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?

So sorry to hear you’re feeling rubbish @Owlbookend. Hunker down and immerse yourself in comforting things if you can. This too shall pass 💐

Best wishes Owl 💐

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I found 1974 was the least accessible in terms of writing style - 1977 and 1980 a bit more straightforward (1980 was my favourite of the series) - however the unremitting grimness doesn’t really let up at any point in the series! So if you’re not enjoying it after book 1 then perhaps not for you. I have to say I found The Damned United and Munichs far more enjoyable to read.

Sending all good thoughts your way @Owlbookend

Very best wishes Owl 💐

I'm really torn @HerbertVonDoodlebug because I did buy the quartet, but it was a major struggle. I suppose I mean are they stylistically similar because it was the style let it down for me, ?

Yes similar though a bit more accessible- Mark Fisher in his essay about the series (which is where I found out about them) says Peace “said that he aimed to produce a crime fiction which is no longer entertainment” - I found it an utterly compelling ride but my tolerance for experimental fiction is quite high so YMMV!

@SheilaFentiman – we have such similar reading tastes. I loved Rodham, couldn’t put it down. I gave it to my Mum and now my daughter has it. Good luck with your Kindle challenge.

@InTheCludgie – hope you had fun. I’d love to go. Have you ever been to Wigton Book Festival? Another place I’d like to go.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie! How lovely!

@Owlbookend – That’s tough. Hugs, I’m sorry that you didn’t find solace in your reading. I am, however, laughing my head off at the thought of perfects being respected in a Liverpool 80s comp (and I speak as someone with Liverpool connections). How about Chalet School? Or Nancy Drew?

89 The Ballroom Café – Ann O’Laughlin – Sisters Roberta and Ella live in a crumbling old house and only communicate by notes. Why do they not speak? What secrets are buried in the past. Ella decides to open a café as the only way to repay a bank loan. Along comes Debbie, an American who is looking for her family. Very tragic, the back story is forced adoption. Recommended.

I now just have one pre 2020 Kindle book to read and I’ve made a start. Holy Island by LJ Ross, DCI Ryan Book 1. I cant think that I’ve seen anyone mention this author. Anyone read her?

Hated Holy Island, Tarragon.

Sending good wishes, Owl.

That's fun about your dad, Remus.

@Tarragon123 I recently DNFed Holy Island. It was okay but I just didn’t care that much about the lead detective or what happened. That said, it was an okay set up and writing, just not different enough to stand out from the crowd. I may have continued if I hadn’t such a crazy TBR list.

I’ve tried several times to read Ross @Tarragon123 , most recently in a holiday cottage about 10 miles from Holy Island that had the whole set on the bookshelves. I’m not averse to a simply told crime novel or series, with no artistic flair. I love the area, hope to retire there. But they are dire. Flat, badly written and leave me mystified as to how she ever got published. So much repetition!

ETA she wrote/spoke quite movingly about the cutting down of the Sycamore on Hadrian’s Wall. It’s a shame she can’t translate that eloquence to her fiction.

Thank you, @Tarragon123 - I’m going to read something purchased April 2022 next, which I have no recollection of buying 😀

(there are definitely older things in the TBR, but gotta start somewhere!)

@Owlbookend totally get the re-reading of favourites from years ago, there's something very comforting about it 💐

@bibliomania my only trip to Wigton was a disappointment, all the Bookshops had closed by the time I arrived. Would love to go back at some point.

Thanks for the good wishes all 🙂.

@Tarragon123 i think author Mabel had the best of intentions, but i think 'write about what you know' didn't perhaps apply to the Pine Street series. Im glad a satisfied my curiousity though. I was genuinely thought i might have imagined them until i tracked them down via a mumsnet thread.

Sending best wishes, @Owlbookend. My comfort reading is the Chalet School series which provides no end of entertainment but I think probably only if one read them obsessively as a child. Coming to them cold as an adult would be somewhat alarming given the madness that pervades them, particularly the later ones.

I have an unexpected free weekend to myself next weekend and am wondering about some kind of book-themed activity. I will probably do Parkrun on Saturday morning but apart from that I have the whole weekend and can stay at a friend's house if I want to stay over. I'm just outside London so can easily travel in. Any ideas? I'm thinking a trip to the British Library and the London Review of Books store, but wondered about something else too. Maybe Highgate Cemetery? Any ideas very welcome.

for @Owlbookend, that sounds very hard. My comfort reads are Jilly Cooper - not all have aged very well but never fail to cheer me up. Thinking of giving Rivals a re-read as the TV adaptation is out in October. Don't know if that's your cup of tea but thought I'd mention it in case it appeals.

I'm on the mend. Hugs and sympathy to those who are also experiencing difficulties, health and otherwise. Hopefully books can comfort, restore or distract.

