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?

Thinking of taking a break from Potter til the summer.

I didn't really like C+F either. I thought there were some interesting characters and chapters (and yes the copy-writer far and away the best!) but I struggled to understand why everyone was so obsessed with Cleo, whose only attributes seemed to be being very sad and very thin.

Honestly it's not the best book I've ever read, I'm now itching to finish it to start a book I will actually enjoy - I have plenty to choose from on my kindle. I am trying to declutter physical books as I definitely get overwhelmed with mess and excess stuff so will be excited to reduce the amount of 'stuff' I own. I think my next book/series might be the Caraval series, or maybe a classic.

Going against the grain here and piping up to say I loved C and F. The characters were so flawed and awful but I thought the writing was superb.

Hello, can I join? Happy New Year readers.

I've got some excellent suggestions from following these threads before and last year read 60 books so hoping to actually join this year.

I've three books on the go at the moment.

Just started The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia as an audiobook as I enjoyed Mexican Gothic last year. I'm also reading Whatever Next by Anne Glenconner on my Kobo as I enjoyed lady in waiting as well as the Haunting of Holkham Hall. Then good reads tells me I started House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson but I cant remember in what format! I usually like to have a print book on the go as well. I have a couple of Jane Austen Biographies on the shelf so I might get started on one of those. Or it may be time for a re-read of the Count of Montecristo which is a favorite but I haven't read for a while.

@ChessieFL I didn't know that Jilly Cooper had written something other than her "bonk busters". It sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading.

Hello everyone, happy new year and lovely to see new 50 bookers joining the thread.

I can’t quite remember when I first joined these threads, I know there were a few years where I would total around 60ish, with plenty of recommendations from the thread spurring me along. Then my brain turned to mulch when pregnant and I couldn’t read to the end of a recipe let along a book, and the first year after having DD was similar, I maybe made about 12 books total. 2022 I was almost back on form with 55, then last year I fell short at 41.

Wonder what this year will bring. I’ve made a bit of a promise to myself to spend more time reading and less time scrolling, and banning phones in bed altogether, so that should help.

I’m starting the year with Slow Horses which* has *been on my kindle a while and decided to pick that first after seeing @BlindurErBóklausMaður say it was her book of the year on the roundup thread.

Sorry to hear you’re not impressed with The Satsuma Complex @Livinginthenineteenseventies - I received it for Christmas too and I do love Bob. I’ll probably give it’s go next

@splothersdog I actually did like the writing and Coco Mellors has a new book out this year which I will read, despite my feelings on C+F!

I'm reading Brazzaville Beach. Some fairly detailed descriptions of chimpanzee sex.

Fell off the last thread as December got too much for me but my 2023 total was 192, not counting all the many, many times I had to read utter drivel to the DTs again and again...

Starting 2024 with some Sophie Holloway books which seem to be Georgette Heyer-esque? And are easy reads if not spectacular...

I’m still here! Yes I read both and quite enjoyed the first one, but found the sequel pretty bad…I’ll read the third if and when it appears on BorrowBox but can’t see myself paying for it!

1 Trustee from the Toolroom - Nevil Shute
Sigh. I so wanted to like this. To start with I found the engineering talk very soothing and the characters lovely, as so many have said on this thread. That carried me through to the halfway mark, at which point I just needed the plot to be moving along a bit quicker - every time it looked like there was about to be some movement, someone would say, "Now look here, I've got a fascinating piece of machinery in my basement and I just can't work out how to waffle waffle waffle", at which Keith obligingly explains the solution and shyly offers them a copy of "Miniature Mechanics". I totally understand why people love this, but it wasn't for me this time.

It’s a great book. His best, I reckon.

I’ve had a lovely wander through Bloomsbury today and am now heading to the Fantasy exhibition at the British Library. Will post my (modest) book haul later!

