50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Nine

Marking my place on the new thread! I think I might just make 52 books (if I can find where I have misplaced my kindle in the Christmas chaos). I've gone through my good reads and ruthlessly adjusted my ratings. I'm with @EineReiseDurchDieZeit with Project Hail Mary as my favourite read of the year.

Jane Austen: The Secret Radical by Helena Kelly

Frequently boring. Often bollocks.

I thought this was, frankly, ridiculous. It smacked of desperation and a desire to shock, making claim after claim based on spurious coincidences.

As an English teacher, I like a bit of symbolism as much as the next person, but there’s a difference between finding patterns of meaning based on texts as a whole and making up random shite to force a point. Most of this book imo consisted of random shite. Badly done, Helena. Badly done.

I think that might have been me, @DuPainDuVinDuFromage. Really pleased you enjoyed it - it’s one of my bolds for the year too.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller ! It may be a short one, but I’m glad to have somewhere to post about my latest book:

63 The Dictionary People - Sarah Ogilvie Someone on here (sorry, I’m terrible at remembering who) recommended this after I read Pip Williams’ novel about the people involved in creating the Oxford English Dictionary, and said I would like to know more about the real people and their actual lives; it turned out that I had actually received this book for my birthday (it tends to take me a while to get to proper books as I save them for a treat and mostly read on my tablet). It was well worth the wait - extremely interesting, touching on the lives of hundreds of contributors to the dictionary, many with interesting and unusual backgrounds. It must have been difficult to find the right balance between including as many people as possible and giving enough information about each one without just turning it into a list, but I felt that Ogilvie pitched it exactly right. One of my books of the year, and it has also led me to revisit my view of Williams’ novel which I have bumped up to a bold now that I have more of the real-life background on which she based her story.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Just place markimg for now. Partway through 2 books so hoping will finish at least one more before the new year.

You laugh, but I was lucky to find a screwdriver.

I've been trying and failing to post on the old thread! Merry Christmas to all, especially @Kinsters and your new baby!

I specifically didn't want books as I have so many unread, but my husband got me Say Nothing as I've been enjoying the TV series so I'm interested to read that.

I thought I was done with Jilly but may pick up Polo not least as it looks like the next series of Rivals may pick up some of that.

I am enjoying reading silly festive romances on my kindle, and still making SLOW progress through A Place of Greater Safety - I have to say I'm finding it a lot harder to follow and to engage with the characters than Wolf Hall.

Gosh I've been on since 2013 too. More of a lurker than a poster but I read everything. Thank you for your service @Southeastdweller
In that time I've made it to 50 ... Twice 😆

She's taken Swedish Death Cleaning to a level where I needed to open the wine with a screwdriver yesterday - that made me laugh immoderately, @FortunaMajor 😅

Lovely to see you @magimedi

2025 will also be my 8th year on this lovely thread - gosh, how time flies!

Next year will be year 8 for me. I've been pants at posting reviews for the past few years, but I'm always determined to keep up with reading the thread as like everyone else, find it a great source of sanity and loveliness in a crazy world. The effort everyone puts in is very much appreciated.

I am trying to seriously cut down my online time, but this thread is one of the essential things I'm not willing to lose.

I have read more physical books than usual this year, but I'm still very audio heavy. I'm hoping my ongoing war with decluttering and renovating the house will result in more time to actually read next year.

@kinsters - that is a truly wonderful update

A belated happy Christmas to all of you lovely 50-bookers.

I've just totted up and realised I gifted a total of 14 books - but received none. Such is life. To be fair I probably own enough books to never need another until I keel over but regardless, I will be working on my wish list for my birthday in just a few weeks' time!!

I have been on these threads since January 2018 and have only once managed to make it to 50. Thanks for hosting the best part of the internet @Southeastdweller

My Christmas guests leave tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to some cosy book-reading time over the weekend.

Thanks for wrangling MN to get us our new thread Southeast and welcome BiscuitsBooks. This is my ninth year on these threads, definitely the loveliest corner of the internet.

Last two books of the year, & happily both went on my bolds list.

109. Elena Knows by Claudia Piñero, trans. Frances Riddle
     Elena's daughter has been found dead, & the police have closed the case. Elena is determined that a proper investigation will take place, and wants to track down an old contact of her daughter's. But just getting from her house to the bus stop is a huge challenge for Elena, as she has advanced Parkinson's disease & very restricted mobility. The book takes place over the course of one day, as she travels across the city.
     
     Although this is billed as a crime novel, it's far more a book about family relationships, living with disability, and the impact of our actions. A really good read and a definite bold.

110. The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater
     I only picked this up for a bit of a giggle following the Nigel chat on here, but actually I really loved it, & it was a perfect Christmas time book. The only down side was that we had our festive meal on the solstice, & I only reached Christmas day in the book - and discovered much better instructions for cooking goose - yesterday evening. I've also bookmarked lots of the recipes for some new year cooking sessions.

@Southeastdweller "then there was Covid, redundancy, bereavements...so much bloody LIFE and a fair bit of stress, and these threads have always been there and such a comfort to me.

