50 Books Challenge 2023 Part Ten

Happy New Year, all. I have 70 pages of Rory Stewart to go and won't manage that tonight, so tomorrow I can pretend I read a whole book in a day.

73 Another Year of Wonder by Clemency Burton Hill

Essentially reviewed upthread. Some wonderful discoveries and my husband bought me tickets to see Catrin Finch for Christmas so it has definitely served its purpose!

74 Fair Play by Tove Jansson

A series of vignettes in the relationship between Jonna and Mari, an artistic couple who, like Jansson and her partner, live in separate apartments on a Finnish island. This was a lovely book to end the year on, full of wisdom about life, love and living (sort of) with each other. And of course, as it is Jansson, beautifully and deceptively simply written.

That's it, didn't quite make it to 75 but close enough! Happy New Year to all you 50 bookers. It's been a pleasure to share my reading year with you, as always.

Happy New Year to all! It’s been a fantastic year of books made even more interesting by trying things suggested on here. Thank you so much

Been out bothering monks at ruined abbeys again today. Not a patch on my Cuddy, but still……in’t history brilliant!

Tomorrow x3 hmmmmm, verdict in 2024….

OK, my last book of 2023! Happy New Year everyone, and thanks so much for these threads. They are a highlight of my year. I'm going to post my final list on the round up thread.

77. Penance, Eliza Clark 4/5 A gripping read. The element of satire wasn’t as strong as I had expected based on the reviews, but the depiction of relationships between secondary school-aged girls (their vulnerability, their cruelty to one another) was very convincing.

Happy New Year to you all.
Heading into 2024 half way through Prophet Song

Happy New Year Chessie and to all the 50-Bookers! 🎊 Thank you for all the book chat and recommendations during the year and to Southeastdweller for keeping us on track. Here's to 2024 🎉

Happy New Year all and thanks to Southeastdweller for hosting all the threads. See you on the other side!

It looks as is my last book of the year is going to be #43: Went to London, Took the Dog, by Nina Stibbe. Funny, gossipy, and generally fairly discreet, with lots of names redacted at certain points, with the notable exception of Lionel Shriver, who presumably is not only 'contrary' but also a total pain in the arse?!

Thank you Southeast for being a wonderful host and thank you all for your thoughts, recommendations, hilarity and for absolutely wrecking my attempts to pare down my TBR list. Looking forward to spending 2024 with the 50 bookers, and hopefully actually making 50 again.

Happy New Year, one and all!

I have just finished An Immense World by Ed Yong which was a fascinating meander through the different ways in which animals sense and interact with the world. That's it for the reading year, as I need to tidy up and make a pavlova before my guests arrive. Thanks to all of you lovely book friends, and may 2024 be filled with reading loveliness for you all.

That sounds interesting, @RazorstormUnicorn. I am a saver by nature and would like to be able to enjoy the money I'm lucky enough to earn more than I currently do. Books are my only real vice!

I finished Complicity by Iain Banks last night which brings my total to 103 which is far higher than any previous year. Partly due to ill health early last year but mainly thanks to joining this thread (and starting to read via the Kindle app). I’ve read and enjoyed so many recommendations that would have passed me by.

I’ve made a start on The Chrysalids which should be my first book of 2024 but I’m going to spend January finishing all the books I’ve started in the last couple of months but not got round to finishing.

See you all on a shiny new 2024 thread and have a fabulous New Year.

A huge thank you to Southeast for hosting the threads.

I'll be hunkering down with loud music to mask the fireworks for the dog tonight so I won't get any more books in.

Just bringing this info across from the roundup thread.

My stats are a bit rough and ready this year but I've enjoyed using the graphs on Storygraph.

From 253 books

29% non-fiction
No classics this year
20% male authors
23% BAME.
I managed one whole book in French (a translation of Harry Potter so I'm not sure it counts).

Only 2 print books this year and 4 ebooks, the rest audio. I've had to start wearing glasses this year and it's definitely put me off trying to actually read as I get headaches and feel tired very quickly.

I've read a lot of self help type books, mostly around health/diet and decluttering/organising. I'm exiting the year equally as round and messy as I started it.

If my arm were twisted to pick my top 3 of the year they would be

Prophet Song - Paul Lynch
Trespasses - Louise Kennedy
Shy - Max Porter

Looking forward to seeing you all in the new year for the madness that is the January thread.

66. Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

Basic idea is good, don't save too much money for your retirement as 80 year olds don't spend much. Try and have experiences which good health enriches when younger.

