2023 - Book Challenge - Second thread

Oreo
I definitely agree regarding The Goldfinch, I knew right from the first chapter it was going to be drawn out and boring, but didn’t get that feeling at all with Owen Meany.

37. Swing Time, Zadie Smith
Having only read two Zadie Smith books, White Teeth which I loved and The Autograph Man which I didn’t, I’d say this one falls more towards the White Teeth level of enjoyment. It has many threads, and I was more taken with the earlier ones relating to the childhood of and relationship between the protagonist (who I’ve just realised is unnamed) and her friend Tracey. Later on we see how their paths diverge, and a lot of time is spent on the main character’s experiences in The Gambia. I don’t think this section is as good, and imo the story gets disjointed here. Some characters just seem to fizzle out and you wonder why they were ever there. But when it was good it was very, very good, and I think I’ll be looking for more Zadie Smiths now.

38. Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
Well you know what you’re getting with Jodie Picoult - proper plotting, great characters, and a few twists thrown in. I can’t say too much about the subject and main themes, as I might spoil it for others, but the plot revolves around a popular, sporty, all-American high school student who’s accused of causing the death of his girlfriend. The book’s thought-provoking, and I learnt a lot (and not just about bees!).

We’re all different Sarah1954 😀 and I was prepared to like it but just didn’t, and read grimly on to the end.I can see of course that it’s written by an excellent author and is a real tour de force.Many moving moments in it and a few very funny ones ( the description of the Christmas Pageant had me in stitches.)

75-The Bone Bed- Patricia Cornwell. This starts with a body floating with a turtle. So a very tricky recovery process. A rich woman has been missing for weeks, and a paleontologist also goes missing. Kay Scarpetta seems to be the only one who thinks these cases are linked. This story certainly gets the grey cell working overtime, as you try to work out the clues. As always a good read from PC.

Oreo, I had no intention of rereading Owen Meany but you’ve firmly put the lid on it now for me. 😂 Same for the Goldfinch. As Terribull says, good story, it just need to be one third shorter.

No 37. Travels with my Aunt by Grahame Green. A quick read, though I seem to have fallen down a wormhole of reading old books.

#50 Venetia Georgette Heyer.
I wouldn't normally read another Georgette Heyer book so soon (#49 was The Convenient Marriage). However, it was the September choice for a book club I have recently joined. Just lovely, in my top three of GH novels. I do however need a change of genre so I think the next one will be Sci-Fi.

39. The Family Remains, Lisa Jewell
This follows on from The Family Upstairs. I was halfway through before the names and history started to ring bells and I realised I’d read the first book a couple of years ago. It’s a good read that pulls you in and keeps you wanting more, as long as you can overlook the many very unlikely coincidences.

I've just finished 'Wild' by Kristin Hannah. Another brilliant book by a brilliant author. Each of her books is different but so full of emotion and such believable stories.
She has to be one of my favourite authors.

Book41
In Memoriam - Alice Winn
This is now my favourite book of the year so far.
It starts at an exclusive public school in the years leading up to the First World War

This is a beautiful love story, set against the horrors of War.

Many of the boys enlist, some only seventeen, some even younger, and their privileged backgrounds means they start out as officers.

Alice Winn doesn’t spare her readers, it’s a very graphic account of the horrors of war, terrible descriptions of the dead and dying , the dreadful slaughter at the Somme, and these boys going back into it time after time, until they don’t.

Two of the young officers. Ellwood and Gaunt are lovers, what they fear most is the death of the other, beautifully written, so heartbreakingly sad

Their old schools role of Honour grows longer every week, some families losing all their boys, and even those who survived were irreparably damaged.

It’s hard to think this could ever have happened, whose mad idea could it have been to send children to war?

It’s a book which will stay with me for a long time.

After enjoying Peter Ackroyd's The Tudors I started reading Dan Leno And The Limehouse Golem. It's taking me a while and definitely reads like "literature" but I WILL get to the end.
On a lighter note I've just finished The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. Many loose ends satisfactorily tied up but I'm going to miss all the characters so much.

Yes Deedaa I agree re The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. I already miss those characters.

I think so many of us who thoroughly enjoyed the Ruth Galloways are really going to miss the characters, I do, even Flint the cat I often forgot the plot but was very drawn in by Ruth's complicated domestic life in her cottage on the edge of the salt marshes of the Norfolk coast.

I loved Elly Griffiths' sense of humour which came through in the characters, especially Ruth. I have read some of her other books, eg. the first of the Brighton series, but I just didn't click with them.

