50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 2

[juneybean]

Thread 2 of the 50 book challenge. Here is the previous thread...

The idea is to read 50 books in 2014 (or more!)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/1951735-50-Book-Challenge-2014

19. Longbourn , Jo Baker

I really loved it! Thank you to all those on this thread who recommended it, I'm not sure I'd have found it otherwise.

Sarah was a great character, and it was a lot of fun to have the P&P crew knocking around in the background. I loved the writing style, and it had a decent twist (though I saw it coming very early on - I wonder if it was in fact meant to be guessed in advance?)

It has given me a taste for more novels of the period, so I've picked up North and South as my next book, it's been sitting unread on my shelves for quite a while...

11. Guilt- Jonathan Kellerman

In my 20s I read all of his books but haven't read one in ages. It was quite nice to be back with characters and settings which are comfortably familiar, as opposed to the Patricia Cornwell series where everyone has turned psycho.

Book 28 Natural Magic by Doreen Valiente

Interesting book, by one of the founders of modern witchcraft, which deals with the age-old white magic used by wise women and cunning men for centuries. It looks at the magic within nature - herbs, flowers and trees, the four elements, colours, numbers, traditional spells and charms, etc. More of a historic collection of knowledge than a 'how-to' guide, although there are practical details in there too.

What is "modern witchcraft"? I'm curious.

27. The Girl With All the Gifts - MR Carey Post-apocolyptical zombie book. Totally brilliant. It's a great thick book but borrowed it from the library yesterday and had finished it by 10am this morning!

21. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

This book made me really quite sad. Wasted lives because of little communication in a marriage.

Cote It's what came out of the broom closet after the repeal of the witchcraft laws in the 1940s - basically what was created by the likes of Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. Doreen Valiente wrote a lot of the liturgy involved in Gardner's rituals, including The Witches Rune and The Charge of the Goddess, since Gardner had initially used quite a lot from Aleister Crowley's works in his Book of Shadows and Valiente objected to Crowley's reputation. She was very influential in the development of neo-pagan witchcraft.

30. Down London Road. - Samantha Young 8/10

Yes, sure, but what do people think it involves? Mixing herbs and dancing a bit to feel good or real magic that does supernatural things?

Well, for the witches I know, magic is a real thing. They make spell bags with herbs to hang around the home for protection, they meditate to meet spirit guides, they cast healing spells, all that sort of thing. But a lot of it is also about retuning with nature, with the eight major festivals marking the cycle of the seasons.

Thanks Chillie, that's interesting. The one woman know who calls herself a "white witch" seems to thin it is herbalism - mix some herbs, make an ointment, that sort of thing. I didn't know that some people claim they do real magic in the 21st century, but I guess it's no different than expecting something to change through prayer & talking to God.

Woah, my numbers are LOW!

This morning I finished Capital by John Lanchester.
It was really well written, perfectly pitched characters but what was the point?
Turns out I'm quite a traditionalist when it comes to plot. I like my books to have one.

I'm speed reading The Husbands Secret so I can find out what the bloody secret is :-) I'm so nosey!

29 Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris. A collection of short stories which, apart from a totally incomprehensible (to me) sci fi one, I enjoyed very much.

37. Patrick Dilloway "The Carnival Papers" - an enjoyable collection of short stories.
38. Anne Rice "The Queen of the Damned" - my favourite of the Vampire Chronicles so far.
39. Matt Pritchett "25 Years of Matt". Light relief, interesting in places.
40. Ian Rankin "Hide and Seek". I enjoyed this, but felt the ending a bit rushed.

If there was a 'like' button *TurnofftheTV' I would have used it at your last post

Just finished 'The Cuckoo's Calling' and thoroughly enjoyed it. After a gentle start it picked up pace and I have been compelled to stay up much later over the last two nights to find out 'who did it'

Now, what next ...

Oh, by the way I am in awe about how much some of you read and very jealous you have the time..

A few to update my list with:

16 - Love with a Chance of Drowning - Torre Deroche
17 - The Girl you Left Behind - Jojo Moyes
18 - The Bear - Claire Cameron

16 was a memoir from a girl who gave up corporate life to sail round the pacific with her boyfriend - I enjoyed it, even if it did put me off dreams of sailing! 17 a good Jojo Moyes set partially in the first world war and partially today. 18 - a thought-provoking, bit scary, emotional read about a bear attack, didn't enjoy it but was gripping.

1. Longbourn

2. You had me at hello

3. Love, Nina

4. Getting over Mr Right

5. The Husband's Secret

6. The Donor

7. Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore

8. The Rosie Project

9. Black Venus

10. The Emergence of Judy Taylor

11. Sir Gawain and Green Knight

12. Can Anybody help me? By Sinead Crowley.

13. Alex by Pierre LeMaitre.

14. Romps, Tots and Boffins: the strange language of news

15. The Examined Life: how we lose and find ourselves

16. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer.

17. The Hunger Games

18. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

19. Mockingjay.

20. Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham (AB)

21. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid.

22. A close relative's next book. It's out later this year & is very good.

23. Beatrice Goes to Brighton by M C Beaton. I needed something really quick and light to read but this was too light.

24. The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry. This is a quirky little novella. It's a monologue from a librarian who finds a rogue borrower who has stayed overnight. It's funny and poignant but also very much about the state of libraries in present day France.

Book 17 started: The Light Between Oceans - M L Steadman

22. The Husbands Secret. Loved loved loved it. I didn't want it to end.

31. Falling. - Emma Kavanagh Pass able thriller, easily guessed the plot twist 8/10

Hi can I come to the party a bit late? My books so far this year are:

1. The clan of the cave bear
2. The valley of horses
3. The Mammoth hunters
4. The Plains of Passage
5. The Shelters of stone
6. The Land of Painted Caves

All above by Jean Auel, loved them as a teenager, rereading as an adult and they are still good but the naughty bits are a bit

1. Riders
2. Rivals
3. Polo

Just discovered Jilly Cooper and can't believe what I've been missing! soo good. 10. Chole by Freya North 11. Something Borrowed, Emily Griffin 12. Something Blue, Emily Griffin Its good to see what everyone else is reading although I'm stuck rereading books at the moment due to lack of funds. Thinking of rereading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series but not sure if I'm up for such an epic -very long readathon

Book 48 - The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin. This is a very English, rather dated and very, very daft who-dunnit novel set in Oxford, featuring rambling Jane Austen fans, crazy English literature professors, a toy shop and a dead body which both mysteriously disappear and various shenanigans with punts, choirs and dalmatians. I onnly read it because I did a quick charity shop grab in desperation and it had a pretty cover and was only a pound.

It's insane. I absolutely loved it.