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?

Thrilled to be on the dark side, here is my dark mark 💐
enjoyed your review of Middlemarch Thewolvesarerunningagain, I’ve read the first 2 pages several times so the 100 pain barrier feels quite high but I would like to read it someday.

44. Brotherless Night: V. V. Ganeshananthan.

Jaffna, 1981. Sashi, sixteen, dreams of following her eldest brother into medical school and becoming a doctor like him. However when Sri Lanka erupts into civil war and her four brothers and her friend 'K' get swept up into the mounting violence, her dream is thrown off course. Life goes on and she tries to forge her own path and follow her own conscience in increasingly difficult circumstances. Ultimately she learns that there is no way of remaining impartial in a war-torn land and as the situation deteriorates, she becomes implicated as she takes on tasks at great personal cost.

I thought this was very well written. I found it very moving and very absorbing. I found many episodes upsetting particularly keeping in mind what is going on in the world at present. It almost felt like I was reading a memoir of a real person who lived through this war but then I would remember it is fiction based on historical fact.

Just picking up on comments by posters in relation to the narrative voice, I thought it was restrained and I appreciated that. It left space for the reader to consider their own response to events, which the author wanted us to do. There were appeals to the reader to put ourselves in Sashi's place and consider what we would do from a moral point of view. It seemed to me that while this was about Sri Lanka, it is a testament to people living through war in other countries as well.

I think the love story that never was between Sashi and 'K' was credible on the whole. There was an allusion to a parallel life, that they may have become a couple if their future hadn't been blighted by war. Similarly the story of the eldest brother and his fiancée was upsetting that the potential for happiness was taken away, destroyed.

This was a difficult read, but a worthwhile one. Certainly a book to admire. I am going to choose something lighter and easier for my next one for sure.

I've never read Middlemarch and never really felt much of an urge to. But now thinking maybe I need to add it to the tbr list maybe this thread is more competitive than I thought

I read Middlemarch at uni during some quiet winter nights. I remember loving it. But it's a huge commitment to read again

The characterisation in Middlemarch is very good. I liked the description of Casaubon by Mrs Cadwallader. She has some cracking lines about him. 'She says, he is a great soul. A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!'

And the pompous creepiness in these lines; 'I live too much with the dead. My mind is like the ghost of an ancient, wandering about the world and trying mentally to construct it as it used to be, in spite of ruin and confusing changes'.

It's a wonder that Dorothea didn't smother him with a pillow after two weeks!

The thread with the 1000 book claim is this one. I do think it can be tempting to not read the chunky books from the TBR shelves at times to keep my count up (having said that I'm currently reading the nearly 900 page long King Hereafter at the moment so it doesn't put me completely off). Childrens books, graphic novels, trashy novels, audio books and novellas allow you to manipulate the figures to hit a target. But you can also balance those choices against doing a slow read, there's loads of people who e.g. read War and Peace over a year. I do think the article is laughing with us rather than at us though.

Funnily enough, Middlemarch was in the load of books I took to the NT bookshop. I loved it when I read it years ago after a few false starts but I know I won’t read it again.

I did Middlemarch as an A level set text and really got into it - unlike the Austen we also read, which put me off her for many years. I haven’t re-read MM but I definitely will do someday.

@TimeforaGandT thank you, that's good to know. I'll probably only pick up 99p ones in the deals so won't be too disappointed if future ones aren't my thing

I will admit to having read a few novellas this year to keep my momentum going - which I might not have previously chosen. But they have turned out to be some of my favourites. I have particularly enjoyed Claire Keegan, Stefan Zweig and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so far. Having never really been a short story fan - it has surprised me how much I like this length of novel. Menopausal brain maybe? Has anyone else found this?

That's so funny, this is one of the nicest corners of the internet, and I've never seen anyone get hung up on the numbers. I think someone had a deadline to meet and had to make up some nonsense at the last min!

57 Frenchmen’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier

Daphne Du Maurier has not disappointed me yet, and this tale of French pirates set on the Cornish coast, was just gorgeous. And I enjoyed the moment when spotted the inspiration for @StColumbofNavron's user name!

54. London Underground by Design - Mark Ovenden

Rather stupid of me to read this as an e-book, because it really needs to be a big, lavish, coffee-table hardback - the many photos illustrating the history and development of London Underground's iconic (for once a word that really is deserved) design were completely hopeless in cramped, non-expandable e-format….and the page-numbering hyperlinks were a nightmare.

