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?

4. A Thing of Beauty, by Peter Fiennes
Travels around Greece in 2020, so COVID and environmental concerns loom large. This won't be to everyone's taste, but I find the author to be congenial company despite the gloom.

Thanks for the recommendation of A Tomb With a View @BlindurErBóklausMaður - sounds really interesting so I’ve just bought it

3 A Helping Hand - Celia Dale
Maisie & Josh Evans, a middle-aged childless couple, meet an elderly widow and her niece while on holiday in Italy. Mrs Fingal and her niece are both dissatisfied with the status quo, luckily for them the Evanses have a spare room since their last lodger died. Even better, the previous lodger was also an elderly lady and Mrs Evans is a trained nurse while Mr Evans happily goes out of his way to listen to the repetitive ramblings of a lonely old woman. The two parties swiftly come to an agreement and before long Mrs Fingal is comfortably accommodated in the Evanses' suburban bungalow where things take a sinister turn...

I loved this, the reader is aware of Josh & Maisie's nefarious characters from the start, while poor old Cynthie doesn't catch on until its far too late. A lovely twist in the last chapter also. A 60s kitchen sink version of Tales of the Unexpected.

Finished my first book of 2024

1. Echo Burning by Lee Child

Yet another Reacher. At this point it's like I'm hypnotised or something. I tell myself I won't read any more yet still find myself heading to the Kindle store for the next installment. It's like I physically can't stop myself doing it even while I'm thinking of all the reasons I don't want to keep reading

Anyway, this was actually the best one yet. More of a police procedural and a few less superhuman feats from Reacher. Whilst hitchhiking in Texas Reacher is picked up by a classy looking Mexican lady who attempts to recruit him to murder her husband, an abusive man who is just about to get out of prison. Reacher refuses to execute her husband but does agree to go with her and get a job on the family ranch so he's on hand to assist. The husband gets out of prison and is promptly shot but suddenly the woman's story seems to make less sense. Reacher works with a legal aid lawyer to try and work out who is lying and who is telling the truth

A quick round up of reads so far:

1. Bluebottle Goes To War - PJ Brownsword

An examination of a little known part of the actor Peter Sellers' life, his early years serving in the RAF Entertainment Units, known as the Gang Shows, across Asia and Europe. Interesting stuff. My grandmother was doing much the same with the army so it's inspired me to find out more.

2. A Month in the Country - JL Carr

Is it too early for my first bold of the year? And a fiction too. A completely engrossing tale of a damaged war veteran of the Somme, who spends the summer uncovering a medieval wall painting in a Yorkshire church. Although a short book I was drawn in to the story and characters, the rural English summer, the sense of renewal but also of chances missed. Loved it.

3. Dostadning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning - Margareta Magnusson

A Swedish habit of the elderly setting their affairs in order. Though not quite the target demographic just yet, I was hoping this book would inspire a declutter. The author's story was quite interesting but overall the book didn't spark joy, so I'll declutter it back to the library.

Laughing at your description of being hypnotized, satellite.. I've been there.

Love A Month in the Country, Roman.. One of my all-time favourites.

Finished two books this week, but I’m back to work tomorrow and January is always a bit mad balancing work and the long school hols (summer here).

1 Be a Free Range Human - Marianne Cantwell
Escape the career cage, pretend to be an expert in something using the hacks in this book, and make $$$ on the internet. A few useful tips, especially on personality type, but mostly pretty shallow. (I have to find a new job in the next few months so there might be some more of this sort of thing in my reading unfortunately.)

2 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Caitlin Doherty
The mortician answers questions from children on what happens to bodies after death. Perfect balance of dark humour and respect for the deceased - bizarrely, her books are almost comfort reads for me.

A Month in the Country is one of my best beloveds @RomanMum I also highly recommend Carr's The Harpole Report, which is a work of comic genius and should be as well known and loved as Molesworth and Just William.

@bibliomania in rush to rant earlier, I forgot to mention a friend of mine who redacts sections herself using correction tape (no bleed-through) for books she intends to reread. I think that's the approach I find most appealing, as I wouldn't trust anyone else to know what would be offensive/genuinely extraneous to me. But I haven't tried it yet, as I don't entirely trust my past self either

Wonderful review @BlindurErBóklausMaður I bought this upon release but felt unable to read it during the pandemic. Now inspired to move it from bookshelf to bedside table.

Hello. Hope it is not too late to join as would really like to get back into reading this year. I have read 1. Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie and started 2. Demon Copperfield which I am really enjoying. Bit worried though that I am spending too much time writing list of books I would like to read rather than actually reading.

I’m well settled into my 50/50 fiction/non-fiction pattern now, after several years, so quite happy to keep it going. The first non-fiction of 2024 is:

2. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - T. E. Carhart

The (American) author lived in Paris and noticed a small piano repair shop in his neighbourhood which fascinated him. He'd learned piano as a child when the family lived abroad - coincidentally near Paris - during his father's army service, and wanted to buy an instrument. Gradually he gets to know Luc, who’s taken over the atelier from its owner, and starts to spend time with him and the extraordinary assortment of instruments he restores, buys and sells, many of them historic, if in poor condition.

