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?

so many disses for Vernon God Little
I am probably a quarter of the way through and enjoying it so far. However it's on audiobook and the narrator (no one I'd heard of) is doing a fabulous job at really drawing out the black comedy. I did wonder even before reading all the feedback here if I'd find the aggressive vulgarity too grating on the page.

I like to have two books on the go, a fiction and a non-fiction. I'm starting the year with I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes and My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

Another DNF for Vernon God Little and no memory of it.

@Tarahumara Fire & Hemlock is definitely worth a re-read as an adult. You'll probably spot loads more that you didn't spot the first time. And if you're like me, quite clueless as a teenager, actually understand it better!

1. Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran: Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

Paperback. This is a short book at only 75 pages and it was a quick read. Moïse is a young teenage Jewish boy who lives with his father, a cold man who doesn't love him and is completely taken up with his work. The two of them live in near silence in a large, dark apartment in Paris. The only bright spot in the boy's life is calling into Ibrahim in the local 'épicérie' on rue Bleue and having a chat with him. A close friendship develops between the two of them and the older man helps the boy overcome his difficult start in life and through the practice of his Muslim faith, sets him on the right path.

This was a nice, easy read. It was far-fetched and corny in places but also charming with nice humorous touches and nuggets of gentle wisdom in the voice of Ibrahim. I'll keep this author in mind for more books to read in French this year.

You're right Eine, I adored it, and happy to see all the love for it on this thread.

I am however an absolute sucker for a family saga in which very little happens, so I quite understand how it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I'm going try one of his books. The adaptations are almost great, but they're not. Very clunky interactions between the characters and either lots of plot holes or odd choices by the characters. Lots of "why the fuck did x do that?" Moments! ! The plots themselves though are multi layered and interesting so I wonder if the books are better. Going to try one and see!

But late to the party but would love to join 😀. After illness, lockdown, menopause and a social media addiction I seem to have lost the ability to read altogether after being a prolific reader most of my life. Am determined to crack it this year and wean myself off hours of social media and get back into reading.

Have downloaded the Libby app for lots of free books but am having to wait for lots of the good ones so have made a start with a very easy in: "The Whispers" by Heidi Perks. V pleased that I managed this in two days and didn't constantly get distracted or pick up my phone. So the ability to concentrate on a book is still in there somewhere! It was ok. V easy read which was what I was looking for.

Going to try The Signalman by Charles Dickens next. Short story but a bit more challenging concentration wise for me I expect so we'll see how that goes. Not ever been one much for the classics but this has been highly recommended by a few people so am dipping my toe in.

To encourage me on I have also set myself a goal of 50 books this year on Goodreads as recommended by a PP. 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Finished my first of the year.

1. Ranger Confidential: Living, Working and Dying in the National Parks, by Andrea Lankford. The author is a former Park Ranger who worked for the US National Park Service at some of its busiest and most popular parks, including Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. As per the subtitle, this is a set of loosely related stories about life (and death) in the National Parks. The idiocy of some of the public is shocking but not surprising. Although this was published in 2010 I imagine things have not changed much, particularly based on recent news stories of people trying to pose with bears and bison. Sigh.

I finished Lessons in Chemistry as my first book of 2024. I really enjoyed it and would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been sat with my family whilst I read the ending so couldn't immerse myself in it properly as I'd have cried! I can see why it's such a popular book and will recommend it to me mum.

Now onto book 2, The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. I'm a big fan of KSR's Mars trilogy, especially Red Mars which, if I could only read one book for the rest of my days that would be my pick. DH managed to find The Years of Rice and Salt for me a long time ago as I couldn't get it on my kindle and it's sat unopened for all that time. I can't even remember what it's about - I'm pretty sure it is spanning a long time period, an alternate history, and it involves a pandemic. I've read the first two chapters and it's descriptive and engaging.

Another VernonGodLittle sufferer here. I had to read it for book club and vaguely remember it picked up a bit in the second half but can't recall anything good about it,

2. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

Randomly picked up in a charity shop a while back this fortunately turns out to be first in the series of Maya Angelou memoirs.

