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?

You are all amazing! I read one book at a time.

I do listen to audiobooks to fall asleep, but I have listened to them all before so I don’t count to the annual total.

I don’t listen to audiobooks at all.

I never listen to audio books, my attention always wanders. I usually only have 1 book at a time but if I have a long non fiction I might break off a couple of times to read a novel.

I generally just read one book at a time these days - I did have up to three on the go at once when I wasn’t working a couple of years ago. I listen to podcasts though - I have a few regular ones and I get into a series every so often. The voices of the presenters are so important - there are some people I just can’t listen to at all! I have listened to a grand total of two audiobooks, and one of them was a non-fiction (Empire of Pain) so was almost like listening to an investigative journalism podcast.

52 The Bookbinder of Jericho - Pip Williams This is set in the same world as the Dictionary of Lost Words (and I got them both from the library at the same time based on reviews on this thread). While the Dictionary of Lost Words covers the whole life of the main character, this book focuses on a shorter period (approximately the duration of the First World War) and felt like much more of a personal story rather than trying to cover too much. Some of the characters from the Dictionary of Lost Words appear as supporting or peripheral characters, which I really liked, but the two books are separate enough that they can stand alone - the connections are more incidental than essential. I liked the Dictionary of Lost Words but had some small complaints; all those issues are fixed in the Bookbinder of Jericho and I absolutely loved it. A really moving and engaging story of a young woman with ambitions beyond her station and family obligations, as well as the wider picture of the impact of war on the communities of Oxford and elsewhere (through the arrival of refugees). A bold for me (very rare this year!).

Rivals is 99p on Kindle today!

I have many reviews to catch up on but also jumping on to report Rivals at 99p! I've been waiting for this for a while.

I'm another one who only read Riders recently as an adult and had mixed feelings on it. The rape scene really shocked me and there were also some very casual mentions of domestic violence. Was that completely standard in the 70s? I don't know! That said it galloped (ha) along and I was amused by the very pornographic descriptions of horses.

Audio books are a no for me too, I totally zone out when just listening. Podcasts are ok because you don't need to catch every word.

I listened to one audiobook this year; Patrick Stewart's autobiography. I listen to a few podcasts on Spotify.

75. My Family - David Baddiel

After plodding through my last read, this one was a couldn’t-put-it-down sprint. I’ve never read any of DB's fiction and knew him primarily as a comedian since the days when I used to laugh at the two historians on the Mary Whitehouse Experience (that dates me), but I did see his 'Who Do You Think You Are' - which is where he pretty much begins this memoir about his parents and his extraordinary childhood, talking about his mother’s family and their escape from Nazi Germany.

This is a very clever book because, though being hilariously funny - I laughed, out loud, many times, which very few books have made me do - it’s also deeply sad, honest, uncomfortable, fascinating about the weird nature of fame, and last but not least a riveting portrait of his undeniably eccentric mum and dad, Sarah and Colin. They were, to say the least, an odd couple: Sarah spent decades having an affair with another man, while Colin was a prickly, sweary misanthrope whose last years were made even more challenging by a particularly awful form of dementia. It’s quite something that you end the book feeling compassion and warmth towards them despite the quite staggeringly inexplicable ways they often behaved. If you don’t mind a joyfully expletive-laden book I’d recommend this one.

Bother! I need to buy Rivals! However, I have been very good with my Kindle decluttering lol.

Rivals just dropped into my BorrowBox. I have a few hours of A Terrible Kindness to finish first though.

Not sure about Rivals. I loved it back in the day, but I don't know if it needs a re read!

25. The cellist of Sarajevo – Steven Calloway Really wanted to love this but somehow I only got the characters straight in my head after about 2/3 of the book. Even after I'd given up trying to remember who was who and just went with the depiction of time and place I never felt completely absorbed by Calloway's writing. For me this paled in comparison to Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris which I read a year ago, was very affected by and still think about.

Considering I've only just hit the halfway mark I think it's safe to say I won't be reaching the 50 book target this year. I have only managed it once since I joined in 2018 but usually do better than this!!

As for the multiple reads, I think this might have been my undoing this year! From now on I'm going to stick to 1 on kindle, 1 on audible and 1 physical (owned/borrowed/library) as this seems to work well for me.

I only got into audible 3 years ago but now I love it. My car commute has sadly increased this year but I'm finding audible keeps me company quite well. I mostly listen to non-fiction with the occasional easy read. Listening to the sample is vital! I'm currently listening to Angels by Marian Keyes and am extremely irritated by the very very painful, muddled American accent(s) used by the Irish narrator. The sample was from the Dublin section so that was all fine but the action is currently, unexpectedly, in LA - it's driving me insane!!

The vast majority of Angels is set in LA so the accents won’t get better!

I do like audiobooks but I do tend to drift off so I tend to use it for ‘rereads’ of favourite books, where I know the plot so it doesn’t matter if I zone out slightly. Or non fiction where there’s no plot thread to keep track of.

I'm about to start a Rivals reread. I loved it so much as a teen, am slightly worried it won't stack up.

I like audiobooks for my current commute as do a 15 min walk, 20 mins train and then 10 mins walk so an audiobook means I have continuity. I also find them really good for books I think I may not like or am finding hard to get into. I actually find I often like audiobooks more than I think I would have liked the reading version. But agree about the voices. I just listened to Playground which narration wasn't great.

