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.

I think 11 is fine for this stage of the year @AliasGrape. We're 12 weeks in to 2024 so you're more or less on track!

15 Kala by Colin Walsh. Six teenagers are navigating their way through the maze of friendships, peer pressure, family troubles (including parental abandonment and alcoholism), first love and a host of other teenage issues, when one of them - Kala - disappears. Fifteen years later, her remains are found when the foundations are being dug for new houses. Three of the group (Mush, Helen and Joe) are back in their home town for the summer. Can they find out what happened to Kala, and make peace with the paths their lives have taken since then? I think this has been popular with others on this thread, and I thought it was great. The author does a good job of evoking the feeling of being a teenager - the way everything seems so intense and your emotions are all over the place.

16 My Body by Emily Ratajkowski. Ratajkowski is a model and actress who is most famous for appearing nearly naked in the video for Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, which has received over 800 million views on YouTube. This is a series of essays which give a genuine insight into what it is like to be very beautiful with an amazing figure. Spoiler: it's not all it's cracked up to be.

16.Paper Cup by Karen Campbell. Kelly is street homeless in Glasgow, and a drinker. She is given some money by a bride to be on a hen do, and finds the woman's engagement ring in the change. She begins a long journey to track her down and return it, which takes her back to her childhood home, bringing her face to face with past issues she's been avoiding.

This was decent but not a bold for me. Kelly's voice is very vivid and real, and the grim reality of the discomforts, shame and sheer exhausting relentlessness of street homelessness comes across strongly. However, I did feel that some of the polemic in the second person voice about state support for people who are struggling was a bit heavy handed (although I agree entirely that services are shocking). I also wondered about the choice of making Kelly degree educated, when this is really very rare indeed in street homeless people (although not in people with alcoholism). It felt to me like the author was maybe trying too hard to get the typical reader to identify with Kelly in a "there but for the grace of god way", when actually she's such a brilliant character that I'd have connected with her just as easily if she'd been a cleaner or a care leaver.

This thread moves so quickly, I’ve been struggling to keep up. I’m really enjoying reading all the mini reviews and have added a few to my tbr.
Since I last checked in I’ve read Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. I really liked this, a very short book that does a lot within the pages. A man who’s obsessed with the Ancient Britons takes his family to rural Northumberland where they build a reenactment camp to live as authentic Iron Age people. A history professor and some of his students join them. Quite chilling.
Also Tin Man by Sarah Winman which was a bold for me. It’s difficult to describe this in a short amount of words but it’s a really moving account of love and loss, some of it set during the aids pandemic with the theme of art running through the story. Really beautiful and moving.

19 The Waves by Virginia Woolf

I can't decide whether this is a work of towering genius or a load of self-indulgent tosh. Maybe it's both. Famously the most "difficult" of Woolf's works, she described it as a "play-poem" consisting of first person, stream of consciousness narratives from six childhood friends - Susan, Jinny, Rhoda, Louis, Neville and Bernard - as they go through life. To say it is navel gazing is an understatement of epic proportions. It is all inner and no outer life (well, maybe a tiny bit). But each time I was getting ready to throw it against the wall, which would have been an error as I was reading it on my phone, she'd come out with something utterly profound and I'd be drawn right back in again. Parts of it are heart-stoppingly beautiful. Parts of it are mind-numbingly self-absorbed. I keep half-remembering wonderful quotes which I can't find on the internet, so I've a horrible feeling I'm going to have to read the whole bloody thing all over again.

I meant to say that the female characters are either irritatingly abstract (Rhoda) or patriarchal archetypes (Susan the home-maker, Jinny the object of the male gaze). That annoyed me too, but I wonder whether Woolf did it deliberately to make a point about how women are perceived in the world. But then she was a woman, so why not move away from the male perception with at least one of them? See? It's infuriating!

With Barbara Kingsolver it's an odd one. I loved Poisonwood but was then unable to get into anything else of hers especially The Lacuna which got raved about at the time and which I DNFd

Then I read Demon because it felt compulsory and it was a bold for me

She's not an author that I rush to

Celebrating the start of my break with a book haul (4 library, 3 charity shop, 2 new - but on offer, so free) and bougie buns. Being very mood-led, I may not get round to some of these (books, not buns) for years, so any and all comments/boos/cheers welcome!

For me, timing and format are at least as important as content when it comes to enjoyment/appreciation of books. I loved Demon Copperhead, mainly for the voice (literally, the audiobook narrator was 🤌) but had found it too heavy-handed on a previous attempt on paper - I do admire Kingsolver, but subtle she aint, even without an explicit Dickensian source.

