VIRTUAL Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020 discussion
Stormness Head (60 books)
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Karen wants to go to the world of Narnia. Completed 13/11/2020!
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Ironically, the Chro..."
My secret plan to reel in new challengers is working!
What a wonderful picture. Your evil plan really did work on me :)
1. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
3 stars. I really enjoyed the Night Circus and while I enjoyed this book I did not like it as much. I found it a little confusing. The world building was good but there was not a huge amount of plot and I found the characters quite passive and they didn't really develop, which is a problem in a nearly 500 page book.
Borrowed from the library.
2. Girl by Edna O'Brien.
3 stars. An author I had heard a lot about, writing about Boko Haram and the stolen girls; I thought this book was going to blow me away, and I am sad to say it did not. I am struggling to say why. On the plus side the prose was never over the top (which would be disastrous for a book on such a serious topic as this), but it was maybe too sparse. But I am definitely glad I read it.
Borrowed from the library.
3. In Paris With You by Clémentine Beauvais.
4 stars. To the best of my knowledge, I had never read a verse novel before this book, and I was really intrigued. It surpassed all my expectations and was very emotional.
Borrowed from the library.
4. Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland.
4 stars. I loved this book. I love big, ambitious books and this one sought to trace the influence of Christianity on the development of the Western "mind". Interesting.
Borrowed from the library.
5. Acqua Alta by Donna Leon.
4 stars. Book 5 of her Commissario Brunetti series. I am terrible at continuing to read series I start but I have enjoyed this series so far and am so far behind (she has published 28 books so far) that I want to try to read one of these a month. This one presents a darker Venice with flooding and mafia violence.
Borrowed from the library.
JANUARYTotal books read in January: 17
Total qualifying for this challenge: 5
Happy with that. 55 to go!
6. The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells.
3 stars. The second in the Sabina Kane series. I was on a Paranormal kick late last year and read the first in this series. It is interesting but not particularly original. Interested to see where it is going.
Borrowed from the library.
7. The Burning by Laura Bates.
4 stars. A novel about bullying and revenge porn by one of Britain's leading feminist writers. I particularly liked the historical context as Laura Bates introduces Maggie, an executed seventeenth century witch, whom Anna (the lead character) is writing a history project on. It is powerful stuff, but some of the characters are not developed enough and the ending is perhaps too optimistic. Also, has nobody heard of the police?
Borrowed from the library.
8. The Death of Faith by Donna Leon.
2 stars. I cannot believe I am giving a Donna Leon book 2 stars! There were things I loved - her descriptions of life in Venice, Brunetti's views about exercise (I agree) - but what knocked the stars off for me was the atheistic rant about the Catholic Church. I am not a Catholic and I am certainly not going to deny that the Catholic Church has much to apologise for, but this is a horrendously unbalanced portrayal and the author is so busy attacking the Church that she does not wrap up all the storylines either. We never find out exactly what happened to all the people who passed away in the care home. Let's hope the next volume is a return to form.
PS Has anyone heard of a care home run by an atheist charity? Just saying.
9. Aimez-vous Brahms by Françoise Sagan.
.4 stars. This has aged quite badly in some respects. The 39 year old main character feels so old! She is at a critical point in her life where she is in a relationship with Roger, who cheats on her, and feels dissatisfied with her life and so for several weeks she accepts the love of 25 year-old Simon, who loves her. As ever with Sagan, this is beautifully written. I always struggle to identify with her characters but still love her work. This is a sad book. Someone was always going to get hurt.
Both books were borrowed from the library.
10. After Ever Happy by Anna Todd.
3 stars. This entire series has been too long and repetitive. Book two was bad and book three was terrible. This was better. The heroine randomly decides to move to another city without telling Hardin for the SECOND time in the series and Hardin burns his mother's house down but stops randomly hitting people and makes lots of money selling their story. Not the most coherent plot, but it could have been worse.
Borrowed from the library.
11. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus.
4 stars. I loved this. I have had it out from the library since around Christmas time waiting for the library to get the sequel and I was not the most patient person waiting for it. I loved this book so much. I loved how the author set up these stereotypes and then undermined them. My favourite character was Nate but Addy had the best character arc. And most importantly, I guessed the end which I hardly ever do.
12. One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus.
4 stars. Not quite as good as its predecessor. I was not quite as engaged with the characters although I did grow to appreciate them more towards the end of the book, especially Knox. I totally think the ending was set up for another sequel if the author wants to write it. But it was still a good book. It is a solid 4 stars whereas One of Us is Lying almost made 5 stars. And it was nice to see the characters from the first book again.
Both books borrowed from the library.
FEBRUARYTotal books read in February: 24
Total qualifying for this challenge: 7
Happy with that. 48 to go.
Karen wrote: "11. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. 4 stars. I loved this. I have had it out from the library since around Christmas time waiting fo..."
I loved the first novel, but was indecisive on the sequel, but now I really want to check it out!
