50 Books Challenge Part Three

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2024, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

The first thread is here and the second one here.

Have a happy (bookish) one @Palegreenstars !

36. A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers

This little novella is set in a utopian future world, where half of the planet ('Panga' - which may or may not be our earth) has been set aside for nature (though with some remains from 'the factory age' still standing), the remainder being used by humans in a low impact eco-friendly but high tech sort of a way.

It suffered from the classic problem of utopian novels in that there's far less scope for plot as compared to a dystopia. In fact, more than anything it reminded me of William Morris's News From Nowhere. Like NFN, it's very reflective of a certain social group and very much of its time. It's a no-dig utopia (though interestingly not vegan) & unlike much 70s feminist SF, child-rearing & family structures appear to be largely nuclear family based. There's also, rather surprisingly, not even a head nod towards political structures.

Initially I felt that the titular monk, Dex, came across as much younger than their supposed late 20s at the start to mid 30s, with a lot of heart-searching over their purpose in life. I did then wonder whether in fact the author (35, changed career & became very successful, just like Dex) is actually having a rather early mid-life crisis.

Having said all of that, I loved the idea of a tea-monk who's whole vocation is to listen to people & make them cups of tea, & I also loved the electric-bike-powered camper van. I also enjoyed the robot, very much like a cheerful Marvin, if that's possible to contemplate. It was a nice easy listen & I've got lots of audible credits at the moment, so I'll probably go for the sequel next.

ps, Cote, if you're around, NEVER read this book - unless you want to entertain us all with a spectacularly scathing review.

A couple of 'misery memoirs' from either end of the social spectrum for book numbers 14 & 15:

14. Poor by Katriona O'Sullivan
    The daughter of heroine addicts rises above the neglect, abuse and disadvantages she faces in life to gain a PhD and maintain a loving relationship and stable family life as an adult.
    A difficult, gritty read, except this was a listen for me, an audio book read by the author, who was quite clearly struggling to narrate her life story at times.
    It didn't grip me in quite the way Educated or The Glass Castle did, but this was a similarly inspiring story of those who are written off by society finding a way out of the cycle of poverty and abuse via eduction. It does make you wonder about the lives of those who don't manage to break the cycle though.

15. A Very Private School by Charles Spencer
    I read a favourable review of this just published autobiography and was surprised to find myself first in the queue when I looked it up on my library app.
    Whilst Spencer himself admits his childhood trauma pales in comparison to the struggles encountered by some children (Katriona O'Sullivan to name but one example) the reader may decide that it's pretty bad for the poor little rich boys all the same. Spencer's boarding school seems to have been staffed largely by bullies, pedophilles and sadists and many of the other 'inmates' were also bullies and sadists in their turn.
    Staff were hired sight unseen or because they fit the dubious 'ethos' of the school rather than for their teaching skills. Without any type of background checks the opportunity for abuse by those 'in loca parentis' behind the jealously guarded privacy of the terribly posh school walls was massive.
    One would hope with greater transparency, mandatory dbs checks, greater awareness on the part of parents and a move towards giving children a voice, that such abuses are no longer possible at an institutional level, but then recent revelations regarding abuse within gymnastics and other children's sporting bodies suggest otherwise.

Happy Birthday for this week @Palegreenstars and much happy reading with that fantastic gift!

I DNFed Miss Benson’s Beetle which a family member passed on to me. We usually like the same books, but this was so grindingly saccharine and wildly improbable that I had to pass on it. I disliked Harold Fry but gave this a decent chance.

Have started Demon Copperhead this afternoon. I’m glad it’s Easter weekend with not much to do apart from long walks and sitting down with this. Gripped from the start.

Thanks so much everyone!

41. Days At The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

A young woman seeks refuge in her Uncle's bookshop after being disappointed in love. I don't know if this is a poor translation or not but the prose was very basic and simplistic. Only 150 pages. Only 99p. Shrug. It was alright.

Happy birthday @Palegreenstars ! Great present. I also love a spa day, especially when combined with a good book - I spent my 40th birthday finishing Great Expectations in a spa in between pool, sauna and massage, it was great 😄

14 The Ferryman - Justin Cronin Don’t want to inadvertently give spoilers, so this is from the blurb: The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean: in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it…Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives, attended to by the support staff who live on a cramped neighbouring island, where whispers begin to grow into cries for revolution. Meanwhile, life for Prosperans is perfection - and when it’s not, their bodies are sent to the mysterious third island: a facility named The Nursery, to be rebooted and restart life afresh.

I absolutely loved this - I’ll be surprised (pleasantly) if it doesn’t end up being my fiction book of the year. YMMV of course, and there was a moment where I thought the end was going to be a letdown - but it picked up again and ended up being thoroughly satisfying from start to finish. It seems to have had mostly good but somewhat mixed reviews, the negative ones mainly from people who preferred Cronin’s other books - I don’t know whether that means I’ll love his other books even more or they won’t be for me, but I’m willing to find out! A great birthday present from DH (because I asked him for it 😂).

