50 Books Challenge 2024 Part One

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2024, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Who's in for this year?

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I used to know Laetitia a bit at uni. I knew she was a gardener but didn't know she'd written another book. I think she used to have a column in one of the papers.

@ChessieFL I also didn't think Time Shelter was very good. A decent idea but not much plot. The international Booker shortlist last year was a real mixed bag but would recommend Boulder and Still Born.

@BlindurErBóklausMaður I've always found HP quite hard work, especially reading out loud to the DC. I don't think JKR is a great writer, she never uses one word when 10 would do. I'm in a minority though.

@MontblancTheSecond - that's really interesting because it was something I thought immediately after I posted before. At one point she has Catchpole describe Poirot as being 'all snarled up' and that grated for me as it didn't seem like Christie-ish language.

@Stowickthevast I don't think you're in a minority on these threads! Great storyteller, not brilliant writer seems to be the consensus. (And I don't think the storytelling is good once we get to Strike either- I'm only really continuing with them so I can rant afterwards 😂)

@ÚlldemoShúl I'm guessing you've read Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski novels? If you haven't they might hit the spot for you - there's 21 of them I think published from the early 1980s onwards.

Thanks @Welshwabbit - I got the first book of both series there as both are reduced on kindle.

Thanks also @Sadik I have a feeling I may have read some of Sara Paretsky before but I’m not sure. I’ve added it to my tbr so I’ll see it if it gets reduced in price (I’m far too mean to spend 4.99 on a kindle book 😂)

Please can I join? Keen to get back into reading. My first book of the year is We Begin at the End - Chris Whitaker. I found it was a slow start but I am really enjoying it now.

@Decklededge – I haven’t read Luckenbooth, but its on my list. I enjoyed Hex by Jenni Fagan and I do enjoy Edinburgh based books because it’s a city I know very well.

@TattiePants – I love The Crysalids! I may reread at some point this year.

@FortunaMajor – yes! Very much enjoying it.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage – I saw a pic saying ‘You don’t have to be good at gardening for gardening to be good for you’. I am in the same boat, gardening wise. I like the thought of it, but I lack inspiration.

@Terpsichore – I love Rebus! It was really weird, I read the book last year and then the day after I finished it, the ‘property’ belonging the character that dies towards the end, it went up for sale. Too funny!

@Hellohah – glad it wasn’t just me re Tomorrow x 3!

@UlldemoShul how about Val McDermid's Karen Pirie series? The first is The Distant Echo.
I find VMcD's crime output variable in quality but really enjoyed the Karen Pirie books.

A long time ago but I used to like Stephen Booth's crime books set in the Peak District. Similar in tone to Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series. Pretty straightforward police procedural and I liked the Peak District setting.

1. The Long Shadow by Cynthia Harrod - Eagles. Number 6 in the Morland Dynasty. Following our matriarch Annunciata as she navigates the Court of Charles II and the following complications. Are you even a Morland Heroine unless you’ve single handedly battled the Protestant thugs and defended Morland Place? Enjoyable despite the awful protagonist. I think I need a break from everyone marrying their cousin so going to pause for a bit.

Think I’ll pick up a few short books to get off to a good start having not made 50 last year.

Btw - Jen Campbell on YouTube has a great video about 40 book adaptations for 2024. Can’t believe there are so many….

Thanks @highlandcoo i have read some of the Stephen Booth’s years ago- I had forgotten about them. As it happens I have the first Karen Pirrie on my kindle so will defo give that a go. I think I’ll give lots of first books a go over the first 6 months of the year, then decide which ones to keep.

@Stowickthevast exciting that you know the author! And @Tarragon123 , good luck with any gardening you try to do this year! I swept up some leaves from the terrace today - not much but I ticked off my 5 minutes! 😄

@ÚlldemoShúl

Val Mc's A Place of Execution is in the 99p Kindle deals this month. It's her best standalone imo.

I also have quite a lot of Stephen Booth paperbacks back home. (home being that neck of the woods!)

1. Eye for an eye by Mj arlidge- DF- I thought the overall plot would be an interesting read in terms of finding out who revealed their identities. I liked that each chapter provided a back story for each character and it followed on nice and certain parts made it a page turner. I wasn't expecting the level of detail about the crimes in some places and it was just a bit brutal in places so i gave up halfway through. Just as well I'm on this thread might check for recommendations before reading my next book.

