2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

TerriBull
I think you probably made the right decision.
I wouldn’t say it was a bad book, but it was depressing, and somehow you just knew there would be no happy endings.

Sara1954

Book 13 - The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty
This book has had a lot of exposure, a first novel, which has attracted a lot of attention.
It’s a tale of some of the inhabitants of a low cost housing project in a town called Vacca Vale, a town that is slowly dying.
The inhabitants are random, and mostly unconnected, but all of them are sad and damaged.
I didn’t actually dislike it, but it’s a very depressing book, not a hint of happiness anywhere, every character seems doomed to misery, and the ending, which you feel as though you’re hurtling towards from the beginning is repellent.
Honestly, not really sure what to make of it.

I started to read that book on the back of some good reviews but took it back to the library after a few chapters, it wasn't grabbing me at all. I might have stuck with it but for the fact that my previous book was 500 tedious pages and at the time I was in need of reading something slightly more enjoyable.

Book 13 - The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty
This book has had a lot of exposure, a first novel, which has attracted a lot of attention.
It’s a tale of some of the inhabitants of a low cost housing project in a town called Vacca Vale, a town that is slowly dying.
The inhabitants are random, and mostly unconnected, but all of them are sad and damaged.
I didn’t actually dislike it, but it’s a very depressing book, not a hint of happiness anywhere, every character seems doomed to misery, and the ending, which you feel as though you’re hurtling towards from the beginning is repellent.
Honestly, not really sure what to make of it.

Book 15. A Conflict of Interests by Claire Gradidge. A thoroughly enjoyable war time WW2 detective story; the last in a trilogy.

Read The Poisonwood Bible years ago and, as others have said, it stays with you. Haven’t been able to get on with her other books though, perhaps I should give them another try.

I had to take #6 (Ronald Blythe ‘Next to Nature’) back to the library because there is a waiting list for it but I will order it again or maybe buy a copy as it is lovely to dip into and follow through the months of the year.

#7 The Hours before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
Needing a change I read this mystery from 1958, which I listened to as the Woman’s Hour serial sometime in the late 70s or 80s. I had forgotten the title and author until I saw it mentioned somewhere (I’ve forgotten where!) and ordered a secondhand copy online. It was completely engrossing, the central character being a sleep-deprived mother of two girls and a seven month old baby who doesn’t sleep at night. A new lodger’s behaviour raises Louise’s suspicions but her husband and neighbours think she is having a breakdown. Beautifully written and so concise. I wish present-day authors and editors who follow this example of how to put a gripping story and interesting characters into under 250 pages 😀

I loved "Poisonwood Bible" - even though I read it years ago, it still stays with me.

I've got "Demon Copperhead" on reservation at the library.

Yes she is a wonderful writer, glad you agree annodomini

Thanks, *TerriBull. I agree with your review and it saves me the effort of writing one as well! Kingsolver is one of my favourite writers. The first I read was The "Poisonwood Bible" which is difficult to forget. The novels are so diverse in their themes that it's hard to select a favourite, though one that sticks in my mind is "The Lacuna" which delves into 20th Century history, featuring artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and many historical events.

13 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver, longlisted for The Women's Fiction Award.

I finished this book yesterday, I'm already thinking it may be the best one of the year, definitely one of those that stays with the reader, well this reader anyway! A reworking of David Copperfield for the modern age.

Damon Fields born to a drug using ,single mother housed in a trailer in the backwoods of The Appalachians where poverty is rife and drug use and opioid addiction commonplace. These are the hilly billy communities, deeply parochial where even a trip to the ocean seems beyond the reach of our hero. Communities looked down upon, ignored and caricatured by the more sophisticated Americans, although not so unsophisticated that they don't know how they "the deplorables" are perceived by the wider population of the US. Demon Copperfield, a reference to his hair colour, young life unfolds through encounters with a brutal stepfather, various stays in foster care, which are nothing less than exploitation on the part of the foster carers for money, via a broken care system. Brief interludes of happiness with the Peggats who like the original Peggotys are a mainstay and a buffer between a life of sheer hopelessness for young Demon. Towards the middle of the book his life takes an upturn when he is fostered by a kind football coach and forms a strong bond with his daughter of his own age and begins to live a life of a child which is something close to what it should be, whilst becoming a member of the school football team, a sport that seems to assume an enormous importance in school life in the US, quite secondary to any academic studies it would seem. Another strong good influence on young Demon's life is the black English teacher at his school who won't tolerate bad grammar and an inspirational influence as is his art teacher wife who inspires Demon's talent in that direction. Many of the characters are clever counterparts to those in the original Copperfield, Fast Forward who Demon meets firstly in foster care and later on the football field relates to Steerforth, a nasty individual who has a ruinous effect on those around him. Demon's passage to young adulthood unfold through athletic successes, accidents, disastrous loves and crushing losses. A saving talent and eventual recognition for his artwork relating to superheros and the abandonment of the rural people around in him in favour of the cities.

