Once more unto the book dear friends: 2024 reading challenge thread

[QueenOfGoths]

FFS, decided to start the year with a nearly 800 page novel, The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis, I'm only a third of the way through and not enjoying it.

I might fuck it off.

Is it acceptable to DNF here? Obvs it won't count towards my total.

I DNF one book last year abd there were a couple more I came close to stopping but I kept on as i always geek a bit guilty at 'giving up' on something. But there just come a point when I thought "Nope, not worth it"

In fact I think I mentioned it on last year's thread partly because it was an author i normally enjoy, without of course including it

 

[rubbershoes]

1/30 David Peace - The Damned Utd

2/30 I, Partridge We need to talk about Alan by Alan Partridge

3/30 No Way Down by Graham Bowley. Things went badly on K2 in 2008

4/30 Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming
He does good modern spy books but this one wasn't up to standard

5/30 Every second counts by Lance Armstrong
The second volume of his bullshit autobiography. This book never needed to be written and didn't need to be read. It was written long before he admitted his doping and is utter shite from beginning to end. I'll return it to the book exchange from whence it came.

6/30 The Dead House by Harry Bingham
I don't know why he's not better known in the crime writing world. He's 100 times better than Harlan Coben (admittedly a low bar). If you like crime books, try one.

 

[Mattym]

1/10 Paul Lynch- Prophet Song
2/10 Mark Radcliffe- Crossroads: In search of the moments that changed music
3/10 Nick Hayes- The Book of Trespass

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 Karl Stock - Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture
2/45 John Wagner, Alan Grant - Judge Dredd: the Complete Case Files vol 07
3/45 Terry Pratchett - The Carpet People
4/45 Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory (reread)
5/45 Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby - Survival Geeks
6/45 Paul Baker - Fabulousa!: the Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language
7/45 Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
8/45 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
9/45 Neil Gaiman - Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
10/45 Pat Mills, Gerry Finley-Day - Dan Dare: the 2000AD Years - vol 1
11/45 Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
12/45 Ian Edginton, Leigh Gallagher - Kingmaker
13/45 Iain Banks - Walking on Glass

14/45 David Lodge - Changing Places

Campus novel written in the early 70s, set in 1969 at Birmingham University and University of California, where two very different academics from the UK and USA go on a mutual visiting fellowship exchange and end up with each others wives as well as each others jobs. Played as farce and worth a read.

E.g. “Excuse me, Phil,” Sy Gootblatt whispered. “But I think you’re having an erection and it doesn’t look nice at a vigil.”

 

[nottsgirl]

1/45 Karl Stock - Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture
2/45 John Wagner, Alan Grant - Judge Dredd: the Complete Case Files vol 07
3/45 Terry Pratchett - The Carpet People
4/45 Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory (reread)
5/45 Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby - Survival Geeks
6/45 Paul Baker - Fabulousa!: the Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language
7/45 Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
8/45 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
9/45 Neil Gaiman - Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
10/45 Pat Mills, Gerry Finley-Day - Dan Dare: the 2000AD Years - vol 1
11/45 Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
12/45 Ian Edginton, Leigh Gallagher - Kingmaker
13/45 Iain Banks - Walking on Glass

14/45 David Lodge - Changing Places

Campus novel written in the early 70s, set in 1969 at Birmingham University and University of California, where two very different academics from the UK and USA go on a mutual visiting fellowship exchange and end up with each others wives as well as each others jobs. Played as farce and worth a read.

I read Nice Work last year, it’s pretty good.

 

[PursuedByBears]

I read Nice Work last year, it’s pretty good.

It's on the list!

 

[imposs1904]

1/36 Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood – The Film Years by Michael Palin
2/36 The Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw

3/36 Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth (Audiobook)

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "Wrong Place Wrong Time" - Gillian McAllister.
2. "The Scarlet Papers" - Matthew Richardson
3. "The Year of the Locust" - Terry Hayes
4. "Kill for Me: Kill for You" - Steve Cavanagh

5. "The One" - John Marrs. Devoured this is just over a day, though being ill with cold and not wanting to leave the sofa probably helped.
Interesting premise, taking a test which could DNA match you with your perfect partner, and following the stories of some who had done that. However I felt he could have developed the societal aspect more which was just touched upon ie Matched being seen as superior to unmatched, allowing them to benefit from things such as lower insurance premiums, how interracial/interfaith/international matches changed people's viewpoints of such things as racism, migration etc..
Still a very enjoyable read

 

[rich!]

