50 Book Challenge 2013 -The Sequel!

[CardiffUniversityNetballTeam]

Morning all,

As the old thread here is nearly full, I have created a shiny new one for your delight and delectation.

Sign in and update your progress here!

I'm Cardiff and I've nearly finished book 16, so I'm very behind as to be in track we should be approaching 25 by now. Where is everyone else up to?

Sorry, haven't posted here for a while but am enjoying seeing everyone's choices.

15. The Blackhouse - Peter May 7/10
16. Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz (non-fiction) - Eilat Neyev 7/10
17. Dead Tracks - Tim Weaver 7/10
18. Layer Cake - J J Connolly 8/10
19. Far from the East End (non-fiction) - Iris Jones Simantel 7/10
20. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh 8/10

I've had a good run of some good reads - the Language of Flowers was particularly beautifully written.

I'm on holiday in 10 days time and would love to spend some time reading by the pool but doubt my kids will let me, sadly as they (and me to a certain extent, I guess) want to be doing 'stuff' and going on excursions - how do people manage to read so many on holiday??

Just finished Book 37, The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. Really enjoyed it. It is set at the time of the Salem Witch trials and captures the superstition, hysteria and horror perfectly.

Book 37 To Davy Jones Below - Carola Dunn

Book 38 The Case of the Murdered Muckraker - Carola Dunn.

Racing through this series good clean fun

30. The Visitor - Lee Child
31. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time - Mark Haddon

30. Moon Called - Patricia Briggs
31. Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs
32. Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
33. Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
34. Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs
35. River Marked - Patricia Briggs
36. Frost Burned - Patricia Briggs

As you may have guessed those are all one series. It's a series about Mercy Thompson, a 'walker' who shapeshifts into a coyote, and her adventures with werewolves, fae, vampires, etc in the Tri-cities area of Washington. I love this sort of stuff and this is one of the better series I've read. And it's ok for me to recommend it to my teenage dd because it doesn't have the graphic sex scenes that so many books in this genre seem to be full of.

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

10. The Smoke Jumper - Nicholas Evans 11. A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle 12. Two Pints - Roddy Doyle 13. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce 14. The Hour I First Believed - Wally Lamb

Currently reading:
15. Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss

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
36. The Children's Hospital - Chris Adrian
37. Ring Of Bright Water - Gavin Maxwell. A reread of a classic nature book which I've loved since I was very young.

Book 68 - The End of Your Life Bookclub by Will Schwalbe. I loved this book, even though it is upsetting.

39 Mistletoe and Murder - Carola Dunn

Finished book 32 "The Prince of the Icemark". It was a good read. Nothing amazing, but a good prequel to the series.

Book 33 is Emma Donoghue's "The Sealed Letter". Had this one sitting on my kindle for a long time!!

20. In The Woods by Tana French

Police procedural / psychological thriller set in Ireland. V.good.

21. The Hundred Year Old Man.......... By Jonas Jonasson

I think this has had some really mixed reviews on MN but I for one really enjoyed it.

1. The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson
2. The Lotus Eaters - Tatjani Soli
3. The Panopticon - Jenni Fagan
4. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
5. The Great Gatsby
6. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson
7. Stoner - John Williams
8. The Land Lay Still - James Robertson

Really enjoying reading again. It makes me more thoughtful / mindful of the quality of relationships and conscious of how precious time is.

What was Stoner like, novel? Daunts in Marylebone High St has a huge display of the novel in its window and I was quite intrigued.
Seems to be one of these books that becomes a success by word of mouth, long after being first published.

40 Die Laughing - Carola Dunn

39. Big Brother - Lionel Shriver. Quite depressing and polemical, with some really well made points.

23. Dear Lumpy... Letters to a Disobedient Daughter by Roger and Louise Mortimer. Following on from Dear Lupin, very enjoyable.
24. Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman. Won't be rushing to recommend this, easy beach read.

I think I am now getting behind if I am going to make it to 50, suppose that I should choose some slim volumes for a while to catch up!

29. Millstone by Margaret Drabble, recommended on another thread. I like her books (but haven't read any for years) and I really enjoyed this one.

37. The Ocean at the end of the lane - Neil Gaiman

highlandcoo I enjoyed Stoner - it reminded me a lot of Alice Munro's short stories, simple, clear language but with such depth of characterisation. What will stay with me is the description of his relationship with his corrosive wife, Edith. A briliant portrayal of a dysfunctional marriage.
It's a quiet, understated novel dealing with Stoner's quiet, understated life, but Stoner is a hugely sympathetic character.

28. one moment one morning - sarah rayner, has litterally just been finished. nothing really exciting happens but i enjoyed it and its nicely written.

29. never look away - lindwood barclay. read the first chapter a few weeks ago while waiting for dh to finish his book browsing and was hooked. brought it at the weekend so im being naughty putting at the top of the pile and reading it now

Finished book 33 "The Sealed Letter". I really enjoyed it.

Book 34 is a dossier by Michael Volpe on the prevalence of PTSD in whistle-blowers looking at a number of high profile cases. Not to everyone's taste, but I find things like these fascinating, particularly as I have/do suffer from symptoms of ptsd myself (although not linked to whistle-blowing)

Have been meaning to name change for ages from the really boring NicknameTaken, so have finally taken the plunge, with a name selected in honour of this thread!

Finally finished The Letters of Jane Austen. I enjoyed them, but they unfailingly put me to sleep within 20 minutes or so.

Also read:
38) The English, Matt Rudd. Mildly amusing but shallow as a puddle.

39. The Deeds of the Disturber, Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody, Victorian feminist, archaeologist, Egyptologist, devoted wife and solver of crimes, often in Egypt but this one was set in London. Always good fun, although I think the author is American and her "voice" doesn't always ring true).

I have a stack of tempting crime but feel I need to get on with Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation, by David Bellos. He teaches at Princeton, and I feel like I'm sitting in a seminar. I mean that in a positive sense - it's engaging and amusing and authoritative. But the crime is still alluring...

30. The murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Thoroughly enjoyed this romp in the English countryside.

Next up is:

One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich.

Book 41 The Mournful wedding - Carola Dunn

My kindle broke but luckily they sent me a new one this morning so Carry on reading