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?

BestIsWest and SheilaFentiman Rachel Clarke was on a recent edition of Radio 4's Doctor, Doctor, link here if you're interested: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tbqr

Keeping up with this thread is challenging but hanging in to see what’s loved and what’s disappointing. Latest books are:

3. Ruin Beach - Kate Rhodes

Second in the series of murders/police procedurals set in the Isles of Scilly. First book had a murder on Bryher, this one was on Tresco so am guessing we will move round the islands. Ben, a native islander and ex-Metropolitan policeman, and now on probation to join the Isles force, investigates when the local diving instructor is found drowned. It’s clearly not an accident so why would someone want to kill her? This kept me turning the pages to find out who was the killer. Also helps that I know Tresco well.

4. Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

The story of Shakespeare’s family - particularly his wife, Agnes, and the death of his son, Hamnet/Hamlet. This was a reread for me - first read it in 2020 and was a bold then. Reread because of the theatre production and still rate it. I really like Maggie O’Farrell’s writing but also enjoyed the historical setting, the minutiae of daily life and the relationships and frustrations.

Coming to update before I end up falling off this thread!

2. A Bit of a Stretch - Chris Atkins
Middle class film maker goes to prison for fraud and tells the story of life behind bars at Wandsworth prison.

Not sure how I felt about this one. It was an interesting insight, but cannot help but think he makes light of the prison experience than many suffer.

3.Confessions of a Barrister
Part of a series that are free on kindle unlimited. Knowing someone aligned to this profession - it was very obvious that a huge amount of it was very exaggerated if not entirely made up which ruined what could have been a fairly enjoyable read.

1. Beyond the Wand - Tom Felton

Not great. A few insights behind the scenes of filming Harry Potter, but it got incredibly boring to hear how “kind” literally every actor in the film is. And how “naughty” Draco is behind the scenes. He seems like a lovely chap, but this needed a serious edit.

1. The Housemaid - Frieda Mc Fadden

I really enjoyed this. We start by meeting Millie - a young want who’s been released from prison and manages to wangle a job at as a housekeeper for a wealthy family. It’s soon apparent that this isn’t the cushy job she had hoped for, as the wife is incredibly gaslighting but is there more to it?

@Boiledeggandtoast Thsnk you! I will have a listen later.

Can I join? Reading 50 books in a year seems impossible to me, but my resolution is to at least read for 30 minutes every night and an hour on Sat and Sun. Currently half way through The Whispering Muse. It's a great idea for a mysterious gothic tale and an atmospheric setting -great for winter evenings, but finding myself wishing I could rephrase bits of it.

I have a largish TBR pile and just ordered Demon Copperhead to add to it.

@RomanMum they all sound like my kind of book!

1. The Quelling C.L Lauder

When you’re Stained, patches of skin glisten like liquid starlight, and sooner or later, his creatures find you. When Kyjta accidentally brands herself with an alien fluid while plotting revenge, she knows her fate is sealed. As one of the Stained, her markings glisten star-bright, and the creatures sent by the Rhemans to scavenge for bodies will have no trouble finding her. One night, while sheltering during a raid, Kyjta forms an unexpected pact with a Rheman rebel to protect a young girl, Calipsie, who’s fallen into her care. Days later, when Calipsie is taken, Kyjta abandons precaution to go after her. Facing impossible odds and allied by a Rheman she’s not sure she can trust, Kyjta must not only rescue Calipsie, but also face down the Rheman overlord who’s taken a disturbing interest in her.

Loved this! Just couldn't work out how to explain it without just copying the blurb
5/5

Three weeks in to the new year and I'm already playing catch up on reviews.

1 How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
Short, accessible, authoritative account of how science (and more importantly technology) will save us. As someone working in this space, I found it light on the need to reduce demand – and to be fair to him, he’s clear that he doesn’t want to reduce demand for materials, travel, energy etc, not least because (rightly) he doesn’t see why poorer countries should be penalised for the sins of richer countries who have already had many decades of high carbon activities that have massively increased our quality of life. There’s a good accessible overview of the science at the start, everything is backed up by data and then there’s a really helpful exploration of how each individual component of carbon emissions (manufacturing, electricity, transport) needs to change, and what needs to happen in terms of innovation and policy to get to net zero. This probably isn’t the book you want if you’re after more about the science of climate change itself or interested in understanding what you can do as an individual, but it’s very good on structures and systems. He’s got a touching faith in the power of science and reason to change the world. I’d love to think it’s not misplaced, but remain to be convinced. In the end I think the path to a net zero future will be a lot messier, painful and ill thought out than the one he argues is possible, but I would love nothing more than to be proved wrong.

