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.

Wow - 50 posts already. Just place marking, have been rereading old favourites recently as none of my new (to me) books have been tickling my fancy. That includes library books I've ordered which is always a bit annoying.

I (metaphorically sadly because kindle) threw Rory the Tory across the room after a few chapters. That was after he achieved the rather remarkable feat of making me feel - at least briefly - quite sorry for Priti Patel.

I loved Tombland, maybe because it was the last one

23 Regeneration - Pat Barker

This didn’t fully do it for me. Some parts I was really gripped by, others I was dozing off. I found the scenes of the soldiers and their catastrophic mental health problems from serving in France harrowing. But it was dense in areas and as someone who is not particularly interested in poetry, I found those parts rather dull. I was interested in the relationships between with men and how each coped with their own and others problems but there wasn’t enough of that for me. The formatting was not great either so paragraphs ran into each other which made it a bit confusing. I was quite glad to reach the end as it was a slog in places. I know it’s hugely popular so maybe it’s just over my head and I may give the second and third a go in the future.

Placemarking. Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller 🙂

My list so far:

1. Another Planet: a Teenager in Suburbia.-Tracey Thorn
2. Bedsit Disco Queen- Tracey Thorn
3. One Moment- Linda Green
4. One Last Secret- Adele Parks
5. Swimming For Beginners- Nicola Gill
6. In Little Stars- Linda Green
7. Garth Meriengi's TerrorTome- Garth Meriengi
8. Garth Merienghi's Incarcerat- Garth Meriengi

10. The Last Thing He Told Me- Laura Dave 11. Nightshade Revenge- Anthony Horowitz 12. Baby Love- Jacqueline Wilson 13. The Midnight Library- Matt Haig 14. I Remember Paris- Lucy Diamond 15. Private Faces and Public Places- Sian Phillips 16. Heartstopper: Volume 1- Alice Oseman 17. Heartstopper: Volume 2- Alice Oseman 18. Heartstopper: Volume 3- Alice Oseman 19. Heartstopper: Volume 4- Alice Oseman 20. Heartstopper: Volume 5- Alice Oseman 21. Solitaire- Alice Oseman 22. The Last Family in England- Matt Haig 23. 'How To Stop Time- Matt Haig 24. Radio Silence- Alice Oseman 25. Stand Up Guy- Nina Kaye 26. Dancing The Charleston- Jacqueline Wilson

DNF's:

'The Dead Fathers Club- Matt Haig
'The Procession of Mr Cave- Matt Haig

Sorry, I don't know what went wrong there!

Good luck for your degree @Southeastdweller- I'm studying for one myself at the moment. Am also trying to complete my CIPD Level 5 as well. I've been quite ill at times due to my disabilities, and it's took me about three years to write the assignments. ❤️

Sorry, I forgot to say what I'm currently reading.

Just started The Radleys- Matt Haig

1. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
2. The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
3. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
4. Yellowface - RF Kuang

5. The Great Post Office Scandal - Nick Wallis

1. The Seven Sisters - Lucinda Riley

7. The Kitchen Gods Wife - Amy Tan

1. Dreaming The Eagle - Manda Scott

9. The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal 10. The Fated Sky - Mary Robinette Kowal 11. Red Side Story - Jasper Fforde 12. The Relentless Moon - Mary Robinette Kowal 13. One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson 14. Expecting Better - Emily Oster 15. The Gift of Rain - Tan Twan Eng

And I'm currently halfway through my classic for February Little Women - Louisa May Alcott. I'm trying to read one classic and one non-fiction a month.

No idea what's happened with the formatting there! Sorry!

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. This is a short book- I read it in one evening. It starts off well, but then almost feels like the story changes and then it ends very abruptly. I was left feeling disappointed. It could have been good, but instead felt more like a meal that leaves you hungry again an hour later.

Thank you for the shiny new thread, Southeast

My list is short but all were books I enjoyed and would recommend:

1.. The Main by Trevanian
2.. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
3.. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
4.. The Colour of Money by Walter Tevis

Thanks for new thread south

My list so far

1. Echo Burning; Lee Child
2. The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Agatha Christie
3. Without Fail; Lee Child
4. Persuader; Lee Child
5. Beg, Borrow or Steal; Susie Tate
6. Lights Out; Elise Hart Kipness
7. A Fatal Inversion; Barbara Vine
8. The Secret Adversary; Agatha Christie
9. The Witcher: The Last Wish; Andrzej Sapkowski

@SapatSea Tombland is by far the worst of the series imo. It goes on and on and one, but nothing much happens and it wears his research very heavily. I think he was very ill when he was writing it.