I’m not in fact as much of a geek as all that, but I do have a great fondness for the Underground's distinctive look, and the history is very interesting. I might therefore have to buy this book for DH for Christmas. He’s more of a bona fide underground nerd and I’ve already tempted him with some extracts, so I know he’d enjoy it, and I’d get to look at the pictures properly. Win-win.

I don’t really take notice of the numbers on lists. My own lists don’t include audio, books for children or many rereads, but I don’t care if other people include them. Childhood memories of “Oh, you can’t POSSIBLY have read all those books in that time! No, you can’t change your books until next week” still sting a bit, because I could read very fast. So I’d never judge someone else’s reading speed or the amount of time they spent on a book.

48 Dead Water by C A Fletcher
Another one that’s been hanging around on my kindle for a while. A proper, old fashioned Horror, which reminded me of early Herbert or King in its construction. It takes time to introduce the characters and their backstories could all fill books of their own. Some reviews have complained that the “action” doesn’t kick in until around 60% but I liked that. It made the horrible fates suffered by……just about everyone….even more horrible
A remote Scottish island, an ancient curse, a main character with a Past - it’s all there and competently written. Plus a zombie Detectorist so if they ever make a mini series of it, I’ll be immensely disappointed if they don’t cast Mackenzie Crook.

49 Under Another Sky - Journeys In Roman Britain by Charlotte Higgins
Been reading this for a while, as it is split into sections as the author travels around Britain looking at Roman remains. The travelogue part is secondary to the interpretation of what the Romans ever did for us and how those interpretations have changed over the centuries. I’ve long been fascinated by how much is still under our feet that we may never uncover (or uncover then cover back up to preserve it) so I enjoyed this book. One of my favourite pastimes is standing in the middle of a cold, windy field and trying to imagine what soldiers from warmer climes made of this inhospitable landscape.

I feel no competitive urges towards Middlemarch
@Tarragon123 completely agree about Luckenbooth being relentlessly preachy!

The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley

Elderly artist Julian writes his story in a book and leaves it in a cafe for someone else to find and write their own story and so on. Soon the book unites a group of people around Julian. Quite liked this, nice and light.

Typed a whole response and then lost it before I pressed "Post"...I know I thanked @MegBusset and @BestIsWest for books to add to my TR pile😀
I know I mentioned I'm not a competitive book reader due to never being believed a a child about all the books I got through 😂

Anyway - my recent reads below:
Book 11Old God’s Time-Sebastian Barry I thought this was a haunting story that was remarkable written, I loved the descriptions of the coastline and of love and loss. At times it was bleak as it dealt with the abuse Tom and his wife experienced and in the deterioration of his mind. The confusion I felt at times as to reality and Tom’s mind can only be reflective of what Tom was going through which I did not fully appreciated until the end. During reading I do have to admit to flicking back to re-read sections 😊
Book 12 The Secret of Cold Hill – Peter James I grabbed this off my DH’s book shelf as I felt like some light relief. I found out when I finished it was the second in the series with he first one being, in my DH’s opinion, far better. A spooky read, a bit silly in parts but nevertheless enjoyable. There was some confusion about reality and ghostly like the previous book although so very very different.
Book 13 Mayflies – Andrew O’Hagen - what can I say about this book, a BOLD for me.
“In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, James and Tully ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over and the locked world of their fathers before them, they rush towards the climax of their youth: a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain. There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently.
Thirty years on, half a life away, the phone rings. “
A brilliant novel, a book of two halves. The first part is particularly relevant if you were a teen in the 80’s, as I was. The recreation of the music scene was superb. The characters are strong and the dialogue spot on. Lots of humour and some laugh out loud moments. The second part of the book then follows up the story as the characters are in their 50s. There are some beautiful reflections upon life, but I did find it very sad. A beautiful story that will stay with me for some time.

I'm currently listening to a Felix Francis on audio and pondering my next choice....The Bee Sting by Pau Murray - any views please?

@sonnet one of my most vivid childhood memories is starting school at 5 (just), being taken to a table with tempting books laid out and invited to choose one.

I chose, and was laughingly told ‘ooh no, that’s too hard, you’ll never read that!’ I remember so well my feeling of humiliation mixed with wounded pride, because I could read perfectly well by then, but they didn’t think they needed to check. These memories persist surprisingly keenly.