I heard Richard Osman interviewed early on Radio 2 this morning. His new book is out this coming week and I'm looking forward to it as my daughter ordered it for my birthday back in August. However, he said that this one will be the last of the Thursday Murder Club characters, and book # 5 will be different, but he might go back to the Thursday characters later on.

76-A Time to Remember-Josephine Cox. When Maureen is left some money in a will she wants to share her good luck by meeting up with an old school friend. Was this a wise move? A good tale set in the early 1950's.

77-A Medal for Leroy- Michael Morpurgo. I often find one of his stories in the local book swap kiosk, and I like to read them before I pass them onto my grandchildren. I love the way MM explains a historical event in such an easily understood way for children. This one covers how black soldiers were treated in WW1&2. Very sensitively done.

Book 42
A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson
Loved this.
Liam arrives in Solace, he has been gifted a house by an old lady he hardly remembers.
His marriage is in ruins, he’s left his job, he wants to sell the house as quickly as possible and move on.
But of course, he’s drawn in, by Clara , a child from next door, by Jo from the library, and a bunch of other characters.
We also learn the story of Liam and his benefactor, a sad story, without a happy ending
A bit predictable, but beautifully written. I found it very hard to put down.

40. Darkness Rising, A A Dhand

This is a Short Read, so done in a day, but so enjoyable. Dhand writes gritty thrillers about Bradford, where he grew up, and pulls no punches when he goes into its dark side. I know the city well and am very much looking forward to the forthcoming TV dramatisation of the Harry Virdee novels. A major thread of all four books is the marriage of Virdee, a Sikh detective, and his Muslim wife, and the issues springing from that.

The novella leads into book 1 of the series, Streets of Darkness, the only one I haven’t read, so I’ve got that on my Kindle now. I noted that an incident that takes place in the Mumtaaz restaurant at the end of Darkness Rising is described as being in Akbar’s Cafe at the start of Streets of Darkness, but that’s really only of interest to those of us who love a Bradford curry!

#51 ^the long way to a small angry planet Wayfarers^Becky Chambers.
The first in an unusual sci-fi series set in the far future about the multi species crew of a small space ship which punches holes in space to allow travel between systems (they create black holes). The captain takes a contract to create a tunnel between a warlike people living on a far-flung "angry" planet and the space of the Galactic Council who are trying to negotiate a peace treaty. The journey to the site of the proposed tunnel is very far and during the journey we learn about the different crew members and the diverse member planets of the Galactic Council. I really enjoyed it.

Sara1954

Book 42
A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson
Loved this.
Liam arrives in Solace, he has been gifted a house by an old lady he hardly remembers.
His marriage is in ruins, he’s left his job, he wants to sell the house as quickly as possible and move on.
But of course, he’s drawn in, by Clara , a child from next door, by Jo from the library, and a bunch of other characters.
We also learn the story of Liam and his benefactor, a sad story, without a happy ending
A bit predictable, but beautifully written. I found it very hard to put down.

Hi Sara1954 I loved that book too and have enjoyed other Mary Lawson books.

Me too Sparklefizz, she’s a lovely writer.

Loved A Town Called Solace, a Bookgroup choice and intend to read more by M.Lawson.

#68 Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

This follows the story of the lives of 2 best friends who go through ups and downs during their very different lives.

Frankly I thought it was about 100 pages too long plus it took me a while to get into it, and I put it aside for something better. Eventually I ran out of books to read so restarted it. It's ok, and an easy read.

78-The Unheard-Nicci French-Poppy is a happy 3 yr old until she starts saying strange things and draws a scary picture. Has she witnessed a murder while she was with her father? Tess starts investigating all the men she knows because the police think she's unhinged telling them her fears. Who knows a child better than it's mother? Another great thriller from this husband and wife writing team.

#52 Heads You Win Jeffrey Archer.
As Archer so often writes, this is book about the lives of two men over a long period. This one however is a 'sliding doors' 'other road taken' scenario. Alexander escapes from Leningrad with his mother by hiding in a shipping crate. There are two ships leaving port one going to England and one to the USA. Which one will he take? He flips a coin. The chapters alternate between Sacha who goes to London and Alex who goes to New York. A bit confusing in places but I enjoyed it very much.

79-So Many Children-Anne Baker- a look back to the 1920s of a family living in a slum. Every child tries hard to escape to a better life as soon as they leave school. Beth Hubble becomes a nurse but is worried about the women in her family who are having a baby every year. There is a taboo around talking about contraception but she decides to do something positive to help these exhausted women.
What a long way we've come in 100 years. I realise we have a lot to thank Marie Stopes for.

That sounds an interesting book Diggingdoris. My Mum told me that she bought Marie Stopes' book just before her wedding in 1940, and my Nan found it and gave her a right telling off.