I’ve totally lost my reading mojo. I’ve got a pile of physical non-fiction books, but am struggling to get into The Wager and just not feeling strong enough for the Nazis and homosexuality or one about Jane Austen which are also in the pile. And I can’t find a single novel that’s appealing to me. I really hate these fallow periods.

Thanks for new thread south, to which I’m late!

1 Slow Horses (Slough House #1) - Mick Herron
2 The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
3 Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson
4 The Ink Black Heart - Robert Galbraith
5 The Beggar Maid - Alice Munro
6 Dead Lions (Slough House #2) - Mick Herron

Then 2 new ones since last thread -

7 The Elements of Eloquence - Mark Forsyth
I really enjoyed The Etymologican last year, tried another of his which was a DNF mostly just because I was listening on audible and it didn’t suit the format. This one, which I also listened to on audible, was entertaining enough and I enjoyed some of the examples given.

8 If We Were Villains - ML Rio
Yeah I pretty much hated this. I wish I didn’t, I’d actually been saving it as one to look forward to, because it’s billed as ‘If you loved The Secret History …’ which I very much did. I just found the characters to be such thinly drawn, insufferable, cliches (bearing no resemblance to any teenager I’ve ever encountered) and nothing that happened felt true or believable - it happened because it was following some predetermined Shakespearean structure but never felt ‘earned’ to me. Clearly I’m the problem as every review I can find is positively glowing, but this was so nearly a DNF for me.

It’s been a pretty ‘meh’ year so far, Slow Horses aside, but even then I was somewhat disappointed by the second in the series. I need a good one next!

Thankfully the Rory the Tory bus has reached the end of the line.

Just a quick catch up on those worth talking about that I haven't got to yet.

What You Are Looking For Is In The Library - Michiko Aoyama
Several people unhappy with their careers and lives visit the local library where an all-knowing librarian is able to make the perfect book recommendation which points them in the right direction to change.
I wasn't keen at first but it grew on me. Ultimately I found it quite charming.

The Future - Naomi Alderman
Tech billionaires aware of potential extinction events create bunkers to ensure their survival and alert software to keep them safe. A famous internet survival expert discovers their plans and intervenes to save the world.
This started really well and I found it very engaging, but it got a bit silly towards to the end.

Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
Set in Eyam, the village that isolated itself during the 1666 plague. A housemaid becomes an unlikely heroine as she tries to hold the village together and heal the sick.
I loved this, but the ending was absolutely batshit and it ruined what had been a great book.

Sunburn - Chloe Michelle Howarth
Lesbian coming of age in rural 1990s Ireland. School leaver with few prospects leads a double life while yearning for more. The usual route of marriage and kids with a local boy doesn't appeal and she tries to hide her true self from her family and local community.
I couldn't help but think of Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls while reading this. However it differs in that it's been written at a time when the content isn't shocking. It's well written, but fairly run of the mill for what it is.

Land of Milk and Honey - C Pam Zhang
During a time of smog and failing food crops, a chef finds herself working for a millionaire in a mountain retreat where technology has made food available that is missing from the rest of the world.
It's supposed to be a commentary on wealth imbalance, climate change and food ethics. This is very odd, it relies very much on describing the sensations rather than the thoughts of the main character. It's trying to be very clever, but really misses the mark. It's overwritten and ultimately quite dull.

Thank you for the new thread @Southeastdweller!

@FortunaMajor The Future was the first book I read this year and I lost the plot a bit in the final section as well.

@AliasGrape I feel I'm having quite a bland reading year so far too! Some decent genre fiction but nothing stand out really. I have a whole stack of new releases on order at the library but it's being very slow.

11. Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin. Often raved about by authors I like (including Katherine Heiny who wrote the intro to this edition) and compared, of course, to Nora Ephron. It's a rom com of sorts following two cousins in New York in the 70s, Vincent and Guido, as they fall in love with Missy and Holly. I didn't really get it - there's a lot of the men being in awe of the women, and the women crying or disappearing on long trips, but you never see anyone having a conversation or giving any indication of actually enjoying being in these supposedly happy relationships. I thought I'd love this so a bit of a disappointment.

