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?

So sorry for your loss, Min.

1. The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde

Once I got over being annoyed by all the rich bored young men I enjoyed this. Full of witty one-liners and gorgeous descriptions of late Victorian high society, but the story of a beautiful youth who embraces a life of meaningless depravity while apparently never growing old still feels like a timeless mythical tale.

9. Elizabeth's Bedfellows by Anna Whitlock. I enjoyed this - non-fiction about Queen Elizabeth I. Gives a real sense of the intense scrutiny she was under and the pressure and continual sense of danger. It may be a bit over-familiar for anyone who knows the period very well.

(As an aside, I've always thought the portrayal of Elizabeth in the film Anonymous was brilliant, and it chimes closely with this book. I haven't found anyone else who likes that film, but I do, even though I don't believe the whole "De Vere wrote Shakespeare's plays" hypothesis).

I haven't finished anymore books I just wanted to thank you all. It's surprised me since her death at how thoughtful kind and sensitive people are and it is very much appreciated

Also sorry to hear about your mum Min

1. Nightmare Abbey - Thomas Love Peacock

This novel is a satire and effectively pokes fun at romantics and philosophers alike. Short and possibly entertaining but there were a lot of illusions and references to historical figures I just didn't get. However, it was still a short, of somewhat odd read.

1. The Smoke is Rising - Mahesh Rao

I really didn't like this novel very much, although I felt it tightened up towards the end. It's a look at modern Indian life through the eyes of a number of different characters who all live in the city of Mysore. There is plenty about the rise of industry, social media, progression and development seen in sharp contrast with the traditional cultural values that are still pervasive and ultimately shape the actions of the characters (rarely for the best). Very much a first novel, the separate strands of the story didn't really work for me and I found it just didn't gel.

Sorry to hear about your mum Min. .

Book 6

1. The shining girls (Lauren Beukes) a time travelling serial killer, who is linked to a particular house. No explanation on the house but the story went back and forward over years and was interesting.

Not sure what to read next, currently in a ski resort where a lot of snow has arrived and to be honest it is not much fun on the slopes today!

To Min

11. A year of reading dangerously by Andy Miller A memoir written by a book editor who spent a year reading the book he always wanted to read in order to improve his life and better himself. Miller discusses the books he is reading as well as writing about little episodes from his family life, reading for his son, discussing books with his wife, what books have meant to him in his life, book clubs, his job in a bookstore and asking questions like - is it ok to stop reading a boring book and is it ok to lie and say you have read a book when you haven't to seem more well read?

Andy Miller writes with a lot of humour and although I occadionally felt like I was just reading some random person's musings, I quite liked this book. I am not "well read" enough to have read most books on his list and I think the more of the books he is reading you are familiar with the better. Amongst the books on his list are Middlemarch, War and Peace, Anna Karenina and a Dan Brown Which he really doesn't like.

All in all quite a good read.

Ops he spent a year of reading the bookS (plural). I suppose he was doing the 50 books challenge

5. What If, Randall Munroe

Springing from a blog, this book takes crazy questions like 'what if you did actually assemble a mole (as in the scientific quantity) of moles (as in the animal)' and gives scientific answers to them. With supplementary comic strips and jokes.

Not the type of book I'd usually read, I'd actually got it as an Xmas present for DP. He loved it and then we struck a bargain that he'd read 'A Dog's Purpose' (one of my books from earlier in the month) if I read this. It did start to drag a bit towards the end - I think the best questions all came in the first half - but I loved the humour of the writer and his comic strips were really great. And I've managed to get DP reading something other than fantasy/crime/non fiction!

and for minsmum. Glad that reading somehow helped you a little through such an awful thing. I loved Longbourn, I hope you are enjoying it.

Minsmum I'm really sorry for your loss ??xxxx

Minsmum, sorry from me too. Just coming up to first anniversary if DM's death so empathy as well as sympathy.

Rather ashamed of my list, but here goes,

Jane of Lantern Hill, by LMMontgomery. Set in the 20s/ 30s Canada, not just PE Island but Toronto as well, unhappy separated family, low on twee, our heroine is practical and initially grumpy. Funnier than the earlier books and mostly less cloying. Some delightfully detestable figures and of course, Min's Mum.

Diana in her own words, by Andrew Morton. Never read when it came out. How two completely screwed up people from utterly dysfunctional families came to have two relatively normal young men just proves the reversion to the norm. A quick slightly distasteful read.

Am half way through an Andrew Marr, again something I meant to read when it came out. Have got passed the point when I started to recognise events from my lifetime.

Finally finished book #4 Flood by Stephen Baxter. Life kind of got in the way while I was reading this one so it took me longer than it should have!

There's a lot of hard science in this brick of a book. Most of it works very well in conjunction with the storyline but some of it isn't necessary (in my opinion). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading it's sequal, Ark.

