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?

10. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Young adult book which I read to see if suitable for my 14 year old DD, but I would say she should wait a few years. The Liars are a group of privileged teen cousins holidaying together every summer at Martha's Vineyard. Its difficult to review this book without giving too much away and most of the reviews I have read advice to just go in blind which I did. Most reviews also mention the twist at the end as a Wow-factor and I certainly didn't see it coming ( never see anything coming though). I loved the atmosphere in the book and kept thinking it was set the 50s until iPads or other modern things were mentioned. Loved it and the twist stays with me and I keep thinking about it.

1. Word 2010 in Easy Steps

Excellent book on the MS application, recommended if you want to get to Basic or Intermediate Level.

1. Watch Me - Anjelica Huston

The second memoir from the Oscar-winning actress, which covers her life from when she was in her early 20's to now, this was more interesting and fun to read than her first one, though I sensed she held a lot back.

I'm itching to read The Girl on the Train but I'm fourth in the library queue so next up is a Christopher Isherwood book, A Single Man.

5# Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

Bit of a cheat as started it last year when pg and got stalled half way through and just didn't pick it up again for a long time, so skim read the first half again and only read the second half this week.

A look at the beginnings of the reformation through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell as he guides Henry VIII through his divorce from Katherine of Aragon (and consequently from the Roman Catholic Church) and marriage to Anne Boleyn.

I enjoyed it, found it quite easy to read and largely loved the style, it felt very immediate and fast-paced for the most part, but it did drag through the middle (hence the hiatus) though picked up again in the last quarter, as the history itself got interesting again really. I'm looking forward to reading Bring Up the Bodies and watching the tv adaptation. Feel it is quite an achievement as a novel. I have quite a bit of knowledge of the period but don't generally like the kind of historical novels usually based around the Tudors, but this felt different and I was swept away by her imagining of it and the way she shone a light on figures and events in (what felt to me to be) an original way.

mumslife, also thought it is one of those books which becomes better after you have read it and thought about it and which you want to re-read once you know the ending/twist as it will become a different story then if that makes sense

Southeast, I think librarians take bribes. See if you can jump the queue and scratch your Girl on the Train itch

LittleBookTroll - do you really vet your 14 year old's reading?

Remus, yes some books I make sure I read to see if it's the right age group or just so we can chat about what she is reading. Is that a negative as you are asking?

If it's to chat about, not negative at all - but if you're vetting them to give parental approval, then, yes, I think that is OTT. At 14, I'm pretty sure she'll be seeing/reading plenty of things elsewhere, of which you might not approve, so telling her she's not allowed to read certain books seems a sure-fire way of encouraging her to read them!

Just my opinion though, of course.

Not negative (to each their own) but I'm also a bit surprised about the amount of children's books on this thread. Do people normally read so many children's books? Really? It just never occurred to me to read DD's books - not to check up on the stuff she reads and certainly not with any illusion that reading them might be pleasurable to me.

She is 9, by the way. Currently reading The Hobbit.

Cote - I like reading children's books. I'm an English teacher, so can pretend I'm doing it for research purposes, but often I just read them because I want to. Contemporary YA fiction is often better edited and less irritating than a lot of contemporary 'adult' fiction - and tbh lots of contemporary 'adult' fiction is far more adolescent and far less gripping than some of the YA stuff.

Côte - I don't usually read childrens books but I bought a box set of childrens classics this year and have read, and enjoyed, most of them. My daughter has just started to enjoy listening to chapter books and sitting reading to her and chatting about the stories made me feel a little nostalgic. I have wonderful memories of curling up with my mum and reading together. It was lovely to revisit the books but probably more for the memories than the stories. I think we read little women, tom's midnight garden and the secret garden together at least a dozen times and I'm looking forward to reading them with my girls.

I am not into censorship. She didn't come to me with the book. I wanted to read it myself and as its YA I was also reading it to see if I should recommend it to DD. 14 is a difficult age for books I find. I want her to read something else than just Hunger games and vampire books, so I guess I am always on the lookout for books for her. Also some books like The BookThief which she recently read can leave a 14 year old with thoughts and questions so I read it first which I think was a good idea.

