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?

I’ve never read The Scarlet Pimpernel- I’m not big into adventure/ swashbuckling type books so not sure if it’s for me.

I’ve finished another few, but overall June is going very slowly for me.

99 Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream
A memoir about Catherine’s time as a nun (she later left). This was very slow at the start and didn’t give enough information about day to day life as a nun- more of a focus on her vocation which is natural I suppose but my interest in nuns and convents is more about the relationships of women living communally rather than the religious aspect. An overly dominant prioress adds a bit more oomph to the second half.

100 When we were Silent- Fiona McPhillips
Lou, from a working class area in Dublin, gets a scholarship to a private school in the 1990s. Her focus, however, is to catch out the swimming coach who she blames for her friend’s suicide. In the present day, an old connection to one of her fellow pupils asks her to become involved in a court case against the school. This has lots of dark themes- isolation, abuse (which can be graphic at times) and class but the writing And plotting wasn’t strong enough to really explore those themes.

101 Pity by Andrew McMillan
This very short novel, almost a novella, looks at three generations of a family in a northern mining town. The main focus is on Simon- a young gay man finding his way in life, relationships and a burgeoning drag career. His father and uncle, both who had been miners before the pit closed are also touched upon. Finally, their father has a POV working in the pit in the past. This is beautifully written and manages to make you connect with all three generations in a very short word count. The grandfathers parts are breathtaking. I would have liked a bit more from the middle generation. Well worth a read.

102 Devotion by Hannah Kent
I loved Burial Rites so have been looking forward to finally reading this one. 15 year old Hanne doesn’t have many friends in her Prussian religious community in the 19th century. When Thea and her family arrive, Hanne connects with them. The community decide to move to Australia and we look at Thea and Hanne’s changing experiences. This started out great- I absolutely loved it, beautifully written and then it jumped the shark.

103 Exile by Aimee Walsh
Fiadh is finishing school in Belfast and partying hard with her friends. When she doesn’t get into the course she wants she has to move to Liverpool and her life changes. This has some really strong themes and writing but doesn’t quite pull together. The Belfast ‘banter’ doesn’t quite ring true- it’s not brutal and funny enough. The revolving friendships and isolation are more realistic. Unfortunately sometimes she veers a bit too close to Sally Rooney. There are some shocking and upsetting events. I think this writer has potential to write a great book in the future, but this isn’t it.

Just in writing those I notice I’ve been reading a lot about the theme of isolation- I think I need some fast paced plotty books for a while. But first I need to finish Great Expectations (enjoying this now I’ve rediscovered Dickens) and Don Quixote (on Audible- started great but getting a bit samey)

65. The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
    Novella in the Rivers of London series, but set in Germany with a different protagonist. I really enjoy the RoL books on audio, they're read well, & the plots are engaging enough to be interesting, without needing too much concentration.

66. Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre
    One of the Jack Parlabane series, this time linking the journalist up with a hacker for some industrial espionage, along with a blackmail plot. Brookmyre (when did he stop being Christopher & become Chris?) always turns out a good thriller, & there was some nice detail around the mechanics of hacking & social engineering alongside the plot.

67. Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang
    Yang is a British-Chinese journalist, & was FT economics correspondent in China until recently. Private Revolutions follows the stories of four different women born in the late 80s / early 90s, from their school days through to their working lives. I found this absolutely fascinating - Yang does an excellent job of using the women's stories to draw out dramatic changes in people's lives over the last 30 years in China. Two of the four women were born in rural villages, & the problems of 'left behind children' & the impact of residency rules that limit access to education for the children of migrant workers are a particular theme.
    
    I read an excellent book called Factory Girls a few years back (in 2010 in fact, looking at the publication date), & this made a good companion piece to see how things have changed for the next generation, & the speed at which China is moving through the phases of industrialisation.

The Underground Sea by John Berger ed. Tom Overton and Matthew Harle. Saw this in the Essays section of the bookshop and was intrigued to read this collection of Berger’s writing about miners and mining, having enjoyed A Fortunate Man last year. Lots of photos, along with essays and an interview transcript. Not just the 1970s/80s period: the interviewee lived and worked in the early 1900s in truly shocking conditions. The book has been put together for the anniversary of the miners strike and though the parts are excellent it doesn’t quite feel like a coherent whole, having been assembled from archives. The longest section is a photo essay about Berger’s TV production of Zola’s Germinal. I didn’t find the editors’ introduction accessible and could have done with more context about Germinal. However the images and accounts of the miners are well worth the book in themselves.

ÚlldemoShúl - having just read this I was very interested to see your review of Pity, putting it on my list.

Just wanted to say thank you to the posters on here who recommended Period Piece. I’ve just finished it and it was as lovely as you described.

