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?

I have continued with my happy tradition of starting off the year on a high note (The Children's Book last year and The Poisonwood Bible the year before). This year it was:

1. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. Another memoir by the author of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, but written over 25 years later, this was recommended by many of you on last year's thread. This is beautifully written, with some fascinating bits about religion, the meaning of home and family, her mental breakdown, being adopted and finding her birth mother. Brilliant.

Ah wilting sorry to hear that Fermat's Last Theorem didn't work for you. I thought it was great!

Waawo - I read and loved Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow years ago. The film (called Miss Smilla's Sense Of Snow) is also very good.

I was very eager to read Peter Hoeg's 2008 book The Quiet Girl - not only was it written by the author of MSFFS, but it was also sci-fi that featured the music of J S Bach. "What can go wrong?", enthused yours truly

It was catastrophically awful. Complete nonsense, full of facile truisms, going nowhere and ending in a laughable "twist".

Just thought I'd warn people off, in case anyone thinks they will find something like MSFFS in this book.

Right, Cloud Atlas is £1.49 on the Kindle at the moment, I have taken this in conjunction with cote's ringing endorsement as a sign that it is time to read it

Thanks for the review cote, agree Bone Clocks lost its way with the immortals bit, it slowed it right down and there were times I thought what am I reading, this is nuts, but I did enjoy it overall, so I am quietly optimistic now for CA, if it is exceeds Bone Clocks as you say.

Read it. Read it! READ IT! (Really)

I used to get on my soapbox about Cloud Atlas quite often, especially when people said they found it terrible, didn't see any links between the stories, they didn't seem to have a purpose, etc. I ended up writing my complete analysis/notes on Cloud Atlas on this thread. Take a look after you have read it and let me know what you think.

Finished

1. Back Then by Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan
2. The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penney (Inspector Gamache) - listened to that one on cd in the car

About to finish Nina Balatka for my Trollope Reading group tomorrow night.

I am also half way through AnneMarie Slaughter's non fiction book Unfinished Business, based on her Atlantic article about giving up her job in US state department because of her family needs.

Can you tell us a bit about the books you have read? Just a few sentences so we know what they are about and what you thought about them. Thank you

Smellophant - I have read both of those books and would recommend both.

I enjoyed The Lady of the Rivers, but it was a bit 'woo' in places. and Why Love Matters is a great read with some heart breaking and heart warming real life examples. Would love to hear your thoughts on them both when you are done.

1. Circle: the diary of Stella Moore. By Peter Dudgeon.

This was the sequel to my book number one, 'Chance'. This story really developed the themes from the earlier book. A gripping tale about a massive circle of abusers hidden in positions of power such as the Police force. Well worth a read.

err. hello

can i join? i wont manage 50 but i am hoping to get some ideas from here.

ive just finished "the winter children " by lulu taylor. spectacularly rubbish :(

was a fast read though. i read onkindle but find it hard to find stuff i like.

Oh can I join? I did briefly last year but then got bogged down with the most shitty year from which I am only just emerging, I have high hopes for 2016 though, starting with a small goal of seeing this thread through to the end (baby steps and all that). So, rather fortuitously my first read of the year was The Bone Clocks, I can pretty much agree with what Cote handily summed up above, good but not a patch on Cloud Atlas, I was disappointed not to see more of Hugo Lamb as I found him a very interesting character, I suspect though as is David Mitchell's habit, he may pop up in a later book (he's already popped up in a previous one, albeit briefly). I quite liked the warring immortals though, I thought it brought cohesion rather than being an extraneous sub-plot .

2. Was on a bit of a Mitchell roll so read Slade House. Some familiar characters from The Bone Clocks (it's based on some rogue immortals who do not follow the shadow path, so if you found that a bit tiresome don't bother), more of a novella than a novel it only took a couple of hours but was a satisfyingly chilly little book for a dreary day. Al wrapped up nicely at the end too.

3. Steven Baxter - Xeelee Endurance, one for Steven Baxter fans really, it further flashes out the Baxter Universe with a couple of novellas and a few short stories spanning five billions years of Man's history. If you are a fan it's well worth a read, lots of familiar names and histories adding depth to an already brilliantly realised future.

Have 'The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet' by Becky Chambers next, I think it's her first book and I loved the title so I'm giving it a punt. I will report back soon!

So glad I spotted this thread,another social media victim here. Cant wait to see suggestions I need inspiration

I'm in! I've never done this challenge before so if I even make it to 20 books I'll be pleased! I've recently realised I spend far too much time on social media and gaming apps and need to get my head back into some good books!
I'm starting with Sophie's World after it was recommended by my Father-In-Law.

the Inspector Gamache one was pretty good (series set in Canada). I've only listened to them on tape so no idea if I'd like the books if I read them. the plot was a bit wobbly but the writing is good and the description of the village where so many murders happen (three pines) is very cosy.

