50 Book Challenge 2014 Part 4

[Southeastdweller]

Thread four of the 50 Book Challenge.

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

Here are the previous threads...

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

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2000991-50-Book-Challenge-2014-Part-2?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2094773-50-Book-Challenge-2014-Part-3?msgid=49151537#49151537

Bought Anathema though Cote.

Agree with you about Carter Beats the Devil - a great read. And also about Love, Nina, which is such a sweet, funny read. I'd recommend her novel, too - A Man at the Helm. It's very much in the same vein, quite gentle and lightly comic.

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey is £1.00 on the Kindle. Don't think, just get it

Can't believe I haven't posted on here in over a month. Here's what I've read in that time :111. Neil Gaiman "Hansel and Gretel"
112. Ian Rankin "The Naming of the Dead"
113. Nigel Latta "Mother's Raising Sons"
114. Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"
115. Anne Rice "Blood Canticle"
116. Esther Freud "Hideous Kinky"
117. Rachel Joyce "Perfect"
118. Ian Rankin "Exit Music"
119. Ian Rankin "Standing in Another Man's Grave"
120. Neil Gaiman "The Sandman: World's End"
121. Neil Gaiman "The Sandman: The Kindly Ones"
122. Neil Gaiman "The Sandman: The Wake"
123. Catharina Ingleman-Sundberg "The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules"

54. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller. I enjoyed this, but I wouldn't put it in my top 10 for this year.

I've just ordered Anathem - thanks Cote. The problem with this thread is that it makes my 'to read' list longer, not shorter

Book 107 Shift by Hugh Howey

Prequel to Wool. This one gives the history of the silos, how people ended up in them, and the reality of the existence of those in control and living in silo 1, as well as what is going on in other silos. The timelines eventually come together, so by the end of Shift we're ready to launch into the final book of the trilogy.

The Miniaturist is £1.80 on the Kindle

Ooh, Carter Beats the Devil! Such a great book. Loved it when I read it.

78. The Crane Wife - Patrick Ness A modern day tale based on the Japanese story of The Crane Wife. This didn't really work for me as a novel, too implausible and I couldn't suspend reality somehow. However, some very good characterisation and I will definitely read A Monster Calls next year which is meant to be excellent and won a Carnegie medal (or something like that).

I so want to reread Carter Beats the Devil now. I seem to be reading three books at the same time just now.

Confessions Of A Sociopath is £0.99 on the Kindle

Hey hope you enjoy it cote Have read confessions of a sociopath and def worth 99p!

56. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Thought this was amazing. So poignant. Is it a kind of hell to be forced to live a life again and again and again? Life is complex and it never really works out. The blitz is hellish and the Berlin section worse. I was gripped from the first failed breath to the end. I'm not a Kate Atkinson fan but while the narrative faltered a bit in places it is overall a wonderful satisfying read.

I read it, loved it, and reviewed it on here

120. The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Absolutely loved this, read it slowly savouring every word. Just perfect

Loved The Hours - read it twice. The film adaptation is outstanding, too. I also liked another of his called A Home at the End of the World.

Michael Cunningham is definitely on my favourite author list now - will be looking out for his other books. Will give your recommendation a go, Southeast :). Am planning to watch the film of The Hours tonight (will be the second time I've seen it).

World War Z is £1.96 on the Kindle

Happy Christmas, fellow book lovers!

55. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. I really enjoyed this. Not sure it's quite Booker standard though.

Merry Christmas to all

If anyone is interested, Shock Of The Fall, Burial Rights, and Divergent are £0.99 on the Kindle.

Child 44 is £1.99 on the Kindle. It's a great thriller that takes place in Stalin's Russia. In 2008, it became the 1st thriller to make it into the Booker longlist.

Book 108 A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett

Collected short stories - some Discworld, others not. I've got some of them in other collections, but it's great having them all together like this.

Book 88 - the silversmiths wife by Sophia Tobin - okay read

Book 89 will be Love Nina. My January book group read.

Child 44 was fab! Recommend it

121. The Overhaul by Kathleen Jamie. This is a collection of her poetry. It is very readable, accessible, and I enjoyed it.

Would appeal to anyone who has also read and enjoyed her books of nature writings - Sightlines and Findings.

Nearly finished Kings and Things by H E Marshall (bedtime story book for DS). That may be it for the year.

Number 81 - and the last book of the year - was "Daughter" by Jane Shemilt. Enjoyable thriller, if a bit implausible as these things often are.

Am now a third of the way through Ulysses (what on earth possessed me?) Will not finish that before December 31 unless I find several spare hours in the day, so that will be the first book of 2015.

I've almost finished The Paying Guests. I didn't have much else to do at my family house apart from read so got through 500 pages of it in three days. I almost don't want to finish it because the story is so exciting. Should finish it on my train journey now back home.