I DNF one book last year abd there were a couple more I came close to stopping but I kept on as i always geek a bit guilty at 'giving up' on something. But there just come a point when I thought "Nope, not worth it"

In fact I think I mentioned it on last year's thread partly because it was an author i normally enjoy, without of course including it

I've got a few books where it just became excruciating. Nothing wrong with them, just the buildup to a disaster with signalling. It's like formal farce where as soon as the first person gets in the wardrobe it's just too agonising to go on with.
The Iain Banks book I hadn't read until recently - Stonemouth - hit that pretty hard, and R.F.Kuang's recent literary one also. Both well written. Both good books objectively. Both sitting in my "finish one day sure I will" pile.

 

[shifting gears]

1/30 - Philip K. Dick - Valis
2/30 - Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
3/30 - Franz Kafka - The Trial

4/30 - Dan Charnas - Dilla Time
The Life and Afterlife of the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm

This was a really inspiring read on a Jedi-level producer who was struck down at just 32 years old by lupus. Anyone interested in music from Detroit in general should find it interesting - e.g. Dilla learning the MPC at Amp Fiddler’s House; the trials and tribulations of Slum Village, his influence on jazz musicians like Robert Glasper and so on. Traces through until the inevitable and depressing wrangling over his estate. Recommended.

 

[inva]

1/50 The State of Capitalism by Costas Lapavitsas and the EReNSEP Writing Collective
2/50 The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
3/50 The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
4/50 Army of Lovers by K.M. Soehnlein
5/50 Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü
6/50 Sanditon by Jane Austen
7/50 Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
LGBT romance. I read this while I was feeling sick so maybe in my vulnerable state I liked this more than I otherwise would but it wasn't too bad. Bit slushy and bland I suppose, and felt very inspired by Gilmore Girls without the preoccupation with social class despite having the ingredients for it. Although it's definitely the kind of book that gets described as 'whipsmart' on the cover (but mercifully wasn't) it had less banter than I was expecting which is a good thing.
8/50 Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman
Eerie collection of short horror and supernatural stories. Not at all scary, intentionally I think, I liked the range from classically gothic (with Pages from a Young Girl’s Journal being the best example of that and my favourite) to grubby suburban. Some of the plots just sort of fizzled out but I didn’t really mind that, the resolution of these kind of stories often falls flat anyway and it’s all about the atmosphere with these ones. Really good.

 

[rich!]

21. Annalee Newitz, Terraformers, really enjoyed this far future "uplifted species do planetary engineering and deal with evil corporation"

ok, so;
22. Morgan Rice, A Quest of Heroes. Really should have DNF this, extruded fantasy, hero gets new magic powers all the time, the only non-het person is the pasty stringy villain. #1 in a series I Will Not Read.
23. Jenn Stark, The Red King. Second phase of an urban fantasy series I hadn't read the first one of, quite entertaining, might read another,
24. Anna Spark Smith, A Sword of Bronze and Ashes. I had to go read an author interview about halfway through because there were so many good stylistic allusions going on I wanted to check I wasn't missing them. Grimdark, but feminist "old warrior retires and is called back to battle with her children" and such a lot of linguistic goodness.

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 Karl Stock - Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture
2/45 John Wagner, Alan Grant - Judge Dredd: the Complete Case Files vol 07
3/45 Terry Pratchett - The Carpet People
4/45 Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory (reread)
5/45 Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby - Survival Geeks
6/45 Paul Baker - Fabulousa!: the Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language
7/45 Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
8/45 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
9/45 Neil Gaiman - Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
10/45 Pat Mills, Gerry Finley-Day - Dan Dare: the 2000AD Years - vol 1
11/45 Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
12/45 Ian Edginton, Leigh Gallagher - Kingmaker
13/45 Iain Banks - Walking on Glass
14/45 David Lodge - Changing Places

15/45 Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Davis - Harry 20 on the High Rock

 

[May Kasahara]

1. Leon Uris - Armageddon.

2. Julia Armfield - Our wives under the sea.

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Liz Nugent - Strange Sally Diamond
2/52 - Zadie Smith - NW
3/52 - Val McDermid - Past Lying
4/52 - S.A. Cosby - Blacktop Wasteland
5/52 - Doris Lessing - Martha Quest
6/52 - Elly Griffiths - A Room Full of Bones
7/52 - Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible

8/52 - Jeanine Cummins - American Dirt (BC)

(BC) = Book Club

 

[rubbershoes]

1/30 David Peace - The Damned Utd
2/30 I, Partridge We need to talk about Alan by Alan Partridge
3/30 No Way Down by Graham Bowley.
4/30 Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming
5/30 Every second counts by Lance Armstrong
6/30 The Dead House by Harry Bingham

7/30 Underground Airline by Ben Winters
Contemporary alternate history with some southern states retaining slavery

