50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Six

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, the fourth one here and the fifth one here.

What are you reading?

@SapatSea I'm very much looking forward to both of those books, especially the Lissa Evans!

Thanks @SapatSea , I’ve preordered the Lissa Evans from Waterstones.

@SapatSea

Can't imagine what it must be like to have it permanently. Mine comes and goes, was very bad last summer but has been under control since 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Sorry to hear about your migraine struggles @SapatSea - it must be so tiring apart from anything else. I’m a migraineur too (albeit not to the same extent) and it’s hard for people to understand it’s not just an ordinary headache.

I've got an advance copy of the Lissa Evans, must bump it up the tbr pile!

@SapatSea like the sound of the Lissa Evans, will add to wish list. Sorry about your migraines. I get the odd scintillating scotoma, in fact had one a week ago and even that alone leaves me drained for days.

@SapatSea sounds really tough. I hope reading is at least a comfort. Thanks also for your comments on The Brothers Karamazov- the struggle is real!
Eine- I know what you mean about reading at the wrong time- I did that with The Master and Margarita I think and it’s put me off Bulgakov and probably satire too for the foreseeable.
Cassandre- I may well try the Ready for a reread after your recommendation- but probably not for about another 10 years.

I’ve finished one more
139 The Girl and the Stars- Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence is a British fantasy author who I have have a love-hate relationship with. He seems like such a nice guy and really tries to open up the reading world to self-published authors but I never got on with any of his books until I read The Book of the Ancestor series which I loved. This is set in the same world, though a different part of it. It was far too YA for my liking yet with a
needlessly complicated magic system/ lore. I had bought the whole trilogy at 99p each but don’t think I’ll read the rest.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been adding my TBR to spinning wheels for different genres. This includes my kindle/ physical and audio. I have a ridiculous 1200 books to read. I am on a book buying ban for the rest of 2024 except for sequels to things I’ve loved and 99p offers for things on my wishlist. I’m going to choose my books for the next while by spinning my wheels! That means next up are House of Mirth (classic) in physical, Sing, Wild Bird Sing (hist fiction) on ebook and Ruin Beach (crime) on audio.

@inaptonym – yes! I’d banished the blooming awful Wordle streaking from my memory! Dont get me wrong, I have a few streaks I like to keep up, Duolingo and Kindle, but that is extremely boring to everyone except me! What was the actual point of having our marvellous detective in the book when she appears so little. Definitely looking out for the other Hawthorne and Horowitz books in my library travels.

@ÚlldemoShúl I actually misread your TBR number as 120 and thought, oh thats not too bad, about the same as me then. What percentage are physical books and what are your kindle ones? I have 56 unread kindles and planning to get under 45 this calendar year. I'm not counting the physical ones just yet. So not sure on my split. Possibly 50/50. I'm a keen supporter of the library and like to have at least two or three on the go each visit.

I was at a lovely event at the Edinburgh Festival on Sunday. Hosted by Luath Press, who are Scotland's largest independent book publisher. I had a grand time. About 12 authors/poets did a little reading. I ended up buying:
We are Scottish Football - Julie McNeill
Agnes Finnie, The Witch of the Potterrow Port - Mary W Craig
Wild Women of a Certain Age - Magi Gibson

McNeill and Gibson are both poets. Craig's book is about the trial of Agnes Finnie in 1644. Interestingly, most witches were tried and convicted within hours, not so for Agnes Finnie and Craig was able to access her trial documents (Hurrah for the National Library of Scotland!). I had the opportunity to talk to all three women and get my books signed.

I have a DNF to report – Jerusalem the Golden, Margaret Drabble. I just could not get into this. I cant quite get my head round why I found it so difficult. I’m trying to expand my reading and look out different authors, but this was a no for me. Would be interested to hear if there are any MD fans in our lovely group.

@Tarragon123 I have about 300 physical- 100 audio, around 200 on my library list split between ebook and audio- and the rest are kindle- absolutely ridiculous amount. I have no doubt many of those kindle books will be DNFs or 2 or 3/5 reads so I’m going to be quite ruthless with them- this is from years of build up- mostly 99p deals- the one that came up on my spinning wheel Sing, Wild Bird Sing was a free kindle first book and I suspect will be a DNF!
120 is so much more manageable- good for you for keeping it under control.

