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50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 1

999 replies

Southeastdweller · 31/12/2014 20:28

Thread one of the 50 Book Challenge.

The idea is to read 50 books (or more!) in 2015.

Who's in for this year?

OP posts:
AmericasTorturedBrow · 06/01/2015 03:18

Just finished Maddam

Disappointing compared to Oryx and Crake and the Year of the Flood, different way of writing for Atwood and I can't work out if I bought it or not. The themes were all a bit obviously and clunky and for the first time reading one of her books I didn't really care about anyone. The final 3rd I read just because I wanted to finish it and feel like maybe I missed the point somewhat

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves will be my number 2

PeteCampbellsRecedingHairline · 06/01/2015 07:52

Thanks Iron. Will try to add you all later on.

MollyMaDurga · 06/01/2015 09:31

Yes Duchess, fascinating stuff, scary too.

I really like reading non fiction when it's as good as this. One of my favorites last year was a book by Geza Vermes about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wonderfull stuff about academic rivalry, lazyness and daftness, mixed with real fascination and discovery. Recommended!
Last night I started reading Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms by Gerard Russell, another non-fiction one about the disappearing old religions of the Middle East; Druze, Yazidis, Copts and the like. I'm only on p 30 but it's very good, promising. He's a former civil servant, spent ages in the region and is fluent in Arabic and Farsi.

katsnmouse · 06/01/2015 10:16

Been meaning to check this thread out as i missed last years and joined in late feb so ended up giving up following it.How are people finished books ALREADY?!(annoyed at self, must read faster). Managed 39 books last year, unless reading 'where is spot' to my DD on new years eve counts? Got two on the go- Claire Balding's latest, which is very readable, and re reading Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy 10 years after I last read it. Here's to a book filled 2015 Grin

MyIronLung · 06/01/2015 11:23

Katsnmouse I've just put Hitchhikers Guide on my to read list. Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to re-read this year Smile

TheWordFactory · 06/01/2015 11:31
  1. You Before Me by Jojo Moyes.

Sweet story, easy reading, jerked the requisite tear in the final few pages. All told, did what it said on the tin.

CoteDAzur · 06/01/2015 12:04

Neuromancer by William Gibson is £1.49 on the Kindle at the moment. This book was a gamechanger in 1984, coining the term cyberspace and completely changing the direction of sci-fi from aliens, spaceships, etc to how technology was changing our lives on this planet in the short term. Very interesting and highly original, especially for its time.

I read it 15-20 years ago and don't even know where my copy is, but just got it on my Kindle and will be re-reading it soon Smile

fredfredsausagehead1 · 06/01/2015 12:27

Can I join? I joined last year and read more than 50 but never kept up! Just read the first book if the year in one aft/eve!

1.We were Liars
Absolutely gripping, short chapters I have never been so drawn in by a book! Does anyone have anything similar to recommend ??

I've got 400 books on my kindle need to think what's next!

mumslife · 06/01/2015 12:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyIronLung · 06/01/2015 13:17

Another for my list. Thanks fred Smile

thelittlebooktroll · 06/01/2015 13:19

I have got We Were Liars on my list. Is this book suitable for a 13 year old?

fredfredsausagehead1 · 06/01/2015 13:57

I cried at the twist! It's not normally the kind of book if like but thinking about it I would say it's ok for a 23 year old. I was reading point crimes etc at 13...it's a quick read and is say the layout would be good for a teen, what do you think mumslife?

fredfredsausagehead1 · 06/01/2015 13:58

I'd just finished the goldfinch so it was nice to have something where the percentage read actually moved !!

DuchessofMalfi · 06/01/2015 14:07

Another one here who enjoyed We Were Liars. It's a quick read, well written, and I didn't guess the ending either.

Am becoming slightly obsessed by Do No Harm - just watched the documentary on Netflix about Henry Marsh's neurosurgery work in the Ukraine - The English Surgeon. Very moving.

MollyMaDurga · 06/01/2015 14:43

Interesting.. I might have to see if I can find that somewhere! I just saw the soundtrack is by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Haven't got netflix, I'll find it somehow.
Thanks for the tip Duchess he does mention it in the book somewhere but very modestly and I haden't thought to look for it.

nicknamenonsense · 06/01/2015 15:15

Hi, I'd like to give this a go this year after lurking and picking up some inspiration in previous years.
Finished Us for book club a couple of days ago. I quite enjoyed it but I already know it's never going to make my top books of the year.
Second book is In Cold Blood as I have also joined the modern classics thread. Only about 50 pages in so but really enjoying it (if you can say that about true crime!!) so far

katsnmouse · 06/01/2015 15:29

Duchess i was also obsessed by 'first do no harm', read it in one sitting. I forgot about the documentary too, glad you mentioned it.