8/30 Who they was by Gabriel Krause
I can imagine The Guardian book reviewer wet themselves with excitement reading this "fresh voice". Very street, very raw. The author as a South Kilburn mandem doing mandem tings. Very repetitive in some ways (endless bunning of zoots) and completely unrepentant about the crimes . But it's well worth a read , or even better, listen to the audio book

 

[rich!]

ok, so;
22. Morgan Rice, A Quest of Heroes. Really should have DNF this, extruded fantasy, hero gets new magic powers all the time, the only non-het person is the pasty stringy villain. #1 in a series I Will Not Read.
23. Jenn Stark, The Red King. Second phase of an urban fantasy series I hadn't read the first one of, quite entertaining, might read another,
24. Anna Spark Smith, A Sword of Bronze and Ashes. I had to go read an author interview about halfway through because there were so many good stylistic allusions going on I wanted to check I wasn't missing them. Grimdark, but feminist "old warrior retires and is called back to battle with her children" and such a lot of linguistic goodness.

25. Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns, The Vietnam War. Detailed history of the war with lots of in-person accounts. Enjoyed it.

 

[hitmouse]

1/3 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (First Hypotheses)
1/45 John Fowles - The Collector
2/3 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (Marx, Labour-Power, Working Class)
2/45 Claire Dederer - Monsters
3/3-3/45 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (Postscript and Appendix)

4/45 Josh Davidson and Eric King (eds) - Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners

A good read! Interesting range of people, from ex-Panthers to Catholic pacifists, ELF types and so on. Due to the sheer number of interviewees talking about similar subjects, does get a bit repetitive/possible to mix people up after a while, but definitely worth reading, a lot of wisdom in there and a few really lovely moments. Slightly bonkers approach to footnoting/appendix-writing though, not sure how many readers needed a note explaining who the Bloods, Crips, KKK, Hell's Angels etc are, and there's a somewhat pointless appendix of all the prisons mentioned that essentially just says "USP Atlanta is a prison, USP Leavenworth is a prison, Attica Correctional Facility is a prison" etc etc.

Now on, and most of the way through:

5/45 Charlie Squire - Slouching: A Field Guide to Art and (Un-) Belonging in Europe

Which had a tiny print run, so you're unlikely to find a copy. I think I probably paid a bit too much for it, hey ho. Does suffer from the thing where going around Europe looking at lots of galleries and museums is probably much more fun and interesting than reading a book by someone who's done that, but a decent read anyway. Could maybe use a bit more editing, some of the reflections on the construction of national identity and historical memory are really good but I could've done without the bits where the author tells you what they had for dinner. Read a chunk of it while on the Northern Rail service to Liverpool, which I suppose is a bit like exploring Gdansk and Paris and that.

 

[hitmouse]

1/3 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (First Hypotheses)
1/45 John Fowles - The Collector
2/3 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (Marx, Labour-Power, Working Class)
2/45 Claire Dederer - Monsters
3/3-3/45 Mario Tronti - Workers and Capital (Postscript and Appendix)
4/45 Josh Davidson and Eric King (eds) - Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners

5/45 Charlie Squire - Slouching: A Field Guide to Art and (Un-) Belonging in Europe

That didn't take long, it really is a short little book, and a lot is pictures rather than text. Again, took me a while to get over the fact that it's overpriced for such a short book, and more importantly the fact that it is quite hard to read a book by someone who got some EU grant to go around Europe looking in museums and galleries without resenting them at least a bit for it, but it was good enough to win me over by the end. Now starting

6/45 Alasdair Gray - 1982, Janine

Which I still keep thinking of as Janine 1982. I think this one may be a bit horny?

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Liz Nugent - Strange Sally Diamond
2/52 - Zadie Smith - NW
3/52 - Val McDermid - Past Lying
4/52 - S.A. Cosby - Blacktop Wasteland
5/52 - Doris Lessing - Martha Quest
6/52 - Elly Griffiths - A Room Full of Bones
7/52 - Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
8/52 - Jeanine Cummins - American Dirt (BC)

9/52 - Graham Norton - Holding

 

[imposs1904]

1/36 Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood – The Film Years by Michael Palin
2/36 The Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw
3/36 Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth (Audiobook)

4/36 Heart of Dart-ness: Bullseyes, Boozers and Modern Britain by Ned Boulting

Cheesy punning title aside - Eric Bristow as Colonel Kurtz, anyone? No, really, Boulting goes with that - an enjoyable wee journey through modern darts. Recommended if you want to take some time out from reading shaking your head at obscure political texts.

