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.

My list so far (a couple of these I started in Dec but I'm going to go by finish date!)

1. Identity, Nora Roberts
2. Nightwork, Nora Roberts
3. Chances, Freya North
4. Whatever it Takes, Adele Parks (nearly DNF as everyone in it sucked!)
5. Pretty Girls, Karin Slaughter
6. The Great Post Office Scandal, Nick Wallis
7. Politics on the Edge, Rory Stewart
8. Eat Sweat Play, Anna Kessels
9. Stranded, short stories, Val McDermid
10. Past Lying, Val McDermid
11. Ruth's First Christmas Tree (short), Elly Griffiths
12. The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths
13. Let Me In, Claire McGowan
14. Still Life, Val McDermid
15. The Crossing, Mat Brolly
16. The Crow Trap, Ann Cleeves
17. The Maid, Nita Prose
18. Bringing Columbia Home, Mike Leibenhart
19. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont ,Laura Pearson
20. A Memoir of my Former Self, Hilary Mantel

Thanks SouthEast shameless place marking for now. Bogged down reading Tombland the last Shardlake by CJ Sansom, seem to have been reading it for weeks and getting nowehere.

Thank you @Southeastdweller
1.The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn.
2.The Lady of the Loch by Elena Collins
3.All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle
4.A Tomb with a view by Peter Ross
5.Paper Cup by Karen Campbell

A few good bolds already where as last year I had none I don’t think or hardly any. Currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn , never seen the film so no idea what happens but plan on watching the film once the book is read. Also doing Ruth EG readalong but a chapter behind as could not put Paper Cup down.

If it helps, I hated the first one, never bothered with the second one and loved the third and fourth one. The others are very different.

Thanks for the new thread Southeast.

My list:
1 The Common Years by Jilly Cooper
2 Beyond SW19: World Class Tennis In England Since the 1880s by Kevin Jeffreys
3 Murder on the Dancefloor by Shirley Ballas
4 The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin
5 Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar
6 Me by Elton John
7 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
8 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
9 One Of The Good Guys by Araminta Hall
10 The Messalina of the Suburbs by E M Delafield
11 Provincial Daughter by R M Dashwood
12 Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
13 In Lieu of You by Keith A Pearson
14 Letter From New York: BBC Woman’s Hour Broadcasts by Helene Hanff
15 The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood
16 Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood
17 Young Men In Spats by P G Wodehouse
18 The Winter of our Discontent* *by John Steinbeck
19 The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
20 This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes
21 The Beholders by Hester Musson
22 Berserkers! by Adrian Edmondson
23 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
24 Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
25 The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
26 Once Upon A Leap Year by Anna Bell
27 This Thing of Darkness by Nicola Edwards
28 Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
29 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
30 Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
31 Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard
32 Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard
33 All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard
34 Alligators Eat Marshmallows by Tony James Slater

@RazorstormUnicorn I felt the same about Lucy Barton, it's really put me off Elizabeth Strout.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

A handful of bolds for me so far.

1. I Have To Save Them. Ellie Midwood
2. P.S Jane. Jessica Julien
3. Mrs. Quinns Rise to Fame. Olivia Ford
4. The Villa. Jess Ryder
5. Artificial Wisdom. Thomas Weaver
6. The Paris Spy's Girl. Amanda Lees
7. Twisting Time: Forbidden City of Gold. D.F Jones
8. The Liberation of Bella McCaa. Catherine Aitken
9. The Quelling. C.L Lauder