A few reviews

42 You Took the Last Bus Home - Brian Bilstow
I may be the only person who hadn't come across Brian Bilstow before but I picked up this book of his poems and read in one sitting. Laugh out loud funny. I missed my gym class though.

43 Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov trans Angela Rodel
This won the International Booker Prize last year. A psychiatrist opens a 'clinic of the past' that offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade of the 20th century in minute detail, and allows patients to go back in time to where they feel safe and thus remember more/function better. The narrator is employed to source materials to construct the rooms. As the rooms become more convincing, increasing numbers of healthy people seek out the clinics as a 'time shelter', preferring to re-live their favourite decade than to live in the current time. This yearning takes hold across Europe, with political parties lobbying to return their countries to the past, and culminates in a Europe-wide referendum where individual countries choose which decade to re-set their societies in. The narrator observes a lot of these developments during a visit to his native Bulgaria. The plot is mixed with insights and musings about European history, memory, ageing, fear and the dangers of nostalgia and populism. I loved much about this book, particularly its imaginative brilliance and detailed observations, but I kept feeling I was missing something. It is quite possible that I just wasn't clever enough for this book but I think it was also that I didn't feel emotionally connected to the characters - except fleetingly - and I wanted to be. So I am pleased I read this, and would recommend, but it was ultimately a bit disappointing.

44 A Heart that Works - Rob Delaney
About the author's young son who was diagnosed with a brain tumour just after turning 1 and tragically died while still a toddler. I thought this was brilliantly written. I knew the grief would be heartbreaking, and it was - but I hadn't expected to have such a clear sense of how lucky the author felt to have known and cared for this little boy. He writes about him with such love and compassion.

45 Rizzio - Denise Mina
Like others, I enjoyed this novella about Mary Queen of Scots.

46 Chasing the Dead - Tim Weaver
Fancied a bit of a page turner so tried this series reviewed by Chessie. This is the first book about missing person investigator David Raker. It certainly met the page turning criterion and I liked the main character/investigator. It was well-plotted and pacey. I wasn't sure about the final twist but will definitely try the next one in the series.

Brookmyre (when did he stop being Christopher & become Chris?

It was after the significant change in Parlabane’s life following Unsinkable Rubber Ducks. The covers also change then.

both names are dark humour, but Christopher is probably more humour than dark, and Chris is vice versa.

@úlldemoShúl - jumped the shark is a good way of putting it for Devotion. I was really enjoying it. I didn’t see the change of tack coming at all or welcome it . The sex scene near the end - i was just thinking no, please don’t go there. I suppose you could say the author fully committed to the concept.

Way Back - Sara Cox

I’ve been disappointed by celebrity fiction before (Dawn French, Ruth Jones) so was a bit wary but as it was only 99p I gave it a go. And it was really enjoyable. She has a really light, easy style, not too try-hard comic. Nice writing about a 50 something divorcee who rediscovers her farming roots. There’s a complicated relationship with her mother and a bit of incidental romance. She creates interesting characters too. I liked it a lot.

Less - Patrick Grant

I have a proper crush on Patrick Grant. This isn’t really an autobiography but a plea to consume less together with history and economics lectures on the problems of mass consumption and fast fashion. He’s really interesting on the history of fabric and clothing manufacturing and the joy of working with one’s hands to produce something of lasting value. Also the joy of old, worn, well made clothes and objects and how we should look to buy better or second hand.

@CornishLizard - it works both ways- I’ve added A Fortunate Man to my tbr- I’ve no doubt I wouldn’t have heard of it if it wasn’t for this thread so thanks!

@Owlbookend Im so glad I’m not the only one! I can happily read books that mix genres (trying To avoid spoilers) but this just didn’t work. So disappointed.

@BestIsWest I should have another go at Less. I've always liked him on the telly, but I got proper cross at the introduction which felt all a bit 'aren't I wonderful with my carefully curated beautiful posessions' (I also feel that someone who owns five bikes isn't really living the minimalist dream, even though I can sympathise with how he got there.)

I found Time Shelter frustrating too @CutFlowers . It was a good idea but no real plot.

43. Ordinary Human Failings - Megan Nolan. Much reviewed on here. This was a beautifully written story set in 1990 about an Irish family on a London housing estate whose child is accused of committing a crime. The mother, brother and grandfather are moved to a hotel by a newspaper in the hope of getting a story from them. We gradually find out the background of the family as the story moves from the 80s to the present and then forward. I thought it was very good.

@sadik, but they will all be beautiful bikes! Handmade! It is a bit preachy.

Reminds me of the classic equation as to how many bikes one needs: X+1, where X is the number of bikes already owned. (More expensively, the same seems to be also true of tractors.)