2 Tackle by Jilly Cooper
At this point, I don’t expect anything new from a Jilly Cooper and if you’ve never read one of her Rutchester Chronicles I wouldn’t start here. Riders and Rivals are so much better, more original and tightly plotted than this, which is largely the same format as every other book – Rupert is gorgeous and boot-faced, Taggie is saintly and beautiful, there is a cast of hundreds, people randomly break into song or quote Shakespeare, the working class characters are denoted purely by their inability to pronounce “th”, the middle classes are social climbing nightmares and everyone is gorgeous, draped in silk and cashmere and in possession of various pets. I don’t think Cooper had ever been to a football match in her life before she started writing this and to be honest I’m not sure how many she has now been to, given that the score line in the matches described in the book tend to feature a 7-6 or similar score line. I laughed a lot at the line where she helpfully explained a penalty shoot out – “Each team would now have five kicks and the team which scored the most penalties from these five would win” – in the climatic match. On the other hand, while it’s deeply silly it’s also entertaining and I enjoyed it a lot.

3 Nine Quarters of Jerusalem by Matthew Teller
I was due to visit Jerusalem with a friend in October. For obvious reasons that didn’t happen so she gave me this for Christmas. It’s a fascinating exploration of modern and ancient Jerusalem, tracing the history of the people who live there by area. The interviews with people who live there are fascinating as are the stories he tells about a city with the most complicated and turbulent past imaginable.

4 Dead in Venice by Fiona Leitch
I do most of my reading in the small hours and I did not find this book relaxing

I've just snapped up the Rory Stewart memoir Politics On The Edge for £1.99 on Kindle which I'll be reading alongside Kala.

1. Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.

It was interesting to find out what was familiar in this and what was new. I didn't for example know that C de B was based on a real person - Hercule-Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, who died in 1655 and was a dramatist and duelist. There was much that was familiar, Cyrano lending his poetic words and superior intellect to the beautiful, but inarticulate, Christian so they can woo their mutual love Roxane, the balcony scene, duelling etc And some that wasn't - towards the end, and right before a decisive battle, Roxane turns up on the battlefield with a carriage full of gourmet food for the starving regiment that both Cyrano & Christian serve in, having talked her way through several enemy check points - not very likely. I wish I'd seen the 2019 award winning turn by James McAvoy in this at The National Theatre and I'll be looking out for the National Theatre Live cinema showings and other adaptations.

@DesdamonasHandkerchief I had a huge migraine on the day I was supposed to see Cyrano with McAvoy and had to give my ticket to a colleague.

@RomanMum that Hoxton book sounds interesting. My grandparents lived in Hoxton from the 1970s until they passed away. Even the 1980s and 90s felt very deprived and hard around there - and I only lived about an hour by bus in another part of east London. So far removed from gentrified Hoxton today.

I have lots on the go and therefore am nowhere near any updates.

#3 The End Of Innocence by Simon Garfield completed. A journalistic exploration of AIDS in the 80s and 90s and an interesting if difficult read. Difficult in that I remembered so much from the time, and it has affected friends. I found the personal accounts compelling and it has put a re-read of Holly Johnson's autobiography back on my tbr pile. Next up The Rumour by Lesley Kara which I'm expecting to be a quicker and easier read.

Bad luck @AgualusasLover - at least there's a film of the production, which was by all accounts outstanding, so hopefully it will be wheeled out again in cinemas or on some artsy tv channel in the future.

1. The Messalina Of The Suburbs: E.M. Delafield.

I read this on Kindle for the 'Rather Dated' bookclub.

This book is based on a crime committed in the early 1920s by Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters, a British couple executed for the murder of Edith's husband, Percy. Their case became a cause célèbre and while Frederick wielded the knife, Edith was executed alongside him for being complicit in her husband's death despite convincing evidence. Her relatives have sought a pardon even as recently as last year to acknowledge the severity of the judgement that was prejudiced against her.

