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?

I’ve got a few copies @RomanMum but haven’t actually read any of them!

My dh has a big sci-fi collection as that is what he reads. That's fascinating @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie !

23 Wild - Cheryl Strayed
I enjoyed listening to her account of walking the Pacific Crest Trail, and why she decided to take the trip.
Has anyone seen the film?

@nowanearlyNicemum yes, the film is great! I've also met the author and she signed the book for me 😄

Thanks, I will try and watch it at some point!

I've just finished reading Run every street. Itwas a good read though I got a bit tired of it towards the last 10% or so. I had to finish it to find out what happened at the end. There were quite a few funny little tales and lots of historical information about people from the area and about the events in the area in the past right from the time of the Doomsday Book through the Industrial Revolution, the development of mills and factories and the covid pandemic (since the running was done during the lockdowns) to name but a few. I'd recommend to any runners who are interested in history.

42. Homegoing by Yaa Gwasi
Well that was a bold. How does any writer make a book that covers centuries and still manages to create real lives in detail? Gwasi writes about the 'ineradicable wound' of slavery, by telling the stories of the descendants of half sisters Effie and Esi, one who marries a slaver and one who becomes a slave.

@PermanentTemporary this was one of the books I came home with after my trip to Barter Books! I've read some good reviews on here so I had to go for it.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie that must have been a lovely surprise for your sister! I love hearing stories like this.

@TattiePants I would have liked to try the cafe but we ran out of time, DS was meeting friends in Edinburgh so had to get on the road again. Kinda gutted about that!

Here's the little pile of books I came away with, plus I got a book for DD which she started reading while we were there. I had 9 paperbacks accepted by them and got a tenner credit back for it.

@InTheCludgie You’re in for a treat with the Chandler.

Nice haul @InTheCludgie Lived your review @PermanentTemporary ive just started Homegoing, same edition as Cludgie’s. Just two chapters in and it’s so good.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie this is one book that isn't stocked by my local libraries so it was a nice surprise to see it there. I read The Big Sleep a few years ago and then watched the film with Bacall and Bogie, I thought both were fantastic.

108. 1974 by David Peace

Journalist Edward Dunford investigates the murders of 3 little girls

I struggled with this, massively so actually, it's less than 300 pages but there were times I felt like I didn't know what was happening it's hard to follow. Very dialogue heavy.

It's also very grim

I really loved The Damned Utd but I'm unsure whether to proceed here to be honest

What do you think? @MegBusset

@HerbertVonDoodlebug it wouldn't let me tag you for some reason

26 - 30 Goodbye to Pine Street, Alone at Pine Street, Friends at Pine Street, The Pride of Pine Street, First Term at Ash Grove Mabel Esther Allan
Apologies - just prefacing this review with a short bit of self pity. Chemo is really shit at the moment. Sleep totally messed up,cant concerntrate on anything and cant even enjoy food. The end of treatment is in sight, but im fed up. As i cant concerntrate on proper adult books, i went in search of some fondly half remembered childhood favoutites ....
The Pine Street series follows the everyday adventures of the Almond House gang in Liverpool. Our protagonist Sam Padgett is several years younger than the others and is insistent on being involved in everything they do - to the extent she follows them to High School & sneaks in despite being several years too young. I think part of the appeal when i waa a kid was that Liverpool is very recognisable. Key landmarks are mentioned & one story revolves around the Willamson tunnels. However, in other ways they are totally unrealistic. Nobody has a liverpool accent (constanants are just dropped to identify people as working class) and the comprehensive bares no resembalance to the one i started in the 80s (prefects give black marks and are largely respected - hmmm). It is like a traditional girls school story has been transposed unconvinvingly into working class Liverpool. It just doesnt ring true.
All this could be forgiven, but for one thing. Sam is one of the most dislikable heroines ever to appear in children's literature. Her main character trait is her maverlous intelligence. We not only hear about this constantly, but also her patronising attitude to her brother and many friends who she variously describes as thick, dull, slow etc. I just found it all a bit grating. As they say you cant go home again. I loved them when i was nine. Some things are better kept a fond, vague memory.

Hope you're feeling better Owl

I'm so sorry, @Owlbookend Childhood comfort books sounds exactly right. Wishing you a speedy recovery and lots of cosy reading.

I'm hoping that you are feeling better @Owlbookend.

I’m sorry @Owlbookend , that sounds really tough and I hope immersing yourself in childhood favourites is diverting enough for a short while.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit 1974 is truly grim. If anything, the tv adaptation of the Red Riding trilogy was easier to watch, despite a chilling turn by Sean Bean as a Savile-esque creep and a body count to rival Game Of Thrones. It never feels exploitative but is somehow worse than if it was, if that makes sense?

Yes @AlmanbyRoadtrip but would you say 1977 is just as hard to read or a bit easier? I don't know whether to continue.

Sending all best wishes @Owlbookend

It’s more of the same, really. I admire it as a trilogy but took a while to shake off some of the themes and images it put in my head. Rather like Irvine Walsh’s Crime I mentioned upthread. I’d have to be in the mood to continue and accept that it’s written so true to dirty, corrupt, abusive life that it will stay with me.

84 Rodham - Curtis Sittenfield

I loved this. Firm bold. Many of you will have read it, but as a quick recap, the first third covers Hillary’s university life and meeting Bill Clinton, and then - when she decides not to marry him and live in Arkansas - what happens instead in her political and personal life.

There were clearly many moments when the narrative was based on documented events, but the rest of the book rang very true to the public characters of Hillary and Bill. The ending felt a little rushed, but that was my only criticism.

💐 @Owlbookend

Take care @Owlbookend
Best wishes 🌻

Best wishes @Owlbookend