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

Book umm 5 I think Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. A re-read for me but my current book club one. Reminded me how much I loved it and how much I really want to read the (still unpublished and possibly never coming) second and third ones.

Book 1 - the Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
Book 2 - The Blackhouse - Peter May
Book 3 - The Universe Versus Alex Woods.
Book 4 - Mad About the Boy
Book 5 - My Life - David Jason
Book 6 - Paper Towns - John Green
Book 7 - We Are Water - Wally Lamb
Book 8 - American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Book 9 - What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
Book 10 - The Personal History of Rachel Dupree - AnnWeisgarber
Book 11 - The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng.
Book 12 - The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
Book 13 - Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle
Book 14 - Gangsta Granny - David Walliams
Book 15 - The Rosie Project
Book 16 - 12 Years a Slave
Book 17 - Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
Book 18 - Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Book 19 - The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin
Book 20 - Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone.
Book 21 - The House We Grew Up In

I enjoyed this one. Busy with more drama than most families see in several generations but pretty nicely done. Some great description, especially of the house in the later years. A sad story and somewhat anticlimactic for me but I'd recommend it if you want something easy that moves along nicely.

21. Vernon Coleman "Secrets of Paris"
22. Nathan Filer "The Shock of the Fall"

Both were ok. I enjoyed The Shock of the Fall.

BOOKS OF 2014

1. The Aquariums Of Pyongyang - interesting but somehow not as engaging as Nothing To Envy, the best account I've read of real lives in North Korea.

1. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver- superb YA Mean-Girls-meets-Groundhog-Day. Moving and convincingly written.

1. The Universe Versus Alex Woods. Enjoyable read- I really warmed to the characters.

1. Saints Of The Shadow Bible- Ian Rankin. Great, like slipping into a warm bath for a Rebus fan.

1. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt. I almost feel like it's pointless to start another, because it's almost certainly the best book I'll read this year! Just beautiful.

1. July 1914: Countdown To War, Sean McMeekin- too much minutiae,mnot sure I agreed with his reading.

1. Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup

1. Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom- read this years ago, but it was a cheap kindle offer. More saccharine than I remember.

1. The Resistance, The French Fight Against The Nazis, Matthew Cobb- learned a lot.

10. Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple- really enjoyable.

11. The Female Eunuch

12. Persuasion, Jane Austen

13. Vanity Fair, Thackeray

14. The Secret History, Donna Tartt- wonderful, but not as good as The Goldfinch.

15. Paid For, Rachel Moran- harrowing memoir, but makes good points about its topic of prostitution.

16. The Shock of The Fall, Nathan Filer- found this depressing, tbh.

17. Blood, Sweat and Tea, Tom Reynolds- a bit dour after the better Nee Naw blog.

18. The Lewis Man, Peter May- excellent detective fiction.

19. The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion- warm and funny. Not sure if the whole aspie lit thing is getting old, mind, but I liked this.

20. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris- hilarious.

21. One Summer: America 1927, Bill Bryson- fascinating, as ever.

22. She Left Me The Gun, Emma Brockes- excellent and moving memoir.

23. The Fault In Our Stars, John Green- this year's Me Before You; very authentic teenage voices, good.

12. The Stand. Liked it but didn't love it. I think that if I'd read this as a teenager when it came out I would have devoured it as it's just the kind of thing I loved back then. The language irritated me immensely at times and the fact that King had updated it and set it in 1990 when it had the feel of the 70s got on my nerves a bit too. Having said that, it was a real page turner and a good read.

13. Thurber's Letters(ongoing)

Also just stared the second Vera Stanhope book.

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 by Graeme Simison

9. Black Venus by Angela Carter

10. The Emergence of Judy Taylor by Angela Jackson There are some lovely passages and descriptions in this book but the saggy and draggy middle means it doesn't live up to its promise.

11. Sir Gawain and Green Knight - Simon Armitage.
    I studied the original poem at uni so have been meaning to read this translation for years. Shockingly, it's better than mine!

12. Can Anybody help me? By Sinead Crowley. If ever a novel was written by at MNer, this is it. It's not out until May (my DH was sent an advance copy and I nicked it) but I think its natural audience are us lot. It's an Irish thriller based on the premise that you never know who you're really talking to online. It's very enjoyable and I raced through it, although I was a touch disappointed with the resolution.

15. Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick. Was vaguely aware it was a movie but knew it was not the kind of movie I enjoy so why on earth I downloaded the book I have no clue. Ok, passed and hour or two.

