50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Nine

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the ninth 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, the sixth one here, the seventh one here and the eighth one here.

What are you reading?

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

We begin the story with Walter Hartright, a young drawing tutor, who is offered a post teaching two aristocratic young women, Marion and Laura, at Limmeridge House.
The night before Walter is due to begin, he has an unsettling encounter with a woman dressed in white. The tale unfolds through a series of narrators giving witness statements, each of which offers a unique perspective on the case involving mistaken identities, abduction and deception. Walter plays detective to investigate the increasingly strange events and ultimately unravel the mystery of the woman in white.

It took a while to get going, there’s a fair bit of initial scene setting and, possibly because of the style of language, I kept drifting and having to back track. But then this suddenly turns into a truly twisty tale with some brilliant (horrible!) characters. A highly intricate plot, I listened to this on audiobook and had to keep stopping what I was doing to properly concentrate on the knottier bits. I’ll definitely get a copy to read again and keep. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh I've just checked the daily 99p deals, and The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane is there, which I'm reading at the moment and enjoying a lot. It's quite slow but very insightful, about a couple in their late 30s struggling with their marriage. Set during a snowstorm in a small town in upstate New York. I think if you like Anne Tyler, Mary Lawson et al you might like this. Worth saying there is a lot of content about fertility treatment though which not everyone may want to read about.

Funny you should have posted that, @GrannieMainland, I’ve literally just been checking the deals, thought it looked interesting, and bought it!

The Dutch House is on Kindle Daily deals which I loved

Completed The Favour by Nicci French.

I loved their Frieda Klein series and keep hoping they'll resurrect her.

This was ok and kept me turning the pages but I couldn't connect with Jude the main character. I couldn't understand why she did what she did on several occasions and her mistakes, impulsiveness and naivety didn't ring true (for me) for someone who was a Doctor and who had made some ruthless decisions herself in her past.

The people she finds herself involved with were much more interesting and I wanted to know more of their back stories. Shame that the least interesting character was the lead.

74 Pig Iron by Ben Myers

I’m a huge Myers fan, as 50 Bookers know, but in the words of Russell from Detectorists, “I don’t want to talk about it. It isn’t very….nice”.
I don’t think I’ve ever read such upsetting and horrific scenes in a book and I include all the Shaun Hutson, James Herbert etc I read as a teen. Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh is probably the closest to compare it to. Animal cruelty, rape, fist fights, all in the author’s trademark rich descriptive language. Then in the next paragraph you are revelling in the ‘green cathedral’ of nature. The dialogue is superb (speech mark free zone) and it’s set in the area around Durham City, which I know quite well, including the areas I wouldn’t want to drive an ice cream van into!
In brief, John-John Wisdom is a Traveller in his late teens, newly out of youth detention for a violent incident. I really liked John-John, he has a respect for nature and a distaste for violence despite (or because of) his upbringing, as well as an ability to see through well-meaning bullshit and a wry sense of humour. His father, Mac Wisdom was a bare knuckle fighter ‘King Of The Gypsies’ and his life is narrated by his wife, Vancy.
I won’t say any more, because it might be Spoilery. You’d need a strong stomach and a box of hankies.

53 Lessons - Ian McEwan This is the current book for an online book club, otherwise I would probably never have picked it up. By the end (and most of the way through) I found myself asking “but what is it for?” and actually the answer to that is: it’s for men of the post-war generation, and that’s probably why I didn’t manage to connect with, or care about the main character. I have no problem reading about people who are not like me, but this was very much a man’s book, by a man, for men. It follows Roland from childhood (born just after WW2) to old age, covering lots of European history (Roland manages to be present for lots of the big stuff, in a way that is actually reasonably believable, if a little too convenient sometimes).

The two most significant female characters don’t seem realistic, and consequently neither do Roland’s actions in response - it was very much a reversal of the usual male-female roles and while that should have been interesting I just felt a bit impatient and disbelieving. And another thing - it really irritates me when a writer writes about characters being writers. It feels lazy and self-indulgent. I shouldn’t have a problem with this (write about what you know, after all!) and it’s not like I’ll ever write anything interesting myself, but I just find it annoying.

Overall: probably a very good book, with some enjoyable moments, but not really my cup of tea.

