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.

11/12/13 Slough House 5-7, London Rules, Joe Country and Slough House by Mick Herron. All excellent.

14: Neither Her Nor There by Bill Bryson. While waiting for my next audible credit to drop I found lots of Bill's older books on there for free, they are a bit dated (and non PC) now but still acutely observant, witty and entertaining.

Book 7
Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey
Very funny, laughed out loud several times. Felt a bit exhausted by the end, having lived through her angst at getting a divorce but I enjoyed alot.

14. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters 8/10
    A great read, I really enjoyed this book.

15. Slipstream: A Memoir - Elizabeth Jane Howard 6/10
    An "interesting" insight into EJH's extraordinary life.

16. The List of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey 5/10
    This is written partly from a child's perspective, but the writing style of the entire book seems to be aimed at children or people unable to make inferences.

17. Every Eye - Isobel English 8/10
    I really enjoyed this, it is beautifully written. I reread it as soon as I finished. I think most who enjoy it will reread it; fortunately it is short enough to easily do so.

Next up: The Household.

14. Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë. Overall enjoyed but I have never read a book completely filled with such vile characters!! There was only one that was not vile and that was the narrator, however she was a bit of a wet fish!! But regardless I am glad I finally got around to reading it.

16 Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

i really enjoyed this. Quite a slow read which I liked though.

I actually started a book called The Whalebone Theatre and for the first time had to stop. Just wasn't feeling it.

Going to look through for my next read

18. The Household - Stacey Halls 9/10 This was a joy to read. I highly recommend this.

15. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. I really enjoyed this, quite thought provoking; 4 children go to a fortune teller who tells them the date they will die. The rest follows their lives as adults.

6. Tom Lake - Ann Patchett
I adore Ann Patchett so was pleased to love this too. Beautiful read.

11.. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Fantastic book! Didn't want to put it down! 4 out of 5

1. The Stonehenge Legacy, Sam Christer

A random borrow from a friend in holiday as had finished my book. Really enjoyed.

That was number 8

15/16: Notes from a Small Island and Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson. Both on audible, easy listening and entertaining, with a little bit of education thrown in.

17: The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid - I’ve never read any of Val’s books before but I like a crime novel so decided to start with this as it’s first in a series. A bit gruesome but very well told, I will read some more. As with the Bill Bryson books this date back to the 90s and seems dated in the sense that they are solving crimes with no internet! It didn’t spoil it though.

Oh, I’ve messed up my counting, those should have been 14/15/16

10-15 - Books 1-6 (so far) of the Marnie Baranuik series by A J Aalto. And there are another 3 plus 5 short stories that I'll work my way through. All on my kindle.

Plus, in my car is a tree book for when I'm out and about but haven't taken my kindle with me. Scythe. Interesting so far and part of a trilogy.

I haven't updated in a while so here goes:

Book 12 Aisling Ever After, Sara McLysaght The last in a series, a light read
Book 13 The Mystery Guest - Nita Prose It's book 2 of the Maid, but just more of the same. I don't really recommend.
Book 14 Five Little Indian - Michelle Good A difficult read in places about 5 children taken from their families when small and sent to a remote residential Christian school.
15 Little Deaths - Emma Flint This was ok but I found the ending poor so 3/5.

16 Tough Crowd - Graham Linehan interesting read on the whole trans debate, but long in other places 3/5

17 All Good Things - Clare Fisher Loved this, an emotional rollercoaster that had me in tears.

18 The Mercies - Kiran Millwood Hargrave as recommended here, I loved this. Definitely recommend, especially for fans of Burial Rites.

Currently reading Longbourn and listening to The Satsuma Complex.

7 - Ordinary Human Failings - Megan Nolan
Got this yesterday on a kindle daily deal and devoured it in just over 24 hours. It was absolutely brilliant.

11 The echo chamber by John Boyne. The point he was making was a bit obvious, but it was very funny in places. Nowhere near as good as the heart’s invisible furies though.

Asiatoyork
The Heart's Invisible Furies is a very tough act to follow.
I'm reluctant to read any of Boyne's other books!

All the Broken Places by John Boyne is a brilliant read, one of his very best, though it can be a tough read and is heartbreaking. IMO it just slightly beat the above one of his.

So true!

Another one to add to my list - thank you :)

7. Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy: from Ireland to India with a Bicycle. Interesting but I found what she chose to focus on a bit odd. Lots of descriptions of landscape, as you'd expect, but incidents like being attacked by wolves get hardly any detail. I can't tell if she was a not very nice person, just very frank and honest but I found some of her descriptions of the people she meets uncomfortable.

9 The Lost Man by Jane Harper, great.

10 Then She Was Gone, Lisa Jewell.

Read it in 3 sittings. Ms Jewell is properly messed up.

10. The Women – Kristin Hannah. 8/10. Loved this – especially the first part set in Vietnam. My only criticism would be that I would have like to have learned a little more about some of the other Women and their back stories.

11. Sorry and Bliss – Meg Mason. 7/10. More sorrow than bliss but adored the relationship between Martha and her sister Ingrid. Also was good to read about mental illness from the perspective of someone experiencing something that they don’t have a label or explanation for. Felt really sad for Martha at times, really frustrated with her at others and at other times genuinely laughed out loud.