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 think quite a few on this thread might like Night Climbing by Sarah Day, particularly if you enjoyed Julia Boyd's books perhaps.

This is a novel inspired by a real event in 1936 when 5 English school boys died on a school hike in Germany. The Nazi party then co opted these events for press coverage of the heroic deeds of the Hitler Youth. The book deals with the 'ungluckliche Englischman' who runs the trip, the mother of a missing boy , and German villager, Hilde. It weaves in ideas about eugenics, sterilisation, the rise of the Nazis,cowardice, trauma, and resistance. Perhaps one theme too many but it's well crafted and a rather sad book.

Day deserves to be more widely read. I only knew of this because of a review in the Sunday Times.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! I feel a bit shy being the centre of attention for a page or two!

I am doing Annapurna Circuit (we decided against Base Camp in case I get ideas about climbing Everest). I shall definitely post a photo or two on my return for the armchair mountaineers in the group.

I didn't get a solar charger, last I heard they weren't great but maybe tech has improved. I am on a strict weight limit (we have porters for our main bag!) and I am basically at weight and have shockingly few clothes for the trip...

I have informed my husband we will be paying for electricity, WiFi and hot showers at any guest house they are available. I think at the highest elevation the facilities are just not there at all and I shall have to learn patience or talk to my husband or go to bed as soon as it gets dark or something 😁

Still catching up on reviews. Here are a few rom-coms I've read recently.

79 Your Place or Mine by Portia MacIntosh

I picked this forced flatmates / enemies to lovers rom com as I needed something easy while I was exhausted from working crazy hours recently, and chose this as its set in Leeds, which I’m very familiar with. The story was ok, but I can’t see past the fact that the mighty LUFC was referred to as Leeds City throughout. I think DH would divorce me if I bolded this after that crime.

80 Bridesmaid For Hire by Meghan Quinn

Another rom-com (pretend relationship / enemies to lovers) which started well, with a good set-up, ramping up of tension, and numerous humorous moments. However I am a little bit of a prude when it comes to rom-coms, a bit of sex is ok but when it goes over the line into smut it’s just not for me. And this definitely did. It’s not as bad as the one last year that set me reading The Duchess of Malfi as some kind of cleanse, but it was heading that way. In unrelated news I just started to read The Tempest by Shakespeare which I’m enjoying.

81 Lovelight Farms by BK Borison

Now this one was a lovely best friends to lovers romance. A bit twee with the Christmas tree farm and cute little village but it hit the spot while my concentration levels were low.

We did the Annapurna Circuit @RazorstormUnicorn! You will have an amazing time.

Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan

Excellent children's novel about a 12yo modern-day demigod on a quest. My DDs are obsessed with Greek Myths thanks to Percy. I kept my copy of Robert Graves Greek Myths by my side as a reference and Uncle Rick (as my kids call him) does a great job of incorporating all the important myths in an entertaining story with a irreverent hero. Loved it!

I quite liked Kingsolver's Flight Behaviour but I think I'm in the minority, it was widely panned.

I loved Flight Behaviour! And The Lacuna too.

Night Climbing sounds right up my street, as one of the aforementioned armchair mountaineers! Bought.

Can’t remember if I reviewed Ann Cleeves - The Dark Wives, the latest Vera Stanhope but it was excellent.

Currently half way through Rivals for about the 10th time and loving it. Just what I need as real life has been stressful. Cannot wait for the series.

87 The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre

Well. Well.

Very clever concept, combining a Miss Marple type and a colour-outside-the-lines LA cop, with and a few misdirection Easter eggs from Brookmyre’s other books. But…. Aaargh to one particular part.

I love CB but I am not going to bold this one.

The Bee Sting is in the Kindle deals today. Well worth it for those who haven't read it - although it is a doorstop.

There's also a load of Louise Penny which are decent cosy crimes, especially the earlier ones.

49 Has anyone seen Charlotte Salter? - Nicci French A wife and mother of four teenagers/young adults goes missing in 1990, on the day of her husband’s 50th birthday party; 30 years later two brothers who were friends of the family decide to make a podcast about the case and this leads to a new investigation of the disappearance. This was fine, and I did get through it very quickly, but I struggled to care about any of the characters or the storyline. I think there was too much in it and things weren’t fleshed out enough. It did suffer from being my next book after the excellent Tana French (no relation 😄) that I’ve just read.

