That's all folks!

The library challenge is complete. It ended with two classics books: Dark Tales by Shirley Jakson, and Summer by Edith Wharton. The first was yet another collection of short stories and was quite good. The second a novel I never really got into. And so I have read 150 books, one from every bookcase in the library. Farewell.

Forgotten books

The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler is very much in keeping with the Library Challenge, containing a long list of books to read (and I have already read one of them since I finished it, not included here). I like the idea of The Book of Forgotten Authors, and I had never heard of 96 of the 99, and I think only read a book by one. However, the date range of the forgotten authors was very narrow. Almost all of them were active in the first half of the 20th century. Barely a book from the 19th century was mentioned, and nothing before that. There must be loads of Victorian authors whose works are perfectly readable to the modern reader, the same applies to most of the 18th century too. It seems to be the books mentioned would still be recalled coming out by people alive today, or at least owed by them or their families when they were growing up. So the title is a bit of a misnomer. What's more nearly every book mentioned is available on Open Library for free, there's no need to go hunting for a physical book.  6/10

 

 

Fiction is finished!

The final general A-Z fiction work was The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer, a historical time travel fable when the protagonist escapes the plague in a series of six days set 99 years apart living in the future, gradually moving forward in time. This time sequence is fairly arbitrary and I imagine has been picked to coincide with key historical events, it's a literary detail that is unexplained. In each era there were great changes in technology but not in human nature, and the hero is left wondering if not the fate of mankind was ruined by the "improvements" he had seen. Bearing in mind that every generation thinks the next one is terrible then he has a point - if taken to its natural conclusion! Enjoyed it though, 7/10.

Just a few non-fiction books left and I finish on the classics shelf at the very centre of the library.

Two More

The Golden Age by Joan London was a love story between two teenagers suffering from polio in Perth, Australia just after the war. It's in the Romeo and Juliet mould of love between "unsuitable" individuals, in this case as one of the families are recent immigrants. I didn't think much of it. 4/10

You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik promised to be like The Secret History. There are similarities, being set in a school, and set largely in tutorials discussing literature. There's a lot less death and not as much secrecy. The main event is the relationship between pupils and teachers, one relationship in particular. It's supposed to be based upon the author's experience as a teacher, and there was a lot of controversy about the book. I enjoyed it as I read, there were some great young characters in it. It's not as highbrow as The Secret History, and much less strongly plotted, but still enjoyable. 9/10

The Vegetarian

The Vegetarian by Han Kang won awards and you can sort of see why. It's about a woman who suddenly becomes vegetarian and is ostracised by her conservative husband and family. There it begins to get silly as she is eventually institutionalised and refuses to eat altogether, believing she is a plant. The people around her don't help and she is left to basically rot and die by the people who supposedly love her. 5/10

Eleanor Oliphant Is Pretty Good

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a great book about a woman who has a troubled past and suffers probably from Aspergers. It's funny in places and touching in others. Effectively it's a coming of age story in an older person, who was abused as a child and is lost and confused in the adult world at the start of the book. Slowly she begins to discover aspects of life that she has neglected or been unaware of before. I don't like the title I must admit though, but otherwise, it's good. 9/10

The Western Wind

The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey is a historical novel set in the middle ages. It is not written sequentially so jumps around timewise, although it is entirely written from one viewpoint. Historical novels seem to me often an excuse to show off how much the author knows about the period, with the story more of an aside. This book definitely does have more literary aspirations, and the characterisation is not bad but, in truth, not a lot really happens and it just goes round and round. 6/10.

Booker Blues

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson went over me. It was a very difficult book to read and follow. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't understand the plot at all. There weren't many characters but I found the different timelines and perspectives very confusing. Hats off to anyone who got anything out of this book. Typical Booker book lol. 1/10

Contender for my book of the year

At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison was an excellent novel. It's a book that is stronger of characterisation than plot and there are some tremendous characters ranging from young to old, male to female, which is quite a feat. Pervading it all is a sadness at the loss of traditional ways and our disconnection with Nature. If you like Hardy's The Woodlanders then you'd like this.