13. Passing by Nella Larsen.
4 stars. A thoughtful novella about a subject I had never really read about before. Two childhood friends reconnect; but tensions are highlighted because one is trying to "pass" in White society, while one has stayed with her Black identity. Made me think.
Borrowed from my boyfriend.
14. Girl Up by Laura Bates.
4 stars. This would have been incredibly useful to me as a teenager. I was not part of the target audience but it was still interesting to read.
Borrowed from the library.
15. Those Without Shadows by Françoise Sagan.
although the library had taken the jacket off of the copy I read.4 stars. More of Sagan's trademark characters. Purposeless, bored, seeking meaning through love affairs with other characters. Again, much as I wrote for a previous entry, I rarely identify with her characters but I find her writing compelling. I preferred Aimez-vous Brahms though.
Borrowed from the library.
16. A Brooklands Ghost by James McCarraher.
3 stars. A very short account of the writer's encounter with a mysterious figure - possibly the ghost of motor-racing hero Percy Lambert - in the loading bay of Marks and Spencer on the Brooklands site.
Borrowed from my boyfriend.
17. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffith.
.5 stars. I love Elly Griffith. I highly recommend her books to anyone who likes mystery novels that focus on the characters as much as the plot. Some of her recent books have not been quite up to par but this was wonderful. Freakily the book mentioned Tuesday Market Place in Kings Lynn and I walked through there on Friday! I had never actually been to Kings Lynn before and I will definitely be going back.
Borrowed from the library.
18. Age of Consent by Marti Leimbach.
3 stars. This was a good book but not as good as I was hoping for.
Borrowed from the library.
19. The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri.
4 stars. I read this before 18 but forgot to update it. This is the second book in his Inspector Montalbano series and it is a huge improvement on the first in the series. The plot was fascinating, the Sicilian setting was well described, and I liked the linkage between the storylines set in the past and present.
Borrowed from the library.
20. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery.
4 stars. I really enjoyed this. I cannot believe I never read this series as a child.
Borrowed from the library.
21. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner.
5 stars. I picked this up at the start of the month and was not overly impressed. I then tried again two days ago. I was halfway through before I realised that I was totally immersed in the world Kushner had created and that this book was wonderful. A great Bildungsroman set in Nevada, New York and Italy, mainly in the 1970s but with some flashbacks. A woman with a passivity and lack of confidence in her relationships with others but with the spirit to ride fast motorbikes and make her own art, becomes stronger, in a world where everyone underestimates her. Highly recommended.
Borrowed from the library.
MARCHTotal books read in March: 21
Total qualifying for this challenge: 9
Happy with that. 39 to go.
22. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White.
3 stars. Interesting premise. The real Guinevere has died in a convent and in a world in which magic is outlawed in Camelot, Arthur and Merlin have arranged for a magic-wielding replacement to take her place. I wanted to like this more than I did. It was so slow. However, it is one of those books where you read 200 mediocre pages to get 100 good ones. I will be reading the sequel when it is published. And my library gets a copy.
Borrowed from the library.
23. The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Penman.
5 stars. Another phenomenal novel by the best writer of historical fiction out there. Outremer. Balian. Baldwin "the leper king". Feeling so emotional now.
Borrowed from the library.
24. The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance by Catherine Fletcher.
4 stars. This was such an interesting book. It is a good, popular history of the sixteenth century in Italy not one that strives to add new interpretations. Its downside is it tilts at a myth of the Renaissance that scholars have long exploded although perhaps one that has not fully filtered through to people that don't read many works of history. On the other hand it covers a wide variety of topics including looking at women of the era. I think I may buy this when it comes out in paperback.
Borrowed from the library.
25. A Noble Radiance: by Donna Leon.
4 stars. After the awfulness of the sixth book Donna Leon comes back with perhaps the best in the series so far.
Borrowed from the library.
26. You Against Me by Jenny Downham.
3 stars. Okay, call me disappointed. I really wanted to like this book, but I just did not click with it. I felt no emotional involvement with the characters which was not helped by the fact that pretty much everybody behaves oddly. I think this may be my most disappointing read of 2020 so far.
Borrowed from the library.
APRILTotal books read in April: 20
Total qualifying for this challenge: 5
Happy with that. 34 to go.
27. Claudine at School by Colette.
4 stars. Was plagued by feelings that I might have read this book before. I don't think so, but... I loved bits of the novel (the exam) and while I do not much like the narrator I do want to spend more time finding out what happened next, so hope to get the next book when the library reopens.
Borrowed from the library.
28. Ensnared by Raven Dark.
4 stars. I am going through a stage of liking darker romance themes.. Mafia romances, bully romances, dubcon...this fit the bill. Eagerly awaiting the publication date for book two as it ends on a cliffhanger.
I borrowed this from the Kindle Lending Library last September. Finally read it.
29. The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry.
4 stars. I love the idea behind this book. Time travel. Native American legends. Romance. I thought it might make 5 stars... but I think the end could have been handled better. There is too much info dumping. And it is too ambiguous.
Borrowed from the library.