10. Munich Wolf. Rory Clements 11. Sam Time. Donna Balon 12. A Most Malicious Messenger. Katherine Black 13. Taken to the Hills. S.J Richards 14. Blood On The Tracks. Guy Hale 15. Black Money. S.J Richards 16. The German Child. Catherine Hokin 17. Phoenix Rising. Celia and Ephie Risho 18. The Bakers Secret. Lelita Baldock 19. The Vermillion Ribbon. Hayley Price 20. Inheritance. Philip Tyler 21. Nicole's War. Andrée Rushton 22. Aria and Liam: The Druids Secret. Coline Monsarrat 23. Dark Arts. Karen Taylor 24. Vermilion Sunrise. Lydia P. Brownlow 25. Opaque. Calix Leigh-Reign 26. Knights, Witches and Murder. R.M Schultz 27. The Advocate. Theresa Burrell 28. Queen of Secrets. E.J Tanda 29. The Lost Child. Kathleen McGurl 30. Blood Sapphires Revenge. Bruce Farmer 31. New Dreams at Polkerran Point. Cass Grafton 32. Highly Flawed Individual. T.C Roberts 33. Tale of Two Curses. Theresa Biehle 34. Right Across the Bay. Quinn Avery 35. How Boys Learn. Jeff Kirchick 36. The False Men. Mhairead MacLeod 37. Evermarked. A.J Eversley 38. Truth Sister. Phil Gilvin 39. Crodor The Ancient. Celia and Ephie Risho 40. The Whispering Palms. Annette Leigh 41. Good Girl Deprogramming. Michelle Minnikin 42. When The Moon Was White. Jeff Probst 43. Split Adam. Calix Leigh-Reign 44. The Wartime Book Club. Kate Thompson 45. House of Dreams. Mark Stibbe 46. Humebeasts. Lisa Munoz 47. Island In The Sun. Kate Fforde 48. Shooters. Julia Boggio 49. Escape to Polkerran Point. Cass Grafton

And latest reviews

35 Vain Shadow by Jane Hervey

Persephone book about a 1950s family gathering for the funeral of their husband/father/grandfather. I did like this but I was expecting it to be funny from the introduction and while there were one or two amusing moments the rest wasn’t really funny.

36 Universally Challenged by Anna Bell

In one universe Jessica split up with her boyfriend to take a job at an investment bank. In another universe Jess didn’t go to the job interview and married the boyfriend. Now they’ve woken up in each other’s lives. Good fun.

37 Patience by John Coates

Another Persephone book, this time about a woman in a disappointing marriage discovering her passionate side when she has an affair. This is satirical about the attitudes of men and women to marriage but even so I still found lots of the behaviour unrealistic.

Oh noooooo, very concerned about the lack of love for Lucy Barton. It'll be a while before I get there as, having been won over by both Olive books, I'm now reading Strout's books in publication order but still

@BlueFairyBugsBooks you are nearly at the 50 already, amazing!

Apologies for asking, but where people have written lists of books, does it mean anything when some are bolded and others aren’t?

I read My Name is Lucy Barton before i joined these threads and loved it. Anything is Possible (the sequel) I liked even more. I like the way she plays on how we view the past and seeing the same events from different perspectives. I've also read Abide with me, that I liked, but not as much. A bit heavy on religion for me.* *I Guess there a bit marmite.

In the lists a bold means you thought it was really good

I've actually finished 2 more that I haven't reviewed on here so far.

In lists, bold is for books you really rate, italics for any absolute stinkers.

In general posts we use bold to highlight a username if you are specifically talking to someone, any book titles or authors. We do this so it stands out and makes the thread easier to follow as several conversations might be happening at once.

Great grammar & punctuation in that last sentence 😁

My list far

1. The Iliad – Homer (new translation Emily Wilson)
2. A Room of One’s Own - Virginia Woolf
3. When the Dust Settles – Lucy Easthope
4. For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain - Victoria MacKenzie
5. Nottingham - Nathan Makaryk
6. The River at Night - Erica Ferencik
7. Cuddy - Benjamin Myers
8. Chrysalis - Anna Metcalfe
9. Soldier Sailor - Claire Kilroy

10. Enter Ghost - Isabella Hammad 11. In Memoriam - Alice Winn 12. Penance - Eliza Clark 13. Rouge - Mona Awad 14. Loot - Tania James 15. Falling Animals - Sheila Armstrong 16. The Glutton - A.K. Blakemore 17. A History of Burning - Janika Oza 18. The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace - Michael Scott-Baumann 19. The Fraud - Zadie Smith 20. Evil Eye - Etaf Rum 21. Act of Murder - Alan Wright 22. Chlorine - Jade Song 23. The Guest - Emma Cline 24. Land of Milk and Honey - C Pam Zhang 25. Sunburn - Chloe Michelle Howarth 26. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks 27. The Future - Naomi Alderman 28. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan 29. Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall - Helena Merriman 30. When I Hit You, Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife - Meena Kandasamy 31. Athelstan: The Making of England - Tom Holland 32. What You Are Looking For is in the Library - Michiko Aoyama 33. Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You - Meena Kandasamy

Thanks for the new thread, South - hope things ease up for you soon.