With Luc's help and advice, the author buys his own piano, and starts to take lessons again. Along the way we learn much more about the history and manufacture of pianos. A gentle, poetic and comforting read.

1. Tipping The Velvet- Sarah Waters . Very much enjoyed this. Waters has a great sense of time and place and you feel you are in the middle of some working class, Victorian scenario of despair. She also give a good feeling of solidarity and survival between the workers and indeed, I feel that is the main protaganist, Nancy's strength; her need to overcome the absolute dire situations she can find herself in at times with shocking choices. It's quite a quietly powerful and at times sexually explicit book and alot was made of the latter, particularly when it was made into a TV drama in the early 00's. Waters has paid attention to so much detail from the time and obviously researched the issues thoroughly. Can't wait to read some more of hers(I have already read Fingersmith and forgot all about her, so must get onto that!)

Just started , Rebecca -Daphne Du Maurier and why have I not read this book before! What a writer ! Totally gripping!

4 Where I End - Sophie White
Aoileann is a young woman caring for her bed-ridden mother in a foment of resentment and despair. She doesn't know what happened to her mother, she toils at personal care every day alongside her cold grandmother while wondering at the cause of her circumstances and the hostility of her neighbours on the bleak island she has inhabited her entire life. When a newcomer arrives on the island with her new baby and befriends our protagonist she realises the potential of what life could be and finally discovers the secrets behind her miserable existence.

I enjoyed this, though it is unrelentingly bleak and sometimes difficult to read. There are intimations of a malignant supernatural element to the surroundings, but the truth of Aoileann's life story (and that of her ravaged mother) proves to be much more distressing.

1. Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

A story based on the fairy tale The Wild Swans and set in a world based on east Asia. Princess Shiori of Kiata, a kingdom where magic is forbidden, is trying to hide her nascent magic powers, but then she and her brothers are cursed by their stepmother. The brothers are turned to cranes and Shiori has a bowl over her head, and if she speaks her brothers will die. She must travel through Kiata looking for a way to break the curse. I really liked the world the world this was set in and the plot has some good twists and turns. It's an enjoyable, easy to read YA fantasy and Shiori is a likeable narrator.

1. The Dragon's Promise by Elizabeth Lim

This starts right where Six Crimson Cranes finishes. Kiata is in danger and Shiori makes it her mission to save the kingdom. I didn't like this as much as Six Crimson Cranes. It starts off well enough with Shiori travelling to the dragon's realm but after about the first third the plot seems to lose its way a bit. Still, it does eventually bring Shiori's story to a pretty good finish, and not exactly what I expected either.

3. Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim Prequel to Six Crimson Cranes. This is Shiori's stepmother's backstory. Set in a part of the world where magic isn't forbidden, it's a fairytale about sisters, curses, dragons, demons and snakes. I liked it.

Sorry I didn't realise I had to give a brief synopsis of the books. I imagine most people on here will know Tipping the Velvet . Late 19th C tale of Oyster seller Nancy who falls in love with a masher (kind of drag king of the old music halls) Kitty and join her ! It's a lesbian coming of age story and much more!

A Bollywood State of Mind Sunny Singh

As some of you know I am a big fan of Bollywood cinema and read one of Singh’s other books last year which was great. This one hasn’t quite lived up to what I was expecting. More my fault than hers. This is partly a monograph of her PhD thesis applying ancient concepts of art making and storytelling to the development of commercial Hindi cinema. It’s partly a memoir, and this is where I struggled a little. She has obviously lived an interesting life and I would read that book, but it didn’t really work in conjunction here. I think it’s useful to be familiar with some of the films that she refers to in to in order to get the most from her analysis.

Unusual for me start the year with non-fiction.

I’ve got a number of books on the go so will probably be a while before my next update.

Çan i join ? I'm setting a target of 30 but 50 would be ace.

My New Year's resolution is to read more and scroll less. Usually manage a book a month although a lot more on holidays.
I normally have a fiction and non fiction on the go at any one time.
Currently on books 2 and 3 - having finished the new Michael Connelly (Resurrection Walk) which I was disappointed by

Welcome @neverclockwatching I'm more of a c30 book a year person too. I've set my target at 40 on Goodreads - I'd be happy with that.

Finished my first book,
The Second Sight Of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk. I felt like I should have enjoyed this more than I did. It lost its way somewhat and became a bit meandering. Some of the characters and plot developments were incongruous in the context of 18th century London, but then the under developed magical realism of the 'second sight' would suggest it wasn't going for gritty realism.
Perhaps the fault was mine as it's taken me around a month to finish this book - Christmas got in the way but it's also symptomatic of the fact that a wasn't in any great hurry to pick it up again.

