50 Books challenge - 2024 roundup

[RomanMum]

Hello 50 bookers! Here's a separate thread to gather together our top recommendations from the year. Please post your final lists, or just your bolds if you prefer. If you’re posting the full lists just a reminder to please bold your favourites, and italicise the books you wouldn’t even pass on to your worst enemy.

I'll come back later in December with mine!

My do not recommends are -

Speak of the Devil Rose Wilding
The midnight feast Lucy Foley
A good place to hide a body Laura Marshall
Breaking the dark Lisa Jewel
The house guest LH Stacy
We solve murders Richard Osman

I have too many do not recommends to list or even to remember, but the idiot in the Grand Canyon is definitely high on the list.

Thank you for the thread @RomanMum ! I’ll come back to it later.

i really liked Apples Never Fall - I liked the way the relationships were drawn. There are definitely better Lianne Moriarty books though.

And @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - oh dear, I bought that one. Won’t get to it for a while as I’m trying to read things in order of purchase (plus library books get in the way), so I’ll probably be complaining about it sometime in the middle of next year 😄

Here are mine. I’ll take a chance on there not being any bolds to come and hopefully not any italics either.

Bolds first.

Berserker - Adrian Edmondson
Paper Cup - Karen Campbell
The Wrong Girl - Angela Slatter
Broken Ghost - Niall Griffiths
Uncut - Christopher Fowler
The Others Of Edenwood - Verity Holloway
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
The Instruments Of Darkness - John Connolly
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
You Are Here - David Nicholls
All The Little Bird Hearts - Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Dead Water - C A Fletcher
The Warm Hands Of Ghosts - Katherine Arden
The Seaside - Madeleine Bunting
The Briar Book Of The Dead - A G Slattter
Lost In The Garden - Adam S Leslie
Gay Shame - Gareth Roberts
Small Bomb At Dimperley - Lissa Evans
The God Of The Woods - Liz Moore
The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre
Day One - Abigail Dean
Night And Day - John Connolly
She’s Always Hungry - Eliza Clark
The Northumbrians - Dan Jackson

And the italics, barely finished, should have been DNFs.

The Whistling - Rebecca Netley
In The Flesh - various, body horror anthology.
The Maiden - Kate Foster
Enlgihtenment - Sarah Perry
Rare Singles - Ben Myers
To The Dogs - Louise Welch
You Like It Darker - Stephen King
The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo
I Have Some Questions For You - Rebecca Makkai
Cursed Bread - forgotten author cba to look up. Inadvertently bought it twice, Kindle and physical book, to add to the irritation.

All in all a satisfying year. There are more bolds than I thought as I am quite picky. The ones above are those I would happily pick up again and wish I were reading them for the first time.

Marking place, should get a few more in before the year end.

But one italics so far (and my first ever on these threads):

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Translated by Carl Wildman.
Misogynistic rubbish. How can something be 'life affirming' when the two main female characters (only one of whom was given an actual name) are dead at the end?

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I was surprised just how much I disliked it and it could well just be me. My tolerance for other people’s nonsense has been very low this year. If I’d read it before the menopausal rage hit, I might well have liked it!

Just checking in for the moment - thanks @RomanMum!

Thanks @RomanMum .

Just placemarking for now

I'm going to recommend three from my list;

Soldier Sailor: Claire Kilroy
Brotherless Night: V.V. Ganeshananthan
Enter Ghost: Isabella Hammad

I had a very good year. Only one or two books that weren't great, but no duds.

Just coming back because I noticed that @PermanentTemporary mentioned Foster upthread - we watched the film version last night (as 'The Quiet Girl'). It was on Film 4 a few days ago and I missed it, but it’s on All 4 so you can catch up. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who hasn’t seen it but wants to.

Thanks for that @Terpsichore, I've been looking for where to watch the movie foc 👍

Just checking in. Still a few to go. Thanks for the thread Roman Mum

I'll list my bolds so far - I'm still hopeful of another couple of bolds before the year is over, and will do a top-up post if that happens.

I read a lot of books I enjoyed at the time, including plenty genre fiction - a shout out to the Maeve Kerrigan books by Jane Casey and the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman - but they all blur into each other a bit. I suppose the books below are bolds because they didn't blend into the masses.

In fiction, I had a lot of fun with Eva Ibbotson this year, with my favourites being The Secret Countess and Madensky Square. I was also moved by Soldier Sailor, by Claire Kilroy. I also had a good time with The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley and Small Bomb at Dimperley, by Lissa Evans.

In non-fiction, I loved The Golden Mole, by Katherine Rundell, and a series of biographies: The Swimmer, Patrick Barkham (about Roger Deakin); Wifedom, Anna Finder (about Sonia Orwell), and The Man who Went into the West, by Byron Rogers (about R S Thomas). In memoir, I really liked My Good Bright Wolf, by Sarah Moss. In art history, I loved Thunderclap, by Laura Cumming and in archaeology, I got great enjoyment from X Marks the Spot, by Mike Pitts. For originality and weirdness, I have a soft spot for Ghosts of the British Museum, by Noah Angell.

Looking at my list, I'm slightly surprised at how many of my favourites were recent publications. Whatever the woes of the publishing industry, there is good new stuff coming out all the time.

Two big stand-outs for me that I urge you to read:
Miss Beeton's Beetle - Rachel Joyce
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
Both delightful and uplifting.

@bibliomania You've reminded me how much I LOVED Madensky Square.

