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?

Late to the new thread & still not reading much. Adding my list to keep track, but will save bolding for the round up (too tedious on the phone). If you want to boost numbers with domething short, my latest The Many is very slim, but only if you like ambiguous and weird (very weird).

1. One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Olivia Hawker
2. Passing, Nella Larsen
3. Take My Hand, Dolen Perkins-Valdez
4. Abide With Me, Elizabeth Strout
5. So Sweet A Changeling, Ruth Adam
6. Im Not Complaining, Ruth Adam.

7.The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah

1. Human Kind, Rutger Bregman
2. Tall Bones, Anna Bailey

10. Watching Neighbours Twice a Day, Josh Widdicombe 11. The Game, Micah Richards 12 Devotion, Hannah Kent 13. Stay With Me Ayobami Adebayo 14.Love Marriage, Monica Ali 15. I'm Not Scared, Niccolo Ammaniti 16. The Cut Out Girl Bart Van Es 17. Excellent Women Barbara Pym 18. Wavewalker Suzanne Heywood 19. All Among the Barley Melissa Harrison 20. Some Tame Gazelle Barbara Pym 21. Transcendent Kingdom Yaa Gyasi 22. The Schoolhouse Sophie Ward 23 Lives Like Mine Eva Verde 24. The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller 25. The God of That Summer Ralf Rothman 26. Other Women Emma Flint 27. Foster Clare Keegan 28. We Are Not Like Them Jo Piazza & Christine Pride 29. The Hours Before Dawn Celia Fremlin 30. Metronome Tom Watson 31. Vera Elizabeth von Arnim 32. A Trip of One's Own Kate Willis 33. Small Pleasures Clare Chambers 34. Snow John Banville 35. Uncle Paul Celia Fremlin 36. The Mysterious Affair st Styles Agatha Christie 37 I have some questions for you Rebecca Makkai 38. A Town Called Solace Mary Lawson 39. Trespasses Louise Kennedy 40. A Dry Spell Clare Chambers 41 Counting the Cost Jill Duggar 42. The Tennant of Wildfell Hall Anne Bronte 43. All Together Now? Mike Carter 44. The It Girl Ruth Ware 45. The Many Wyl Menmuir

We have got through so many threads this year!

Here's my list. I'm hoping to get past 70 by the end of the year, and with a bit of luck, to 75:

1. After Henry – Joan Didion
2. Year of Wonder – Clemency Burton-Hill
3. Motherwell – Deborah Orr

4. Just Kids – Patti Smith 5. Best of Friends – Kamila Shamsie 6. Macbeth – William Shakespeare 7. Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett 8. War Gardens – Lalage Snow 9. Soul Music – Terry Pratchett 10. Daisy Jones and the Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid 11. The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde 12. How to Train Your Dragon 11: How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero – Cressida Connolly 13. Trespasses – Louise Kennedy 14. The Brexit Tapes – John Bull 15. Real Tigers – Mick Herron 16. The Sins of Our Fathers – Asa Larsson 17. Ordinary People – Diana Evans 18. My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: new fiction by Afghan women – various 19. A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf 20. Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid 21. How to Train Your Dragon 12: How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury – Cressida Cowell 22. Becoming – Michelle Obama 23. The It Girl – Ruth Ware 24. Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus 25. The Map of Salt and Stars – Zeyn Joukhadar 26. Here Comes the Sun – Nicole Dennis-Benn 27. Wings of Fire #1: The Dragonet Prophecy – Tui T. Sutherland 28. The Story of a New Name – Elena Ferrante 29. I Have Some Questions for You – Rebecca Makkai 30. Pyramids – Terry Pratchett 31. Witches Abroad – Terry Pratchett 32. Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty 33. Midnight at Malabar House - Vaseem Khan 34. Foster – Claire Keegan 35. Carrie Soto is Back – Taylor Jenkins Reid 36. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf 37. Love Letters – Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West 38. The Memoirs of Ethel Smyth – abridged and with an introduction by Ronald Crichton 39. The Christie Affair – Nina de Gramont 40. Friendaholic – Elizabeth Day 41. Wings of Fire 2: The Lost Heir – Tui T. Sutherland 42. Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words – Jenni Nuttall 43. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin 44. The Dance Tree – Kiran Millwood Hargrave 45. Little Disasters – Sarah Vaughan 46. The Color of Air – Gail Tsukiyama 47. Treacle Walker – Alan Garner 48. A is for Arsenic: the poisons of Agatha Christie – Kathryn Harkup 49. Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts – Evan Ross Katz 50. Kala – Colin Walsh 51. Judgement Day – Penelope Lively 52. All Souls – Javier Marias 53. The Dying Day – Vaseem Khan 54. The Running Grave – Robert Galbraith 55. Some kids I taught and what they taught me – Kate Clanchy 56. The Lost Man of Bombay – Vaseem Khan 57. Autumn – Ali Smith 58. The Selfless Act of Breathing – JJ Bola 59. Ruth and Pen – Emilie Pine 60. All My Mothers – Joanna Glen 61. On The Red Hill – Mike Parker 62. Wings of Fire 3: The Hidden Kingdom – Tui T. Sutherland 63. Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia 64. Spider Woman – Baroness Hale 65. The Killing Moon - Jo Nesbo

