50 Books challenge - 2024 roundup

Two big stand-outs for me that I urge you to read:
Miss Beeton's Beetle - Rachel Joyce
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
Both delightful and uplifting.

Looking at my list, I'm slightly surprised at how many of my favourites were recent publications. Whatever the woes of the publishing industry, there is good new stuff coming out all the time.

I'll list my bolds so far - I'm still hopeful of another couple of bolds before the year is over, and will do a top-up post if that happens.

I read a lot of books I enjoyed at the time, including plenty genre fiction - a shout out to the Maeve Kerrigan books by Jane Casey and the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman - but they all blur into each other a bit. I suppose the books below are bolds because they didn't blend into the masses.

In fiction, I had a lot of fun with Eva Ibbotson this year, with my favourites being The Secret Countess and Madensky Square. I was also moved by Soldier Sailor, by Claire Kilroy. I also had a good time with The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley and Small Bomb at Dimperley, by Lissa Evans.

In non-fiction, I loved The Golden Mole, by Katherine Rundell, and a series of biographies: The Swimmer, Patrick Barkham (about Roger Deakin); Wifedom, Anna Finder (about Sonia Orwell), and The Man who Went into the West, by Byron Rogers (about R S Thomas). In memoir, I really liked My Good Bright Wolf, by Sarah Moss. In art history, I loved Thunderclap, by Laura Cumming and in archaeology, I got great enjoyment from X Marks the Spot, by Mike Pitts. For originality and weirdness, I have a soft spot for Ghosts of the British Museum, by Noah Angell.

Just checking in. Still a few to go. Thanks for the thread Roman Mum

Thanks for that @Terpsichore, I've been looking for where to watch the movie foc 👍

Just coming back because I noticed that @PermanentTemporary mentioned Foster upthread - we watched the film version last night (as 'The Quiet Girl'). It was on Film 4 a few days ago and I missed it, but it’s on All 4 so you can catch up. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who hasn’t seen it but wants to.

I'm going to recommend three from my list;

Soldier Sailor: Claire Kilroy
Brotherless Night: V.V. Ganeshananthan
Enter Ghost: Isabella Hammad

I had a very good year. Only one or two books that weren't great, but no duds.

Thanks @RomanMum .

Just placemarking for now

Just checking in for the moment - thanks @RomanMum!

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I was surprised just how much I disliked it and it could well just be me. My tolerance for other people’s nonsense has been very low this year. If I’d read it before the menopausal rage hit, I might well have liked it!

Marking place, should get a few more in before the year end.

But one italics so far (and my first ever on these threads):

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Translated by Carl Wildman.
Misogynistic rubbish. How can something be 'life affirming' when the two main female characters (only one of whom was given an actual name) are dead at the end?

Here are mine. I’ll take a chance on there not being any bolds to come and hopefully not any italics either.

Bolds first.

Berserker - Adrian Edmondson
Paper Cup - Karen Campbell
The Wrong Girl - Angela Slatter
Broken Ghost - Niall Griffiths
Uncut - Christopher Fowler
The Others Of Edenwood - Verity Holloway
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
The Instruments Of Darkness - John Connolly
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
You Are Here - David Nicholls
All The Little Bird Hearts - Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Dead Water - C A Fletcher
The Warm Hands Of Ghosts - Katherine Arden
The Seaside - Madeleine Bunting
The Briar Book Of The Dead - A G Slattter
Lost In The Garden - Adam S Leslie
Gay Shame - Gareth Roberts
Small Bomb At Dimperley - Lissa Evans
The God Of The Woods - Liz Moore
The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre
Day One - Abigail Dean
Night And Day - John Connolly
She’s Always Hungry - Eliza Clark
The Northumbrians - Dan Jackson

And the italics, barely finished, should have been DNFs.

The Whistling - Rebecca Netley
In The Flesh - various, body horror anthology.
The Maiden - Kate Foster
Enlgihtenment - Sarah Perry
Rare Singles - Ben Myers
To The Dogs - Louise Welch
You Like It Darker - Stephen King
The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo
I Have Some Questions For You - Rebecca Makkai
Cursed Bread - forgotten author cba to look up. Inadvertently bought it twice, Kindle and physical book, to add to the irritation.

All in all a satisfying year. There are more bolds than I thought as I am quite picky. The ones above are those I would happily pick up again and wish I were reading them for the first time.

Thank you for the thread @RomanMum ! I’ll come back to it later.

i really liked Apples Never Fall - I liked the way the relationships were drawn. There are definitely better Lianne Moriarty books though.

And @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - oh dear, I bought that one. Won’t get to it for a while as I’m trying to read things in order of purchase (plus library books get in the way), so I’ll probably be complaining about it sometime in the middle of next year 😄

I have too many do not recommends to list or even to remember, but the idiot in the Grand Canyon is definitely high on the list.

My do not recommends are -

Speak of the Devil Rose Wilding
The midnight feast Lucy Foley
A good place to hide a body Laura Marshall
Breaking the dark Lisa Jewel
The house guest LH Stacy
We solve murders Richard Osman

It's one of her worst. Here one moment is excellent though

Thanks for doing this, @RomanMum.

I haven’t had a stellar reading year, though nothing outrageously bad - mostly middling. I’m on 91 and expecting to tick off a few more before the year's end.

The only ones I’d say were absolute bolds for me are Hilary Mantel's Giving Up the Ghost, Sarah Ogilvie's The Dictionary People and Lore Segal's Other People’s Houses - all non-fiction. I think The Country Girls edges into a bold for fiction, but that’s it.

I'm at 93 books aiming for 100!!!

Here's my 5* of the year -

Here one moment Lianne Moriarty
The wrong sister Claire Douglas
No one saw a thing Andrea Mara
The nightingale Kristen Hannah
Weyward Emilia Hart
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption Stephen King
The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid

I thought I was quite harsh with giving 5 star ratings, but I've actually got 59 5 star books this year. With the possibility of squeezing some more in.

Good on you Roman

Is someone doing the tally/spreadsheet this year?

out of over 50 read this year, only a handful of bolds:

• Breakdown, Cathy Sweeney
• a fine balance, Rohinton Mistry
• My favourite, Sarah Jollien-Fardel
• Go, went, gone, Jenny Erpenbeck

Thanks @RomanMum. Still hoping to read a few more books this year but will be back.

Eine - I am with you on Apples Never Fall - my first and last Lianne Moriarty. I was underwhelmed and felt it was contrived and couldn’t engage with it.

I’ve only got a paltry two bolds so far:

The Rachel Incident - Caroline O’Donoghue
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing - Matthew Perry