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?

tumbletumble I liked the idea of it and read it fairly quickly so it got points for being an easy read.

I read 40. Learning To Lose, by David Trueba, in translation from the Spanish, late last night and today. Beautifully written.

I've just started 41. This is where I leave you, by Jonathon Tropper.

Wow, this one is brilliant- I'm a third of the way through now, and so far it feels like it would make an excellent film. It's about a middle-aged Jewish bloke who has lost his wife to his boss, jacked in his job, is living in a bedsit and now his father has died. His father's last wish was that his family all sit shiva together, ie, spent seven days all together in his home after the funeral. All the family tensions are there, but the way it is written, it is full of wry Jewish humour and bittersweet observations about what success means, what life's all about etc. I'm really enjoying it.

Finished! That was fun- an easy and uplifting read. Good if you enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook or Nick Hornby-type novels. It won't win the Booker Prize, but I bet it will make a cracking film.

11. Who Killed Zebedee? Wilkie Collins

12. Entertaining Eric, Maureen Wells (non-fic. Extracts from letters written by a young woman during WWII to her fiancee. She had a "good war" in the Wrens)

13. The Ghosts of Athens, Richard Blake (latest a very gory but atmospheric series set during 7th century - very interesting period, amid the crumbling remains of classical empires)

14. Dear Lumpy, Roger and Louise Mortimer (non-fic. Along the same lines as "Dear Lupin". The fatherly affection is endearing but it's all a bit Little England).

15. Villa Serena, Domenica de Rosa (I really like this author. She takes a corny topic - English expats in Italy - and really makes you feel for her characters. And she creates very attractive heroes...)

16. Mistress Masham's Repose, TH White (Enjoyed the 18th c pastiche and the impoverished Professor who plans to work his passage to London as a bus conductor to consult Latin dictionaries in the British Library).

17. The Pleasures of Men, Kate Williams (familiar Gothic Victoriana - madhouses, a madman murdering women, and Sapphic intimacies with maids. Atmospheric but a ludicrous plot).

Have just started Tom Holland, Rubicon

24. How It All Began by Penelope Lively. Good - she's one of my favourite authors.

24. A Dreadful Murder (The Mysterious Death of Caroline Luard) - Minette Walters. Based on an unsolved 1908 murder, MW presages the changes that are about to occur due to WW1 and emphasises the social differences within the village.

25. On Battersea Bridge - Janet Davey. About loss of identity and finding your place within a family, after a tragedy.

31. The Girl in the Mirror - Sarah Gristwood. Confusing in places, but entertaining enough. Highly improbable main character against an interesting historical backdrop.

Now reading

32. How to do Everything and be Happy - Peter Jones. A sensible and realistic self-help book. He's actually a friend of another friend of mine, and is a very down-to-earth, practical guy.

33. The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language - Mark Forsyth. I love books about words and their etymology, so this is right up my street. I see he has another book in the pipeline, out later this year, so that'll be on my wish list.

34. The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story - Catherine Fletcher. Covering the six year period that it took for Henry to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Quite deep, but fascinating.

27. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

23. twenty wishes - debbie macomber, is done. absolutely loved this one. #5 in the blossom street series and its by far my fave one so far. absolutely lovely story with very likable characters. i even cried at one bit

24. summer on blossom street - debbie macomber. can you tell i love this author?

Still on 24: "The Wasp Factory". Love, love, love it so far. Amazingly well written and so unusual. I think Iain Banks is going to be featuring on my reading list a lot more after this.

Wednesday I just read The Wasp Factory too. Following Iain Banks' announcement of his illness I decided to read my way through all his stuff. Even the sci-fi; a bit of a departure from my normal taste in books. Have read him intermittently over the years - loved Espedair Street - and as a bit of a tribute thought I would do the lot. Starting with TWF

DH had read it years ago and warned me it was extremely disturbing and weird. Well I must have a sicker sense of humour than he thought but I absolutely loved it too. One of the best things I've read in ages, and one scene where Eric phones Frank is still making me laugh out loud. (Admittedly there's also one very disturbing bit which I try not to think about too often)

I'm now up to my third mainstream and fourth sci-fi novel. Mainstream is probably more my thing - really looking forward to Crow Road and revisiting Espedair Street - but all his books share a dry sense of humour and great dialogue and it's been interesting. Only 25 to go

26. Secrets of the Tudor Court by Darcey Bonnette

Book 59 finished today - The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman. I liked it a lot. Harrowing in the bits set in Terezin and Auschwitz,

And I also finished listening to The Gathering by Anne Enright (audio book). Good narration by Fiona Shaw, but quite a bleak depressing story.

41. Faithful Place by Tana French- a crime thriller . Kept me busy for a long train journey, really enjoyed it.

highlandcoo it's the first Iain Banks novel I've read. I've always meant to read it (and others of his) but not got round to it!! Any recommendations for which of his to read next?

26. Eloise - Judy Finnegan. Overwrought, over emotional and silly. Not recommended.

18. No Fond Return of Love, Barbara Pym.

A re-read by my favourite author. An absolute delight. I need to re-read more often - I sometimes feel like I'm always racing against the clock to get books back to the library, a totally self-imposed pressure.

Succumbed to the e-reader enthusiasm and bought a Kobo Mini, but finding it very complicated to download books (had to download software, so maybe it'll get easier). Not feeling the love as yet - still feels very fiddly.

21. Running with the Pack: Thoughts From the Road on Meaning and Mortality - Mark Rowlands
    As much about running as Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance was about Motorcycles - i.e. very little.

22. Killing Floor - Lee Child
    1st Jack Reacher book. Easy, quick read. Written in 1st person singular & mostly in very short sentences and a 150-word vocabulary, so it gives the impression that the protagonist is a bit of a muscled imbecile, but still fun to read

Wednesday Espedair Street is my favourite of the ten or so I've read. Really loved the central character, Daniel Weir, a former rock star. He has his faults but he's a very sympathetic character too.

Crow Road is another good one. Great opening first line; "It was the day my grandmother exploded" and excellent on family relationships, love, growing up, Scotland .. the murder mystery is just a small part of it.

Every book Iain Banks writes is quite different, and fans have their own favourites, but I'd say these two are probably the most accessible, and Crow Road is particularly Scottish which I also like

27. Home - Toni Morrison. Impeccable writing.

Did the grandmother actually physically explode? If so, it might make an interesting book

I am a big sci-fi fan who has read pretty much all the good sci-fi starting with Heinlein & Asimov all the way to contemporary cyberpunk, and I can't say that Iain Banks' sci-fi books are much good at all. I think I read about 8 of them before giving up completely. I heard his other books are better, though.

Other books = non-scifi.

I'm not a sci-fi fan so I can't compare them to much Cote. I've read three so far and still waiting to be wowed tbh. But persevering.

After IB's announcement of his illness I followed a lot of the posts on Banksophilia, the website set up for fans by one of his friends. So many people raved about the sci-fi I thought I'd give it a try. I do enjoy the dialogue but not so sure about the world of the Culture which many people find so entrancing.

The mainstream novels are excellent; I really recommend them.

And yes, the grandmother did actually explode. Kind of. You'll need to read Crow Road to find out