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50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Seven

753 replies

southeastdweller · 03/11/2016 20:00

Welcome to the final thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read, and to anyone who hasn't posted, feel free to de-lurk and share with us what you've read so far this year.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here, fourth thread here, fifth thread here and sixth thread here.

OP posts:
Tarahumara · 03/11/2016 20:39

Checking in on new thread. Thanks southeast!

EverySongbirdSays · 03/11/2016 22:04

CHECKING IN.

Sadik · 03/11/2016 22:40

"final thread" > is that a challenge to us to fill up another one in record quick time, southeast?

Anyway, I've reached 100! With My Antonia by Willa Cather, much reviewed and enjoyed on the previous thread. I also liked it a great deal, in a grown-up-Little-House-on-the-Prarie sort of way, really more for the descriptions of place than the story per se. I particularly enjoyed the first section where they were children. (However, I am guilty of reading Farmer Boy and coming away with useful gardening tips, so perhaps not the most discriminating novel reader.)

VanderlyleGeek · 03/11/2016 22:43

Thanks, southeast!

Sadik, I've been known to reread parts of Farmer Boy for the food...

wiltingfast · 03/11/2016 23:36

Wow, 7th thread. Not sure we've managed 7 before Smile

minsmum · 03/11/2016 23:46

I was getting ready to post and I had read over 50 all noted on my tablet and I just had to restore it to factory settings. Aargh

MermaidofZennor · 04/11/2016 06:47

Checking in. Will post up-to-date list when have a moment.

Grifone · 04/11/2016 07:23

Checking into our new thread with my latest.

75. The Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett. DS has finally been initiated into the fantastic Discworld with this audio version of The Wee Free Men read by Stephen Briggs. I have read this book a few times. This time we listened the audio on the school run. This is the story of Tiffany Aching who has to go into fairyland and get back her brother from the Queen of the Elves who has stolen him. With the help of the feegles she uses her wits and insight to battle the queen and save the day. This book is Pratchett at his best and for me it is like putting on an old comfy jumper. There are so many gems in this book but this is one of my favourites: “them as can has to do for them as can’t. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”

Anyone else struggling to get some books finished? I have about 6 books I have started and for various reasons ended up putting down and not picking up again. There is only one that I wasn't really enjoying so I must really try to get back on track before I start any more new ones this year.

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/11/2016 07:45

Thanks Southeast.

Yy sadik it is the descriptions I love in My Antonia - the seasons, making weird bread, the delightful Christmas preparations when they can't get to town, and the feel of it all rather than what happens. Yes to, grown up little house Grin

MermaidofZennor · 04/11/2016 08:19

There's a Kindle daily deal of Neil Gaiman books today, all priced 99p. I'm still undecided whether I like his books but have bought Neverwhere - looks intriguing.

whippetwoman · 04/11/2016 10:03

Just checking in to the new thread. Thanks Southeast

I read My Antonia either last year or the year before and really enjoyed it. A great novel.

Not sure if I should buy an Gaiman books or not!

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/11/2016 10:05

I'm undecided on Gaiman, too. I still have a couple I haven't read yet, disliked American Gods which everyone who likes him seems to love. He seems a nice chap though.

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/11/2016 10:09

I'm into one at the moment, grifone but, yes, I've started several and not got going with them. Is All the Light We Cannot See a slow starter? All present-tense and annoying in first few pages.

Tarahumara · 04/11/2016 10:58

Here's my list for the new thread:

  1. Why be happy when you could be normal? by Jeanette Winterson
  2. Skellig by David Almond
  3. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
  4. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
  5. The Skeleton Cupboard by Tanya Byron
  6. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
  7. Fat Chance by Nick Spalding
  8. The Exclusives by Rebecca Thornton
  9. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

10. The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
11. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
12. Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
13. Romantic Outlaws: the Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon
14. Behind Closed Doors by BA Paris
15. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
16. The Night Rainbow by Clair King
17. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
18. Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
19. Heat Wave by Penelope Lively
20. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
21. Things We Have in Common by Tasha Kavanagh
22. Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi
23. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
24. The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy
25. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
26. The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
27. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
28. A Year of Being Single by Fiona Collins
29. Travelling to Infinity by Jane Hawking
30. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
31. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
32. Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Marukami
33. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
34. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
35. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
36. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
37. Black Water by Louise Doughty
38. Outline by Rachel Cusk
39. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
40. An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
41. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
42. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
43. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
44. Life Moves Pretty Fast by Hadley Freeman
45. Families and How to Survive Them by Robin Skynner and John Cleese
46. After You by Jojo Moyes
47. The Hare With The Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
48. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
49. The Stranger in My Home by Adele Parks
50. The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Tarahumara · 04/11/2016 11:00

Stick with All the Light You Cannot See Satsuki. I think you'll find it's worth it.

bibliomania · 04/11/2016 11:20

Read two books to do with walking - although the subject was not dissimilar, the treatment was quite different.

