Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

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:
MegBusset · 17/01/2013 13:29

Schnarkle Fahrenheit 451's on my list too, arrived from Amazon today with a few others (V for Vendetta, The Death Of Grass and The Knife Of Never Letting Go).

Dragontrainer · 17/01/2013 13:56

Finished the Care of Wooden Floors, and couldn't have disliked it more! I found it one of those books which, sentence by sentence, is very well written but didn't work as a whole, particularly as I couldn't stand the characters.

I've also read the Lewis Man by Peter May, which I raced through: a good pageturner.

I'm about to continue the reading marathon by moving on to John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk.

elkiedee · 17/01/2013 18:59

ShriekingNora, I hope you're grateful to your 9 year old - I think my mum read my copy when I was your dd's age, but I don't know if I had to beg her. I recommend the other two books in the trilogy too, though #2 is probably a bit old for your dd, and although #3 is published as a children's book, it just isn't - grown up Anna goes to visit her mother in Berlin after the war and it's really a very grown up book (nothing x rated, it just isn't really for kids).

Shellwedance · 17/01/2013 19:50

Finished Alys, Always. Really good characterisation, interesting take on the Single White Female concept, I really liked it.

Now on to Number 5, The Twelve, which I'm really looking forward to.

NicknameTaken · 18/01/2013 10:06

Finished The Emperor of All Maladies. Enjoyed the human story, but got a bit lost in the genetics part towards the end.

Read the first chapter or two of The Stepmothers' Support Group, but not sure I can be bothered to go on. Not badly written as such, just a bit pointless.

Dabbling with the first few chapters of Wilkie Collins' No-Name. Enjoying it so far, but not necessarily prepared to make the commitment to follow the story the whole way through.

Albertmajor · 18/01/2013 16:55

I've also set myself a challenge, but only 2 per month - plus an extra on holiday, so 25 in total. I find reading on a Kindle much easier than carting paperbacks about though, and I must admit I'm going for the 'lighter' books to get me through January. This one is good for a 'switching the mind off' read - plus it's cheap on Amazon at the mo! www.amazon.co.uk/Rosy-Georges-Convention-Conundrum-ebook/dp/B008OZENS8/ref=la_B008QN1FNY_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358528014&sr=1-1

minsmum · 18/01/2013 19:27

Well I finished my 5th book A Room With a View and I must confess that I didn'tenjoy it as much as the film. I found it hard going

PurpleStorm · 18/01/2013 19:46

Finished book no. 2: Blake Charlton - Spellwright. It was so so. Got better towards the end, but I don't think I'm going to bother with the inevitable sequel.

WednesdayNext · 18/01/2013 22:29

Finished book 4, The Expats. Thoroughly enjoyed it. A kindle 20p bargain.

Got my new kindle today so starting book 5 on it. It's Alice Hoffman ' fortunes daughter'

ISpyPlumPie · 18/01/2013 23:17

Finished book 2 and 3 : NW, and 1227 QI amazing facts (hope that one counts!).

Can't decide what to make of NW - enjoyed the streams of conciousness style and elements of the story, but not convinced it all hangs together that well. Might have been better for the ideas to have been explored separately as complete novels, though I understand the fragmentation and lack of neat endings are part of the overall effect.

Just started Andrew Marr's Modern History of Britain (can you tell I made the most of the Kindle sale?) Really fascinating so far, but it's long so think I'll have to interperse a few other books to have any chance of hitting 50.

MrsMaryCooper · 19/01/2013 08:13

Finished No7 The Janus Stone - Elly Griffiths. I enjoyed it good plotting, interesting characters.

Now on to No8 The House at Sea's End - Elly Griffiths again. It is the 3rd in her Ruth Galloway series and I'm enjoying it so far.

shrinkingnora · 19/01/2013 10:53

Number 5 finished - went for The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. It is FANTASTIC. Really enjoyed it. Think some intensive Conan Doyle is in the near future!

