50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 1

[Southeastdweller]

Thread one of the 50 Book Challenge.

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

Who's in for this year?

Thegirlonthelanding, I am currently reading Butterflies in November by Audur Ava Olafsdottir. Not sure what I think yet. It's very quirky. I was also wondering about the translation.

Book number 2 - Big Fat Lies by David Gillespie.
Non fiction book about the diet industry. Easy to read and convincing arguments. aimed at those with not much knowledge of nutrition though so may be too simplistic for anyone already with an interest in health. Also if you have read his first book Sweet Poison about the sugar industry a lot of the information is repeated.

Onto the next one and back to fiction this time.

Finally managed book 1: The Surgeon-Tess Gerritson.

This is the first book I've finished in about 2 years & it felt great! Not decided on book 2 yet but I got a big haul from the charity shops recently so am off for a browse.

Realised I'd read Candlenight by Phil Rickman when I read the first paragraph so switched to The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman.

In my opinion it is his most powerful book I have read. Another Merrily Watkins title but also based on. Famous real life serial killer. Great characters, great plot. Full of suspense and a real sense of evil. I have decided to finish the rest of the series now...

Thelittlebooktroll, that's a funny coincidence! I do wonder if it's a translation issue, as there are very few translated books I haven't felt are slightly clunky at times. It's hard to put your finger on, but the phrasing is slightly off somehow. Is the novel you're reading set in Iceland?

Just purchased on kindle books 6 and 7 in the series
So my book 5 is:
Prayer of the Night Shepherd by Phil Rickman
Can't wait to get started!

TheGirlOnTheLanding, my book is set in Iceland and we are taken on a round trip of Iceland with this quirky very unusual woman who keeps killing animals in road accidents and a 4 year old deafmute boy. The writing is different from anything I have read before.

Have you read anything by Yrsa Sigurdadottir? Icelandic crime writer. I really rate her books. Try "I remember you". Creepy!

Thanks for the recommendation, Little, I haven't read anything by her but shall look out for them. I like the sound of the one you're currently reading too.

My first two books of the year are Fahrenheit 451 and Follow Me Through Darkness by Danielle Ellison. I like Dystopian future / post apocalyptic novels. I have no idea why though.

1. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

This was good but not great, and I'm a bit underwhelmed by it. There are some interesting bits about brain surgery in there, but most of it comes across as repetitive navel-gazing. What I have learned from this books is:

(1) There is a huge shortage of beds in NHS hospitals and that is the single most important reason why urgent operations are delayed for months while surgeons twiddle their thumbs.

(2) If headaches have a serious cause, it is usually obvious from the nature of the headaches.

(3) One quarter of the blood from the heart goes to the brain.

(4) For any operation, always go for the older, more experienced surgeon and always ask how many operations of this kind he has performed. Write in your consent form that you only consent to be operated on by that man, and not by a junior doctor or trainee.

(5) Surgery is not always the best option.

1. Life by Keith Richards

So boring. The arrogance I expected, I even expected the gaps to be filled in by others by Keith Richards boring I did not expect. Hi really still have no real clue how The Stones happened and I care even less now. Dull dull man with zero self-awareness and something of a man-of the-people/hero complex. Just glad to have finished.

Finished book 2 The Shock of the Fall. It was different, I enjoyed it. Think I'll start The Rosie Project tomorrow.

2. A Dog's Purpose (W. Bruce Cameron)

I was a bit sceptical about this novel, it was a gift from a fellow dog-loving friend who told me I absolutely had to read it. I thought it would be really twee and cloying, but it was actually just a great read.

It's a novel told from a dog's point of view, and does a great job at being sweet and funny and sad in turns. The concept is actually quite original (and hard to explain) in that the same dog is reincarnated into several different lives throughout the book, but yet it isn't just fragmented stories, it is a meaningful whole. It was a really quick read for me, I read it in one (admittedly not very busy) day, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who loves dogs and reading and is looking for a quick, light read.

3. The Road Home (Rose Tremain)

I bought this from a recommendation from someone on the previous incarnation of this thread, who suggested I might like Rose Tremain based on the other books I had read and enjoyed last year. I had never really heard of this author, and probably wouldn't have bothered picking this book up of my own accord, but I'm so glad I did! Exactly the kind of book I like: literary without being relentlessly heavy and bleak, low-key in terms of the narrative and plot, but always very readable and compelling.