However I think Bill is very wealthy and over saving is not a problem a lot of people will have. So it's helpfulness is limited.

He is also pretty harsh about quality of life and what those in later years can achieve.

It was a good read for my DH though. He is natural saver and I have had a hard time convincing him we can afford some slightly nicer and/or longer holidays. After reading this, his thought process has shifted. So that's a win for me!

I'm going to spend this afternoon on the sofa with a cup of tea and my current audiobook Proust and the Squid in preparation for going out.

Wishing a peaceful, book-filled 2024 to you all & see you on the other side of the 50-book January madness.

@nowanearlyNicemum - thanks I’ve bought them both.

34The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I picked this up a few years ago in paper form and DNF’d quickly hating everyone. However, came back to it in audio format as it was a book club pick and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Glitz,glamour and froth it was a very enjoyable Christmas listen. I still disliked most characters but it was pretty fabulous.

Offline now til tomo, thanks everyone for another great year. I’ll look forward to hanging out with you all and trying to reach 50 for 2024 x

Skidding in with book no. 44 which seems to be my sweet spot for the number of books read in a year (2018, 2019 and 2023!). Thanks @BestIsWest for your review of Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan with which I wholeheartedly concur.

I received one book for Christmas which was Leila Slimani's Le Pays des Autres which has been on my radar but not my wishlist so that was a lovely surprise gift from my SIL.

Quick heads up to say that both Kala and The Worst Journey in the World are 99p on kindle today.

Congratulations @LessObviousName! I have fond memories of reading (very, very easy) books on my kindle under a sleeping newborn.

I finished my last book of the year - a re-read of The Children's Book by AS Byatt and I'm so glad I returned to this. I must have read it 15 years ago at least but loved it as much this time. It's a sprawling novel, following Edwardian children's writer Olive Wellwood and her family, and various artists, craftsmen, Fabians and political radicals who drift in and out of their lives. We find out gradually about the tangled romantic lives and infidelities of the adults, which in turn determine the lives and choices of their children, while the horrors of WW1 loom in the future. It's full of fairytales, doubles and repeated motifs.

It's imperfect - some of the reviews complain about her heavy historic exposition, but I didn't mind that, knowing little about the period. With such a huge cast of characters some were forgotten about, and there were definitely inconsistencies (I counted a pregnancy that lasted from 1907 - 1909).

But I just found it glorious, beautiful, intricate storytelling from start to finish.

A few more finished, probably my lot for 2023 (only 4 hours until midnight here, and DP will probably expect me to watch a movie or talk to him and not be an antisocial sod).

62 Born for This: how to find the work you were meant to do - Chris Guillebeau
I’m not sure this was very good, as I’m none the wiser what I should be doing when my current job ends in June!

63 How to Overcome Trauma and Find Yourself Again - Jessamy Hibberd
I wouldn’t necessarily define myself as having suffered trauma, but a lot has gone on in the past few years, and this was an inspiring guide from a clinical psychologist on looking after yourself and taking charge of your own story.

64 Remainders of the Day - Shaun Bythell
Took me a while to get through this third volume of the bookseller’s diaries - still gently amusing, but not exactly new material.

Can’t sleep so I’ve been going through my books read this year - 63 of which 25 have been fiction and 38 non fiction. A bit of a change for me - I can’t believe I’ve read so little fiction.
Two to finish off the year:

Hatton Garden - Rachel Lichtenstein Recommended on this thread (Welshwabbit I think). Very much enjoyed this history of the area around Hatton Garden. I know the area slightly because I used to be sent on courses about twice a year to Long Lane just by Smithfield Market or to Holborn and used to go wandering during lunch breaks.

The Blair Years - Alastair Campbell
One for political nerds only I think. It’s taken me about two months on and off. The original spin doctor’s diaries covering the years from the death of John Smith until he left his post as head of No 10 press in 2005.
I was riveted - so many important events, New Labour, the 97 election, Diana’s death, The Good Friday Agreement, 9/11, the Iraq War etc. and enjoyed his analysis of some of the personalities involved.

Now for something frothy to start 2024. But what?

Way behind on my reviews so will try to be brief:

82. Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr

Five storylines with five protagonists all interlinked around a historical mythical tale. Two protagonists in ancient Constantinople, two in modern US and one in the future. I didn’t dislike the narrators or their storylines but it didn’t grip me or do much for me. Pity as I really liked All the Light we cannot see

83. Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie challenge book which I can’t recall reading before. Miss Marple in her element on holiday in Devon solving a historical murder. Enjoyed.

84. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Probably the only person on the thread who has not read this and did not know it was about an unsuccessful wedding night. Beautifully done.

85. One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night - Chris Brookmyre

A book of two halves for me. I found the first half which set the scene whilst old schoolmates gathered for a school reunion quite slow but became more gripped as events deteriorated (trying to avoid spoilers). Not as good as I hoped it would be but had its moments.

86. Prudence - Jilly Cooper

A blast from the past which has aged better than some of her other books. Prudence is thrilled to be invited to stay with boyfriend, Pendle’s, family for a long weekend as she thinks it means he is serious but sadly he is not. Pendle’s family are fun but dysfunctional. Entertaining.

87. Family Album - Penelope Lively

Alison’s raison d’etre is to be a mother and have a family and a family home. As the six children look back at their childhoods, it becomes apparent that it was not all happy families. My first book by this author and I will read more.

Unlikely to make it to 88 as travelling tomorrow…..

My reading has ground to a halt over the past week in a blur of lovely family time and relentless demands for me to be on parenting duty. Bookish highlight of Christmas was DS being excited about the book I gave him and then actually choosing to read it - hurray! I received a couple of sports autobiographies and, more excitingly, lots of vouchers to spend on books.
Not expecting to finish any other books now, currently reading The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin and really enjoying it so expect that to be the first book I finish in 2024. Total for this year is 62, very much in line with the last two years.
December reads...
58. Dálvi by Laura Galloway
Memoir type non-fiction. The author moves to live in northern Scandinavia and shares her experiences of living with Sami reindeer herders while also reflecting on her incredibly challenging family background. There was much to like in this but it was undoubtedly elevated because I read it alongside...
59. Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius
Also set in Sapmi, this Swedish novel opens with a young girl from a Sami reindeer herding family witnessing the killing of her own reindeer. Elsa refuses to name the culprit. Years later, as a young woman, Elsa becomes caught up in the tensions between the Sami and other communities and events from the past continue to have consequences. I expected this to be a mystery, perhaps even a thriller, but it was a slow burn and, while I was completely invested in finding out where the plot was going, it wasn't the whodunnit I had perhaps expected.
The two books very much overlapped in the geographical location and setting among the Sami community which I found utterly fascinating, even if neither book was a bold on it's own.
60. Land of Snow and Ashes by Petra Rautiainen
A mystery wrapped book I picked up in Topping & Company in Edinburgh, this third book in my wee reading season with connections to the Sami people is a Finnish historical novel set in the 1940s. During post-war reconstruction in a remote community, an outsider arrives to to work as a journalist/photographer but also strive to track down what happened to her husband during WWII. We switch time periods between her story and the diary of a man serving in a camp in the same area during the war. This was an interesting book, quite unlike anything I've read before, but also really hard in places. Life in the camps was clearly brutal from the outset, but very sinister undercurrents are also gradually revealed. Found the translator's note at the end really made me think about how translation works.
61. The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
Previously reviewed by others. Short, light seasonal read.
62. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Annual revisit of the Audible version narrated by Hugh Grant. I like it a lot, always appreciate listening during the week before Christmas.

Hope to see you back here in 2024 :)

Thanks @MaudOfTheMarches I've just ordered Soldier Sailor; it's 99p on kindle ATM.

Vital Organs by Suzie Edge

I really enjoyed Edge’s first book last year, Mortal Monarchs, covering the deaths of all the kings and queens of England/UK. This new book looks at different body parts. Part of each chapter talks about what that body part does/why it’s important, but the rest of the chapter is a famous (or infamous) example of that body part. Example chapters are Jeremy Bentham’s Head, Fanny Burney’s Breasts, Napoleon’s Penis and Hitler’s Testicle. Great fun.

Mrs Sidhu’s Dead and Scone by Suk Pannu

Although this is his first book, it reads like there’s earlier ones. This is apparently because it’s derived from a radio show, so if you’re familiar with that then you might find this book slightly less confusing.

Anyway, Mrs Sidhu is a caterer who for unexplained reasons helps the police with solving their cases. She becomes embroiled with a murder case linked to a local retreat. This fits into the cosy crime genre but I struggled to get into it having never heard of the radio show.

46 Trustee from the toolroom by Nevil Shute
An ordinary surburban man goes on an adventure in the Pacific to help his niece get her inheritance.

This was such a delight. Heard about it on the blacklisted podcast recommended by Richard Osman and it is such a lovely gentle read over the Christmas period. There is a lot of engineering stuff that went over my head but I just loved the story about everyone helping out this nice man.