THE BRAND NEW 2024 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

I agree Terribull, it is a daft premise. Edna o’Brian got criticised for writing about African girls being kidnapped by rebels. I will go back to Demon C at some point.

Sorry Maggie Rose I hope I didn't come across as rude, it was your friend I was disagreeing with. Although I loved the book, I think you were right to abandon it, if it wasn't for you, don't persevere with something you don't like. Keep posting though

Susan56

I started reading The Edge by David Baldacci but then realised it is the second in a series so am now reading the first in the series The 6.20 Man

I have never read any David Baldacci and this is on my TBR pile. Please let me know what you think of it 😊. X

I would like to participate, in the hopes that I can broaden my reading - I seem to have got into a bit of a crime fiction or familiar authors rut lately.

Currently doing the annual solstice - twelfth night reread of The Dark is Rising, and also Death in the Cove by Pauline Rowson. The latter was free on Amazon, and I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. Too much narrative, not a great story line, and in need of a firm editor, in my opinion.

Happy New Year everyone, thank you Terribull for starting a new thread. I joined last year, but fell by the wayside, so this year I hope to persevere. 🤞📚
I have just finished reading The Last 'Devil'to Die, by Richard Osman. It's the fourth in the Thursday murder club series, an enjoyable if somewhat predictable read. I like the fact that his characters are older people who still have something to contribute.
I shall begin book no 2 tonight, its the new Victoria Hislop, I'm looking forward to that.

To those who read German: try Ulrike Schweikert's book Die Herrin der Burg.

I picked it up in a Book box (free exchange of books) and found it totally fascinating.

Re-reading A.S. Byatt's The virgin in the garden right now - boring heroine, but marvellous use of language.

I have just finished The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou about a Cypriot woman in 1950s London accused of killing her daughter in law. She can not speak English so has to have a translator, a young woman who gets emotionaly involved in the case. A very good story apparently based on a true case.

No 2 is Three Little Truths by Eithne Shortall. My expectations were not high for this one, but so far it is quite good, very readable.

Incidentally Three Little Truths was a recommendation from BookBub. I have picked up some interesting books from this app. Register with them and they send recommendations through to an email address each day with most at 99p or 1.99.

Finished A Spy Alone, so exciting and page turning! Now enjoying Little Women once again, to read the original once more after seeing the modern film over the holiday. So good to retreat to the familiar after the excitement!

No 1. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce.

A gentle book to begin the year although it was a bit melancholy.

Good morning, everyone. I'm an avid reader so I'm happy that this group has been set up. Hoping to get suggestions for something new to start.
I'm currently re-reading a book I bought some time ago. It's by Lorraine Evans and is asking whether the Celts were actually from Egypt. The evidence seems to state that they were and the 'Tuatha De Danaan', who settled in Ireland were descendents of a pharoah.

I buy most of my books in charity shops so I hope some Christmas books will have been donated.

I, too, re-read The Dark is Rising over Christmas, the perfect time for it. I am struggling to finish Demon Copperhead for some reason. I'm also rereading The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham. I'm not sure what I fancy reading next.

Happy New Year to all. Have just finished reading The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller. Set in the aftermath of WW1. Quite moving, although I became a little confused with so many of the characters. Will choose a less demanding Alexander McCall Smith next: Love Over Scotland.

I’ve tried Demon Copperhead twice and given up. I’m wondering about a third attempt or do I simply accept it’s just not for me. Unusual for me to give up on a book.

Struggling to read anything that needs concentration at the moment and finding short stories work best. Just begun A Fork in the Road, primarily by food related folk. One I found buried in the library app to read on my iPad.

I'm also joining in for the first time. Because we once had a Viking community where I live, I'm reading The River Kings by Cat Jarman (non-fiction). It's good in that it's not dry or heavy reading like a lot of history books.

Demon Copperhead is on my list for later on this month.

I, too, loved The Music Shop, in fact, pretty much everything by Rachel Joyce.

Cornergran I was the same with Demon Copperhead. I tried because everyone was raving about it, but have now accepted that it's just not for me .... and that's fine because it would be a funny old world if we all liked exactly the same.

Meanwhile I have finished Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, my first book of 2024, and I loved it.

It is spring and Lara's 3 grownup daughters have returned to the family orchard to help with the cherry picking business.
While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of her romance with a well known film star when she was a young aspiring actress decades earlier.

This book tells the story of young love, married love and family dynamics, and is beautifully portrayed. Tom Lake is a place, not a person.

I've read River Kings Cabowich, lots of interesting Viking information in it, especially about their extensive trading routes. Fascinating!

I'm interested in the Vikings Cabowich as I have some Viking blood (DNA testing ) so will order that book from the library. Thanks.... and thanks TerriBull.

Oh I do think I would like to join this thread. I've had a longer sleep than normal so was just browsing the threads. I've only read a couple of comments on this thread but am intending to come back and read more. Today I'm bringing down xmas decorations. Just to add that the book I'm reading is " everything is everything" by Clive myers. He is tv commentator covering ukraine gazza etc. I only read non fiction. Happy new year to all. I'll be back later

#1 You and Me, Always Jill Mansell.
Set in an idyllic Cotswold village, three strong female protagonists, twists, turns and misunderstandings in the path to love which resolve themselves at the end. All as expected in a Jill Mansell novel but I didn't want anything 'gritty' and enjoyed it very much.

I've caught up with the book readers comments on which books they are reading. I think most of you like fiction but I noticed someone had read a non fiction book about the vikings which I may well try

I read non fiction polomint but as they are usually books on health conditions (of which I have many) I don’t bother to list them.

I read non-fiction as well, Polomint, generally at a ratio of 2:1 fiction/NF.

I also have a non fiction book on the go, I think of them as my "dipping in books" I don't always read them in one go as I would with a novel, I tend to take my time, if they happen to be library books I renew them often, sometimes as much as I'm allowed to, 5 renewals! I enjoy a factual book, often for me they're historical, I love history, but sometimes current affairs too. I read reviews in the ST, I take a picture of it on my phone if it's something that takes my fancy in case I forget, it goes on my list of books to be read. I think that's how I happened upon River Kings.

If you think the likes of Ian Fleming or any of the Cambridge Five lived exciting lives think again! In an article published last week it was revealed that the spy Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ aka Edward Burlington) who was unceremoniously refused an Oxford University scholarship survived 50+ known near death experiences including over two dozen "attempted murders for want of a better expression".

You can find the article dated 7 August 2023 in the News Section of TheBurlingtonFiles website (which is refreshingly advert free). The reason he survived may well have been down to his being protected by Pemberton’s People in MI6 as explained in another fascinating article dated 31 October 2022. It was for real. It is mind-boggling as is that website which is as beguiling as an espionage museum in its own right. No wonder Bill Fairclough’s first novel Beyond Enkription is mandatory reading in some countries’ espionage or intelligence induction programs.

Beyond Enkription is an enthralling unadulterated factual thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots. Nevertheless, it has been heralded by one US critic as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. Why? It deviously dissects just how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and vice versa and it is now mandatory reading on some countries’ intelligence induction programs. See theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2023_06.07.php and theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2022.10.31.php.