And my latest read:

66. Mrs S by K Patrick

I finished this a few days ago, so these are slightly more distant impressions than usual. The main things I remember about it are the sense of an oppressively hot summer, very well done, and an equally impressive capture of that feeling when you fall head over heels for someone, and then something happens that makes you realise you're from different worlds that can't be bridged. I wasn't wholly won over by the lack of speech marks, which as others have said, was confusing in places, although it did add to the breathless heat of it all. I also thought the book was too long; the build up was excruciating, as I think it is meant to be, but it tipped over into "oh get on with it" for me. But a really interesting book and I agree with (some) reviewers that there is a touch of Virginia Woolf about it.

I realise I left Reputation by Sarah Vaughan off my list, so it should be 67 not 66. Which takes me closer to 75!

Ooh I’m glad to see your good review of Mrs S @Welshwabbit I’ve had my eye on it for ages and grabbed it when it was recently reduced. Might save that one for the holidays.

I have been AWOL thanks to work, family and carol singing commitments

Here's my list. Unlikely I will reach 50 this year but that's ok, 44 seems to be my sweet spot and I should just about manage that before Dec 31st!

1. The Christmas Bookshop – Jenny Colgan
2. Les Cahiers d’Esther : Histoires de mes 10 ans – Riad Sattouf
3. The Pants of Perspective – Anna McNuff

4. L’Assommoir – Emile Zola

1. Beautiful world, where are you? – Sally Rooney
2. This book could save your life – Graham Lawton
3. Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
4. The Foundling – Stacey Halls
5. The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller

10. Les Cahiers d’Esther : Histoires de mes 11 ans – Riad Sattouf 11. How to be famous – Caitlin Moran 12. The land where lemons grow – Helena Atlee 13. Just Kids – Patti Smith 14. Trespasses - Louise Kennedy 15. Sheltering Rain – Jojo Moyes 16. The Island of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak 17. Love, Nina – Nina Stibbe 18. Sorrow and bliss – Meg Mason 19. Children of Paradise – Camilla Grudova 20. Spring – Ali Smith 21. Mothering Sunday - Graham Swift 22. Clothes, clothes, clothes, music, music, music, boys, boys, boys – Viv Albertine 23. A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen DNF: Under the duvet – Marian Keyes 24. Streetcar named desire – Tennessee Williams 25. The Other Mother – Jen Brister 26. Decluttering at the speed of life – Dana K White 27. Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh 28. One more croissant for the road – Felicity Cloake 29. The island of sea women – Lisa See 30. Let that be a lesson – Ryan Wilson 31. The Salt Path – Raynor Winn DNF: Parsnips, Buttered – Joe Lycett 32. Summer Skies – Jenny Colgan 33. Man at the helm – Nina Stibbe 34. How to be a woman – Caitlin Moran DNF: Paperweight – Stephen Fry 35. Lessons I’ve learned – Davina McCall 36. Black Butterflies – Priscilla Morris 37. Book Lovers – Emily Henry 38. The girl with the louding voice – Abi Daré 39. The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes – Ruth Hogan 40. Ultra-processed people – Chris van Tulleken 41. Heartburn – Nora Ephron

