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?

Glad you liked Ex Libris, Cassandra!

I'm having a pleasant Saturday afternoon wallowing in Small Bomb at Dimperley, by Lissa Evans.

I realised I got Naomi Klein mixed up with Naomi Wolf. Doppelganger trap.

Nearly there with reviews!

63. The Lost Bookshop: Evie Woods

There was a good book in here somewhere but it didn't emerge, I don't think.

The book runs along a dual timeline. It is narrated in the past by Opaline in London and in the present by Martha and Henry in Dublin. Opaline who loves books and whose dream it is to open a bookshop, runs away from home away from her older brother who plans to marry her off to a friend of his. She goes to Paris with hardly any money but falls in with Sylvia Beach at her bookshop and settles in happily there.

Martha is also escaping from a horrible situation; an abusive marriage. She applies for the position of housekeeper with an eccentric former actress and in spite of her odd habits, they get on well together and become friends.

Along comes Henry who stumbles into the story. He has had a vision of an old-style bookshop just next door to where Martha lives. He is spending his days looking for a forgotten manuscript by one of the Brontë sisters and he is glued to the spot waiting for the bookshop to reappear again and while he is waiting around like a plank, he falls in love with Martha.

I think the book could have been better without Henry who was as interesting as a wet Wednesday afternoon in February. I think he existed to give Martha a romantic interest and a happy ending, but it would have been enough to have the story told from Martha's and Opaline's perspectives as they were interesting characters. We didn't need to hear from Henry as well not to mention dealing with all his baggage. There was too much going on at times, issues brought up but skimmed over.

It's worth mentioning that there are elements of magic in the story. I'm not averse to magical realism but I didn't really get along with it in this book. I think that it was used to cover up some major plot holes the size of pot holes. I think the book had the germ of an interesting idea but it didn't follow through in the execution. I wasn't taken with the writing either. Being generous, it was just about okay but I'm not going to especially recommend it.

<snort> - that pretty much sums it up!

I didn't re-read 1-3 and I didn't feel I needed to, I can't remember anything that was too confusing about 4 and 5 that relied on the previous books.

4 is Time's Covenant which is mostly focused on Marcus and Phoebe, and then 5 is the new one, The Blackbird Chronicles.

I actually liked the TV adaptation Eine, I thought it was an excellent cast and it actually made me find Diana slightly less annoying

didn't re-read 1-3 and I didn't feel I needed to

To be honest escapist trash is exactly what I need right now, it's come at a perfect time, so I will reread, which is a rarity for me.

And the last review finally!

64. À son image: Jérôme Ferrari

I came across a discussion on the radio about a film based on this book that came out in France recently and I was interested to read it as it is set in Corsica where Himself and I went on our honeymoon many years ago.

This book is sad, serious and quite long, but the effort was worthwhile. The story is narrated in a series of flashbacks by a priest who is officiating at the funeral mass of his niece and goddaughter, Antonia, who was killed during a road traffic accident at the opening of the story. We get to know Antonia through his recollections.

Antonia was a young photographer who was passionate about becoming a professional. Her godfather the priest gave her her first camera. She grew up when militant groups in Corsica were fighting for full independence from France. She takes photographs while hanging around with her gang and falls in love with a boy, an activist who spends time in and out of prison.

Antonia waits around for him but gets tired of putting her life on hold for him and eventually sets off on her own to become a photographer in a war zone. She ends up in the former Yugoslavia and goes into the heart of the conflict. She becomes friendly with a guy doing his military service and takes pictures of him to accompany a feature but she becomes disillusioned about people's aversion to seeing images of war and doesn't develop her films. She returns home to become a wedding photographer.

This book is a reflection about war and recording images of war on film and how one picture can become the image of a century. There are two chapters dedicated to the lives of photographers during specific conflicts in the past and every chapter has the subtitle of a real photograph taken during a conflict at key points in history.

I think the film focuses mainly on Antonia in Corsica and I don't think her godfather features too much either. Apparently, the actress playing Antonia is new to acting as most of the cast. Anyway, this was an interesting book and while the subject matter was serious and the outlook pessimistic, it was written in a fluid style which helped a lot. If you don't like narration in the form of flashbacks, you could find it annoying, although it switches to Antonia's perspective as well which helps to lighten it up.

47 The Untold Story - Genevieve Cogman Last in the Invisible Library series, and a resolution to the story arc. Good to have the plot lines tied up and find out the answers to some long-running mysteries, but the last 50 or so pages were a bit unexciting (or maybe that was my fault for trying to read it while surrounded by excited 12-year-olds having a birthday sleepover…

Overall, I would definitely recommend the series - it’s kind of like the Chronicles of St Mary’s but nicer, with strong Terry Pratchett influences.

