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?

I’ve also just finished Takeaway. The racism and general twattiness they faced from customers was eye opening and I was also interested in her descriptions of how hard it was fitting in to either culture, but unfortunately it wasn’t written well which made it a bit of a slog to get through.

Shame it's not well written as I would have been interested. DS1s partner is Cantonese and her parents have just retired from running a takeaway.

I enjoyed it @countrygirl99 - I mean, it's not deathly prose, but I found it engaging & easy to read on a long train journey.

It's also only 99p on Kindle, so not much lost if you read that way (I bought it on paper before seeing that, but quite like having a proper book anyway)

Interested that most people seem to like Really Good, Actually. I dnf-ed it about a third of the way through, as I decided I really didn't care, actually.

Thank you @noodlezoodle That looks right up my street - I'll add it to my wish list.

Oh good!

I've bought two kindle deals today - Penance, by Eliza Clark, and Winchelsea by Alex Preston.

I searched the thread before I bought them so I know that there were a couple of raves and one thumbs down for Penance, and that* *@Sadik enjoyed Winchelsea so I'm looking forward to that - "Moonfleet for grown ups" sounds ace!

@Sadik I can risk 99p so I've bought it 😊

Thanks for that, @noodlezoodle -I've bought Winchelsea for £1.19. "High seas and desperate villains" sounds good to me!

The Murder of Mr Wickham by Claudia Gray

This is one of those books that is a follow on from Jane Austen books, so if you’re an Austen purist who thinks none of these prequels/sequels/retellings should exist then you will not like this! However I am not one of those people so I thought this was good fun. This was a bit different because instead of following on just one of Austen’s books it brings together characters (or related characters) from all her books, getting them together at a house party set after the events of all the various books. Given the title of the book it’s not a spoiler to say that Mr Wickham turns up and is shortly despatched, leaving everyone under suspicion of doing the dastardly deed.

I loved the idea of getting all the characters together and the murder mystery adds an extra dimension. It’s clearly not a book to be taken very seriously bu
t if you like a bit of Austen fanfic give this a go.

I read a terribly written book about a family running a Chinese takeaway in Wales a couple of years ago. It was called Happy Families by Julie Ma, and had an interesting premise but was so badly done - sounds like there's a common theme.

I've picked up Penance. I read Boy Parts recently and am interested enough to see what the writer does next.

Delighted to see that Prophet Song won the Booker - well deserved. The long and short list didn’t grab me this year apart from this one (which I loved) and The Bee Sting (which I liked a lot). I also read If I Survive You (mainly because it was 99p) but found it very patchy in terms of tone and theme.

Recent reads
141 Vanity Fair- William Makepeace Thackeray
I’m sure everyone knows the premise of this one- Sweet respectable Amelia Sedley and the difficult Becky Sharp try to make their way in the world. This satire does a good job of showing the falseness and shallowness of ‘society’ through these very flawed characters but it could have done with a serious edit. I’ve never seen a more obvious example of dragging out a serial novel for more instalments/ payments.

142 Gorky Park- Martin Cruz Smith
3 dead bodies are discovered in Gorky Park in Moscow and investigator Arkady Renko is called in to find the perpetrator, taking him into the murky world of foreign influence, sable farming and the KGB. This book is split into three parts - the first is a tense page-turner which leaves you not knowing who to trust. Unfortunately the other parts are nowhere near as interesting.

143 Regeneration - Pat Barker
The first of a trilogy about the First World War and based around real people. I’m sure many of you have read them before. Siegfried Sassoon is sent to a psychiatric facility to ‘recover’ from his outburst against the Great War in 1917. POVs are from him, his therapist and another soldier suffering from PTSD. Dark and moving- I will read the rest but not just yet.

144 Unruly- David Mitchell
I listened to this on audio- more because of my enjoyment of Mitchell on a wide variety of panel shows than for any great interest in Medieval English monarchs. It was just okay. Mitchell’s ranting humour works best with someone (like Lee Mack) to bounce off and the material just wasn’t interesting enough- not did it reveal anything new. Disappointing.

145 Matrix- Lauren Groff
The fictional story of Marie of France, exiled from the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine to a nunnery which she builds up to be the foremost in the land. The story is interesting and Marie, Eleanor and some of the other nuns were interesting characters but the writing didn’t do it for me. All telling, no dialogue and lots of time skips. I seem to have read a good few religious books this year and a lot about nuns in particular. Unfortunately they all seem to be written by ‘vibes no plot’ writers. I’d love to find a great nun story- any recommendations welcome!

