50 Book Challenge 2016 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Thread one of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

Hello, would love to join. Have just finished this year's first: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I started it a couple of years ago and didn't get into it but found it really moving this time around and devoured it in a day. Have just cracked open the Bill Bryson that a couple of others are reading and chuckling through it.

Hairspray - I'm glad you liked An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth. I also found it incredibly inspirational and have been recommending it to everyone

Joining too. I generally average one a week but only managed 44 last year! I blame outlander (and going back to work). I'm currently reading Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm - short stories.

First one done!

1. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch.

It's the 3rd installment in the PC Grant books, the policeman who finds there really is such thing as magic, he's got powers and there's a police department to deal with such things. This one is based in the underground and tunnels under London, an American art student is found murdered in an underground station, but it appears he's staggered out of the tunnel and there's no CCTV showing him entering the tunnel from another station. Lots of fun, very well written, but I would recommend starting with the first in the series Rivers of London.

I have lots of interesting and meaty looking books lined up on my Kindle, but I've got the horrid cold doing the rounds, so think will go light and fluffy for a bit.

I really like the Rivers of London series dinos. Number four is the best of the lot :)

I was only going to lurk, but just want to second TitsTingle's recommendation of How To Be Brave by Louise Beech. A mother comes to terms with her daughter's diagnosis, finding inspiration from the tale of her grandfather, whose shipwreck survival becomes a powerful story within a story. I'm listening on audible, and the narrator has a lovely accent with flat northern vowels, which, as it is set near hull, sounds perfect to me (but what do I know)

Always on the lookout for audible books narrated by women. Got a Dawn French, narrated by herself, lined up for later in the year. No idea what her writing is like, but love her voice.

Also got to agree on Astronaut's Guide.

First book - not so inspiring. Was looking for entertaining fast moving mind candy. Wesley Chu's Lives of Tao sounded like it might be a fun premise - shy geek meets alien, gets dragged into worldwide conspiracy etc, but it didn't quite work for me. I didn't find the characters sufficiently differentiated to be engaging. Chu tended to tell the reader about character traits rather than show them.

DinosaursRoar- I did read the first one and enjoyed it that's why I couldn't resist this one. I am going to keep on reading them if she keeps writing them. There's nothing like well written fluffiness is there 😀

Ooh - bigbadbarry - I didn't know that Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm was available again - and on Kindle! So I have just downloaded!

BigBadBarry - I'm going to have to buy the next one now! I was determined not to buy anymore books this week!

Serendipidy I read A Visit From the Goon Squad last year and really rated it. I thought it was excellent.

Sorry, might have spelt your name wrong there!

Have finished the first (which I started just before 2016) which was:

John Le Carre - The Biography by Adam Sisman.

I remember devouring Le Carre about 30/40 years ago & was thrilled when this biography was much reduced on Kindle.

But, overall, it was disappointing. Far to much about Le Carre's father, who I can see was a major influence on his life, but the first quarter of the book might just as well have been father's biography.

Lots of interesting factual stuff that I didn't know but little insight.

I thought I would then go on & re read some Le Carre but I am going to give him a rest & my next book (lent to me by DS) is Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. I thought I had read this some time ago but I hadn't!

Off to bed to start it.

I'm one of those people who always has 2-3 books on the go. I'm not a particularly fast reader but I like to read different genres and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for a certain book. I also tend to have one on my kindle app so I can always read if I'm waiting around or on the tube/train/bus!

Pluto - Poisonwood Bible is fab, hope you enjoy the rest of it,

To those who are worried about the thread moving so fast, I only joined last year but my experience is that the thread gets much less busy when we get past January! Bit like the gym

Great to see so many new faces. Really looking forward to this thread for 2016.
Book 1: The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
Centred around the complicated lives of immigrant Indian workers this, for me, was a fascinating story. The story switches between India and England as the characters back stories and what leads them to be in this crowded house in Sheffield in search of a 'better life' is explained. The desperation they went through, the squalid living conditions, the exploitation and the horrors of the caste system made this an absorbing read and personalised the words "Illegal Immigrant" which is an expression all too popular in the media today. If I had one criticism it is that I found the ending rather abrupt. I had come a long way with these people but had unanswered questions at the end.

Book 2 will be A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Count me in please. Not done this before. Currently have a few books on the go. This book will save your life; sweet caress; the snow garden; and probably a couple more. I want to reread war and peace and some Dickens. Inspiration via the bbc!

Can I join?
Don't read as much as I should but whenever I stop watching crap on the telly & passing around on the Internet I still love it. Probably won't get to 50 but I'll give it a shot. Probably have 30-40 unread books on Kindle/shelf, but undoubtedly that won't stop me buying more.
I read real escapist trash & anything with good characters & plot but no goblins/elves/robots etc

Muffintopmum - I loved both you've mentioned and also The last letter from your lover, One plus one and Horse Dancer.

I'll keep reading with the same hope!

Cote I also love Neal Stephenson (my favourites are Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash). Have you read Daemon by Daniel Suarez? It is about a computer virus set up by a programmer before his death and how it changes the world. It is very thought provoking.

Sonnet The Year of the Runaways sounds excellent - I'll add it to my humungous TBR list.

Have you read The Road Home by Rose Tremain? A different take on being an incomer trying to forge a new life, this time in London, it's the story of Lev, an economic migrant from Eastern Europe, and his experiences when he arrives alone and sets about finding work. Gives a real insight into the lives of the workers who prop up the posh restaurants, hotels etc in London, and who often seem invisible.

Sci-fi is a genre I'm not really familiar with. Last year Cote recommended The Martian, which I loved and Hyperion, which I read the first chapter of and then put on hold to read this year. I loved The Martian because of the scientific detail, there was no dysfunctional society (dystopian? I'm not really familiar with the vocabulary) , the world was one I recognised. Hyperion is clearly going to be a different case.
I also read Cloud Atlas which I would consider had some Sci- fi elements and which I liked and disliked in equal parts.

I'm trying to form a question around this but failing dismally so far. I think at the moment I'm looking for recommendations that fall more into the scientific (like The Martian) and less into the fantastic. (And yet I loved the Orison of Sonmi 451). Does that make sense?

Any recommendations from anyone who's made sense of my waffle would be gratefully received.

Count me in, marking my place now. Starting 2016 by reading Little Children by Tom Perotta. Happy reading everyone!

Finished my first book tonight, The Shephards Crown - Terry pratchetts final novel. Ive been a fan of his since I was 8. Loved it as much as I do all his others.

1 I capture the castle, which everyone raves about. It was ok, some of the characters seemed to have been borrowed from cold comfort farm

1. Odd interlude by dean koontz. Local library do this blind book thing where you can borrow books wrapped up so you have a surprise.
2. The graduate by charles Webb. He only got 20k for the rights but the film which is so faithful to the book made 100 million.