Katherine Rundell's Wolf Wilder was a stand out children's book.

I'm reading Madensky Square at the moment and enjoying it. It's very immersive and Susanna is an excellent heroine.

Glad to share the Eva Ibbotson love, Remus and Fuzzy!

I'm not sure whether I'm done yet but I'll list my best so far. I think it's been a pretty good year for me.

The Covenant of Water -Abraham Varghese
North Woods - Daniel Mason
Tom Lake- Ann Patchett - best audio!
River East, River West - Aube Rey Lescure
Enter Ghost - Isabella Hammad
Brotherless Nights - V V Ganeshanthan
Thunderclap - Laura Cumming, best non fiction
There, There - Tommy Orange
The Safe Keep - Yael van Der Wooden
All Fours - Miranda July
My Friends - Hisham Matar
The Coast Road - Alan Murrin
Rivals - Jilly Cooper
Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers
There are Rivers In The Sky - Elif Shafak

There are about another 5 that I could easily add. The Women's prize continues to be excellent but I found this year's Booker disappointing - unlike the bookstagram crowd who seemed to love it.

Sorry, wrong thread! 😊

Do we consider Mythos by Stephen Fry to be fiction or non-fiction? My instinct is non-fiction but not sure why, as I have marked Rizzio as fiction.

Mythos and Rizzio are both fiction but Rizzio is based on real historical events whereas Mythos is a retelling of myths. If Mythos is non-fiction then so is Percy Jackson.

My list so far (still a few weeks left :))

1. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont, Laura Person 3*
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin 2* (very disappointing considering all the hype
3. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins 4* (really loved this, very surprised it was funnier than expected)
4. The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, Laurie Gilmore 1* (terrible)
5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid 4*
6. A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah J Mass 2*
7. The Black Moth, Georgette Heyer 3*
8. Carrie Soto is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid 4*
9. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas 5* (Best book I read this year)
10. This is the Night They Come for You, Robert Goddard 3*
11. The Bone Readers, Jacob Ross 4*
12. The Moonlight Child, Karen McQuestion 2*
13. Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty 3*
14. Circe, Madeline Miller 3*
15. The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen 2*
16. The Dry, Jane Harper 3*
17. Keeping Faith, Jodi Picoult 2*
18. The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden 3*
19. The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella 4* (not sure if I liked this because I don't normally read RomComs, but I enjoyed it)
20. The Favour, Nicci French 2*
21. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield 3*
22. Dark Matter, Blake Crouch 2*
23. Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard 3*
24. Yellowface, R.F.Kuang 2*
25. The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller 3*
26. None of This is True, Lisa Jewell 2*
27. Tall Oaks, Chris Whitaker 3*
28. The Inheritance Games, Jennifer Lynn Barnes 3*
29. A Court of Silver Flames, Sarah J Mass 3*
30. Force of Nature, Jane Harper 3*
31. The Hawthorne Legacy, Jennifer Lynn Barnes 3*
32. Glass Sword, Victoria Aveyard 2*
33. A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny 4*
34. All the Broken Places, John Boyne 4*
35. Powerless, Lauren Roberts 3*
36. Under Currents, Nora Roberts 3*
37. Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid 3*
38. Prophet Son, Paul Lynch 3*
39. Weyward, Emilia Hart 3*
40. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara 4*
41. Cop Town, Karin Slaughter 3*
42. The Final Gambit, Jennifer Lynn Barnes 3*
43. Magpie, Elizabeth Day 2*
44. Devil's Cub, Georgette Heyer, 3*
45. Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross 3*
46. The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese 2* (thought I'd love this, and I did the beginning but it got very tiresome, very quickly)
47. A Lesson in Cruelty, Harriet Tyce 2*
48. The Fury, Alex Michaelides 2*
49. A Slow Fire Burning, Paula Hawkins 3*
50. Exiles, Jane Harper 3*
51. Burial Rites, Hannah Kent 4* (I loved this)
52. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead 4*
53. The Murders at Fleat House, Lucinda Riley 4*
54. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman 3*
55. One True Loves, Taylor Jenkins Reid 2*
56. Ruthless Vows, Rebecca Ross 2*
57. Taming Mr. Walker, Rosa Lucas 2* (no idea why I picked this up, it was a bonk-fest)
58. The Savage Song, Victoria E Schwab 2*
59. Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano 4*
60. The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz 3*
61. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Mass 4*
62. Crown of Midnight, Sarah J Mass 3*
63. Heir of Fire, Sarah J Mass 3*
64. The Twilight Garden, Sara Nisha Adams 2* (had such high hopes for this after The Reading List, but was not impressed)
65. The Murder of Harriet Monkton, Elizabeth Heynes 3*
66. The Next Girl, Emiko Jean 3*
67. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 4*
68. The Secret Keeper, Kate Morton 3*
69. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 3*
70. Bloody Valentine, James Patterson 3*
71. Sophie's Choice, William Styron 2* (argh, what a book :()
72. All the Wicked Girls, Chris Whitaker 4*
73. Shy Creatures, Clare Chambers 4* (LOVED THIS)

Yeah, it’s weird, because I think of Stone Blind etc as fiction. Ditto Percy Jackson.

I think it’s because Fry’s shtick is to “straight retell” the myths rather than build a story based on them. And I wouldn’t consider an encyclopaedia of mythology as fiction, say.

@SheilaFentiman I'd consider it twaddle, but that's just me.