93. The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre. A couple of reviews of this on here. A Miss Marple meets Phillip Marlowe murder mystery, this was good fun. I had an inkling of the twist from quite early on ( and weirdly it's similar to another recent read) but enjoyable.

I tend to go through a fair number of audiobooks, 21 out of the 56 books this year so far have been audio. My last student placement was a 60 mile a day round trip so that's maybe skewed it this year as I always listen to audiobooks in the car.

I tried to listen to Frankenstein on audio but gave up very quickly as the narrator was awful, I was ready to fall asleep with his boring voice.

Frankenstein can feel very heavy in places, even to read. When it’s good it’s great, but some of it is really dull and makes it feel much longer than it actually is. A work of flawed genius.

110. A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Diana, a witch, and Matthew, a vampire begin a relationship amid burgeoning concern about their behaviour as well as the contents and whereabouts of a missing manuscript.

This was a reread for me, as I felt I needed a refresher course in order to read the latest instalment.

Unfortunately, and for no reason I can quite point at I didn't much enjoy it as a reread. This is quite odd as it was a big hit with me first time around. In particular I trudged through the last third wondering if I was ever going to finish it.

So I don't think I'll be devoting time to the next four books in the series, two of which would be a reread, I think I'll move on to other things. A pity.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I tried reading it earlier this year and I found it a real slog and it was a DNF for me. I was thinking about giving it another go with the recent discussions on the chat recently but think I will give it a miss now.

City of the Mind by Penelope Lively In this novel, the layers of history of London coexist - the blitz, explorers setting out for the Arctic, dinosaurs - in a way that Matthew Halland, an architect in the aftermath of a divorce, his own mind fragmenting, is in tune with. As though London had its own psyche and revisited its experiences in the same way as Matthew does - Mind of the City? It was recommended by a friend and I expected to enjoy it more than I actually did - there is much beautiful writing and several times an event or an observation struck with force - but having set up the conceit, it took a long time to do much with it and despite it being fairly short it took me a long time to read and I was never hooked.

I have been away so just catching up on the thread. Very excited for Rivals adaptation but also worried it won’t live up to expectations.

I rarely have more than a couple of books on the go at a time and am in awe of those who manage to juggle so many. I tend to generally read a book straight through and would feel distracted if I was reading something else at the same time - except for non- fiction and/or short stories.

Can’t remember what I last reviewed but think these are the ones I haven’t done:

71. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O’Farrell

I haven’t yet read a Maggie O’Farrell that I didn’t like and this is a bold for me. Esme was born in colonial India and then moved with her family including her sister Kitty to Scotland. The story moves between Esme’s childhood and the current day story of Kitty’s granddaughter, Iris. Don’t want to include spoilers but loved it.

72. The Stalker - Kate Rhodes

This is a standalone book written by the author of the Isles of Scilly murders which I have been reading this year. Elly is a Cambridge academic psychologist who specialises in stalking but is being stalked. The book is told in alternating chapters by Elly and her unknown stalker. Elly (understandably) becomes increasingly distrustful of everyone around her: colleagues, friends, siblings and even her husband. The book ramps up the tension until the identity of the stalker is finally revealed. It kept me turning the pages but the motivation/reveal was a little far-fetched and some of Ely’s behaviour a little questionable but who knows how I would react in those circumstances.

73. A Civil Contract - Georgette Heyer

Adam returns from the Napoleonic wars on the death of his father to find the family estate heavily encumbered and no choice but to sell the ancestral home. His financial adviser suggests he makes a marriage of convenience which Adam cannot take seriously. Reliably entertaining with some good characters but a little too much military detail for me.

Still plodding through some Hemingway short stories and not sure what else to read next.

53.A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe. This book is marketed as the story of William, a young embalmer who tends to the deceased children of Aberfan. It's actually more of a kitchen sink drama, with William's childhood relationships front and centre with all of their difficulties and losses. For a book about relationships I didn't find it especially emotionally engaging. I also thought that the writing about two pieces of music central to the plot was a bit flat and unenlightening.

Just finished Stuffed, Pen Vogler's follow up to the really interesting Scoff. This books is less about what people ate over the ages and more about food power, access and social inequalities, from The pre Enclosure days right up to debates over free school meals during the pandemic.

Bits of it are more interesting than others - there's stuff about UPFs that feels a bit shoehorned in but I did find it interesting to read about how food has been adulterated , about children and food, families, mothers and various other social issues.

I think I preferred Scoff but I can't remember much about it now!

44 Guest House for Young Widows by Azadeh Moaveni. Speaking as a white British woman, it's hard for me to understand why any woman would choose to leave her home and travel to Syria to support ISIS. But what better way to try to understand than to hear the stories of real women who did exactly that? Unsurprisingly, the reasons are varied and complex. I thought this book did an excellent job of explaining their motivation and describing their experiences. Reading it really made me reflect on my subconscious assumptions and prejudices.

45 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. This felt more like Pratchett than Gaiman to me (in terms of other books I've read of both of theirs). Good fun.

46 Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (read for the readalong on here). I really enjoyed this 18th century classic about seduction, manipulation and betrayal among the French aristocracy.

@Piggywaspushed You’ve reminded me that I’ve still got Scoff in actual book form unread, having put it down after just a few pages. I found the writing really annoying and iirc irritatingly middle class. Might need to try it again.

Yes, she can seem that way. I eat absolutely crap myself but I didn't feel lectured yo be fair. I could never read Van Tulleken. I find the stuff about inequalities and ownership interesting. I have to persevere with Vogler as her style can be a bit wordy at times.