50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

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

What are you reading?

@CornishLizard

Yes I agree about "the key" it's obviously his default style.

107. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

An American strikes up a correspondence with a London Bookshop.

Seen this recommended so many times on here but never got round to it. And you were all right, it's lovely. Sad though.

The Audible was 2h 15 so I listened to it all last night.

The sequel The Duchess Of Bloomsbury seems hard to come by, I will check my library service.

I’d never heard of David Peace but just looked him up and this (and his other books ) sound right up my street. (just realised he’s the author of The Damned United).
I’m not at my best this week for various reasons.

Also there’s an excellent film of the Munich Air disaster with David Tennant.

Hope you're ok Best

Minor things adding up @EineReiseDurchDieZeit. currently at the insurance assessor waiting for my car to be assessed after someone reversed into it, gave me a thumbs up and drove off! Earache and DM among other things not helping. Nothing major.

@GrannieMainland
I've been playing around with the notifications feature on Libby (library ebook and eaudio) and somehow managed to borrow the audio of Intermezzo on publication day. I've only listened to a little bit (about half an hour) and Libby books automatically get returned but I'm quite intrigued so far. I really do want to be able to read it in print though, and I'm #4 on the reservation list at the library for a hardback copy (of at least #57, as I placed a reservation on my partner's library card as well - but I'm hoping/expecting to have borrowed and read the book by then at that rate!).

Mansfield Park was one of my A level texts and I'm always intrigued by novels offering a contemporary or other take on the classics - I seem to have bought This Motherless Land on Kindle (presumably it was on offer last month), so thanks for drawing my attention - I'm looking forward to reading it whenever I get to it..

DP got paid yesterday so I checked my Kindle wishlist for a couple of other things I'd noticed and found Among the Janeites, about meeting Austen reenactment groups etc in the US, for £1.59.

And I've added the Oisin McKenna to my wishlist (I also refer to it when exploring library catalogues etc so it's very very long)

Sorry to hear that @BestIsWest , that sounds infuriating.

Thanks for the film recommendation @BestIsWest - will give it a look (David Tennant is a bonus :))

Hope all your annoyances get sorted!

You may have to forgive his Welsh accent @HerbertVonDoodlebug.

88 One Minute Later – Susan Lewis. One of my Kindle Challenge books and a 99p purchase from 2019. A new to me author and I’ll be looking out for more of her books. This book tells two stories from different timelines and you wonder how they are going to connect. The present day has a transplant story, which unsurprisingly is heartbreaking. I sobbed quite a bit. Recommended.

My Kindle Challenge is going well. I only have 2 books from before 2020 to complete, so I am moving on to The Ballroom Café by Ann O’Loughlin from 2015, which is her first book.

Glad you enjoyed 84 CCR, it’s in my all time top 10 favourite books and is definitely due a reread. I have an old copy which contains both books so it’s worth looking out for that if you’re passing a charity shop.

45 The Secret Chapter - Genevieve Cogman Another Invisible Library book, fun but not my favourite. Irene is sent to retrieve a book from a secretive billionaire collector, and it turns out he’s basically a Bond villain, complete with Caribbean lair and man-eating sharks. He sends her on a heist (in Vienna) with a motley crew of criminals, for which her reward is the book she’s after…chaos (and order) ensues.

I'm currently in Alnwick and going to be heading to Barter Books shortly. We visited the castle and garden yesterday but this is the bit of the trip I've been looking forward to most!

Got a big bag of paperbacks in the car boot that have been sitting in the house for months. We were supposed to visit last October but a storm in the NE put paid to that so this trip's been a long time coming.

15.Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli
I enjoyed this so recommend. It is an Australian crime fiction although I was surprised when the narrator had an American accent. This was very well read and suited the style of the book. It had me guessing until the very end. It is about Rose Dunmore whose old diary falls into the wrong hands: Diary of an Octopus where she did something terrible years ago as a thirteen year old. She needs to get her Diary back which has now been published into a book by a very popular social media influencer Emily Harper. She needs to get her old laptop back or she will be hung for murder. Is Rose a psychopath of the worst kind? This had a fair amount of twists. Yep recommend but not a bold.

@InTheCludgie enjoy your trip to Barter Books 🙂Hope you find some good reads! Enjoy the rest of your getaway!

Have fun @InTheCludgie !

I have always wanted to go to Barter Books but I am the wrong end of the country so not made it yet. One day!

@Tarragon123 I need to do this kindle challenge and clear some of the older TBR!

Though I am currently reading Rodham and won’t be putting it down until I have finished!

Have a great time @InTheCludgie. you’re just up the road from me and it’s a beautiful day today. I can highly recommend their fish finger sandwich and cake too. Drop the books off as soon as you go in and it’s a max of 20 per person so me and DH always take a bag each and pretend we’re not together!

My sister went a few weeks ago and managed to find an ancient copy of a book by our dad. Very exciting!

Hang on @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, your Dad wrote books? Wonderful.

Thanks @TattiePants

That's really cool Remus

I'm miles and miles from Barter Books as well and it sounds amazing

Yep - he wrote sci-fi in the 70s.

Remus - how interesting. Do you have copies of his works? Ancestors of my mum were (not very well-known) authors and she has several of their books among her massive collection. If I can cope with Victorian sentimentality I might read some. In the meantime:

<strong>57.	The End of the Road</strong> - Jack Cooke

Facing a bit of a mid-life crisis, the author bought a clapped-out hearse and travelled England and Scotland in search of strange graves and death stories. That’s kind of it really. The histories of the lives, deaths, and burial places were varied (including the Hardy Tree in St Pancras Gardens which we visited on the London meet-up) but the journey stopped quite abruptly without seeming to have an aim. For more taphophila I might try A Tomb with a View to compare, as it has had favourable reviews on here, but I’m all tombed out at the moment.

That sounds right up my street @RomanMum , thank you!

A copy or two of your Dad’s books might be lurking on DH’s bookshelves @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie . He’s the SciFi fan in the house.