I too have bought Penance today and am going to start it hoping for a bit more plot to get my teeth into.

@BaruFisher I'd like to give you a recommendation but I have nun.

BaruFisher The thread had a few nun-fiction reviews a couple of years ago so hopefully you'll get some good recommendations. My favourite was The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien

61. Mrs Porter Calling - A J Pearce

The third in the Emmy Lake series of books set in wartime London. Like her debut, Dear Mrs Bird, the author adds in real life events to dramatic effect - it was all quite cosy until a twist which gave the story an added depth and poignancy. I raced through this and would recommend it to anyone interested in the period.

80: The Fancy - Monica Dickens

Latest for the Rather Dated Book Club. I’d read this before but years ago, and had totally forgotten large parts of it. It was written and set in wartime and centres around the gentle, inoffensive Edward Ledward, chargehand in a factory making aircraft parts for the war effort.

Edward is married (childlessly, to his sorrow) to the ghastly Connie, who spends half her time ignoring him and the other half criticising his every move. Her family are much in evidence so Edward’s only escape is his passion, breeding show rabbits (hence the title).

What really brings this book to life is the light it shines onto the wartime life of a factory and the women who work there, the little team of which Edward is nominally in charge. Dickens weaves their stories together in the narrative, and while there’s nothing especially earth-shattering about the plot, there’s a warmth and humour beaming through this book that makes this an irresistibly good read. She was a great storyteller of the old-fashioned kind, and I absolutely loved it.

@RomanMum

Have you read the Julian of Norwich one @BaruFisher ?

I really liked Matrix but it's not that plot driven. For a classic, try Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden which lots of folk read last year.

Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiney
The examination of a marriage through the eyes of a quiet man married to a gregarious woman with an ASD son. It's his second marriage to the other woman with his first wife still around in the background. Worries about their son drive their lives and they both react very differently to situations that arise.

I'm not sure I would have otherwise picked this up, but I heard half of an interview with the author on R4 and it was being raved about. Quite enjoyed it, it's got some astute observations, very distinct characters and some comedic moments.

Thanks for the suggestions @Boiledeggandtoast and @Stokey will look for those.
And thanks for the giggle @RomanMum 😊

I'm so far behind in my reviews and have so much going on at the minute that I'm just going to list my most recent books to catch up then try to get back on track with reviews.

91 The Life of an MP, Jess Philips
92 Zikora, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
93 The School That Escaped the Nazis, Deborah Cadbury
94 The Mad Women's Ball, Victoria Mas
95 We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulawayo
96 The Echo Chamber, John Boyne
97 Rizzio, Denise Mina
98 Once Upon a Time in the East, Xiaolu Guo

Nearly at my revised target of 100 books (Started at 60, then 80, then 100).

@TattiePants

I'm 3 off mine and struggling to finish. Got 2 unfinished audiobooks and 1 more after that to do

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I’ve also got 3 books that I’ve started then temporarily given up on but I’ve promised myself I’ll finish them by the end of the year. Problem is, I keep buying more 99p kindle books that jump to the top of my list.

148. Cuddy by Benjamin Myers (Kindle and Audible)

The description :

Cuddy is a bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England.

Incorporating poetry, prose, play, diary and real historical accounts to create a novel like no other, Cuddy straddles historical eras - from the first Christian-slaying Viking invaders of the holy island of Lindisfarne in the 8th century to a contemporary England defined by class and austerity.


It was such hard work! Oh my god it was such hard work! I literally felt like it would never end, I had to switch between both mediums to follow it and I don't think I succeeded. There were times I didn't have a clue what was happening. I would venture to say "experimental" means "wanky" in real life. Was not for me, but I did finish.

wanky ??? @EineReiseDurchDieZeit

Only joking, some books you just can’t get along with. I felt like that about the Booker one, that old detective mithering in a garret. And many others.
I suppose you could say you got lost along St Cuthbert’s Way (thank you, I’m here all week)

I was saving Cuddy for when it's my turn at book club but not sure now. I'm slightly in the dog house for choosing Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies last time which made everyone weep.

Demon Copperhead is on the Kindle daily deals today if anyone is still waiting for it. Definitely one of my books of the year.

Thank you @Stokey I have been waiting for ages for Demon Copperhead to come up in Kindle deals and this one nearly passed me by