50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Four

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second one here and the third one here.

What are you reading?

Please do forgive my ignorance, but what does ARC mean?

35 In A Good Light - Clare Chambers. I picked this on Kindle as I loved Small Pleasures.

Blurb from publisher: Living with her adored brother, Christian, she divides her time between illustrating children's books, nightly shifts as a waitress, weekly visits to her father and fortnightly meetings with her married lover.

Then one day she encounters a face in the crowd which jolts her out of her mundane existence and makes her question both her life and the past that has helped to shape it. Memories she had long chosen to forget begin to resurface. Memories of an eccentric childhood in a large and shabby house, where the children were left to fend for themselves within the loose boundaries of their parents' unorthodox values. A chaotic existence peopled by a rich collection of feckless 'guests'.

Loved this and am looking forward to reading more from Clare Chambers. Some parts were snorting with laughter and then others really sad. Good combination.

ARC = Advanced Reader Copy

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie Ah ok, I find Dickens hit and miss but would definitely advise swerving Carey's historicals if a proper anti-fan. The most Kelly-ish book I can think of is The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, if you haven't read it?

Though DeWitt may have come to mind because I'm currently reading his latest - The Librarianist 😅

@inaptonym thats just sold me on The True History of the Kelly Gang. I absolutely loved The Sisters Brothers

@inaptonym thanks so much for mentioning The Librarianist. I didn't realise he had another book out - good news! From the blurb on Amazon, it sounds very different and a much gentler story then TSB but I'm trusting DeWitt to have written something more acerbic and entertaining than the likes of Harold Fry, The 100 year old man etc, neither of which I liked much.

Incidentally, I've just realised that the cover of TSB can be seen two ways. I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. It's very clever.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I'm on hols at the moment and my (ex climber) DH is rereading some of his classic mountaineering books. Currently reading Mountain of My Fear and Deborah - both set in Alaska by an American climber. They may be up your street

@SapatSea, thanks for the lovely Elizabeth Strout review. (I'm also impressed that you have access to ARCs!) I love Strout; I've read all her novels but one early one (I just checked). I'm really looking forward to Tell Me Everything now.

It sounds a bit cheesy (very cheesy?!), but reading her books always makes me come away wanting to be a kinder, better person. I also like the way she excels at getting inside the heads of ordinary people and showing what rich, complicated lives they have.

Changing topic, I can't believe there are people here who don't have unadulterated praise for Oscar and Lucinda. 😮It's one of my favourite novels ever. I need to reread it though, as it's been a long time. As for the Ned Kelly novel, I know I tried to read it multiple times (eg when it won the Booker), but I don't think I ever succeeded. I have no recollection of the story anyway.

46. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
    After the Aberfan disaster in 1966 newly qualified embalmer William volunteers to help prepare the many victims for burial. The book then goes back to his childhood, his relationships with his widowed mother, his uncle and uncle's partner, his life as a chorister in a Cambridge boarding school.
    From the blurb I thought this book would mainly be about the aftermath of the disaster, as seen through the eyes of this young outsider, but Aberfan is just a small (but significant) part of the story. It's the story of William's life and fractured relationships and friendships. It is a good book, well written, just not the book I thought it would be.

47. Those Who Watch by Robert Silverberg
    Three aliens from the planet Dirna crash land on Earth where they are found by three different people; a native American school boy, a young widow and a lonely alcoholic.
    There's not much plot and it's a bit pulpy but it's also quite sweet in some ways.

48. Kololo Hill by Neema Shah
    An Asian family in Uganda under Idi Amin are facing expulsion Their story is told through the eyes of Jaya, her son Vijay and her other son's wife Asha, living in a changing country that is becoming more and more dangerous to them.
    Not bad, though it lacks a proper ending and just seems to stop.

49. A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova
    Aspiring actress Sasha is growing up in a small town in post war Russia. She finds her uncle's war diary in the loft and as her life takes her to Moscow and beyond she reads extracts from it.
    A story of family, secrets and thwarted love. It's okay to read but it felt a bit flat to me.