30. Fight Like A Girl by Clementine Ford.
4 stars. Kick arse feminist book. Maybe a little too kick arse for me. A good read though.
Borrowed from the library.
31. Fatal Remedies: (Brunetti 8) by Donna Leon.
3 stars. This one was kind of disjointed. The actions of his wife Paola appeared inconsistent and a bit uncaring towards her family. She sometimes acts like she can get away with anything because of her father, and it happens again here. And she does not explain her motives to anyone other than the police, which begs the question, why bother protesting in the first place? I was less interested in the actual murder than I normally am. I expect more from Donna Leon but I have heard the next book is better so will try again.
Borrowed from the library via Overdrive.
32. Our Lady of the Nations: Apparitions of Mary in 20th-Century Catholic Europe by Chris Maunder.
3 stars. Starting with the apparition at Fatima, this book looks at various recorded apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Europe (primarily Western Europe) in the twentieth century, looking at consistencies and differences in the messages and the messenger and the reasons why some were accepted by the Church, some were not, and some are in a half-way stage between the two. I found this study interesting as it is not a topic I know much about. But (perhaps inevitably) the various apparitions seemed to run together in my mind.
Borrowed from the library.
MAYTotal books read in May: 33
Total qualifying for this challenge: 6
Happy with that. 28 to go.
33. The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel.
5 stars. So sad to see this series end. I love the prose, the foreshadowing and doom-laden atmosphere but also the humour and the dialogue. Slightly let down by a fairly pointless storyline involving his fictional illegitimate daughter as this could have been cut. But I loved this book. I can't believe Henry VIII had Cromwell working for him even when he was in the Tower. And I admired the way Mantel hinted at Cromwell's bungled execution but without being explicit.
Borrowed from the library.
34.The Godfather by Mario Puzo.
5 stars. I totally count this as a Borgia novel. If Cesare was the youngest son instead of the oldest, if he wasn't seriously ill when his father died and if he had been able to keep power afterwards and if he happened to live in a New York mafia family in the twentieth century. I have never seen the film and have been so worried about reading this book (I was not a huge fan of Puzo's actual book about the Borgia family). I loved it.
Borrowed from the library.
35. Atonement by Ian McEwan.
2 stars. I do not get on with Ian McEwan's writing. I thought if there was any book of his that I would like, it would be this one. But no. I absolutely hated the first section, laying out the background to Briony's "crime". The details of Robbie and the retreat to Dunkirk and Briony working in the hospital were better. But the twist annoyed me, and there are two people out there who need to atone far more than Briony. Unlike "On Chesil Beach" I can see why people like this book though.
Borrowed from my boyfriend.
36. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden.
4 stars. Beautiful and creepy cover. Creepy book. I really enjoyed this children's book.
Borrowed from the library via OverDrive.
JUNETotal books read in June: 22
Total qualifying for this challenge: 4
Happy with that. 24 to go.
37. Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis.
5 stars. Absolutely loved this book. Tells the story of British women's struggles to get child custody rights, the vote, play sport etc focusing on a key individual in each chapter. It is so nice to read a feminist work that employs common sense and doesn't "cancel" people for not having the same "woke" opinions as nowadays and puts them instead in their historical context. Women have enough troubles without turning on our own side. Loved this. It blew me away. I have already pre-ordered the paperback.
Borrowed from the library.
38. The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri.
4 stars. I am so glad I tried again with Andrea Camilleri. I was not blown away by the Shape of Water but I loved the second book and also this one. Hope to read more when the library reopens its crime section. Inspector Montalbano comes across as even grumpier and crabbier in this book... but particularly at the end his compassionate nature peeks through.
Borrowed from the library.
JULYTotal books read in June: 21
Total qualifying for this challenge: 2
Need to read a few more this month. 22 to go. I hit my 60 book target on the Mount TBR challenge and have just started climbing El Toro so I need to focus on this challenge this month if I can.
39. Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay.
4 stars. A golden-era murder mystery. I had read one book by her and enjoyed it and had been waiting to get this one when the library re-opened the crime section. It was worth the wait. Slightly unusual in format; we spend most of the time following someone we know did not commit the crime but who did not inform the police of everything he knew. Amusing in places.
Borrowed from the library.
40. Lover Eternal by JR Ward.
4 stars. When I started this series I was in my 20s I loved it and was addicted to it. This was my favourite in the series at the time. But...I just stopped picking the books up. I never actually meant to stop reading them. This is the second time I have tried to re-read the series and my previous attempt stopped after this book. Now, I want to continue, library permitting.
Borrowed from the library.
41. Chosen by Kiersten White.
3 stars. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This spin-off was good but nowhere near as good as Kiersten White's Conquerors Saga or the original show.
Borrowed from the library.
VIRTUAL Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2020
Books mentioned in this topic
Bound to the Battle God (other topics)Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold (other topics)
Unbelievable (other topics)
Mystery in White (other topics)
A Christmas Grace (other topics)
More...
Ironically, the Chronicles of Narnia won't count towards this challenge as I own them :)