I did have a Kindle clear out about 4 months ago. Books that I just couldnt understand why I bought them. Er, because they were 99p! It so easy to get sucked in. I'm now only going to buy 99p kindle books that I think I'll enjoy eg Caledonian Road, The Secrets of Blythwood Square, Moriarty and any others that I see recommended on here that ssound like my bag.

What is your spinning wheel? Is it a kindle aid or something else that you use?

Oh, my unread pile is horrendous. I don’t even want to count 😀

I was the same @SheilaFentiman and then it was even worse than I imagined! This post could take me to retirement and beyond!

@Tarragon123 I am attempting to attach a screenshot here of my classics one (of which I have four subgenres- classics/ modern classics/ ancient and poetry and plays). I had to type them all in, which as you can imagine took some time! Then I just spin the subgenre I fancy at that time.
In case you can’t see it the website is called heyspinner and is free

That is a great idea! But the disadvantage for me would be typing all the titles in. Which means gathering all the physical books around the house. Hmmm, I will ponder on. Thank you 🙏

@SheilaFentiman I'm kind of the same. I'm thinking if I deal with the Kindle first, its not so bad 😂

@ÚlldemoShúl love the spinning wheel idea! I have a reading wishlist of about 700 books and they're all typed on a word doc, if I want a 'random' book to read I ask the family to pick a number between 1 and 700, then go with the one out of the three that appeals most at that time

I don't feel so bad about my TBR of around 60 books now!

@SapatSea and @Stowickthevast, all sympathies on the vestibular migraines. Curiously I had never heard of them until today, when I read this heartbreaking article in the Guardian about John Balson who suffered from them. Warning that it's a very harrowing article with a sad end. All admiration for you both.

Slightly worried about Orbital now, which is awaiting me on my kindle - must have been a 99p 'bargain'.

My number 29 is When the Dust Settles, by Lucy Easthope. I think many on this thread have read and recommended this book by a disaster planner. So good, even when it’s a tough read. I was quite undone by the pandemic chapter. She is clearly a force to be reckoned with, and often quietly furious in her writing. A definite bold.

Another one here with Orbital lurking in the '99p bargains' bin 🫣

Don't panic about Orbital it's an easy one to box off, and maybe no one agrees with me and I've been harsh!

I may never find out Eine, give the ridiculously large number of kindle books in my TBR

34 Bess of Hardwick - Mary S. Lovell It’s been ages since I last posted, for a combination of reasons - holiday, wall-to-wall Olympics, and a door stopper non-fiction book. I’ve finally finished it and it gets a bold - really thorough research, a fascinating history of a fascinating woman, and so much information about the Elizabethan period. I knew absolutely nothing about Bess of Hardwick before reading this, so others may find it re-treads familiar ground (it seems she’s really famous and has loads of biographies!) but even so I think it will be an interesting angle for those who know more than I did. Having read Lovell’s very partisan book on the Mitford sisters I was conscious of potential bias in favour of her subject, but I think there will be much less of this given the historical aspect (and a quick Google doesn’t throw up any discrepancies as was the case for the Mitford book). A definite bold. Now - on to some light fiction!

Unread on Kindle : 361

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage there’s a great book about her houses, let me check the title.

Edit: Devices and Desires, Bess of Hardwick and the Building of Elizabethan England by Kate Hubbard

Unread books on kindle: 431

It’s not entirely accurate because if a book has eg a preview chapter for the next one or a bibliography and you don’t read right to the end or mark it Read, it won’t count as Read.

Clutching at straws, me?? 😀

Oh god. I was going to confess that mine is somewhere around the 800 mark. Actual unread on kindle tally: 1243.

What is WRONG with me?!

In my defence, that is 14 years of kindle daily deals, but still...

@SheilaFentiman

I am Religious about making sure they are marked as read.

Wowzers @noodlezoodle I've accepted that mine is like the Forth Bridge, but YOURS.... that might be a reserve that lasts a lifetime.

Oh @noodlezoodle you have just made me feel so much better…