50. How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
    In Singapore recently widowed Wang Di is remembering WW2 and the horrors she endured under Japanese occupation, including being forced to be a "comfort woman." Meanwhile school boy Kevin discovers a secret about his family.
    Although this is often sad and grim Wang Di's story, and her as a character are very compelling. Kevin's story takes longer to get going but soon starts to make sense. I really liked this book.

51. Tall Bones by Anna Bailey
    Seventeen year old Abi disappears into the woods, last seen by her half Mexican best friend Emma. The book moves back and forth in time showing Abi's life before her disappearance and how Emma, Abi's dysfunctional family and others cope (or don't) and try to find answers.
    It's more the story of a small town festering in prejudice than a crime story. Int
    ense and well written.

17. Tranny by Laura Jane Grace

I've been listening to lots of Against Me! recently so picked up the autobiography of Laura and her transition story. One of the first in the punk scene to do so.

She's kept a journal all her life so it's a very intimate read and largely quite sad as she has been unhappy for very large portions of her life.

I love her music, this is probably only one for the fans.

Quite a few of my reviews were ARCs! It didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be OK to review them.

I reviewed ARCs on previous threads, just had to watch out for embargoes on reviews until a certain date for some books. I used Netgalley, but being ARCs, the layout on my Kindle was often pretty unreadable. Made so-so books hard to give a fair review and books by favourite authors were often ruined. Think I’m still registered with them as I get emails encouraging me to read utter fluff. “We’re sure you will LOVE this!”. No, I don’t think I will
Also, when I was lucky enough to get the new book by a favourite author, it meant a loooong wait until the next one unless I was chosen for that review too.
In addition, I hated giving books 2 or 3 stars, particularly by new authors. I don’t mind panning a book if I’ve bought it, but it seemed unfair to ask for it free then say it was a pile of crap (they frequently were).

69 Beowulf- Unknown (Seamus Heaney translation)
Ive been working my way through ancient epic poetry over the last couple of years. This one tells the story of Beowulf, a great hero who comes to save the Danes from attack by a monster called Grendel. I enjoyed this one- the rhythm of the translation was great and there’s some fantastic descriptive pieces. The first half is better than the second, but this is my second favourite of the four epic poems I’ve read so far (The Iliad was first)

70 A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey
The latest outing for DS Maeve Kerrigan and the team. This time they’re investigating the murder of an old couple, dressed up as a murder suicide, and the linked unsolved case from years before of the disappearance of their adopted daughter. The crime wasn’t as well plotted as usual this time, but the will-they-won’t they of Maeve and another (who I won’t name in case anyone ever starts at the beginning of the series) was off the chart. Enjoyable, quick read.

71 Tartuffe, The Misanthrope and other Plays by Moliere
This was read as part of my online book club. The plays themselves are written in rhyme and all are comedies poking fun at people in French society of the time eg Tartuffe is aimed at religious hypocrites. Parts are very funny but reading them all together was a bit much. I would prefer to watch these performed than read them I think but then that’s true of most plays.

@cassandre you are spot on about how Elizabeth Strout books make one want to be a better person. She really understands how most people are basically decent and if they are not, then there is usually a very sad reason why they behave like they do.

I only get digital ARC's so can't pass them on. I don't know how picky NetGalley are about giving out accounts for ARC's these days but I think it is worth trying to sign up. I've had some really good books lately and also several books I would have bought but then didn't rate so I saved some cash! It also means I read more contemporary novels than I would do otherwise. I signed up several years back.

@MorriganManor is right that you are offered a lot of fluff and most books are from new writers. I'm very picky and do a quick trawl through recently added books available for request early on a Sunday morning. I've been getting push notifications to join book sirens and bookhub but I haven't fancied anything on there. I think for anyone interested there are quite a lot of ways to get ARC's
https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/how-to-get-arcs

@SixImpossibleThings what an interesting set of book reviews. The Jing-Jing Lee book sounds heart breaking. What horrors so called "comfort women" must have gone through. I've always found the band name "Joy Division" hard to stomach given what it alludes to. I find it so appalling that there is still so much kidnapping and trafficking of women as sex slaves.

