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

Thanks for your review of The Women Sparklefizz, I was gifted that one last Xmas along with The Four Winds which I loved, so I look forward to reading that too. Probably early next year.

FGT The Whalebone Theatre is a good read. Lots of quirky characters doing oddball things.

Sparklefizz, I haven’t heard of that, but it sounds just my type of program, thanks for the recommendation
I read The Women earlier this year, and really enjoyed it, it was the first of her novels I had read, and as you say, it stays with you.

Thanks Beechnut and TerriBull for replying. I do love this thread!

SueDonim I really enjoy Mary Lawson's books too.

A big thank you to the person who recommended The Women by Kristin Hannah a few weeks ago. (I'm sorry I can't remember who it was )

I have read several of KH's books, and thought that her best one was The Four Winds ... some of her others not so good .... but The Women is outstanding!! I still have 50 pages left to read and I'm eking it out because I shall be bereft when I've finished it.

It's the story of inexperienced nurse, Frankie McGrath, whose brother has been sent out to serve in Vietnam in 1965, and impulsively she joins the Army Nurse Corps to follow him.

When she arrives she is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unanticipated trauma of returning home to an America that has changed drastically in her absence.

While in Vietnam she discovers the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.

This is the story of one woman who goes to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm's way to help others.

This is a book that will stay with me.

Sara1954

Nonny, that sounds really interesting, I’ll have to put it on my list. I like anything Tudor.

Not a book Sara1954 but I know you like Cromwell-related stuff - have you watched the tv programme on Channel 5 "Thomas Cromwell"? It's in 2 parts and very interesting and historically accurate with evidence to back it up.

Yes FGT I've read them both. They're quite different, I was a bit dubious with Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow! I got it given with a couple of other books last Christmas and thought "hmm! I don't know whether this is going to be my cup of tea", from its blurb, thinking it sounded a bit geeky. Pleasantly surprised, I really enjoyed it, both moving and quirky. I think Netflix or one of the others may have bought it, I can see it would translate well on to the screen. I remember thinking what a weird title, but it's a quote from one of Shakespeare's plays, can't remember which one, but it comes into the story briefly.

The Whalebone Theatre, also good, read it a couple of years ago, not so fresh in my mind. A family saga slightly in the vein of The Cazalets, around the aftermath of the 1st WW and leading up to the 2nd, involving French Resistance when one of the characters ended up in France. Between the wars though, as the title suggests, there were whale bones and a lot of 'em. Which were resourcefully structured into a theatre, as one does when stumbling across a beached whale.

I thought it was quite good at the time.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Just popping in to say hi 👋 to everybody and to ask have any of you read this book?

I’ve just put it on my Kindle as last week at our BC someone suggested it for our next read to discuss but as 4 out of the 10 had already read it, something else was chosen instead. The consensus was that it was a brilliant read!

It’s been on my shelf under the tv for weeks. I think you’ve inspired me to start reading it.

BTW this is our next book club read for mid January!
Again, anyone read it?

Just popping in to say hi 👋 to everybody and to ask have any of you read this book?

I’ve just put it on my Kindle as last week at our BC someone suggested it for our next read to discuss but as 4 out of the 10 had already read it, something else was chosen instead. The consensus was that it was a brilliant read!

It’s not a competition, Greyduster, which is why I like this thread so much. ❤️

No 32. Road Ends by Mary Lawson. A novel set in Northern Canada, mostly in the 1960’s, about various characters in a large family. The writer is very underrated, I think. She captures the nuances of different families so well.

71 Long Island - Colm Toibin

This is the sequel to Brooklyn, which I haven't read, but I enjoyed the film starring Saoirse Ronan.

Fast forwarding 20 years. Eilis and Italian/American plumber Tony have been married for those intervening years, now with a couple of teenagers. Sadly all is not well in paradise or Long Island where this one is initially set. Eilis is to discover that, whilst husband Tony has been involved in a lengthy plumbing job, that has come with repercussions, most notably he has managed to impregnate the client's wife and this is brought to her doorstep by way of the irate husband who informs her that the forthcoming baby will be her husband's responsibility as he intends to literally dump the baby on their doorstep. As with the previous book, much of the story is when Eilis having been knocked sideways by this news returns to her native Ireland for her mother's 80th birthday. Into that setting comes her best friend, widowed Nancy now running a chip shop, who now has a burgeoning relationship, marriage on the horizon with Eilis's old flame Jim Farrell who owns the local pub. On meeting again after 20 years Eilis and Jim realise they are still very attracted to each other. The story is driven along by the trio's perspectives and to a certain extent Eilis irascible, difficult to please, mother who provides much of the humour. Eventually a clandestine relationship develops between Jim and Eilis their meet ups requiring quite a bit of subterfuge especially when Eilis's children fly over to meet their Irish grandmother for the first time. Back home in the US Tony is hoping that his marriage can be salvaged, although that is seemingly increasingly unlikely from Eilie's perspective given her mother in law, who lives close by and who she does have a good relationship with is nevertheless intending to bring up the baby when it arrives.

Although the book is called Long Island, the predominant part of the action takes place back in Ireland and Colm Toibin has left a very inconclusive ending, so I imagine, indeed I hope that he is ultimately planning a trilogy to tie up the many loose ends that he has left his readers with. Very good though.

