The Not So New 2024 50 Books a Year - Thread 2

SueDonin, I agree, I don’t think it’s one of her best books, but please give her another chance, I’ll be surprised if you’re disappointed

No 18 Coming Home by Sue Gee. I decided to give this a punt after seeing the recommendations on here. I wasn’t overwhelmed by this story, with its boorish husband and wife who could and should have done more with her life. But I do think I’ll read more by Sue Gee, as reviews make me think this isn’t one of her strongest books.

Or maybe I’m just getting impossible to please!

Sparklefizz, it makes you wonder why anyone would put themselves through it, it has to be the money I suppose. Aside from the obvious danger, and the horrible misogyny, the ex pat community seems pretty unbearable.

Sara1954 I read Eight Months on Ghazzah Street last year and found it quite frightening, mainly because I know from friends who lived there for a while that it's a challenging environment and was a true depiction of the misogyny and political cover-ups.

Book 32
Those People Next Door - Kia Abdullah
A Pakistani family move onto a housing estate, which is meant to give their son new opportunities, and a fresh start for them, following the failure of their restaurant, which couldn’t survive the pandemic.
But they are immediately met by racism from their new neighbors, the husband Tom seems intent on making them unwelcome, but their teenage boys, Zain and Jamie become good friends.
Of course it escalates dramatically, eventually ending in tragedy, I read it really quickly, I quite enjoyed it, didn’t feel a lot of warmth for any of the characters, except the two boys, who could definitely have taught their parents a few lessons in tolerance.

I have fallen a bit behind so I have few to feed back on.

#39 The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
Midwife Isabelle du Moulin is marked as different, by both her red hair and her love for the Virgin Mary in her rich blue robes. As religious fervour sweeps 16th-century France, Isabelle’s striking likeness to the Madonna puts her in danger when her village is enraptured by new Protestant doctrine.
Four centuries later, Ella Turner moves to the French village of Lisle-sur-Tarn and finds her dreams are haunted by the colour blue. Ella hopes to become both a midwife and a mother, but her plans unravel as she discovers her link to Isabelle, and her ancestor’s shocking fate.
This was okay, but not a patch on some other Tracy Chevalier books. 7/10

#40 The Opposite of Lonely by Doug Johnstone
The 5th instalment of the Skelfs, undertakers/private investigators in Edinburgh. Always enjoyable. 8/10

#41 Dead Man’s Creek by Chris Hammer
Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder. But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community.
I thought this was excellent, plenty twists and turns to keep you guessing. 9/10

#42 Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell
Set in a Pennsylvanian town ravaged and haunted by a mine explosion that took the lives of 96 men, it explores the life of local deputy and erstwhile football legend, "The Great Ivan Z.," as he prepares for a former teammate's imminent release from prison. As the week unfolds and Ivan struggles to confront his demons, he reveals himself to be a man whose conscience is burdened by a long-held secret.
I found this a bit difficult to engage with, possibly because it was on kindle. I’m on holiday and don’t enjoy kindle reading but I had run out of books. It was worth the read, but I guessed the “secret” quite early on. 7/10

#43 This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
I nearly stopped reading this when I realised it involved time travel, I should’ve read the blurb before downloading it. It was readable but not my thing at all. 6/10

45-Guilt in the Cotswolds-Rebecca Tope-A house-sitter is asked to do an inventory of a house where the owner has gone into a care home. But Thea discovers a dead body and with the help of her fiance starts trying to prove it was a murder and not a case of suicide that the police think it is. If you've been to the Cotswolds it is easy to imagine the layout of the villages as described in this story. A good whodunit.

#51. Coming Home by Sue Gee.

I’m not reading at present. I go through barren patches and this is one of them. Two weeks without reading …
I must get myself in gear.
Life gets in the way of life sometimes.

Nonny

Book 31: Revelation by C. J. Sansom

😱
Couldn’t face another of his novels! I didn’t even finish ‘Dissolution’ (supposedly one of his best).