I'm enjoying the chat about Peter Carey- blast from the past. I recall his books such as Illywhacker and The Tax Inspector were immensely popular at Uni (early/mid 1980's) and passed around but he fell off my reading radar as I think he published a few stinkers after the Kelly Gang book, including one about Japanese culture. I do recall liking Jack Maggs and like @cassandre, Oscar and Lucinda. I had a quick look on Google and as recently as 2017 he was still publishing novels. His star does seem to have fallen in the "noughties."

don't know how picky NetGalley are about giving out accounts for ARC's these days but I think it is worth trying to sign up

I think anyone can sign up, but some publishers are fussier than others about who they approve.

27. The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places - Neil Oliver

Picked this up in a charity shop after listening to some of his podcast series on the same theme. It was well written but I think the problem was in trying to cover such a wide subject, there were bound to be places and times that didn't interest me, so I found it lagged quite a bit in the middle.

DNF Assistant to the Villain - Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This was billed as a romantasy (!) 'from the TikTok sensation' so off to a bad start already. I suspect I wasn't the target audience, full of post-teenage angst and "ooh how sexy the bad bad man is" from the irritating main character. Abandoned.

There are a lot of Joyce Carol Oates books in the Kindle deals today. I find her quite interesting as all her books are so different but I haven't read any of the ones on there.

I'm not a fan of Peter Carey. I tried Oscar & Lucinda and Ned Kelly in the 90s but didn't get on with them.

Yes big JCO sale today that I'm taking advantage of hopefully something will break my run of duds.

I really enjoyed Hazards Of Time Travel, Blonde perhaps less so.

I’ve never heard of Joyce Carol Oates, any recommendations? I recently enjoyed Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson so I’ve bought The Square of Sevens.

They are the only two I've read but left me willing to try more

@TattiePants I enjoyed Blood and Sugar too. I now have the sequel Daughters of Night waiting to be read.

I may have to reread B&S first as in my memory it's a bit confused with The North Water which was also a really good read.

29. The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring - JRR Tolkien I enjoyed this though it was a lot lighter than the heavy, serious fantasy that I was expecting. I was pleasantly surprised by the jolly Hobbit journey with some mild peril thrown in. I skipped all the songs.

@SapatSea that's a lovely summary of Elizabeth Strout: She really understands how most people are basically decent and if they are not, then there is usually a very sad reason why they behave like they do.

Thanks too for the insight into the (for me) mysterious world of ARCs. I'm tempted to try to sign up, but my physical TBR piles around the house are already so big, I know that realistically the last thing I need is a commitment to read more stuff! Maybe when I reach retirement age, I should apply!

It's very interesting though to have the insight into how ARCs work.

24.Paper Cup by Karen Campbell. Thanks for the recommendations here for this book about a Glaswegian homeless woman and her quest to return an engagement ring to its rightful owner. I loved it - the audiobook was excellently read.

25.Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan. A look at one Irish family in London after their daughter is accused of murder. I didn’t love this. Despite its short length i found it a bit of a slog. The characters were all so hopeless. It picked up a bit at the end but ultimately I didn’t enjoy it.

Im happy to see Brotherless Night and Sailor Soldier make the WP shortlist. I think I’ll read River East, River West but not massively motivated by the others.

@SapatSea – I did not know that about Joy Division. I feel quite sick now.

@TattiePants @highlandcoo – I really enjoyed Blood and Sugar and just bought The Square of Sevens as a 99p Kindle special. I’d missed that there was a sequel, so looking forward to hearing Caro’s voice.

I'm not sure what to get next for my Audible book. Any thoughts/recommendations? Because I tend to fall asleep listening to them, murder mysteries are not a good idea! I end up losing the plot.