58. Sleep No More, PD James
A small selection of Christmas themed short stories. I’d forgotten what a good writer PD James was.

59. This Is Why We Lied, Karin Slaughter
The twelfth in the Will Trent and Sara Linton series. I’ve only read the first two before this, so have a lot to catch up on. There’s no denying Karin Slaughter is another good writer, but her subject matter is often too gruesome for me. There were some graphic scenes in this, as there were in the other two, but not enough to make me dislike the book.

I’ve given up trying to keep up with the avid readers on here - I’m a bit of an also ran, but really enjoy reading about the books you’ve enjoyed (and not enjoyed). Since I last posted when I was reading Colleen McCullough’s ‘Song of Troy’, I have read ‘The Queens of Themiscyra’ a novel about the legendary Amazon race of warrior women, Victoria Hislop’s ‘The Island’ which I didn’t enjoy as much as ‘The Figurine’, ‘The Shadow King’ by Harry Sidebottom, which I didn’t expect to like but then couldn’t put down, and am now reading Ken Follett’s ‘A Column of Fire’, a book set in the reign of Bloody Mary. Not sure about it yet. It’s a bit convoluted!

No. 48 - The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage. I really enjoyed this book. It was set in Montana in 1920s and explores the relationship between two brothers when one marries and brings his new bride to live on the ranch.

No.49 - Sylvia Plath’s Tomato Soup Cake by Bee Wilson. This is a quirky little book of recipes from a wide range of well known authors. I haven’t made this cake yet, but do intend to give it a go!

No. 50 - Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Great insights into living life on the breadline.

Whew! I’ve reached 50 books in 2024. I reckon I can fit a few more in before the end of the year.

Book 176, Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus. A good read, but hampered a bit by not knowing pronunciation of German names and places.

106-Persons of Rank-Anna Jacobs.
This historical romance shows how far we have come when choosing a partner for life. We frown at arranged marriages now but it was how things were done back then.

I think I will have to reread O Caledonia, I do think I would get more out of it on a second reading. I borrowed it from the library, so could probably take it out again.

70 Next of Kin John Boyne

This is one of the author's earlier novels which is set against a backdrop of 1936 London when the rumblings around King Edward VIII's relationship with Wallis Simpson are swirling as to how that will pan out and the ramifications for the monarchy. Into this setting comes the land owing Montignac family, recently bereaved following the death of the father and patriarch. This family own a large estate, which is to be inherited by way of a trust for daughter Stella's future heirs as her older brother who would have been the heir was killed in an accident a few years previously. Disgruntled cousin Owen who thought he was due to inherit given he was the only remaining male, was pining all his hopes on what he perceived to be a substantial inheritance to pay off mounting gambling debts with increasing threats from his creditors hot on his case, Owen having no recourse to the money he thought he might have, has to dream up creative ways, outside the law, to raise the considerable sum owed. As the book gathers pace the narrative reaches the crux, a brutal murder, with an innocent person put into the frame for the crime, a crime at a time when capital punishment could be the ultimate penalty for taking a life.

Quite different from some of John Boyne's subject matter, but once I'd reached the trial part of the book where the accused life's is in the balance, further complicated by the compromising position his father, a High Court Judge who himself has sentenced people to death, I couldn't put it down.

Nonny, that sounds really interesting, I’ll have to put it on my list. I like anything Tudor.

#53 Lady of Quality Georgette Heyer.
I am enjoying revisiting a GH book a month in 2024, this is November's. It is the last of her Regency novels published in her lifetime.

Book 53: Son of Prophecy- The rise of Henry Tudor by Nathen Amin.
This is a riveting account of the history of the Tudor family in Wales. How Henry the 7th struggled to survive years of danger and treachery through to the Battle of Bosworth, when he became king. I didn't know this part of Tudor history. I couldn't put it down and it has kept me sane at a difficult time in my life!

#89. Into Death’s Arms by Jack Cartwright.

GrannyBear

I agree Sara1954. Much of the story didn’t ring true for me either. And I particularly disliked how ‘pleased’ they were with themselves when they camped at a campsite overnight, used the facilities and left without paying before the warden ‘caught’ them in the morning. I’m a keen camper and am more than willing to pay my share for the upkeep of sites and facilities. What they were doing was tantamount to theft. I read their follow-up book, only because it was a Book Group choice, and disliked it even more! I’ll definitely not be reading any further books by Raynor Wynn.

I didn't like The Salt Path either, or their attitude towards what I saw as conning people. As you say GrannyBear it was tantamount to theft.

I seem to recall that there were questions asked later about the validity of their story and exaggerations were mentioned. Whatever .... I thought they made some ridiculous decisions if he was really as ill as they claimed, and I found them irritating.

I'm going to have to add Oh Caledonia to my wish list based on the appraisals here.

SueDonim Love is Blind I'll be reading that very shortly it's on my shelf, two books away. William Boyd's books are so good. I read Tolkien when I was 18 and loved The Rings, but then again really liked clogs too. Bloody hell wouldn't go near either now As for Harry Potter, I left him to my kids and now the grandchildren are embracing him too, but not for me.

Alibeebee, I enjoyed My Father's House but didn't love it the way I did with Star of the Sea.