50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Nine

I've just bought:
A Paper Cup - Karen Campbell
Experience - Martin Amis
My Family - David Baddiel
all for 99p.

I know I lurked for a few years, joined in half heartedly for a couple of years, then this year and last year saw it all the way through and made proper notes on my books.

I was comfily ensconced in my room with Rupert Everett earlier. DH came in to pack for going away tomorrow and although he said he wouldn’t talk to me he Then. Proceeded. To. Talk. To. Me. I know the posters on this thread will understand

I was on the very first thread as NicknameTaken. Hard to believe it's been so long!

Next year will be my seventh year, I believe.

I did a search as well and it confirms what I suspected; I have been around since January '21 first under IsFuzzyBeagMise and then had a name change to FuzzyCaoraDhubh. This is also my favourite corner of the Internet. It was brilliant meeting some of you in London in May. A highlight of 2024 for sure.

I reviewed The Burgess Boys quite recently @Owlbookend. I'm glad you liked it. I Iike your review and agree with you when you said that Strout is best when she does 'small' rather than take on bigger issues.

Thank you for that description of opening the bottle of wine with a screwdriver Fortuna 😄 It made me laugh. Also Biblio's description of opening Christmas gifts with her family! Oh dear! 😅

I've finished A Christmas Carol which I still love as much as ever and have started the book whose title I have not managed to get right yet...The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis.
So far I'm enjoying it.

Welcome @OddBallNumber5 to the thread! Happy Reading!

@OddBallNumber5 I go to bed half an hour before intend to go to sleep and use that time to read. I find it a really relaxing way to end the day and stops me from doomscrolling on my phone.

I’m more of a lurker than a poster but have taken so much from these threads - it’s really expanded what I read and I’ve found so many new and wonderful books and authors from it. This thread really is the nicest place on the internet.

@Kinsters – what lovely news. I’m sure you will have had a fabulous day with your wee family

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit @ÚlldemoShúl – read what you own sounds a great idea! I think I will join for January.

@MamaNewtNewt re Chris Clark. Shocked to read that he is younger than me! Just not appropriate to the n word or similar. Brought up in Cameroon, perhaps the word is not as shocking to him as to us or he was used to using it?

@Boiledeggandtoast – great Christmas pile!

@BiscuitsBooks @OddBallNumber5 – welcome!

@FortunaMajor – laughing at you having to open a bottle of wine with a screwdriver! We actually had to open bottles on Christmas Day, no idea who bought us posh stuff, we usually just have the screw tops

Hope you lovely 50 Bookers had a lovely day yesterday. Just a few books from DD. She is also great at getting me books presents. I got books 2, 3 and 4 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. She got me the first one for my birthday and I loved it.

I’m very much a newbie to this thread. I think I started in 2022 or maybe even just 2023.

118 Weyward – Emilia Weyward (Audible) I cant remember if this was recommended here or on the What Should I Read Next? Podcast or an article about Audible books. It’s about 3 women, Altha in 1619, Violet in 1942 and Kate in 2019. The women are all connected by their love of nature and perhaps something else. I loved this. It was a great read, especially with three different narrators.

Just done a search and discovered I’ve been on these threads since the very first one. Not quite sure I want to know what that says about me!

My Christmas haul. Not sure if I have shared but sharing again. Charles Dickens Hard Times that I wanted and a surprise one Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum which was in a book gift box. Looking forward to reading them both. Have been on these threads under a different user name but honestly don’t know from when certainly during Covid and before that at some point I think. Hello to newbies and lots more reading in 2025

@MamaNewtNewt

It was read by Meryl Streep on the audio which elevated it

@TattiePants

I have the same issue RE KIndle versus physical books

Welcome @OddBallNumber5. I try and limit the amount of time spent faffing on the internet as I can waste hours of reading time doing absolutely nothing. I also find audio books really good as I listen to them if I go for a walk.