Currently reading Confessions of a forty-something f-up by Alexandra Potter and listening to Notes to self by Emilie Pine. I'm finding the latter very tough due to all the issues she's dealing with. It's well written and well narrated, by the author, but I need to know there's some light at the end of the tunnel for her.
Might need to start something more festive soon!!

For novellas this list might be a good place to start: World's Greatest Novellas. I'd recommend the following for novellas that are readable:
Beryl Bainbridge (all her novels are on the shorter side)
The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre
The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
The Employees by Olga Ravn
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon
Candide by Voltaire
Wodehouse is often short and readable
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

For East Africa these might all be old but what about:
An Ice-cream War by William Boyd
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)
Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda)

Thanks for the recommendations Chessie & Janina. I think DP has read all of William Boyd, but will try & figure out about the others (Kindles make it hard compared to bookshelves!) With a bit of gentle prodding, I've also established that he's not read the Slow Horses books, so I'll get the first one of those for him too.

@Sadik might he like The Covenant of Water? I read it recently and thought it was wonderful.

Thanks for the novella recommendations!
Lots of good ones there.

I read Rizzio last night. I thought it was very good. It was a very compact read at 189 pages, but it was atmospheric and it felt like a real novel, just in miniature. I think I'll read more by Denise Mina next year.

I'm glad you enjoyed Gentleman @RazorstormUnicorn I liked the Count very much and there were a few references to War and Peace that I liked as well, having done the readalong for that previously.

A Pocketful of Happiness - Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant lost his wife of 35 years, Joan Washington, to lung cancer in 2021. This is his diary of the time from her diagnosis to her eventual death interspersed with memories of their time together from first meeting.

It is sad, sweet, poignant, heartbreaking as you would expect, all read in his beautiful voice. It does get a bit name-droppy at times but I loved his sheer delight at getting an Oscar nomination and better than that, the possibility of meeting his all time idol, Barbra Streisand.

26 The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Not sure how I've never read this one before. I think I've seen the film (some of it was kind of familiar). I was glad to finish this one, to be honest. Some lovely descriptive passages, but the only character I liked was Kip and far too much of the description around him was about just how brown he is. I found myself glazing over while the English Patient himself was recounting his former life in the desert with his colleague's wife. I just didn't care whether he was actually a Nazi spy or not. I didn't care about Hana's attitudes to life and men. I didn't care about Caravaggio's past life and morphine addiction. Happy to see the back of the lot of them!

@YolandiFuckinVisser i read The English Patient earlier this year and had exactly the same thoughts as you. In fact I skim read the bits in the desert as I just wanted it to end.

The same @TattiePants and @YolandiFuckinVisser
I skim read TEP. I didn't get along with it at all.

@noodlezoodle Covenant of Water definitely on the right lines, but I have it in my library haul for both of us to read over Christmas!

Another one who just did not get the fuss about The English Patient and can remember very little, and what I can is from the film.

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
I joined the read along for this, but then got behind and didn’t prioritise as I have read it before. However, I’ve finally finished and once again think it is a great piece of literature, allowing for translation. The ideas, struggles and general unlikeable nature of most of th characters makes it wonderfully compelling. It’s the sort of book you get something different every time. Suspect no one needs a précis since a number of us read it together.

I’ve hit 39 so feeling confident about a nice round 40.

@BestIsWest mentioning Richard E. Grant's recent book reminds me that this would be a good time to mention:

83: With Nails - Richard E. Grant

This is a memoir - based on the diaries he's always kept - of his early days in films, starting with the cult success of 'Withnail and I', which launched his career and soon saw him jetting around the world, hobnobbing with Hollywood stars and directors and acting in some pretty big films (even if the parts weren’t always that stellar).

