The 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge

 

Time is a strange concept. You think you’ll take a short break from writing, and before you know it a month has passed, then six months, a year, possibly even more. Then the burning question arises - how do I restart my blogging?

To pull myself out of the writing rut I set myself a challenge – read 52 books in 52 weeks and then if it seems like the challenge will succeed, blog about them all. I’ve been partaking in The 52 Book Club’s 2024 Reading Challenge  but with an added blogging twist!

I’m currently on track to get the challenge completed, and so I’m going to share my thoughts about the books I chose to read throughout the year. (As you can see, there are still a few blanks on my list, but once those blanks have been filled, I’ll update the list and add the reviews!) 

The joy of this type of challenge is reading books you might not normally read, finding new authors you love, and perhaps re-reading an old favorite you’ve forgotten about. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed every book I’ve read during the challenge, but I’ve still learnt something from it. I might not like a book for a certain reason, but someone else will love it. Never be dismissive of a book with a “bad” review, if the subject piques your interest, give it a go; you might find you enjoy something you would never normally read. (Equally, just because the book is by an established author people rave about, you might find the book as dull as dishwater.) 

This is how my 2024 Reading Challenge has panned out, there were so many titles I could have chosen, and some that haven’t made it on the list will be read in the future! I hope that this list inspires you to add some of these titles to you TBR pile!

#1. Locked-Room Mystery – Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney  (Audible) 

#2. Bibliosmia: A Smelly Book – The Burning Girls by C.J.Tudor (Audible)

#3. More Than 40 Chapters – Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Audible)

#4. Lowercase Letters On The Spine – The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton (Paperback)

#5. Magical Realism – The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia (Kindle)

#6. Women In STEM - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Hardback)

#7. At Least Four Different POV – How Not to Murder Your Ex by Katie Marsh (Kindle)

#8. Features The Ocean – Mr Peacock’s Possessions by Lydia Syson (Paperback)

#9. A Character-Driven Novel – The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer (Paperback)

#10. Told In Non-Chronological Order – After the Silence by Louise O’Neill (Audible)

#11. Starting With The Letter "K" – The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (Audible)

#12. Starting With The Letter "L" – Lullaby by Leila Slimani (Paperback)

#13. An Academic Thriller – Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (Paperback)

#14. A Grieving Character – Eleven Liars by Robert Gold (Audible)

#15. Part Of A Duology – Deeper Than The Dead by Debra Webb (Kindle)

#16. An Omniscient Narrator – Arthur & George by Julian Barnes (Audible)

#17. Nominated For The Booker Prize – Possession by A.S. Byatt (Audible)

#18. An Apostrophe In The Title - Don't Close Your Eyes by P S Cunliffe (Kindle)

#19. A Buddy Read – The Trial by Rob Rinder (Kindle)

#20. A Revenge Story – Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky  (Audible)

#21. Written By A Ghostwriter – There's a Hole in My Bucket by Royd Tolkien (Kindle)

#22. A Plot Similar To Another Book - The Guest List by Lucy Foley (Paperback)

#23. The Other Book With The Similar Plot – Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle (Paperback)

#24. A Cover Without People On It – The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa (Paperback)

#25. An Author "Everyone" Has Read Except You - The Scapegoat by Daphne de Maurier (Audible)

#26. Hybrid Genre – The Village Healer’s Book of Cures by Jennifer Sherman Roberts (Kindle)

#27. By A Neurodivergent Author - Strong Female Character by Fern Brady (Audible)

#28. A Yellow Spine – Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Paperback)

#29. Published In A Year Of The Dragon – Ten Seconds by Robert Gold (Audible)

#30. Picked Without Reading The Blurb – Pine by Francine Toon (Paperback)

#31. Includes A Personal Phobia – The Narrator by K.L. Slater (Audible)

#32. Time Frame Spans A Week Or Less – The Curfew by T.M. Logan (Audible)

#33. An Abrupt Ending - tbc

#34. Set In A Landlocked Country - Gerta by Kateřina Tučková (Kindle)

#35. Title Matches Lyrics From A Song – The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Audible)

#36. Has Futuristic Technology – In Our Likeness by Bryan Vandyke (Kindle)

#37. Palindrome On The Cover - Madam by Pheobe Wynne (Kindle)

#38. Published By Hachette – The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (Audible)

#39. Non-Fiction Recommended By A Friend – The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale (Paperback)

#40. Set During A Holiday You Don't Celebrate - The Thousand Autumn's of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Paperback)

#41. A Sticker On The Cover – The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale (Paperback)

#42. Author Debut In Second Half Of 2024 – Ghost Chilli by Nikkitha Bakshani (Paperback pre-release)

#43. About Finding Identity – Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami (Paperback)

#44. Includes A Wedding – Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier (Paperback)

#45. Chapter Headings Have Dates – Why Mummy Doesn’t Give a F$*! By Gill Sims (Audible)

#46. Featuring Indigenous Culture – tbc 

#47. Self-Insert By An Author – Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz (Audible)

#48. The Word "Secret" In The Title – Open Secret by Stella Rimington  (Paperback)

#49. Set In A City Starting With The Letter "M" – Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (Audible)

#50. A Musical Instrument On The Cover - The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable (Audible)

#51. Related To The Word "Wild" - A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (Paperback)

#52. Published In 2024 – The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence (Hardback)