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?

Wellness by Nathan Hix was on my wishlist and has come down to a quid, so I’ve picked that up.

49. The House on Rye Lane by Susan Allott. The story of three families who lived in the same house in the 1840s, 1990s, and in 2008; and how their stories intertwine.
Meh. Billed as a thriller, this never really got going for me. The links between the storylines were pretty obvious and I didn’t feel that many of the characters were well developed. To be fair, I am on something of a post Bee Sting comedown, and that’s a very hard act to follow.

I got The Marriage Portrait and The Dictionary People not going mad today.

Like Remus I recommend Lonesome Dove loved it.

I already have most of the good deals from today but did pick up the Chris Whitaker and the William Kent Kruger.
@FortunaMajor thanks for the recommendation.
@StrangewaysHereWeCome I read Wellness earlier this year and loved it

In the deals I’m thinking about getting Beartown, The Buriel Plot, Kim Jiyoung, Wild Swans, Runner’s High and Walk the Blue Fields (although not sure if that’s really in the deals - it’s £2.99). This seems like a lot though and I already have quite a few to read 🙈

@OdileO same, quite a few are catching my eye but my TBR is huge already!

Anyone got the link for the deals?? I seem to have be drawing a blank this month

@splothersdog I'm not sure other people's links work for the deals but just in case, here's mine. If that doesn't work, I navigate from Kindle books to book deals and then scroll right to the bottom of the landing page and click on 'See all results'.

It's a good crop this month, the only reason I didn't buy more is because I already have quite a few of them! I just bought the Christopher Brookmyre.

However, one of my boldest bolds is in the deals - The Hero of this Book, by Elizabeth McCracken - a novel that's really a memoir about her mother's life and death. It won't be for everyone but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

@noodlezoodle thank you- found them now. Not sure they this has got so hard! Used to just google Monthly Deals and it came up!
Good deals this month- lots of have read and enjoyed. Would highly recommend Foster and Walk the blue fields by Claire Keegan and Fell By Sarah Moss

Thanks. I was trying to decide whether to get it, now I have.

I've started The Photograph by Penelope Lively, I'm really enjoying it.

Sending best wishes to everyone who is unwell, especially @Owlbookend

I've bought a few Kindle books so far this month in the deals - Close to Death so I can re-read it and work out if I like it any better, Killing Time as I've just re-read the previous Time Police book as well (@ChessieFL - I have The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal on my library reservations!), and Apprentice to the Villain. I enjoyed Assistant to the Villain, not challenging but a fun read, hoping this one will prove the same as my brain isn't up to being challenged at the moment

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit - I was hoping to read We Solve Murders soon but it does sound a bit plodding and not as lighthearted as the Thursday Murder Club! I read a fair bit of sci fi, may even have read one of your DF's books. My DM's cousin is an author (not a well known one!) but I haven't read any of her books as they all look terribly depressing

@Welshwabbit I love the Terry Pratchett Witches books but think Susan is my favourite character! In my head I would be someone terribly glamorous, but actually I would be a Susan or an Agnes Nitt... the last Witches book was very sad though, in subject matter and in terms of writing, I believe TP was already gripped by dementia by then as it isn't at all like the other books.

My latest reads are:

131. Lucy Foley - The Midnight Feast

Billed as 'twisty turny' and I suppose it was. but mainly by cycling through the narratives of an array of (mostly unlikeable) characters - a new spa retreat opens but shortly afterwards, the hotel burns down and a body is found on the beach nearby. Who died? Who burned the hotel down? If you're like me you won't much care either way, but it's entertaining enough.

132. Katy Watson - A Very Lively Murder

The second in a series, based on three women who have played a famous detective teaming up to solve real life crimes which affect them. I enjoyed the first book in the series, this one not so much... a lot of the plot seemed to hinge on them not knowing who a particular person phoned at a particular time (I'm deliberately being vague here!) and the police not knowing who either, as the person's phone had gone missing. Surely you could just get that info from phone records?! Also, there were quite a few characters and two of them just merged into one for me, I had no idea who was who

133. Sophie Irwin - A Lady's Guide to Scandal

A re-read but still great fun - Regency romance in the style of Georgette Heyer, but more fast paced. Eliza's elderly husband, who she only married out of duty anyway, dies - she will inherit a large fortune if her behaviour is above reproach. However, having only lived quietly for many years, Eliza suddenly finds that she wants to have some fun! Will she be able to fall in love with an unsuitable man and still keep her fortune?!