I was charmed by his sparky writing, genuinely fresh and funny, and his often-hilarious tales of hanging out with the stars. My favourite was his account of spending a week at Francis Ford Coppola's sprawling country estate with the cast of Dracula, on an extended and intense research-cum-bonding exercise prior to filming with assorted fellow-actors; Anthony Hopkins turns out to be hiding a fearsome intellect behind a self-contained facade; Tom Waits is a delight to work with, while Gary Oldman - the star, and a friend of Grant's - eventually throws epic tantrums with the director. It’s all fascinating stuff if you’re interested in what goes on behind the scenes in films.

As Best says, Grant's wife Joan died recently, and it was poignant reading this book with that knowledge, especially the chapters written around the birth of their baby daughter, a beloved child born after many miscarriages. A very accomplished book from a surprisingly modest, likeable man, and a good read.

@Terpsichore I shall certainly seek that out. Despite the obvious sadness of his second book, his delight and disbelief at the world he finds himself in is joyous.

I really enjoyed his recent book and have got With Nails on my wish list.

62. Christmas Magic by Cathy Kelly

When I was in the library I spotted this and thought some Christmas fluff would be ideal.

I got three chapters in and was wondering how the hell the author was going to tie together this cast of characters and their separate lives (a death and a random will perhaps?) when I realised it's a collection of short stories.

Most of which are not set at Christmas.

Some of them made me smile a little but most are just nothing.... You meet a character, follow them for a couple of days and that's it.

I felt bad, but I gave it 2.5 out of 5 on storygraph.

I've got a lovely big train journey on Wednesday, so I'm thinking of picking up a fiction and non fiction. I'm expecting to manage another 3 or 4 books this year as I don't have a lot planned after I finish work on 22nd.

I loved With Nails and will definitely read his more recent book at some point. Like Rupert Everett, he takes apart the Luvvie world he finds himself in with a keen eye for its absurdities.

For anyone who likes all things Withnail, there’s a book called Smoking In Bed which is conversations with its director , Bruce Robinson. His own books are an acquired taste tbh - I found the Jack The Ripper one unreadable. Apart from The Obvious Elephant which is an absolute classic of a picture book that every child should have on their bookcase .

To be honest, I didn’t really take on board that With Nails was controversial, as I was so busy just enjoying its witty, gossipy charms - but after finishing, I googled some reviews and saw that it had upset a lot of Hollywood types, notably Bruce Willis, whose mega-flop 'Hudson Hawk' REG gleefully/despairingly chronicles during the making. Apparently he’d transgressed the unwritten code of never revealing what actually goes on behind the scenes. I guess Bruce didn’t welcome having it made public that George Lucas's special effects team had been brought in specially to paint in his receding hairline in a particular scene at a cost of many thousands of $$ 🤔

68 The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

I think Strout's genius is creating characters the bare bones of whom are clearly unlikeable, but somehow getting you to understand and empathise with them. No-one in this book is straightforwardly likeable; some of them are actively unpleasant, but you are drawn into their lives and their feelings and all of a sudden you care about what happens to them. Strout also does a wonderful job of depicting Shirley Falls, a run down post-industrial Maine town which has seen various waves of immigration over the years, and is struggling with the recent arrival of a number of Somali refugees. The events in the novel are relatively mundane, but have a cataclysmic effect on the lives of Jim, Bob and Susan Burgess, siblings both drawn together and pushed apart by the tragedy of their father's death after the family car in which the children were playing ran him over. The cracks and fissures that developed as a result are sensitively explored throughout the book, towards a resolution of sorts. Beautifully written and full of quiet revelations, I enjoyed this nearly as much as the Olive Kitteridge books.

