50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Two

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2024, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

The previous thread is here

Another Barbara Vine devotee here. But haven't read one for years.

I loved Asta's Book too and still remember the excellent TV adaptation of A Fatal Inversion.

I bought a lot of Barbara Vines from ebay last year and haven't got round to reading most of them. I'll start with Asta's Book then if it's a good one.

I also remember the excellent TV adaptations of Gallowglass and A Dark Adapted Eye.

I reread the latter (and I think reviewed it on here) a few years ago.

I always think Ruth Rendell is everyday tales of everyday people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances (but cuddly old Wexford and Dora soften it all somehow) while Barbara Vine is the evil underbelly poking out of the everyday.

Wexford is my all time favourite detective. I must have read them all three or four times. Funnily enough I’m not much of a fan of Ruth Rendell’s non Wexford stuff.

Oh, Barbara Vine takes me back! I used to order them from the local library in advance and my Aunt, who worked in another Library Authority, ordered them for my Granny. Then we’d chat about them, having read them as close together as each Library service’s efficiency would allow.
I have the bookcase that sat in my Granny’s front room, with her favourite books on and an ever-changing carousel of Vines, Rendells and others. She was always busy by necessity but liked to find time to read as much as possible, usually a good Mystery!

Yes, I know what you mean. I think her non Wexfords are moving more towards her Barbara Vines.
I can hear the Wexford actor when I read them. More than any other TV detective. ❤️

Lovely, lovely George Baker ❤️

He and the actress who played Dora married in real life.

Yes, that always gives me a warm glow to think of…

I'm yet another Barbara Vine lover who hasn't reread the books for many years! I much preferred them to the books Rendell published under her own name, but I can well imagine that aspects of them must be rather dated now.

@Sadik I'm delighted that you loved Naomi Klein's Doppelganger; it was one of my stand-out reads of last year and I find myself thinking about it often. I think she did a good job of treading a fine line: indicting far-right conspiracy theorists, but also showing how their extreme views might have been formed, and how people with opposite views to ours can in fact mirror certain aspects of ourselves that we might be reluctant to acknowledge.

Before We Were Trans also sounds like an interesting read.
You said, I thought it was a really good contribution at a time when there's so much divisiveness and anger between groups who might have been expected (hoped) to be allies in the face of wider problems in the world.
To which I say, hear, hear!

@Stowickthevast , I'm an ex-classicist and a big junkie for retellings of classical myth, but I also find Natalie Haynes a bit bland and underwhelming. I much prefer Madeline Miller and Pat Barker.

I started on 9. The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal. DH has been trying to get me to read this for ages and I've finally started it. Strong lessons in chemistry vibes in that it's set in the 1950s and the protagonist is a female pilot/mathematician (very much a man's world). The book starts with a massive meteorite hitting the US and continues from there. I'm loving it and even though I only picked it up today and feel like I had barely any time to read I'm already 35% of the way through. The characters are tamer and more believable than lessons in chemistry and it's less of a romance more of a sci fi, but very female centric sci fi.

I'm hoping it continues as it's started and doesn't go downhill towards the end.

16. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Greta has a job audio transcribing for a sex therapist, one day a new client starts, Greta becomes obsessed with her and names her Big Swiss.

Her obsession grows until she is breaking all the rules.

I don't know...it started so well but just seemed to peter out, the ending is particularly so what?...

It's not for the prudish or for people who'd rather not read sex prose. The whole thing has an 'As If' quality to it, it definitely stretches credulity. That said, I found it diverting enough to have read it in 2 days. Nowhere near a bold though I also didn't hate it and I think it has an audience but it may be a bit Marmite

I’ve come just at the right time to join the Lenin’s corpse queue.

A lot of Ibbotson love about. I started Gloveshop read the first story and decided my life was too short.

@megbusset The Foundation Pit is one of my favourite books. Because I am somewhat ridiculous I often find myself chuckling to myself on a bus when for whatever reason Communist chickens come to mind. I found it the epitome of satire but also felt a bit conflicted because we know how it all turned out and what building communism meant in practice.

@siximpossiblethings I adore Frenchman’s Creek - it’s different to Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, but it’s up there for dialogue with Pride and Prejudice for me. I love the interactions between Dona and the Frenchman.

I am slumping at the moment with Wuthering Heights, Ruth, some Chekhov short stories and some light Chekhov literary criticism/travel memoir. Will have some time tomorrow to perhaps finish WH and catch up with Ruth.

1. The Golden Mole and other living treasures by Katherine Rundell. Non-fiction, which I don't normally read much of. DH gave me this for Christmas. It is fabulous, I liked it so much. Each short chapter is about a different animal - hare, bear, bat, spider, Golden Mole amongst others. The author writes about the wonderful uniqueness of each - who knew spiders can see colours the human eye can't (& I don't mean uv and ir) or that the Golden Mole is the only mammal with iridescent fur? I was especially moved when she wrote about how these creatures, that have taken millions of years to evolve, are on the brink of extinction because of the actions of humans. How thoughtlessly we destroy them. Or how deliberately their extinction is planned in the case of animals like Bluefin Tuna where vast warehouses hold stocks of frozen fish while they are deliberately overfished, waiting for prices in restaurants to sky rocket so profits can be made.

Lenin's corpse queue 😂😂😂

10. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
I've got a couple of more serious books on the go but am getting distracted. This is a re-read but I haven't read it for years and it could be a candidate for the Rather Dated list... it's fun though. The scintillating Auntie Mame opens her house and heart to her orphaned nephew Patrick and hilarity ensues. Some if it is VERY dated and 50s but some if it is genuinely funny.

I’ve come just at the right time to join the Lenin’s corpse queue

11. Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

The second novel in he Amgash series, this one follows lots of characters, all interweaving with Lucy Barton - some are relatives of hers, others friends and neighbours.