It was interesting to note at the end of the book that Barbara Kingsolver lives in The Appalachians and writes with a deep compassion for a subject that she has researched well. I'd previously read The Poisonwood Bible by her and that, and I think like this one, will remain among my collection of favourite books.

I'm thoroughly enjoying "We Must be Brave" by Frances Liardet. It was a random pick from the library which I nearly didn't pick up as the cover made it look very chicklit (I know, shouldn't judge ....)

Anyway, it's a lovely book, tender and moving, beginning during WW2 when a young woman rescues a small child who has become separated from her mother while fleeing the Southampton Blitz. It's not sugary sweet, just heartfelt. It's a book about fundamentally decent people trying to do their best in challenging circumstances.

I only have another 50 pages to read and I'm rationing them as I don't want to finish it. Anyone else do this?

Parsley3

Book 9 Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty, one of my favourite authors.

I loved this Parsley3 .... I hope you do too.

Pigma

We seem to have a very similar taste in books, Sparklefizz!

We do!!

Book 9 Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty, one of my favourite authors.

Wow. You’re all voracious readers! I’ve just finished #6, the first in the Shardlake series (thanks to your recommendations) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve already got the second one, but thought I’d read something else in between, so I’ve just started Nancy Mitford- in Pursuit of Love etc. I knew from the first two pages I’d love it, but I started to have a sneaky suspicion that I’ve read it before! I’ll carry on for a bit - maybe I’ve forgotten most of it 😂

#9 Into The Water Paula Hawkins - author of The Girl on The Train - Couldn't get excited about this one I found I finished it but at the end I didn't really care who died or why.
#10 Listening Still Anne Grffin This one was different I found the characters and plot interesting. It was about a girl who can hear the recently dead telling her their last words. Unusual but I enjoyed it.
#11 Under The Same Stars Alexandra Heminsley. another enjoyable book. Quite a simple story about a woman who finds she has a half sister living on a remote Norwegian Island and travels to find her.

Loved Shattered. Now reading book 38, The Secret Voices, by M.J.White.

#13. The Last Temptation by Val McDermid.

We seem to have a very similar taste in books, Sparklefizz!

Little Wing by Freya North was wonderfully absorbing. The isle of Harris was so beautifully described that it's now on my list to visit. The characters were so loveable and I couldn't wait to turn the next page.
27 Is Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift, on recommendation of lots of you on the favourite books post.

Ooh Pigma, I've got Exiles reserved at the library but it's not in yet. I've read 3 other books by Jane Harper and they've all been excellent. Enjoy!

Sparklefizz - quite a while since I read We Must Be Brave but I remember enjoying it. Monks and murders sums up Dissolution very well!
I’m onto book 23 - Exiles by Jane Harper. Enjoy her writing very much, this is so far (third of the way through) very slow at getting going but will persevere. In between times I’m also reading book 24 - Landlines by Raynor Winn. Enjoyed her previous two and am enjoying this one too.

A Cure for all Diseases was a bit boring at the start, but it got better the further into it I got. Now reading Shattered, by James Patterson and James O Born, one of the series about NYPD cop Michael Bennett, who has 10 adopted children.

I am still reading "Dissolution" by C J Sansom, but I'm also reading "We Must be Brave" by Frances Liardet which was a random pick from the library and has turned out to be an interesting story set during WW2, and better than I expected from the cover.

This is to give me a break from monks and murders !

Musicgirl I read Year of Wonders quite a few years ago and loved it, though I don’t remember the last 2 chapters particularly. I visited Eyam about 18 months ago, it’s fascinating. I think I will have to re-read the book.

My latest lot:
8. Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby
A fictionalised story of the friendship between Jane Austen and her niece’s governess Anne Sharp. I didn’t realise until I was well into it that it was based on a genuine friendship. It was enjoyable but not exceptional 7/10

9. When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal
A women sees her believed dead sister in the background of a news clip and sets off from California to Auckland to find her. A bit too chick lit for my taste, ventured close to bodice ripper territory a couple of times 6/10

10. Opal Country by Chris Hammer
An opal miner is found dead, crucified, inside his own opal mine in a remote Australian town. A detective is sent from Sydney to investigate. I have enjoyed the previous Chris Hammers and really enjoyed it until the last chapters, where the financial market manipulation stuff turned me off a bit 8/10

11. Burial of Ghosts by Ann Cleves
I haven’t read much Ann Cleves, I think this was a stand alone, rather than one of her series. It was okay 7/10

Another fan of Shardlake here. Love the characters, the plots, and the immersion in life as lived by our forbears. In the same vein, Lindsey Davis writes entertainingly about life in Ancient Rome as lived by her cheeky - chappie private investigator.