26-ish books 2024

[Tinkhasflown]

A shiny new thread for 2024.

All welcome and note 26 is just a number. Everyone can set their own target and you are welcome here even if you only read 3 books a year.

I personally count the larger novel style books I read to my children and audio books I listen to. Others don't and there are no rules.

I look forward to all your suggestions again this year.

Book number 9. - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

A young shepherd finds himself embarking on an adventure to fulfil his dreams.

A tale with deep meaning. Interesting and I can see why it is inspirational for many.

Just finished I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell.
It's a memoir about her many scrapes with death. Loved it!

Just started Middle England by Jonathan Coe. I love his writing.

12 - The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan

This was a difficult read for a few reason. It took me a long time to get in to the author's style of writing and many a time I had to re read a sentence and wish for speech marks.

And the subject was brutal, not sure how it could have been anything else given it was about the lives of Australian POWs in the Japanese camps. It also reminded me at times of my grandfather who was a POW which made me sad at times.

I had more than a few points where I faltered and thought I would actually give up but as is often the case when I get that feeling while reading, as I got in to the rhythm of it I couldn't put it down and ended up thinking it a wonderful albeit grim story.

I do think I need something light or beautiful next, reminding me of the goodness in humanity.

Loving how this thread always brings up a love for Du Maurier!

just finished 11 Away with the Penguins - Hazel Prior, which my DS picked up in a charity shop
foR me for Mother’s Day, not my usual sort of book but relatively enjoyable. Just an easy read really

9) Eats, shoots and leaves by Lynne Truss. This has been on my bookshelf for years. I am pretty certain is was a present. A short book about the demise of grammar. It was funny as well as serious. What was interesting was because it was written 20 years ago, she talks about the possible extinction of books with the rapid rise in computers and the internet. But it was not so much about kindles and electronic readers replacing books, more about people choosing not to read. 20 years later, even though indie bookshops have suffered, it's good to know reading has not.

Number 5 = Love Untold by Ruth Jones

Good story with a nice twist at the end.

Books 7, 8 and 9 (because MN won't let you number things properly)

'City of Girls' - Elizabeth Gilbert. 6/10 It was okay but for some reason I never really got into it . Had echos of 'Shrines of Gaiety' which I much preferred.

'Mrs England' - Stacey Halls. 7.5/10. Enjoyed this much more. And have just started The Foundling on the back of it.

'None of This is True' - Lisa Jewell 6.5/10. Not her best one (which I would say is The Family Upstairs) but not her worst. Easy page-turner.

12 - The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. This has been recommended to me for years but until quite recently I had fixed ideas about the periods of history I was interested in reading about. I liked it. I read it in a week. I’ll read the next one.

13 - Atomic Habits by James Clear (Audible) Very American but I found this very satisfying to run to. Basically you have to make habits 4 things to make them stick. Obvious, attractive, easy, satisfying.

I have had a cull of my currently reading list on goodreads because it was starting to feel a bit overwhelming. Some of them I’d realised I’d had a look at on my kindle and it auto updates. There are now 19. Still a lot

Just finished book no 10. Never Ken Follett.
It's a hefty book, I did enjoy it and wAs interesting to read about the game playing at political levels. How so something small can start the march to war.
I thought it could have been a bit shorter (its 800+ pages) and could have done without the romance but glad I read it. Going to read a much shorter book now so my wrists can recover 😂

Picked up None of This is True in Tescos yesterday, just started...

7: Kammy by Chris Kamara - two stranded memoir about Chris’s career as a footballer, manager, pundit and singer (!) and his more recent battles with a debilititating illness. I have a huge soft spot for Chris but the book didn’t quite hit the spot for me.

DNF (so no number) Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley - I like a memoir so thought I’d enjoy this but it was so, so long, her early life and young adulthood were fascinating (I didn’t know much previously and have never read her books) but I lost interest, I think it would have helped to have been a fan.

8: Spook Street (Slough House 4) by Mick Lyons (audio) another absolutely brilliant tale of the bumbling secret agents.

9: None of This is True by Lisa Jewell. Found this a bit meh, lightweight, predictable, characters didn’t engage me.

13 The Mercies - Kiran Millwood Hargave.

A story based on the events of Witch hunts of the 1600s in Finland. I couldn't put this down. For those who have read Burial Rites you might want to read this too.

This is 99p on kindle, I’ve just bought it.

Updated list

1. Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
2. Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent
3. Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson
4. The Drowning Girls - Veronica Lando
5. Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
6. Limberlost - Robbie Arnott
7. Back to Bangka - Georgina Banks

I like the sound of The Mercies @Breathmiller.

This month I finished:

1. How We Fish - Paul Whitehouse & John Bailey. Spin off from Paul and Bob's TV show. I listened to the audio book and it was very soothing.

1. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stephenson. Only read this so I could talk to DD about her GCSE revision.

1. One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor. I kept reading on here about the St Mary's series so thought I'd give them a try. Got the first 4 from World of Books for a tenner. But having read the first one I'm not blown away! I like the concept but not how it's been carried out, and feel like she needs a much better editor. But I've got the others so will read the next and hope it's a bit better.

1. Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers. Absolutely loved this although it left me feeling very melancholy.

I've had a slow start this year, off on holiday next week so just choosing which books to take and will hopefully get lots of reading done.

I so loved Burial Rites - will deffo add this to the list. Thank you.

6- Notes from a Small island.
7- Animal, vegetable, criminal by Mary Roach.
8- Grunt, also by Mary Roach.

9- The Idea of You - that is going to be made into film, so I chanced the book. It was ok.

I am so far behind how many books I'd read by this point last year.

Adding #8 to my list - Zeus is a Dick. Tongue in cheek look at Greek Mythology. Great fun.

1. Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
2. Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent
3. Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson
4. The Drowning Girls - Veronica Lando
5. Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
6. Limberlost - Robbie Arnott
7. Back to Bangka - Georgina Banks
8. Zeus is a Dick - Susie Donkin

No 10, Last Devil to Die, Richard Osman. I love this series.

I loved Burial Rites. This looks fascinating. Added to my TBR.

Finally got round to reading..

14 The Prophet Song - Paul Lynch

Bloody hell, that was a hard hitting read. I can see why it won the Booker Prize.

Definitely due that easy light hearted read I promised myself. Any suggestions?

I've added The Mercies to my list too, as I loved Burial Rites.

9: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Not keen on this one, however I was invested enough to want to finish it. It was just a bit bizarre.

I've only just started my 6th book. so got some catching up to do.

4: Yellowface by R.F Kuang- ok but felt a bit too long and slow by the end.

5: Strong Female Character by Fern Brady - really interesting and honest perspective on female autism.

6: Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson - just started

(I also DNF the Lucy Worsley book on Agatha Christie last year)

@DiggoryVenn I found Rivers of London very odd too, I did try and stick with it but got bored and gave up. Life’s too short to read books I’m not interested in.

OMG the mercies is one of my favourite books of the last 10years!

#12 the other side of the bridge - Mary lawson

really wonderful read, character development was strong and the build was slow and subtle but huge crescendo at the end. If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing you’ll like this