50 Books Challenge Part Eight

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth 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 , the sixth one here and the seventh one here .

What are you reading?

Apt Pupil is definitely one of his nastier ones. I wouldn't read it again. I guess the point is that even a pure, all American kid can be a nasty little bastard too. William Golding said that he discovered after fighting in World War Two that, "Every single one of us could be Nazis" and presumably King is playing with that kind of idea of the human capacity for cruelty. It's a very long time since I read it, though, so don't quote me on that!

I read it relatively recently and I found it slightly less nasty than previously, but agree it is a difficult read, although I do think the themes mean that it SHOULD be a difficult read.

76 A Thousand Feasts - Nigel Slater

I am a fan of Nigel’s gentle escapism but sad to say that this was pretty disappointing. The prose crosses the line into self-parody, there’s a whole boring section about gardening, and no overall narrative to give you a reason to keep reading. A shame, because I love The Christmas Chronicles but this is not a patch on that.

57.Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver Ever late to the party I finally got round to this reworking of David Copperfield set in opioid-crisis hit Appalachia.

I went for this on the recommendation of my H, which is usually a mistake as our tastes don't often overlap. It was fine, but I missed the light and shade of the comedy and the sense of hopefulness from Copperfield. There were aspects of the depictions of the poor white American south that reminded me of Vernon God Little (which I know everyone apart from me hated) but I found Vernon's voice stronger.

Meg are you on the Christmas Chronicles readalong threads? They're really lovely!

@StrangewaysHereWeCome I liked Vernon God Little too!

I looked away for a second and suddenly we are halfway through a new thread! I usually try and keep up better but I've been doom scrolling Reddit and got briefly addicted to r/LeopardsAteMyFace which is currently full of posts where republicans are realising Trump is actually going to enact what he promised and that might not be a good thing.

I really need to go back to books.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
When I can put my mobile down, I've been reading this. It's an absolute beauty. The story telling is gorgeous and I can picture both Tom Lake and the farm so clearly in my head. I enjoyed it being set against the back drop of the pandemic without actually being about the pandemic. It's one of my favourite books of the year.

I logged it in storygraph and skimmed a few reviews to see if other people had more eloquent things to say. This one made me laugh:

'Idk, i feel like this book could be for an older people

I may pick this up when I am older or smth

dnf @ 17%'

After translating the comment, I laughed my head off and then felt really old. I am 42. I wonder what I might have made of it in my early 20s? I was mostly reading my mum's books so John Grisham, Dick Francis and Jeffrey Archer. I don't think I'd have batted an eyelid!

I'm going to read Wolves of Calla next. Then go into full winter/Christmas reads and back to the last two Dark Tower books early 2025.

I am reading The Dark Tower for the first time as part of my Stephen King read through - should I read his appendix ending or not? I haven't watched the films either, so I have no clue about where King ended it or what's in the add on.

I might not be able to resist though!

@RazorstormUnicorn I am just a couple of years younger than you and I have to say I didn’t love Tom Lake. I listened to the audiobook which is read by Meryl Streep, which you’d think would be a good thing but I think I actually found it a bit distracting! And the way she read it made me feel quite sleepy, I found it a bit boring. But I liked parts of it and of course well written. I wonder if I would have liked it more if I had read it.

I absolutely loved The Dutch House but I read one other Ann Patchett State of Wonder I think, and really didn’t like that one. So Ann Patchett a bit hit and miss for me!

@RazorstormUnicorn

We are similarly aged and I also loved Tom Lake which I did as audiobook

@RazorstormUnicorn I did read the appendix and don't regret it as I really liked the ending but I know lots don't. I read The Dark Tower series for the first time as part of my King Readathon and loved it so am interested to know what you think and whether you read the ending or not!

Also I think Wolves of Calla was my favourite of the series - enjoy!

I’m a little bit older than the other commenters. I enjoyed Tom Lake but I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much on paper (I listened to Meryl Streep’s audio)

I would definitely read the full ending of The Dark Tower. I didn’t love it but there was no way I could leave it unknown.

I love Wolves of the Calla as I’ve frequently commented on here, so sorry if you’re sick of hearing it. I love Roland’s ambassadorship (is that even a word?) and his moves to move the people of the town. I love and am moved by Father C and his backstory. I hate hate hate love a certain character who will remain nameless but will have a fine and funny moment of retribution. I love the ladies of the town. God, I could happily read it again right now!

I think people should definitely read right to the end of the last book. It’s the right ending, much as (and I’ve said this before too) I wish it wasn’t.

I agree with every single word you've said here. I especially loved the Father C backstory.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

The best book in the Heartstopper world. Written when Oseman was just a teenager this is a very readable but also very bleak and sad YA novel. My heart is breaking for Tori now. Really good.

And hopefully you therefore appreciated my very subtle, hopefully non-spoiler joke about Roland's moves, too!

125. Signal To Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Audible)

Meche Vega returns to Mexico City after an absence due to the death of her father. Once there she reminisces about her teenage years when she and friends Sebastian and Daniella dabbled in music based witchcraft to solve their problems.

I really expected more of this, I definitely expected more emphasis on music. It's too YA but not in a good way. A good YA should transcend the genre. I don't know if the problem was the audio narrator or the writing but Meche is deeply unpleasant in both time periods and therefore hard to root for or care about. Everyone is whiny.

A disappointment.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I did spot that one 😂

100 Failed State - Sam Freedman

A bold for my hundredth read. Hoorah!

I follow Sam on Twitter and he always has interesting things to say about politics and policy. This book was finished in Jan 2024 and so covers premierships up to Rishi Sunak. However, it’s not about any leader in particular, more about how the centralisation of power has diminished the roles of both local government and Parliament. Also about how contracting state services out to private companies has been of limited effectiveness for cost reduction, because only “minor” contracts like cleaning can be truly competitive and other contracts (with Capita etc) have led to firms that are “too big to fail“ and the govt can’t really punish underperformance. A really interesting and clear book.

I'm curious about Sam Freedman - not sure what to make of him and I doubt that I can bring myself to read one of his books. He was, I think, a special adviser to Michael Gove and part of the move towards academisation, which was absolutely a policy about taking control of education away from local authorities. I'm not sure And he was a school governor at a secondary school in my borough which went from being seen as not very good to an "outstanding" role model for academisation and government policies, with a high profile governing body that was very hostile to teaching unions. (I'm not a teacher but have been a school governor for years)

Now he seems very critical of a lot of policies that he played quite a role in. I've seen some articles and social media posts.

Yeah, I think he’s done a few “why I was wrong about…” posts.

Ooh, my favourite library service has upped the borrowing limit from 12 to 20 books - I've thought that this was the case but the website still has the old limit.

DP has kindly collected some reservations for me. I do need to resist immediately requesting another 5 books from my "saved" list on the website though (this is quite useful for books that I see in the catalogue or in the library and resist borrowing immediately, and don't want to forget details re author name, title, what's available etc - wish I could do this or work out how to from my other libraries).

Has anyone read the Bones / Temperance Brennan books by Kathy Reichs? I wasn't that keen on the first one (having bought most of the series when they were 99p) and am wondering whether it's a series that improves or if I should cut my losses and move onto something better.

I’m very glad to hear it! One of my favourite things in the entire series.