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?

Finished my second book

The Colour of Water in July - Nora Carroll Gripping read, and beautifully written, with beautiful descriptions of the settings, and capturing the spirit of three times, the twenties, the early eighties and the late nineties. Trigger warning: miscarriages and difficult labours made it difficult to read personally in places.

Just finished I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. I found it compulsive reading and finished it in 24 hours, (but have done virtually nothing else today). As an Archers addict, the parallels with the Rob & Helen storyline were spookily close, sadly reflecting the all-too-common issue of domestic violence. Very haunting. Think I need something a bit more cheerful now...

looking I know a Wilkie.

He ended up reading English at Oxford .

Looking You're ahead of me, I'm on 30%. (I seem to have been on 30% for months) I had meant to read a fair old chunk last night but zonked out after a couple of pages - I'd been catching up on Dickensian on iplayer and hadn't realised how late it was.

Getting quite excited about tonight's episode. I do hope it's good.

2. The Lewis Man by Peter May

This is the second in the Lewis Trilogy which features now retired cop Fin MacLeod get embroiled in another crime investigation in which he is personally linked.

What a read. Thoroughly enjoyed it - even more than the first in the trilogy. It is a riveting plot following the discovery of a murdered corpse on the Isle of Lewis. Really cleverly done - weaves in a lot of threads about community, history, characters etc.

I've now bought the third in the trilogy but next I've got Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. Holiday is over tomorrow so my reading opportunities will be more limited. I've read 6 books this week (only 2 counting in this year's challenge) and last year struggled to keep up with the 50.

I assume there WAS a pond? I am a little embarrassed that I can remember precisely nothing about it.

Next up is King's new short story collection.

Yes there was a pond and it did play a significant part, and featured in one of my favourite parts of the book!

Finished 2. Spa wars by Chris Manby not a challenging read by all accounts but I wanted a palate cleanser before I get into and the mountains echoed, khaled husaini

"there might have been a pond" is even more than I can offer about Black Swan Green Cote and I absolutely adore David Mitchell usually. I bought it in hardback and gave it away almost immediatly after I finished it. Dull, dull, dull ... even if beautifully written

I read Cloud Atlas and enjoyed it so started Black Swan Green and got about 20 pages in. Have never read another David Mitchell book

I seem to remember enjoying Black Swan Green, but not much else plot wise. There was a bit where he fell through a greenhouse and some evocative destriptions of how having a stutter makes you.feel like like someone is throttling you and... Um, nope, that's all I remember. I remember even less about Number 9 Dream mind

First book finished. What a lot of crap

The Green Room by Faith Mortimer

I rated it one star on Goodreads. One to avoid

Similar to others, I can't remember anything about Black Swan Green! Though think I read it 10+ years ago, and have a crap memory for books-though that does mean I can enjoy them more than once!

Cote I have read Seveneves. I got it as an ebook from the library, totally agree £10 on kindle is excessive! It is another big, meaty book, and I think from your previous comments that you might enjoy some of the geeky detail eg of life on the spaceship.

It begins with the moon fragmenting into pieces, and the impact this will have on everyone living on earth is unfolded cleverly, and the fight for the species to survive is then described really well...I won't go into the later parts of the book too much for fear of spoilers. It's not my favourite Neal Stephenson, but his bar is set so high and I wonder if the excitement and anticipation of it being a new Stephenson affected how I see it. I don't think you'd regret spending £10 on it though!

Waawo Cryptonomicon is one of my favourite books of all time too. Have you read the Baroque saga? They are sort-of prequels to Cryptonomicon, though they don't look at events immediately preceding Cryptonomicon but rather what some of the ancestors of the central characters were doing in the 1600s. I loved these as well.

Just finished 'Bone Clocks' and really enjoyed it.

Does anyone else find it so hard to move on to another so soon after finishing a book?

I am determined not to buy any more books until I have finished my kindle hoard and scoured my shelves.

If anyone is in the Surrey/Epsom area there is a huge 2nd hand book sale in Feb at the Methodist Church.

Excited to hear all the love for Wilkie Collins! I haven't read any yet but have The Woman in White on my list of books to read this year.

I'm hoping my TBR pile will keep growing - nothing more exciting than discovering an author you love. Though mine is far more manageable and I get fewer complaints from DH since mostly switching to Kindle! I do miss paper books though, especially sharing them/passing them on.

Joining up. I need some direction in my reading.

I'm almost tempted to read black swan green now just to find out what happens to the pond.

Theknacktoflying I find it difficult to move on to the next book if I've been especially moved by a book, or loved it, or sometimes if it's been a more difficult read, and enjoy the book more having some time to mull it over afterwards. Conversely, if I've loathed a book I can't wait to start the next one so I can wipe the last one out of my brain!

Meg I read a summary online and STILL can't remember anything. Please will you message me, and tell me what happens re: the pond?

I think it's semi-autobiographical so perhaps not surprising it's not as memorable as some of his more fantastical work.

Totally by the by, but he has a son with autism and I really would love him to write a novel about ASD (my DD is on the spectrum).

David Mitchell has a son with autism. He and his wife translated the book by an autistic 13 yo.

(Spoiler alert) ->> Black Swan Green is set in the '80's narrated by a boy whose parents are divorcing and dealing with bullying ..

Also 1000 Autumns is also not his 'normal' genre ...

"he has a son with autism and I really would love him to write a novel about ASD (my DD is on the spectrum)"

He has translated a book called The Reason I Jump from its Japanese original. It is written by a non-verbal autistic child IIRC, and is about life with autism.

Please don't say anything more about Black Swan Green and the pond. It's dull enough as it is with the suspense. I will just leave it if I know what happens.

Elle - I have no doubt (none whatsoever ) that I will like Seveneves. It's exactly the sort of book I like, and knowing Neal Stephenson, it will be realistic and sciencey. Can't wait!

However, his Baroque saga was my only disappointment with Stephenson. I read the first book Quicksilver and couldn't stand the flippant dynamic of the funny pirate and the former slave girl etc. And I say this as an avid reader of biographies as well as historical fiction featuring scientists and scientific discoveries.

Have I really missed something? Should I give it another go?

I have The Reason I Jump somewhere, but had forgotten he translated it. I'd love a novel though... Something sprawling, possibly SF.