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

Going against the grain and saying I loved Trespasses. I found the detached style was almost disassociated - how I imagine people might feel when they live with that leave iof trauma on a daily basis.

8. The Amber Fury - Natalie Haynes This is is her first novel. I have really enjoyed her Greek myth retellings. Whilst this one still contains Greek myths it is very different and definitely not as successful.
Alex, budding director, has experienced tragedy in London and moves to Edinburgh to work in Puoil Referral unit teaching drama. She wins over the most difficult class with Greek myth and plays ( Oh if only it was so easy). But then things take a darker turn.
Having a strong professional connection to a the world Alex finds herself in I was often wincing at the way the story played itself out and the over simplification of the students and their responses.
However Haynes can definitely write well and I was entertained and compelled to keep reading. The ending is unclear but overall a decent read.

@splothersdog I loved The Amber Fury. I haven't read any other Natalie Haynes though. What would you suggest?

7. The Golden Mole - Katherine Rundell

This is a lovely book which has short sections on animals facing extinction but the information shared is a wonderful mix of interesting facts, references to the animal in myths and the risk to the animal mixed with some humour. A interesting selection too as not the obvious (rhino) but the more humdrum (swift, spider (certain breeds), seahorse). Well written. Each section is only five or six pages long and in the paperback copy has a drawing/picture too. An unexpected delight and a bold.

Book 6
The Island, Ragnar Jonasson

Nice, chilly, Christie-esque locked room (deserted island) dual timeline police procedural. Lots of lovely bleak, cold nature description.

I read the first in this series (Hidden Iceland) a year or so back, and wasn’t overly thrilled. This one was much better. Had I realised then, that the series goes backwards, I’d have read them in writing order still, but maybe one after the other, in order to get the full picture.

Basically, the first one deals with a case and the main character at the END of her policing career, this second one is set in 87 and 97 and the third (The Mist) has her at the beginning of her career, when personal stuff that’s referred to in the others gets explained.

My one quibble is perhaps not even a fair one- but the English at times seems a bit stilted. I put this down to a less than perfect translation, but who knows? Maybe it’s the author’s style. I read a lot of Ragnar a couple of years ago though, and don’t remember the English niggling at me.

Will probably go straight onto the third installment while I can still remember who the characters are!

Our Hideous Progeny - CE McGill
A female descendant of Victor Frankenstein finds his notes and determines to make use of them.

I found this very readable, if flawed. It’s too long and some of the sentiments and dialogue felt rather adolescent. If you haven’t read Frankenstein then I probably wouldn’t bother with it. If you have and fancy an easy and fairly diverting read which makes no aspirations to great literature, then maybe go for it.

@elspethmcgillicudddy definitely A Thousand Ships and Stone Blind.

10 1984 - George Orwell
Winston works for the outer party of Big Brother in an ever watching state. He remembers the world before the revolution and seeks out other party members who internally rebel against the regime.
I enjoyed a lot of this book, especially the ideas on war and the high, middle and low groups of people. The complete control the people in charge have, even over thoughts, is a very scary notion. I was reminded of the pandemic when Orwell describes how the majority of the population will accept what they are told because someone in power said they should. I guess we do do that and are programmed to follow those in authority as the alternative is punishment or being outcast. I did feel I was reading a textbook partway through and I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, but the themes will stay with me for a while.

6 Lavender Blue by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer only just found out there is a new series of books by them. Great fun . Liz Danger returns home to visit her mother for the first time in 15 years.There's a wedding, a 6foot teddy bear and a dachshund. Joy

10 The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell

I loved Paper Cup so much I bought the author’s first Crime novel. It was ok, not as brilliant as PC but I like that about it as it shows the progression of good author from the beginning of her writing career. As an ex police officer I got the impression she knows what she’s talking about, particularly as a female officer.
Someone is attacking prostitutes in Glasgow’s Drag area, scarring their faces. An old Polish war hero has been found dead, his medals missing. Anna Cameron is newly transferred to the ‘Flexi’ Unit. Not all her new colleagues like her, she finds herself working with an old flame…….so pretty similar to many other police procedural novels. There’s a crispness to the dialogue and a streak of cycnicism that elevates it above most others, however.
I don’t know why Anna continues to moon about over Jamie, he sounds like an emotionally stunted 24 carat twat, but there’s no accounting for taste. I see the next in the series concentrates on him and I’m not sure I care enough so I may skip it. Also, I think it’s just an illustration of Anna’s character but she has a real bug up her (no doubt slim, pert) arse about other characters being “fat”, which gets a bit wearing. There is a sub plot about a Fat Man suspect though, so perhaps it is just a badly executed nod to that.

I have bought This Is Where I Am by the author, which looks promising, but I’ll leave that for a while as I don’t want to be freshly comparing it to PC

1. The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway #2) by Elly Griffiths

More perilous adventures for Dr Galloway the archaeologist. This time, with added Roman history, sacrifices, missing children, dead bodies and the Police.

I'm loving this series so far, despite solving the mystery quite early on. It's a bit of fun, not too demanding and just what I need right now. Looking forward to the next one in the series.

@whinsome – The name Manda Scott is ringing a bell with me, but not for the Boudica series. I like Jenny Colgan too, so I think I’ll give the first Boudica book a go as we seem to like the same books 😊

@elspethmcgillicudddy elspethmcgillycuddy – I’d also recommend Stone Blind by Natalie Hayes, I loved it.

11. The Bookseller of Inverness – SG MacLean – my first bold of the year, its great! Set in 1752, only eight years after the Battle of Culloden, this is a tale of the two sides, Jacobites and Hanoverians and how they live side by side in Inverness. Chuck in a couple of murders and a fugitive and it’s a very atmospheric story. It was Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Year for 2023 and I can see why.

12. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat – Samin Hosrat – just like buses, no bolds and then two come along at once! I wanted this book but it is quite expensive, so I snapped it up on Audible where it is an exclusive. Samin is an American/Iranian chef and has the most exquisite voice. I could listen to her all day. She explains how salt, fat, acid and heat are the cornerstones of cooking. Fascinating stuff. I will put the actual book on my wish list. The only issue is that she speaks in American, so I got confused with her oven temps as she refers to F, rather than C and other various terms such as broiling. Not a deal breaking for me.

8 A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed By the Rise of Fascism - Julia Boyd

Those of you who said this is better than Travellers in the Third Reich were correct. Absolutely outstanding and devastating. A bold.

9 Murder Before Evensong - Rev Richard Coles

I had a false start on this last year but picked up where I left off and enjoyed it. Lots of walnut cake, flower arranging, daschunds and clerical jargon as you would expect.

17. Phoenix Rising Celia and Ephie Risho

This is a actually a children's book, aimed at 8-15 year olds. But the beauty of being a book reviewer is finding books I might otherwise miss.

This is the first in the "Elementalists" series of books and was brilliant. The artwork was beautiful.

It's about a group of children who all discover they have different powers and have to work together to work out who, or what is burning their fields and villages and why. Its got magical creatures, wizards and just enough danger to keep you reading. If you've got children in that age group I'd definitely recommend it. 4/5

18. The Bakers Secret Lelita Baldock

Set mainly in WW2 Latvia this is a story of survival and the courage of everyday people in extraordinary circumstances.

The story jumps between the past and the present as Zee reveals the family secrets. 4.5/5

19. The Vermillion Ribbon Hayley Price

Another fantasy book, apparently I read those now. This one is about the forbidden same sex relationships between women who are members of "the guild" a group of contract Killers. When the guild find out that rules have been broken then they have to go on the run. There's so much more to it than that, but my brain is a bit wobbly so I'm not making sense. Anyway it was really good. 4/5

13. The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton

Wharton's last, unfinished, novel.

Having been rejected by New York society for being too "nouveau riche" the St George and Elmsworth sisters try their hand at London society where many a titled yet penniless young man shows an interest.

I literally only read this because of the Apple TV series which shares its name. Though character names and some bare bones plot are the same, to say that the series has taken significant liberties with the source is something of the understatement.

I enjoyed the series a lot even though it does wish it were Bridgerton but a found the book a little dull and the characters 2 dimensional on the whole.

14. Educated by Tara Westover (Spotify)

I think a lot of posters have read this and I'm late to the party, but I do love an unusual life memoir.
Tara Westover was brought up in a Mormon home with zero formal education. Technically she was classed as Homeschooled but little to none took place. Her father, (who was probably mentally unwell) believed the end of days was coming, distrusted the government and also modern medicine. Tara is also significantly physically abused by her brother "Shawn" and repeatedly placed in danger working for her father. That she managed to gain a scholarship to Cambridge University is some kind of miracle, but it all seemed to happen for her, she makes it sound easy!
The physical abuse sections were a very hard listen, but this sort of story is right up my street and I do recommend it.

@BestIsWest I enjoyed Travellers but struggled to get into Village, although that might have been because I'd been a bit Nazi Germany'd out at the time. Will dig it out again this year.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie have to admit to having a bit of an obsession with it at the moment. I’m looking for recs on post war Germany now.

@elspethmcgillicudddy another recommendation for A Thousand Ships. Now added The Amber Fury to my TBR.

9. Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

A definite bold. Sylvie is staying in an Iron Age roundhouse with her parents as part of an experimental archeology experience. A group of three students and a professor are also participating to a lesser extent. You really get the sense of the oppressive atmosphere of a hot summer, building up to a dark climax where past and present collide.

10. The Victorian Criminal - Neil R Storey
11. The Victorian Detective - Alan Moss & Keith Skinner

Two Shire books, so both giving a comprehensive summary on the subject. I preferred The Victorian Detective as The Victorian Criminal was covering well trod ground in terms of the crimes they looked into.

12. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson

Much reviewed here already, and little else to add.

@BestIsWest have you read either Tunnel 29 or Stasiland?

@BestIsWest I second @TattiePants recommendation of Tunnel 29 , it was one of my non-fiction favourites from last year.

I’ve read Stasiland a few years ago. Will look up Tunnel 29 Thanks @TattiePants and @ÚlldemoShúl

For any Nancy Mitford fans, her complete collection of novels including Love in a Cold Climate and The pursuit of Love is in today’s kindle deals.

6 The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley A group of old friends are staying in a remote luxury lodge on a Highland estate for New Year; from the beginning of the book we know that somebody ends up dying (we don’t know who until much later) and the story works towards the reveal of the killer’s identity. This was fine as a quick read but not particularly good - the difference characters all talk in the same voice, there is far too much telling, not showing, and the personalities and motivations of most of the characters didn’t ring true for me.

The Hunting Party was a book club read @DuPainDuVinDuFromage and we were all underwhelmed by it

I went to hear Julia Boyd talk about A Village in the Third Reich at Wigmore Hall last year, it's available here if anyone's interested:

(She's now working on a book about...... Wigmore Hall.)

I enjoyed both Julia Boyd’s books and while Village was a bit of a slow start for me, I was really gripped by it in the end.

The Wigmore Hall - Bechstein Hall as it was first called, as it was part of the (German) piano showroom of the same name next door - has a fascinating history, so her next book will definitely be going onto my wishlist. I’m sorry I missed her talk!