CoteDAzur · 06/01/2015 19:26
  1. Last Man Standing: Tales From Tinseltown - Sir Roger Moore

This was really fun. I got it because it was a Kindle Daily Deal and also because DS is friends with one of his grandsons so I was curious about what he was like.

Roger Moore is a smart and really humorous guy, and Oh My God has he had lots of fun & had hilarious stuff happen around him. He published this memoir at the age of 86, so in most of the stories he tells, he is literally the last man standing. Other characters include Audrey Hepburn, Christopher Lee, Gregory Peck, the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Joan Collins, Joan Crawford, Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr, Diana Dors, Kirk Douglas, Blake Edwards, Ian Fleming, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, and many many more.

Some examples:

I realize - and my wife Kristina often reminds me - that tales of my kidney stones, pacemaker, accidents and the like might not fascinate you, dear reader, as much as they do me and my doctors (my proctologist congratulating me after the publication of my first volume, did say that he'd seen me from a whole different angle). Therefore I shall limit the bulk of what follows to more of a mixture of adventures and anecdotes drawn from the deepest recesses of my mind - or failing that, ones I've just made up.
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After Joan Crawford died, Bette Davis continued to rant about her. When asked why, she replied, 'Just because a person is dead, doesn't mean they've changed". Grin
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Michael Caine once told me the story of when Peter O'Toole invited him to a restaurant. Eating a plate of egg and chips was the last thing Michael says he remembered, before he woke up in broad daylight in a strange flat.
'What time is it' he asked O'Toole, holding his aching head in his hands.
'Never mind what time it is! What fucking day is it?' came the reply from a similarly slumped O'Toole.
It turned out to be five o'clock on Monday afternoon - and the curtain was set to go up at eight. They rushed to the theatre, where the stage manager told them the restaurant owner had been in and had banned them from his establishment - for life. Michael was about to ask what they'd done when O'Toole whispered, 'Never ask what you did. It's better not to know..."
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Frank (Sinatra) had a view on hangovers, as he did on most things: 'I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.'
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I think Daniel Craig is a tremendous Bond - he's the perfect 007 and looks as though he could actually kill... whereas I just hugged or bored them to death.

Grin
mcsquigg · 06/01/2015 20:04
  1. Cloud Atlas - I'm definitely glad I read it and think it's very well written but am still unsure if I really enjoyed it as it's so different to my usual reads. I loved the Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish but struggled a bit with the first and last stories.

Now moving on to "Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann.

Morrigu · 06/01/2015 20:34

I love Cloud Atlas mcsquigg. Have read it three times although there are certain stories I enjoyed more than others.

Keep it brief as I hate typing on my phone.

  1. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Philip K Dick. A good read and made me think more on the central theme of empathy and what makes us human. Found the end a bit disappointing.
  1. How I live Now. Meg Roscoff. Girl is moved to England from America to stay with relatives, war breaks out, family are separated as war begins to affect their lives. Dull. Really was thinking 'so what?', I would be more interested if it went into who the occupiers were and what the war was about rather than just the close knit relationships.
  1. Look Behind You. Sibel Hodge. Woman wakes up bound in a tomb with no memory and escapes, only thing is no-one believes that she went through this ordeal. Did she and who was behind it? Fairly obvious how it will end from the start, would be the kind of book you pick up and skim through on a beach holiday.

Not sure what to read next, I would find First do no harm fascinating but maybe not so good for the health anxiety Grin

CoteDAzur · 06/01/2015 20:58

I loved Cloud Atlas and wrote down quite a bit about it some time ago. Take a look and see if it makes sense helps bring the story together Smile

minsmum · 06/01/2015 21:11

Book 2 Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. I got this as a goodreads giveaway. I think it's being published this month. It was a murder mystery set in 1930's London among the arty set. I really enjoyed it the characters were well written, the plot was very good. The attention to the period detail was fabulous. I have never heard of this writer before but I will certainly look out for his books in the future. It was a gem, I was very lucky to get sent this and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not sure what book 3 will be yet so many to choose from.

mcsquigg · 06/01/2015 21:58

Will do, thanks for that Cote.

Brices · 06/01/2015 22:13
  1. Out of Silence: a pianist's year by Susan Tomes non-fiction
A collection of writings from a classical concert pianist organised in monthly format. Very elegant, cultured and considered writing. Appealed to me as I enjoy playing piano and classical music, but I would recommend to all as an insightful book to a professional musician's world, and I feel privileged to have been privy to her musings on Obama, 6am wakings and nursing her baby whilst pondering the bird's nest outside her window. A delight.
BlessedAndGr8fulNoInLaws4Xmas · 06/01/2015 22:17

Just adore Harold Fry...
So I'm going to read the sequel :)

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