I actually think I’d get on ok at a spa (with a book), but they seem very pricey and the idea of strangers touching me puts me off. The bath probably has the same impact 😬

32 Fred and Rose - Howard Sounes
An in-depth story of Fred and Rose West. This is incredibly detailed to the point it felt like a fiction book as there were no gaps. Presumably the author tracked down many first hand accounts in order to know so much.
I know of Fred and Rose West of course as most people do, and I know what they did. But Jesus I had no idea it was this horrendous. Just when you think you can’t be shocked any more you get smacked round the face with another horror story.
Gripping and well written though there are some phrases that raise an eyebrow due to it being written in the 90s. Think this was a bold for me. Now I need to read something light and fluffy.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I just finished 21 The Ferryman - Justin Cronin too. I did enjoy it but didn’t rate it as highly as you. He’s a good writer and it was very well structured with engaging characters, and I admired the way the complexities of the plot worked out with no annoying loose ends. But I felt it was highly derivative of other sci-fi books and films exploring the nature of reality - can’t name them because spoilers - and the lack of originality means it won’t be a bold for me.

Also read 20 Your Child is Not Broken - Heidi Mavir, a very informally written account of her experience as a mother of a neurodivergent ‘school refuser’. It preached radical acceptance of a child’s disabilities, ie not pushing them to do things (like go to mainstream school) that cause extreme stress and suffering. I’m still working my way through these ideas as the mother of child on the spectrum. It’s a difficult balance helping children to grow and develop, while maintaining a relationship of trust and acceptance and not trying to force them into neurotypical moulds.

Oh and Happy Birthday @PermanentTemporary !

Happy birthday @Palegreenstars, lovely book haul there.

Am going through a phase of starting lots of samples of things that aren’t gelling. I am absolutely converted to Audible now being late to the party but I struggle with some of the narrators. Posh English Male voices that are not the author of the book. Some of them remind me of machine guns.

Happy birthday @Palegreenstars

Took a break from the Women's Prize reading to reread Gillespie and I - Jane Harris for book club. I unashamedly love this book and have read it several times. Hard to review without giving much away. Harriet Baxter is an aging spinster rewriting her account of her friendship with a Glasgow artist Ned Gillespie in the late 1880's. All I am saying it is a slow reveal!
Back to the Women's Prize and like others I am finding this years a strange and lumpy bag!! Last year I genuinely struggled to choose a short list, but of the 6 I have read only two would make it so far.
Western Lane was ok but for a short novel there were several sections where I got bored, mainly the descriptions of squash. For me the mark of a really great book is the fact that you want to get back to it each day, this one felt like an effort to pick up.

I read this too, also as a 99p purchase! Like you, I wasn’t overly impressed. The second half of the book just made no sense to me. In some ways, it felt like a first draft. I’m a bit puzzled as to how it got published.

Happy birthday @Palegreenstars

And ermagerd @HenryTilneyBestBoy Sounds like the writer went to the same word soup shop that Katherine May frequents.

Oops sorry I meant Happy Birthday @Palegreenstars !

23. The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald

Read for the Rather Dated Bookclub. A re-read for me, but I didn’t mind at all, as this is just so delicious. Widow Florence Green takes the great step of opening a small bookshop in the isolated, eccentric Suffolk town of Hardborough, where she immediately runs up against local bigwig Mrs Gamart, who from her gracious home takes against Florence and announces her intention to secure the bookshop’s premises as the venue for an arts centre - something risibly unlikely in the town. Open warfare is never quite declared but, as Florence presses ahead, she’s left in no doubt that Mrs Gamart intends to win.

Throw in a poltergeist, a doggedly managerial 11-year-old assistant who ‘helps’ and assorted locals of varying degrees of weirdness, and this is a treat. Fitzgerald writes so beautifully: the absolute model of ‘show, not tell’.

@saturnspinkhoop

Yes definitely, Part 1 should have been a longer story and the whole book, the stuff with the Aunt was just odd

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage

I want to read The Ferryman what does YMMV mean please?

On the basis of these reviews, I plan to seek out The Ferryman. It sounds right up my street and I like a neatly tied up plot.

I had a plan this year to read more sci-fi, and am debating whether to continue with the Dune series when I finish book one, or take a break. DS is clear I shouldn't go beyond a certain stage in the series but I can't remember where he told me to stop. I think my planned approach - movie, book, rewatch the movie - is the way to go. The movies are so good, for anyone wavering.

@LadybirdDaphne I know what you mean - the bit where I was slightly disappointed (before it picked up again) was a twist that wasn't surprising because I had seen the same thing in a recent TV show. I think I was helped by the fact that I don't read or watch much sci-fi at all.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit it means "your mileage may vary" - ie you might feel differently. Think it's a Harry and Maghan thing from the Oprah interview? Or just something the young people say...as an older millennial I'm a bit out of touch 😂

Well I'm clearly very out of touch as it's new to me!! Recollections May Vary is the Oprah one aka they are talking shit

42. Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh

Eileen leads a miserable existence until the advent of glamorous colleague Rebecca Saint John but even she can't predict the difference Rebecca will have.

Meh. Nothing of note happens here til around 50% and then everything that happens after feels ludicrously unbelievable.
I did previously DNF My Year Of Rest And Relaxation so I suspect Moshfegh isn't for me though I do still have Lapvona on TBR

Wouldn't recommend this.

YMMV is a lot older than Harry and Meghan. It means that opinions may vary.

”David Tennant is the best Doctor; YMMV.”

I may live under a rock then!

Apparently, it’s from car adverts in the 1970s when - genuinely - the mpg that you might get from a car would vary with wind and whatnot 😀