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.

@SlightlyJaded that was the first of Kristin Hannah’s books I read and it’s still my favourite (The Nightingale a close second). I was a bit disappointed with the ending of The Women to be honest - which others do you recommend?

31 - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke

a re-read because my friend and I are going to a 20th anniversary talk by Susanna Clarke and we were obsessed with it when it first came out, along with a mutual friend who died this year so we’re going as a kind of weird private memorial to him really so I wanted to re read it before then.

I loved the ending this time round - I remember being disappointed by it when I was 20years younger. Goes to show what life experience does.

if you want Dickensian style writhing, characters and drama set against the napoleonic wars and surrounded by magic and fairies with all incredibly poetic imagery this is the book for you. It’s a tome but easy to read

@Citygirlrurallife Ha - very little help from me because I have read exactly: The Great Alone, The NIghtingale and The Women and am a few pages into Another Life (which I realised I already had so am doing that before the Kate Atkinson).

I loved The Women, but it really should have been called The Woman because apart from Frankie, we didn't really get any backstory to any of the other women. I preferred the first half of the book that was set in Vietnam. Also agree that there was some inevitability about the end.

Also loved The Nightingale although some of the 'border crossings' started to blur into one. But absolutely brilliant story and so evocative.

I'll let you know how i get on with this one. It's going to be hard to get into because my heart is still in Alaska....

Fair enough - The Four Winds I’d say is up there with The Nigitingale!

15. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin - Greta, who works as a transcriber for a sex coach, becomes infatuated with one of the clients whose therapy sessions she's transcribing - the titular Big Swiss. One day Greta recognises Big Swiss after overhearing her voice at the dog park, and pursues a relationship with her.

I was looking forward to this one, as the premise seemed really interesting, but I found it a bit tedious. All of the characters felt a bit dull, and forcibly quirky. A miss for me.

26: The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
Good, but not the best book I have read by Emma Donoghue. I was very surprised to read the author's note at the end that it was in fact based on true events.

I've just added some Kristin Hannah books to my wish list now!

25) Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan.

This is a historical fiction book which is highly accurate. Set in Sri Lanka and follows a girl and her family from the late 1970s and through the Sri Lankan civil war. Would very much recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about Sri Lanka recent history. Very gripping and shocking.

16 - Tell me how this ends by Jo Leevers readable with some nice moments but generally just ok

I directed the audiobook! Such an incredible book and fun fact the narrator was the inspiration for the lead character. My parents moved to Sri Lanka with newborn me at the start of the Tamil uprisings in 1983 so it was an emotional read for me too, especially getting to work with the author and narrator

@Citygirlrurallife it's a wonderful book!

There has been a dearth of literature from Sri Lanka, but now more is emerging which is great. My DH is Tamil Sri Lankan and was born the year before the riots in Colombo. Makes me appreciate how lucky his family were, speaking Sinhala helped them!

How long were you in Sri Lanka?

Oh wow - has he read the book? I’m so glad you agree with how accurate it is, it is VERY closely based on a real life and the narrator has continued being an incredible activist since she was forced to Leave Sri Lanka due to her activism. She’s not a professional narrator at all but it was really important to the author to have her read it.

we left when I was 3 so I don’t remember much but I’m hoping to take my parents back in the next few years and see the places we lived and also take them to Jaffna as of course they weren’t able to visit the north at all

@Citygirlrurallife he's not much of a reader but does want to read this. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of it.

24: What are you doing here by Floella Benjamin.

I'm old enough to remember Floella from Playschool and was aware that she is now a member of the House of Lords but did not know anything about her early life or much about her post-Playschool career, what an inspiration she is! So much work for children, for diversity, supporting other women, numerous good causes and still going strong.

32 Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

oh my heart. This book. I don’t even know how to describe how I feel finishing this book. To have spent so many hours deeply embedded in the mind and soul of the 1st person narrative it is utterly heartbreaking to no longer be there. It earnt every second of my life it took to read.

some of you MUST have read it? I am desperate to discuss!

19 The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farell

'The story of a young woman who must battle for survival amidst the splendour and treachery of the Italian Renaissance'

Quite a weighty book (approx 430 pages) but brilliantly written. I really enjoyed it. 4 stars out of 5.

I really enjoyed that one too @TrustPenguins , read it for book club last year and took me a while to get into it.

25: Started Early Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. Another helping of Jackson Brodie, one more to go then I can read the new one, I love these books.

27: Beautiful World, Where are You by Sally Rooney
I feel a bit on the fence about this one - I didn't love it or hate it. The characters were all just a bit unlikeable.

I felt exactly the same about her book Normal People (I think that's what it's called...it was televised during Covid).

I really couldn't warm to any of the characters, but on screen I definitely liked both leads.

19. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

A holiday read...definitely light and fluffy but I still enjoyed the storylines and how it all came together in the end.
A feel good book.

20. Weyward by Emilia Hart
LOVED this.
It tells 3 stories set in 1619, 1942 and 2019 about 3 very different (but at the same time, very similar) women.
I won't give away any spoilers but it's about the innate power of women.
Thoroughly recommend.

@Citygirlrurallife I LOVED Demon Copperhead. Heartbreaking, uplifting and so beautifully written. Just brilliant in every way. Oxy really is the drug that keeps on giving....

I keep meaning to read David Copperfield to understand the parallels. Maybe I'll do that next.

I hated Lancuna or whatever it was called but have always loved The Poisinwood Bible. Demon and Bible are deffo my two favourite Kingsolver books.

A@SlightlyJaded Agreed - it was utterly incredible how she sustained that voice for such a huge amount of time and I felt utterly bereft when I had to leave Demon’s mind behind. I haven’t read David Copperfield since my teens and I love Dickens so I’ll make that a Christmas read I think

33 The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
this book had no hope following Demon Copperhead and it’s not my kind of book anyway (it’s a bookclub pick) easy to pick up, easy to put down, I reckon I’ll have forgotten about it by the end of the year. It’s not really fair to compare apples and oranges but after Barbara Kingsolver you have to have immense talent to be the follow on and this book was just trashy

21. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A holiday read.
Classic Taylor Jenkins Reid....what you see is what you get.
A quite interesting storyline without any depth to the writing.
Reminds me of the Jackie Collins books I used to read as a teenager in the 80s.

Since going back to school and then over half term....

67 - Went back and finished reading 'You Shouldn't Be Here'. :)
68 - 70 The 3 books by Max Pemberton about his Junior doctor career
71 - Every Patient Tells a Story
72 - Catch Your Breath - a biography of an anaesthetist.
73 - First Contact Kim Harrison
74 - Why Mummy Drinks on Holiday
75 - Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews
76 - Dead to the World

I've taken up listening to a podcast and it's severely cut down my book-reading this month.

Oh - and these!
77, 78 - The 2 Blood Sweat and Tea ambulance driver blog entry books.

79 - Direct Red, a surgeon's biography.

(I have a few fave genres clearly)

20 She And Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai & Naruki Nagakawa

Well this was... er ... weird! Not necessarily in a bad way - it was an easy, short read and I wanted to finish it but I don't think I quite got it! Basically about cats lives and those of their owners. Just a little too odd for me. Shame really as I like Japanese fiction (think Norwegian Wood) - 2 stars out of 5.

Incidentally, if anyone has any recommendations for Japanese fiction similar to Norwegian Wood, I'd love to hear them!