50 Books Challenge Part Eight

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth 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.

Some of us bring over to the new thread lists of the books we've read so far, but again - this is your choice.

The first thread is here, the second one here , the third one here, the fourth one here , the fifth one here , the sixth one here and the seventh one here .

What are you reading?

Love the sound of the Lore Segal book, Terp..

Also Some Enchanted April is very pleasurable book.

75 All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker
I’m in two minds about this. It was a deeply affecting, slow unfolding of a mystery and an obsession but at times I was a little sceptical of the plot twists. Some gorgeous descriptions of nature and snappy dialogue between people who seem very far apart at first then grow closer, but the chapters were irritatingly short.
Patch is a boy with one eye, an alcoholic addict mother and one friend in the world, the spiky, astute girl, Saint. One day Patch witnesses a young rich girl from the town being abducted by a man, so he attacks the man and is abducted himself instead. During his captivity in complete darkness he is often accompanied by a girl called Grace. On his release he spends a lifetime trying to paint Grace just from touch and description alone and also trying to find her, along with the bodies of all the other abducted girls.
It could have slipped into melodrama and I’m not entirely convinced it didn’t but I do like Whitaker’s style of writing (just make the chapters a bit longer!) so it held my interest. It didn’t have the impact of We Begin At The End and he does seem to be writing the same book over and over - I was waiting for the kindly Police Chief to rock up and he didn’t disappoint. I haven’t read any interviews with the author so I don’t know if missing / murdered girls are a Thing for him (as in something from his past) or if the topic is just earning him money and so being encouraged by his publisher. He doesn’t write pruriently about murdered women, but I’m at the point where I’d probably give his next book the swerve if it involves them, out of overfamiliarity.

126. The Outsider by Jane Casey

Not the Maeve Kerrigan series but Maeve adjacent as her ex lover Rob Langton goes undercover into an organised criminal gang.

There's not a lot to this, it's only 280 pages and feels quite slight, and frequently not fleshed out enough, it's clear that this has the makings of a start to a new series but I don't know if I am that fussed in all honesty

47. Two Lives by Vikram Seth
My reading remains slow and halting at the moment, but nonetheless I'm in an incredible sequence of bolds. This is the third of Seth's books that I've read. It's a dual biography of his uncle Shanti and his wife Henny. They were born in 1908 and met in Berlin in the 1930s where Shanti trained in dentistry. Their lives were both very normal and completely extraordinary. During the war, Shanti lost his right arm and Henny escaped Germany, members of her family were not so lucky. They both came to London and remained there after the war.

Seth's writing is so clear, so simple - only huge skill creates this pellucid prose. He can then manipulate his style to bring you into multiple different settings and perspectives. What stories even the quietest of suburban homes can conceal.

@AlmanbyRoadtrip I just finished All the Colours of the Dark. I really enjoyed it but I know what you mean, especially about the short chapters. I was interested to read at the end that he is British, because there were some parts of it that felt British to me, particularly the character Sammy. There were a couple of ‘twists’ that I saw coming and one that I found quite unbelievable, but I thought it was very good overall. I haven’t read any of his other books so might give the other one you mentioned a go when I’ve forgotten enough of this one!

61 My Husband - Maud Ventura

Very French novel (in translation) focussing on the narrator’s obsessive ‘love’ for her husband and the bizarre lengths she goes to to maintain the honeymoon phase and avoid a more mature relationship. I think it was referencing Madame Bovary in the theme of the damage done to women by selling them a fairytale dream of romantic love. Her behaviour towards her children is chilling – for her, they’re a necessary part of the bourgeois domestic pretence but really just a nuisance getting in the way of her husband-fixation.

The final ‘twist’ chapter was a let-down and destroyed a lot of the tension-generating ambiguity; I feel that this element should having been woven teasingly through the whole narrative rather than done as a thriller-style reveal. Still, oddly compelling overall.

62 Imagining Decolonisation
An essay collection focusing on the Māori experience of colonisation, and ways to reclaim self-determination in the present day.

63 My Animals and Other Animals - Bill Bailey
Gently amusing memoir from the comedian focusing on the animals he’s kept as pets and met on his worldwide adventures. Highlights included rescuing an owl who looked suspiciously like a menu item in a remote restaurant in China. Comfort reading if you like Bill Bailey and animal facts.