107) Walking with Plato, Gary Hayden.
Author and girlfriend walk from John O'Groats to Land's End. It's a fairly bald account, as he didn't make notes at the time and was apparently reconstructing events from his Facebook updates. The philosophy side is sub-Alain de Botton musing (not as much a sneer as it sounds - in the right mood, I like a bit of Alain de Botton). I rather enjoyed it as I have a soft spot for banality in accounts of travel.

108. The Fish Ladder, Katharine Norbury
An account of tracing various rivers back to their source, freighted with all sorts of meaning around tracing her own roots (she was adopted as a baby)and dealing with the slings and arrows life throws at you (serious illness, parental death, miscarriage). It occasionally hovers on the edge of being a bit precious - everything she encounters is so replete with deep meaning, it almost slips into self-parody. But there is a lot to like here too, so I found it worth the read.

Currently on:
109. Talking to the Dead, Harry Bingham
Police procedural set in Wales. I read a later book in the series (this is the first) so the teasers about her back-story are a bit pointless, but it's still engaging. Recommended if you like crime.

Ladydepp · 04/11/2016 12:59
  1. The Moth Catcher by Anne Cleeves - I bought this as a cheap audiobook. It's a Vera Stanhope murder mystery, my first but her seventh. Enjoyable to listen to, but nothing supersonic.

    Thanks for new thread south.

    I might suggest Tenant of Wildfell Hall for our next book club book, slightly surprised I haven't read it.

    I won't bring over my whole list but my highlights for 2016 so far are:

    No Country for old Men
    Seveneves
    Winter's Bone
    The Girl with all the Gifts - (yes really!)
wiltingfast · 04/11/2016 13:39

I didn't like it Satsuki , but I think I'm an outlier on it Grin

Maplessglobe · 04/11/2016 13:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/11/2016 17:28

Maples How lovely!

Here's my list:

  1. The Victorian Detective
  2. Stasiland
  3. Career of Evil
  4. Bazaar of Bad Dreams
  5. The Book of Strange New Things - HATED
  6. Travel guide/history Germany
  7. Ditto
  8. Sherlock Holmes & the Yule Tide Mystery
  9. The Good Fairies of New York
  10. The Great Railway Bazaar
  11. The Daffodil Mystery
  12. In the Land of White Death
  13. The Victorian Workhouse
  14. The Lie Tree
  15. Sherlock Holmes: The Spirit Box
  16. The English at the North Pole
  17. Leaving Berlin
  18. The Worst Journey in the World
  19. Berlin – Rory Maclean
  20. Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey)
  21. Dead Street
  22. Uglies
  23. Max Carrados
  24. The Osiris Ritual
  25. The Holy Thief
  26. The Janissary Tree
  27. The Spy who Came in from the Cold
  28. The Big Bow Mystery
  29. How to be a Victorian
  30. The Enchanted April
  31. The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth
  32. The Lady Vanishes
  33. The Lady from Nowhere
  34. The Green Mummy
  35. Fool Moon
  36. Hitchhikers’ Guide series
  37. Ditto
  38. Ditto
  39. Ditto
  40. A Very British Murder
  41. Playing to the Gallery – Grayson Perry
  42. Gone to Ground
  43. Faust’s Metropolis
  44. Sad Cypress
  45. The Secret Adversary
  46. A Colder War
  47. The Good German
  48. All Creatures Great and Small
  49. Stalin’s Nose
  50. The Ghosts of Berlin
  51. The Lord God Made them All
  52. Murder – British Crime Classic
  53. A Spy Amongst Friends
  54. Fear Stalks the Village
  55. Berlin Now
  56. My Man Jeeves
  57. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
  58. Just One Damned Thing After Another - HATED
  59. The Ice Cold Heaven
  60. A Man Lay Dead
  61. Behold, Here’s Poison
  62. Lord of the Flies
  63. Wolf of the Plains
  64. Lords of the Bow
  65. Lady Susan
  66. Facing Up
  67. The Midnight Swimmer
  68. The Loney
  69. Mary – Nabakov
  70. I Capture the Castle
  71. Lies We Tell Ourselves
  72. End of Watch
  73. True Grit
  74. Whose Body?
  75. Jane Austen and Food
  76. Bird Box
  77. Until the Final Hour
  78. Every Dead Thing
  79. The Things They Carried
  80. Into Darkness
  81. Anatomy of a Soldier
  82. A Woman in Berlin
  83. All the Light we Cannot See
  84. A Walk in the Woods
  85. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - HATED
  86. Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance
  87. The Crossing of Antarctica
  88. Destination Unknown – Agatha Christie
  89. Ordeal by Innocence –Agatha Christie
  90. The Other Side of Silence
  91. Nazi Women
  92. The Man in the High Castle
  93. Revelations of a Lady Detective
  94. The Drawing of the Three
  95. The Wastelands – King
  96. Wizard and Glass
  97. Wolves of the Calla
  98. The End of Innocence – Edith Wharton - HATED
  99. His Bloody Project
  100. The Dark Tower
  101. The Fireman – Joe Hill
  102. The Berlin Conspiracy
  103. We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
  104. Morning Star – Pierce Brown
  105. Orphans of the Carnival - HATED
  106. The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton
  107. The Halloween Party – Agatha Christie
  108. We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson
  109. Mansfield Revisited – Joan Aiken
  110. Lady Catherine’s Necklace – Joan Aiken
  111. Midnight is a Place – Joan Aiken
  112. Burial Rites
  113. Flowers forAlgernon
  114. 111 Places in Berlin: On the Trail of the Nazis
  115. Two Brothers – Ben Elton
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/11/2016 17:30

