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.

@drspouse I'm assuming you've read The Future Homemakers of America? Really enjoyed that book. I must look out for her other ones.

Hello!

I'll join.

I managed my 26 in 2023:

1. Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior

1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

1. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

1. The Switch by Beth O’Leary

1. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

1. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

1. The Women Who Ran Away by Sheila O’Flanagan

1. The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury

10. The Secret Life of Bess by Sue Monk Kidd

11. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

12. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

13. Em & Me by Beth Morrey

14. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

15. The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

16. Ordinary People by Diana Evans

17. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

18. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

19. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

20. Old Baggage by Lissa Evans

21. The No-Show by Beth O'Leary

22. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

23. Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

24. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

25. Summerwater by Sarah Moss

26. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Am aiming for 26 in 2024 too - starting with Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty.

Love seeing what other people are reading and look out for recommendations so thanks everyone - happy reading!

How are you finding The Thorn Birds?
I also remember my dm watching it and have often wondered if the book would be worth a read.

I think I only managed fewer than 5 last year! (First year with new baby, and struggling to stick at anything for more than five mins!)
Aiming for ten books this year 😊

Hi all,
Can I join please?
I got back into reading from last Oct. I'd been trying to read via my kindlae before that and just kept losing interest and not finishing, decided to try physical books and managed to read 10 from Oct to Dec. I have a big tbr pile but I think I will be able to manage 26 this year. Currently reading Rigged by Andy Verity about the Libor scandal. I worked in that industry many years ago and sone of the bankers that were taken to court were my colleagues so it's a sad but interesting read.

I was enjoying it until about a third of the way in when it turned rather melodramatic, very appropriate for a 1980s tv miniseries! I'm past that part now and it's improved. It's the easy read I was looking for to start the new year.

I am always meaning to join in one of these threads so here goes. I am going to aim a bit lower and try for 12. First draft of my list looks like this:

1. The Guest Room - Tasha Sylva
2. Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
3. Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson
4. The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell
5. The Wind Knows My Name - Isabel Alllende
6. Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton
7. Zeus Is A Dick - Susie Donkin
8. The Missing Ones - Patricia Gibney
9. The Drowning Girls - Veronica Lando
10. Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
11. Limberlost - Robbie Arnott
12. Killing Jericho - William Hussey

Welcome back everyone and a big welcome to all our new members. I've always loved this thread for recommendations and have definitely picked up books I otherwise probably wouldn't.

Book 1 Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks I started this before the new year and listened to an audio narration read by the author. I thought it was a fascinating book but enraging in some areas. It is the stories of a wide range of Muslim women in the Middle East written by an Australian American Journalist from her experiences living amd working there. It outlines the many interpretations and the impact on women of Islamic religious texts.

That sounds really interesting @Tinkhasflown but also a little depressing.

Please can I join in? I read 30 books last year so I'll aim for 31. New Year's resolution is to read at least a chapter a night to stop me scrolling rubbish on my phone.

I’m reading ‘Dk Greek myths’ with DS aged 9.

Have just finished book 1. Lessons on chemistry which I loved and now on to a non fiction 2. How to behave badly in renaissance Britain’ by Ruth Goodman which I’m not sticking with that much probably as it is reading a lot of the old English phonetically which I fine really hard being dyslexic. I’ll keep going though.

I finished my first book of 2024, it only took me a couple of days it was that good. Onto my next one Peter James Left You Dead.

1. A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard. I've read it before but having read the first chapter, I don't think I'll continue.

My sister sent me a few, so today I'll start afresh.

I don't have a target number as such - targets more being to read different authors and to try to read in bed - instead of scrolling.

Thanks @Tinkhasflown - I know I'll find some great recommendations here.

I managed 121 last year! Not sure I'll get that far this year!

Thanks for the new thread.

Hello fellow bookworms!

I’m going to aim for 17, 25 is a step too far for me.

I’ve noticed some very excellent titles scrolling through this thread:
All the Light they Cannot See (avoid tv adaptation)
A Gentleman in Moscow
Small Pleasures

Loved them all!

I’m starting with The Promise by Damon Galgut. A book group choice.

So I have now finished 'Burial Rites' by Hannah Kent and it's going to take some beating this year.... Utterly absorbing, beautifully researched and written and completely devastating.

Good to have the first one done.

2024

1. Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

@Taytocrisps I really didn't find it depressing , definitely eye opening though.

Thanks @SlightlyJaded I'll definitely be adding Burial Rites to the TBR pile.

I was planning to watch the TV adaptation. I listened to it as an audio book which meant I didn't engage with it as fully as I would if I'd been reading. Is it not worth bothering with at all?

MargotMoon
For me, the tv series (as is often the case with adaptations) lacked the scope of the book and didn’t do it justice.

The only notable aspect was that the lead female actor was visually impaired, as in the book.

DH, who hasn’t read the book, enjoyed the tv series.

I'm going for 1 a week. Tried this last year but failed around June time when summer and life began!

First book of the year jaws. It is terrifying I love it

Oh I also finished no 2 Quite by Claudia Winkelman. I loved her before and I love her even more now!

Finished The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin. Really enjoyed it. Fast paced and engaging. Quite like that it was set over a very short time period as well.

My next book will be a reread of Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde in preparation for the 2nd of the trilogy (Red Side Story) being released in Feb.

Hi all

Happy New Year of Reading. 🤩

Great to be back for another year and hear all your recommendations. After a few years of on and off (mostly off) reading, this thread was really inspiring last year. I read 29 from March when I joined. I think possibly around 4 before March but I took no note. My soft aim is around 30ish again. But, I'm not caught up on the numbers.

Highlights from last year were..

• Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Night Ship - Jess Kidd
• A Man called Ove - Fredrik Backman
• Sea of Tranquility - Emily St John Mandel
• American Dirt - Jeanine Cummings
• Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

My first one of 2024 is..

1. My Grandmother Sends her Regards and Alpologies - Fredrik Backman

Similarly to A Man Called Ove, I found the first third a challenge. Especially the the fairytale story bits. But, again the same as before it all started to fall in to place and I was gripped and enchanted by the storyline and the characters.

Going to look over the thread for inspirstion for my next read. I got kindle vouchers for Christmas so I have no excuse. 😊

1. Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole. (Had started it just before NY)
2. Diagnosis: Solving the most baffling medical mysteries.

Breathmiller I think you’re my reading twin!
Apart from Burial Rites, which is on my tbr pile, I have read and loved the books on your list.