It was a reread for me, and just as delightful this time as it was before.

I reread My Name Is Lucy Barton last year but it's taken a long time for my library reservation for this one to arrive. However, Oh William! also arrived at the same time, so I will read that next.

1. Good material by Dolly Alderton

A male comedian splits up with his girlfriend.

I do like Dolly's writing but was a bit unconvinced by Andy. He didn't seem like a late thirties year old bloke to me. She says she consulted with Ivo Graham a lot who is younger I think which makes sense. The later parts of the novel were the best. It's carefully timed to avoid the pandemic. I did enjoy the story of Carrie Johnson saying how much she was enjoying the novel when it slates Boris quite early on.

happy Saturday night all.

such wonderful reviews and discussions - I need to up my game!

I am afraid that this week has been an absolute reading write off. I finished book 6 which was Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett. It wasn’t particularly good. Like he heard someone speak of the magic of Hollywood and decided to write about an actual magical holywood. It had moments which were funny but not the usual laugh out loud I have come to expect. The scenes with Gaspode the Wonder dog and death then beyond were actually very moving however so it wasn’t all bad. Utterly underwhelming and I had to fight to get to the end.

this then triggered a bit of a frustrating lull when I couldn’t settle to anything at all. I tried an Ian Rankin Novella called The Rise. It’s a compelling story and frankly I should have had it done in an hour or so but no. I was listening to it and haven’t taken to the narrator so it’s half finished.

then I decided I needed some comfort and thought I would try the Claire North Ithica series. I am only 27
pages in and already thinking I am not sure how much of it I can be bothered with. Have I saturated myself with feminist retelling of Greek mythology maybe?? Usually I start one like Circe or Stone Blind and I am immediately hooked. This hasn’t caught me so maybe I should hold off? Anyone else read it?

so I decided to go for the Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle. I was initially
put off by how long it was but given I have lost a full week and have read nothing beyond a few pages of anything I think it’s worth a go.

1. Death in Venice: Thomas Mann (trans. David Luke)

This is a novella that Thomas Mann first published in 1912 as 'Der Tod in Venedig'. Gustave von Aschenbach is a renowned writer who is hard-working and disciplined and emotionally repressed. During a bout of writer's block, he decides on a change of scene and settles on Venice for a short stay. He sees a Polish boy of around fourteen years old with his family at the hotel he's staying at and is immediately struck by his classical beauty.

While Aschenbach and Tadzio never formally meet or exchange a word, Aschenbach becomes enamoured with him, this young Greek God, to the point where he can't leave Venice in spite of the increasingly unhealthy sanitary situation there. The authorities try to hush up the rumours that a cholera epidemic is imminent but Aschenbach has thrown all caution to the wind and trails behind Tadzio down the canals and up the alley ways of the city to keep his idol in his sights. He has locked himself into this infatuation, lost his personal dignity and sacrificed his intellect for a futile passion.

I read this novella during my university years in German and I found it a difficult read then. I can confirm that I still find it a difficult read today. Not so much the subject matter, but the very lengthy sentences consisting of so many subclauses that take up half a page (so very German!) that concern Aschenbach's great intellectual brain. I think that went over my student brain as did all the Greek references and allusions which I kind of grasped this time. Kind of.

I had a better memory of Aschenbach's internal struggle and his infatuation with the boy and his deterioration over time. As a character, Aschenbach is not engaging in the least as a person, although he becomes pitiful towards the end, there isn't much of an emotional connection with the reader. I think this novella is clever and I admire it, but I didn't love it. Not especially recommended.

1. Death at the Cottage: Michael Sheridan.

This book is a factual account of the brutal murder of the film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in Schull, West Cork, in December 1996. The chief suspect in this case died recently and it brought up this tragic case in the Irish news again, as it has never been solved. I liked how the author presented Sophie as a real person and not just as the victim and it included her family's perspectives and memories of Sophie as well. While her family won't get justice now, I hope that one day they may get resolution when a cold case review is completed.

1. How to be Both - Ali Smith

A book in two halves, one half concerning 21st Century teenager George coming to terms with her mother's death, the other half from the point of view of a 15th Century Italian artist and his progress from bricklayers child to master fresco creator.

My first bold this year, loved this book. I found out from Wikipedia that this was published with half the print run having George's section first and the other half with Francescho's part first. I got George first and can't imagine how this would have worked the other way round; I imagine I'd feel the same if I'd got Francescho first. I haven't read Ali Smith before but looking forward to trying more.

9 Orlando by Virginia Woolf

I am a bit embarrassed that I've only just got round to reading Orlando for the first time. I think it's probably one of those books (like Crime and Punishment) which was unique when written but time has caught up around it. That said, although some of the originality is lost reading it now, it's still a joyous frothing whirl of a novel, with some quite profound things to say about the differences between the sexes in amongst the beautifully lush writing. I think I enjoyed it the more for having read Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West's love letters, in which the writing and publication of Orlando feature heavily. It is almost as much a love letter to Knole, the family seat Vita lost on her father's death, as to Vita herself. But imagine having inspired this!

@YolandiFuckinVisser I DNF How to be both years and years ago. I think I had the historical story first. Maybe I'll have to give it another go.

Hi all,

I've just finished the first volume of Sian Philip's autobiography. Private Faces. It was absolutely brilliant. I couldn't put it down. ❤️

I've just realised that that's my first bold since I read Tracey Thorn's autobiographies and the beginning of the year. ❤️

I've brought the most recently published versions of SP's books, which have been published together in one book, but I'm going to catalogue them separately here, since they are both different and span different periods of her life. This one is about her early childhood in Wales, and her time and Cardiff University and RADA, and ends when she's just met Peter O'Toole.

*at. Stupid iPhone!