I've just bought dd2 'a bit of Cox' so might borrow it. It's huge though, so too heavy to read in the bath!

SatsukiKusakabe · 04/11/2016 18:38

Thanks, I'll persevere and see what side I fall on.

Love the code you've devised for the ones you weren't so keen on, Remus Grin

maplessglobe that's great, and please do join in next year Brew

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ShakeItOff2000 · 04/11/2016 18:39

My book update:

48. The Shining by Stephen King.

Classic atmospheric horror from Mr King. Really very good. I watched the film when I was about 13/14, scared me to death and the book did not disappoint.

49. Slade House by David Mitchell.

This has been reviewed a fair bit already on this thread. Suffice to say that I'll add my name to the 'Enjoyed it* pile. He is such a clever, inviting writer. I love that he mentions characters from his other books and enjoy noticing his pop culture references.

50. Siblings without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.

Recommended on the previous thread, sorry, but I can't remember who by! I've already read their other book this year "How to talk to kids" which I thought was excellent in helping me to stop shouting (as much) at my two boys and giving me different approaches to various situations. I thought this one was just as good. Easy, fun layout with good take-home messages. I even tried out one of their techniques and it worked like a charm! One very happy mummy..

I also picked up All quiet..! 😀 Looking forward to reading it..
Satsuki- I also did not get on with All the Light.. and gave up so will be interested if you find that it gets better.

I've reached 50 - yay! 🍾🎉

And here they are (best in bold, really very disappointing in italics):

  1. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.

2. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
  1. Instrumental by James Rhodes.
  2. Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
  3. City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett.
  4. Written in Fire (Book 3 of the Brilliance trilogy) by Markus Sakey.
  5. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.

8. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler.
9. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
10. Monsters of Men (Bk 3 of Chaos Walking Trilogy) by Patrick Ness.
11. The Mime Order (The Bone Season series) by Samantha Shannon.
12. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett.
13. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
14. Restoration by Rose Tremain.
15. How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.
16. The House at Pooh Corner by A.A.Milne.
17. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovich
18. Dragonflight; The First Chronicles of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
19. Olive Kettridge by Elizabeth Strout.
20. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
21. Flesh Wounds by Christopher Brookmyre.
22. Farewell Kabul by Christina Lamb.
23. Winnie-The-Pooh by AA Milne.
24. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson.
25. The Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt.
26. Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson.
27. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.
28. The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks.
29. The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle.
30. Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham.
31. Fool Moon (The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher.
32. Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon.
33. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
34. Red Moon by Benjamin Percy.
35. The Amber Fury by Natalie Hynes.
36. Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn.
37. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
38. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff.
39. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby.
40. Purity by Jonathan Franzen.
41. The Stand by Stephen King.
42. Noontide Toll by Romesh Gunesekera.
43. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
44. Yes please by Amy Poehler.
45. Foxglove Summer (PC Peter Grant Book 5) by Ben Aaranovitch.
46. The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serailler Book 1) by Susan Hill.
47. Uprooted by Naomi Novic.
48. The Shining by Stephen King.
49. Slade House by David Mitchell.
50. Siblings without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.
ShakeItOff2000 · 04/11/2016 18:43

Maples - that was me two years ago! The 2013 thread encouraged me back into reading and I've not looked back. I love this thread. 📚📚📚

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/11/2016 18:48

Grin - I thought I'd keep it nice and simple!

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