The Messalina of the title refers to Valeria Messalina of Ancient Rome, third wife of Claudius, a powerful and promiscuous woman who allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Written in 1924, the Messalina of Delafield's book is Elsie, a averagely attractive girl who discovers that at sixteen, she exerts a powerful magnetic sexual appeal over men that she can use to her advantage.

Elsie lives a miserable, poky existence with her mother and her unfortunate sister Geraldine of the recurring bilious complaints. Her mother runs a boarding house which involves too much work for the lazy Elsie but at least brings her into contact with interesting house guests. This does not work out for the best as Elsie gets involved with an older man who offers her an escape from her stultifying existence but she only ends up in a worse situation. It isn't any surprise that things are not going to work out well.

I thought this book sounded promising but fell short of being an excellent read for various reasons. I thought it was one dimensional and not nuanced in the least. The characters, both men and women, are thoroughly unpleasant and because the men are only after One Thing (speaking euphemistically in 1920's terms!) it's very odd and sordid in places.

The language itself is stagey and stilted, particularly at the beginning of the book. The dialogue between characters improves as the book goes on but it comes across as a bad amateur theatrical performance, particularly at the start. Perhaps this is how people did speak at that time, but it struck me as exaggerated and it made characters into caricatures of themselves. I think there was too much repetitive description as well.

Elsie is an unlikeable character and is portrayed as a helpless, hysterical young woman. Unimaginative, unintelligent and powerless to intervene and change her destiny. I'm not sure Delafield did the real-life Edith any favour in the book. She was sympathetic to her and it's important to consider the book in the context of its time. It was no doubt forward-thinking for those times to delve into female psychology. It's easy to be critical.

I'll save my other thoughts for the discussion on the other thread. I've been mainly negative in my review here, but I still thought it was an absorbing read even if it was a flawed one.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh really interesting. I didn't know that E.M. Delafield had written a book based on the Bywaters case. I love her book Consequences.

F. Tennyson Jessie also wrote a great book based on the case calledA Pin to See the Peepshow (1934). I still have my battered green Virago copy. The BBC serialised it on TV in the early 1970's with a young Francessa Annis and John Duttine as the lovers and Bernard Hepton as the older boring husband. I've never seen it again (but can't find it anywhere- except a little clip on Youtube) but it really made an impression on my young mind.

Thanks @Sapatsea I find the case intriguing and have been reading up on it. In real life, Edith was only three years younger than her husband. He is much older in the book, in his late forties or early fifties and is described as elderly twice! Delafield took some dramatic licence there. Also, Edith lived a much more interesting life than Elsie. She was described as imaginative and loved to read and write and she traveled for work. Elsie is from a lower social class and comes from a poor background with little education and very few prospects.

I heard of the Tennyson Jessie book.* *I might consider reading it.

The End Of Innocence was one of my standouts last year. Such an interesting, important and moving book.

Ref A Pin To See The Peepshow TV adaptation @SapatSea ditto, for some reason I was allowed to stay up and watch it when I was really too young to do so and it made a big impression on me, as did Bouquet Of Barbed Wire a few years later.

1. Marple Twelve New Stories

A book of short stories by a variety of authors including Ruth Ware, Leigh Bardugo and Natalie Haynes. I enjoyed this. I wondered what sort of brief they had as there were certain features they all had in common eg in every single one Miss Marple comes out with a fanciful and seemingly irrelevant anecdote that then helps solve the case. It felt a little forced in some of the stories.

My favourites were probably first the Natalie Haynes which was a reimagining of an Odyssean homecoming (if you will) with an Oedipal outcome. Predictably well written and thought out.

I also enjoyed Miss Marple Takes Manhattan by Alyssa Cole as our heroine is put in unfamiliar time and place.

4. The sleeping Beauties and other stories of mystery illness by Suzanne O'Sullivan

Non-fiction. A neurologist visits communities where mass hysteria medical events have taken place. In my opinion the best and most important chapter was the final one about ‘normal’ and how arbitrary classifications of things outwith the ‘normal range’ have become medicalised for various political, cultural and financial reasons. She discussed how conditions such as POTS and hypermobility can result (in some people) in taking a ‘sick role’ and then there can be a determinism about their level of function and health for the rest of their life.