I think today might be a curl up on the sofa and read day. It was DH’s birthday yesterday but we came home from family early as he was feeling poorly and he hasn’t surfaced yet. Both kids are in their bedrooms and I’ve tidied round most of the post-Christmas mess so it’s now time to chill out with one of the cats.

I didn’t get any books this year as I’ve become a Kindle convert and never seem to pick up physical books anymore.

Can I join for 2025? I have no idea of I’ll manage 5 books but love the idea!! Any tips on finding the time!

126 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I saw this making an appearance on quite a few lists of top books of the year so I moved it to the top of TBR mountain. I’m not sure what I’m missing here but I’m just not getting it. I think one of the problems was that I found it a bit jarring that the three daughters had clearly heard this story many times before, and yet there were constant exclamations of “I didn’t know that!” and it all rang a bit false to me. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, and obviously well written, but I just found it all a little bit dull.

I also bought the earlier Jilly books on deal & have started with Riders but my god RCB is annoying. I'm sure I read most of them back in the day, but I'd forgotten just how irritating & how much he needs a smack round the head with a wet fish.

Happy belated Christmas 50 bookers. I won't bring my list across as will post it on the roundup thread. Disappointingly I didn't get a single book for Xmas. Dh's family are normally pretty good at buying books from my Wish list but avoided all the books this year, although bil did buy me the kindle page turner I asked for so that's book adjacent at least

Just finished 89) Riders by Jilly Cooper
A re-read having now watched rivals on iPlayer which I thought was brilliant! So true to the book, the casting was great (except rcb, I just can't get behind that choice) and I thought the time period was captured perfectly. Loved it. So have gone back for a jilly re-read. I definitely understand why they didn't start the series with Riders, RCB's behavior is so abhorrent he'd never come across as the "hero" if they covered things like the Kenya orgy but overall I love the book and it's a great introduction to the characters. Have now moved on to Rivals, not sure if I'll finish before the new year but will give it a go

Looked back to discover I have been here since 2018 and it’s definitely encouraged me to read more and read more widely. Thank you all!

I’ve been around MN since about 2007/08 and was definitely about in various username forms in the early 50 Bookers days but maybe year 2-3 as I know it felt somewhat established. I joined and fell off every year for years. I think I’ve only been here properly since just before COVID.

Congatulations 🙂@Kinsters
Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller .

I'll save my little list for the round up thread. Im rather excited that i have finished something new, as i was in a total reader's block and was beginning to think id never read a 'proper book' again. Someone reviewed it recently (thanks - i cant remember who) and i thought 'Strout - i might be able to manage that' and did.

36. The Burgess Boys Elizabeth Strout
I liked My Name is Lucy Barton and absolutely loved Anythingis Possible. I didn't enjoy this quite as much, although it was still good. Young adult Zach throws a pigs head into a Somali mosque in small town Maine. This brings his mother back into contact with her two brothers who are now lawyers in New York (the Burgess boys of the title). I liked this a little less thsn the others, because i think Strout does 'small' better than 'big'. The explorations of the hunan relationships were as good as ever - the people are very real. However, i was less convinced by the explorations of wider themes such as immigration, racism and culture clashes.

Morning! I think I fell off these threads in October for the first time in years. Popping in to say Happy Betwixmas. Guests are leaving today so I’ve a full day of reading in peace ahead.

ive one story left in George Simenon’s A Maigret Christmas and then on to something undecided.

See you all in 2025!

