Will Hunt
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2006
- Messages
- 8,259
What did you read in 2024 that you would recommended to others? I'm sure there will be duplication between this and the Books thread but thought it would be nice to summarise with the benefit of hindsight.
I had my busiest reading year since becoming an adult. 31 books (that's a lot for me)!
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
I read all of the Border Trilogy over the course of the year but the other two didn't shine as brightly. A beautiful coming-of-age story of two boys who saddle up their horses and ride into Mexico to seek out life.
Any Human Heart, William Boyd
The fictional biography of Logan Mountstuart told through a series of intermittent journal entries spanning his final days of public school in the 1920s to his death in the final decade of the century. Along the way there are triumphs and there are tragedies. A mix of the incredible and the banal. When it ended I wanted it to go on.
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (Buss' translation)
A larger-than-life tale of betrayal and revenge. A daunting tome but an enjoyable romp.
The Scar, China Mieville
The follow-up to Perdido Street Station is even better. It's got anus-faced mosquito men; need I say more?
James, Percival Everett
The tale of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of "Jim". Will probably piss off anti-woke snowflakes.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan.
An extraordinary romance and brutal documentary of the dehumanising effects of war and nationalism: a tragedy within a tragedy within a tragedy. The story is of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian army colonel and surgeon - the commanding officer of a group of POWs sentenced to work on the Burmese railway. Harrowing, yet so well-written, and with such complex and intriguing characters that it makes for compulsive reading.
Open Throat, Henry Hoke
Not stellar, but it left me wanting more and it was a fun, short read. The story of a lonely, gay mountain lion who lives just under the Hollywood sign. He listens to the passing humans who talk about their therapists and ponders whether he might eat them.
I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman
A group of women and one girl are held in an underground cage with no idea why and very little memory of how they got there. Some stuff happens which I shall not divulge here. Not a book that you should read if you'd like it all neatly tied up at the end. The plot is a vehicle to make you think about life, the purpose of it, and all sorts of other things. It's a good'un.
I had my busiest reading year since becoming an adult. 31 books (that's a lot for me)!
All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
I read all of the Border Trilogy over the course of the year but the other two didn't shine as brightly. A beautiful coming-of-age story of two boys who saddle up their horses and ride into Mexico to seek out life.
Any Human Heart, William Boyd
The fictional biography of Logan Mountstuart told through a series of intermittent journal entries spanning his final days of public school in the 1920s to his death in the final decade of the century. Along the way there are triumphs and there are tragedies. A mix of the incredible and the banal. When it ended I wanted it to go on.
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (Buss' translation)
A larger-than-life tale of betrayal and revenge. A daunting tome but an enjoyable romp.
The Scar, China Mieville
The follow-up to Perdido Street Station is even better. It's got anus-faced mosquito men; need I say more?
James, Percival Everett
The tale of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of "Jim". Will probably piss off anti-woke snowflakes.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan.
An extraordinary romance and brutal documentary of the dehumanising effects of war and nationalism: a tragedy within a tragedy within a tragedy. The story is of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian army colonel and surgeon - the commanding officer of a group of POWs sentenced to work on the Burmese railway. Harrowing, yet so well-written, and with such complex and intriguing characters that it makes for compulsive reading.
Open Throat, Henry Hoke
Not stellar, but it left me wanting more and it was a fun, short read. The story of a lonely, gay mountain lion who lives just under the Hollywood sign. He listens to the passing humans who talk about their therapists and ponders whether he might eat them.
I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman
A group of women and one girl are held in an underground cage with no idea why and very little memory of how they got there. Some stuff happens which I shall not divulge here. Not a book that you should read if you'd like it all neatly tied up at the end. The plot is a vehicle to make you think about life, the purpose of it, and all sorts of other things. It's a good'un.