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?

41 Les Cahiers d’Esther: Histoires de mes 13 ans - Riad Sattouf Fourth instalment of the graphic novel series following Esther, a real girl who is the daughter of one of the author’s friends (her real identity is secret; in the latest book she’s 19 so I’m looking forward to reading the rest!). I’m following the series at the same pace as DD1 grows up and it’s an interesting insight into a French schoolgirl’s life (albeit DD1 is from the subsequent generation and lives in a much more suburban place than central Paris). DD1 loved it, and DD2 has read the previous books in the series and is also a big fan.

Thanks Southeast! I'm bringing my not very up-to-date list over. I've kind of fallen off the threads for the past few weeks as I'm trying to finish writing an overdue article and have massive writer's block plus ridiculous levels of accompanying anxiety, sigh. I'm still lurking and greatly enjoying people's reviews though!

1. Rooftoppers, Katherine Rundell
2. The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Marion Turner
3. Pond, Claire-Louise Bennett
4. Angel, Elizabeth Taylor
5. The Wife of Willesden, Zadie Smith
6. Black and British: A Forgotten History, David Olusoga
7. The Darkest Evening, Ann Cleeves
8. Le Coeur à rire et à pleurer : Contes vrais de mon enfance [Tales from the Heart : True Stories from My Childhood], Maryse Condé
9. The Wool-Pack, Cynthia Harnett
10. Soldier Sailor, Clare Kilroy
11. Super-Infinite, Katherine Rundell
12. Rizzio, Denise Mina
13. The Maiden, Kate Foster
14. River East, River West, Aube Rey Lescure
15. Les Disparus du Clairdelune, La Passe-Miroir Livre 2 [The Missing of Clairdelune, The Mirror Visitor Book 2], Christelle Dabos
16. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad
17. Ordinary Human Failings, Megan Nolan
18. The Great Fortune, Olivia Manning
19. 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster, Mirinae Lee
20. And Then She Fell, Alicia Elliott
21. Brotherless Night, V. V. Ganeshananthan
22. Restless Dolly Maunder, Kate Grenville
23. Nightbloom, Peace Adzo Medie
24. The Spoilt City, Olivia Manning
25. Friends and Heroes, Olivia Manning
26. Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell
27. The Great House, Cynthia Harnett
28. Ring Out Bow Bells!, Cynthia Harnett
29. Trois femmes puissantes [Three Strong Women], Marie Ndiaye
30. The Sweet Dove Died, Barbara Pym
31. La Honte [Shame], Annie Ernaux
32. Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, Kit Heyam
33. The Rising Tide, Ann Cleeves
34. Pearl, Siân Hughes
35. Pearl, Gawain Poet, trans. Jane Draycott
36. Abide With Me, Elizabeth Strout
37. Putain [Whore], Nelly Arcan
38. A Few Green Leaves, Barbara Pym
39. Stars of Fortune, Cynthia Harnett
40. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich, trans. Barry Windeatt
41. Cloistered: My Years as a Nun, Catherine Coldstream
42. A General Theory of Oblivion, José Eduardo Agualusa, trans. Daniel Hahn
43. The Château, William Maxwell
44. La Mémoire de Babel, La Passe-Miroir Livre 3 [The Memory of Babel, The Mirror Visitor Book 3], Christelle Dabos*
45. Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens
46. The Load of Unicorn, Cynthia Harnett
47. Vipère au poing [Viper in the Fist], Hervé Bazin
48. The Hunter, Tana French
49. Who’s Afraid of Gender?, Judith Butler
50. La Tempête des échos, La Passe-Miroir Livre 4 [The Storm of Echoes, The Mirror Visitor Book 4], Christelle Dabos
51. The Book of Margery Kempe, trans Anthony Bale
52. For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain, Victoria MacKenzie

Plus here are reviews of the three Booker longlist titles I've read. My thoughts jive with what lots of you have said already, except I am a bigger fan of Stone Yard Devotional than others were, I think!

53. My Friends, Hisham Matar 5/5
    Much reviewed on this thread already. A beautifully written story narrated by a Libyan man who moved to the UK as a student and stayed on after the attack at the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984. The novel conveys a very strong sense of place and vividly evokes London as well as Libya. I felt a little dissatisfied with the portrayal of some of the women characters (I wanted them to be fleshed out more fully), but perhaps this is understandable, since the novel’s main focus after all is on the lifelong friendship between three men and how it sustains the narrator, despite the different paths the men’s lives take. A strength of the novel is the way it contains so much particular detail about Libyan history, yet also feels like a much broader, more timeless account of what it means to be human.

54. Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood 5/5
    I loved this and would be keen to reread it. It is minimalist and short, but packs a great many emotions and ideas into a small number of pages. There is a rural Australian landscape, a political activist nun called Sister Helen, a legacy of mothers (the narrator’s wise mother and Sister Helen’s troubled one), and the backdrop of climate change. And a plague of invasive mice. Somehow all these things add up to a weird and wonderful book.