Thanks for the new thread south

Here's my list

1. What You Did; Claire McGowan
2. Me; Elton John
3. She Lies in Wait; Gytha Lodge
4. Watching From the Dark; Gytha Lodge
5. Lie Beside Me; Gytha Lodge
6. Little Sister; Gytha Lodge
7. Broken Summer; J. M. Lee
8. Secrets of the Sea House; Elisabeth Gifford
9. The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Agatha Christie
10. Gallows Court; Martin Edwards
11. Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family; Omid Scobie & Carolyn Durand
12. Stealing the Crown; T. P. Fielden
13. City Dark; Roger F. Canaff
14. An Eye for an Eye; Carol Wyer
15. The Housewarming; S. E. Lynes
16. Return to Fourwinds; Elisabeth Gifford
17. The Duchess; Amanda Foreman
18. The Importance of Being Kennedy; Laurie Graham
19. Habits of the House; Fay Weldon
20. Long Live the King; Fay Weldon
21. The New Countess; Fay Weldon
22. Her Last Holiday; C. L. Taylor
23. No Home for Killers; E. A. Aymar
24. Twilight; Stephanie Meyer
25. Midnight Sun; Stephanie Meyer
26. New Moon; Stephanie Meyer
27. Eclipse; Stephanie Meyer
28. Breaking Dawn; Stephanie Meyer
29. Mortmain Hall; Martin Edwards
30. The Stroke of Winter; Wendy Webb
31. Wheel of Fortune; Susan Howatch
32. Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters; Laura Thompson
33. The Lies We Tell; Meg Carter
34. The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath; Jane Robins
35. The Memory of Lost Senses; Judith Kinghorn
36. Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All; Candace Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Deborah Hopkinson, M. T. Anderson, Linda Sue Park, Jennifer Donnelly, Lisa Ann Sandell
37. The Last Summer; Karen Swan
38. The Emerald Affair; Janet MacLeod Trotter
39. The IT Girl; Ruth Ware
40. Perfectly Impossible; Elizabeth Topp
41. The Dinner Guest; B. P. Walter
42. The Hunting Party; Lucy Foley
43. Divine Lola; Cristina Morato
44. Taming Mr. Walker; Rosa Lucas
45. Resisting Mr. Kane; Rosa Lucas
46. Fighting Mr. Knight; Rosa Lucas
47. Silent Vows; Jill Ramsowner
48. The Princes in the Tower; Alison Writ
49. Harriet; Jilly Cooper
50. Savage Collision; Gwyn McNamee
51. Tortured Skye; Gwyn McNamee
52. The Appeal; Janice Hallett
53. Real Ghost Stories: Haunted Castles, Inns and Mansions in the UK; Carole Somerville
54. The Sapphire Child; Janet MacLeod Trotter
55. Fifth Avenue Fling; Rosa Lucas
56. The Rescue; Julie Weaver
57. The Diamond Daughter; Janet MacLeod Trotter
58. Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing; Matthew Perry
59. Guilty Pleasures; Kitty Thomas
60. Renishaw Hall: The Story of the Sitwells; Desmond Stewart
61. Random Acts of Unkindness; Jacqueline Ward

62) The Turn of the Key - Ruth Ware
This was my second Ware this year having read The IT Girl following recommendations on here. I didn't enjoy this as much as IT Girl but the twist certainly took me by surprise. One of the resolutions didn't make any sense so that was frustrating but overall it was a well planned and executed book. I have some more of Ware's books on my tbr and am looking forward to getting to them next year

70. The Darkness Manifesto – Johan Eklöf
Short and thought-provoking series of linked pieces on the theme of darkness, the part it plays in natural cycles and the dangers of encroaching light pollution. Some of the most beautiful passages describe his observational forays at twilight and beyond in rural Sweden (Eklöf is a bat specialist), and I can imagine this being read in a sonorous Max Von Sydow voice – just imagining it was restful. I had no idea that the daily hormone cycles of so many organisms, especially insects and plants, are dependent on the cycles of light and darkness. When these cycles are interrupted it can mean, for example, that the male and female of a species miss their window to reproduce. It did get a bit repetitive, but it was short so definitely worth a read if you are interested in the environment and ecology.