@Terpsichore

I had an English teacher who actively resented me for being talented. I've never forgotten it either.

I can totally identify with that and sadly so can my eldest daughter!

Another one here who was told as a child "you can't possibly have read that already" or "no that's too hard for you" and "just because you can read the words doesn't mean you understand the story"
Bloody teachers. Luckily they didn't destroy my love of books.

I remember the class being given the book we would be reading that term - teacher would read it aloud and we would take it in turns to read aloud too. I would have it finished in class by the end of the week by surreptitiously reading it while all this reading aloud was going on then be bored out of my mind for the rest of term.

And in primary 1 I was given a prize. 6 of us were chosen for these prizes. There was a huge pile of books waiting to be given out and I couldn't wait. I was horrified to be given what I considered a "baby" book. It was for nursery kids basically and at 5 I was already well through Enid Blyton's works. I burst into tears and my mother took me to the stationers in town to choose a different book to make up for the disappointment.

Another fast reader here who remembers getting through the 8 library books quota in a matter of days! My primary was divided into infants and juniors and I had to go over to the juniors to borrow books. Have also had some of the same battles with the Dds' primary school and just insisted they be allowed to read books from home so they can read something that is actually simulating.

I've slowed down a lot now, mainly by reading more challenging books, or at least interspersing.

56. Brooklyn - Colm Toibin. This was published in 2009 but I never read it then. He's just released a sequel, Long Island, which there's a lot of buzz around so thought I'd read the original. The book is about Ailis, a young Irish woman, who is persuaded by her sister and mum to emigrate to America. It follows Ailis' life living in the Irish community in the 1950s, meeting a man and going back to Ireland on holiday as a changed woman. Toibin writes beautifully with what is unsaid being as poignant as what is said. It's rather sad in the end. I'll definitely read the sequel.

57. Helle & Death - Oskar Jansen. Fun locked door murder mystery that follows a group of friends gathering at a country manor a decade after they finished Oxford. The snow falls, a body is found, whodunnit? Decent read of it's kind.

58. Mongrel - Hanako Footman. I picked this up randomly in the Kindle deals the other day as it has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction prize. It follows 3 Japanese women in separate chapters and sections: Meiko who is half Japanese- English growing up in London, in love with her female best friend and missing her dead mother, Yuki a young Japanese woman who moves to the UK for violin lessons and falls in love with her tutor and Hakuta, a Japanese a woman working as a hostess in Tokyo and trying to find a reason to live.
    This was so beautifully written. I was completely drawn in to all the characters and the ways their stories connected, which was quite surprising. Common themes are trying to belong and escape, abuse and family. A bold for me.

I also distinctly remember my teacher quizzing me on books she felt I'd read too fast to check I wasn't just making it up! I still feel indignant about that.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh you have written a much clearer review of Brotherless Night than me. I was also aware that the detached voice mirrored the writing that the main characters were doing to bear witness to the atrocities. Certainly a book I admired even if I couldn't fully connect.

@Stowickthevast Brooklyn is one of my all time favourites, the sequel should be landing on my doorstep tomorrow I hope.

Oh the agony of the reading aloud a book for a whole term…
also did anyone else surreptitiously read a book under the desk at school ? I vividly remember reading “Five Go To Billycock Hill” that way 🤣

@Stowickthevast my eldest DD had a fabulous year two teacher that allowed her to go “off piste” with her reading. I am forever grateful to her 😀

I've never read Brooklyn either but have been tempted by the sequel. Thank you and to @GrannieMainland for the further endorsement. It is now on my TR list.

Behind with my reviews as the end of term has been so busy (I’m changing schools so had a lot to wrap up). Found out I’ve got year 9 English in sept though so I’ll be dusting off my Sherlock Holmes stories.
So, because it’s been so busy I’ve been relying on my easy reads:

65 Daddy’s Little Princess - Cathy Glass
66 Nobody’s Son - Cathy Glass
67 Cruel to be kind - Cathy Glass
68 The Night the Angels Came - Cathy Glass
69 Damaged - Cathy Glass
Don’t need to say much about these. More memoirs from the foster carer. Some harrowing, some uplifting.

70 Day One - Abigail Dean
From a recommendation on here, this is the story of a school shooting and its aftermath. I’ve read Abigail Dean before and although I like her style, I had to really focus on the different characters and the jumping around of timelines. I enjoyed it though