List:

1. Identity, Nora Roberts
2. Nightwork, Nora Roberts
3. Chances, Freya North
4. Whatever it Takes, Adele Parks
5. Pretty Girls, Karin Slaughter
6. The Great Post Office Scandal, Nick Wallis
7. Politics on the Edge, Rory Stewart
8. Eat Sweat Play, Anna Kessels
9. Stranded, short stories, Val McDermid
10. Past Lying, Val McDermid
11. Ruth's First Christmas Tree (short), Elly Griffiths
12. The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths
13. Let Me In, Claire McGowan
14. Still Life, Val McDermid
15. The Crossing, Mat Brolly
16. The Crow Trap, Ann Cleeves
17. The Maid, Nita Prose
18. Bringing Columbia Home, Mike Leibenhart
19. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont, Laura Pearson
20. A Memoir of my Former Self, Hilary Mantel
21. The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
22. The Secret Barrister
23. The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Nifenegger
24. I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai
25. See Them Run by Marion Todd
26. The Premonition by Michael Lewis
27. In Dark Water -Lynn McEwan
28. Dead Man Deep -Lynn McEwan
29. The Girls of the Glen -Lynn McEwan
30. The Gathering Storm -Lynn McEwan
31. Empire of Pain - Patrick Radden Keefe
32. The Strawberry Thief - Joanne Harris
33. Scoops - Sam McAllister
34. Royal Road to Fotheringhay - Jean Plaidy
35. Sing You Home- Jodi Picoult
36. The Captive Queen of Scots - Jean Plaidy
37. Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
38. Act of Oblivion - Robert Harris
39. Elephants Can Remember - Agatha Christie
40. Westwind - Ian Rankin
41. 1979 - Val McDermid
42. The Dubrovnik Book Club - Eva Glyn
43. After that Night - Karin Slaughter
44. Triptych- Karin Slaughter
45. Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter
46. Kisscut - Karin Slaughter
47. 1989 - Val McDermid
48. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfield
49. Broken - Karin Slaughter
50. Meet Me at the Museum - Anne Youngson
51. The Last Widow - Karin Slaughter
52. Skin Privilege - Karin Slaughter
53. Rizzio- Denise Mina
54. A Faint Cold Fear - Karin Slaughter
55. Medea - Rosie Hewlett
56. Depp vs Heard - Nick Wallis
57. The Secret of Villa Alba - Louise Douglas
58. Yellowface - Rebecca F Kuang
59. The Bernini Bust - Iain Pears
60. Giving Up The Ghost - Hilary Mantel
61. Girl A - Abigail Dean
62. All Fours - Miranda July
63. Under Her Roof - A A Chaudhuri
64. Just Another Missing Person - Gillian McAllister
65. Indelible - Karin Slaughter
66. Faithless - Karin Slaughter
67. Fractured - Karin Slaughter
68. Three Women - Lisa Taddeo
69. Wish you were here - Jodi Picoult
70. Genesis - Karin Slaughter
71. Power Trip plus new epilogue - Damian McBride
72. Over My Dead Body - Maz Evans
73. Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
74. The Summer of Lies - Louise Douglas
75. Sister in law - Harriet Wistrich
76. None of This is True - Lisa Jewell
77. The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult
78. Mythos - Stephen Fry
79. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life - Anna Funder
80. Breaking the Dark - Lisa Jewell
81. Who’s That Girl - Mhairi McFarlane (re read)
82. You Belong With Me - Mhairi McFarlane
83. An Officer and a Spy - Robert Harris
84. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfield
85. The Flower Girls - Alice Clark-Platts
86. Day One - Abigail Dean
87. The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre
88. The Turning point - Freya North
89. The End of Us - Olivia Kiernan
90. My Favourite Mistake - Marian Keyes
91. Alison Wonderland - Helen Smith
92. The Girl in the Ice - Robert Bryndza
93. Whatever You Love - Louise Doughty
94. The Burning - Jane Casey
95. Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell
96. Other People’s Husbands - Elizabeth Noble
97. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Incredible Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers - Larry McDonald and Patrick Robinson
98. Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton
99. The Abortionist’s Daughter - Elizabeth Hyde
100. Failed State - Sam Freedman
101. The Definitive Guide to the Menopause and Perimenopause - Louise Newsom
102. The Hand That First Held Mine - Maggie O’Farrell
103. The Janus Stone - Elly Griffiths
104. Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night - Sophie Hannah
105. The House at Sea’s End - Elly Griffiths
106. A Room Full of Bones - Elly Griffiths
107. Fallen - Karin Slaughter
108. Criminal - Karin Slaughter
109. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
110. The Truth About Melody Browne - Lisa Jewell
111. Breathtaking - Rachel Clark
112. Dear Coca-Cola: The Timewaster Letters - Terry Ravenscroft
113. Marple - various (12 short stories)
114. Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult
115. Unseen - Karin Slaughter
116. Blue Machine - Helen Czerski

