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?

@RomanMum

Am giving Cuddy a definite miss after the bile that was The Gallows Pole.

Wasn't it just? Read it when it came out. It is rare for me to find someone else who has actually read it. Thought it was awful and very masculine. Gets good reviews on Amazon.

Oh, I still haven’t managed to get through The Gallows Pole! It was the first Myers book I tried and I loathed it. Then I read another one and liked that, so gave it another try. Still hated it. I’m not sure why, because Beastings and Pig Iron have some strong seams of toxic masculinity (the latter is a deep dive into it, in fact). One of the things I like about his writing is that he doesn’t shy away from how utterly, bastardly horrible men as a class can be, without ever excusing it. In Cuddy he tempers that with some nice men, some ineffectual men and some quietly kick-ass women. Ediva is ‘just’ an orphaned servant girl to monks but it’s her visions that take them to Durham. Eda LTB in the only way open to her and gets to be with a good man whose work can still be seen in the Cathedral today, showing that strength can be quietly powerful and come in many forms.
But I’ve picked up TGP four times now and I just cannot get into it.

Had to share this here because no one irl is going to get the excitement… Just been to Government House in New Zealand and they have rooms named after former governors - including who else but thread favourite Robert Fitzroy!

I’ve picked up Mistletoe Malice by Kathleen Farrell as a Christmassy read. I haven’t read it yet so can’t confirm if it’s any good, but one of the blurbs said ‘it fills the gap left by the Cazalet Chronicles’ and Amazon says it’s for fans of Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor and Nancy Mitford so my expectations are high! Don’t know if this might fit your wintry read bill, Remus?

They raved about Mistletoe Malice on a Backlisted edition a while ago, @ChessieFL. I haven’t read it either but I’m quite curious.

@LadybirdDaphne 😍😍😍😢

That's cool @LadybirdDaphne

148. The Woman In Me by Britney Spears (Spotify)

Read it because it was free. It's read by the actress Michelle Williams

I thought whoever ghost wrote it did a good job, the stuff about her conservatorship was very disturbing and I wasn't surprised Justin Timberlake turned out to be disgusting given a story I once heard about him.

I think I liked this better than @PepeLePew I think it does have substance to it and is worth a go if you read Sleb Memoir. It reminded me of Jeanette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died

Basically the world of child stardom is creepy and parents involved in trying to push into that world are highly suspect. After the conservatorship it was like they had her dancing and making money for them on a leash like a dog or a circus animal, only to get put back in a cage. Alarming that this happened for over a decade and she wasn't rescued sooner.

149 it should say

65 Ghosts of K2 - Mick Conefrey

Thanks to whoever recommended this (can’t remember who it was originally as I think a few of us have read it in this thread). A well-researched and well-written account of the attempts to climb “the world’s most dangerous mountain” leading up to the successful, but controversial Italian summit. I didn’t know that much about K2 so it was an interesting read.

I didn’t rate Cuddy as much as The Gallows Pole - thought the first couple of sections worked well but then it lost its way somewhat. TGP , while undoubtedly grim was more consistent in tone which led to a more believable evocation of a place and time.

Yes @MegBusset all the strands didn't come together

I think it was me @MegBusset but if. It, glad you enjoyed it anyway.

I’m trying to remember a brilliant mountaineering book in which some poor bloke died hanging on a rope only just out of reach from rescue, whilst people looked on from some sort of viewing platform. It might have been the Eiger. Does anybody remember? Maybe The White Spider?

It wasn't so much that I didn't like it, though I stand by what I said about it feeling a little flimsy. But the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it was the book she needed to write rather than the book we wanted to read. And that's ok. She doesn't owe us anything, and if we choose to buy it, that's our decision. I hope she finds a way to be happy and that her children don't grow up feeling the same pressures that she did.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie that was definitely the north face of the Eiger. It’s a well-known tragedy so mentioned in a few books I’ve read - you’re probably right in thinking about The White Spider but it’s mentioned in less detail in the equally excellent Conquistadors Of The Useless by Lionel Terray and Gaston Rebuffat’s Starlight And Storm.

@PepeLePew

I think there's some denial there about mental illness definitely

I couldn't find much in the Kindle deals but did buy:

O Caledonia
The North Water
Nightcrawling

I went through my wishlist and got

Mrs S.
Nevernight

and

Ghost Music

I got

Mrs S
The Book that Wouldn’t Burn
O Caledonia

I can't find the Kindle deals

I bought a Mark Billingham one, a new detective series. Love the Tom Thorne books but Rabbit Hole was confused bilge so I’ve vowed never to pay full price for one of his again. I hate how some authors get to a certain point then start phoning it in. See also Stuart MacBride.
Tempted by The Curator but wasn’t that impressed by Sleeping Beauties so probably won’t swell the King coffers even at 99p.

Thank you. I've read White Spider but not the others. Will look to re-read the former and add the other two to my list immediately.

Apparently I've read Conquistadors according to my Kindle!

And Starlight isn't Kindle, so I think it must be Spider that I need a re-read of.

Me neither. Just some truly terrible Christmas books.