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?

I love the Jackson Brodie books but agree with others that if you didn’t like Case Histories it’s not really worth reading the others.

Interested to see your Great Pain and Margery Kempe reviews cassandre. I loved GP and bought MK on the strength of it but haven’t read it yet. I almost wondered if GP worked as the ‘edited highlights’ of the 2 books. I’ve often thought of the MK book history since, how it was found by chance in a cupboard in some sort of stately home, and wondered if there might be other finds like that that one could get involved in transcribing.

I love Atkinson and Brodie inaptonym and am looking forward to the new one on Thursday! I can’t remember the details of the earlier books but they are often bleak so I’m not rereading the series in anticipation, but I think I remember Brodie becoming more central and appealing over the series.

I'm also looking forward to the new Jackson Brodie and have it on reserve at the library, I'm number 17 in the queue which isn't too bad. This'll be the first one I've actually read as all the previous ones were in audiobook format.

Have you read The Wych Elm? I think it’s the most like “The Likeness” in atmosphere.

38.High Rise by JG Ballard. Middle-aged, middle class Lord of the Flies in which the residents of a 40 storey tower block go completely feral in the face of a few minor incoveniences, for reasons that are still not fully clear to me. The characters are all middle aged white professional men who started to blend into one another. Women are only ever someone's partner or sister, never actual, fully formed people. At least it was short.

I gave up on High Rise.

I thought the first couple of Brodies were okay but had had enough by the third iirc.

I am a big Kate Atkinson fan and will actually buy the new Jackson Brodie, which is a pretty rare financial commitment for me! I'd actually disagree a bit, Case Histories is structured differently to the others which are all complete stories, albeit with some of the same motifs (doubling, missing girls). So I wouldn't write them off if you didn't love it.

Also a huge Tana French fan, the Dublin Murders and all the newer ones!

I have my Atkinson on pre order. Looking forward to it but it will still join in my random number generator list!

I also have Susie Dent's novel, out of curiosity.

Eine I know the image you mean. One I really didn’t need in my head.
There’s also one of the funniest lines I’ve read in a book. Made me laugh out loud.
i love Iain Banks’ writing but he definitely had a dark imagination as well as being an excellent person in so many ways.

Yes @SheilaFentiman I read The Wych Elm first. I don't remember it very well but I liked it. I might read it again. I have it in paperback.

I’m waiting for the Jackson Brodie to be reduced in price. I’ve been burned too many times recently by so-so books from favourite authors. Plus, I think I only really enjoyed the Brodie books when I had the overlay of Jason Isaacs in character to see me through . I seem to recall overuse of Brodie’s ex as an internal voice in the last one, which irritated me a lot.
Having said that, Kate Atkinson’s last book of short stories was worth full price, even though I waited until it was on half price offer at Waterstones.

I've just read a synopsis of The Wasp Factory. Sounds bizarre!

I thought Kate Atkinson's last two books were underwhelming, but I thoroughly enjoyed all five published Jackson Brodie books and have pre-ordered Death at the Sign of the Rook, it's currently £11 on Amazon.

Good Material - Dolly Alderton. This is a really enjoyable and paced novel set In London about a thirty five year old struggling comedian who's recently been dumped by his girlfriend of four years. In the aftermath of their relationship, he attempts to reinvent himself. The story isn't anything new, but it's mostly engaging and quite perceptive about relationship break-ups and friendship dynamics.

The Night Circus is 99p in the daily deals today. I read it last year and loved it.

I’m another Kate Atkinson fan but have been underwhelmed by her last couple and despite owning Shrines of Gaiety for well over a year have not got round to reading it.

The Wasp Factory is another book that’s been on my shelf for years. Think I’d better read it soon - I’m intrigued!

76. Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Audible)

I think someone mentioned this on the last thread but I'm sorry I can't remember who.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

This started out really promisingly with Rika getting slowly seduced by Kajii. It has a lot of things to say about body image, fatphobia and the rife misogyny in contemporary Japanese culture which I was only fleetingly aware of.

It very much goes off piste when best friend Reiko involves herself and the ending is far too Alls Well That Ends Well, but there are a lot of interesting ideas here.

The Audible was well read by Hanako Footman whose book Mongrel I have on TBR.

I would recommend both as a book and a listen, it was very nearly but not quite a bold due to the irritating sub plot.

