50 Book Challenge 2013 -The Sequel!

30. When First They Met - Debbie Macomber. The kindest thing I can say about this romantic short story was that it featured a recipe for biscotti.

29. Hilary Mantel - Bring Up The Bodies. Better when read in large chunks, but was grim reading, knowing that all those people died because of the king's need for a legitimate male heir.

I'm going to be reading something light and frothy next to counteract it.

read up to part two in the 2 days after i posted about starting her fearful symmetry and havent had a chance to pick it up again (damn headaches!) until today...

just came to post my fave line in a book ever!!... "is it sad to fancy david tennant when you're dead?" ha!

enjoying it so far... will hopefully be done by the weekend

27. Tripwire (Jack Reacher #3) - Lee Child

Another day on the beach, another beach read. Great for that purpose, too.

I haven't made a proper list but can I add please? I am finding it very useful for book recommendations. Here are some I have read this year, prob not all, def not in order....

1. The 100 yo man who jumped....
2. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
3. Gone Girl
4. The Ocean at the end of the Lane. I adored this
5. A Monster Calls
6. You had me at hello
7. May contain nuts
8. A Casual Vacancy
9. Life Death and Vanilla Slices

Currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. And looking for a few more suggestions for my upcoming holiday....

30. The Mystery on the Blue Train, Agatha Christie (inspired by another thread on AC). Jewel thieves, male impersonators, foreign women who are no better than they should be and - appalled gasp - Jews. Rather enthralling as a period piece.

31. A Walk with Jane Austen, Lori Smith. The writer is an American evangelical Christian who came to the UK and visited places associated with JA. I thought her conservative and religious background gave her a useful perspective on JA: the importance of doing the expected thing, getting married and being a mother, what it's like to have a major crush on a man you barely know and weave all sorts of fantasies around him etc. I liked the realism of the travel - grotty B&Bs and late-running buses. That said, I didn't find her religious musings all that engaging, and it does fall into that category of American female writers who are all "Wow! Look at me being all daring and having a great big adventure!" when they are doing something fairly ordinary.

32. Alexandria, the Last Nights of Cleopatra, Peter Stothard. Another combination of memoir and travel, with a bit of history thrown in. While this is a genre I like, this particular effort didn't really work. It's mostly about the sayings and doings of his mysterious minders in Egypt plus musings about an old school friend who recently died. While those are potentially interesting subjects, in practice I found the book rather dull.

33. Currently nearing the end of Cat Among the Pigeon, Agatha Christie.

Updated list:

1. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
2. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
3. Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson
4. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
5. Sabra Zoo - Mischa Hiller
6. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
7. 1984 - George Orwell
8. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks
9. Metro 2033 - Dmitri Glukhovsky

Currently reading:
13. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
14. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

Only 3 chapters into "Sweet Tooth" so far but I'm hooked.

27. Saplings by Noel Streatfield. Not as good as her children's books, but an absorbing read.

26. Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed The Course of WWII - Ben Macintyre

Brilliant true story of a pivotal WWII deception ploy that assured Allied victory. Incredibly detailed, with photos of all players and even most documents. I heartily recommend this book to all non-fiction readers, especially if you are interested in WWII and/or war strategy & espionage. (Remus: That's you )

11. Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle - very quick and enjoyable read.

Currently reading:
12. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
13. Two Pints - Roddy Doyle

I really want to read Sweet Tooth. I downloaded the sample pages on my kindle a while back, but haven't got round to reading them yet. I've read three McEwan novels this year, so I'm fairly certain I'll like it. I've just got to get on with reading everything else I have lined up first :)

Updated list:

1. Coraline - Neil Gaiman
2. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
3. Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson
4. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
5. Sabra Zoo - Mischa Hiller
6. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
7. 1984 - George Orwell
8. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks
9. Metro 2033 - Dmitri Glukhovsky

Currently reading:
11. A Greyhound of a Girl - almost finished, it's lovely (or should that be grand?)
12. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson - only just started, so don't know what to think of it yet.

28. Kiss and Hell. 28. My way to Hell. Both by Dakota Cassidy. Light and fluffy, paranormal romance involving demons and ghosts and of course, true love conquering all.

Right - RL has got in the way.

So my #33 became #32 (The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language - Mark Forsyth)

33. How to do Everything and be Happy (Peter Jones). A sensible, do-able self-help book. I'm going to get a copy as I feel as though I almost know him (in RL he's the friend of a close friend of mine)
34. The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story(Catherine Fletcher) - factual but a little dry. 35.A Plague on Both Your Houses/ 36. An Unholy Alliance - both by Susanna Gregory.
35. The Brothers Boswell - Phillip Baruth. Not really sure what I made of it, to be honest. A nod to literary stuff in Georgian England, but mostly well-written nonsense, in the nicest possible way.

Finished book 29 "The 100 Year Old Man". It was a move gentle read, but I wasn't wowed by it and feel like I must have missed something as lots of people have recommended it to me as one of their favourite books.

Book 30 will be Ian McEwan's 'Sweet Tooth' based on Cote's recommendation. I'm really looking forward to starting it.

Book 64 - Lady Chatterley's Lover - D H Lawrence. Surprisingly readable. Gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

I read about two books a week normally, so have probably read about sixty so far this year. currently reading Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows by Harry Pearson, very amusing.

greenhill The Kindle was out of warranty but they sent me a new one, anyway. Yay for Amazon!

30. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

31. Martian Time-Slip - Philip K Dick
32. The Witches - Roald Dahl
33. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
34. The Worst Journey In The World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard
35. James And The Giant Peach - Roald Dahl (bedtime story for DS1)

mrsmarycooper your kindle broke? What a nightmare, but at least you can still download all the books to your new device. Was it still under warranty?

31. Martian Time-Slip - Philip K Dick
32. The Witches - Roald Dahl (to DS1 at bedtimes)
33. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
34. The Worst Journey In The World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Picked this up after reading Scott's Last Expedition (Cherry-Garrard was one of Scott's companions on the expedition) and actually it's the better read, brilliantly written and incredibly moving.

26. Papillon by Henri Charriere. I think someone mentioned this upthread - escape from a French penal colony in the 1930s / 1940s. Brilliant!

Now reading Saplings by Noel Streatfield, which I have also read about on MN recently - can't remember if it was this thread or another one. I loved her books as a child, so looking forward to this one.

Have just added 2 more books to my 'to read' list (Sweet Tooth and Apple Tree Yard) after reading all your posts!