50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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.

Some of us bring over to the new thread lists of the books we've read so far, but again - this is your choice.

The first thread is here, the second one here , the third one here and the fourth one here

What are you reading?

@TimeforaGandT i would recommend All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye (abbreviated by the characters as “afag”) as being in the same ilk as One Fine Day

Afag’s heroine is definitely a mumsnetter 😀

I preferred his earlier books (as Christopher rather than Chris) all round, TBH.

@AgualusasLover we've had the book club wrangling over Waiting now and opinion was - predictably - divided! It left some people cold and there was much scoffing that a celibate affair could continue for 20 years. In my view, in an army hospital base in Communist China where everyone's actions were scrutinised down to the nth degree, it seemed eminently feasible. I'd still say the book is worth a punt. I liked the observations of nature as well (that seemed to pass everyone by, but hey ho).

As a side note, I haven’t read Braiding Sweetgrass but Robin Wall Kimmerer was a guest on Radio 4's Start the Week last Monday, the 3rd of June, should anyone fancy listening again.

Three more reviews …

15 The Survivors Jane Harper
Kieron returns to the Tasmanian coastal town of his childhood with his wife and young baby. Over a decade ago the town was hit by a storm that killed a handful of residents (including Kieron’s brother) and coincided with the disappearance of a teenage girl that has never been resolved. Kieron is wracked by survivor guilt as his brother drowned coming out to save him from some caves where he was meeting a girl. Not long after his return a young women is brutally murdered on the beach. Could this have links to the disappearance years ago? I think you can guess the answer to that.
My main problem with this was that it was boring. Really boring. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters. The middle third served no purpose apart from to introduce a load of red herrings and dead ends. The resolution relied on more than one person feeling guilty and confessing their long held dark secret that they had held on to for over a decade and Kieron thinking hard and having a lightbulb moment. All rather convenient. Carried on to the end for no particular reason other than bloody mindedness - I’ve started so I’ll finish (over 10 hours as an audio book).

16 The Appeal Janice Hallett
This is a ‘whodunnit’ told entirely in the form of emails and texts. Charlotte and Femi are asked to review correspondence relating to a potential miscarriage of justice. The case relates to a murder connected with a community charity effort raising funds for a young child with brain cancer. I quite enjoyed the unusual style. It is easy to dip into and although confusing at first, but the main characters eventually emerge. I thought Issy was a great creepy creation. Gossipy village life is well captured and there are some humorous sections. However, didn’t find the ending very satisfying. There is no ‘smoking gun’, just people agreeing on the most likely scenario. Not sure how that would lead to a successful appeal. Okay, but not sure I’d read another.

17 I’ll Take That One Kitty Baxter
Short & simple reminiscences of the author’s time as an evacuee during the war. Woke early & found it on BorrowBox - a short easy read to pass a couple of hours.

@AgualusasLover to be honest, I think Braiding Sweetgrass might work better read with less attention, rather than more. The quote on the front of my copy is from Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love , & maybe I should have just accepted that those sorts of books are not really my thing. I think while I'm very sympathetic to her broader message about the relationship between people & land, I was too inclined to pick holes in the specifics.

I've been ill for the last few days, so reading whatever I can find in the e-library.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
I'm sure I've read this before when I was a teenager, but I didn't remember the plot at all, & I was pleasingly surprised by how funny it was too.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
I think perhaps two Christies in a row was a bad choice - less funny, & the casual racism/anti-semitism more obvious than in Ackroyd.

Generation A by Douglas Coupland
Set in the near future, when bees have become extinct, with dire effects on the world's eco-system. Then, one autumn, five individuals in different countries are stung by bees. They're all immediately detained in clean rooms for examination, then dumped back into the world as minor celebrities. A good read overall, though the ending is something of a disappointment, & it feels like DC was struggling to know quite where to go with it.

Hi,

hope everyone is enjoying their reads! I’ve been to distracted with an arduous house move to read much but had to share my grief. Our buyers want to know our flooring make ‘because they want to rip out your book cases as their tv is too large’ 🤣.