I reckon it’s X+100 for books…

Finished strange weather in Tokyo and on with the Salt Path (17) now.

Im a keen hiker and was told I would love it but honestly I’m finding her quite annoying? I sort of get the impression she found herself too interesting to just get a job when they lost the farm/business, she was above living in a council property and there was some bizarre paragraph about how her friends relationships were all just domestic drudgery but hers isn’t? Really odd.

Just finished no. 26

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden - I didn't really like it. I found none of the characters or their actions believable. The girls who has been in prison for 10 years is so naïve. The perfect/imperfect house wife too extreme. The husband to absent. The gardener too obvious. I wont bother with the follow up.

I don't know what to read next, nothing on my TBR pile seems to be jumping out.

@Hoolahoophop that sounds like you need a trip to the library or bookshop!

@JaninaDuszejko I have been trying to do that virtually on Audible or the Kobo store. But nothing is calling to me. I started listening to Little Women because it has been on so many must read lists. Not sure that is catching my attention much either. I'm in a book sulk!

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage – I've read Tim Marshall’s previous books and enjoyed. I’ll look out for the new one. I made a mistake by getting one on the kindle. I think you really need an actual book to keep referring back to the maps, well I did certainly :)

57 The Postscript Murders – Elly Griffiths. Book 2 in the DS Harbinder Kaur series. This was a reread for me as I picked up the paperback somewhere and thought it was a standalone. Because I started the series, I had to reread, but I never remember who the murderer is. I enjoyed it just as much the second time. My library had the next one in the series, so I’m moving straight onto that one.

@Tarragon123 thanks, that’s good to know - I’ll avoid kindle for any of his other books in that case! The one I’ve just read had a few diagrams but no maps so I didn’t need to flick back much (I suppose there aren’t many maps of space!), so it was fine onscreen.

42. Percy Jackson - The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan my DS is named Percy and everyone under a certain age always mentions Percy Jackson when we say his name so I felt like I should read it. I also needed an easy read "palate cleanser" after adoring Project Hail Mary so much. What can I say about this book? I am sure for a 13 year old this would be an enjoyable read but as I am in my thirties it didn't do it for me! I didn't rate it on goodreads as I'm sure I'm not the target audience here lol.

44. Gwen Raverat - Frances Spalding

A biography of the author of the wonderful Period Piece - who, as any of its fans will know, grew up in late-Victorian Cambridge as a member of the vast, eccentric Darwin clan and made her reputation as a wood-engraver.

This (beautifully-illustrated) whopper of a hardback draws together the multitudinous threads that linked Gwen to the Bloomsbury group (Virginia Woolf was a friend), the 'Neo-Pagans' (led by Rupert Brooke) and many other now-legendary figures and artistic and literary movements of the early 20thc. It’s saddening to read that life took a dark turn for Gwen as her husband, Jacques Raverat, died a hideous death of multiple sclerosis aged 40, leaving her with two small daughters to bring up alone; that she often suffered from depression in later life, and that she hastened her own end after a stroke in her 70s. But this is a meticulously researched and engrossing account of her life and art.

45. A Secret Life - Christobel Kent

Georgie lives a quietly ordered life in suburbia with her accountant husband and small daughter. A girls' night out in London with her old friend Cat and former colleague Holly is a rare escape from the routine of her part-time job and the responsibility of running their home to the level of perfection her husband expects. But afterwards, a blank in her memory starts to torment her, and she gradually pieces together the truth about what really happened - and who was responsible.

This was genuinely tense, but too long and could have done with a chunk taking out of the middle, as Georgie's repeated agonising over trying to remember what had happened to her kept repeating like Groundhog Day. But eventually it built up pace and progressed to a decent denouement, if slightly unlikely (and one I’d already guessed).

@Lastqueenofscotland2 I was on the fence about The Salt Path iirc this was one where they didn't prep at all and were lucky not to get themselves into trouble. I am always torn, I love the idea of trail magic and the kindness of strangers but I don't think people should set out to be reliant on that, you should be able to be self sufficient.

25. Fire Weather by John Valiant

Recommended on here and it tied in with my love of hiking in the USA. There was more about the local industry in the area of the fire and climate change in general than I was expecting. It did hit home to me though as I sit here baking in Albania. It got to 30 degrees today. Which is above the hot end of the average temperature ranges when I googled. I think we might be in for some rough years weather wise and I need to start letting go of what it used to be like...

@Kinsters I can confirm my now 15yo still loves Percy Jackson and says you should listen to The Newest Olympian which is a podcast by a 30 year old man reading Percy Jackson for the first time. He also did a similar HP podcast called Potterless.