LibraryLover23's 2020 TBR Challenge

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LibraryLover23's 2020 TBR Challenge

1LibraryLover23
Editado: Out 12, 2020, 3:55 pm

2020 TBR Challenge List
1. The Most Beautiful Walk In The World: A Pedestrian In Paris by John Baxter (finished 3/22/20)
2. The Power Of One by Bryce Courtenay (finished 6/11/20)
3. The Madonnas Of Leningrad by Debra Dean (finished 4/26/20)
4. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow (finished 8/2/20)
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (finished 2/2/20)
6. North To Freedom by Anne Holm (finished 1/14/20)
7. Revival by Stephen King (finished 7/16/20)
8. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
9. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (finished 4/2/20)
10. The Daughter Of Time by Josephine Tey (finished 10/3/20)
11. The March Of Folly: From Troy To Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman
12. The Once And Future King by T.H. White (finished 10/11/20)

2LibraryLover23
Dez 28, 2019, 4:06 pm

I'm keeping the same six books that I didn't finish in 2019, along with some easier, shorter books to round out the list. As I did before, I'm not going to do an alternates list, but I am going to do my best to try and finish these twelve. Good luck everyone with your challenges!

3LittleTaiko
Dez 31, 2019, 12:47 pm

Good luck working your way through the list! Adding in the easier books should help out. Where'd You Go, Bernadette was a pretty quick read from what I remember.

4Narilka
Dez 31, 2019, 4:21 pm

Interesting list. Best of luck in 2020.

5Petroglyph
Jan 5, 2020, 8:13 pm

Good idea to include easier reads among the more homework-y ones. Best of luck with this year's challenge!

6Cecrow
Editado: Jan 6, 2020, 9:11 am

I've heard great things about some of your titles that I haven't yet read. Ironically, I was underwhelmed by your other titles that I have, lol.

I'm reading some Tuchman this year as well - cheers!

7LibraryLover23
Jan 20, 2020, 3:13 pm

Thanks, everyone, for the welcome!

>6 Cecrow: I've heard great things about Tuchman but I'm a little intimidated by her as well...

8LibraryLover23
Jan 20, 2020, 3:13 pm

1. North To Freedom by Anne Holm (190 p.)
First book of the year is a young adult novel about David, a young boy who, when given a chance to escape from the concentration camp he's only ever known, takes the opportunity to make his way north to Denmark. At first David is sure it was a prank letting him escape, and that he'll be caught at any minute, but as time goes on he begins to believe he might actually have a chance at freedom. David's background and some of his circumstances are purposefully left vague so, like him, you learn about the world slowly, through his eyes. It's an effective technique, one that allows you to hope David finds the respite and freedom he deserves.

9Cecrow
Editado: Jan 21, 2020, 7:35 am

>8 LibraryLover23:, I've always known it by the title "I Am David". We studied it in 7th grade and my memories are vague as the book's circumstances, but I think I found it a bit frustrating on that score. Funny, it didn't teach me a thing about concentration camps; that was a whole revelation to me in high school that I never recalled hearing about before.

10LibraryLover23
Jan 21, 2020, 6:58 pm

>9 Cecrow: Yes, I can see how the vagueness can be a little frustrating. I wanted more info on Johannes, his friend/mentor in the camps but you never really get that. I also thought the book spent a bit too much time languishing on his interlude in Italy, when he stayed with a family for awhile. I don't know, the more I think about this the more faults I'm finding!

11LibraryLover23
Fev 23, 2020, 3:28 pm

2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (247 p.)
Disillusioned with her provincial marriage, Emma Bovary embarks on a series of affairs and, along the way, makes some disastrous financial decisions. Everything comes to a head when the money comes due and no one is willing to help her (including any of her former partners). I struggled mightily with this one at first, it wasn't until I got through the first third or so that it finally clicked for me, and I found the second half to be a bit better. I'm glad I can check it off my list but this is not a classic I would ever bother reading again.

12LittleTaiko
Fev 23, 2020, 5:14 pm

I'm definitely with you on that one. Once was enough though I was glad to have read it.

13Cecrow
Fev 26, 2020, 8:01 am

It's not a re-read for me either, but even in a translation I was able to appreciate the careful choice of language, and found it interesting as the first "modern novel".

14LibraryLover23
Mar 22, 2020, 7:09 pm

>12 LittleTaiko:, >13 Cecrow: I agree with you both. Glad to have it crossed off the list!

15LibraryLover23
Mar 22, 2020, 7:12 pm

3. The Most Beautiful Walk In The World: A Pedestrian In Paris by John Baxter (298 p.)
A series of Parisian anecdotes as told by Australian writer and expatriate John Baxter. It was okay, the focus leaned pretty heavily on food and Ernest Hemingway, so not quite what I was expecting. Nice to take a trip abroad when I can't really leave the house though.