1. Artificial Wisdom Thomas R. Weaver

A futuristic crime mystery set against the backdrop of the upcoming election for World dictator. The race is between a human and an AI.
Honestly I can't explain it. But it was amazing. 5🌟

I'm a bit late to the Tom Lake chat but I'll keep shouting about this as I loved it so much, Ann Patchett's best yet in my opinion. Very gentle but devastating.

I was torn over Hello Beautiful. It should have been right up my street but I also struggled with the structure - one event being told over and over again, then the big 10 year jumps. And I found some of the actions bafflingly cruel or insensitive, and wasn't convinced they could be forgiven.

Finally finished a book!

1. The Future by Naomi Alderman. Set in a sort of near future, we follow a group of tech billionaires, one of their staff who is working to undermine them, and her lover a kind of survivalist YouTube star, as they hurtle towards the apocalypse. Or do they?! Some of this was enjoyable but a lot was very silly. It reminded me of Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction, with the tech satire and wild inventions. Absolutely not one for any serious sci fi fan.

1. Doppleganger- Naomi Klein

I was aware of Naomi Klein and in particular her book No Logo (which admittedly I haven’t read) but some of the stuff I heard that she had said just sounded odd and inconsistent. I then realised I was confusing her with Naomi Wolf and I then fell down a rabbit hole where I discovered she had written a whole book about this exact confusion.

I’m not sure that this held together as a coherent work. She has obviously reflected a lot about her divergence from Wolf and the reasons about this and what this says about our culture. This was interesting and insightful. She then wrote quite a lot about ‘Dopplegangers’ as a concept and it all felt a bit forced.

Her perspective on Judaism and Israel is very very interesting and one I hadn’t heard before. It is worth noting this was written last year so is not up to date in this respect. She is clearly thoughtful and intelligent and uses evidence for her conclusions so I found myself repeatedly asking “Why is she not gender critical?” I couldn’t really work that out. But she is a Democrat so maybe it is a line she can’t cross.

Now reading The Sleeping Beauties about functional neurological disorders and also The Armour of Light by Ken Follett (oh, the breasts, all the breasts! Once it is pointed out to you it is inescapable!)

@Romanmum Was A Month in The Country the one recommended on Richard Osman and Marina Hyde’s podcast? I really liked the sound of that... may look out for it!

@granniemainland I enjoyed The Future a lot when I read it but interestingly that passed fairly quickly and I haven’t thought much about it at all since I read it a month or two ago. When I think back I’m not so sure why I enjoyed it....

@HowIWroteElasticWoman so jealous of you getting to discover Sarah Waters and Rebecca for the first time!

3. Wintering - Katherine May my first nonfiction read of the year. This was a recommendation from a friend. I struggle with the dark months and hoped this might give me inspiration.
It is a very gentle exploration of what is like to 'winter' in all its forms, often linked to the author's own health and life struggles.
It was beautifully written, some lovely nature writing and words of wisdom but somehow left me wanting more.
It was however a hopeful book after reading Prophet Song and for that I am grateful.

I finished number 3. slow horses by Mick Herron yesterday. Absolutely loved it, but I'd read it after watching the TV series. The slow horses work at Slough House - they're misfits, who've done something wrong in their career. It was novel to me to read something after watching the TV adaptation, so I had to readjust my expectations a little bit, because I was picturing the TV characters.

Number 4 is Transcription by Kate Atkinson that begins with 18 year old Juliet being recruited into MI5.

2024 is the year of the spy 🤣

1. Then She Fled Me by Sara Seale - Seale was (possibly) a writing team of two authors who wrote dozens of novels for Mills & Boon from the 1930s to the 1970s. Then She Fled Me has the typical Seale dynamic of a huge age gap, an impoverished orphan and a remote country setting. I've been curious about who Seale really was for a long time, as there is so little information about her.
2. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh - an all-time favourite of mine that I haven't read for a few years. It's one of Waugh's best and possibly least bleak novels, and contains the infamous line: "Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole".

Currently reading Anne Rice's "Interview with a vampire". I am very tempted to try to read the whole series in order. Think I am being ambitious about this amount of books but we will see!

1 Fairy Tale - Stephen King.
My first read of the year. I haven’t read a Stephen King book for several years and definitely prefer his old ones. I enjoyed this one though. The basic plot was about a 17 year old boy who found a way into a hidden under ground world after befriending a mysterious elderly man and his dog. In my opinion, the first half was better, it meandered a bit in the middle and had a Game of Thrones/Squid Games vibe which I didn’t particularly enjoy. I felt this section could have done with a few flash backs from ‘the real world’. I think this would have made the reader feel more connected to the main character and everything he’d lose if he couldn’t get back to his world. A few of the characters were really padded out and I was routing for them (mainly the dog!!) but others definitely lacked depth and made me not particularly care what happened to them.
Not the best Stephen King I’ve read but I’m definitely glad I read it.