50 Book Challenge 2015 Part 2

[Southeastdweller]

Thread two of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

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

Previous thread here

Book 20 'She Lover of Death' by Boris Akunin

Akunin is a pen name. He writes historical detective novels under this name and this was the second of them I've read. I really enjoyed the one I read last year, 'Murder on the Leviathan' but this one, sadly, was nowhere near as good. It's set in Moscow and the detective has infiltrated a notorious, 'Suicide Club' run by a mesmeric old man known only as Prospero. Members are 'chosen' to become the lover of Death and commit suicide after writing a poem, in order to join her. The poetry was diabolical and it was all a bit adolescent, although this was deliberate. It also featured far too little of the detective and far too more of an extremely tedious young girl for my liking.

I'd read more of his, but this one was a disappointment.

1. Ross Poldark. A novel of Cornwall 1783-87 by Winston Graham

The first book in the Poldark series. Now here's a little confession..I loved the old series from years ago, I had them on video but have never read the books. I thought it was about time I gave them a go (ready for the new BBC series coming).
Did I enjoy it? Sadly not as much as I wanted to. It is a good story, following Ross Poldark on his return to Cornwall after the war in America. However I found Graham's writing a little tedious in places and was left disappointed. I may read the next one at some point, but it hasn't left me wanting more.

Next up The Luminaries.

my number 3 book (majorly behind with my reading due to moving house)
The Letter by Kathryn Hughes.

jumps between 1939-1940 to 1973-1974.

Tina (1973)works in a charity shop finds a letter undelivered from 1939 and is on a mission to find the reason why.

This book will have you laugh in parts and cry in parts. touches on lots of subjects. Highly recommend!

1. Stephanie Laurens - A Comfortable Wife

Romance set in the Georgian era. Antonia wants to be the perfect society wife for Philip so insists they keep their engagement secret while she learns more about how to fit in in society during her first season in London. Very predictable but a pleasant enough read, although I suspect I'll have forgotten this book entirely in a month or two.

Re. library books and Kindles - I had to download the (free) Overdrive app to my Kindle Fire before I could view library ebooks properly on my Kindle. Without the Overdrive app I could only view the ebooks via the internet browser which is less than ideal.

Not sure how library books and kindles would work properly - at least from my library- if you've got an older kindle that won't let you download the Overdrive app.

antimatter hi, I've had a check on my phone and can't see what format the book is in that I've downloaded. I did it via the overdrive app on my phone, maybe on the laptop I could find out more info.

Yy shadowspral I think it's time for an upgrade on my kindle as it's pretty old (though much loved!). Kindle fire added to wish list (hopeful).

Am halfway through Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, it's a cracking read, I just need to find more hours in the day to catch up with some of you guys!

A very late arrival but my aim is to read 50 proper books.... Ie nothing I've read before, nothing by Katie price , nothing mills and boon and nothing too teenagery/ chick lit-y.
I've started with 1) the hourglass factory - Lucy Ribchester. Thought it was ok, a bit suffragett-y

Looking out for a good 2)... I've just read the divergent trilogy but decide they don't count....
And i re read a couple of the shopaholics last week which also don't count!! And artemis fowl books which although addictive, are found in the children's section so also don't count I may have a go at to kill a mockingbird if I can find it in the library, or perhaps girl on a train... Gone girl....Potentially the goldfinch?

Welcome Improbable . Lots of us here loved The Goldfinch - I envy anyone reading it for the first time.

Improbable - I've counted the three Lemony Snickett books I've re-read. They are better than some of the 'adult' crap I've read, and therefore it would be mean not to count them.

I guess this is the story (of how I understand it):
Kindle Fire would allow downloading of library books but not other Kindles.
A smart phone has got ability to download an app so does Kindle Fire and other tablets. Therefore can read library books on them.
Laptop and PC would also allow downloading books to read them.

Thanks for the info about the Overdrive app shadow have it now and has made reading a bit easier on the Ipad. The page turning was so slow in the browser, like the same length of time to read a page as to wait for the next one!

bibliomania that Anne Boleyn book sounds right up my street, I've read some essays by Bordo for academic stuff in the past so think it looks really interesting. Have reserved it at the library.

4 books in Jan
February kicked off with The yellow Crocus, Laila Ibrahim. An impulse kindle purchase as it was £1. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and read it in almost one sitting. It is along the lines of 12 years a slave, but narrated from both a black wet nurse's perspective, as well as that of her charge lisbeth/elizabeth. Very well written, thought provoking book about pre abolitionist america.

Also finished the restaurant at the end of the universe, douglas adams. Science fiction nonsense that makes me smile, following the further journey of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Marvin and Zaphod on their quest for the ultimate question to the ultimate answer - 42!

Now reading a non fiction book called 'sophia, Princess, sufragette and revolutionist', an early birthday present from DP.

I cannot wait for my DD to be old enough to enjoy Lemony Snickett books Remus, she's 6 ATM so I'll probably give it a few years yet. I'm currently reliving my youth with the Secret Seven adventures, which are very tame compared to my memories of the Famous Five

Welcome to the thread Improbable and all other new members :)

For anyone new who isn't clear on how this thread works - it's a challenge to read 50 books in 2015. You can still join even if you don't think you'll get to 50 - just record what you've read and say what you thought of it (a short review so we know what it's about and whether you recommend it or not). Some of us are also on Goodreads and record our books on there too.

