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

Will try and quite possibly fail! I have the same piles of books by my bed and on my bookcase. I put all the books I have read in the loft and only kept down to be read... Loads!

Having spent almost two years barely reading at all I launched into a reading spree this year and have already read 5!

1. The portrait of Dorian Gray (an old favourite)
2. The Prisoner of Heaven (good, but best read after Zafon's previous two)
3. Orchids on your budget
4. French children don't throw food
5. Top the Class (how Asian parents raise high achievers - excellent read!)

Needing more of a book fix, but didn't know what to read next. Some great suggestions here.

Incidentally I'm also (slowly) compiling a list of 50 must read fiction books for my blog, so any favourites/suggestions would be warmly welcomed!

Some of my favourites are:

Memoirs of a Geisha
Shadow of the Wind
Chocolat
The Time Traveller's Wife
The Historian
A Little Princess

So my plan to read all the books in my house before buying any others went right out the window today, after a trip to the charity shop I came home with another 9 books!! 25p each though, bargain!

Noseyparker - still missing wasn't bad, there were parts I really liked (the first half being captured) but it all seemed a bit rushed at the end and a little bit far fetched with the outcome. I'm finding Goon Squad a bit difficult to get in to. It's not holding myattention much and seeing as i have such a big reading pile I might not finish it!

I liked it but it felt like the "light" version of a better, more profound book. The first third was utterly boring and it is only when the book came to the testimonies of various war survivors from both sides that it started to get interesting.

So much more could have been done with that book.

Cote - What did you think of the Garden of Evening Mists; I read it last year and found myself almost hypnotised by the setting!

I've finished Anthony Horowitz's House of Silk, which was an enjoyable romp. I've pencilled in a trip to the library tomorrow to pick up some new books as quite a few that I've reserved are apparently now ready and waiting for me . . .

I don't think I will read 50 books this year but it's good to see what everyone else is reading.

So far I've read:
Mandarin Gate - Eliot Pattison
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng

... and now I'm reading:
Born to Run - Christopher McDougall

I finished Getting Rid Of Matthew this afternoon. It was easy to read and funny not my usual type of book at all though.

Onto book 5 now. Need to find a good one.

FleurPearl what did you think of 'still missing' ? I read it last year (50p from charity shop). I found it was ok but probably not the best book to read having read it straight after this one www.amazon.co.uk/A-Stolen-Life-ebook/dp/B005BQNC44/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359477996&sr=1-1 .I also read 'A visit from the Goon Squad' which I did not like much.

Thanks daisy! I'm looking forward to reading it!

I've got the android kindle app, which sounds the same. It's brilliant!

yes daisy the app is brilliant. Especially because it immediately knows where you are up to from your kindle. great for feeding

wednesday i loved gone,girl. read it one day, its a real page turner.

superscribbler book 12 ? wow youre flying through the books! well on track for the 50!

does anyone else have the kindle app on their iphone? its great - means you can sneak in a few chapters whenever you get the chance (which for me means sitting holding ds hand as he falls asleep which generally takes an hour.)

I finished The Legacy and thought it ok - not badly written, but just didn't grab me very hard.

I went straight onto The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and adored it. It's written in an inventive and effective format. The end did feel a little rushed though and I would have liked some final dialogue to tie the ends together (don't want to give too much away). But otherwise superb.

I'm about to begin book 12: The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse.

It may be the version velcro as I have read it a hundred times a few times in paperback. It may be worth going back to it some time as it is very good.

Am reading Getting Rid Of Matthew. Somebody recommend it on another MN thread and I thought I'd give it a go. It's about an affair from both OW and wife's POV. It is a bit silly but I'm enjoying it.

Thanks PerksOfBeingNorthern I will update when I get round to reading it!! Mau be a while though as I'm reading another one of his at the moment.

Daisy how was Gone Girl? I've just downloaded that onto my kindle!

That should have read don't and not do t. Am making as much sense as Persuasion apparently!

Gave up on Persuasion by Jane Austen. I do t know if it was me or the kindle version but the sentences made no sense

Just finished Pompeii by Mary Beard. Interesting topic but was slightly dismayed as I thought it was a book about the eruption and it wasn't

Also read Agatha Raisin& the Love from Hell
And
The Secret Supper Club

Now reading Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Thanks, daisy, I might give it a shot.

WednesdayNext A few quotes in 'The Alchemist' struck a chord with me, I highlighted them on my kindle and don't do that very often! I wasn't blown away by it though, it got a bit too preachy towards the end. It is quite short and easy to read...and was free Update on here if you get around to reading it!

nickname - it was quite enjoyable although I didnt like it as much as I was expecting too, given the positive reviews I'd heard. but its certainly an interesting , well written tale, and easy to read. i actually havent read anything of hers apart from Oranges. I think if you liked that, youll like it.

How did you like the Jeanette Winterson book, daisy? I love Oranges are not the only fruit, and I'm hesitating about whether to try this one too.

hello everyone - im going to join in too. im a pretty fast reader, infact i think too quick , as I often forget books as soon as Ive read them. so far this year i have read

1. Why be happy when you could be normal, Jeanette Winterson
2. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

Ive just put This is Where I leave you (i love the title!) by jonathan troper onto my kindle, so thats next.

Book 4 ~ Wait for Me by Elizabeth Naughton.
A certainty for the Bad Sex Award, and with more corpses than an Agatha Christie boxed set, WFM is not my normal type of reading matter, but I was lured by the good Amazon reviews.
The best I can say is that it was a quick read. Too much repetition, and not enough pace, tension or real action, the many murders were all reported. I could go on, but you get my drift.

Hoping to find something enthralling this time.