16LibraryLover23
Abr 3, 2020, 3:29 pm

4. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (330 p.)
I liked this one, can't say I loved it though. I appreciated the writing style, which was mostly epistolary, but (and this is a big but for me) I didn't particularly warm to any of the characters. I felt sort of remote from them, which means I wasn't that invested in their various outcomes. I loved that Antarctica factored in as a setting though, that's high on my list of places that I enjoy reading about.

17Cecrow
Abr 3, 2020, 5:17 pm

>16 LibraryLover23:, Antarctica, eh? So THAT's where she went! lol

18LibraryLover23
Abr 4, 2020, 10:36 am

>17 Cecrow: Ha! Spoiler alert! :)

19LittleTaiko
Abr 5, 2020, 4:48 pm

>16 LibraryLover23: - That one was fun from what I remember. I enjoyed how the story was told quite a bit.

20LibraryLover23
Abr 26, 2020, 3:19 pm

>19 LittleTaiko: I liked the style of it too, particularly the email exchanges between the school parents. Those were hilarious and strange.

21LibraryLover23
Abr 26, 2020, 3:20 pm

5. The Madonnas Of Leningrad by Debra Dean (231 p.)
A woman slowly succumbs to Alzheimer's, although her memory of her youth in Russia and her time spent during the siege of Leningrad remains strong. This one was beautifully written, with lots of facts about the Hermitage Museum and the siege itself that made the story come alive.

22Cecrow
Abr 27, 2020, 8:17 am

Alzheimers plus s story centering on the past is an interesting combination.

23LittleTaiko
Abr 27, 2020, 2:32 pm

That sounds like something I would really enjoy. Have you ever read Symphony for the Dead? If not, I'd highly recommend it. It's about Shostakovich writing his Leningrad symphony during that same time period. It was wonderful.

24LibraryLover23
Maio 5, 2020, 3:57 pm

>23 LittleTaiko: No, I haven't. Thanks for the recommendation!

25LibraryLover23
Jun 11, 2020, 3:02 pm

6. The Power Of One by Bryce Courtenay (518 p.)
A boy's coming-of-age story set in South Africa starting at the cusp of World War II. I admit South Africa is not a place I read about often (and this is told from a white character's perspective), but it still helped enlighten me a bit on a time and place I know little about. It was a loooong book, but what I appreciated most about it was its characterization. Big Hettie, Geel Piet, and of course, Doc, were memorable and fully realized. I'm going to have to watch the movie version now (Morgan Freeman as Geel Piet! Daniel Craig as Botha?!) and then I can put these characters to rest.

26LibraryLover23
Jul 16, 2020, 3:56 pm

7. Revival by Stephen King (405 p.)
Jamie Morton is just six years old when he first meets Reverend Charlie Jacobs. Jacobs manages to cure Jamie's brother of a medical condition before a tragic accident forces Jacobs to move away. When Jamie next meets up with him, he's now a young man strung out on drugs, and Jacobs just might have the cure to his condition as well. However, all of Jacobs' cures tend to come with a price... I fairly flew through this one, there was ample foreshadowing and interesting time jumps that kept the pages moving. King just knows how to tell a good yarn.

27Cecrow
Editado: Jul 17, 2020, 1:49 pm

I think I've read just about everything by King that I ever will, but I agree that his powers don't seem to be waning. Bryce Courtenay I've never tried. I understand the one you read is supposed to be his best, but I think maybe The Persimmon Tree is more interesting to me.

28LibraryLover23
Jul 17, 2020, 4:02 pm

>27 Cecrow: Courtenay wasn't really on my radar until a friend gifted me The Power Of One. I'm not familiar with The Persimmon Tree, but I believe "One" was his first book, so I imagine he only gets better.

29LibraryLover23
Ago 2, 2020, 5:51 pm

8. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow (270 p.)
This one was...interesting. I have no idea how to summarize it. I even went back and reread the book's jacket and it says something to the effect of, "to describe it would be to take away from the joy of reading it," so clearly the publisher had no idea what to say about it either. The gist of the story centers on a family (Mother, Father, Boy, Grandfather, Mother's Younger Brother) who live in NY in the early 20th century. It then goes off on tangents, following anyone who comes into their orbit, including real-life figures, both famous and obscure. So, one chapter might be on Father's Arctic expedition, and the next on Harry Houdini learning how to fly a plane in Europe. And yet, it all works. I was invested in everyone, from "Little Girl," all the way up to J.P. Morgan. It was a unique reading experience, one I don't think I'll soon forget.