Cherrypi · 19/01/2013 10:56

Ooh I have the house at sea's end out the library. Currently reading Alys, always by Harriet Lane as someone else has reserved that one.

minsmum · 19/01/2013 10:59

my number 6 book is Wolf Hall I may be some time.

NotGeoffVader · 19/01/2013 11:24

Nickname, Moonshine and Velcro - I read all the Ben Aaranovitch books last year; really enjoyed them but possibly because I could imagine myself in many of the places he mentioned, being London born & bred.

I finished book 2 "Feasting, Fasting" on Thursday evening, and am working on finishing book 3 "The Long Earth" which is getting stranger and stranger by the minute!

Next up are;

  1. Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelley
  2. A cat, a hat and a piece of string - Joanne Harris
  3. Ash: Return of the beat - Gary Val Tentura (never heard of him, book bought for me)
  4. I can make you hate - Charlie Brooker
SuperScribbler · 19/01/2013 15:23

Well I really loved the quirkiness of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. My onlt criticism is that I wish it had been longer as I wanted to spend more time in the company of the characters.

I've made a start on book number 7, which is Netherwood by Jane Sanderson. It was recommended by a friend who knows I enjoy Downton Abbey, but so far, so Catherine Cookson. Not my thing, but I'll forge on for now.

SuperScribbler · 19/01/2013 15:25

Doh, that should be book number 8, not 7.

acsec · 19/01/2013 15:30

I'm in. One of my resolutions was to read more.

Currently reading How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. Enjoying it, but don't find much time to read, so have to change that.

mydadsdaughter · 19/01/2013 22:20

just finished casual vacancy by J K Rowling which I absolutely loved, I'm also including David Williams 'the boy in a dress' as have been reading it to my ds 1 and we both really enjoyed this book. I have just started reading the Cammila book by Sues Townsend which doesn't look to promising at the moment and me and my ds 1 have just started reading the first of 'Series of unfortunate events' which does look like it's going to be good! so that's 3 down 47 to go !

Galaxymum · 20/01/2013 05:35

I finished no. 3 today Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. Amazing novel. I koved the characters and whole concept was very well written. A bit too close to experiences of my own in 2012 but was a wow book.

No. 4 is a book club book The Paris Wife.

youcantwearthatmum · 20/01/2013 06:50

Stuck on number one bookclub choice Ben Goldacre 'Bad Science' for two reasons. It's non-fiction and I like a narrative to keep me going. Should be interesting - challenges homeopathy, the beauty industry and nutritionists. But find myself skipping bits. Also have spending far too much time on reading blogs and mindless Internet surfing

mcsquigg · 20/01/2013 09:25

I'm still on number 2 - really enjoying les miserables and don't want to rush it but it's lengthy and I'm getting slightly impatient to start on the rest of my pile. I have "on chesil beach" waiting for me and it looks really good. It will be a while though, only a third of the way through les miserables...

minsmum · 20/01/2013 12:26

Really enjoying Wolf hall and the snow means I'm getting time to read which is nice. Its the first paperback I've read since I got my kindle and it does feel very odd

NicknameTaken · 20/01/2013 15:34

youcant, I liked the Bad Science book - I found it worth sticking with.

Just finished Emily Barr's latest, Stranded. I'm a fan of hers, and as usual I raced through it very rapidly, but it wasn't up to her best. The plot was frankly ludicrous - I don't mind suspending belief, but this plot just didn't make any sense at all.

Southeastdweller · 20/01/2013 16:28

I'm slightly behind, having just finished my second book, and it's all Jeanette Winterson's fault. 'Oranges are not the Only Fruit' was the most tedious book I've read for ages. It took me two weeks to finish it and it's only 171 pages! Feel sorry for the kids studying it at school...

Tonight I'm going to kindle the book du jour - 'The Fast Diet', which I should read quickly given I'm about two stones overweight and struggle with other diets