DNF: The Bat, Jo Nesbo
Currently reading; The Kept Woman, Karin Slaughter and a non-fiction about screen time (Unlocked)

Thanks for the new thread southeast!

Attached is my Christmas book haul. Very pleased with all of them! Although only two are new reads for me - the others are all ones I read this year but wanted my own copies to keep. The Grapes of Wrath is my book of the year.

Currently on 353 books but have another couple I’m hoping to finish today and will probably squeeze another one or two in before the end of the year.

Thank you, as ever, @Southeastdweller

And thank you @FuzzyCaoraDhubh, I think it was your review of Esther's Inheritance that inspired me to add it to my Christmas Wishlist.

Thank you for the final thread! I am nearly finished my Mantel. Hopefully tomorrow!

Reminder to Dickensalongers to read the December instalment of MC too!

1 The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig, translated by Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson
2 The Five Minute Garden by Laetitia Maklouf
3 Kristin Lavrandatter III: The Cross by Sigrid Undset. Translated by Tiina Nunnally
4 Stars of Fortune by Cynthia Harnett
5 Heartstopper Vol 5 by Alice Oseman
6 Nimona by ND Stevenson
7 Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushimo. Translated by Geraldine Harcourt
8 Rizzio by Denise Mina
9 Sophia, Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand
10 The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Translated by Stephen Snyder
11 Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons
12 The Door by Magda Szabó. Translated by Len Rix
13 Aya: Claws Come Out by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie. Translated by Edwige Renée Dro
14 Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
15 Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi. Translated by Patrick Creagh
16 Moms by Yeong-shin Ma. Translated by Janet Hong
17 The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
18 Hags. The demonisation of middle-aged women by Victoria Smith
19 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
20 The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
21 Last Train to Istanbul by Ayşe Kulin. Translated by John W. Baker
22 No Surrender by Constance Maud. Adapted by Scarlett and Sophie Rickard
23 Hilo 10: Rise of the Cat by Judd Winick
24 Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta
25 All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami. Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd
26 The Warden by Anthony Trollope
27 Madgermanes by Birgit Weyhe. Translated by Katy Derbyshire
28 King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
29 Ducks. Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
30 Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck. Translated by Michael Hofmann
31 Elena: A Hand Made Life by Miriam Gold
32 O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
33 Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Piñeiro. Translated by Miranda France
34 Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
35 In the Ditch by Buchi Emecheta
36 This Winter by Alice Oseman
37 The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. Translated by Alexandra Keeble.
38 Children of War by Ahmet Yorulmaz. Translated by Paula Darwish
39 The Odyssey. A graphic novel adaptation by Gareth Hinds.
40 Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
41 Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Translated by Carl Wildman
42 Solitaire by Alice Oseman
43 The Observations by Jane Harris
44 Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
45 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. Adapted by Scarlett and Sophie Rickard
46 The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Grudova
47 The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis
48 Christmas Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

I've highlighted eleven above after having a top ten on the other thread but I can't choose between the two Emecheta novels and they are sequels anyway.

Now reading one of my Christmas presents: Suggested in the Stars and hoping to finish it before the year end (then I might have to borrow a kids book to make it to 50!).

2025 will be my 13th year on this thread (username tumbletumble in the early days). In 2013 it was my New Year's resolution to read more - the only NY resolution I've ever kept!