54. The Sapphire Child by Janet Macleod Trotter Second in the Raj Hotel series. The book follows Stella Dubois and her childhood friend Andrew Lomax. Stella is the daughter of the Raj Hotel manager, Andrew is the son of the hotel owner. They've grown up together but when Andrew is 14 and Stella 20, Andrew's mother asks him to visit her in Scotland for the summer. Stella accompanies him. Whilst there, Andrew's mother instigates a rift between him and his father and stepmother and convinces him to stay in Scotland rather than returning to India with Stella. The book then follows Andrew and Stella as their lives follow wildly different paths until the second World war brings them back together when Andrew is stationed in India due to his fluency in the local languages

I got the first of this series under an Amazon first reads and then bought the second two when they were both 99p. I wouldn't have bothered if they hadn't been so cheap. The books are fine but they don't hugely draw me in. Although the author is very good at painting an image of India in the 1930s-1940s. The books seem well researched and the characters are realistically flawed. To be honest I'm not sure why these don't appeal to me more, I can't come up with any real criticisms of them

53 Queens of the Wild - Ronald Hutton
Exploration of the origins and traditions of four ‘goddesses’: Mother Nature, the Fairy Queen, the Lady of the Night, and the Cailleach. Hutton argues against the idea that their emergence in medieval and modern folklore was a direct survival of pagan tradition; they arose in a Christian context, but were definitely not Christian figures themselves. Packaged as a popular work but really quite scholarly; one for the goddess geeks.

@GrannieMainland thanks for The Half Moon recommendation, I've picked that up.

@BoldFearlessGirl I've never read any Myers but heard good things about Cuddy. Have you read that one?

94. Study For Obedience - Sarah Bernstein. On the Booker short-list, this is about a woman who goes to live with her brother in a unnamed Northern country where the townsfolk blame her for various misdemeanours. The description makes it sound like it has more plot than it actually does. It's written in the first person by an unreliable narrator and is mainly an internal monologue. She is an odd character, obsessed with serving others and being obedient to help calm her own nature, which she's been told all her life is wanting. It's quite claustrophobic, there's no external dialogue, and the various themes that are going on - anti-Semitism, witchcraft, abuse - are all very opaque. It wasn't really for me but seems to have divided bookstagram/booktube between lovers and haters. Quite a few people have compared it to Cursed Bread which was on the Woman's Prize longlist earlier this year, I didn't read it so can't comment.

I've now read 9 of the Booker Longlist this year and do find it quite an odd list. There's quite a few almost stream of consciousness books on there, a lot of dark themes and several books where not much happens.

I adore Cuddy @Stokey ! It has its share of grim and gritty, but it’s more evenly paced and the language is just sublime. The St Cuthbert sections are true poetry. I missed Toby Jones reading it, along with the author, at Durham Book Festival a week ago - I really need to keep track of things like that in the future. We’re in Durham right now, I’m off to explore the Cathedral Museum and just have a bit of a contemplative sit in the main building.

Brilliant - adding it to my list!

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith I think this might be my favourite of the series. As usual she had me in the palm of her hand all the way through, but it feels like there’s more depth to look back on in this one with the working of a cult and development of some of Strike’s family relationships. Happy to report there’s rather less leg chafing this time and plenty of Pat.

@BoldFearlessGirl try and visit the castle (the tours are fun) and the Oriental Museum. And if you get a nice day go to Finchale Priory which is in a lovely location.

@JaninaDuszejko Finchale is indeed lovely, not sure if DH, DS and Dog went there this morning while I wandered.
The word 'awesome' is overused but to see St Cuthbert's Cross looking like it was made yesterday....wow. And Cuddy for sale in the cathedral shop. Feels odd to sit in the Undercroft cafe when you know thousands of Scottish soldiers were imprisoned there and left to rot.
I'm trying to remember the names of all the books I wanted in Waterstones. I know you can take a photo on phone but I always feel cheeky doing that

@BoldFearlessGirl
Some of the Scottish prisoners ended up being sold as indentured servants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They had to work for seven years and most never saw Scotland again. The lucky ones made a new life for themselves and were assimilated into Puritan society.
Must have been terrifying for a young man who'd never been out of Scotland before and had been brought up in pretty rural isolation.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I read that recently and when I saw your review I realised that the story hadn't stuck in my brain at all.

