50 Books Challenge Part Three

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 first thread is here and the second one here.

@BarbaraBuncle another advocate for reading whatever tickles your fancy. I quite often need a lighter book or after a heavy literary tome. That said, the two aren't always exclusionary. I'm listening to Meryl Streep reading Tom Lake at the moment and it feels very comforting. Authors like Elizabeth Strout and Anne Tyler are generally quite relaxing reads I find. Hope you can get some support for your DS.

Eine I didn't really like Leave the World Behind. I found it so annoying that they didn't try harder to find out what was going on, also feel like there was some dodgy penis action in that book. I actually thought the film added bits to make it more coherent like the ship, the parked cars and them seeing an explosion in the distance.

@Stowickthevast

I think having seen the film first made a difference - I dreamt about it last night though so its definitely had an effect

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I'm completely in agreement with you. I loathe what the Tories have done to the NHS, and to everything else they've touched.

I don't want to to derail this lovely thread any more, though, so thank you to everyone for their kind words. I'll keep reading the things I can manage for now and post my short reviews.

I'd forgotten how much I loved the film of Educating Rita, Remus. Long time since I last watched it.

I have absolutely nothing to contribute to the SF discussion.

7 - Island of Mercy - Rose Tremain
A 50-booker recommended this to me last year when I thought I was going to be
travelling to Borneo (I wasn't able to join the trip 😢) and I subsequently discovered I already had it on my kindle 😜. Obviously, missing out on the trip meant I put it on the back burner but have just devoured it over the past couple of days.

Linked storylines in Bristol and Borneo which honestly could have been separate books in themselves. It’s a fascinating dip into two very different continents during the 19th century. Fans of Tremain will not be disappointed.

@BarbaraBuncle An almost perfect film - and I rarely say that!

Can I join please? I’m not sure I’ll make 50 as I’ve only read five so far this year but I’d like to give it a go! The one’s I’ve read so far this year (am I right in thinking we bold the ones that were especially good?):

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Welcome @BookW1tch

Nobody really cares about the numbers, we just like talking about books. Some like a target to aim for to keep the motivation/momentum up as it can be hard to find the time. You can set your own target for the year, or just go with the flow.

There are no expectations on what you read either, we love hearing about everything because often there's a review about a book that you would never have found or picked up yourself that makes you want to read it.

We use bold when writing lists of books to show which ones we really liked.

We also use bold in general discussions when talking about any book titles, authors or thread members so it makes it easier to see what is being talked about.

I rarely hit the magic 50 either @BookW1tch but I enjoy the chat and recommendations and it is one of the nicest parts of Mumsnet.

18. Ultra Processed People - Chris Van Tulleken I listened to this on audible over a couple of months. I enjoyed it but I'm not much wiser about whether UPFs are really awful for you if you can moderate your intake and not gain weight. I like audible as an alternative to podcasts when I'm exercising or driving but I do like to flip back in books which is obviously harder to do when listening. My one change from reading this book is I've stopped buying supermarket bread. Making my own/buying fancier bread has not gone well so far.

19. Paper Cup - Karen Campbell I think this has been reviewed on here many times (I probably came across it on this thread). The central character is Kelly, a homeless alcoholic woman living in Glasgow and throughout the book you slowly learn more of her history, the people in her life and how she ended up where she is. I enjoyed this book. I don't know how authors write about an experience so alien to their own (I assume Karen Campbell hasn't been homeless but maybe I'm wrong). It felt so real reading it though (but I say that having never been homeless myself). I guess that follows on from the sci fi discussion. Is research enough to craft a truly believable story? I wonder what a person living in Kelly's situation would make of the book. Maybe I'll see if I can find out...

For me its back to Australia for some more crime! Although my interest is piqued by @nowanearlyNicemum 's Island of Mercy as I went to university in Bristol and now live in Malaysia (hi mum 👋)

@nowanearlyNicemum thank you for the Island of Mercy review, I read a Rose Tremain years ago and liked it so I am going to put this on my TBR

Haven't posted for weeks but have enjoyed the SF discussion from the side lines. Had to look up the word 'necromancer' - glad I did as it was very different to what I thought, had wondered if it was somehow related to necrophilia but it is VERY different!

My February reading...

6. The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
First in the Vera Stanhope series, set in Northumberland. Mostly read/listened to in bed while full of the cold a month ago and it was perfect in that situation - enough going on to hold my interest but not too hard to follow.

7.All The Beauty In The World by Patrick Bringley
Early days, but this currently holds my 'best book of 2024' slot. Non-fiction reflecting on life as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, grief following the death of the author's brother in his mid-20s, and art and how it affects people. I'm not sure why this was such a hit for me. I really don't know much about art but became more and more interested as I read and found myself looking up artworks on the Met Museum website. The 'behind the scenes' elements were fascinating, and the writing about grief was powerful but didn't overwhelm. A brilliant read.

