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 read Life and Fate. It's excellent but quite intense.

I have been off the threads for a bit - very much still reading (68 so far this year, and will probably end up at about 75) but have taken a break from reviewing, as I couldn't muster anything interesting or amusing to say.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit congrats on the milestone!

Funny it was mentioned upthread about how the Daily Deals seem to follow the 50 bookers - Once Upon a Tome is on there today.

Another one here with Life and Fate on my teetering pile of paperbacks. I have never felt it was quite the right time to read it, but I think I will have another look. Currently reading Daniel Finkelstein's excellent family memoir Hitler, Stalin, Mum & Dad, Shrines of Gaiety and* Mhairi MacFarlane's You Had Me At Hello *(I like a contrast).

My reading has totally stalled. Partly it's busy at work, and partly I am trying to sort a load of Christmas presents.

I'm a reading a crap selection of short stories that pretended to be about Christmas and aren't. Also started A Gentleman In Moscow which I think I picked up from here but I am struggling to get into. Going to dedicate some time tomorrow before work to give it another try, otherwise I am going to give up and move onto something that grabs me more.

I love A Gentleman in Moscow but it is a slow burn.

Adding my latest books:

80. Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O’Farrell

Set in the 1976 heatwave (which I am old enough to remember) and based around an Irish family living in London. Father, Robert, goes out to buy a paper and does not come back. Gretta gets in touch with her three adult children who all have issues they are dealing with and dysfunctional relationships with one another and their parents. The family comes together to look for Robert and family secrets are revealed. I thought the time was evoked well and the characterisation was good and really enjoyed it (but I am a fan of Maggie O’Farrell).

81. Go tell the Bees that I am gone - Diana Gabaldon

Book 9 in the Outlander series. Long, very long. American war of independence is still ongoing. We move around geographically following different family members and that actually keeps the interest because there are lots of different storylines to follow. But one for the fans only.

Hoping to get to 85 but making quite slow progress with Cloud Cuckoo Land.

I also loved Gentleman. Sometimes* *the timing isn't right for a book and you can't get into it.

I have that Maggie O'Farrell in paperback TimeforaGandT. I'll get round to it next year.

I went looking for Rizio, but was disappointed not to see it on Kindle. There are others in the series (The Darkland Tales) that are there. I might read one before the end of the year. These are novellas that feature various aspects in Scottish history or certain pivotal moments. Has anyone read them? I fancy reading short interesting things at the moment. I've started The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins which is very good so far. I've also started Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue which might be a good read but looks like it requires patience which I'm lacking in at the moment.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh Rizzio is on Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rizzio-Darkland-Tales-Denise-Mina-ebook/dp/B097QRZLCN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NU2LHHIXGZR5&keywords=rizzio&qid=1701784239&s=digital-text&sprefix=rizzio%2Cdigital-text%2C128&sr=1-1 - does that link work for you? I know Amazon has been doing some weird stuff lately. I haven't read any of the Darkland Tales series but I have Rizzio and a couple of others - they've been in my winter reads pile, for when I want something shorter. I have bumoed Rizzio up to my list of books to read over December.

I read The Haunted Hotel recently and quite liked it - it's not The Woman in White but it's entertaining enough.

Thank you @MaudOfTheMarches it looks like I could buy the book but not get it on Kindle and when I do a search on Kindle, it doesn't come up at all, but the other books do. It's odd.

Good to hear you liked the Collins!

It's showing me the Kindle edition for £3.99, but from what's been said on here about people getting different views of the deals, I'm not at all surprised you're getting something different. The Kindle store is officially batshit.

Yes. That's annoying!

I have Rizzio on Kindle - how weird is it that it’s not available to everyone?

I've done searches under 'Rizzio' and 'Denise Mina' but nothing for 'Rizzio' by Denise Mina. I'm in Ireland. Wonder if it's a regional Amazon quirk.

Razorstorm I know I'm very much the minority but A Gentleman in Moscow was a DNF for me (or more accurately a Barely Started).

A Gentleman in Moscow has been sitting on my kindle at 3% read for quite some time...

I could potentially boost my end-of-year numbers quite a lot by going back and finishing the various part-read books on my kindle.

115 How To Be Right by James O’Brien
I don’t really know what this book was trying to do. Apart from showing off how clever O’Brien is at tying up non-liberals in knots when they call in to his show. I’m very much aligned politically and temperamentally with him but I found myself bristling at what I perceived as a slightly supercilious “look how stupid the masses are” approach to arguing. I do agree with his premise that media (he focuses more on mainstream media than social media) is complicit in shaping opinion in such a way that it’s hard to see the facts but he’s also to a degree complicit in that, which is never acknowledged. But he still takes delight in slapping down callers to his show – though arguably they know what they are getting into and understand the rules of the game.
There’s a good book to be written about the culture wars and a polarised and fractured political discourse, and how to navigate it, but this wasn’t it.