55. Enlightenment, Sarah Perry 4/5
    I loved bits of this expansive, ambitious novel, but found it hard going in places. The novel is set in modern times but the quirky characters (mostly members of a conservative Baptist church) come across as quite Victorian. The prose at times was so extravagantly dense, it bordered on cloying. I had similarly ambivalent feelings about The Essex Serpent. I admire Perry’s unique style, but I also lose patience with it. I do like the way Perry treats people of religious faith as complicated beings and not just stereotypes (this was a feature of The Essex Serpent as well).

Thanks for the new thread Southeast.

Placemarking for now.

Most of the way through Creation Lake. While I'm enjoying it, I wouldn't rave about it.

Thank you for a new thread Southeast, my list so far:

1.	The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk
2.	<strong>Slow Horses</strong> by Mick Herron
3.	Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand 
4.	Politics On The Edge by Rory Stewart 
5.	The Audacity by Katherine Ryan  
6.	A Heart That Works by Roberts Delaney 
7.	 Kala by Colin Walsh 
8.	One Day by David Nicholls 
9.	Madly, Deeply: Alan Rickman&rsquo;s Diaries 
10.	<strong>Small Things Like These</strong> by Claire Keegan 
11.	Wonderful Tonight by Patti Boyd 
12.	Swedish Death Cleaning by Linnea Gustafsson 
13.	The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christie Lefteri 
14.	Poor by Katriona O&rsquo;Sullivan 
15.	A Very Private School by Charles Spencer 
16.	Berserker by Ade Edmondson 
17.	Loosely Based On A Made Up Story by James Blunt 
18.	<strong>You Are Here</strong> by David Nicholls 
19.	Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 
20.	<strong>Hitler, Stalin, Mum &amp; Dad</strong> by Daniel Finkelstein 
21.	The Burning by Jane Casey 
22.	The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper 
23.	The Reckoning by Jane Casey 

I haven't reviewed the last three of these so briefly; The Wolf Den is about a group of women forced into prostitution in Pompey (pre Vesuvius erupting obvs), it was recommended by a friend but wasn't really for me, I don't think I'll be reading any more in the series.

The two Jane Casey novels have been enjoyable. The first one was quite telegraphed in terms of 'whodunnit' but the second contained some more surprising twists. I think the police procedurals are well done, (unlike with the Strike novels where I can get a bit hazy on the myriad of characters - particularly as I generally use an Audible token which means you can't flick back to check who's who) with Casey you do know the perpetrator/s when they are unmasked and there have been solid clues as to their identity.
However when it comes to Mauve's personal life I'm just not very invested, unlike with Strike & Robin. Maybe that will change as I go through the series, I bought the first 5 novels when they were all 99p.
At the moment I'm taking a break from Mauve and reading the second Slow Horses novel.

@LadybirdDaphne somebody else who has read Deerskin!

While its as well written as Robin McKinley's other work I could never warm to it due to the darker tone and subject matter. I would recommend Sunshine or Beauty though! I believe she is still writing but slowly due to illness/bereavement.

@cassandre I've been hearing a lot of love for Stoneyard Devotional.

The shortlist is announced tonight. My predictions are:
James - haven't read but everyone raving about it
My Friends - excellent
The Safe Keep - really liked this but may not be "Bookery" enough
Stoneyard Devotional - not read but heard positive reviews
Playground - not read but the Booker loves Richard Powers
Orbital - I hated it so it's bound to make it

I also picked up This Strange Eventful History which was in today's Kindle deals and seems to be another divisive one.

@Stowickthevast thanks for your predictions! I have James and Messud waiting for me at the library (I've heard mixed things about both).

I'm interested in Safe Keep based on your recommendation. I won't be reading Orbital regardless of whether or not it makes the shortlist; reading MNers' reviews of it have been enough for me 😁

I'm glad Stone Yard Devotional is getting love. I have a particular weakness for Australian novels because my DH is Australian, and after we got together I read masses of Aussie literature. I think it's an excellent novel though by any standards.

By the way @splothersdog, thanks for the recommendation of My Good Bright Wolf. I'm a Sarah Moss fan and it sounds fascinating. Have reserved it at the library.

Have also reserved the new Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything, but I'm number 30-something in the queue even though the book hasn't actually come out yet! I guess it will make a good Christmas read, ha.

@AlmanbyRoadtrip , I read your review of Enlightenment on the last thread (under your old name) and it made me laugh! You really skewered the book 😂I liked it more than you did but I still thought you made great points.

@inaptonym, I enjoyed your reviews of Enlightenment and Stone Yard Devotional as well. I've got into the habit of doing an advanced search on MN as soon as I've finished a book, to try to find other MN reviews of it. The reviews are sometimes very old but it's still illuminating...

