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.

17. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

I have had this book for a couple of years, never really feeling quite ready to read it. Finally got there, loved it and cried a lot too.

Just a heads up that Burial Rites, which has been recommended lists on here, is 99p on kindle today.

I loved this book.

My favourite book of this year. Highly recommended!

No 15, To Sir With Love, ER Braithwaite.
Loved it. Really moving, he was very brave in a kind of "better get on with it" way but I'm sure loads of others went through similar.
It was at the same era/location as Call The Midwife and some things that are glossed over in that are dealt with in this.
I need to look up what happened to him and his wife.

8. Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. Good overview, starting with some historical background. Most interesting on feminism and class I thought. Her points about class and the different spins politicians put on the white working class /poor was something I hadn't thought through, when in most areas the working class are not white and neither are they the poorest.
It ties in with Chavs (mentioned above) in with the discussion about politicians scapegoating sectors of society.

I enjoyed that book (as in, found it really interesting and informative, and it chimed with things I'd noticed but not quite clicked).

14 Trust by Hernan Diaz. Boring, waste of time. Why are Pulitzer Prize winning books by men always rubbish?

I have just started a book my DF got me and I don't think I'll finish it - it's also boring - it's a mystery set in a country where we have some distant roots, but also in the US among those kinds of people who are more (insert nationality here) than in (old country). It's full of cliches and overblown language and I want to like it for his sake but I'm not sure I'll make it past chapter 2!
I am currently learning the language of this country on Duolingo and feel that might be more than enough.

Finished The Paper Palace

Loved it, especially the ending!

15 Until August - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

a novella, an unpublished lost novel his children published posthumously. Needed something to rid me of the last boom quickly. I haven’t read any of his books in years and it was perfect, I need to go back and read others that I haven’t by him

13 . Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

Wouldn't have chosen to read this particularly but got gifted it so took it on holiday as an easy beach read - which is what it was. Typical Liane Moriarty- though not as good as Big Little Lies which is my favourite of hers. 3 stars out of 5.

14: The Light Years by Elizabeth Howard
What a lovely read and I am so pleased I have the rest of the series on my bookshelf.

12. The Foundling – Stacey Halls.
    Did this on audible and whilst it was really good – and narrator was fine – I didn’t enjoy at as much as Mrs England. I was a bit distracted though so don’t necessarily take that to the bank. It’s a great story and lots of lovely historical titbits.

13. The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah.
    I’ve had this lying around forever and having finally got round to reading, and enjoying, her Vietnam War themed ‘The Woman’, I picked it up. I LOVED IT. Two sisters trying to survive occupied France in WW2. It’s just a really bloody good story that sucks you in and drops you in the middle of a little French town in Nice. I was captivated.

This has just reminded me to read my copy of the last book in the Cazalet series.
Love the Cazalets!

16 the Martian chronicles - Ray Bradbury

Picked up when on holiday so slim pickings in the English language section of the bookshop but I really loved Farenheight 451 and DS said he’d read it after me. Very interesting and tragic read, feels incredibly prescient considering what the world is becoming

17. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

Thank you to the PP who mentioned this. I have had it on my kindle for years and for some reason not started it. Its beautiful and sad and thought provoking.

In my usual way, I found it difficult to get in to but once I did (sometimes it helped to listen to it than read it) I fell in love with it.

Had a bit of a dry spell of reading which annoys me as I love it so much. I think when I feel busy and overwhelmed I tend to do things like scroll on mumsnet because I don't have the attention span. But, its exactly then I could do with being lost in a story.

Going to look back for inspiration my next read.

9. The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe. I had read this before, over a decade ago but was on the mood to read it again after watching the TV drama This Town. The prologue and epilogue didn't work for me but that's only a few pages. Otherwise I really enjoyed it. I liked how it works in a fair bit of social history / commentary without it being too laboured. A good balance between daft teenage (and some adult) worries and serious events. I plan to read the sequel.

Oh I adored this book

13. American Dirt by Janine Cummins

Loved this, god it was tense, fabulous.

19. The Liars - Naomi Joy 6/10 An easy fast-paced read, lots of drama - not really my cup of tea though. 20. Affinity - Sarah Waters 8/10 I really enjoyed this. I only started reading Sarah Waters this year, this was my 3rd - all great books so far! 21. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin 7/10 I mostly enjoyed this, I can see what the author was doing with the characters, their journeys and their relevance in the world of gaming etc I prefer characters to have much more depth though.

I loved that too. And, yes, intense.

18. A Keeper - Graham Norton

An easy read which is what I needed and a good gripping story that I wanted to know the ending of. I might look at more of his books.

16 & 17 - the last 2 Marnie Baranuik books.
18 - Scythe.

19-27 - Had a trashy binge on the Bridgerton books, inc Queen Charlotte. Then 28-30 the 3 prequel books!

31, 32 - Killing Time (Jodi Taylor) book is out and I'm re-reading the previous book before reading the new one.

14: Things I don't want to Know - Deborah Levy
15: Cost of Living - Deborah Levy

Parts I and II of her autobiographical series of three. Really short and absolutely wonderful. At times it feels like an outpouring of thoughts as she is thinking them, but whilst she meanders, it is always a short diversion and there is always a message or a beautifully phrased or poignant takeout. Some of her takes on women's roles in society really made me sit up, as they were the thoughts we all have, but plucked from a vague notion, polished and presented back to me as an indisputable fact. I will think about some of the things she said for a fair while I imagine.

No 16, Tough Crowd, Graham Linehan. Really interesting description of how he writes his comedy and what makes people laugh. I did not know that much about how comedy is made. He doesn't talk much about his marriage ending, understandably, but a lot of the recent stuff is all pretty open on Twitter etc. or his substack.

19 The Satsuma Complex - Bob Mortimer 3/5. I listened to this, but it just wasn't for me. It was narrated by the author and his voice annoyed me lol.

20 The Vanishing Act of Margaret Small - Neil Alexander. An easy but sometimes sad read.

21 Longbourn - Jo Baker. This is the story of Pride and Prejudice servants. I did enjoy it, but it took me ages to get through.

I've had a couple I dnf, but have just started Marian Keys new book My Favourite Mistake. I'm also reading Helen Joyce - Trans.