The story starts in Barcelona in 2016 and spans decades through to 2052, where a group of people have been held as hostages by a group of extremist terrorists. These terrorists don't feature much, apart from the very beginning, but the group of hostages feature heavily throughout the book. After they're rescued by a very wealthy, forward thinking and arrogant man they make it back to London to find that it's raining and it's not looking like it's going to stop! When the Thames barrier is breached a mass evacuation starts and throughout the world flooding events are happening. The worlds population start scrambling to higher and higher ground to try and survive. It's looking like the end of the world!

This book gripped me. It's a terrifying look into a possible future!

1. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter

This is very much a surrealist novel, in which Doctor Hoffman has declared war on an unnamed, probably Latin American city and unleashed the infernal machines of the title to breakdown reality and rationality, to be replaced by the creations of desire and the imagination. Time and space become distorted, and it is only the supremely rational Minister who is holding Hoffman at bay. He sends Desiderio, a civil servant seemingly unaffected by the manifestations of unreality, to find and kill Hoffman, so much of the book is taken up with his journey which takes him through Nebulous Time. His encounters with various groups of people incorporate huge amounts of sexual violence, paedophilia, natural disasters, and death on a grand scale.

I've had a look online to see various book bloggers seemingly raving about this book, but to my mind it is a steaming pile of crap. It is probably the worst book I have ever waded through - it's only just over 200 pages but it has taken me a week to get to the end of the damn thing. 200 pages I should be able to read in an afternoon!

I might choose a Pratchett to re-read next. Definitely need something more entertaining.

Have only managed to read five this month:

1. Ulysses by James Joyce
2. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
3. The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton
4. Play it again by Alan Rusbridger
5. Elizabeth is missing by Emma Healey

So, in brief: Ulysses is bloody hard work, though I very much enjoyed Molly Bloom's monologue at the end.

In Cold Blood - have commented on the thread, but it was a very compelling read.

The Miniaturist - very impressive, very atmospheric and beautifully written but got unnecessarily melodramatic and increasingly implausible towards the end.

Play it again. Alan Rusbridger is editor of the Guardian and also an amateur pianist. This is his account of learning to play the Chopin no 1 ballade (technically very difficult) over the course of 18 months during which the Guardian was involved in some huge stories such as Wikileaks and phone hacking. Despite working 12 hour days or more he still managed to teach himself the ballade. A very interesting and also (dare I say it?) inspiring read.

Elizabeth is missing: terrific. It's quite rare these days to read something original but the idea of telling a story from the point of view of someone with Alzheimer's who can't remember stuff for more than a couple of minutes was inspired. It's such a moving story - you really feel for the main character. But it's also a gripping mystery. Whole-heartedly recommend it.

Omg hackmum, to read Ulysses and the others must count as treble word score. I love it but rarely read it all the way through these days, just picking my fave bits. The final chapter is a tour de force.

I'm interested in the Ruisberger. Hmm. Might pursue. I need to do a much lower equivalent.

ancientbuchanan: "to read Ulysses and the others must count as treble word score"

That made me laugh - if only we had treble word scores in reading! I certainly felt I'd earned something after ploughing my way through it. (I started Ulysses the week before Christmas, and it put me in a bad mood throughout the holiday season - instead of reading the lighthearted kind of stuff I'd been given as presents, I was determined to carry on with it right through to the bitter end.)

I admire you for having favourite bits. If I had to pick favourite bits, it would be the handful of pages where I could actually make out what was going on.

minsmum for you x

Some of the writing in Ulysses is just great, but having said that I wouldn't say huge amounts are memorable to me.

The phrase that always spring to my mind when I get the cheese out of the fridge is 'Corpse of milk'

Condolences Min. I do hope you manage to find some escapism in novels.

Finished book 9 The Miniaturist - this has been week reviewed on Mumsnet. I loved the period atmosphere about Amsterdam and the way the story built up my expectations but I felt that the story didn't go anywhere and quite let down by the end. It is my book group choice so will be interesting to hear how others felt about it.

Book 10 for me will be Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark

Book 5 - The 5th Wave - post alien invasion America YA novel; really engaging characters and story line. Will definitely be reading the second one soon

Book 5 started. Revival by Stephen King.

Goodreads has informed me that I'm now 4 books behind schedual to hit my 100 book goal!

I'm abut behind..

1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. This has been reviewed already I think, so suffice to say that I loved it.
2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Set in a New England college, it follows a group of eccentric Classics students up to and beyond a murder. It is beautifully written and tightly plotted. Loved it as well.

Need to pick something shorter to catch up this month!

Book 7 - The Light Years- Elizabeth Jane Howard

I was intrigued to read one of the Cazalet Chronicles as I've seen people on MN rave about them. I really enjoyed it; the pre war era, the characters in the large family.