I just finished Rites of Spring by Swedish author Anders de la Motte. I read this because I really enjoyed the classy thriller End of Summer on TV recently and someone mentioned he had written 4 'seasons' books as standalones. This was OK. Pretty standard CJ Tudor like stuff. Entertaining. Silly stuff about tight knit villages and ancient rituals and an old castle and renegade families.. Lots of plotholes rapidly covered up in a letter at the end. Well written and smoothly translated (although translators seem obsessed with 'dampness' and 'soughing'). I must say, props to Scandi TV, the dramatisation of de la Motte was better than his books appear to be. That often does not happen in the UK or US.

I seem to have spent all summer reading Swedish and Norwegian books!

@PepeLePew Strictly speaking it's not literary themed, but I recently went to this exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and it was excellent, especially the last room: https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2024/june/yoshida-three-generations-of-japanese-printmaking/

I'm tempted to suggest Sir John Soane's Museum, @PepeLePew, because it’s wonderful, but it does tend to get very, very crowded these days on account of being on the tourist trail. Last time I went there was a massive queue to get in (though it moved quickly). Not strictly literary but he was very much a figure of artistic/cultural life in 19thc London. And, to repeat, the house is incredible. And it’s free!

You're also fairly close to the Dickens Museum in Doughty St if you go to the LRB Bookshop…

(Not that I’m quietly assembling ideas for another London meet-up or anything…🤭)

Edit to add: John Soane's Museum is closed on Sundays but the Dickens Museum is open 7 days a week.

Sorry to hear you're struggling @Owlbookend but glad to hear the end is in sight

63. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King Book 2 in the Dark Tower series and in this one Roland draws two of his companions, Eddie and Susannah. I enjoy this one, it's a lot longer than The Gunslinger and King himself says it's much better written (although I do actually prefer Gunslinger). It's fast-paced and suspenseful and I like that this series is never too "neat". I find lots of series like this, bad things only happen to peripheral characters and you know the main characters will always come through fine. But in this book Roland suffers a permanent disfigurement which quite seriously impacts his ability to do his role. It's incredibly unexpected and sets the scene for the rest of the series

Yes I'm reading Riders for the first time as audio @noodlezoodle all 30 hours, pleasantly surprised

I'm also considering rereading Rivals ahead of the series - it was always my favourite one though I wonder if now I'd find the Rupert Taggie story line a bit off.

Also a fan of the Chalet school @PepeLePew but agree it gets pretty bonkers. I stopped my last reread at Switzerland. Highgate cemetery is gorgeous. There's also Bunhill burial grounds in the city where William Blake is buried. And a few Virginia Woolf places dotted around. In My Friends he walks around London looking at blue plaques of famous authors which is quite nice.

Hope you'll start feeling better soon @Owlbookend , comfort reading is definitely the way forward.

Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Piñeiro. Translated by Miranda France

Three friends are found dead in a swimming pool in a gated community on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. As usual with Claudia Piñeiro this book is less of a whodunit and more an examination of contemporary Argentina, and here she examines the impact of the economic collapse post 9/11 on the middle class. After the opening chapters we go back in time and move between the viewpoint of different characters and slowly build up a picture of the people who make up the gated community and their secrets and lies. We only return to the night of the deaths about 30 pages from the end when the mystery is wrapped up pretty quickly. Not as good as Elena Knows by the same author and I'm not sure how much of that is due to the different translator.

223. The File. Gary Born
     A bold for me. Sara finds an old plane crashed in the African jungle, and inside the plane some bank paperwork hinting at some millions of pounds worth of Nazi gold. Sara is persued through the jungle, and across Europe by Russian Oligarchs, the American secret service and goodness knows who else. There's some gory fight/ murder scenes. Lots of double crossing and you're never quite sure who you can trust.

224. Journey of A Radiant Heart. Niomi Nicci
     A self help book, chakras, religion, some other stuff. I don't know why I read them, rather than making me feel like i can do better, I always end up feeling like I've failed.

225. The Harlan Artefact. Greg Marchand
     A horror book in which people are disappearing with no trace. The main character (who's name escapes me) is some kind of medium, then she loses her powers. The massive spider on the front cover gave me the heebie jeebies.

226. Blue Heart. Nicola Davies
     Another bold. Beaitiful poems, facts and paintings about whales.

227. The Orphan With No Name. Shirley Dickson
     A young girl is found in a bomb shelter in South Shields, she has no memory of who she is or who she was with so its presumed that she is an Orphan. She's sent to Scotland, where the south shields orphange has been evacuated. Her memory slowly comes back. Sad in places, but as you'd expect, a happy ending.

Gentle hugs @Owlbookend I hope you can find some comfort in books.

It's annoying to me that they are starting with Rivals - I'll never catch up in time