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 have just finished The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead , having read The Underground Railroad earlier this year.

I don't know quite how I feel about this. It's slim, economical in style and, therefore, for such a draining story, lacks punch. I guess that kind of detached objectivity aims to show the damage but it felt a bit superficial. The shocking passages were troubling but I'm not sure it will stay with me in the same way as a Toni Morrison would.

Went to London, Took the Dog: The Diary of a 60 Year-Old Runaway - Nina Stibbe

A mostly dull collection of diary entries from the Love Nina author who decided last year to take a year out and lodge with fellow author, Deborah Moggach, in London. I quite liked Love Nina and usually enjoy reading diaries, but Nina matches Alan Rickman in the 'Who gives a shit?' stakes when it comes to chronicling her life. I think she was badly supported by her editor - there’s too many comments about other people's lives and little reflection on her own feelings and reactions. I also thought it would have been a more interesting reading experience if she'd been more open about the recent end of her marriage and the money worries she hints at. Underwhelming.

82 The Other Side Of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker

Based on the real life rivalry between two Victorian mediums, this was passably entertaining. Violet Wood is at the top of her mediumship game, aided by her capable and inscrutable companion, Sarah Newman, who also has a side hustle campaigning for women's suffrage. Violet pays little attention to that aspect of her friend’s life, which is ironic as the whole book is about how single women without family money have to fight to survive. But never fear, because Miss Newman spells that all out for her at the end
It’s no Beyond Black but the intrigue between the different mediums supports a decent plot and there are poignant moments where the reader is reminded of why mediums were so feted at the time - providing comfort to bereaved relatives - all you have to do is keep believing.
There’s a good dose of humour in it too. I particularly liked the misjudged feather visitation by those naughty spirits, giving no thought to the laundry bill a meeting of goose down and velvet would necessitate.
Special mention to the gushiest Acknowledgements I’ve read in a long while.

I’m reading the Nina Stibbe at the moment, southeast, and quite enjoying it, as I rather enjoy her droll turn of phrase, but I know what you mean about the mundanity of it. I’m less than halfway through so I may become less tolerant as it goes on.

I have been away for sometime so would like to say that I have lots of reviews to report. In fact, I've read just one slim novella. Been wasting loads of time watching crap on Netflix & scrolling through rubbish on the Internet. As punishment, I think I'm going to just miss 50 😔.
45. The Many Wyl Menmuir
Difficult to summarise this without spoilers. Townie Timothy arrives in a seaside village where he takes up residence in Perrin's old cottage. The evocation of a sinister and dark locale is great - this is no escape to a seaside paradise. Gradually you realise things are not straightforward. This is not for people who like everything wrapped up neatly. To say things are ambiguous is to put it mildly. I have read numerous reviews since finishing & im still not sure what to make of it. Is it very profound (as the cover quotes claim) or a bit of a mess/the emperors new clothes? If any other 50 bookers have read it would love to know their thoughts.

56. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
Novel set in Ontario in the 1970s. We rotate round three perspectives. 8 year old Clara is trying to cope with life while her teenage sister is missing. Clara continues to look after her neighbour Mrs Orchard's cat, but Mrs Orchard said she'd only be in hospital for a few days and has now been gone for weeks. Mrs Orchard (Elizabeth) looks back on her life and seems to still be coming to terms with something she did many years ago. Liam moves into Mrs Orchard's house, unsure what is next for him in this small town following the break up of his marriage. This is a fairly short novel and I found it quick to read although the pacing is pretty gentle. It took a while to get used to the voices of the three main characters but then really grew on me. Liked the small town setting. I'd read more by this author.
57. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
A reread - I first read this two or three years ago I think, but was keen to pick it up again in light of developments in Ukraine and Isreal since then. It's a fascinating book which has both taught me a lot and made me want to know more. Hope to read the follow up next year.

Currently have a fiction book and non-fiction audiobook on the go, both set in the world of reindeer herding Sami in northern Scandinavia. Lots of Googling maps and images and Sami words. Feels like lovely seasonal reading as it's been a very cold, snowy weekend here.

A Curious History of Sex
I really, really enjoyed the first half of this. It's very rude, very readable and occasionally very funny. I felt some sections overall worked better than others though, it was a bit repetitive occasionally and I did feel that she was scraping the barrel a bit towards the end. Recommended for interesting but light reading, or maybe to buy as a gift for female friends.

Overall, I think I enjoyed Sex and Punishment more, as it was more wide-reaching. I'd recommend it to anybody who liked Curious although with the caveat that it's not aiming to amuse or be feminist in the way that Curious is.

Has anyone else read Penance? I hate DNF books but I'm half way though and not sure I can summon up the strength to read another 200 pages.

@TattiePants I’m reading it now- still early on- not even half way through the Girl A section. It’s okay so far, but just okay.

@BaruFisher I'm half way through Girl B and the voice just doesn't seem different from one girl to another. I don't hate it but I've got no desire to pick it up and am distracted thinking about what else I could be reading.

I really liked Penance @TattiePants but it’s written in a style you either love or hate imo. There was a section towards the end that I skim read because it was all about the American high school murderers referenced throughout the book and I just wasn’t that interested in it, but apart from that I was gripped.

@TattiePants Hmmm I don’t like the sound of the two voices being the same but @BoldFearlessGirl ’s comments above give me hope! I’m also reading Bleak House at the moment and to my surprise find it drawing me in more (I’m usually not a fan of Dickens) That said, I’m finding it interesting enough to keep me going for now.