Hello, I'd like to join! I never track my reading usually, and tend to have bursts where I read lots and then a period of little reading. I'm going to aim for 25 over the year. I've just started The Once and Future King by TH White - I've read it a few times and I'm obsessed with King Arthur stories so I'm giving it a winter comfort reread 😊

1 Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

I was initially resistant to this one. I’m not into gaming or navel-gazing youths. However, it was pretty good! The tone of it reminded me of Leigh Bardugo, whose books I love and while it didn’t contain magic, vampires or love in different dimensions, in a way it did have all those things in it!
Much reviewed, so I won’t go into the plot or characters, but it was beautifully written and dammit, I certainly cared about Sadie, Sam and Marx despite wanting to shake each of them periodically, reminding them that the actual World was at their feet and to stop pissing around and wasting time. I think that’s probably because I am Old . Anyway, Time itself gives them the requisite shaking and I’m not too proud to admit I cried a considerable amount in the second half.
Haven’t played a computer game since Tombraider in the 90s. Books are my escapism and I mean that in a totally non-snobby way. I was gripped by the evolution of gaming and game design in this novel (although I did feel that Sadie got off lightly as a female game designer, or was buffered from it by Marx and Sam).
I don’t think it’s a bold for me, but it was an entertaining, occasionally thought-provoking read, so thank you to the 50 Bookers who recommended it in 2023.

Oh I'm jealous @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie . It's my must visit place when i am in London!

She’s written quite a lot! As well as the Rutshire Chronicles (the bonkbusters) there’s the Girls’ Names books, a series of romances written in the 70s, and quite a lot of non fiction including at least two books of newspaper columns. I haven’t read them all but have enjoyed those I have read.

Happy New Year! I introduced myself last November or December and then got Covid so went quiet…

I get quite a lot of books via the Libby app from my local library, mainly light stuff but I just found this by chance:
‘Smile’ by Sarah Ruhl.
It’s a memoir focused on what happened to the author after contracting Bell’s Palsy. really beautifully written and very thoughtful…quite a bit about Buddhism in there, with a light touch. An easy but fulfilling read.

And I’m listening on Audible, to Time after Time by Chris Atkins. Accounts of individuals, some of whom he met while he was a prisoner himself, and exploring why they reoffended. Very sad but also at times, funny.

Looking forward to reading more of your ideas for books to read.

Thanks @Keepingongoing , I read A Bit Of A Stretch but didn’t know he’d written another one.

Hi all and happy new year! I've joined these threads for the past few years but have always fallen off them, despite reading my 50 books!
I'm going to do better this year.
Insomnia last night, so finished number 1.

1. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - Gabrielle Zein

This is for my book club and I suspect many of you will have read it. I loved it. As a teen/student in the 90's there were many touchstones for me. I've downloaded Young Jane Young by the same author from the 99p kindle offerings.

I'm jealous @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, I meant to go to the fantasy exhibition while I was back for Christmas but there was too much going on for me to make it.

@Keepingongoing I read Smile in 2022 and really loved it; I thought it was beautifully written and very thought provoking.

Hello to all the new joiners :) I've looked, & this will be my ninth year on these threads They've seen me through divorce, family illness & death, as well as the crazy covid years. I'm not great at review writing, but I've widened my reading choices so much as a result of reading everyone else's write-ups. As many others have said, it's unquestionably the best corner of the internet.

On which note, book no. 1 was one of my pre-Christmas library sweep picked on the basis of remembering that others liked it, and a great start to the year.

1. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
This starts in the 1960s with 'colored' but light skinned twins Desirée & Stella leaving the small town of Mallard, Louisiana. The story follows the two girls & their families over the next 20 years. Stella leaves her family behind, secretly passing as white & marrying / working in a new identity. I absolutely loved this, & particularly the way that Desirée's daughter Jude and her partner Reece's story was interwoven.

edit: you'd think I'd be able to format these posts sensibly by now

Hi All and thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

I fell off last year but managed an irritating 79 books against a goal of 80.

I’m revising this down this year to 70 as I felt a bit too eager to try and meet my goal so started racing through rather than enjoying reading from about mid November!

First book of the year finished
Blood Sugar - Sacha Rothschild

Fairly enjoyable and free on Kindle Unlimited. we start by meeting Ruby who has been accused of four murders - but is only responsible for three of them. It’s a fun read and Ruby is likeable - but it sort of tailed off a little towards the end.

Browsing last years thread for some inspiration for what to read next.

One of my spiritual homes! I’ve walked nearly ten miles, mostly because I got a bit lost and did three laps of the outside of the British Museum!