I like books with mystery/ twists and turns but not too much violence I'm trying a mix of genres

I think my next book will be a reread of A year of living danishly by Helen Russell

Not sure if counting this book is cheeky I've read it so many times that it's become my comfort book..

Happy Birthday 🥳 @MamaNewtNewt fabulous book haul gifts

@bibliomania , I also found the casual anti-Semitism and racism in Miss Pettigrew quite disturbing. I'm glad you mention it, because I've seen so many reviews describing the book as a lovely comfort read, which on one level it obviously is, but that makes the racism all the more jarring IMO. I know it was typical of many writers in that era (Roald Dahl comes to mind for instance), but it still blemishes the author and the work.

@BlindurErBóklausMaður , yeah, 'great storyteller, not brilliant writer' is exactly what I think of JKR.

(edited to correct a typo)

@Palegreenstars thanks for sharing the YouTube clips will have a listen in a minute.

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt - enjoy your book haul!

I've set aside my physical book for a few days and finished an audiobook: 1. Just Like You by Nick Hornby. Lucy is a white fortysomething divorced teacher, Joseph is a twentysomething black football coach and part time DJ. Joseph starts babysitting for Lucy's children and the pair fall in love.

While the premise here isn't staggering original, and the parts on Breixt, race and racism aren't convincing, it's warm and gently funny. I think Hornby has a good eye for capturing the minutiae of ordinary life, and he's one of few male authors to consistently write believable women characters.

Agreed, Cassandra.. I know people argue over whether racist references should be edited out when dated books are republished but I think, Miss Pettigrew would benefit from some judicious pruning. I don't want that kind of thing in my entertainment.

Loving the heads-up on what's being adapted, thanks for the link @Palegreenstars 👍

Thank you @Palegreenstars that's an interesting video and I will watch her again. FYI The End We Start From is 99p on Kindle atm

I'd like to join please. I used to read so much but haven't in years. I think I read only two new books last year and the rest were re-reads. I really struggle with finding something I want to read. I don't live in the UK and our library here isn't great so I feel like I have to buy things on my kindle and resent spending £5 on something that I don't enjoy.

I re-read Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde in anticipation of the sequel coming out and have just downloaded Lessons in Chemistry as I often see that recommended.

First two books of the year under my belt are actually 'hangovers' from last year and one an audiobook.
1. The Familiars - Stacey Hall This was the audiobook and I have read this before but I needed to refresh myself as it is our bookclub book.
Focuses on Pendle witch trials. A young gentlewoman is pregnant having last previous pregnancies. She believes she will die in childbirth and employs a local midwife skilled in healing and herbs. The midwife is arrested for witchcraft.
This was an easy listen but the plot was flawed, the whole story hinges on the fact that the woman goes charging around the countryside on horseback trying to save her friend. I found it very hard to believe that she would have been allowed to do this given her age, status, gender and the fact she was carrying a longed for heir and had lost several pregnancies.

2Prophet Song - Paul Lynch
Much reviewed Booker prize winner. A wonderful book but such a hard read. I can only take so much dystopian fiction particularly when the world is in such a mess and this one felt very close to home.
The main characters life felt very near ti my own life - down to the make up of her family and I found the storyline with her sons genuinely gut wrenching at times, hence it took me a long time to read it.

I need something a bit lighter next!

Last night I finished Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. Really interesting and informative on the data gaps affecting women.

Today I will start my reading poster with American Gods

I find Val McDermid very mixed but Karen Pirie and A Place of Execution are excellent

Welcome!
I do a lot of re-reading, it's definitely a comfort thing I think. I'm also not in the UK and my Kindle is overflowing with 99p offers 😂 My own rule with the Kindle is never to spend more than that as the feel of a real book is just too damn good. I have 2 separate wishlists going on, a general one, and a "want this on paper" one.
@Bookworm1993 I may be due a reread of the Year of Living Danishly Really enjoyed it.

I have got many great 99p Kindle deals over the years. You have to keep an eye out and watch the daily deals. After early mistakes I don't buy the first 99p book in a series that are all over £5 and put there to entice you in.