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 Karl Stock - Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture
2/45 John Wagner, Alan Grant - Judge Dredd: the Complete Case Files vol 07
3/45 Terry Pratchett - The Carpet People
4/45 Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory (reread)
5/45 Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby - Survival Geeks
6/45 Paul Baker - Fabulousa!: the Story of Polari, Britain's Secret Gay Language
7/45 Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
8/45 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
9/45 Neil Gaiman - Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
10/45 Pat Mills, Gerry Finley-Day - Dan Dare: the 2000AD Years - vol 1
11/45 Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
12/45 Ian Edginton, Leigh Gallagher - Kingmaker
13/45 Iain Banks - Walking on Glass
14/45 David Lodge - Changing Places
15/45 Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Davis - Harry 20 on the High Rock

16/45 CLR James, Nik Watts, Sakina Karimjee - Toussaint Louverture: the Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History

Graphic novel adaptation of a lost play by C L R James dramatising his longer work The Black Jacobins. I bought it at a talk given by the artists who adapted it into a graphic novel. Highly recommended, the art is superb and really helps to explain the convoluted story of the revolt and the founding of the first independent Black republic. Five stars.

 

[CNT36]

1/19 Yanis Varoufakis - Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism?
2/19 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
3/19 Gary Russell - Doctor Who: The Star Beast
4/19 Maz Evans - Oh Maya God's.
5/19 Storm Dunlop and Will Tirion - Night Sky Almanac: A stargazers guide to 2024
6/19 Thomas S Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

 

[Chilli.s]

2024

1 The Long Good-Bye : Raymond Chandler
2 The Last Coyote : Michael Connelly
3 Suttree : Cormac McCarthy (reread)
4 The Christmas Gift : Ernest Hemingway
5 Outback : Patricia Wolf
6 The Medici Murders : David Hewson
7 Light in August : William Faulkner
8 Under Earth : Chris Gooch
9 The Journey of Crazy Horse : J M Marshall III
10 Blitzed : Norman Ohler
11 The Bone Readers : Jacob Ross
12 Red Wind : Raymond Chandler

aiming at 50 books

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "Wrong Place Wrong Time" - Gillian McAllister.
2. "The Scarlet Papers" - Matthew Richardson
3. "The Year of the Locust" - Terry Hayes
4. "Kill for Me: Kill for You" - Steve Cavanagh
5"The One" - John Marrs

6. "Her Last Move" - John Marrs. Good, solid police procedural thriller with a couple of unexpected twists. Maybe not as fluent as some of his other books but a good read

 

[kalmatthew]

01/60 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoniex - JK Rowling
02/60 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
03/60 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
04/60 The Ethos Effect - LE Moddesit Jr
05/60 the hand maidens tale - Margaret Attwood
06/60 Fairhaven Rising - LE Moddesit Jr
07/60 The Soprano Sorceress - LE Moddesit Jr
08/60 The Spellsong war - LE Moddesit Jr
09/60 From the Forest - LE Moddesit Jr
10/60 Darksong Rising - LE Moddessit JR
11/60 Scarlet - Genevieve Cogman
12/60 The Angle of Crows - Katherine Addison
13/60 The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison

14/60 The Witness for the Dead - Katherine Addison. Enjoyable spin off of The goblin emperor with a slight police procedural vibe.

15/60 Don't stab me now - Jill beraup. I'll admit I got this because I enjoyed her youtube shorts which were the inspiration for the book, however as much as enjoyed the 2 intertwined story lines I found the forthwall break mechanic (which I enjoyed on YT) broke my immersion.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

8/29 User - Bruce Benderson

A good novel about drug addiction, male prostitution and HIV from NYC back in the day.

7/29 Crush – Richard Siken
6/29 And Then He Sang a Lullaby – Ani Kayode Somtochukwu
5/29 Iracema – José de Alencar
4/29 The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
3/29 Where I Was From – Joan Didion
2/29 The Whale Tattoo – Jon Ransom
1/29 There Are More Things – Yara Rodrigues Fowler

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

1/19 Paul Murray - Skippy Dies
2/19 Charlie Allison - No Harmless Power
3/19 Andrew Kurkov - Grey Bees

 

[braindancer]

1/20 - The Book of Koli - M.R.Carey
2/20 - Lessons - Ian McEwan
3/20 - The Rise of Koli - M.R. Carey

 

[rich!]

25. Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns, The Vietnam War. Detailed history of the war with lots of in-person accounts. Enjoyed it.

26. Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome. Uses modern insights into historical climate change and disease patterns to rewrite the history of Rome post 0AD. Some fascinating insights. It came out just pre-COVID but there are parallels to draw.
26. (GN) Lady Mechanika vol 1. Image Comics, steampunk, light entertainment.