8. These Days by Lucy Caldwell
Novel centred on the lives of two sisters living in Belfast through the air raids and bombings of WWII. Historical fiction with lots of details to really evoke the time and place. Also a coming of age story as both sisters grabble with what they want for their futures. I think I read this at the wrong time when my head was busy with work and full of real life issues - I liked it but may have loved it at another time.

9. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Witty novel about the break up of a marriage. Our main character is a food writer and seven months pregnant when she finds out that her husband has had an affair. This grew on me - I really wasn't taken with it at the start but by the end I felt that there was both humour and heart. This is often held up as a hilarious read and I think it wasn't quite a five star read for me, partly because I had gone in with overly high expectations and partly because I don't think I got all of the references. Glad I've read it - it's been on the TBR for a long time.

Currently reading The Secret Garden along with DS for his homework and One Life, a biography of Nicholas Winton which I am really absorbed in.

7. Joe Country by Mick Herron
Spy thriller. Four agents are sent after a teenage boy who has seen arms dealers/Prince of the Realm (not at all disguised Prince Andrew) up to no good. Jackson Lamb's Slow Horses are sent to protect him. It's a lot more complicated than my one line description. I am not a fan.

Check your Wish Lists for Deals Time

I got three

Age Of Vice
The Green Road
and
I Have Some Questions For You

Welcome to the thread @BookW1tch

Recommended many times by some 50 Bookers over the last 12 months or so, When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope is currently 99p in the Kindle sale.

Hello. I would love to join you all too, if I may?
I love books and talking about books. I will pop my book list/reviews on here later as I am just back from a week away and need to prioritise some washing😰

@BarbaraBuncle – sorry to hear that you are having a tough time. Nothing wrong with light or fluffy reading. Sometimes when my health isnt great, it’s a struggle to read and I’m a convert to audio now.

@BookW1tch – welcome! As @FortunaMajor says, the number doesn’t really matter. Isnt The Seven Sisters a huge book though? That probably counts for 4 of mine lol

@CluelessMama - me too! lol

I cant really contribute to the SF. John Wyndham is the only SF author I have read (I think) but I would be interested to hear what people think the definition of dystopian is. I quite like what I think is a dystopian novel, say The Road or The Handmaids Tale.

18 A Litter of Bones by JD Kirk. Quite a short book at just under 300 pages, so I was able to bash through it and finish 18 books by the month end, due to the luxury of an extra day in February. First of the DCI Jack Logan series. Its fine, I liked the plot and the characters, but I feel that there are better ‘tartan noir’ books out there. So I’ll put DCI Logan to one side for now.

Not sure what to pick next from my TBR pile. I have the much loved Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Hamnet by Maggie Farrell and Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

Any thoughts on what to pick first?

Hello and good afternoon @Helloandgoodmorning2! The joys of washing after being away.

Thank you for the welcome everyone. @Tarragon123 Haha The Seven Sisters was a bit of a chunky one, will be kinder to myself when counting up the total then 😅

@Tarragon123 i loved Hamnet

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit

I got the Rebbeca Makkai too. And Hungry Ghosts which I'm not getting on well with on audible - too many characters though the narrator has a nice voice - and Flamingo which was longlisted for the Women's Prize in 2022.

I just returned a book I was reading because I couldn't get on with the voice. It's such a tricky medium

I haven't found much that I fancied in the deals but have bought:

In Tearing Haste
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Breathtaking

I'm also tempted by The Bachman Books.

@CluelessMama Lesbian necrophilia brings into a whole different ball game.

I bought a handful of crime fiction, When the Dust Settles, Love letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West and Hungry Ghosts

Gosh, I think this is my first post on this thread, 13 pages in!

I have just finished reading The Wager by David Grann, named after an eighteenth century ship, nit a bet but the name is fitting.

I cannot remember how and where I heard of this book but I really recommend it for the many resident TTOD fans and/or those who liked Erebus.

The setting is Patagonia so similar to TTOD and this is a non fiction account of a foolhardy expedition during the War of Jenkins' Ear, shipwreck, castaways, mutinies, murder , loyalty, betrayal, empire, and subterfuge.

Grann accumulates his evidence deftly and writes extremely well.

The most interesting elements were the occasions when tribespeople came into contact with the castaways, were very kind, even moved in amongst them, fed them, helped them to find shelter : and were, of course terribly treated. (Grann also wrote Killers of the Flower Moon). Grann ends the book with the dreadful story of a slave mutiny , and the sad tale of a black survivor of The Wager - John Duck- who, once rescued, ended up in slavery , lost to his fellow shipmates, his friend Morris, and the annals of history.