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?

Joining in, read a bit more in 2014 than year before but love idea of getting recommendations & listing out what I've read. Just finished a Rachel Schurig Trilogy Three Girls & next book is undecided.

Happy New Year from a newbie. I'd like to join too, but 50 is a bit too ambitious, so will aim for a more modest 20 books.

Starting with Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith.

Hi all, I'm in for this year. Not sure how many I will manage as have a newborn DS but hoping for at least 30 this year.
First up will be a couple of Xmas books I will start reading this week ; the new Marian Keyes and The Purchase by Linda Spalding
Happy new book year !

Happy New Year! I'd like to join in too, please. I managed 37 books last year, thanks to a slightly longer bus journey to work, but would like to do even better this year and get through the pile of books at the bottom of my bed. Just started The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters as DH bought me it for Christmas but will probably read an ebook at the same time so I don't have to lug the hardback about with me.

Morning all. I'm joining too. Fifty might be unlikely this year as I'm due ds2 imminently but you never know. If I spent as much time reading as I do on Mumsnet I could probably read one hundred. I'm attempting The Luminaries but not sure if I'll finish it.

I'M in! Starting with how snow falls, a poem collection by Craig Raine.

For the dystopia fans, I've just finished The girl with ask the gifts. Very good and well-worth reading in that genre.

I've just set up my 2015 Reading Challenge on Goodreads. I'm going to aim for 100 books. I love reading :o

Dystopia recommendation in the same sort of vein as The Road: In the country of last things by Paul Auster.
I thought it was better than the Road and a very good unsettling read. It's been ages since I read it though!

Me too! I did 73 in 2013 but 2014 was very busy and I didn't read much. First book will be Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett.

I'm in!
Not sure what I'll manage, aimed for 25 books in 2014 and read 31 so we shall see.
Am going to kick off with Killing Floor by Lee Child (maybe followed by the rest if its good?).

Got a kindle for christmas so can't wait to get some recommendations!

Duchesse I've signed up for the full deck challenge on Goodreads (the book vipers group challenge). It ties in nicely with this thread as they are both around 50 books. I've had a goodreads account for ages but never got round to using the site. It looks a good way to keep track of what I have read and I have set up a shelf for books I have seen on this thread (or books recommended by friends) and would like to read. I'm always noting down books I want to read then losing the bits of paper!

Duchess even, not sure where the extra 'e' came from

Happy New Year everyone. Definitely in for the new challenge.

Made 65 books in the end in 2014 but got stuck on the Keith Richards autobiography to end the year. It will be my first finisher for 2015 as it's a book group read so need to finish it.

Got the Booker winner for Christmas

I couldn't get on with Goodreads. What I need to do this year is remember to keep a list in a Word document, rather than just updating on here as I finish one. It would make it much easier to check back and a) remember what I'd read and b) decide which ones I liked best!

I keep my list in the back of my work 'to do' book. Very old school!

:)

I have been following the 2014 thread but hopeless at posting! Managed 58 up from 55 in 2013, might aim for 60 this year. Use Goodreads to keep track and join in some of the challenges. Was also given a lovely "Reading Record" book for Christmas which I must get into the habit of using.
Happy New Year everyone!

I'm in. Completed 79 books last year. Joining the 2014 thread motivated me to read far more than I usually do.

Am halfway through Claire Tomalin's Charles Dickens biography so that will count as my first book of the year.

Rugby - I used to be one of the mods on Book Vipers but found I just didn't have the time to read

I'm searchable by my MN nickname on there if you want to compare books, be Goodreads friends etc

1. Spares - Michael Marshall Smith

This was dark, interesting, and rather strange. A cross between Philip K Dick and William Gibson, sort of a twisted Blade Runner.

The story is initially about "spares" - i.e. clones raised & used for body parts. The narrator who has become their caretaker after running from a dark past starts educating them, and eventually escapes with several. I say "initially", because the story then becomes mostly about the criminal underworld and the narrator's troubles in this 200-story city which features some of the more interesting and innovative world-building I have seen in sci-fi of the past 20 years. Then the story takes another turn and... well, that is when the bizarre stuff starts happening and you are not sure about what on earth is going on. I'm not quite sure what I think about the ending, but the overall effect is one I would recommend the readers of this genre.

Thanks Duchess, I've sent you a request.

My first book will be Fallen by Emma Kavanagh as I need to finish it for book club. So will start it today because it has to go back to the library next week.

MinesAPintOfTea Glad you enjoyed 'the girl with all the gifts', its on my pile and I am going to read it after I have finished The Saffron Kitchen and Apple Tree Yard.

Can I join please. I'm starting the miniaturist today. Am due dc2 this month but hoping I'll still be able to grab some valuable reading time

I can't say I agree about The Girl With All The Gifts. It is a YA zombie story about the lovey feelings between a child zombie and her instructor (yes, really) that is full of juvenile truisms like:

• You can't be a child for ever, even if you want to be.
• You can't save people from the world. There's nowhere else to take them.

... and terrible writing such as:

• They're freaked and exhausted and starting at shadows. So is he, except that he does his freaking and starting mostly inside, so it doesn't notice as much.

Apologies to its fans