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.

1. The Running Grave

1. This Christmas by Emma Heatherington

Started in December as a Christmas read, and just finished, saccharin sweet and cheesy but a nice story nonetheless

@MaryasBible I loved those Philippa Gregory too - I recently read Tidelands which was very good.

I have just finished number 5. The Key Man by Simon Clark and Will Louch. True account of the biggest private equity bankruptcy and the fraud involved. Fascinating account. Will choose my next book probably Friday.

2. Doreen by Barbara Noble. Nine year old Doreen is evacuated to the countryside during second World War. She leaves behind her stoic, no frills mother and their 2 rooms in a delipidated London house, and of course London itself as it was then - shelters, raids and ruins, although none of that bothers Doreen much. Her new set up is with a well to do couple in a big house in the countryside, offering her a completely different lifestyle from the one she's used to.
I enjoyed this greatly. Well written and sensitively handled. Offered a lot to think about and no easy answers.

Just started 6. Waiting for Wednesday by Nikki French. Sounds like a psychological thriller which I'm hoping is so good I won't be able to.pit it down!

1. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier. Well I could not put this book down!! I can never decide which Du Maurier book I love the most, it was My cousin Rachel but now I am not sure. Would recommend for anyone that loves a dark page turner!

@MaryasBible - I read Empress Orchid a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Finished 2 books so far
1 - Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow- really enjoyed this. A book about friendship rather than a romantic love story. And I presume the author is really into gaming- she knows a lot about it!
2 - Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers - also like this. A gentle book about inter relationships again.
Am now reading The Drift by C J Tudor. Only on chapter 5, but is straight into the action, with 3 plots running and a few bodies already. Looking forward to the rest. Also reading Tough Crowd by Graham Linehan - currently on his early career, and nice to see some his early influences are Vic and Bob - seemingly for their utter inaneness!
Might bold some when have more of a list going to be able to compare.

Did you know they are two people and write alternate chapters?
I recently found this out.

@DiggoryVenn I have the first of the Tidelands trilogy on my kindle. I’m saving it for when I’ve finished the Plantagenet and Tudor books. It’s good to read that you enjoyed P&T and then tidelands, as I had wondered if they’d be any good.

@Topbird29 Honestly I’m not sure what I expected, but I thought Empress Orchid was great. Really interesting, not a period or country I’ve read about before. And it’s piqued my interest. I’m looking around for other books set in China. Would prefer them written by someone Chinese, or if Chinese heritage.

4. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min. An unexpected delight. I loved the descriptions of the clothes, hair, makeup, and nails. The book follows Orchid from arriving in Peking as a teen. I won’t give spoilers, because if you’re like me and know nothing about the time at all you’ll be holding your breath reading it.

I finished that on Wednesday and haven’t settled on the next book to start/finish yet.

@MaryasBible - wild swans is a beast of a book but is an account of china during the early 20c and the rise of Chairman Mao and the communist regime - so different period.

Iwould also recommend memoirs of a geisha- Japan rather than China, but has similar "feel" as Empress Orchid

Thanks @Topbird29 I have got Wild Swans on my shelf so I’ll see if I can get into it. I’ll look out for Memoirs of a Geisha in charity shops or on offer on kindle.

I pride myself on mostly buying my books secondhand or for 99p on kindle. Which means I’ve always got an excuse to buy books

Finished 3 - Water by John Boyne I loved it, he's an amazing writer. It was a novella so over quickly, but the start of a quartet so I'm looking forward to the next installment in May.

Second @Topbird29 rec of Wild Swans

Wild swans was a fantastic book

3: Letters of Note by Shaun Usher
I've been trying to cure my breakfast phone scrolling addiction by reading a few letters from this book each day. There are a real mixed bag but some very interesting ones, including one from a mother to a daughter about an extensive operation that she had with no anaesthetic.

I also loved Wild Swans.

I’ve finished my no
4.Yellowface - Rebecca F Kuang and I thought it was good so I do recommend it . I was often reading it late at night quite tired so only bit at a time and felt like it took me ages to finish . I think next I’ll start
5.Good Material -Dolly Alderton
Has anyone read it yet ? I got it for Christmas and know nothing about it but I do know the writer from her newspaper columns .

Can anyone recommend another Rosamunde Pilcher? I loved The Shell Seekers - such a cosy read! But I'm guessing that's her best as everyone seems to love it. Does she have any others as good?

Or another book with the same feel? I've read all of Maeve Binchy's, she definitely knows how to do cosy!
I didn't really like I Capture The Castle, before anyone suggests that or anything similar.

@MargotMoon I'm not a massive reader of 'cosy' books but, for emotive books with female protagonists you could try Douglas Kennedy? Maybe The Pursuit of Happiness.

Coming Home and Winter Solstice are good too.

Coming Home yes, Winter Solstice not so much, I just didn't enjoy it in the same way.

One of my favourite books is September @MargotMoon Not as saccharine as some of hers, but equally as bonkers.

I have finished book 3 House of Sky and Breath. It was OK. Entertaining enough.

I always end up with multiple unfinished books on the go at once. Currently I have:

audiobooks:
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Heather Fawcett) - about 1/4 of the way through but it’s not all that engaging and I haven’t warmed to any of the characters.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Sue Lyn Tan) - about 1/3 of the way. It’s a bit slow moving really.
Crooked Kingdom (Leigh Bardugo) - about 1/2 way. I usually listen to audiobooks before I fall asleep and it’s got action that keeps me awake so I haven’t finished it because I err towards something boring enough to fall asleep to. 😆

On my kindle:
Powerless (Lauren Roberts) - 48% and I might give up because I’m so irritated by the slow dancing during basically the hunger games. That’s not a spoiler btw; I should have realised from the blurb that this is what I’d get.
A river enchanted (Rebecca Ross) - 53%. It’s alright but I am not really all that invested in it and don’t feel the need to find out what happens next.
When the Moon Hatched (Sarah A Barker) - 22%. This is reasonably good. Although I’m struggling not to be annoyed by the stupid terminology used in place of night or bedroom. And spelling day as dae.

I am trying to tell myself to finish these books and not just start ever more.

Thanks folks. A few to add to my list there 👍

I’ve finished off a few books I’d started last year, managing to reduce my currently reading count to 27 <preens self>

5)Murder in Midwinter. This is a collection of ten short stories by various authors. Some were excellent, snappy and spooky with a side of chilling. Some were more dreary. I find these collections easy to pick up and put down over all the comings and goings in December and early January.

6)The Dead Man of Storr by JM Dalgliesh. The second book following DI Duncan McAdam around the Isle of Skye. I really enjoyed the first in the series so persevered with this one. There’s too many “aye”s and tongues being pushed into cheeks and head shakes. Clunky. The plot was ok, it moved fast enough once it got going. And there’s just something that makes me want to download the third to read soon. I quite like it when we learn a bit about the detective’s personal lives, and that’s what I’ll carry on reading to see developed.

If anyone has any recommendations for other crime series I can binge on kindle unlimited that would be great.

Thanks to those who’ve unanimously recommended that I should next pick up Wild Swans, so that’s what I will do.

Book 6 The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillips Gregory recommended here and I really enjoyed it.

Book 7 Burial Rites - Hannah Kent another recommendation from here and OMG it was fantastic. 5* and I rarely bestow that. I'm not sure where to go after that.....