64 Insanely Gifted - Jamie Catto
Self-help from a founding member of Faithless, this focuses on integrating the shadow parts of our personality to access our creative gifts. There was some wisdom in here; helpful to me was the guidance to reframe life’s challenges as learning experiences (although there are limits to this – see below) and consider that people who drive us up the wall are likely to represent aspects of our own personalities that we’ve been suppressing. I’m interested in Jungian shadow work and will follow this up further.

But the whole thing was written from such a position of privilege that I can’t even start. (To be fair, it was published in 2016 and I think would be a little more sensitive if written now.) It’s not great for a successful white male to be using the example of a person’s reaction to a ‘racist rant’ as something determined by our past experiences to which we could learn to respond more calmly. I was also fairly disgusted by his suggestion that maybe the way the world is, with all its wars and suffering, might just be something our souls are beamed down to as a developmental opportunity, rather than something we should try to remedy. Probably easier to think that in a comfortable English middle class hippy existence than, say, a refugee camp in Gaza.

48. The Doctor who Fooled the World by Brian Deer
A ripsnorting yarn of medical fraud by the appalling Andrew Wakefield, told by the terrier-like journalist who exposed the extent of what he'd done. I always find it odd that books by journalists tend to be SO clunky - possibly they are so used to telling the story to a brutal word count that given the freedom of a book format, they struggle to add in more detail while not derailing their style? But the story grips.

@OdileO in my head, Sammy looked like Dylan Moran . I read up on Chris Whitaker and realised I did know he was British. Agree that his books need to be read well apart as they are very alike. Eve Chase is similar; I’ve read a couple of hers and thought I’d read them before, although when I look at the date they were published that’s not possible without time travel.

146. The Mortal Word, Genevieve Cogman
Fifth instalment of the Invisible Library series, with this book set in fin-de-siecle Paris, where a peace treaty is being negotiated between the dragons and the fae, although someone appears to be attempted to derail it. This wasn't one of the stronger books in the series, and I felt it dragged a bit, but I'm sufficiently invested to have the remaining two books lined up.

147. Nights Out at Home, Jay Rayner
You heard me raving about the smoked mackerel and horseradish sandwich from this - wine may also have been consumed, and frankly I overdid it and felt vaguely nauseous contemplating the book the next morning. However, I bravely pushed through, and Jay's bonhomie won me back over. I enjoyed the anecdotes from his 25 years as a food critic, and every recipe is clearly something he has laboured over to get right. I've cooked a few things he suggested, I've tried a restaurant he recommended (Persian Cottage in Middlesbrough, excellent and good value), I have my eye on a food stall he recommended in Kirkgate Market in Leeds - all in all, I've had fun with this book. He also throws in a pretty good Nigel parody in his final chapter, and is amusing about his family's lack of enthusiasm for some of his dishes.

148. A Mudlarking Year, Lara Maiklem
If you liked her previous book on mudlarking, you'll probably like this one. I personally am fascinated by the objects she uncovers, bringing the past into touching distance. This is a month-by-month account of her mudlarking trips to the Thames - it might have benefited from being read slowly, over the course of the year she describes, but someone else had reserved it at the library, so I galloped through it more quickly than it deserved.

149. Mr Finchley Discovers his England, Victor Canning.
Mentioned by chessie. Published in 1934 and very much of its time. Mr Finchley is a middle-aged clerk who is about to embark on his first proper seaside holiday, when he gets swept up with some car thieves and from then on roams the countryside having adventures - a fistfight with a tramp, being chased as a suspected lunatic, sleeping in a gypsy camp and so on. It makes no pretence at realism, just an unserious dream of escape from mundane office life, and worked quite well as a read on my commute.

Nigel Slater is –the victim of-- featured in Craig Brown’s diary in the current edition of Private Eye, which I’m sure will entertain both his fans and detractors equally.