16.The Ghost Woods by C.J Cooke
A witchy ghostly book deliberately chosen to read for spooky season. I enjoyed this and I enjoy this author generally although not a bold a very worthy read. This is about Nicnevin a witch that has cursed Litchen Hall. Litchen hall is a place for unmarried mothers in 1960’s to have their babies then have the babies adopted. The place is shrouded by folklore. The woods are creeping closer and something has been unleashed. It is on two time lines from 1959 to 1965 but the stories become intwined in the present. It works well and I was fully invested in the different characters.

89 & 90 Murder Most Royal and A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett

The last two Her Majesty Investigates books. They're ideal easy listening for work, though I was a bit disappointed that they're set earlier in QE's reign & therefore didn't feature Rozie Oshodie. I guess pragmatically the author had to go back in time unless the Queen was going to spend her entire last years solving mysteries. I'm hoping she'll go back to Rozie & give her some books of her own, as she's by far my favourite character.

91. Who's Afraid of Gender by Judith Butler

This is a look at the arguments against 'gender ideology' / trans identities by the well known US academic. Although it's aimed at the lay reader, it is definitely a very dense read (more than it needs to be IME). I wouldn't particularly recommend it to others, but I did find lots of food for thought.

I hadn't really appreciated how much of an outlier the UK is in terms of the gender critical movement. In the US & elsewhere, anti-gender movements are mainly associated with the religious right, so most of the book discusses them in this context. It feels quite unsurprising that this group objects to trans rights, it fits with their valuing heterosexual nuclear families built on traditional gender roles, and believing that restricting individual autonomy in terms of sexuality & often reproductive rights is justified for social stability. The characterisation of women and girls as weak & vulnerable creatures in need of protection from predatory men also fits in with the 'equal but different' narrative of tradtional gender roles. Given this, I'm not sure they needed quite so much discussion, but I guess they're the main anti-trans voice in most places.

Butler does have a chapter on the UK, & it was interesting to see an outsider's take on the gender critical movement & the growing alignment of a group of women who would likely characterise themselves as broadly left/liberal with the 'anti-woke' rhetoric of part of the Conservative party. I thought it was a shame that there wasn't more historical context, especially with so much of the language being used today being strongly reminiscent of the 1980s and the lead up to Section 28, but I guess that's expecting too much from a non-British writer.

Overall I'm glad I read this, although it didn't deliver as much as I'd hoped. As I say, I wouldn't particularly recommend it - I thought Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans was much better written & more accessible - but still interesting.

@GrannieMainland good to hear your review of Intermezzo I've not read any of Rooney's previous novels, as I just haven't been drawn in by the plots. However Intermezzo sounds like it might be more up my street, so I'll give it a go once DC1 has broken in her currently pristine copy.

50. The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson. Ray Hanrahan is an artist and the patriarch of a very typically North London bohemian family, and quite possibly the most self-centred man who ever lived. The family walk on eggshells to avoid upsetting him, to the point that his long-suffering wife Lucia's cancer plays second fiddle to his ailments, and she feels compelled to sabotage her own artist career to avoid his envious wrath. I think this was supposed to be a black comedy, but it fell flat for me, and it was hard to understand why Lucia didn't remove her children from Ray's nasty bullying. To be fair (and I will stop banging on about it at some point) I loved The Bee Sting so wholeheartedly that it wasn't ideal to read another darkly comic middle class family saga so soon, but I am a slave to BorrowBox and its slightly inflexible timescales.

I have hit the magic 50 books for the first time since 2019!

72. Mistletoe Malice - Kathleen Farrell

I'm absurdly early with this, as it’s been picked as the December read for the Rather Dated Book Club - but since it was available at the library, and it’s looking as though I’m in for a long wait for this month’s Edna O'Brien, I thought I might as well get going. I’ll save my comments for that thread, but will just say that the blurb's comparisons to Barbara Pym, Stella Gibbons and Muriel Spark left me utterly bemused. I couldn’t see the point of this dull story about a dysfunctional family gathering and bickering their way through Christmas (and there’s very little that’s remotely Christmassy about it, despite the festive tree adorning the cover), and I hated all the characters. Meh.

I seem to have missed several pages of updates and a Jilly Cooper discussion. I love Jilly having read Riders at school and then carried on. I appreciate they haven’t aged well but they are engaging. RCB was based on a number of men including Andrew PB (but not his looks). I think one of the others was Rupert Lycett Green. Can’t remember the others. Lots of people are drawn to a “bad boy” and want to be the one who hold him so this combined with Rupert’s looks and wealth was probably the draw. Looking forward to the TV adaptation.

