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

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@highlandcoo I absolutely loved How to Be Both, I don’t think I realised it was supposed to be a ‘clever’ book so didn’t go in with any ideas about what it would be like - it was my first Ali Smith too. I’ve enjoyed the others of hers I’ve read since, including Autumn and Winter and then Hotel World actually, but not to the same extent. I have Spring to read but I’ve kind of forgotten the other two now and not sure if I should re-read those or just plough on!

@MissMarplesNiece - same, only read Brooklyn by Tóibín and it hasn’t inspired me to read any others.

Just picked up A Pocketfull of Happiness and hovering over the buy button for An Instance of the Fingerpost - I have zero restraint!!

12 No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs Of A Working Class Reader by Mark Hodkinson
Interesting in places, particularly his memories of his Grandad, which would have been good as a longer section or even a whole book. Interspersed with the body of the memoir they seem a tad bitty and incongruous. I liked the way he sets down interactions with people from his childhood and teenage years as little vignettes that don’t really go anywhere.
I nodded along to some parts (school days, the sheer exquisite genius of Kes, discovering new bands), shook my head to others (Morrisey is a self-indulgent twat, always has been, always will be, even if his Mum did think the sun shone out of his gladioli-bedecked arse).
It sort of lost me in the the last 20% or so, came across as philosophical filler. Plus, BAM! out of thin air appeared Boring Simon Armitage, which I really wasn’t prepared for. It did raise a laugh though, as Hodkinson goes on at length how he doesn’t get along with Poetry or Poets…….but here’s one who wants him to publish his work, so yep, need the money, oooooh, Poetry!
It’s a shame Pomona Press suffered trials and tribulations, but there’s an air of dilettantism throughout - I wanted to give him a shake and tell him to brush the chip off his donkey jacket and try again.

Thanks @Southeastdweller for the new thread. Very behind so have not caught but am in the middle of reading thread two.
4.A Tomb with A View by Peter Ross
Recommended on here but not sure who but thank you. This was a really interesting and fascinating read. I enjoyed reading all the information but one that stood out for me was Peter the Wild boy. A reviewer also mentioned watching a documentary One Million Dubliners and I also want to seek this out and watch it. Highly recommended. I think I am going to read more non-fiction this year.

DNF The Stolen Sisters by Louise Jensen
This was a listen from the library but the main character is so very irritating that I just can’t carry on. The narrator has a whiney voice to represent the character but I can’t stand another 8 hours of it. Maybe just reading the book may be better.

I've got to read one of Ali Smith's books (Hotel World) for my English degree. What's her books like? I've heard one if them discussed here today, so I'm just wondering. ❤️

Interesting, not much love for Colm Toibin and even less for The Magician which I suspect is not for me. The one I read of his was The Heather Blazing which is about a man growing old and his life, work and family. I thought it was very poignant and some of the imagery in it has really stayed with me. I may still try some Thomas Mann as am off to Germany at Easter and would be good to read something German.

@ICrunchCrispsNotNumbers I think Ali Smith is quite marmite. I think I read Hotel World years ago but don't really remember it but have enjoyed How To Be Both and her Season books. She's not very plot driven but creates interesting scenarios and commentary.

I've only read one Colm Toíbín and that was The South in 1994. I can remember it because it was another of the only 10 or so books me and my new flatmates in Italy had with us in those bleak pre-Amazon days, so we all read each other's books.

Haven't felt the urge to read any more tbh.

(My contribution to the flat was Leon Uris's Trinity Mario Puzo The Godfather Testament of Youth Vida by Marge Piercy and a DH Lawrence about Italy) 😂 Such was our lack of reading matter I expect we can all remember exactly what we had. The South was brought to the table by an utter freak called William who claimed to be a Huguenot descendant and went cosmically insane to the point we all slept with chairs under our door handles)

Books/novellas/short stories have given me reads 8 and 9 today.

eight. The Rise by Ian Rankin. Murder in a super exclusive block of apartments in London. Enjoyable enough.

nine . A Short Stay in Hell - Steven Peck. I found this in my Kindle wish list so it must have been a recommendation from here but I don’t recall by whom. Soren Johansson, family man and Mormon, finds himself in a personal Hell when he dies being set the task of finding the book of his life in an apparently infinite library of books. This is utterly brilliant - I was hooked from the first words and would happily have read on when it ended.

Have managed to finish off a few books
over the weekend.