@countrygirl99 that’s maybe because I missed out details of the two main storylines - Roland’s childhood abuse at the hands of his female piano teacher, and the departure of his wife leaving him with their baby (not really spoilers, as these things are both mentioned very early in the book). Probably relevant enough that I should have mentioned them - I’m terrible at book reviews! 😂

I remember now. I just had thos vague memory that there was a teacher somewhere. But you were right the female characters weren't developed in any believable way.

59 Abducting A General - Patrick Leigh Fermor

Interesting account of PLF’s involvement in the abduction of a German general as an undercover British agent in wartime Crete. Possibly one for PLF completists only but still a fascinating read, though it’s hard to conclude that the abduction- at the time when the war was coming to an end in any case- was worth the lives of the hundreds of Cretans killed in reprisal.

Into Thin Air
A reread and one I didn’t enjoy as much the second time around. It’s an examination of the 1996 Everest disaster, of which the writer was part. Obviously, there’s lots of stuff of interest to people who enjoy reading about peril in the high peaks and lots that’s admirable, exciting and moving.

But it takes a really long time to get to the peril, and a lot of it is padding that doesn’t offer anything new or different to people who’ve read a lot about Everest. Much of the final third is taken up with tit for tat point scoring about one of the guides, Anatoli, who saved at least two lives on the mountain but the writer blames for failures in his role. And, possibly like a lot of high altitude climbers, the writer comes across as a bit of a self absorbed dick at times.

If you haven’t read it already, I’d recommend it but I’d also recommend reading more widely too and not making this your sole mountain book.

71: Sheer Bloody Magic - ed. Carole Woddis

Charity-shop paperback from years ago rediscovered on a back shelf, which will now be re-donated, but an interesting read for someone like me who enjoys anything to do with theatre/films/acting. It’s a book of ‘conversations with actresses’, and you can tell it’s old because they’re still called actresses. But there are stellar names here, the likes of Judi Dench, Beryl Reid, Harriet Walter, Prunella Scales etc. Interesting to discover that even big stars like Julie Christie - a massive name in films - has started taking acting lessons and is thrilled to feel she’s finally ‘learning the job’; Prunella Scales thinks she’s never had any luck with getting good parts; Meera Syal is rather serious and was talking while she was with the National Theatre, just before her career in TV comedy exploded. All in all, it’s not massively in-depth, but despite the rather luvvie title this was an engaging book.

72: Colonel Chabert - Honoré de Balzac

Short novella, one of Balzac’s most famous, telling the story of an old soldier who turns up at a lawyer’s office to proclaim his identity as a man back from the dead. He was reported killed in battle and has been making his way back to Paris, painfully slowly, by now prematurely aged and unrecognisable thanks to his war-wounds. But also by now his much younger wife has remarried and had children; she’s also had a payout from the Colonel’s estate. How can he prove his identity? Will she acknowledge him? How can he get any sort of justice - or the justice he wants?
This is vividly and energetically written, especially the opening scenes in the lawyer’s office; it’s easy to see why Balzac was an influence on Dickens. It left me definitely wanting to try more of his enormous output.

American Wife - Curtis Sittenfield*

Inspired by the life of Laura Bush. First Lady Alice Blackwell looks back at her life. This was a slow burner for me but by the end I was gripped. The conflict between her beliefs and love for her husband is so well handled. The quality of the writing was excellent.
Much preferred this to Rodham.

Writing Black Beauty: Anna Sewell and the Story of Animal Rights, Celia Brayfield

I imagine I will sound a little heartless here, as a decent human being I am interested in animal rights but more broadly it isn’t something I actively seek to know an awful lot about. I picked this up because I am a huge fan of Black Beauty and the book was a big part of my childhood and I’ve read it many times. This is a book really about the rise of the animal rights movement with Anna and her family in the background - a book of two stories really. They did come together, but it wasn’t always clear quite how, despite Black Beauty being about how to treat horses. It’s quite incredible that a slip and a presumed broken ankle marred Anna’s life - I’m still recovering from my own broken ankle and spent a lot of navel gazing time comparing how different it was for her. Overall this was accessible, enjoyable and I’m glad I read it as I thoroughly enjoyed all the background about animal rights activism.

Is anyone familiar with Douglas Skelton, crime writer?
My Mr B's book of the month will be by him and I am intrigued.
Reading Ian Rankin's A Heart Full of Headstones at the moment (Rebus).
Am very much back into my crime fiction.
This is vintage - Rebus is in the dock this time.