Anyway, updating on reads…

68. A Spy Alone - Charles Beaumont

Modern day spy thriller. Simon has left the security services and works as a PI and also gets given jobs the security services want to distance themselves from. When he is asked to look at a Russian oligarch who is planning a large donation to an Oxford college he ends up tangled in a web that goes to the heart of the government and with his life in danger. It kept me turning the pages but I thought it was unrealistic - however, I see the author is ex security services so maybe it’s more realistic than I thought.

69. Unbreakable - Ronnie O’Sullivan

I find watching snooker quite relaxing and Ronnie is at the top of this game. The book is very much about the struggles he has faced with his mental health and the game. He seems to understand now how to manage his doubts and any patches of poor form and has good routines (which include lots of running). Probably only for snooker fans or those with an interest in mental health issues.

70. By the Pricking of my Thumbs - Agatha Christie

I had read most of the titles for this month’s Agatha Christie challenge so ended up with this one. It’s a Tommy and Tuppence book so I approached it with some trepidation after loathing The Secret Adversary earlier in the year. Tommy and Tuppence are now much older (they have married, had children and now have grandchildren) so have calmed down. A visit to Tommy’s Aunt Ada in her care home followed by Aunt Ada’s death sets them off on a trail of a missing old lady, murder and organised crime. Whilst it’s never going to be a favourite, this was better for me than The Secret Adversary but there was a lot going on and there were several things which were left unexplained (or that I missed!).

@TimeforaGandT

I'm about 40% in now, it's sooo long but I'm really enjoying it I just won't be up to date for the forthcoming adaptation of Rivals which I'm bummed about

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit

Glad it’s improved for you. Most of the characters from Riders don’t carry over to Rivals so the only thing if you watch Rivals before finishing Riders are spoilers about Rupert.

Oh no @Terpsichore I'm sorry to hear it's terrible! (Mistletoe Malice). Maybe we could opt for something else? 😬

Sorry, @FuzzyCaoraDhubh! it just didn’t do it for me at all but that’s only my view, I’m sure others may feel differently!

Not necessarily! You're a good judge!

@LadybirdDaphne – excellent work! Love it

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh – interesting subject from 1990. I’d say things are far worse now. Botox and fillers available and young women dying because of dodgy ‘cosmetic’ operations. I will look that book out, thank you. And thank you @cassandre I didn’t know about Wolf’s fandom of Trump.

91 Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell. Winner of the Womens Prize for Fiction in 2020. I think I may be the last 50 booker to read it. I loved this. Big bold for me. So beautifully done.

Hi @Tarragon123 yes, definitely. There has been an increase in dodgy cosmetic procedures since then, you're right. The book is a compact read and well laid out. There is a nice part towards the end where Wolf writes in praise of the mature female body which I found quite moving.

I read Mistletoe Malice last year and felt exactly the same as Terpsichore!

Feel like Mistletoe is losing its lustre! * *

38. Trust Her, by Flynn Berry. In this sequel to Northern Spy, sisters Tessa and Marian now live in Dublin under assumed names, but their past is catching up with them, and the IRA need a favour from them. Absolutely gripping, and a breathtaking ending. I enjoyed the first book but this was spectacular - a very bold bold.

I've just spent a pleasurable 20 minutes getting my reading set up for my next holiday. I'm off to trek in Nepal for 2.5 weeks, and there will be a lot of sitting on trains, planes and resting at the guest house with nothing to do at the end of the day. I am going to re-read The Year Of Living Danishly with a view to fending off SAD when I get back. I have my next Stephen King on Kindle From A Buick 8 and I may take with me Wolves of Calla in print as we may not have access to electricity for charging kindles or phones all the way round. I also accidentally discovered audio books on Spotify premium which I bet is discussed on here a lot! I found 4 or 5 books which are £10 on my wishlist and unlikely to be reduced. They are also non fiction and the sort of book I often think could be a long form article after I trawled through it, but might be perfect to listen to on a days hiking through the mountains if I don't feel like talking. I intend to come back ahead of target so I can hit 50 books and be a better and wiser person due to the wellness, breath and positive books I will be reading/listening too 😁😁

34. Yours Truly by Abbey Jimenez

Feel good nonsense to draw me back into reading again.

DNF Sally Rooney Beautiful World

I tried, but could not get into this. At least I know now

I'm thinking about reading The Birds of the Air after Alice Thomas Ellis was recommended to me on here by @bibliomania I think. Was originally published in 1980 so fits the slightly dated theme. I'm not anticipating it'll be the most cheerful Christmas read though!

Thanks @JaninaDuszejko I'll look it up!
I'm reading O Caledonia that you recommended recently and liking it very much.