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?

34 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Really, really disappointed by this. I adore her Ninth House books, so the melding of magic with real life wasn’t the problem. It read like a turgid, breathy YA self-published pile of shite. Any glimmer of interest in a character or plot taken from historical Spain was quashed by the amateur writing style or pseudish flourishes of foreign language that she seems to have fired at the page with a paint gun.
I might read a few of the references she mentions as her research but I wouldn’t read this again for a gold bloody clock.

@SheilaFentiman - yes, I did watch the TV adaptation (and still couldn’t remember the murderer until nearly the end of the book!). I am quite a traditionalist in terms of Christie so struggled with Malkovich as Poirot but as a drama it was very well done.

Hey I wondered if anyone had any good recommendations of book tubers … I really like Jen Campbell and Mercies Bookish musings who both read and interesting literary fiction but both are posting less these days and a few I’ve enjoyed have gone off to have babies (how dare they 🤣) so I need to find some new ones. I love watching them in the bath….

Oh, I can never remember who did it! I agree, it wasn’t Christie but it was good drama!

@Palegreenstars I like Lonesome Reader aka Eric Karl Anderson. I don't know if I've seen him in the bath though 🫣

Hi @Palegreenstars I like both of those too and also follow these lot who look at some of the same stuff

• Louisesavidgemuses- (mum of Simon Savidge who is okay but doesn’t seem to do many actual reviews anymore)
• benreadsgood- (English guy, reads a range, mostly contemporary or literary fiction)
• supposedlyfun -(American mainly into Litfic- big fan of the Pulitzer)
• Aliceandthegiantbookshelf- reads crime, classics and lit fic
• rororeads- 10 min reviews each of an individual book- love the way he looks at the good and the bad of each. Reads a wide range of fiction.

Oh and agree with @Stowickthevast on Eric Karl Anderson.

I like Literary Diversions Booktube Channel, run by Leanne. Her reading choices are not necessarily the same as mine, but I do like what she has to say. She is intelligent and articulate with her reviews and is often very funny.

I find Lauren and the books has really gone off the boil. She rarely has anything interesting to say any more, her reviews and her video content are frequently very disappointing.

I watch :

Eric Karl Anderson who does contemporary lit fic and prizes

Greg from Supposedly Fun who does lit prizes, queer lit, and contemporary. Has gorgeous dog.

I also watch Jack Edwards but he is trying to write his own so his content has become a bit repetitive of using book tags or themes that end with him recommending the same books over and over. He critiques celebrity book recs which is fun.

I did watch Emmie for a bit but when I read her recs I found her a bit pretentious.
I don't know of many women, I did find one I really liked only for her to quit YouTube

Ooh thanks all!

I’ve been trying Erik but I think he’s slight more high brow than my tastes. Although I enjoyed his Women’s Prize discussions.

Lauren is definitely quite similar to my tastes, but I realised that having just her and Simon Savidge was not the right combination. I enjoy her challenges and creativity,

Some new ones to try (and to confirm I don’t want to see them in the bath)

I do enjoy booktube, just so lovely hearing them talk about their plans and discoveries.

My all-time favourite booktuber was Lauren Wade - is this one of the people you said that doesn’t post anymore @Palegreenstars ?

Have to agree with @BarbaraBuncle that another Lauren (from Lauren and the Books) isn’t the same now. I’m really not interested in watching vlogs and Q&A’s they go on for ages.

I like Jen Campbell and Drinking by my Shelf.

@Southeastdweller

Drinking By My Shelf was the one I liked that quit. IIRC anyway

@Southeastdweller yes I miss Lauren Wade the most, she was great.

i enjoy Lauren and the Books Friday reading vlogs, but agree they’ve become less about reading.

i enjoyed Jean but think her tastes have gotten much more fantasy now.

42 The Dubrovnik Book Club - Eva Glyn

This was an easy read, slightly stilted prose but it evoked the city. Apparently it is a sort of follow up to “The Collaborator’s Daughter” but I hadn’t read that one.

To note: all the books the book club reads are listed in the back but not in the body of the book.

Claire has recently recovered from Long Covid and moves to Dubrovnik to visit her grandmother and run a bookshop for an elderly friend. She befriends the staff member, supports her cousin with a dark secret, falls in love with the city and is generally a force for good. Warm and lovely.

@TattiePants – Thank you. I saw that and was tempted, so will keep as a library choice. My kindle tbr is getting out of hand! That said, I have just bought Enter Ghost

@SheilaFentiman – I wonder if that was a book that Ian Rankin wrote under the name Jack Harvey? He did a few non Rebus books under that name, but because Rebus is so popular, I think the Jack Harvey books went by the wayside?

I haven’t heard of Booktubers. I’m more a podcast woman. I would recommend ‘What Should I Read Next?’ by Anne Bogel. Her blog is ‘Modern Day Mrs Darcy’. She’s extremely knowledgeable and I do enjoy her podcast, even if it does encourage me to buy more books! It looks like she does YouTube too.

37 Dead in the Water - Ed James
I was in a Facbook group chat talking about tartan noir and this author was recommended. His name was familiar and ofc, I had bought his first book, or so I thought for 99p. Checked it out and it was book no 2 I had. I got this one via Amazon Prime.