A story of an Eastern European (we never know his precise nationality) migrant who comes to the UK looking for work so he can provide for his family back home. It sounds like it could be really grim or worthy, and at times it is at least one of those things, but mostly it was just a really interesting character study, beautiful portraits of various friendships and relationships, and an interesting look at present day UK through the eyes of a poor migrant. Plus there's a whole food/cooking theme running through it which was delicious to read! There was one part of the book that was very shocking and still sits quite uneasily with me, I'd be interested to discuss it with others who have read it.

I'll definitely be reading more books by this author in 2015. Thank you so much to whichever poster recommended her!

"It's a novel told from a dog's point of vie"

Is there a lot of "Nothing to do. So I'll just lick my balls now."?

1. Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel

I enjoyed this and read it really quickly (for me) because I couldn’t put it down. The story is based around a flu pandemic that wipes out most of the population of the world and what happens to the characters before and after and how their lives were/are linked. I found the representations of the post-pandemic world convincing; horror and brutality but peace and beauty also. A strangely uplifting read.

mum2jakie, I have Brave New World sitting in my to-read pile as I have never read it!

3 finished, Mac and Me by Esther Freud, about a boy and his friendship with the architect and painter Charles Rennie Macintosh in Suffolk at the start of the First World War - a little slow and plodding in places and the ending seems a bit rushed in comparison, but an enjoyable read nonetheless

3. H V Morton's London. Picked this up second-hand - my copy is a mere 50 years old, but these short pieces were written in the 1920s. He wanders around London and writes thought pieces about what he sees. Very much of its era - we don't talk the same way about race any more! - but I rather like the whimsical style in fashion at the time, so quite enjoyed it. Wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others though.

4. The Secret of the Scrolls, Geza Vermes. Can't say he's much of a prose stylist, and there aren't any jawdropping revelations, but mildly interesting to understand more about the Dead Sea Scrolls.

After a slow start I've raced through book 2-Peaches for M. Curé by Joanne Harris. I loved it. Chocolat is one of my favourite books, I didn't like The Lollipop Shoes but this one went back to Lansquenet & tied up the loose ends

I'm in ~ just finished Elizabeth is missing, brilliant. 2. The universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence.

riverboat I enjoyed The Road Home too. I've read and also really liked several of RT's historical novels, and would particularly recommend Restoration and also Music and Silence. The Road Home is quite different but excellent I thought.

SPOILERS COMING UP ...

I'm pretty sure I know what scene you mean when you say you found it shocking. In fact I was in the audience at Hay-on-Wye listening to RT being interviewed and would very much have liked to ask her about the difficulty of writing such an explicit scene while trying to retain sympathy for the main character. It was very close to rape wasn't it. It's ages since I read it and I would have to look at the scene again but that's my memory of it. How did you interpret the scene and how did you feel about Lev afterwards?

I'm in please! Newbie here for this thread
Think I will start with the miniaturist.

Newbie

1. All the wild horses - c McCarthy
2. The crossing - ditto

Inspired by reading The Road last year.Will complete the series and then find something else....

Hello everyone. I'm a newbie to the thread (but not to MN). I lurked on the thread last year, and managed to come close to the target (47, if anyone's interested).

I've been on a winter sun holiday and managed to get lots of reading done. I've actually read 3 books, and it's not even the middle of January yet!!!

1. Candlenight by Phil Rickman
2. Instructions For A Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
3. The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Of those three, I loved the first two. The third however was dire beyond words...a novel by numbers, if I ever saw one

Read 5 so far

1. Old New York by Edith Wharton this is actually four stories set in New York in the 19th century. I enjoyed 3 of the 4 stories, I didn't enjoy Edith Wharton when I first read her years ago but I find I like her understated style better now.

1. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. Had this on bookshelf for several years, I was unsure about the subject matter of a woman institutionalised for a long time but I found it beautifully written and very moving; as i should have known as I have really liked all her other books.

1. Abattoir Blues by peter Robinson the latest DCI Banks story. I really like this series one of my favourite crime writers.

1. In Her Shadow by Louise Douglas. another one been sat on my shelves for some time an enjoyable easy read about a woman haunted by the death of her best friend in their youth. I would read another one by this writer if i want a light read.
2. The Vault by Peter Lovesey. i enjoy these crime novels as they are set in Bath and as I was visiting Bath this weekend I thought it would be good to read this. An undemanding crime novel.