24 The Outrun - Amy Liptrot
Looking forward to seeing this on the big screen as I think it might be one of those rare occasions where the film might be better than the book. Can anyone confirm? I just feel that actually seeing all that gorgeous scenery and wildlife will be much more satisfying. - oh and I adore Saoirse Ronan!

Can anyone who's read Riders tell me what Jake's daughter is called? On the audio it sounds like Dark Lass which can't be right. Can't find it on Google

Darklis @EineReiseDurchDieZeit

Never would have guessed that one @BestIsWest thanks !

They are both brilliant. I loved the book but grew up in Orkney so coming at it from a different perspective. It feels like a very accurate depiction of life in Orkney, not the pretty picture postcard version. Raymond Besant's filming of the seals at the beginning is magical.

Thanks @JaninaDuszejko !
Now desperately trying to find a cinema showing it in English :)

I watched an interview with Saoirse Ronan talking about this film and it looks good!

A few recent reads- all pretty good but none quite hitting bold

165 City of Ghosts- Ben Creed
A murder mystery set in early 1950s USSR. A detective investigates the murder of 5 people left on a railroad track with all identifiers removed. Revol Rosel (the detective) is an interesting character and this is one of the better Soviet based murder mysteries. It does all get a bit ludicrous in the end, but is give another one a go if it was 99p (like this one)

166 Age of Vice- Deepti Kapoor
This story set in early noughties Delhi, focuses on the impact of one night and a fatal car crash on three people- playboy Sunny Wadia, his driver Ajay and journalist Neda. We hear about each characters background and how their story moves forward. This was great at the start- the Ajay and Neda POVs are excellent, it goes a bit off at the end but overall not a bad (if very long) read. I listened to this on audio and the narrator was good.

167 Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy
I doubt I need to give a premise here. I really enjoyed most of this, especially Levin and Kitty’s story. I didn’t have much love for Anna herself tbh. Tolstoy’s writing is beautiful and much more propulsive than I expected- I found it hard to put this book down. It would have been bold were it not for the proselytising epilogue.

82 The Devil and Mrs Davenport by Paulette Kennedy

After suffering from a fever a depressed 1950s housewife starts to receive visions of the dead and reaches out to a psychiatrist / investigator of psychic phenomenon for help. I enjoyed this book, less for the supernatural element, although that was well done, and more for the journey of Loretta from downtrodden housewife, with a controlling husband and no real friends, to someone with friends, and a true sense of her own abilities, both normal and paranormal. This was free with Kindle Unlimited.

83 Retribution by Julianne Hoffman

CJ Townsend is a prosecutor who is set to prosecute a notorious serial killer called The Cupid, who has just been captured. During the first hearing CJ is horrified to realise that The Cupid is the same man who raped her when she was a young law student using her original name of Chloe Larson. While looking into her case CJ realises that the statute of limitations has passed and so she makes the decision to stay on as prosecutor, despite the ethical problems, so that she can ensure he is found guilty. This was a fairly by the numbers, but I remember liking it a lot more when it first came out, so I think that’s more a reflection of the fact that there are way more books of this type around now than there were back in the day.

84 Foster by Claire Keegan

I think most people have read this one by now. A short, bittersweet, beautiful gem of a book. As one of a big family where there wasn’t much money or attention to go round, I really identified with the main character. And as much as I love my family the thought of being plucked out of the chaos to a calm, less crowded environment would have been the dream for me at that age too.

85 Yearbook by Seth Rogen

A series of stories from Seth Rogen which were nowhere near as interesting or funny as I was expecting. A lot of things were ignored, such as his friendship with James Franco post the allegations against him, and there was nowhere near enough about his Mum who I find very amusing from twitter. I’m no prude when it comes to drugs, but I did find the endless “I was so high” and “drugs are cool” a bit boring by the end.

86 Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I absolutely adored this book and am slightly sad that I didn’t discover it sooner as it’s the type of book I would have loved as a child. I listened on audible and Rachel McAdams did an amazing job of narrating this, really bringing the different characters alive. Anne captured my and I found this lovely and more than a bit emotional. I will definitely read the rest of the series. A sure fire bold.

@MamaNewtNewt

I too only discovered Anne as an adult. To some degree the books are diminishing returns particularly near the end, but I forgave this because I enjoyed it so much

@cassandre I missed your review of the Judith Butler somehow, just went back & found it. I felt like maybe I was being unreasonable wanting a UK focused book from a US author, but it sounds like your feelings about it weren't so different from mine.

Han Kang just won the Nobel prize for literature. I don't think I've read any of her books though The Vegetarian is on my wishlist. Are there any others people would recommend?