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?

Book 1 Falling by Emma Kavanagh. Started yesterday finished today. It was a bit meh. No strong feelings either way about it. The storyline was okay and the way she tied it all up was good but it just skated over the characters so you never really felt too involved with them. The book hinted at their issues but never really resolved them.
Starting book 2 later this will be Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn I was sent this by Goodreads for a review so I am looking forward to it. The last book that they sent me was very good and something I would never have chosen so I am hoping that I will enjoy this as much.

Hello! I'd like to join please. I'm aiming for 50 books this year. I'm currently about half way through The Goldfinch.

ConcreteElephant, I hope you enjoy reading about Ove

I just finished The Signature of all Things. Really enjoyed it, even reading about moss, but it was a bit too long for me I think. Looking forward to reading US by David Nichols next.

So pleased to see word spreading about A Man Called Ove. It is superb, loved it from beginning to end. It made it to my top reads list for 2014

Hello, I am joining as well. I lurked on the 2014 thread and used it to inspire me for books to read, I now have a long list on my watch list.
I have just started reading Patrick Gale A Perfectly Good Man.

Just finished book number 1! Moving on to in cold blood myself
So my list is
1: midwich cuckoos John Wyndham
2: in cold blood Truman Capote

ohcuntmas I'm 87% through In Cold Blood.

Surprised by how much of a good read I found it - not normally one for true crime books, but I found it very immersing.

I'd love to join. Funnily enough, 50 books was the target I'd set myself anyway. I'm kicking off today with Val McDermid's reworking of Northanger Abbey. I do so with slight trepidation given the number of Austen rehashes there have been, but we'll see...

1. Charles Dickens: A Life, Claire Tomalin

A richly detailed biography of an exuberant, generous, workaholic and darkly complex man. I was thoroughly absorbed (and inspired) by Tomalin's account.

I've just set myself 40 on good reads and then found this. I'm in if that's ok?

Glad I found this thread! Used to be an avid reader but let work get in the way. I'd love to join in.

Started and finished my first book yesterday (only because rest of family were too tired/hungover to talk!)

1. Song of the Cuckoo Bird by Amulya Malladi

Loved this - a book you can get totally absorbed in! Set in India, it tells the life story of an orphan who grows up in an ashram. The story goes from childhood to middle age. The characterisation is superb - most of the characters (including the main heroine) are not that likeable, but are very engaging. I found I was sympathetic to all of them and their troubles. As well as being a well told story, the book also raises some interesting points about the position of women in marriage and society, and about real values. At the end of each chapter there is a couple of soundbites of news from the day which helps give some context to the times of the story e.g. the Bhopal disaster, the assassination of Indira Ghandi.

Going to take some ideas from this thread for my next book.

1. The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami

A boy visits the city library to return some books and borrow some new ones, only to find himself imprisoned by some very unfamiliar and odd characters. Dark, surreal and macabrely comic, this short novella is everything I expect from Murakami. Don't read it on a Kindle though: one of the key pleasures in reading this are the typeset, illustrations and the old-fashioned library ticket holder stuck to the cover.

I accidentally read a different poetry collection: Train Songs. Also received a copy of the (non-fiction) "The Last Vote" in the post, which I'll read in the next few weeks.

And? Who was the author, what style were the poems written in, what were they about, and what did you think about them? Inquiring minds want to know

Bshh - That novella sounds interesting. I always meant to start reading Murakami's novels (only read his autobiographical What I Talk About When I Talk About Running). Do you think if would be a good idea to start with this novella?

Happy new year all

Welcome mrs and FYI it's not mandatory to read 50 books this year - these threads are more about reading more books in general.

Bsssh - that sounds lovely, but I have only ever liked one of his (After Dark). The stupid sheep one put me right off him.

I've read a couple of Murakami's novels - Norwegian Wood and Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgrimage (his most recent novel). These ones are straightforward, nothing odd happens in them, and I enjoyed both very much. The writing is good, has been translated well.

Have got books 1 and 2 of 1Q84 lined up to read this year and The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. These are more surreal, as a lot of his stuff is.
I'm guessing that he is a love or loathe author. So far I love, but will wait and see if I like the other two. May also add your one to my tbr list, Bssh.

I haven't read much Murakami, but I really liked Sputnik Sweetheart. I also really recommend Underground, his (non-fiction) book about the Tokyo gas attacks.

Cote I'd plunge right into Murakami's surrealness by reading Wind-up Bird Chronicle. But Strange Library is a very short and easy read and just as surreal so no harm in reading it (but please read it in its hardback edition as the physical book is gorgeous and, for me, enhanced the reading experience). There are no hidden meanings to Murakami's penchant for writing about surreal situations. He's said in interviews that strange stuff happens that cannot be explained, period. I agree with Duchess that he is a Marmite author: you either love or hate his style.

Remus there is a sheep man in Strange Library, so perhaps not for you :)

Ploughed on through 'Love Nina' as it was my book club read but really did not enjoy it.
Set in the 1980's it was about Nina who moved from Leicester to London to be a nanny. The format was letters home to her sister in Leicester about family life, the neighbours (one of whom was Alan Bennett). Very cleverly written but I did not enjoy it despite looking forward to reading it.

I have stated book 3 White Knights by Ann Cleeves which is the 2nd book in her Shetland series about the detective Perez.

Sonnet, I really enjoyed Love Nina. I liked her writing style and thought it was a very easy read and witty. A bit pointless perhaps. I then read her second book Man at the Helm which I did not enjoy at all and just skimmed the last 50 pages. Very disappointing.

I didn't really enjoy Love Nina either, sadly, and I was looking forward to it after it had been hyped up by several people/reviews.

I loved Love, Nina - her sense of humour appealed to me.

booktroll - I read Man At The Helm a couple of months ago. I found it almost unbearably sad in places. I read somewhere that it was sort of semi-autobiographical and, if that's the case, then I feel very sad that her childhood was so screwed up. It would explain some of her frankly eccentric behaviour in Love, Nina.