21 The Beholders by Hester Musson

Harriet works as a lady’s maid in the late 1800s, but her mistress Clara behaves very oddly and things in the house aren’t what they seem. I enjoyed this.

22 Berserker! by Adrian Edmondson

His autobiography. I did enjoy this but would have liked to hear more about his personal life - once he left school it was pretty much all career and nothing else.

23 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

There were bits of this I really loved, and this would have been a bold if the book was made up of those bits. However I’m not a gamer so I found the discussions of various games a bit dull, and I do think the book was a bit long - there was a bit where nothing much happened except them making different games and the story sagged a bit there. However I loved the main characters and the friendship between them so overall I did really like this.

24 Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Timey wimey crimey

Just seen The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is in the deals - I read this a few years ago, it’s a non-fiction novel about the university of Washington’s rowing 8 who went to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. None of those things would usually particularly appeal so I can’t imagine why I picked it up in the first place (rec from here maybe?) but I thought it was great and it’s definitely worth 99p on anyone’s money.

@ChessieFL love Timey wimey crimey as a review for that book

I've had this on my Kindle for ages but haven't got around to it yet.

I also thought West Cork was a fascinating podcast and very well done. I had no idea that Ian Bailey had died. I can't imagine he will be missed by anyone.

Can’t believe how quickly the thread is moving. I too like Marian Keyes early books, but not so much recently. I’ve read two of Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet and enjoyed them well enough. Looking forward to finishing them this year. I haven’t read any Colm Toibín yet but have The Blackwater Lightship high up on my tbr.
I finished off a lot of reads I’ve had going at once this week.

14 1984- George Orwell
I’m probably the last person in the world to read this- and I really only read it as I’ve seen so much fuss about Julia, the modern retelling so I thought I’d better read the original in case the retelling is on the Women’s Prize longlist. I did enjoy the building tension but I knew most of the main worldbuilding and twists as it’s so well known culturally, so that took away from it a bit. I’m not a big fan of Orwell’s prose and don’t think I’ll read another (I’ve also previously read Animal Farm)

15 In Cold Blood- Truman Capote
I’m generally not a reader of true crime (though I love a fictional detective novel) but I was still engrossed in this book. I’m sure everyone knows the story, but just in case, it tells the story of the brutal murder of the Clutter family in Kansas in the 1950s and the subsequent investigation etc. Capote seemed more sympathetic to one of the perpetrators and I’ve since read that he spoke to him a lot when he was researching the book. This, along with the absolutely beautiful prose, has awakened some interest in me about Capote himself so I’d like to read more (I’ve read Breakfast at Tiffany’s) of his fiction and some biographical stuff about him.

16 The Comedy of Errors- William Shakespeare
Ive really been trying to find a Shakespeare I like over the last 6 months so I’m now attempting to read the plays in order, starting with this one. I didn’t anticipate good things for this one because I’m not a fan of farce and it’s supposed to be one of his weaker plays. I was surprised to find I did enjoy it- it was light and frothy and the humour was akin to Blackadder so I quite enjoyed it. I think the key was listening to the free audio (full cast including David Tennant) alongside reading it. Much better than expected.

17 Midnight at Malabar House- Vaseem Kahn
Persis Wadia is Bombay’s first female detective and has been sidelined to a quiet police station. On NYE she called to the scene of the murder of Sir James Herriot, a British diplomat helping the new Indian government investigate crimes committed during partition. This was a great read- loads of history and culture, an interesting crime with lots of suspects and a really enjoyable protagonist. I had asked for recommendations on here for detective novels and someone recommended this- whoever it was, thank you so much- I will definitely continue this series.

Argh, I'm 8 (almost 9) reviews behind.

5 Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper
I've read a lot about The Dark is Rising books on these threads so finally got round to reading the first one. The Drew children go on holiday to Cornwall and whilst staying in an old house discover a closed up attic and an ancient map. They must follow the clues to find the lost grail before the forces of evil beat them to it. This was a fun, quick read that made me think of 'The Famous Five go to Cornwall' but I'm undecided whether I'll read the rest of the series.

6 Frenchman's Creek, Daphne du Maurier
Another book set in Cornwall and finally, my first bold of the year. Lady Dona St Columb bored with her marriage and tedious life in London escapes to Navron, her husband's family home in Cornwall. The locals tell stories of French pirates causing mayhem but it's not long before Dona meets the pirate captain and an adventure ensues. This is very different in tone to the other DdM books I've read and I loved it. It's fast-paced, thrilling, fun and with just a bit of romance thrown in.

