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?

40. Women Warriors - Tracey-Ann Knight

Possibly reviewed here some months/years ago, this has been sitting in my TBR for ages. Telling the stories of 10 women in the past who disguised themselves as men and entered the worlds of the military (army and navy). Some interesting tales, from notable examples (the female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, the army doctor James Barry) to lesser known stories from the USA and beyond.

The only irritation was the lack of a proof reader; there were a few grammatical and spelling errors, particularly in names, one within the same paragraph.

Having said that I nearly sent out a newsletter recently with a typo spelling the name wrong in the title of the person's obituary 😳... luckily caught it just in time.

Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill

Fictional story set in the run up to the Pendle Witch Trials from the POV of a fictional female character, Margery, a spirited and intelligent young woman farmed off by her Purtian siblings to a distant relative (Roger) in Lancashire. The writing is dated (written in the 1950s) and presumably generally historically accurate - although I did wonder how acceptable it would have been for a young woman to have gone off riding alone or in the company of unrelated men? It does get a bit bogged down with details of the landscape and many characters but I got the gist of the story. Although the names of the main players (and place names) in the PWT are accurate, the events themselves are not particularly. There seems to be little sympathy in the book for the poverty stricken 'witches' very much at the bottom of society's pecking order. The harsh treatment, terrible conditions and possible torture is either not mentioned or glossed over. But generally I did enjoy reading this book - it is what it is (a rompy tale). But there are no insights into the terrible events of the Pendle Witch Trials.

This Crime And Punishment audio is so odd! It's British actor Will Poulter and he's doing British and Irish regional accents for minor characters - had a Brummie, someone Welsh and someone Irish! It's a Russian book!

I had Will Poulter narrate John Lanchester's The Wall and he was really good. Don't understand it.

48 Borstal Slags - Tom Graham

Third of the four Life On Mars novels, and still pretty crap, though imagine I’ll read the last for completeness’ sake!

49 The Marches - Rory Stewart

Listened to on Audible, and absolutely loved this - an account of walks across the border lands between Scotland and England, taking in history, politics, agriculture, folklore, and especially moving on the relationship between Rory and his father. A definite bold.

50 Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

With huge thanks to @Southeastdweller for getting me out of my reading slump (not to mention across the 50 line) with this excellent novel which was exactly the mix of detective thriller and wry humour.

@MegBusset yay for Slump Slaying!

65 – A Room Full of Bones – Elly Griffiths. Book 4 in the Dr Ruth Galloway series. I loved this, a bold for me. The background to the story is relics. Medieval relics, the coffin of a medieval bishop called Augustine and fairly recent relics. Actually, I hate to call them relics. The bones of Indigenous Australians. I cant understand why these bones were taken from Australia. Why would someone think this was at all reasonable? While the book is fictional, lots of human remains were taken from Australia to the UK.

In Scots Law, there is an ancient right to be buried, the ‘right to sepulchre’. Also in Scotland, it is an offence to dig up a grave. This might be due to Burke and Hare of course. The actual offence is ‘Violation of a Sepulchre’. This book really got me thinking. Loved it. I love a book that challenges my thinking.

A big DNF for All Out War by Tim Shipman. This was the story of the Brexit referendum written by the Times journalist, and I read its sequel about the May administration a few weeks back. I started this just before the election, and I find as of today I just want to forget about Arron Banks, Dominic Cummings, Douglas Carswell, Daniel Hannan, Steve Baker and all of these people. Presumably they're still in action, obviously Farage is, but at least I don't have to spend my leisure time with them.

Having said that, it was reasonably salutary to read the first chapter or two about what led to the referendum

I think Shipman is great, @PermanentTemporary - but I can definitely understand wanting to put that bunch far behind!

The joys of school holidays! I have finished off a few long term reads and read a few shorties- most of them very enjoyable.

109 Piranesi by Susannah Clarke
This was a strange little book but I enjoyed it in the end. Piranesi is alone in the House apart from the Other and spends his days mapping the enormous amount of rooms and statues until another comes. Piranesi is a lovely character and I can’t say more because of spoilers. Someone on here encouraged me to keep going when I was struggling at the start and I’m glad they did.

110 Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Ive only read one other McEwan (Atonement) and I didn’t like the ending. The same applies here. Two thoroughly unpleasant characters meet at the funeral of a friend and we see how they deal with big moral decisions that crop up afterwards. I enjoy McEwan’s prose but not his endings.

111 Collected Poems- Philip Larkin
I’ve been reading this one for a few months (my poetry book at the start of the year was Walt Whitman) in an effort to spend more time on poetry. I enjoyed some of these and find Larkin’s grumpy bluntness quite enjoyable at times, but his attitude to women is questionable. Aubade is a masterpiece though.