I found it ok, a bit rushed. Just a bit meh. Its a Police Scotland procedural, based in Edinburgh. Different CID offices and I got a bit confused with who everyone was. Turns out that there is a reason for that. This book was written as book 5, but then was moved to be book 1. I feel that it was written to explain the relationship between a couple of the dectives, rather than concentrating on a plot, which I found very thin. I dont always mind a thin plot if I enjoy the characters, but I didnt particularly. Maybe it was too male dominated for me, I'm not sure.

I'll read book 2 because I have it, but too many other books to read. Unless book 2 is a marked improvement, I'll leave this particular series alone.

@Tarragon123 I don’t think so… it had an intro by Rankin and he basically said he’d written the first Rebus, Westwind and one other around the same time, all different genres to see what he was good at!

Catching up!
Brotherless Night - last of the Women's prize shortlist. Thought this was very good. I knew next to nothing about the political history / situation in Sri Lanka and this will lead me to find out more.
I still have Hangman and In Defence Of the Act to read from the LL but not in any great rush.
Think Soldier, Sailor is my winner but would be happy with Enter Ghost or Brotherless Night. It just better not be Dolly the boring Marauder!
Think given current world affairs my money is on Enter Ghost.

Next up was Rizzio - much reviewed on here and I really enjoyed it. Not quite a bold but almost.

Have just finished Cuddy . Nearly abandoned it about 50 pages in but so glad I didn't! I know it isn't well loved on this thread by many but it's a bold from me.

Yay! to Cuddy being a bold @splothersdog . I’m always thrilled when someone likes it and the rarity of that on these threads makes it even more special

107 Broken Light by Joanne Harris

Bernie has a magical skill that allows her to see into people’s minds and rearrange their thoughts. This skill has been dormant for a while but comes back with a vengeance with the onset of menopause, and Bernie uses it to change the viewpoints of misogynistic men. I did like this but it’s a bit too black and white (women good, men bad) for me.

108 Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton

A Persephone book about a slightly eccentric family of five daughters trying to meet men in their small village. Most of the book is very funny, but the ending almost felt like a completely different book. I did really like it though.

109 The Door To Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn

One of those ‘lonely man is encouraged to expand his life’ type books, and this is a good one if you like that sort of thing. Carl delivers books for his local bookshop and is distraught when he’s told to stop. How will he and his customers cope?

110 Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes

A reread of one of my favourite books. Rachel is sent to rehab for drug addiction, but she thinks she doesn’t have a problem - but it’s fine, she’ll just go there for a bit of a holiday.

111 The Twat Files by Dawn French

Collection of anecdotes about when Dawn behaved like a twat. Fine except I had already heard some of the stories and the repetition of twat got old quickly.

112 Bright Young Dead by Jessica Fellowes

Second in the Mitford Murders series, this one more focused around Pamela. It was OK but you could have taken the Mitfords away and it wouldn’t have affected the story at all. It’s a shame as this series is a great idea but so far it’s been a bit disappointing. I will read the others though!

113 The Four by Ellie Keel

Four scholarship students at an elite boarding school struggle to fit in and then have to cover up when someone is attacked. I really enjoyed this, but equally the school didn’t feel very realistic to me. I’m not naive enough to think that bullying and sex doesn’t happen at posh schools, but the sheer amount of things that happened here with virtually no adults ever around just didn’t ring true for me.

114 Angels by Marian Keyes

Continuing my reread of the Walsh sisters series. This is probably my least favourite of them (I still really like it though, because I love Marian). This one is about Maggie, the least interesting of the sisters, and nothing much happens plot wise. It’s also not aged well - Maggie’s incredulity at meeting an actual real lesbian wouldn’t be acceptable now (not that it was acceptable twenty years ago when the book was written either). I do like the LA setting though and the bits that catch up with the rest of the Walshes.

115 Abroad In Japan by Chris Broad

Non fiction about the author’s experiences living in Japan. I really enjoyed the first third, but after that it just felt very repetitive and I don’t feel I really learned much about Japanese life from it.

116 Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

Translated Scandi crime. Danish author Hannah goes to stay in a small Icelandic village to write her first crime novel, but gets caught up in a real murder. I really liked the setting and the village characters, but Hannah was such an annoying character I’m surprised anyone gave her the time of day! Fine but not sure I would bother looking out more by this author.

18. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo By Taylor Jenkins Reid

A famous movie star narrates her life for a biography. I don't know how realistic it is but I was shocked at the lengths people would go to in order to keep themselves in the papers and gossip columns for the right, wrong or diversionary reasons.

TJR is always a page turner.

I'm now on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and 8% in and really don't want to pick it up. I'm just not bothered. I think I will persevere a bit as I know a lot of people liked it. I actually got it as my favourite singer song writer Frank Turner said it was one of his top three books last year!

20 The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels - Janice Hallett I nearly didn’t read this when my library reservation arrived, after hating The Twyford Code, but I’m glad I did - this was much better and I actually prefer it to The Appeal as well. It’s written in the same style as the first two novels but the premise and execution is much better (and far less irritating than the Twyford Code!). This time the story is about a true crime writer investigating a historic case about a mini cult that called themselves the Angels. I raced through it and will probably read more by Hallett off the back of this.

I hated Jonathan Strange @RazorstormUnicorn . Loved the TV series (watched 3 times now) but couldn't get into the book. I think it got published due to her connections in the publishing industry and the marketing was strong. I know that doesn't explain why lots of people seem to like it but without that I suspect it might have languished on a publisher's desk.

I loved Jonathan Strange, mind you,it took three goes before I could get into it.

Has anyone read Cloistered which is in the deals today? It looks interesting, & I know there's a few on here that like a bit of nun-lit