50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Nine

@elspethmcgillicudddy I've purposely not researched her so I don't pick up any more of her work. I may tread there at some point, but definitely not yet.

What are you studying elspeth?

I want to be stricter about giving up books that I’m not enjoying, even where I’ve paid quite a bit for them.

My only other resolution is the same one that I make (and fail at) every year which is to try and buy less and clear the massive TBR pile I have!

No reading resolutions here, except to read what I want when I want and to abandon anything that isn’t working for me. No challenges, no counting, no pressure.

@ÚlldemoShúl

I really need to do it. I've got so much on my TBR, if I hit 20 with no buying I'll be pleased!

Used to post but now cos of work,
I seem to mostly just lurk,
Many books to read now,
I'm not quite sure how,
But this challenge I cannot shirk.

Happy New Year and thank you for all your posts this year. I've read 55 books and my best recommendations have come from here. (Also have over 170 books that I own and haven't read and you lot are responsible for much of that TBR too!).

@LuckyMauveReader Ariel is poetry. And yes it is just as draining! There was some interesting discussion in the module I have done about whether her use of world atrocities to describe her personal feelings was offensive or legitimate (or possibly both). She uses quite a lot of Nazi terminology and some holocaust imagery to describe her own suffering... which is challenging. She is also racially offensive in a way that has often been excused as being 'of its time' but in reality it was probably unacceptable even within context.

these limericks are killing me
In a good way of course, Fortuna :)

I loved Madonna @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie @AgualusasLover
I thought it was very atmospheric.
I loved the retrospective story. As soon as the narrator started reading from the notebook, I was hooked.
There was an introduction in my edition that I found useful too.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I am going to restart my Read what you Own challenge on 6th Jan- once the 12 days of kindle ends so I’ll be a little behind you. I reached 19 the last time. Hoping to make it to at least 31 more to get the 50. My plan is to try to avoid buying until the release of the Women’s Prize longlists (and I’ve hoarded some Waterstones vouchers and plus points for that eventuality)

Apologies for the lack of punctuation. I hadn't checked it after editing it. 💐

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I also absolutely loved Madonna in a Fur Coat.

Did you like it? I detested it! Really wanted to love it.

@elspethmcgillicudddy I read the Bell Jar along time ago. There has never been a book that has affected as much as Sylvia Plath's. By the end of the book I needed to take time out. I couldn't manage to read another book for a while after. To elicit such feelings of her readers through her work means she is a great writer but I don't think I'd be able to revisit her work. Are all her books that dark and mentally draining?

Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby van Pelt
I think many have read this already (surprise surprise I am, as usual, behind the curve). Set in a quiet seaside town in Washington it tells the story of Tova, a seventy year old who lost her son to the sea when he was 18 and Cameron, whose mother abandoned him. The main character beyond these two is Marcellus, an octopus who is bored in captivity and becomes an unlikely friend. This is for book club, and whilst reading I didn’t really think much of it - just ok. Now that I have finished, I think that was unfair. It’s actually quite an interesting look at grief, friendship and family as well as things and how important they are or are not. I think this is one I might go in ambivalent about but by the time book club finishes it will be bold.

This was no39, so I’ve lined up the very slim (possibly so small I am cheating) The Canterville Ghost so I can hit 40.

My resolution is not to over commit on Reading. I almost joined an online book club that will have two books per month - fiction and non fiction. But I’m pleased to say I didn’t join, because with work book club and regular read-a-longs here, I want some space for my own reading choices too.

These limericks are killing me.

megb so sorry about your pet. It's such a hard thing to do.

I've accidentally acquired an Alexa which came with 2 audible credits. I've taken the plunge and gone for This Thing of Darkness. I'm 25% in of 30 hours. It's not exactly Hornblower levels of excitement is it? ducks and runs

Happy New Year @LadybirdDaphne!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie 😁

can't make my whole list appear. sorry!

