Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

50 Book Challenge in 2013. Who's with me?

991 replies

CardiffUniversityNetballTeam · 05/01/2013 16:58

Tidying up after Christmas it has come to my attention that I have nearly 100(!!) paperbacks in stacks down the side of my bed waiting to be read. BlushBlush
I am going to challenge myself to try and read at least 50 of them this year. That's nearly one a week so I am going to have to really apply myself and stop faffing around and doing other things when I could be enjoying a good book.
I wondered if anyone else would like to join me? We can post what we are reading and then post when we have finished each book and what's next.
I know I would love to hear what others are reading and enjoying (or not enjoying) so I can go out and buy more books in a few months time!
My first book of the year is President Down by Terence Strong about spies and terrorists which my dad lent me about a year ago! I'm only about 20 pages in, but so far so good.

OP posts:
shrinkingnora · 27/03/2013 11:42

Enjoyed a Study in Scarlet but it wasn't particularly memorable. Clever,
though.

  1. The Ninth Life of Louis Drax - Liz Jensen is absolutely brilliant so far.
gailforce1 · 27/03/2013 11:00

Morning Everyone
So pleased this thread is keeping going as I am getting loads of ideas of books to put on my "to read list" which never gets any shorter!
12. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. Enjoyed this, well written.
13. The summer after the funeral by Jane Gardam. Ok but I understand not one of her more enjoyable books.
14. The code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse. Light, easy & amusing.

Currently reading MN book of the month by Jon McGregor.

Original poster
CardiffUniversityNetballTeam · 27/03/2013 09:34

Morning all.

I am getting behind too. I had wanted to be up to about 15 by now.

Book 9 was How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran. I enjoyed this. I didn't find it was revelatory or anything. She has a funny turn of phrase and really knows how to use swear words well I thought.

Book 10 was Room by Emma Donaghue. I wasn't sure when I started it, mainly because it has taken a real beating on some other threads on here. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as the subject matter isn't particularly enjoyable, but it will definitely stay with me for a while.

Book 11 is going to be Heartstone by C J Sansom, which I know I am going to love. I just wish it didn't have to be 700 pages long!!

OP posts:
MrsMaryCooper · 27/03/2013 08:09

Finished World War Z which was excellent. All written in different voices of survivors of the war being interviewed by a researcher.

  1. Gently with the Ladies - it was on the Kindle daily deal. I really should be reading something that I have waiting....
PerksOfBeingNorthern · 26/03/2013 18:04
  1. Laura Harrington - Alice Bliss. Loved it. Story of a teen girl whose father is posted to Iraq.
DuchessofMalfi · 25/03/2013 17:07

Finished Book 28 - The Closed Door and Other Stories by Dorothy Whipple. Absolutely loved it. Superb collection of bittersweet domestic tales set between the wars.

Now onto Book 29 - French Children Don't Throw Food by Pamela Druckerman. Should be an interesting read.

linkainka · 25/03/2013 17:03

I'm in but need a lot of catching up. Have not been reading enough! X

greenhill · 25/03/2013 13:54

I'm not keeping up, so am marking my place, to still see what everyone else is reading...

Galaxymum · 25/03/2013 13:37

Book 12 done! Brighton Belle by Sara Sheridan. Hmmmm not sure how I feel about it. Easy read, girls' own mystery. Bit unmemorable.

Book 13 MUST be one off my TBR actual bookshelf before I spend any more on my kindle!

EggBasket · 24/03/2013 21:36
  1. From Hell - Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
  2. Room - Emma Donoghue
  3. Omon Ra - Victor Pelevin
  4. The Knife Of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
  5. The Ask And The Answer - Patrick Ness

Part 3 of the so-far-excellent Ness trilogy next!

CoteDAzur · 24/03/2013 21:32
  1. A Matter Of Honor - Jeffrey Archer

It was OK, but nothing terribly special. Spy story. Soviets, Americans, British, and an English civilian on whom it all depends blah blah.

shrinkingnora · 23/03/2013 18:48

  1. Sick as a Parrot - Liz Evans

  2. The 12th Victim

  3. Who Killed Marilyn Monroe - Liz Evans - this is book one of the series but was annoyingly the last Amazon purchase to arrive!