112 The Passengers- Will Ashon
Ashon asked a range of questions to people in a random way- talked to people at a trailer station, drew a line on a map and phoned everyone living along that line etc to try and create a picture of the U.K. today. This is an interesting concept and some of the entries were moving and informative, others left me cold. The collection could have done with including the questions for each entry and maybe some commentary at start or end. Somehow I feel it didn’t mesh together in any way, but maybe that was the point.

113 The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
This one is getting a lot of hype here in Ireland and I’ve seen it tipped as a possible Booker contender. Set in Donegal a year before divorce was legalised in Ireland, it tells the story of three less than successful marriages. Izzy is married to Brian who is a bit of a bully, Dolores is married to Donal, a womaniser and Colette is separated from Shaun who won’t allow her to see her children. This is not worthy of all the hype imo. Younger readers probably find the fact that divorce was illegal shocking and interesting but the divorce referendum was my first vote so these stories didn’t feel fresh or new to me. The ending didn’t cut it in this one either.

114 Medea by Euripides
A quick read in preparation for reading the next big hyped Irish book- Glorious Heresies (I’ve started this one and it’s worth the hype so far). Medea helped Jason to success in his quest for the Golden Fleece, now he is abandoning her and their children to marry a king’s daughter. Medea takes her grisly revenge. Shocking, well written and enjoyable. I enjoy the Greek poems and plays anyway but this was my first Euripides, it won’t be my last.

115 Black and British- A Forgotten History- David Olusoga
I listened to this on audible, read brilliantly by Kobna Holbrook-Smith (who reads the Rivers
Of London series). Looking back at the history of black people in Britain and emphasising that this history started way before the Windrush generation. I learned a lot here and the narrative was engaging and clear. A bold for me.

I’m so glad you enjoyed it @MegBusset ! Did you know there’s five more in the series and the sixth book is out next month.

Yay @ÚlldemoShúl glad you got into Piranesi

66 The Maiden – Kate Foster. Oh my goodness! I loved this! It’s a bold for me. I didn’t actually know that Christian was the White Lady of Corstorphine. No need for a review as I think I am the last 50 booker to read it and possibly the only one to love it lol.

184 The Missing Family by Tim Weaver

This is the latest in the series featuring missing person investigator David Raker. This was a good one featuring two apparently unconnected cases including a family who disappeared from a boat in the middle of a lake in the space of a minute, and a murder at a posh casino. It also brought back a character from earlier books so it was nice to see that character again.

Been a slow few weeks for me and books. Keep starting things that fail to live up to their promise but aren’t quite bad enough to DNF.

44 To The Dogs by Louise Welch
I usually like her stuff, so picked this up when I was away a couple of weeks ago. Nothing much happens. Uni Prof whose Dad was a gangster finds himself embroiled in corruption over building commission. His son is a wannabe hard man in prison, there’s a weird sub-plot about a Chinese student who has disappeared. Needed an editor to choose whether the family dog was an ‘it’ or a ‘he’. Full of moody portent. Meh.

45 Mother Naked by Glenn James Brown. I adored Ironopolis and waft around Durham Cathedral whenever I can, so when I saw his latest book was a story woven from an entry in the Cathedral’s accounts I was straight in there with an advance order. ‘Modre Naktt’ was paid the lowest fee for their services in the Cathedral’s history and this book attempts to explain why. It doesn’t work, sadly and

                has weird
                                           annoying page breaks 
        everywhere

(It’s a physical book, not an ebook).
The premise is that it gives a voice to the peasants in the 1300s but it just Does. Not. Work.
There’s a cracking tale in there but by the time you’ve picked it out of the midden of clever-clever prose you’ve lost the will to appreciate it.

46 All The Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Had this lurking on my Kindle for ages and pleased to say it restored my faith in fiction after the above two tediosities. Exquisitely drawn observations from the point of view of Sunday, an autistic woman whose daughter Dolly is slowly drawing away from her, aided by a pair of horrible in-laws and the quirky new neighbours, Vita and Rollo. Reminded me very much of Beryl Bainbridge’s books, in that the reader can see exactly what the characters are doing but the main character remains heart-wrenchingly oblivious.
A strong bold for this year.

Book 9 Kala by Colin Walsh**
In a town in Ireland's, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. An original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003. Soon after that summer'
Kala, one of the group, disappeared without a trace.
Now fifteen years later some of the group reconnect and Kala’s disappearance is finally solved.
An engrossing novel, part coming of age story and part thriller. Well written characters that I engaged with. I did get a little confused at times between the past and current time frame, thank goodness I was reading it in book format rather than Kindle as I did keep having to flick back. All in all a cracking read!