Similarly, I finally finished Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky after an initial approach wearing the wrong sub-genre goggles (hard SF) and getting irritated at the not-even-wrongness of the science. This time, more willing to suspend disbelief, I enjoyed it enormously as a science-flavoured fantasy epic in space with a fascinating 'other' (fully #teamspider), alternating-viewpoint structure that kept the pages turning, and satisfying narrative arc. The writing was generally decent with several accessibly ingenious concepts and thrilling set-pieces, but also some clumsy/lazy word choices and formulaic tropes. The bland (human) characters and bloated middle prevent me from bolding this, but I liked it a lot and will track down the sequels, and more by AT - though sifting through his extensive backlist will be a task in itself, and he'll probably have published about 3 new books in the meantime 😆

Current non-fiction read: Thunderclap from the WP NF longlist. It's a banger.

@Welshwabbit I absolutely loved The Waves when I read it about 30 years ago. It's possibly due a re read!

Enjoy your haul.@HenryTilneyBestBoy And the buns!

Adding my Kingsolver take. Having tried and failed twice with both Lacuna and Poisonwood Bible I was expecting the same from DC but I loved it. I have since read Unsheltered by her and thought that was great too. Lots of people to seem to find her inconsistent

@HenryTilneyBestBoy I've raved about Thunderclap on here before - I read it just after coming back from a break in the Netherlands where we saw many of the paintings she describes - we even went to Delft, scene of the eponymous thunderclap (disappointing spoiler: it was rammed with a million tourists and horrible). But the book is magnificent.

Adding n17

The Echo Chamber John Boyne.

A satire of the digital age. Or something. At times funny. Genuinely so. A bit Jonathan Coe, a bit Ben Elton, a bit David Lodge and a bit Nigel Williamson. But there's only so long, if you're not any of the above, that you can run with a "we're all obsessed with social media" joke. The dialogue was odd. Read like a play at times.
It was OK. I'm glad I've finished it. I skim read the last 10%.

39. Sula by Toni Morrison

A short one about a toxic friendship between two girls and some reflections on the community around them. The only other Morrison I've read is Beloved which I read a long time ago and really found challenging. This one I've heard raved about on BookTube but there's really not much to it and has left me thinking That's It?

I know Morrison is very celebrated but I'm not sure I'm a fan, though I can appreciate her

I also really liked Thunderclap and I have zero interest in art.

I'm 50% into Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI. It's eye opening. She's looking at both the good and bad, but it's scary stuff.

I'm really pleased The Women's Prize has branched out to include non-fiction. My non-fiction reading tends to be very male dominated and it's refreshing to see women being promoted. I've got quite a few lined up and I'm genuinely spoiled for choice and struggling to pick which next.

The short list for NF is announced Wednesday at 6.

@Welshwabbit I’ve only read To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and I’ve struggled through and almost given up, but exactly as you say, then there is just the most perfect observation, sentence and you are right profound is the only word.

An Offer From a Gentleman, Julia Quinn
Book 3 of the Bridgertons. I’m sure this needs no introduction. Regency romance, pretty poorly executed but I’m invested in the series and just fancied gentle, easy, non taxing reading with a side of romance. As with most of these books the romance has some problematic elements. This is Benedict’s story with Sophie, an illegitimate daughter - can they ever be together or is she destined to be a mistress? Any bets? 😀

In other news and not to derail, but an FYI for anyone not on the 50 Book meet up thread. Dates confirmed as below, exact plans still forming. Do join the thread or Watch in case.

18 May - London
17 Aug - Manchester

Oh! I’m off to the Netherlands in May. We spent hours in the Rijksmuseum last year so this sounds right up my street.

63 Cheerful Weather For The Wedding by Julia Strachey

Novella published by Persephone. Again I was a bit disappointed by this - I seem to often find with Persephone books that the blurb promises more than the book actually delivers. I expected this to be funnier than it was.

64 The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

Louise is a frazzled mum of 3 including a young baby who won’t sleep (and this is written in the 1950s so no question of any husband support). In her sleep deprived state she starts suspecting their new lodger is up to no good - but is she right or is it just all in her head? This was great, Fremlin does subtle menace so well and I really empathised with Louise. Probably not one to read if you’re the parent of a newborn though.

65 Unsinkable by Dan James

Thriller set on Titanic. Not bad although there were times it felt like the author was just trying to shoehorn in everything he knew about the ship. I was also disappointed with the ending.

66 Trustee From The Toolroom by Neville Shute

I picked this up when a few others read it at the end of last year and just got round to it now. What a gem. I loved the character of Keith, stoically pressing on round the world to find this tiny island, and all the people who end up helping him. I’m not quite sure it’s a bold because there were several passages where it goes into something engineering related which I found slightly boring but overall really enjoyed it and will definitely reread sometime.

67 Q’s Legacy by Helene Hanff

Another sort of sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road, here telling us how she first gained a love of literature through books by Arthur Quiller-Couch (known as Q) and how this led to her writing to Marks & Co bookshop, and also the aftermath of releasing the book and all the letters from fans. One of them apparently rescued the Marks & Co sign after the shop closed and sent it to her - wonder where it is now?