  4. A Study in Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. About halfway through this and like it but am not hugely fussed at the moment. Hopefully it will pick up. Very badly written foreword by Steven Moffat, too.

MrsMaryCooper · 23/03/2013 15:20

Finished 25 The Crow Trap - Ann Cleeves, it was very good, I find Vera to be quite annoying in the later books but here (first in series) she is a very engaging rounded character. It's better plotted as well.

PerksOfBeingNorthern · 23/03/2013 15:06

Been reading too many kindle freebies and vowing to read something meatier over Easter. I want to be carried away! Latest three:
18) Robert Ellis - The Dead Room
19) Leigh Jenkins - Anne The Saint
20) Deb Stover - Another Dawn

Allalonenow · 23/03/2013 14:46

Book 16 ~ Orphan of the Olive Tree by Mirella Sichiroll, reads as though it has been translated into English from Serbo-Croat via Urdu. Hugh sink holes in the plot, especially at the denouement. Not sure why I bothered really.

Book 17 ~ Isabella Rockwell's War by Hannah Parry, a YA book but I would say more suitable to a nine or ten year old reader. Fagin meeets Swallows and Amazons.

Book 18 ~ The Counting House by Christina Croft, very enjoyable glimpse of family life in 1960s. Well drawn characters, especially Mum and Dad. I liked the narrative voice of the dangerously accident prone Georgie.

MrsCosmopilite I hope you enjoy The Agincourt Bride!

tumbletumble · 22/03/2013 21:50

Book 9 - Pear Shaped by Stella Newman. The plot is pretty formulaic chick lit, but it is well written and readable.

Book 10 - How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran. Some bits are annoying but I enjoyed this much more than I expected to!

Currently reading Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway - not the kind of thing I'm usually into (it's of the 'fantasy' genre) but so far it's a great read.

minsmum · 22/03/2013 19:52

I have been really struggling to get into the book that I have been reading. So I have left it at the moment to browse the amazon kindle spring sale. Am I mad

shrinkingnora · 22/03/2013 12:56
  1. Gone - Mo Hayder. Much better than Skin.
  2. JFK is missing - Liz Evans
  3. Don't mess with Mrs In Between - Liz Evans
  4. Barking - Liz Evans

Things are getting a bit trashy. Must get back to the Booker shortlists.

The Liz Evans ones are like an English Stephanie Plum. Funny and fairly intricate plots.

mumslife · 22/03/2013 12:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DuchessofMalfi · 22/03/2013 12:25

I've finished 27. Atonement by Ian McEwan, which I really enjoyed. Good twist. Briony Tallis is the ultimate manipulative, unreliable narrator.

Now on to no.28 a book of short stories - The Closed Book and other stories by Dorothy Whipple. Started this morning, and liking it so far.

NicknameTaken · 22/03/2013 10:53

I may have made it sound very preachy. The book doesn't come out and say those things - they are my meditations on the subject...

NicknameTaken · 22/03/2013 10:52

Now on Amateurs in Eden by Joanna Hodgkin. About the wife of Lawrence Durrell, written by the subject's daughter. I'm really enjoying this, very well written. So far it's been a portrait of an unhappy Edwardian girlhood in a dysfunctional family. It's a reminder that modern family breakdown and divorce represents a rather wonderful freedom, looked at in a certain light. And I'm reminded all over again of the value of women being educated to make their own way in world.

CoteDAzur · 22/03/2013 08:30
  1. The Quantity Theory Of Insanity - Will Self

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of Ballardian short stories. Will Self has clearly been inspired and influenced by J G Ballard (especially his The Atrocity Exhibition) and introduces dark humour to Ballard's twisted themes involving insanity. Love it! Grin

Now on to a spy book by Jeffrey Archer that's been "sitting" in my Kindle for over a year...

MrsMaryCooper · 22/03/2013 08:23

Game of Thrones is great

WednesdayNext · 21/03/2013 12:02

Book 15: The Lifeboat finished. It was a really good read.

Book 16 is the 3rd in the Game of Thrones series. I'm afraid I'm a bit addicted!