There are no reading rules, unless you wish to set them for yourself. Any book can be recorded and be included in the 50 Book Challenge. So that can be novels, non-fiction, children's books, YA, plays, poetry, short stories, audio books, re-reads. All reading is good reading :)

And there is no rule that, once you've got to 50 (or not), that you have to drop out of the thread. A lot of us reached 50 books during the year, and continued recording them (I'm a chronic reader, and recorded over 100 books last year!)

15. The Green Mile - Stephen King

A bath time reread - one of the rare SK books that is brilliant from start to finish. The story of a head-guard on death row in a 1930s prison and a very special prisoner, this book always leaves me a little weepy.

16. The Book Thief

Took me a while to get into this one - it's a bit 'trying too hard to be different' iykwim. Having said that, I did enjoy the read overall although the ending felt rushed and I felt that the backdrop of Nazi Germany wasn't exploded as fully as it might have been.

Currently reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and some other bloke who's name escapes my right at this minute.

At last I finished Stolen....now onto What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty

1. Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

I don't count books I read aloud to DC, but I actually read this to myself in the bath. The reason I read it was to decide whether to offer it to 9 yo DD who is getting herself into a tizz with dreading the "joys" of becoming a woman. I vaguely remembered reading it myself as a tween and thought it might be a different perspective for DD to the stories her friends are trading about horrific period pain. What I hadn't remembered was what a fabulous and funny girl Margaret was, and I have to say that I actually enjoyed reading it . . .

1. Nora Webster - Colm Toibin

From the opposite side of the life experience spectrum, this is about a middle aged widow coping with her bereavement and re-building her life. It was beautifully written and quite moving, but, if the intellectually pretentious part of me will let me confess, I think I probably enjoyed the Judy Blume book more ( )

at dragontamer. I loved Judy Blume books when I was growing up. Think my favourites were Are you there God its me Margaret, Deenie and of course Forever!

I have had a run of books which are well written, but just not my kind of read -

12. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
    U.S. book about a group of teens who meet every year at summer camp and we follow them from their teens through to middle age. It's about life and it's disappointments and how it doesn't always turn out the way you like. Meg Wolitzer can really write, but I felt like she couldn't bring her characters to life for me. I think the story required that you warmed to and could engage more with the characters. The main protagonist is Julie. She is supposed to be someone very likeable and witty, but this really didn't come across at all. I preferred the last part of the book when the group (the interestings) were older and thought the author wrapped the story up nicely.

13. You Should have Known by Jean Hanff Koreltz
    About a marriage therapist living a happy (slightly smug) life in an affluent area of New York happily married until one day a mother at her child's school is brutally murdered and her husband is missing. It's really a study in how the life you thought you had can suddenly completely unravel....Very written but I felt not much happened, no big surprises which I normally want from a thriller.

14. Who are You by Elizabeth Forbes
    Follow up to The Nearest Thing to Crazy which I loved. A war veteran returns home to "normal" life with his family but suffering from Post traumatic stress disorder. It's a dark psychological thriller about a marriage in crisis narrated both by the husband and wife. It's a brutal read of domestic violence. I was disappointed by this book as I had such high expectations after Forbes' debut book, but I think it's probably just that the plot just didn't interest me enough unfortunately.

13. Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir (Non-fiction)- 2/5

I wish I could give this a better rating, but quite frankly I found it rather dull.

It started off well, but then became bogged down in very minute academic detail and it lost my initial interest. It was a struggle to finish, but I got there by skimming over the dull bits and picking out the facts that were interesting but they were few and far between by the end.

Disappointed.

Hope you enjoy the Bordo book, soot!

1. Joelle Charbonneau - Independent Study

This is the 2nd part of The Testing trilogy. It's a dystopian YA trilogy, set some time after a series of wars have devastated the Earth. The United Commonwealth have formed in part of the old USA and are slowly revitalizing the country. The best and brightest of the young people are selected to apply for university, where they're allocated areas of study and trained to become future leaders. In the first book, Cia is selected to apply for university and undergo The Testing - turns out this is a murderous method of selection where wrong answers can mean death and applicants are pitted against each other in a life and death struggle.

In book 2, Cia has made it through the testing and has been admitted to the university, with all memories of The Testing wiped. After preliminary studies, she's allocated her field of study. But she finds a secret recording she'd made about their Testing experiences, her memories start to return, and she realises that she's not out of danger - not doing well enough can still be fatal, and some of her teachers seem to want her to fail. She also starts to get drawn into a rebellion that aims to expose and change the university's selection process.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the final part of the trilogy.

I’m enjoying reading everyone’s lists, very intrigued by The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, sounds really interesting.

Just checking in and heres my list so far this year…..

1. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers – really interesting and quite worrying read and gives a great insight into the American government and polices response after Katrina.
2. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin – even though I had not read this before I still somehow knew the story and how it would end. Very quick easy read though and I still think relevant.
3. When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman – nothing wrong with this, quite well written but it was just ok.
4. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – liked it very much but would recommend Never Let me Go over this one.
5. South by Shakleton – really loved this more than I thought I would. Amazing story.
6. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – a graphic novel about life in Iran from 1980. Loved it, perfectly done with the small chapters with each describing a scene or story while showing a little insight
7. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner – master class in writing. Enjoyed this one.
8. Solar by Ian McEwan – enjoyable enough

Used to love Judy Blume. The Fudge books were my favourites, especially the baby covered in postage stamps. They are for slightly younger readers than, 'Forever' etc and are crazily good fun.