My list so far:

1. A Heart Full of Headstones - Ian Rankin
2. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - T. E. Carhart
3. Late in the Day - Tessa Hadley
4. The Wah-Wah Diaries - Richard E. Grant
5. Resurrection Walk - Michael Connelly
6. A Fortunate Man - John Berger
7. The Messalina of the Suburbs - E. M. Delafield
8. The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley - Elizabeth Romer
9. Dead Man's Riddle - Mary Kelly
10. Charlie Chaplin vs. America - Scott Eyman
11. Goats - Mark Poirier
12. Coffee with Hitler - Charles Spicer
13. The Glass Pearls - Emeric Pressburger
14. Giving Up the Ghost - Hilary Mantel

Also currently continuing the Nicholas Nickleby readalong, and partway through The Rector's Daughter, the latest for the Rather Dated Book Club.

And thanks for the kind words @cassandre * and @SheilaFentiman - I like the sound of Mantel Pieces *so will keep an eye out for that.

Thanks so much @Owlbookend and @FortunaMajor. I’m now going to read back over the lists to seek out the bolded titles. Always looking for new books…. 45 books in my to be read pile clearly isn’t enough.

I haven't done much reading since having my first child 6 years ago, but managing a little bit more free time these days so I'm trying to get back into it.

I've mainly been easing myself in with some easy YA fiction so far.

1. The Maze Runner - James Dashner
2. The Scorch Trials - James Dashner
3. The Death Cure - James Dashner
4. Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
5. The Kill Order - James Dashner
6. The Fever Code - James Dashner

I quite enjoyed the Maze runner series though have stalled on The Maze Cutter. I'll probably get back to it at some point.

Thanks for the new thread southeast! Here is my list:

1. Be a Free Range Human - Marianne Cantwell
2. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Caitlin Doherty
3. The Second Sleep - Robert Harris
4. Poirot’s Silent Night - Sophie Hannah
5. Unruly - David Mitchell
6. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
7. Rising to the Surface - Lenny Henry
8. The First Fossil Hunters - Adrienne Mayor
9. Vital Organs - Suzie Edge
10. Venomous Lumpsucker - Ned Beauman
11. Why Losing Your Job Could Be the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You - Eleanor Tweddell
12. Attack Warning Red - Julie McDowall

Currently got far too many books on the go, but focusing on getting the Nicolas Nickleby chapters done by the end of the month.

Thank you for the new thread @Southeastdweller !

Here’s my list:

1. Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
2. The Five-minute Garden - Laetitia Maklouf
3. A Symphony of Echoes - Jodi Taylor
4. Agent Sonya - Ben Macintyre
5. A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor
6. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
7. Homecoming - Kate Morton
8. Le Jardinage pour les Nuls - Michael MacCaskey (in French; tr. Valérie Martin-Rolland)
9. Once Upon a Crime - Robin Stevens

My list:

1 Watership Down: the Graphic Novel - Douglas Adams
2 The Lord God Made them All - James Herriot
3 A Helping Hand - Celia Dale
4 Where I End - Sophie White
5 A Net for Small Fishes - Lucy Jago
6 Even the Dogs - John McGregor
7 How to be Both - Ali Smith
8 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller and hope life gets a bit easier.

1. TheTwist of a Knife - Anthony Horowitz
2. Hello Beautiful - Ann Napolitano
3. Verdigris - Michele Mari, translated by Brian Robert Moore
4. The Covenant of Water - Abraham Verghese
5. Big Swiss - Jen Beagin
6. The Memory of Animals - Claire Fuller
7. The School at the Chalet - Elinor M Brent Dyer
8. The Biography of X - Catherine Lacey
9. Stone Blind - Natalie Haynes

10. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld 11. The First Bad Man - Miranda July 12. The New Life - Tom Crewe

And another 7 Chalet School books....

Have just started North Woods which has been well reviewed on here and I'm quite enjoying.

@SapatSea i read Tombland this time last year and it felt about 300 pages too long.