The Anne Bernays book is a non fiction about coming of age, well off, jewish, and educated in New York in the 1950s. She is still writing today and her husband who co-wrote this one was a writer too. It is very evocative of a different time and place.

The Anne Marie Slaughter one is excellent and a bit of a push back at the "Lean In" stuff. She more or less says to Sheryl Sandborg that she would have lent in when her chiildren were primary age too - when your kids are teens, the stakes are higher, and you are getting calls from the local police station, it is a bit harder to lean in. I am enjoying her writing and what she is saying.

The Nina one will be crap - one of Anthony Trollope's bad ones. But I love my reading group so I don't mind - and we are discussing the Palliser novels if we finish discussing this one early.

All my books are from the library (except for Trollope - on kindle for free). I love the library and I love this thread!

I'd like to join too. I don't read as much as I used to and I'd like to get back into the habit. Being a bit under-the-weather over Christmas I managed to finish two books but there's still a big pile of books by my bed that I ought to get through. I find it hard to go into a bookshop and not come out without at least one new book.

Just finished: The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude and Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon. They are among the selection of 1930's crime novels released by British Library Crime Classics. Both books are of their time, but nonetheless well written. I would say that Mystery in White was slightly better plotted out.

Have just started on Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz.

Just finished book 2, I couldn't sleep until it was finished.

1. The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell
2. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

I really adored this book. It's about a couple if young girls in inter-war Britain and their ideas about love. I read a biography of the Mitford family over Christmas and the characters are based on Nancy's family and that does come across. It's all delightfully and I will definitely be picking up a few more of her books.

1. The Grownup- Gillian Flynn

More of a short story really, I couldn't sleep so read this. I wasn't that impressed, quite dull with no conclusive ending. If it had been padded out it could have been interesting but instead it seemed rushed and unfinished.

Looking I'm really not sure, I'm still thinking about it. The general consensus seems to be favourable but some of my blogging friends have been more cautious and I'm in the cautious camp at the moment.

It looks beautiful and the battle scenes are very well done. I'm a bit sceptical about some of the women's costumes but I'm not a costume expert.

I liked Stephen Rea - a very machiavellian Prince Vassily. Jim Broadbent is always good value, as is Brian Cox.
I like James Norton but Andrei's use of force when taking his leave of Lise seemed excessive - giving, what seemed to me, a distorted snapshot of his attitude towards her. He is disappointed with his marriage and with her, he doesn't hate her.

In short, I'm sitting on the fence reserving judgement. It's early days and I'll give it a bit longer, hoping it all comes together. It's inevitable that an awful lot has been left out, though.

I'm in! I have had Gone with the Wind for over a year now so want to get it read (feel it should count as 2 books lol). I've read some cookbooks this year so far but not counting them!

Stumpweasel let me know what you think of Moriarty!

stumpweasel let me know what you think of Moriarty!

Book 2 finished.

It was My Fight Your Fight by Ronda Rousey, the UFC fighter.

It's her autobiography but each chapter had a small 'advicey' paragraph to start it.

It was a strange book as I didn't warm to any of the people featured (I found her mum quite irritating actually) yet despite that I found when I wasn't reading I wanted to get back to it. It wasn't an amazing read but trundled along quite nicely, she is a very marmite character and I like her slightly less after reading this which I'm not sure was her intention (although she'd probably not give a fuck!) and I had expected to feel motivated to be some kind of bad ass after reading it, it didn't do that at all!

Unfortunately a lot of the sentiments, particularly towards the end of the book are also a bit redundant after her recent loss (the book was written when she was undefeated).

I'd give it 3/5.

AnneEtAramis so glad you enjoyed The Pursuit of Love, possibly my favourite book ever!

Smellophant and Greymalkin I remember reading Why Love Matters a few years ago when I had very small children and finding it a bit annoying. It seemed to give me more reasons to feel guilty when I was doing my best through a haze of sleep deprivation!

cote I have had The Quiet Girl languishing on my shelves since about 2010 and never picked it up. Will move it off shelf and onto books I don't mind other people taking shelf With no guilt

1. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Irene is a professional spy working for the Library, which exists between alternativee worlds, to harvest fiction from the different realities. She is sent, with an enigmatic assistant Kai who has secrets of his own, to an alternate London in search of a copy of a book by the brothers Grimm, but arrives to discover it has been stolen and its owner murdered. Several factions are in search of the book, and to add to the risks the world is chaos-infested, allowing for the existence of supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic.

I really enjoyed the concept of this one, with a network of Librarians seeking significant works of fiction across dimensions. The actual execution is a bit patchy in places, but this is a debut novel and I'm sure Cogman will get more into her stride as the series progresses. There's a second novel out and since I have book tokens left over from Christmas I will probably get that one soon.

Wow, i'm very impressed with people planning 50 or more books this year. My plan is 26 and that's a lot for me! Currently reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and about a third of the way through. It's a bit young for me but enjoyable nonetheless