68 Her New Best Friend by Penny Batchelor

Average psychological thriller. Audrey makes a new friend Claire but soon Claire becomes very clingy, always turning up at Audrey’s house and really trying to insert herself in Audrey’s life. It’s clear she’s up to something but what? I guessed quite early on who Claire was and the ending was rather disappointing as a result.

69 The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

This is set in World War 1 and centres on a paid of Canadian siblings. Freddie has gone missing so sister Laura, who had been working as a nurse on the Front but had been invalided home, goes back to see if she can find him. Both meet a strange character along the way, called Faland or the Fiddler, and fall under his spell - but if he trying to help them or not? What can they believe? I have mixed feelings about this - I really enjoyed the sections on the battlefield and in the hospital, but I was less engaged with the Faland sections. This is a book I was sent as part of a subscription and I wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise. I am glad I read it though as there are some really good parts to it.

The Wager - David Grann

This is exactly how I like my historical non-fiction, focusing on individuals who find themselves at the centre of an event and using that event to look at the wider context of the time period.

It’s1740 and an English fleet is sent to sail around Cape Horn to disrupt movement of Spanish ships and capture a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure. HMS Wager loses touch with the English fleet and ultimately sinks off the coast of Chile with the survivor’s shipwrecked on a small island. The book then focuses on the survivors, the unravelling of discipline, mutiny and the decisions that occur that results in a fractured group of men and how this leads to different attempts to escape the island - going in opposite directions from each other. The book focuses on three men in particular - Captain Cheap, midshipman John Byron and gunner John Bulkley

The author has clearly done a shed load of research and that really benefited the book. I cannot believe so many of them survived and was completely engrossed in their lives. I felt the ending was a bit of a camp squib but that is what the historical record showed happened so I will live with it!!

Wonderful book, highlight of 2024 for me so far. The author wrote Killers of the Flower moon and this is in that vain. If you enjoyed that one I’d suspect you’d enjoy this one as well.

I generally get on well with Barbara Kingsolver - The Lacuna is one of my all-time favourite books - but had a false start on DC last year when I got a whiff of upcoming child cruelty and wasn’t in the right headspace for it. Will try again soon!

I am a massive Kingsolver fan. Loved The Poisonwood Bible, The Lacuna, Flight Behaviour, The Prodigal Summer and Demon Copperhead. Unsheltered is on the tbr list.

40. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (Audible)

Antonius Diogenes was a Greek writer from 2nd Century AD who wrote "The Wonders Beyond Thule". In this book a new work Cloud Cuckoo Land is fictitiously ascribed to him, yet presented as authentic in folios etc. When all is said and done it's hard to see why Doerr did this, when there's plenty of real Greek stories that could be used.

The novel is about the work Cloud Cuckoo Land and how it links :

Anna and Omeir two poor young people in 14th Century Constantinople

Zeno and Seymour in Idaho in 2020

Konstance on a spaceship in the far future

I listened the whole thing but found it sterile and hard to get invested. It's neither as clever or profound as it wants to be. The Constantinople sections drag and seem irrelevant.

All in all I don't feel the effort necessary for this book is all that rewarding. I did like the Konstance storyline that really worked for me but overall it's a bit meh.

@Jecstar love the camp squib 😄 it reminds me of the squids in the film Sing 😂 I really enjoyed Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon (haven’t seen the film) so will add this book to my list.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit sad that you didn’t like Cloud Cuckoo Land! But I agree, the Konstance storyline was the most interesting, followed by the 2020 one.

13 The Appeal - Janice Hallett Much-reviewed on here, which is why I got this from the library. It’s a murder mystery told mostly through emails and text messages between the potential suspects and their community, with some correspondence between the QC acting for the prime suspect and two of his law students interspersed. I liked the element that was contemporary with the events leading up to the murder, but not so much the legal bits - that’s just not how the law works! And no QC in 2020 would be clueless about WhasApp, not even the older ones - they’re not morons! A QC aged even as much as 70 in 2020 would be younger than my parents and in-laws, who are perfectly capable of dealing with modern technology. But that’s a minor quibble - overall I enjoyed it and have reserved Hallet’s other novels at the library.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I didn't hate it, I read the whole thing, I just found it a bit hollow. I did however, absolutely despise and rant about The Twyford Code by Janice Hallet

How to Say Babylon - Safiya Sinclair
Fascinating memoir of a young woman and poet brought up in a strict Rastafarian family. As she goes through school and then onto adulthood, she has her own dreams for the future which are constantly quashed. She has to deal with the fallout of opting not to follow her father's rules.
She has a very strong voice and writes beautifully. It's a really unique memoir and well worth a read.

I was really bored by Cloud Cuckoo Land. Far too many narratives that were tentatively linked together.

On Kingsolver, I loved Demon Copperhead but couldn't get into The Poisonwood Bible or The Lacuna at all - admittedly years ago.