116 Reputation by Sarah Vaughan
I know a lot of other posters have read this recently. I thought it was a pretty decent thriller, with some interesting plot lines and themes. At the heart of it is misogyny and the treatment of women which manifests itself in different ways through the course of the plot. The protagonist is a Labour MP who is taking a stand on the treatment of women online. She becomes briefly romantically involved with a tabloid journalist who is covering the story, then it unravels as her family members become entangled. I know some people have felt really uncomfortable with the storyline involving her daughter, and I can see why. I wasn’t entirely convinced by that from a plot perspective, as it didn’t feel particularly real or grounded in reality. But I got more hung up on a slightly weird plot point which everyone kept insisting was REALLY IMPORTANT and ABSOLUTELY INTEGRAL TO THE TRUTH, even though the whole thing felt a bit unnecessary and laboured. I wasn’t convinced a) that she’d have made the choice she did in the moment in relation to it, b) that anyone would have noticed or c) that it would become the huge deal it eventually did. Also not convincing: the way in which the mistress-now-wife and wronged-ex-wife not only are able to be civil to each other but even have many interaction without anyone making a snippy comment. Maybe that’s just me.

58 Top Marks for Murder - Robin Stevens I do love this series! This is the second-last one (apart from a collection of short stories), and I’ll be sad to get to the end. The final one is waiting for me and I will probably start it tonight instead of all the library books I should be prioritising.

This time we were back at Deepdean School, on an anniversary weekend with parents and eminent guests present, which helped to maintain a sense of novelty after having several previous books in the series set at the school. Very Agatha Christie, crossed with Malory Towers and all the other boarding school stories you’ve ever read - just what I needed for a bit of an escape from real life!

68. You Had Me At Hello - Mhairi MacFarlane
I can't remember who recommended Mhairi MacFarlane on here, but whoever it was, thank you. She manages to be emotionally astute without being soppy, and she writes snappy, funny dialogue. In this outing, 30 year old Rachel bumps into uni friend (or maybe more than a friend) Ben and feelings are revived on both sides. Ben is married by this time, and Rachel has just broken off her engagement with childhood sweetheart Rhys, so should Rachel revive the friendship or would it be wiser to leave it alone? Great storyline, and I also loved the Cold Feet-ish setting of young professionals in Manchester. The minor characters, especially Rachel's friend Mindy, get some great dialogue and flesh it out as an ensemble piece.

@bibliomania I’m exactly the same. Have a long list of books I’ve started but not continued with and I just need to pick them back up and get them finished. I’m 19% through Gentleman in Moscow and I was enjoying it. The only thing that’s putting me off is I started it 3 years ago and I think I’ve forgotten too much and will have to start again.

@TattiePants True, I can be enjoying something on kindle and then stop (eg. get to the end of a long train journey, or distracted by new purchase) and if I leave it too long, it's hard to go back to it.

Cloud Cuckoo Land was a miss for me @TimeforaGandT .

I was also in the on the fence camp about A Gentleman In Moscow. It was ok but a bit long winded for me and I didn't feel the love others seem to. Are the people who love it the same ones that love Elena Ferrante? Another popular choice that left me cold.

I gave up very quickly on A Gentleman in Moscow as I was finding it irritatingly twee.

Currently half way through Winchelsea and really struggling. I’m bored by the writing, possibly because of the first person narration. Struggling to put my finger on why I don’t like it, and not sure if I should carry on with it or give it up as not for me.

Lol @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
It is a little bit twee. I like twee up to a certain point.

I like your Christmas fairy by the way.
She is not twee.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh She is badass. She keeps playing Nirvana really loud when it’s supposed to be lights out. I’ve had to give her a stern talking to about drinking all the Baileys too.

@Stokey I love Elena Ferrante or at least I was gripped by (and sometimes irritated by but still loved the Neapolitan Trilogy. I was very on the fence with A Gentleman in Moscow like you though, and am glad that people are saying this now as at the time I rather thought it was my failing for not feeling the love!

Might have been me @MaudOfTheMarches I’ve been reading her books for a few years now think I’ve read them all, that was a particular favourite I think! I quite enjoyed her latest Between Us - similar setting, but don’t think it quite lived up to Hello

Thanks Alias, it is a good one. Also working my way through her books but I'm rationing them as there are very few of that type that I like.

I'm the opposite to @AliasGrape - loved A Gentleman in Moscow but didn't feel the love for Elena Ferrante.