I did read Trail of the Lost about missing hikers on the PCT which others recommended here and was excellent.

im now returning to the Morland Dynasty as a nice distraction. Book 8 is set in the reign of Queen Ann with naturally a lot of wigs - it’s lovely.

Will catch up with reviews tonight

@Palegreenstars

I once had someone tell me that having so many books was weird and they never would in their house.

I have a small house and personally consider the amount of books I have to be conservative

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit its my biggest judgement tbh houses seem weird without them.

@Palegreenstars 😱What are they thinking?!! . Meanwhile, I’m about to get custom bookshelves built into my living room. I suppose it takes all sorts.

@Palegreenstars your post reminds me of the song from Matilda "All I know I learnt from telly".

Apparently the average number of books per house is 5 - the horror!!

104 books per household according to an Aviva 2017 survey. DH has a (well educated) cousin who has no reading material in the house at all, not even a magazine in their sitting room. Don't know what they must think of our house.

5? Hahahaha 😂🤣😭

That's far more respectable @JaninaDuszejko

I think I got 5 from one of the children.... Should know better than to trust their stats.

Ha - we're also in the process of getting new built in bookshelves in the study for our overflow!

@ÚlldemoShúl photos when it’s ready?

im moving to somewhere that will need inspo, although according to my husband a new carpet and boiler should be the priority humphh.

@Palegreenstars a boiler a priority over bookshelves? LTB 😁

@Palegreenstars yes but it’ll be quite some time- whole ground floor extension on the cards and it’ll be done along with that! Cannot wait! (If only builder would come back with confirmed date!)

@ÚlldemoShúl oh amazing, the dream.

@RomanMum 🤣

I am way behind with the thread!

@CluelessMama – The Square of Sevens in on my Kindle TBR. I love Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s first book, it was a rare bold for me, so looking forward to the next one. I see @GrannieMainland is a fan too!

@SheilaFentiman – yes Geillis Duncan was one of the first woman, a child really, to be murdered on suspicion of being a witch.

45 – The Summer Skies – Jenny Colgan
I’m new to Jenny Colgan and loving her work. This is a brisk and breezy whizz up to a fictional Scottish island. Much fun.

46 – Marple – various
Meh, this was ok

47 – The Stolen Weekend – Fern Britton
Very short freebie. Fine

48 – The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn – Freya Kennedy
Loved this! This is the first of the ‘Ivy Lane’ series. Set in Derry and the community around Ivy Lane. Just fab. Freya Kennedy is also known as Claire Allan, but I haven’t read of hers just. Very different, I think.

49 – The Merchant’s House – Kate Ellis
Police procedural set in Devon with Sergeant Wesley Peterson who studied archaeology at uni. Really interesting way of setting out the book. Each chapter starts with a piece from a diary from the 17th century, which has an impact on the current day.

50 – The Armada Boy – Kate Ellis
2nd Sergeant Wesley Peterson. Backdrop is DDay and it was very poignant to read this on 5th/6th June. Like the previous book, it jumps back to 1944 and also 1588 and its all connected. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

51 – In Pursuit of Happiness – Freya Kennedy
Book 2 in the Ivy Lane series. Loved it.

I would love to have built in bookcases. I’m another one who hates houses without any books. For me books are perfect decoration. I can spend ages just happily looking at my bookcases and all the different books.

The bookshelf dream courtesy of Lucy Mangan

We have 3 floor to ceiling bookcases in the dining room, another at the top of the stairs and my DH is just about to build another one in my Dds bedroom as well as the cookery books in the kitchen and the smaller bookcases in the lounge. We do need to have a cull but my dh won't part with a single book

I would love to live somewhere big enough to have a library like that!

It’s so beautiful - but she needs comfier chairs

Yes definitely re the chairs- a big armchair or sofa to curl up on. How I’d love the space for a proper ‘library’ room.

My current childhood dream house has a proper library, complete with roller ladder thing to reach the high shelves.

And a secret passageway from my bedroom so I can sneak out after bed and read. It never occurred to child me that adult me would be allowed to read as late as I liked