@BlindurErBóklausMaður that takes me back to living in Spain in the early Noughties. I read some very odd stuff mainly from the British Council library including a lot of Lawrence Durrell - huge, dense quarters, nothing like his brother.

@TattiePants I'd definitely give The Dark is Rising a go - I'd say that Over Sea Under Stone & Greenwich are the weakest in the series.

@Stowickthevast I love the review of Laurence Durrell as 'nothing like his brother', and can't help picturing his likely reaction, I think he had a pretty serious ego to go with those big books

First DNF of the year Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi love a bit of magic realism usually but couldn't make head nor tail of it. Or maybe I am just too knackered to try.

So I listened to my first ever audiobook yesterday (and it was alo my first Charles Dickens to boot). Helena Carter bring the aunt in David Copperfield was an absolute joy!

I haven't tried it but I know it's got a name for being hard work

3.. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

This was easily among the best spy stories I have read in the past decade. The story takes place in our times, with mobile phones, USB drives, and even Putin as a minor character The "game" is multi-layered, with multiple double agents and complex strategies on both sides. Various characters and their motivations are detailed and credible.

The film starring Jennifer Lawrence was also quite good but the book is much better, as is often the case. I am happy to see that there are two sequels out already.

Recommended to all fans of the genre.

Thank you for the heads up. Don't know if this is a daily deal but just bought it at 23:58 to be on the safe side!

9. The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is set in the 1950s/60s and follows Elma, an air force pilot and later mathematician at NASA (it's not called NASA in the book but I assume it's equivalent to that). The book starts with a devastating meteorite hitting the earth which is the catalyst for the commencement of the space program and the quest for the moon and beyond. The story is about Elma's desire to be among the first female astronauts and all the various obstacles that come with that, including her forays into television. Lots of great supporting characters including her husband Nathaniel who is the chief engineer for the space program. It's sci fi but not very heavy and their world is quite indistinguishable from our own. My DH recommended this to me years ago and I never read it as I thought from the "lady astronaut" subtitle that it would be male gaze heavy sci fi about a sexy quasi human female space traveller but it wasn't that at all.

9 Vital Organs - Suzie Edge
A tour of medical history by means of famous body parts - Louis Braille’s eyes, Douglas Bader’s legs, Louis XIV’s… bottom, etc. Interesting enough, but not too much new material if you’ve already read much popular medical history. Light and amusing in tone, but well-balanced with serious points about how many medical advances have depended on using people’s body parts without their consent.

@ÚlldemoShúl I think I recommended Midnight at Malabar House - really glad you enjoyed it as I loved it too! The next two in the series are also great; not read the 4th as yet.

@TattiePants agree with @Sadik that the other books in The Dark is Rising series are on another level from Over Sea Under Stone. The Dark is Rising itself is the next one and is brilliant, but I think best read around Christmas as it is set then and it really helps the atmosphere.

Really enjoyed my latest two reads:

10 Liza's England by Pat Barker

Liza Jarrett was born at the same moment as the 20th century, and we meet her aged 84 in the middle of Thatcher's Britain. Through her own eyes and those of her social worker, Stephen, we are taken through her life on a Northern, working class street, starting and eventually reverting to her as the last woman standing before the condemned houses are demolished. Liza is a fantastic character (if perhaps in places a little too good to be true), and her messy, complicated family and neighbours are drawn to perfection in all their shades of grey. Stephen ends up as a bit of a cipher, which could have been annoying, but I didn't really mind as this is primarily about Liza - although he does get his own moments. Reading this, I realised it's been a long time since I read a book set in the 80s, which is starting to feel like a foreign country. Without being sentimental, Barker writes with love and anger about the experience of Northern working class women in particular throughout the century. The ending in the harsh realities of early 1980s life is not optimistic, but feels real and immediate even 40 years on.

11 Winter by Ali Smith

I read this in one fell swoop whilst lying in bed with a nasty cold yesterday evening, and I kind of feel that's how everyone should read it. It's a bit of a fever dream of a book, with floating heads and chunks of earth and a general feeling of furred edges eating away at your consciousness. But it is also a lovely dissection of relationships between sisters and sons and nephews and how they break down and knit back together again. Everyone in the book is a bit annoying but (in my view at least) relatable. To me, the political aspects (Brexit, Trump) felt rather shoehorned in to this book in a way they didn't in Autumn, but I was able to let them drift over me so they didn't ruin the overall atmosphere. I have a very clear vision of Sophia's house and barn and I'm always impressed when authors are able to achieve that.