50 Book Challenge 2014

[juneybean]

Hopefully nobody minds me starting this thread.

The idea is to read 50 books in 2014 (or more as many people have achieved this year!)

Please also check out our group on Goodreads if you're stuck for ideas of what books to read!

www.goodreads.com/group/show/59438-the-book-vipers

BOOK 5 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

My new years resolution is to get back to reading more, instead of wasting train journeys refreshing mumsnet on my phone and playing Candy Crush. So this thread is perfect!

So far in the last 10 days I've read three amazing books which I have gobbled up as they all had the un-putdownable quality. I got them all for Christmas. They were:

1. Mad About the Boy (Helen Fielding)
2. The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Galbreith aka JK Rowling)
3. The Husband's Secret (Liane Moriarty)

...I've just placed an amazon order for a load more books as I'm scared I'm going to run out and fall back on bad habits.

1. redbreast - jo nesbo

i'm going to follow it up with donal ryan's 'the spinning heart'

i think i only managed about 10 last year. must try harder.

I'll join as I'm only starting to get back into reading since my one year old is beginning to sleep better.

In the past week have read The Husband's Secret and What Alice Forgot both by Liane Moriarty. Preferred the second one as it got me thinking about what has happened in the last ten years of my life and how much my own life has changed in that period of time.

Not sure what to read next. Thinking a classic that I've never got round to yet.

1. The Hunger Games - Catching Fire

Speeded through it thanks to a childfree day and being too exhausted from sleepless DD to do much else. Again, seen the film recently so I think probably skimmed it more than I intended but very much looking forward to now finally finding out what happens....

And an amazon parcel just got delivered...containing The Goldfinch YAY!!

Book 6 Dead Man's Folly. By Agatha Christie

I'd love to join please and, as long as audiobooks do count, should easily make 50 thanks to my new love affair with Audible! It's trebled my reading capacity as I can now 'read' whilst driving, making the tea, walking the dog....

So far:

1. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson (read) - a wonderful weaving of the threads of a life lived and relived.
2. Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson again (read) - why hadn't I come across this before?? Also wonderful.
3. Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman (listened in the car with 11 year old DS) - we both enjoyed this thought provoking teen romance; gave us lots to talk about.
4. The Rosie Project - Graham Simsion (listened) - hilarious.
5. Stoner - John Williams - just started to read this...

Not sure I'll be able to keep up this pace without becoming a total recluse for the entire year; tempting though...

1. Never Let Me Go -Kazuo Ishiguro (annoying style of narration, though I never like the premise of the story)
2. The Tiger in the Well - Phillip Pullman (children's/YA - realsied this has been on my bookshelf for nearly 3 years! Bought when I was pg with DS. Found parts of it actually quite upsetting, as they're plotting to kidnap Sally's child, but easy to read otherwise).

Read what I thought was a short story/prequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness called The New World. Turned out it was a SUPER short story that took me less then 20 minutes to read so definitely can't count it on my list!

Just moved on to A Christmas Carol by Dickens. Has been on my kindle for 2 years...the first thing I downloaded as a test. Trying to clear my backlog before starting my shiny new books!

Minsmum I have a love affair going on with Agatha Christie. Did you work out the murderer in Roger Ackroyd?

I read at least 3 books a week and have done since I was a child. I'll look at the link :)

I thought I read a lot, but I'm put in the shade by people who're on book 5 by 9th Jan! Like a few others, I've just gobbled down:

3. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty.

ballroom, I have What Alice Forgot lined up to read soon too.

Finished book no 1: The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Three hours of my life I will never get back. Now onto Cheri, of which I have higher hopes.

Got distracted from the books I was reading and just read A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer in a matter of hours. I liked it, never read it before. So that's 1.

Am going to go to the library for the Goldfinch as it seems to be rated very highly. Not sure though as I didn't like the Secret History at all, and hence didn't even try the Little Friend.

Finally finished book one - Her Brilliant Career by Rachel Cooke. Really interesting, covering the lives if women in the fifties who didn't fit the typical housewife model. And as a bonus it has a list of novels written by women in the fifties, none if which I've read, so I'll be looking in Amazon for those! Now only slightly daunted by all those on book four or five already, going to start May we be forgiven by a m home. Read a few pages last might and it was quite intense. Not sure how I'll get on with it yet.

halfaglassofouzodestructo - maybe you could share that list - sounds interesting
worriedabout - hope you enjoy the Cazelet Chronicles. I loved them and now have Elizabeth Jane Howard's biography to read.

Half - May We Be Forgiven took me a while to get into, the unusual style and surreal quality to the story was hard to adjust to, I found. But after a while it really sucked me in, I found it very moving and powerful overall. Hope you enjoy it!

Annewentworth I am ashamed to say I didn't. It came as a complete surprise to me.

Riverboat - does May We Be Forgiven lighten up?? A couple of chapters in - found it just too dark for my current state of mind!

Princess - it does lighten up, yes. I mean it's still bizarre and dark at times, but ultimately it is uplifting, you go on a journey with the main character, and there are lot of funny, light moments amid the darkness of certain characters / aspects of the plot.

Minsmum - I had a class where we discussed Roger Ackroyd last night and not one person worked it out and some hadnt finished reading it and I did a presentation where I told everyone.

Read Murder on the Orient Express if you haven't already and like Christie. One of my faves.

Another Agatha Christie with a good twist is And Then There Were None although it gets a bit weird towards the end. And yes, I failed to get the murderer in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd too!