#25 - Black Friday by Robert Muchamore- part of "Cherub" series 2.

Nice little adventure/ spy thriller with teenage protagonists. Not as much of a good read as the Henderson Boys books by the same author.

eek- 25, that means I'm half way already and its still only feb... oh dear , I think I have a reading problem.

24. Fragrant Harbour, by John Lanchester. It's a great read, and only £1.59 on kindle if you catch it before midnight!

(Have namedchanged since last post, no reason just get bored and swap every once in a while)

1. The Girl who played with fire by Steig Larsson.
2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
3. The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
4. Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers by Matthew Baylis
5. The Racketeer by John Grisham
6. Stay Close - Harlan Coben
7. Mad About the Boy - Helen Fielding

Not doing too bad really - I see it as approx one book per week and am more or less on track.

I will read more on holiday and probably in the summer generally if I get to sit in the garden and read instead of internet/TV inside.

Book 30 - Philip Pullman's collection of Grimm tales. Not sure this added anything to the originals tbh; it was nice enough but I couldn't really see a great deal of point in it.

Am I too late to join? I just spotted this in active convos, can't believe I missed a whole thread! Did I miss any must-read recommendations..?

So far in 2014 I've read:

1. The Luminaries (loved it but a very heavy hardback)

2.Where'd you go, Bernadette (light relief after the above)

1. The cuckoo's calling (surprisingly gripping)
2. The casual vacancy (read for comparison with the above. Hated it)
3. Life after Life (personally, hard to read as my best friend has suffered a stillbirth. But hard to hate as so well crafted and researched and just a bit different)
4. The Goldfinch (couldn't put it down. Central character broke my heart ten times over and I loved his Russian sidekick who has such a unique voice)
5. An Officer and a Spy (really uncomfortable reading but brilliant and gripping)

What should I read next? Am sure I've missed one but this thread will help me keep track at least :)

21. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener - MC Beaton I enjoyed this, it was an engaging quick read.

Wohoo I have FINALLY finished book no. 7. Man it took a while.
The Country if the Blind by Christopher Brookmyre.
Not his best. Set in mid 90s and has dated too.

Going into town today, planning a mosey around waterstones

Bringing my list over from the previous thread:

January

1. Mad about the boy, Helen Fielding
2. The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith
3. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty
4. Mr Penumbria's 24 Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
5. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kudd
6. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
7. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
8. Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte
9. The Rosie Project , Graeme Simsion

February
10. Shirley, Charlotte Bronte
11. The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
12. The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass

This 600 page magical realist monster took me almost two weeks to read, hence my February list is a lot shorter than my January list! A truly bizarre story about a boy growing up in Nazi-era Germany, who decides from the age of three not to grow and only to communicate through drumming. He can break glass with his voice, and people around him die at an alarming rate. We follow him through WW2 and out the other side until he is 30 and ends up in a mental hospital (not a spoiler, we know this from page one).

It's the kind of book I'm glad I have read, and I would like to read some essays and criticism on to help me appreciate and understand it further. But I didn't love reading it and I was relieved when I finished.

Definitely something light and short next.

12. Hahaha Raisin and A Spoonful of Poison. 2/5 but it was nice to read something quick and light

Currently reading The Great Divide: History and Human Nature in the Old World and the New by Peter Watson. It's a non-fiction Big History along the lines of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. I don't think he's a scientest by background, so he does veer away from the science into some fairly speculative paths (mythology, religion etc) but it's fascinating to think about the deep past.

It's going to take a while, so I think I'll have to take a break from it and read The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, as it's due back at the library. And then I have a string of lighter books that I'm keen to get at.

Love your name, UntamedShrew!

23. Charlotte Perkins Gilman "What Diantha Did"

I enjoyed this one.

15. How to Be a Good Wife. - Emma Chapman
    Very weird book, not sure if i understood the ending
    6/10

16. The Hour on the Cliff. - charlotte Williams
    Totally implausible plot and annoyed me in the end
    5/10

15. The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll. The first in his trilogy about Agnes Browne, on which his comedy Mrs Brown's Boys is (loosely) based. Not bad 3/5 I think.

1. Bundles of Joy - Linda Fairley

I am bookless. :( I am therefore not a happy bunny. I gave up on, 'Pure' as it just hasn't grabbed me quickly enough.

Remus - how is this possible? Don't you have one stashed somewhere in a corner, on an iPad or your phone or just anywhere?

Tin Drum is very odd book isn't it. The film is slightly less weird but doesn't go so far in his life.