900 page epic

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman is by far the longest book yet on the library challenge weighing in at 900 pages, and this is only the prequel, lol. I didn't enjoy it that much, I have to admit. It had a massive cast list, I didn't know who I was reading about half the time, although there was a list of characters at the back but a lot of them had very similar Russian names and it was quite strangely ordered. Sections of it were good, if you like War and Peace you'll probably like this. I prefer books with a small cast list. 6/10

A guest post from GoodReads

The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first book was excellent, this concludes the story. It's essentially in three parts: finding a new home, the initial writing and success of The Salt Path, and then a second walk and more on a new walk and Moth's illness.

Hard to imagine what will come next, other than a long hiatus before the next update, or embarking on a new writing project altogether.

An amazing rags to (relative) riches story anyway!

View all my reviews

Bitter Orange

 Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller is quite an original book. It's a historical novel set in the 60s centred upon a group of "lost" people in a country house engaged in various restoration projects. All of them have issues in their pasts and are struggling in different ways to deal with them. They are flung together and strange things start to happen. It's not exactly a page-turner but because it doesn't neatly fit into an established format or genre you really have no idea what's going to happen. 7/10

 

London Lies Beneath

London Lies Beneath by Stella Duffy is a historical novel based loosely on an actual event in London just before WW1. It centres on a shipping accident which befell a group of scouts. It's written from the perspective of three boys who are friends, and their six parents. The book came to life in the last few chapters, finally justifying the long character list. 7/10.

 

 

Fiction Returns

Three Years by Anton Chekhov is a short novel about human relationships. Basically a rich guy marries a pretty girl, she does not love him, but it gives her an exit route from her parental home so she takes it. He knows she doesn't love him, but they persevere with the marriage and eventually they are a happy couple. Not really my thing. 4/10

 

 

Upstairs completed

The True Herod by Geza Vermes is my last book from the "upstairs" part of Dorking library, the far part of the books area up the steps which is exclusively non-fiction. The more popular lower part near the entrance I am roughly half way through, so a lot of fiction books have to be read over the next few months. The True Herod was my last book from the upper regions, and also Geza Vermes's, as it was published posthumously. I'm sure most would agree it's not his best book, and not on the scholarly level of his works on the bible and Dead Sea Scrolls. This is fairly short and packed with a lot of pictures. I am not sure I really got much out of it other than it's premise that Herod was not the villain portrayed in our nativity plays. 4/10

Mail Obsession

Mail Obsession: A journey around Britain by postcode was fairly geeky book by Mark Mason. He comes up with a fascinating fact from each postcode area, most of which he travels to. But the truth is most of the places he saw through a car window and might as well stayed at home and used Wikipedia. The visits he did make to places like Shetland and Watford Junction I enjoyed best, where he actually got to talk to real people (as opposed to fellow nerds like himself). 6/10

 

 

Meandering

I enjoy books about long solitary walks (or paddles in this case) but Meander seemed to be about everything but the walk. Some chapters barely contained a sentence about the actual journey. Instead, we are regaled with incessant Turkish history which is not what I signed up for. The book is as meandering as the eponymous river. 3/10

 

 

Bettany Hughes 😋

I have seen Bettany Hughes on TV before so decided to read one of her early books Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore that presumably helped make her name. Overall I was not impressed. For starters, I have never read Homer and a lot of the book seemed to be about his works in the absence of much actual evidence on the ground about the actual Helen. I found the book a bit random and speculative, and very few passages grabbed my attention. I like history of an actual period and archaeology books but this was neither being about the history of a fairly ethereal person who has become the foundation of legends and folklore. 4/10. Finding the real Helen from the available sources is beyond anyone.
 

I'll stick to watching Bettany on TV.

A return to Society with Woodsman

I missed out a bookcase in Society so have gone back and read a book from it, just in time for the reopening of the library after the long lockdown. Woodsman by Ben Law is a very idealistic book, You could say he needs to get out more, but he lives outside anyway so maybe it wouldn't help! Ben basically has devoted his life and career to wood and the countryside, and his vision of the future sees us in some sort of dystopian world where coppicing is king and growing trees for your grandchildren is de rigueur. I doubt his vision will be realised but I appreciate the sentiment and admire his life in the woods. 6/10

 

 

Guest review of another library book

In Pursuit of Butterflies: A Fifty-Year Affair by Matthew Oates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very inspirational book about his love of butterflies from the age of 10, intertwined with a small about of autobiographical material (enough to feel you slightly know Matthew anyway). Slightly nerdy, but as a fellow obsessive I can relate to that.

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