I didn't know much about her as a public figure but the book is captivating anyway. Her writing is just glorious and poetic. Her childhood is so chaotic and sad but still told with love and humour.

I will be adding the rest of her memoirs (and possibly just everything she has ever written!) to my wishlist.

My favourite quote 'Their faces shone with the delight of their souls'

5 stars and definitely a bold on my list. Recommended but I assume a lot of you will have already read it!

I've finished The Atlas Six and am now 72% through 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo', much easier to read and has kept me wanting more the whole time. I am however going to read 'The Atlas Paradox' after this one as I am determined to commit. I'm just going to bash through it, as I cannot leave a series unfinished.

@Terpsichore if you can cover postage I’m happy to send you my copy- I don’t really have space to keep any more books! Let me know :)

Kala by Colin Walsh Mixed feelings about this as I can see why it’s so popular but ultimately although it was a compelling read I didn’t love it. It’s really good on teenage group dynamics and the characters are brilliantly drawn, but as others have said it’s pretty brutal. I think the problem is that I like my crime fiction impersonal, whereas this deals with the aftermath and we get to know the victim and her friends, and I like my coming-of-age fiction more gentle.

@CornishLizard I'm with you here. I didn't love it either. I just didn't think it was anything special. I felt like I had read other things that were similar. I also read four or five books last year that had the 'childhood friend become huge music star now back with their mates' so perhaps that was what slightly marred it for me too as it felt like a tired idea by the time I read this.

Thanks so much for that generous offer @MegBusset - I’ve PMd you.

4 Green And Pleasant Land Ed Steve Shaw. Vol 1 of ‘best British horror’ as I go through the backlist of anthologies published by Black Shuck Books. The majority are excellent with just a couple of bum notes, which I won’t single out, because what makes ‘folk weird ‘ to one person’s taste might be completely different to another person’s.
Honourable mentions to the stories by Simon Kurt Unsworth, David Moody, Ray Cluley and Laura Mauro. The collection is a bit light on stories by women, but iirc subsequent collections in the series redress the balance.

Phew this thread moves fast… all caught up and finished my first book…

1. Still Life by Louise Penny. Borrowed this from the library after seeing the authors name on a thread on here recommending new crime fiction series. This is the first in the Chief Inspector Gamache series and is based in Quebec. Overall it was an easy read and the location gave it a different feel to other series I have read recently. However, the characterisation was a bit flat and one character in particular just felt odd and unnecessary (Agent Nichol if anyone has read it). Also not really sure I bought into the ending/big reveal. Despite all that I actually want to read the next one so can’t have been too bad!

Just off to add Tom Lake to my wish list as it sounds right up my street….

I understand where you're coming from with Kala @CornishLizard I didn't put it on my bolds list for similar reasons. I liked it more as a coming of age story. I didn't like the brutality in it, although I suppose it was necessary. It was almost a thriller but not quite. For me, it was almost a five star read, but not quite. I would like to read more by the author though.

2. Just one damned thing after* ano*ther - Jodi Taylor I read this after seeing it recommended as a good time slip novel, I did enjoy it and may read the next one but it wasn't an unput downable novel. Im not sure I liked the characters enough to be that invested in what happened next.

When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope
Well, I don’t say this very often but this was outstanding. She writes with humour, humility, compassion and love about herself, her family and her work on some of the most awful disasters in recent years. I didn’t want to put it down.

I was interested in how scathing she was about the Tories, and it seems that they’ve neglected and underfunded disaster planning for many years.

I also, unusually for me, really enjoyed the biographical stuff in here.

Cannot recommend this highly enough and it will almost certainly be in my top books of the year, as I can’t imagine much else living up to it.

Glad you liked it @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. It was one of my top reads last year.

I read this just before Christmas and your review perfectly sums up how I felt about it! @toastedcrumpetsrock Would be willing to give the next one a go if it was in the library or 99p on kindle but otherwise not that invested.

Thanks for the recommendation @BestIsWest I thought it was exceptional, and I don’t say that very often.