@TimeforaGandT I have just started the first Felix Francis book on audible , Gamble. Well I hope it is!

deciding what to read next in book format

59 The Bernini Bust - Iain Pears

This was picked up in a second hand shop at the London 50 Bookers meet up. I didn’t realise at the time that it’s the third in a series about an English art dealer (Jonathan Argyll) based in Rome and Flavia di Stefano of the Italian Art Theft Squad.

I enjoyed it. The main characters are affectionately drawn and the “fish out of water” sense when they both end up in Los Angeles is well conveyed.

The story is a bit too convoluted, to the extent that I lost track of who the characters all were and what they were guilty of. It starts with Argyll encountering another art dealer, di Souza, in LA, where they have both brought art (di Souza - the bust in question!) for the museum of Moresby, a billionaire benefactor who has endowed his own museum. However, Moresby is murdered when he and di Souza go to inspect the Bernini, and then the bust also goes missing.

I may well go back and read the others in the series now. And I also feel I’m warmed up for the much longer “..Fingerpost” from the same author, which has been lurking on my kindle for a while.

Not a review but I thought Alice Munro fans should know about the stories appearing in the media at the weekend and this week about how she treated her daughter who was sexually abused by her step father. AM's daughter wrote a letter (in her 20's) to tell AM about the abuse she suffered after reading one of AM's stories that was sympathetic to an abused girl only to have AM reject her, say it was nothing to do with her and stay with her husband until his death as she loved him too much, even after he pleaded guilty to abuse charges. The daughter confided in her father about the abuse at the time it was happening and he still sent her to spend summers with AM and the abuser. What dreadful parents. Heartbreaking for the daughter.
There seem to be a lot of writer's who on paper seem to really understand thenhuman condition and relationships but in reality are really shitty people.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/08/alice-munro-knew-my-stepfather-sexually-abused-me-as-a-child-says-nobel-laureates-daughter-ntwnfb

Oh my goodness @SapatSea thats horrific. That poor girl.

Awful. Never read any of AM and dont intend to start now.

I read that too @SapatSea. It was awful. I've also never read AM.

I bought an Alice Munro after Rob Delaney reviewed her on Between The Covers, but I never got going with it - won't get read now

@Sonnet - yes, Gamble is the first solo book from Felix Francis but he had co-writing credits on a few of the previous ones and may well have done the majority of writing. Seem to recall this was reasonably pacy and enjoyable.

@Terpsichore - thank you for mentioning the Sargent exhibition which had bypassed me. I managed to get to it on Sunday (the final day) - really interesting.

Nearing 50:

49. A Catalogue of Catastrophe - Jodi Taylor

Realised when I was tidying my bookshelf last week (aka trying to squeeze more books in from the pile on my bedside table) that I had not read this which is the latest (or the last one I have) in The Chronicles of St Marys.

Max and Markham are working outside St Mary’s (having been previously dismissed although I can’t recall why) and are attacked. They set out to track down who attacked them and why which involves Max going undercover in another historic research organisation.

Max and Markham also leap around history visiting Runnymede (for the signing of Magna Carta), Lincoln (for the siege of the castle) and London (for the Gunpowder plot). There is a return to St Mary’s and other familiar characters towards the end. As ever, ridiculous and entertaining but it would have helped if I could have remembered what had happened in the previous book (which apparently I read in 2022).

@TimeforaGandT thanks for the confirmation. Yes, I have read most of the ones he co-wrote.

started my Book 10 for this thread: The Death of Lucy Kyte - Nicola Upson. Picked up at a local book sale. I've been promised a cosy period mystery with a supernatural twist... we shall see 😀

67 The Island of Lost Trees – Elif Shafak I started reading this straight after Trespasses. I did question myself about reading two loves stories back to back, where the couples are from differing cultures, but this was so beautiful. A bold for me. No need for a review, again, I think everyone has read this!

The Glassmaker - Tracey Chevalier
I think that Tracey Chevalier are always good, there is always something that inetrests me. I liked her last book about bell ringing and needlepoint and experts at their craft once again feature in this new novel about Murano Glass making in Venice. The conceit here is that we follow Orsola (and her friends and family) from the Renaissance through to the current day as they age differently to real life, so we see how the history of glassmaking and its fortunes change over the centuries at specific points in time - so perhaps 200 years in time will pass but Orsola and her family and colleagues will have only aged say 9 years. This allows Chevalier to explore the heyday of Murano glass making when Murano could only be reached by boat from Venice and anyone involved in glass making could never leave and take the secrets of production with them on pain of being traced and assassinated, through to hard times during the plague and then growing competition and tarrifs from Eastern and other European countries. A decline into surviving thorugh producing whimsical tourist trinkets and our own most recent "plague." It also allows us to see how Orsola navigates her relationships and adapts to changing times and ageing.

I enjoyed it overall but felt it could have been shorter and and so a bit more dynamic.