I’m putting down Nights Out At Home for a spot on my Birthday And Christmas Book Token Bonanza spree this year. I’ve also got £20 worth of Waterstones rewards stashed. God, I love books! ❤️ 📕

61 Johnson at 10 by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell

I'm not really sure what possessed me to buy or read this excruciatingly detailed account of Boris Johnson's premiership, given that my desire to relive the events of 2019 - 2022 is virtually non-existent. I think I hoped it would be cathartic and it was to a degree, because it simply confirms my existing prejudices. But my goodness it was depressing, both about Johnson himself and about the people with whom he surrounded himself. The overall picture the book paints is of a party with no cohesion and prime movers with no affection or respect for each other, constantly looking out for ways to stab each other in the back whilst obsessively checking their own. 600 pages of this (in my Kindle version) is far too much, hence the time it's taken me to read it. Finished it fervently hoping that Johnson will not be emulating Trump's renaissance, and that the current government will do a better job of just...boringly running stuff.

@AlmanbyRoadtrip , hope you enjoy it, but if you're prone to health eating resolutions in January, you might have to wait till they have worn off before reading this book. He likes his food rich, does Jay.

@Welshwabbit perish the thought of a Johnson renaissance! A government boringly running stuff sounds just what we need.

I’m still plodding my way through a backlog of the NY Review of Books, which DH used to subscribe to, but then cancelled as there are only so many hours in the day and so much else to read, and the latest one off the pile contains a very extended profile of Johnson by Fintan O'Toole. It’s fair to say he’s not a fan, but just the first paragraph gave me such PTSD I had to bury it again.

Just got my Secret Santa's. A Harriet Walter book signed, in person for me, by Harriet Walter. This is so much better than a scented candle.

What a great Secret Santa, @Piggywaspushed

That Secret Santa really went above and beyond

Yes! That was a great gift to get, Piggy.
Definitely beats a scented candle.

Excellent present, Piggy.

88. It Had To be You - David Nobbs

This is the second of three books I bought as the direct result of listening to several editions of Backlisted on a long drive recently, making it both highly enjoyable and very bad for my resolution to limit book-buying (the first was the Lore Segal memoir).

This is a novel, with an unusual premise - James Hollinghurst’s wife, Deborah, is killed in a road accident in the first few pages, leaving James to cope with the aftermath. But James has been having an affair with Helen for the past several years and had fantasised about leaving Deborah. As he navigates the first few stunned days, he gradually moves into a deeper understanding about his marriage, his beliefs and his future.

Nobbs started his career as a TV gag-writer and - famously - created Reginald Perrin, so his novels are all on the slightly comic side; this was no exception and you’d definitely never call it literary, but it’s very readable and I enjoyed his characters a lot, while recognising quite a few Perrin-like quirks. I might try and read a few more of his novels, of which he wrote a good many.

What a great present Piggy! Your Secret Santa obviously knows you.

Thanks for the reminder about the Lara Maiklem, Biblio, I heard about it on the radio, thought "I must add that to my list" and promptly forgot. Her last book was a bold for me a couple of years ago.

Secret Santa in November? What fresh hell is this?! Glad you liked your present though, @Piggywaspushed

Yes, agreed on the November part!

I used to love a David Nobbs TV series @Terpsichore. I think I read a few of his books back in the day too. A Bit of A Do was good IIRC.

I still sing the theme tune to Dogfood Dan and the Carmarthen Cowboy almost every day when I feed the dogs.

Meanwhile, still ploughing on with Appassionata.

127. Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell

Someone else is reading or has recently read this and forgive me I can't remember who.

I absolutely loved Sonia Purnell's A Woman Of No Importance about Virginia Hall and First Lady about Clementine Churchill.

I was expecting great things from this her latest about Pamela Churchill Harriman.

I was already aware that during the war the Churchills had used their daughter in law as something of a seductress of powerful men even though this meant she was unfaithful to their son. I was more interested in what came next, and that's where the story begins to disappoint.

She travels listlessly around Europe meeting (and shagging) the great and the good before marrying one of her old lovers and becoming heavily influential in the US Democratic Party, eventually under Clinton becoming Ambassador to France in her seventies.

A full life, well lived but unfortunately, for large sections of the book not all that diverting and there were times I felt like I was trudging through it. If you know nothing about the subject, there's a lot to learn but I found it, particularly in its last third, rather dry.

Sigh. I had very high hopes.

It was me I think, @EineReiseDurchDieZeit but I only got halfway through Kingmaker before getting into the Jilly Cooperverse. I do intend to go back to it but I agree, nowhere as exciting as A Woman Of No Importance.