Book 107, The Perfect Assassin, by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. OK, but not exactly a great read.

TerriBull, very dismal indeed, I started iff enjoying it, but it was just more of the same, and because very repetitive, there were not really any likeable characters, just found it a bit depressing.

Sara1954

Book 31
Eight months on Ghazzah Street- Hilary Mantel
Frances and Andrew Shore, a British couple move to Saudi Arabia, where Andrew has a contact to oversee a building project.
To begin with it’s interesting, the clashing cultures, the racism, the misogyny, the awful corporate accommodation, the really unpleasant group of expats, brewing illegal alcohol. And hosting dreadful dinner parties.
But Frances is convinced something is going on in the empty flat above theirs.
Eventually, after numerous awful expat get togethers, the book became so repetitive that I just wanted to get to the end, not really caring what was going on in the empty flat.
A horrible look at life in Jeddah, the British are a horrible money grabbing lot, and the Muslim neighbours are far from transparent, didn’t really enjoy it.

I read that book years ago, long before Hilary Mantel became such an acclaimed author. I remember thinking it was very good but painted a dismal picture of what it is/was to be a female ex-pat in Saudi Arabia.

Book 31
Eight months on Ghazzah Street- Hilary Mantel
Frances and Andrew Shore, a British couple move to Saudi Arabia, where Andrew has a contact to oversee a building project.
To begin with it’s interesting, the clashing cultures, the racism, the misogyny, the awful corporate accommodation, the really unpleasant group of expats, brewing illegal alcohol. And hosting dreadful dinner parties.
But Frances is convinced something is going on in the empty flat above theirs.
Eventually, after numerous awful expat get togethers, the book became so repetitive that I just wanted to get to the end, not really caring what was going on in the empty flat.
A horrible look at life in Jeddah, the British are a horrible money grabbing lot, and the Muslim neighbours are far from transparent, didn’t really enjoy it.

#27 Black Sheep Georgette Heyer.
I have enjoyed the books of GH for nearly 65 years. Each month in 2024 I am re-reading one and June's title is Black Sheep. It is set in Bath where the sisters Wendover, Selena and Abbie live with their niece Fanny, an heiress. Abigail's well ordered life is ruffled by trying to prevent the attentions of a fortune hunter towards her niece and the arrival in Bath of his uncle the Black Sheep of the title who she inexplicably finds very appealing. Loved it!

Book 106, Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter. It was an OK story, but marred by, IMO, the layout, so I didn`t enjoy it as much as I might have done if it had been laid out differently.

Book 31: Revelation by C. J. Sansom

Book 105, The Mother, by T M Logan. A good read, with a surprising twist near the end.

#50. One Deadly Night by Jack Cartwright.

Mick Herron has been one of my escapist reads for ages, long before Apple TV developed the Slow Horses series. So much satire and humour entwined into the twisty plotting of spies versus spies. Some echoes of John Le Carre at times. Try "Reconstruction"too.

“Wintering” by Katherine May. A book about how to survive the dark seasons of our lives. It’s growing on me!

44-The Wedding Planner-Danielle Steel-As expected, a good girlie story about Faith who plans expensive weddings. Don't let your engaged daughters read this one or they'll be wanting orchid hedges or ice sculptures or life sized horses made of white roses! But there is a serious side to the characters, and the problems and happy outcomes make you warm to those involved. Quite a few babies as well, so lots of smiles.

Book 104, Alex Cross Must Die, by James Patterson. Another cracking read, but then all the Alex Cross stories tend to be just that.

Thanks for the recommendation Sarah, I'm definitely going to be looking towards reading them all, there aren't so many. Based on the one and only I've read, yes definitely underrated.

TerriBull, I’m also a massive Sue Gee fan, I think she’s very underrated.
Try ‘The Hours of the Night’ it will for ever be on my top ten books of all time,