30Cecrow
Ago 2, 2020, 9:20 pm

Sounds like a surreal capturing of the period. I'd heard it's good but never a clear description, I guess that explains it.

31LibraryLover23
Ago 5, 2020, 12:40 pm

>30 Cecrow: Surreal is a good way to describe it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would!

32LibraryLover23
Out 3, 2020, 11:34 am

9. The Daughter Of Time by Josephine Tey (206 p.)
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is flat on his back in the hospital after a work injury when he decides to solve the mystery of Richard III to pass the time. Did, Richard, actually kill his two nephews in the Tower? With the help of an American research assistant, Grant hopes to find out.

I thought this one was great. I admit I had a bit of a tough time keeping all of the historical figures straight, but it kept me entertained and, ultimately, enlightened.

33Cecrow
Out 6, 2020, 12:37 pm

I found it interesting as a hypothetical historical study, but I would have been disappointed if I came in search of a thriller.

34LibraryLover23
Out 12, 2020, 3:53 pm

>33 Cecrow: Yes, I can see how that would be disappointing! I think I knew going into it what it was about, thankfully.

35LibraryLover23
Out 12, 2020, 3:54 pm

10. The Once And Future King by T.H. White (639 p.)
Where to begin? I guess first I'll say this was a long, long book. My edition was 639 pages of what I would generously guesstimate was a size 7 font. It took me months to read, in part because I abandoned it for awhile because it was getting on my nerves. But I persevered. I didn't dislike it per se, but I will put it in the donation bag with glee.

Prior to my reading this book, I had read Helen Macdonald's H Is For Hawk, which in addition to being about hawks, is also a biography of White. I knew going into this that my prior reading of "H" would color my impression somewhat, as White was a sadist. (Macdonald touches on how he abused his hawks, for example.) I think I can comfortably say that even without knowing that particular tidbit, I think anybody could flip to just about any page in this book, read a paragraph, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that White was a sadist. One particularly gruesome scene involved the Orkney boys luring a unicorn to them, stabbing it to death, disemboweling it, realizing it was too heavy to carry home, so they decapitated it, realized it was still too heavy, and then kicked the head down the mountain back home. (Was this book originally geared to kids?)

Anyway, that being said, the book itself is split into four parts, following the Arthurian legend. Spoilers Ahead, although I imagine most people are fairly familiar with Arthur's story already.

Book 1: The Sword In The Stone - In which we meet Arthur as a young boy, when he's affectionately known as "Wart." Arthur is being brought up in a foster home and is tutored by the magician, Merlyn, who sends him on many fantastical adventures, usually involving him being turned into an animal. At the end of the book, Arthur needs to find a sword for his foster brother, and ends up pulling out the sword in the stone, which proves his royalty as the future king of England.

Book 2: The Queen Of Air And Darkness - Now king, Arthur has to contend with warring factions who are unhappy with his ascension to the throne. One of these factions, the Orkneys, is led by the evil Morgause, who tricks Arthur into sleeping with her. She bears his son, Mordred, out of wedlock.

Book 3: The Ill-Made Knight - Lancelot is on the scene, and quickly rises to become Arthur's best knight. He also falls in love with Arthur's wife, Guenever. This book goes over Lancelot's many adventures, and was probably my favorite of the four.

Book 4: The Candle In The Wind - Now old, Arthur is on the decline, and his Round Table and the ideals his knights stood for are starting to disintegrate. Mordred is also out for revenge.

I will say, a big bright spot in this book was Merlyn. I read that J.K. Rowling borrowed heavily from this version for Dumbledore, and it shows. Merlyn wears a robe and a hat, has a bird friend in his office, and often says absurd things that are deceptively deep. He's laugh-out-loud funny too. The pity is he's only in the first two books...

So, that's my (very long) review of The Once And Future King. I had a lot to get off my chest about this one it seems.

36Cecrow
Out 28, 2020, 12:36 pm

I understood the first book was child-friendly, the rest not so much. I've only read that first one and it was enough for me.

37LibraryLover23
Dez 21, 2020, 9:42 am

>36 Cecrow: Yeah, it got very dark there in places!

I don't see myself finishing those last two books this year. I'm about a third of the way through the Tuchman book, but I was reading it around the time of the US presidential election and I just couldn't stomach reading about inept leadership during that stressful time. I do, however, have next year's list all polished up and ready to go, so I'll be posting that sometime soon.

38Cecrow
Dez 22, 2020, 6:03 pm

>37 LibraryLover23:, sounds good; glad you're coming back for another round. :)