There are lots of great YA books out there which are good reading for Old adults too

I'm a bit late joining in here, but my to read pile is significantly higher than 50 books and I'm hoping to dent it. The kindle I got last year has bumped the to read pile up a bit!

So far this year I've read:

1. Roger Highfield - Can Reindeer Fly?

Looks at Christmassy things from a scientific angle. It's okay.

1. Anderson and Stall - Night of the Living Trekkies

A Star Trek convention at a Houston hotel is overrun by zombies and disillusioned ex soldier Jim Pike is trying to survive along with a handful of others. It's pretty trashy and doesn't take itself at all seriously but it's entertaining and a quick read.

I totally agree that it's great to read the same books so that you can discuss issues, but in your previous post you said that you were reading it to see if it was, 'suitable' for her, and then that you thought she should wait a few years. To me, that sounded like censorship. But it seems that you didn't mean it like that, so no prob.

I loathed Wolf Hall and didn't finish it. Perhaps I should try again.

On children's books, when Ds read ( sigh for those days) if it was something that I thought would give him nightmares or was cruel /sadistic etc I would sometimes say " you might enjoy that more when you are older." My DM used that with me and I never took it as censorship.

froglets I read Colour last year. Fascinating.

1. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. This was a book from my real life book club, I had never heard of the author before.

It is about 6 teenagers who meet in 1974 at an American summer camp for creative teenagers. Most of the others at the camp come from privileged backgrounds in New York. Julie comes from suburban Long Island, is flattered to be included in their group and mesmerised by them. She renames herself Jules and after college she moves to Manhattan to follow her dream of becoming an actor and to be nearer to the group. At camp they name themselves "The Interestings" and they share their dreams for their futures. The book follows their lives over the next four decades. Some of them fulfil their teenage dreams and become very wealthy and successful; some don't and the book deals very well with friendship, jealousy, growing older and feeling dissatisfied with your life especially when comparing your life to others (which I found really poignant as I am prone to do this!).

I really enjoyed this book and am keen to read more from this author. However there was one big stumbling block for me. Jules is an important friend to two characters in the book who both depend quite heavily on her for support, advise and friendship. As a character she just didn't come across particularly well and I just couldn't understand their attraction to her. But this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.
The characters I liked most were the two male characters: Ethan and Jonah. Especially Ethan, he was the only one I felt I would have liked to be friends with.

I was half way through The Book Thief when I started The Interestings so will now continue reading that.

Remus - re "Contemporary YA fiction is often better edited and less irritating than a lot of contemporary 'adult' fiction"

I don't know. I find YA very irritating, with its superficiality, 500-word vocabulary, juvenile themes, and a facile, black/white view of the world. Not to mention silly romance stories and truisms galore. To each their own, of course. I certainly like reading some stuff that others find weird

If you find contemporary 'adult' fiction badly edited and irritating, you just might not be reading the better examples. I can echo your sentiment for the popular "women's fiction" crap that I was made to read in a former book club (1000 Splendid Suns, Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Island, etc) but there is some sublime and outstanding contemporary fiction out there.

I'm not reading any of them anymore, Cote. Literary fiction bores me and pretty much everything else is (imvho) abominably written. I'm sticking mainly to Wilkie Collins, things published before 1950 and non-fiction for now.

Remus - One day you will read Cloud Atlas and then you will look back and wonder why oh why you resisted it, especially as you like dystopian & post-apocalyptic books At that point, I would also love to hear what you think about the relative merits of YA and a complex, adult-themed book like Cloud Atlas. Not holding my breath, though

Sticks tongue out at Cote for the zillionth time.

No.10 Flowers for Algernon.

An interesting book which I picked up based on recommendations from this thread. It's a fascinating read, if a little slow in places. I must admit I had a tear in my eye at the end.

And I like YA! Dismissing an entire genre is a bit harsh. There's good and bad in all genres, I think.

I shall never give up