A question for Audible listeners. Do you count dramatisations as books? I’m halfway through the Audible/Sam Mendes David Copperfield -not sure if I can count it or not. It’s excellent.

Count whatever you like @BestIsWest - a dramatisation is basically a play. Ignore the purists and the reading police, Revolution!

I've just started Penance too. I'm persevering for now but a friend stopped as the violence was so gratuitous.

Catching up on a few reviews:

107. The Botanist - MW Craven. I've really enjoyed this crime series and would recommend them if you like this kind of thing, best read in order, starring an older, anti-authoritarian cop and a keen young neurodivergent analysis. Slightly cliched but the stories are decent page-turners. This one is about someone who is killing the people the public love to hate - the first is an Andrew Tate type and the second a Katie Hopkins - so then gets a public following.

108. The Secret of High Eldersham - Miles Burton. One of the classic crime library releases from 1930 that had been sitting on my Kindle for years. Quite silly story involving witchcraft, wax effigies, drug smugglers, and murders. Probably wouldn't look out for anything else by the author but harmless fun.

109. Lanny - Max Porter. This was Booker longlisted a few years ago. It's about an other-worldly boy called Lanny who has moved to a small village with his parents. They're seen as in-comers but Lanny loves the land. It's told from the viewpoint of each of Lanny's parents, an old artist who's teaching him to draw, and then a type of ancient green man known as Dead Papa Toothwort. Later on the voices of other villagers come in, and it touches on missing children, environmental decay, village life. It's clever and experimental but lacked a bit of substance for me.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit Raises fist! Solidarity!

I don't personally, but then I'm really anally retentive. I would still add it to my Goodreads/Storygraph list though if it's in their database.

There's no 50 Bookers hit squad who are going to come to your house and bundle you into the back of a van either, so I'd say you're safe to make up your own rules.

Finished 127. Clanlands, by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, in which the two actors visit various Scottish spots loosely associated with Outlander. It was okay. Sam Heughan has a follow-up out which I don't intend to read.

128. The Case of the Gilded Fly, Edmund Crispin
Originally published in 1944. It's wartime Oxford and a rep company is performing a new play. One of the actresses comes to a bad end, but whodunnit, how and why? Not one of his best, although I did enjoy the short parody of an M R James ghost story,

129. The Flame of Resistance: The Untold Story of Josephine Baker's Secret War, Damien Lewis
This has been looking at me reproachfully for ages, and I finally read it as I can't renew it any longer and it's due back at the library. JB was an absolutely amazing woman and I want to know more about her life. This is rather clunkily written but appears to be well-researched, and it's a high-stakes tale of her contribution to gathering intelligence, smuggling it out of occupied territory, and reinforcing bonds amongst the Allies.

Lol at a book looking at you reproachfully!
Yes, I know about this!

62. The Bee Sting: Paul Murray.

From Borrowbox. This is a lengthy novel that clocks in at around 650 pages, but I found it didn't drag in the least. The story-telling is excellent. It revolves around a family of four who live in a small town in the midlands within striking distance of Dublin. It is a short few years after the financial crash of 2008 and the family business, a car dealership, is struggling to stay afloat and is facing bankruptcy. The financial repercussions are significant for the family, but while this is a major problem, it only scratches the surface of the more significant issues of the past that start to seep into everyday life and tear the fabric of family life completely asunder.

This book is a rich, densely-woven tale and the story is narrated from each family member's point of view, so the reader's perspective of each of them is reassessed as it goes from one to the other. The reader feels that they know each one intimately at the end of it.

This novel is described as tragi-comic. It is cleat from the outset that there is less of the comic and much more of the tragic in it. There is a little black humour there, but the foundation of this family is built along the lines of a house of cards and it is not made to last, however lofty it seems.

I recommend this for the skilful nature of the writing and the excellent characterisation.

That's 63 not 62 👆

@TattiePants I DNF Penance. I just found it really difficult to get into and struggled with the writing style.

Loving the idea of the 50 bookers hit squad! Roaming the mean streets with red pen in one hand and thesaurus in the other.. or maybe like the A Team, jumping out of a converted mobile library van and bopping victims over the head with The Running Grave.

62. A Pocketful of Happiness - Richard E Grant

With Nails is one of my favourite memoirs and this has the same voice. Focussed mainly on 2021, with flashbacks to earlier experiences, this was a tender, moving portrait of a marriage coming to a premature end by the onset of cancer. Despite the tragic subject it was a really lovely read and not as showbizzy as some actor memoirs can be.

I read the Alan Rickman diaries earlier this year and the Nina Stibbe was reviewed here recently; now musing on what is it that makes a good non-fiction diary book...

63. Reading Allowed - Chris Paling

I picked this up on a whim from the 'Libraries recommendation' pile. Again set over the course of a year, this gives a snapshot of life working in a provincial library, with the extraordinary characters and range of situations the staff encounter in modern libraries: so much more than a book repository, they are now community spaces with all the oddities that entails on a day to day basis. The short chapters mean it's ideal to dip into but I pretty much read it in one sitting and found it fascinating and sometimes quite moving.

Have Amazon been reading this thread? The Nina Stibbe diary is a 99p deal today!

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh , I just binge-read The Bee Sting this past weekend and thought it was brilliant. That's a lovely review. I agree about the great characterisation and the skilfully rendered perspectives of different family members.

Ooh thank you cassandre😊
To be honest, there's so much in it I just gave an outline.* *
That's very impressive on your part! I think it took me a week to read it at least!
It was good though, wasn't it?