Have fun in Manchester folks!
@CornishLizard – I loved Sharon Penman’s books! I read the Welsh trilogy as a teenager in the 1980s. Looks like I have a few to catch up on. Great titles “When Christ and His Saints Slept” “Here Be Dragons”. Brilliant. Very sad to hear that she died in 2021.

I used to really enjoy Kate Atkinson’s books, however, she is not a nice person and I am now boycotting her. Very petty of me, but I don’t want her to have a penny from me, not even a library loan. I can hold a grudge for decades!

Back to Kindle! I have read 80 books so far this year, 46 of them on the Kindle, so that’s pleasing. Anyone want to share how long they have had an unread book on their Kindle? For me its June 2014, 10 years FGS! I then have a Dec 2014, 4 from 2014 and one from 2019. Those will be my priorities for the next couple of months. I then have 8 from 2020, 5 from 2021, 2 from 2022, 10 from 2023 and 24 so far for this year (56 in total).

80 Caledonian Road – Andrew O’Hagan. Loved this. Not quite a bold as I felt some pruning may have been in order. Do book editors exist any more? Campbell Flynn, well respected academic with fabulous connections is about to have a major fall from grace. All his different worlds collide and it goes horribly wrong. I was quite shocked at the end and the lengths that Flynn goes to. Some else (I cant remember who, sorry!) felt that O’Hagan tries to pack so much into the story, gangs, drugs, people smuggling, knife crime, poverty, rape, domestic abuse, murder and I think that’s right. But I do feel that it was the right thing, even if at some points it did feel a bit preachy. I also got a bit lost with both the toffs and the gangs who had different names.

she is not a nice person

Please, Do Tell

I was just going to say the same

I used to really enjoy Kate Atkinson’s books, however, she is not a nice person and I am now boycotting her. Very petty of me, but I don’t want her to have a penny from me, not even a library loan. I can hold a grudge for decades!

Sounds intriguing. Please can you elaborate, if it's not too personal? Totally understand if you want to keep your thoughts private, though.

I’m intrigued too!

Also need to hear the Tea on KA! I may reread the Brodie books in anticipation of the next one though feel like the last couple went off the boil. I haven't read Shrines of Gaiety as it didn't really appeal, and wasn't a huge fan of her previous one I read about coding in the war.

Butter is my next book club read Eine so looking forward to it after your review. I also read Mongrel last month which I really liked and was quite unexpected.

68. My Friends - Hisham Matar. My third Booker Longlist read and the one that looks most like a winner so far. This is narrated by Khaled, a Libyan man, and reviews his life with his two Libyan friends. It starts in 2016 with Khaled saying goodbye to Hosam, who is emigrating to the States, and then walks across London reminiscing. The main event that the 3 friends have in common was being part of the demonstration at the Libyan Embassy in 1984 where people inside the embassy fired a machine gun into the crowd, killing a policewoman and injuring 11 demonstrators. Khaled is one of those injured, aged 18, and his life changes overnight as he is unable to go back to Libya and has to claim asylum. This book is beautifully written, and meanders through descriptions of Khaled's childhood in Libya, his experiences as a refugee, and his love of literature and poetry all against a background of the Gaddafi dictatorship. The three men all take different paths in response to the trauma the events have on their lives. Recommended.

Stowick Thanks for the review of My Friends- it’s the one on the Booker longlist that interests me the most. The only other one that grabs me is The Safekeep.

I too am dying to hear the gossip on KA!

@Tarragon123 in reply to your question (several pages ago!), I am a Margaret Drabble fan! I read Jerusalem The Golden a long time ago (probably about 30 years ago) and loved it, but the only thing I remember about it now is that for a while after reading it I wanted to name my hypothetical daughter Clelia. I also read and loved A Summer Birdcage at around the same time. More recently, I have enjoyed (but not loved) The Seven Sisters and The Dark Flood Rises.

37 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I've been meaning to read this for ages, and it was just as good as everyone says it is. Set in Nigeria in the 1960s, before and during the Biafran War, it has everything - an interesting historical background that I didn't know much about, great characters, excellent writing. A definite bold.

38 Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey. Chick lit which almost feels like a self help book near the end, this is about Maggie in the year following the end of her marriage. I think this suffered from being read straight after the book above, because at first it seemed very flimsy and meaningless, but by the end I found myself enjoying it.

Unread on my kindle: around 240.