12. Bluebird Bluebird by Atticka Locke. First in a new series of crime thrillers, black Texas ranger Darren is drawn back to his home town to investigate the double murder of a black man and white woman, while being, of course, suspended from active duty. Like her other books this is s great read, atmospheric and sinister, and very politically smart as well as being a compelling whodunnit. I'll definitely read the next in the series.

@FortunaMajor buses are beneath Rory. He would walk. 😀

Ha! They were talking about buses (specifically election battle buses) on the Rest Is Politics podcast this week. I recall Alastair wasn’t keen but I forget what Rory said.

@satelliteheart can I ask what the italics means? I've seen a couple of people use it in lists. If it's to highlight particularly non-recommended books I need to go back and edit my list!

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller ! Hope things improve for you soon and for all those in various slumps.

List so far

1. Katy Watson, The Three Dahlias
2. Anthony Horowitz, A Twist of the Knife
3. Cho Nam-Joo, Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 (trans. Jamie Chang)
4. Mick Herron, The Secret Hours
5. Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
6. Nick Wallis, The Great Post Office Scandal
7. and 8. Barbara Sleigh, Carbonel and The Kingdom of Carbonel
8. E. M. Delafield, Messalina of the Suburbs
9. Eva Ibbotson, A Glove Shop in Vienna and other winter stories
10. Monica Dickens, The Fancy
11. Martha Wells, System Collapse
12. Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop (trans. Shanna Tan)
13. Julia Boyd, A Village in the Third Reich
14. Caroline O’Donoghue, The Rachel Incident
15. Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends
16. Marisa Meltzer, Glossy
17. Edith Wharton, The Old Maid
18. Clara Dupont-Monod, The Revolt (trans. Ruth Diver)
19. Anna Beer, Eve Bites Back
20. Jason Shreier, Blood, Sweat and Pixels
21. Caroline O’Donoghue, All Our Hidden Gifts
22. T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage
23. Vaseem Khan, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra
24. Chris Hammer, Opal Country
25. Antti Tuomainen, The Rabbit Factor
26. Peter Ross, A Tomb with a View
27. Leonora Nattrass, Blue Water
28. Emeric Pressburger, The Glass Pearls
29. Mona Award, Rouge [poss pending italicisation; nearly DNF]

Train wifi ate my reviews of 25-29 but will add at a later date if anyone would like to hear about them! @Terpsichore reviewed The Glass Pearls just recently.

Currently reading Red Memory by Tania Brannigan, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, The Rector's Daughter by F. M. Mayor for the Rather Dated bookgroup, all of which are v. good to excellent but definite downers, so I would like a fluffy chaser but can't find anything not atrociously written and/or painfully twee.
So far abandoned: First Position by Melissa Brayden (atrocious), A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (twee) and The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell (both)

@Kinsters yes italics in a list are books that you absolutely wouldn’t recommend.

@FortunaMajor I loved Year of Wonders but that ending! What possessed her?

@Kinsters italics in lists generally mean stinkers. Hopefully not too many of these yet!

Thanks for the new thread south!

19. The Surgeon of Crowthorne - Simon Winchester

A definite bold. It would make a good companion to The Dictionary of Lost Words or The Dictionary People. This book tells the history of one of the most prolific contributors to the first Oxford English Dictionary, an American army surgeon who spent years incarcerated at Broadmoor. His story in itself is not quite enough so the book also goes into the history of the OED, Victorian social history and the American Civil War. A really interesting read and recommended.

20. I Laughed, I Cried - Viv Groskop

Journalist and mum of three, nearing 40, Viv Groskop decided to kick start her stand up comedy career by attempting the challenge of performing 100 gigs in 100 days. A readable memoir cataloguing a hectic time for both her and her patient family. I'm going to check out more of her stuff on the back of this.

@saturnspinkhoop share your feelings about Morisaki! I've been recommending Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop instead for a more substantial meal.

@FortunaMajor YY to Year of Wonders' shark-jumping ending. It gets recommended so often on MN and I always want to add a warning to 'skip 20 pages and write your own version, you couldn't possibly do worse'.

@AliasGrape the second Slough House book is the weakest IMO, you have some excellent entries ahead!

I'm with @minsmum on Tombland. I read the middle as essentially narrative nonfiction and enjoyed it as such.

@Kinsters italics are for books you really disliked. Not everyone uses them though so don't worry too much about adding them to your list

I will! I wanted some way to highlight a few I would not recommend haha.