Hello again! and Happy New Year!
I’ve badly fallen off the thread since the summer holidays. Life is busy! However, this afternoon I realised I am nearly there. Oh so nearly. I have 3h 44mins of Billy Summers by Stephen King to listen to and then I have completed 50. It’s the push I need because this is probably one of the major reasons I haven’t read much recently. I’m just not enjoying it. And it’s really long. And so I have been listening to podcasts instead....

Anyway... here is my reading to complete my year’s list.

43. No Far Shore by Anne Marie Fyfe

An odd and challenging text read for OU course. A mixture of poetry, prose, biography and travel. Fyfe is a Northern Irish Poet who now lives in London. However, she finds herself drawn back again and again to the coast where she grew up. She goes on a journey to explore various North Atlantic coastlines. She explores their meaning to her and connections to poets and writers who have gone before her.

It’s quite a beautiful and very complex text. I think I’m a bit too basic to truly connect with it... rather than a poem about Emily Bishop’s bedroom I probably wanted a few more paragraphs about the journey to get there and what it was really like. But that’s my problem and not Fyfe’s. It’s an interesting read.

44. Ariel by Sylvia Plath

I’m conflicted by Plath. I loved it as a teenager and was disappointed to return to it and find it a bit... teenage. I just don’t really connect with the rawness of it. I kept wanting to ask ‘Are you Ok, Sylvia?’ (clearly not....). But I quite enjoyed the analysis of it for OU literature course.

45. Take Your Eye Off The Ball 2.0 by Pat Kirwan

So I’ve made a slightly weird life decision. I LOVE the Olympics and watch it +++ when it is on. I don’t follow any other sports but wondered what it would be like if I did. So I started to follow the NFL. DH loves American Football and it’s become a nice Sunday evening ritual for us. However, I didn’t really have a clue what was happening so I bought a couple of books. They were very enjoyable and informative for me. If you are not weirdly obsessed with the NFL I might give them a swerve....
46. American Football for Dummies by Howie Long

As above.

47. The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Not a huge fan of this. I really like dystopian fiction but this fell short somehow. I can’t really say why I didn’t like it without spoilers but I thought the twist was pretty poor. Interesting concept and most of the individual bits were reasonably well painted but as a whole piece I didn’t enjoy it.

48. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
    For OU course. ‘How can literature speak back to power?’ Will post thoughts once have completed the assignment and associated reading.

49. Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
    As above.

50..... Billy Summers by Stephen King
Provided I can get through the last 3hrs or so. Ugh. I have read a couple of Stephen King I have really enjoyed but this has all of the viciousness without any of the world building I have so enjoyed in the others I have read. Get thee to an editor.

Sorry to hear about your pet @MegBusset 🌷
No book resolutions here apart from trying to get to 50. Been on these threads a couple of years now & still not got there. Doesnt matter though - the company is great & it keeps my reading motivation up even if im a bit more sluggish than others.

I've just tallied up my list and have made 152!

My last book of the year will probably be How the Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential Brilliance of the Iron Road by Gareth Dennis which covers climate change, urban planning and secret fascist rooms in Milan station and is rather good.

This is my first year on the thread and I have loved it and found it very motivating. Thank you all. Just finishing my last two books hopefully to hit 90. Last year I only managed 4 books in total!

Somehow I still have more books on my TBR pile than I started last year with but feels a hopeful thing this year.

Madonna in a Fur Coat: Sabahattin Ali

'A shy young dreamer from Turkey
In thrall to a woman in fur, world weary,
They roam Berlin streets,
He wears his heart on his sleeve,
But the ending is tragic and teary'.

My resolution this year (other than 50 books) is to get back into my exercise routine. I had to stop in August when I was pregnant and then gave birth in October and have taken it easy for the first 3 months but the new year I'll get back into it! Nothing too strenuous...just 20 minutes per day on the elliptical machine.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh to you to 😁

Aw @Midnightstar76 that's lovely.
Happy New Year 🥳