very sad insights into what it’s like to be an autistic woman battling to make it through every day.

Sorry, @weebarra, I tested that link and now it’s not working. How annoying.

Try this one…

108. The Regulators by Stephen King

King, writing as Richard Bachman, wrote this as a companion novel to Desperation and both books were released at the same time. Both books have the same, or very similar, characters fighting the same foe, but in a very different setting. I much preferred this version of the story, where sinister vans terrorise the residents of an Ohio street, which looks less and less like part of suburbia as the day progresses. Not one of my favourites but definitely better than Desperation.

@MamaNewtNewt I like Desperation too, but agree that The Regulators is better. It has those great early 80s King/ET/Stranger Things type vibes iirc!

Butting into the Treacle Walker talk to say I thought it was pretty stupid. I was amazed it got so much attention. No idea why it was considered for the Booker!

I'm reading some Japanese murder things. Okay; not great.

Thank you @Terpsichore !

I 'enjoyed' Strong Female Character too. I live not far from where Fern Brady grew up, and also went to Edinburgh Uni so a lot of the landscape was familiar to me. I actually first heard her on 1800 seconds in Autism podcast, which is hosted by two people with autism.

I felt very desperate on her behalf in the book and really wished for her sake she had been understood better. I have two ND children who don't always present typically and stories like Fern's make my heart ache.

@Terpsichore

I got very enthused then but don't think it's on the app

Ah, I don't use the app, @EineReiseDurchDieZeit, I stick to the mobile site on my tablet/phone. I think they're working on getting it to function in the app, though (I'm just posting this on the app to make sure!)

Talking of comedians have you seen that Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd have started a bookclub? It's called weirdo's book club and the podcast starts tomorrow. First book is I'm a fan by Sheena Patel. Quite a mixed selection of titles.

Just to let everyone know The Fatal Shore is 99p.

Thanks Eine.
How to Build a Boat from the Booker longlist is also 99p if anyone is reading the longlist (I’m not but I have this one and a couple of others from the list on my tbr)

68. The Storied Life of AJ Fikely by Gabrielle Zevin Read & reviewed by lots of pps. Very readable, but a bit heavy-handed on the sugar - it reminded me rather of Lessons in Chemistry.