There are 2 books from my wish list in the 99p deals today - Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo and Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell.

46 The Dark Archive - Genevieve Cogman Another mystery for Irene to solve, and more murder attempts to thwart. This time Irene and Kai are accompanied by a new apprentice librarian, who causes additional problems by being an immature whining brat - she does improve slightly as the book goes on though! Not the most exciting story but some good evil genius / mad professor moments, involving reanimated corpses etc…and of course the big reveal towards the end which is a cliffhanger for the next - and last - in the series.

Massive thanks for the Rainbow Rowell heads up, I didn't know there was a new one @GrannieMainland

Riders update Rupert Campbell Black is repulsive and I can't understand all the knicker dropping. He CAN'T be that good looking. He's a boor - Run, Helen, Run

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl

We Solve Murders is worth reading if you really enjoyed Thursday Murder I didn't and they are very similar tonally, same humour and style.

It's not my Dad that wrote sci fi it was Remus' I dread to think what sort of book my father would write, doesn't bear thinking about !

90 The Holy Island – LJ Ross. Well, I’m in good company with @bibliomania

@ÚlldemoShúl@AlmanbyRoadtrip All the cop cliches you can think of and then some more. Cant even be bothered to review. Just don’t bother.

The good news for me is that my Kindle TBR is 2020 onwards and that there are only 50. More good news, I resisted temptation and have not bought any of the new October deals 😊

Vive la resistance, @Tarragon123 😀

76 China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

The book opens with three women trying to work out which of three brothers they are each married to. There’s interesting explorations of the value, or lack of, that Indian society of around 100 years ago placed on women, a lot that can only be improved by bearing a (male) child. I liked the relationships between the three women, and their mother-in-law, who is clearly enjoying the fact she now has a bit of power. I’m not sure that the sections with the great-grandson really added much to proceedings though. While I did enjoy this book, I must admit I was a bit confused as to why a woman would need to be veiled even with her husband, to the point that the she is not even sure which of the three brothers is her husband. I must Google at some point to satisfy my curiosity.

I also snagged the Claire Lombardo and Evenings and Weekends. There was something a bit weird going on with my wishlist though - when I sorted it by price they didn't show up, but when I just scrolled through the default order they did. So now I am a bit suspicious of wishlists!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit, Riders Rupert is an utter cad and a bounder, and the same at the start of Rivals, but he does get nicer as the book goes along.

@noodlezoodle

But it's mystifying! Like he must be amazing in bed because he literally has no other redeeming qualities

It's even more mystifying when you find out he's supposedly based on Andrew Parker-Bowles
Jilly's idea of a dashing man is very different to mine...

I got the Claire Lombardo too, although through slightly gritted teeth as
the beginning was written in the continuous present (pet hate). I did enjoy The Most Fun We Ever Had, though, so I went ahead - relieved to find that it doesn’t carry on like that all the way through, seemingly.

@noodlezoodle wrote:
However, one of my boldest bolds is in the deals - The Hero of this Book, by Elizabeth McCracken - a novel that's really a memoir about her mother's life and death. It won't be for everyone but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

I loved this one too - I originally borrowed it from the library but got my own (Kindle) copy in an earlier offer.

I finished reading a library copy Ruskin Park: Sylvia, the BBC and Me, Rory Cellan Jones' memoir* *at the end of last month so was quite pleased to be able to buy it in the deals.

I bought quite a lot and there are quite a few others that I'd probably have bought if I hadn't already. As well as a few books already mentioned in the deals, Mishal Hussain's memoir Broken Threads is on offer at 99p.

It's a puzzle for sure. Rupert is awful. He couldnt get me into bed for me to find out how amazing he is lol.

I got Riders for 99p a couple of years back. There's a very uncomfortable scene in it, where he talks Helen into having a foursome with Billy and Janey. I hate to think what Rivals is like with Taggie as someone else (sorry, forgot who) referenced further up the thread. I think I'll leave Jilly's books in the 80s/90s where they belong.

Thanks @Tarragon123 for the heads up on Holy Island. Glad I DNFed it now!

I’ve just finished Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. (164) Like previous posters I thought it was excellent, the stories of the different generations building up to show the damage over the years that slavery and colonialism wrought. It’s not quite bold for me because as soon as I had settled in with the narrator they changed. I understand why, and it works for the structure of the book but I just wanted to know more about each person, especially H who was an excellent character.