Coming on as a huge lurker to say that that sums up my life in the last 5 years.

I moved to France four years ago and have been reading almost exclusively in French to try to get as fluent as I can but this thread has been my "box of delights" on the internet.

Thank you so very much @Southeastdweller for this lovely space.

Happy New Year to you all.

Edited for spelling errors. I blame the wine! My backyard is a vineyard!

Thank you for the new thread Southeast. I posted on the one started earlier, but it got disappeared by the time I pressed send 😊

Kinsters that's wonderful news about the baby.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

Hope everyone had a really lovely day yesterday. I laughed at all the gifting woes at the end of the last thread. We're an extended family of 22 and have tried many solutions over the years as the cost was getting ridiculous. We had a fab year where we gave vouchers for "time" and skills. I taught a niece to knit. My BIL helped me with some work on my campervan and my elderly mum got a year of lawn mowing from one of her grandsons. We then decided once the last of the generation down left university that we should all just stop between siblings and beyond. The sibs with kids and grandkids sort their own family out, but we don't go sideways or up the tree anymore. My mum is in her 80s and doesn't want any more stuff. She's taken Swedish Death Cleaning to a level where I needed to open the wine with a screwdriver yesterday. Everyone has been significantly happier as we're no longer buying or receiving tat for the sake of it and you get to treat yourself to something you really want instead.

I'm on 249 books, but think I'll get a few more in before the end of the year. I've recently really liked.

The Amendments - Niamh Mulvey
Three generations of Irish women go up against laws and social norms surrounding reproductive rights and the consequences. It did get a bit muddied in places between the three storylines, but overall a decent stab at the issues.

Private Rites - Julia Armfield
A retelling of Kings Lear. Three sisters in the near future living through a climate catastrophe come to terms with the death of their father and the aftermath.
I thought this started well, but lost its way a bit towards the end. I don't think you'd need to be familiar with KL to appreciate it.

Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s - Sarah Ditum
An examination of celebrity culture and 9 women who bore the brunt of the tabloid press and the wild west of an emerging internet.
I found this really interesting. I was in my 20s at the time and was aware of most of the women discussed, but didn't always know the background to the scandals or vilification of them.

Thanks @Southeastdweller for the new thread.

I've just checked and have been a 50 booker since 2020!

Welcome @BiscuitsBooks - this is a lovely thread but may be bad for your bank balance and your unread book pile!

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller !

I’ll save my list for the round-up thread - just hoping to finish one more and hit 70.

Got Intermezzo for Christmas (don’t worry, it was requested, I’m a Sally Rooney lover not a hater). Also book token which I’ll be spending later today!

Checking in on the last thread of the year - thanks southeast!

Thanks @Southeastdweller
This is only my second year on the threads and I’ve really enjoyed it (and added so many more books to my TBR)

Hello @BiscuitsBooks !

thanks @Southeastdweller this is my first year on the threads and I have enjoyed it a lot

Merry belated Christmas 50 bookers and welcome @BiscuitsBooks.

I completely fell off the last thread(s?). I’ve just checked Goodreads and last finished a book on 6 November. I started a new job in September but it’s been absolutely manic in the run up to Christmas and I’ve been too exhausted to read. I knew I wouldn’t achieve 100+ book this year but I’m not even going to make my reduced target of 70. Currently reading the second Slow Horses book which I need to get through quickly as we had planned on watching the series over Christmas.

Also a warm welcome to @BiscuitsBooks !

Place-marking on the new thread.
Thank you Southeastdweller.
I had written a post on SouthEast's previous thread before it went poof!
Was it something I said ;)

Anyway. I just wanted to say to BoiledEgg to enjoy her seasonal* *stash as I recognised two of them; An Enchanted April and Esther's Inheritance.

I'm reading A Christmas Carol and then will move on to The Mysterious Inn at the Edge of the World and that will take me up to the end of the month. Then I will get onto the next instalment of Martin Chuzzlewit.

@Southeastdweller agree these threads are a comfort to me especially when crappy events of life happen so very much appreciated that this has appeared again and my goodness 12 years! Also welcome @BiscuitsBooks

As reliable as ever southeast - thank you!

Sorry, bringing my list over as that’s how I keep track - I know the formatting and numbering will be all over the place even though it looks fine until I preview:

1. Trust - Hernan Diaz
2. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
3. Ruin Beach - Kate Rhodes

1. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
2. Snow - John Banville

1. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
2. Hostage - Clare Mackintosh

My two latest reads (which are both re-reads) and don’t think I put on last thread are:

85. Dead Lions - Mick Herron

Second in the Slow Horses series and re-read as watching the TV adaptation. Fast-paced, unexpected and entertaining.

86. Conclave - Robert Harris

Shenanigans around a papal election - re-read in anticipation of hopefully seeing the film soon. More exciting than you might think from the topic. Lots of politicking and dirty tricks.

I seem to reliably hit the mid 80s in number of books each year. I am well through The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal and have just started the third Slow Horses book so hope to hit 88 by the end of the year.