1 Watership Down: the Graphic Novel - Richard Adams
2 The Lord God Made them All - James Herriot
3 A Helping Hand - Celia Dale
4 Where I End - Sophie White
5 A Net for Small Fishes - Lucy Jago
6 Even the Dogs - Jon McGregor
7 How to be Both - Ali Smith
8 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
9 Ironopolis - Glen James Brown
10 Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
11 Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey
12 The Wizard of the Kremlin - Giuliano da Empoli
13 For Thy Great Pain have Mercy on my Little Pain - Victoria MacKenzie
14 The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Naylor
15 Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson
16 Pure - Andrew Miller
17 Wonder - RJ Palacio
18 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino
19 When We Were Romans - Matthew Kneale
20 Land of my Dreams - Kate North
21 The Bear & the Nightingale - Katherine Arden
22 Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
23 Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
24 The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell
25 The Taxidermist's Daughter - Kate Mosse

Also just finished
81. Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton. This is about a Japanese journalist Rika who is trying to get an interview with Kaaji Manako, a woman who is in jail for causing the deaths of 3 of her lovers. Rika pretends to be interested in food to get Kaaji's attention on the advice of her best friend Reiko and then gets sucked into Kaaji's world view, particularly her love of rich food and butter. There are lots of descriptions about food and eating, Rika starts putting on weight as a result of her new found food love, and the way people treat her changes. It has a lot to say about Japan's relationship with weight and misogyny. By the end of the book Rika weighs around 9 stone at 5ft 5 and is considered overweight. As I said up thread, I found the writing a bit clunky, which may just be a result of the translation, although as Eine said the audio was better.

I think it was a bit too long and repetitive. There's also an odd part about two-thirds through where you suddenly get a first person PoV chapter by Reiko even though the rest of the book is 3rd person from Rika's perspective. There also seemed to me a gay subtext which was never really explored between the three main females, but maybe that's just my Western reading - along with Dd2's obsession with gaymance!

@Stowickthevast

I did find Reiko very annoying. I think I bolded because I'm scarce on bolds tbh!

@Stowickthevast Thanks, I hadn't realised that the Booker shortlist announcement was imminent. Would be pleased to see My Friends and Stone Yard Devotional make the cut. And I was surprised and pleased to see A Strange Eventful History in the Daily Deals - I'd decided to return a copy and rejoin the reservations queue last week as I have too many in demand library books out. Islington doesn't charge fines but they send letters by snail mail (even though they phone/email when reservations are available) - often they arrive when I've returned books but they make me feel a bit guilty.

Isn't the Booker shortlist out today?

Ooo in about 15 mins !

My review of My Friends by Hisham Matar

Khaled meets his old friend Hosham at Heathrow Airport, and after staying up all night talking In Khaled's small London flat, sees him off on a train to Paris. This is the start of a story about friendship, exile and memory, as Khaled reflects on his childhood in Benghazi, Libya, coming to study in Britain and how he has ended up making a life in exile in London which was not what he originally expected. This is also the story of Khaled's friends, Hosam and Mustafa, and how the three men's lives have crossed and diverged over the years.

Khaled walks around some of the areas of London where he has lived, worked and studied, remembering how he met Mustafa as a student in Edinburgh and how an impulsive decision to travel down to London to join an anti-Gadaffi protest outside the Libyan embassy changed their lives 32 years ago. Khaled first meets Hosam, a writer, a few years later.

By 2016, the present day of this novel, Mustafa and Hosham have returned to Libya and become involved in post Gadaffi politics and conflict, but now Hosham is emigrating to the US with his wife and daughter.

This is a thoughtful, reflective novel, with action scenes mostly set in the past, often reported through conversations and letters and so at several removes. I enjoyed it but some readers might find the slow, discursive pace rather frustrating.

I keep getting very confused seeing people talking about This Strange Eventful History (which is 99p on Kindle today btw). It’s almost exactly the same title as Michael Holroyd’s biography of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving from 15 years ago - only his was A Strange Eventful History. I know it’s a Shakespeare quotation so fair game I suppose, but it always seems a bit strange to me that people would choose a title so similar to an existing book.

The Safe Keep
Orbital
Creation Lake
Stone Yard Devotional
James
Held

Orbital on the list and My Friends not!

Just watched the livestream (which was so bad- so much buffering). Shortlist is

• James- Percival Everett
• the Safe Keep- Yale van der Wouden
• Held- Anne Michaels
• Orbital- Samantha Harvey
• Creation Lake- Rachel Kushner
• Stone Yard Devotional- Charlotte Wood

I’d say there’ll be a lot of shock at My Friends and the Richard Powers one not making it

lol snap @EineReiseDurchDieZeit

@ÚlldemoShúl

The livestream was shite!

Impressed I seem to have managed to read half the list without actually trying!

I’ve only read one (The Safe Keep which I enjoyed) seeing as My Friends hasn’t made it. I do own Orbital (bought at 99p of course and the one on sale today.
Would like to read Creation Lake, maybe James but I fear it’s overhyped.

Actually wouldn’t mind trying Stoneyard Devotional (though I DNFed another of hers The Natural Way of Things so maybe not). I’m very Booker conflicted this year! Last year’s was much better.

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Life has been rather busy and I haven't read anything for a couple of weeks. I've got a few waiting, so hopefully can remember how to read them!