50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Ten

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the tenth and final thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2023, though reading fifty wasn'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, eighth one here and the ninth one here

How have you got on this year?

I listened to Hello Beautiful- quite enjoyable but not a standout.

Devils Breath - Jill Johnson I bought this after it was raves about on Between the Covers. Overall disappointing. Annoyingly quirky main character and a big reveal that really wasn't.
Onwards...

Just got Penance by Eliza Clark for 99p.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy is 99p today. Extremely well reviewed, I've just started it and it may end up as one of my books of the year.

25.. Another year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day by Clemency Burton-Hill

This was hugely disappointing. If she publishes another one for next year, I don't plan to spend any time reading it.

Selecting a piece of classical music from varied eras and composers for every day of the week and writing a 1-2 page introductory piece on it is a marvelous idea. The pieces are also interesting and varied, I like how they introduce people to music with styles and from eras that they may have never listened to.

However, the execution was terrible. Much of what she writes is about the personal lives of the composers, so the whole book reads like a superficial gossip magazine on the lives and times of classical composers. Worse, some of it is verifiably false.

Even where she writes about the music itself her comments are irrelevant like what she feels about the world when she listens to it, and they miss the most important points she should make when introducing and explaining these pieces to her audience. For example, you can't talk about a Leçon de Ténèbres without mentioning the rather special circumstances in which these -IEEE's were performed.

You also can't talk about Biber's Rosary Sonatas ("Mystery Sonatas") without mentioning scordatura but she does, somehow convinced that the reader should read her musings such as "with the right balance of virtuosity and soul, I find it's spare, clear lines have the defect of a mental detox; I listen and it's as though my brain is somehow re-wired. Incredible."

Nobody cares, Clemency.

Had to give up on The Worst Journey In The World on Audible because I hated the narration - it sounded like a posh man reading a telephone directory very quickly. I will seek it out in book form later this year though.

I saw 'Had to give up' and thought I'd have to come on here and fight you. So glad it's the reading and not the words that are the problem. I'd say it's worth every penny in book form, even at full price.

Hi Cote. It’s a shame about the Year of Wonder book - I have both on my wish list and would have expected to learn something about the composer/music style from the intros. Like you I’m not really interested in how it makes her feel!

26.. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Whoa! This was outstanding (And it is 99p on the Kindle at present. Don't miss it!)

I have been reading SF since my early teens and this book is head and shoulders above the top 10 masterpieces I can think of in terms of worldbuilding, plot, character development, and creativity. It is breathtaking in its scope and breadth.

Humanity starts a project to nurture life on another planet with a virus engineered to accelerate cognitive development, just as armed conflicts with anti-science factions bring about its near-destruction. The apes that were supposed to benefit from this virus are destroyed en route to the planet and completely unrelated species start developing - getting more and more intelligent, developing language albeit unspoken, technology, and building their societies. As centuries go by, their only external influence is the AI in orbit that incorporated the consciousness of the scientist who was in charge of this experiment.

Which species will triumph and how? The author's genius takes us on this ride in a completely believable tale of a species's evolution.

Highly recommended. Don't miss it at 99p.

27... Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This was another brilliant book, a fitting sequel to the author's masterpiece Children of Time.

Thousands of years after the fall of humanity's empire, the multi-species collective of the previous book continues on with the few remaining humans who found their way there. When they receive a signal from another of humanity's terraforming projects from aeons ago, they must investigate and meet their distant cousins.

These two books were a total of +1200 pages and they left me wanting more. There is a 3rd and final book but I can't bear the thought of reaching the end of their fascinating journey just yet.

Highly recommended.

Hi Chessie. Those Year of Wonder books had the potential to be truly special but they were just disappointing. I was left with the feeling that, while she seems to enjoy listening to it, the author just doesn't know much about the pieces she wrote about.

A General Theory of Oblivion, José Eduardo Agualusa, trans by Daniel Hahn

This was gifted to me by a work colleague this Christmas. The blurb starts ‘On the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo bricks herself into her apartment, where she will remain for the next thirty years.’ This is my stand out read of the year. It’s violent, witty and there were sentences that just made me stop and stare at the wall for 10 mins whilst I contemplated what had happened. Utterly sensational and I will seek out anything Agualusa has written. I haven’t come across a writer I’ve felt this strongly about since Louis, so this is BIG for me.

It looks like I’ve saved the best for unless I manage another before Sunday night. Not having work or any plans has done wonders for my reading. One more will see me hit 45.

In fact, I loved it so much that I have just left Waterstones with two more of his books.

Bought, thanks for the heads up.

Ohh which did you get StColumb? You’ve reminded me I’ve got the Book of Chameleons, bought years ago, somewhere in the house.

The Book of Chamelons and The Living and the Rest. Those were the only two they had plus A General Theory of Oblivion. I would have bought whatever they had to be honest.

Kindle using folks, I've just caved & bought myself a paperwhite. Do I need a cover? Would rather have less weight if not needed, but maybe best to have one & avoid scratching the screen?

@Sadik i would if you’re planning on taking it out and about with you but you don’t need one if only reading at home I reckon.

I would get one @Sadik to protect the screen. I got a new paperwhite for Christmas. It's lovely. My previous one had got so sluggish. I've given it to ds as it's still functioning.

I'm definitely planning on taking it on train journeys (main reason I've bought one) so will get myself a cover!

My cover can stand up which is brilliant for when I’m eating lunch or similar as I don’t have to hold it.

Hi all, I went away for Christmas and the thread moved on a mile! Loved hearing about all the Christmas book hauls (and from them I've added a couple more to my wish list). I got:

• Making it So by Patrick Stewart
• Voices of Rome by Lindsey Davis

Can't wait to start these. In the meantime I've probably finished my last book of 2023.

66 Mischling - Affinity Konar

One of the best fictions I've read this year but not an easy read by any means. In late 1944 12 year old twins Pearl and Stasha arrive at Auschwitz. They are Jewish but have fair hair, hence the Mischling of the title, referring to a perjorative slang word for those of mixed blood used in Nazi Germany. As twins the girls are brought to the attention of Josef Mengele for the purposes of experimentation in his "zoo". How will they survive the unspeakable horror and cope without each other?

The chapters switch between each twins' perspective. Harrowing in places, the book deals with the hierarchy and ways of survival even in the horror of the camps; what would happen to the survivors of Auschwitz in the immediate aftermath of its liberation in January 1945; the fate of refugees, particularly the vulnerable such as orphans in a country where being Jewish is still extremely dangerous; and how language can be used as a memory tool as well as a weapon in the darkest of times. A story that will stay with me. Not very Christmassy though!

@Sadik I’d say definitely get a cover. Makes it nicer to hold imo.

I would also get a cover and over time I’ve come to think that Amazon’s own covers are better. They just seem to fit nicer but maybe that’s the ones I’ve tried.

Thanks all, cover now ordered!