I am an HCP. I often quip that ‘I don’t believe in Western Medicine’. The final chapter of this book was a good example of why. I feel medicine is going in completely the wrong direction. It is illness focussed instead of health driven. It is reactive instead of proactive. Funding should not be going into statins. It should be going into cycle lanes and fresh food and healthy start clinics and social support and community.... It’s just so hard to do in a poorly funded system and a lot of it is now cultural and will be very very hard to change. Anyway... good book... slightly depressing. I will claim it as a few hours CPD haha!

Next reads- Never by Ken Follett. Half way through and it is about an unfolding escalation of conflict that will turn into world war 3... wondering if it is a bit close to home. I read The Second Sleep in early Feb 2020 and that was a bit too close to home as well....

I think I will also pick up either Fern Brady (which I got for 99p earlier this month) or I have a trashy Gillian McAllister which will be good escapism...

@Icrunchcrispsnotnumbers I have just started my English Lit degree at in September OU. Enjoying it so far! Are you enrolled on A111 in Feb?

@strangewaysherewecome Just a quick hello because your username reminded me that earlier this week I was just thinking that Strangeways really IS the best Smiths album. It has everything. When I was a cocky 6th former I once wrote an essay about Strangeways as a musical interpretation of Hamlet. Luckily my English teacher indulged me...

@SapatSea we did throw the F. Tennyson Jesse book into the mix but we’d left it a bit late to make a choice so the Delafield had it! I agree though, it’s an excellent book (mine's an old Virago copy too), and I was also transfixed by the TV adaptation. I wish there was some way to see it again. So many of those excellent 70s/80s dramas have vanished forever, it seems.

F. Tennyson Jesse was a very interesting woman.I read her biography years ago - she was deeply immersed in the study of crime and murder, unusual for a woman of her time. I think that knowledge was how she was able to make the novel so convincing.

5. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett
This was a slog. Set in an unidentified time period where faeries are acknowledged and real Emily Wilde sets off to study Nordic faeries.
I should have known better. I am fascinated by genuine folktales but really struggle with fantasy. And this was definitely the later and weak fantasy at that.
Pushed on with it past the point where I felt I could DNF but relieved it is over.

5 My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell
This has already been reviewed on this thread and I agree it was very hard to read in places but at the same time I struggled to put it down. Well written.

Fabulosa! The Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language by Paul Baker

I consider myself relatively intelligent and very well read. Even so, I don't think I'd ever heard of Polari until I saw this book in the wonderful Gay's the Word bookshop.

My opinions on it are a bit mixed. I loved the first half, liked the awkwardness of the writer who often writes about how awkward he is, and enjoyed learning about a new (to me) language, with the associated history. Favourite line = the author describing himself as having, 'No social skills, but lots of manners' which felt like it could have been written for me!

At around the half way point I got a bit bemused that in this quite academic text, with plenty of big words, he felt the need to give definitions for verbs, nouns and adjectives. It pissed me off a bit and I'm not sure if that's when it started to go down hill a bit for me or not. By the time I'd read pages and pages and pages and pages about a radio show that Kenneth Williams used to do, which went on and on and on and on, I was bored - very bored.

I'm glad I persevered though, because I felt it really picked up again and I really enjoyed the final couple of chapters. So, all in all, an enjoyable and informative read.

I've bought a copy of Fabulosa having seen it on your pile Remus - I've got some long train journeys so looking forwards to reading it. I know a little bit about Polari, but not very much.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk David Sedaris

This is for bookclub and was supposed to be a light read given our previous books have all been reasonably depressing. Personally, I thought this little book of short stories told from the pov of animals but in almost human interaction was quite witty. It’s a satirical look at human nature really. A few comments have already been circulating that many haven’t been able to finish and have actually found it incredibly sad and depressing.

Finally finished my 1st book of the year!

1. Confessions of a forty-something f* up - Alexandra Potter

A dear friend told me I should read this. Was she trying to tell me something? Essentially an easy and comforting read - we are all f* ups in one way or another and that's ok!!

Lots of other books on the go at the moment but very little time for reading right now.