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?

Just noticed that The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin is 99p on Kindle. Some of us enjoyed it - can't remember if it was last year or the year before!

Tanaqui I would say yes! How far into the three body problem are you? It does have a bit of an otherworldly air about it which can be a bit distancing...

Only Thanks for posting about the Costa Awards - I was rooting for Kate Atkinson so I'm thrilled she won for A God in Ruins, a wonderful book I loved. I also fancy reading The Loney.

ladydepp - I salute you for having managed to resist buying Golden Son for so long! Once I read Red Rising, I just had to read the sequel as well and so bought Golden Son on my Kindle for the eye-watering price of £8.49 The third and final book in the trilogy is scheduled to be out on 11 February.

wilting I am 2/7 of the way in and I am just not gripped at all! Does it get better? It's a trilogy too, and I'm not sure I could do two more books even if I persevere with this!

I remember reading the moving toyshop last year, but when I just googled it I don't remember the climactic scene at all- just a lot of bits with a red sports car (and a sad but with a dog!).

I like the look of The Loney too, but desperately trying to hold off buying more books (ahahahha, yeah right) until I whittle my tbr list down a bit. It's at 70 books, not including library books and the books on my kindle - another 40 books probably. So well over 100 books. Oh dear oh dear oh dear, better get reading.

"Ds (10) has had a grasp of string theory for years which was why I wondered about it."

No, I still wouldn't recommend him attempting Paul Dirac's biography.

I have a scientifically-minded 10-yr-old at home, as well. At 5, she knew all planets, their main satellites, difference between a meteorite and an asteroid, why Venus is hotter than Mercury although the latter is closer to the Sun, etc. She learned about atoms & DNA in the last two years, and now at 10, we recently went through Einstein's Theory of Relativity, including the speed of light as a constant, "bouncing ball on the train" thought experiments that show time slows down as you go faster, E = mC2 etc.

She understood all that because when she asked questions, I answered in an age-appropriate manner, in a way and with words that she would understand. She wouldn't have made it three pages into a book on these subjects written for an adult.

Yes Waawo, I think there is a small but significant part of the book which features Turing and Rudi (as well as Waterhouse). I'm liking the sound of Between Silk and Cyanide too and may buy it with my Christmas amazon voucher (thanks FIL!). I like spending ages thinking about what to get almost as much as the books themselves!

Thanks for the tip about The Code Book tumbletumble, I've added that plus Fermat's last theorem to my wish list.

I've had Ready Player One on my wish list for a while as well-I think I will get that with my Christmas voucher too , thanks for the review Sadik.

I've got Jerusalem waiting on my kindle Provencal-how are you finding it so far?

I'm about 10% into SPQR by Mary Beard, and really enjoying it so far.

Just finished my first read of 2016 which was a gift, The Christmas Cafe - Amanda Prowse. I didn't have high hopes, was expecting a gushy feel-good read and wasn't disappointed! Fairly predictable, a few funny moments but far too sugary for me.

Hey, ho. On to A Man Called Ove, for which I do have high hopes.

Thanks for heads up about golden son I've had. Red Rising on my tbr list for ages so good to pick this up while it's cheap. Hopefully I can go through both.

Gatsby is a master class in literary style. I've yet to see a good adaptation of it for screen, and I think it's because the style and content mirror each other so perfectly that it is very difficult to capture its particular brilliance in another medium; rather like trying to reach a green light at the end of a dock

And in an aside, enjoying the fact that there are pre-teens out there who knock my scientific knowledge into a cocked hat

Thanks Cote I will make a note of it for later on. I don't bother dumbing down anything and he has had access to uni level books (he used to read the damn things for fun) but I feel that your wise words on this will be correct on this based on the discussions that have arisen from this reading.

1. Regeneration by Stephanie Saulter

This is the 3rd book in a trilogy - the first is Gemsigns. The trilogy is set in London, some generations after an epidemic substantially reduced the population and led to serious social disruption. Genetically modified humans were created as a supplementary labour force; the series starts many years later in the aftermath of their emancipation from a position of effective slavery, and deals with their integration - or not - into the rest of the population.

I enjoyed the first two books a lot, and this was equally good. Her prose can be a bit clunky, and she can get a bit carried away with her futuretech (showing off her research, I think!), but her scenarios are plausible, she has excellent twisty plots and good characters, so overall a very enjoyable series.

A minor point, but I also liked the fact that the three books in the trilogy each stood alone, rather than being effectively one book split in three, as is so often the case.

Back at work now, so that might be it for a while! However have just started Help! by Oliver Burkeman, which is entertaining so far.

Book 2 - The Exploits of Moominpappa by Tove Jansson. Not sure what audience this was intended for. It has a very different feel to it than the other simpler stories. I didn't like it as much and it didn't hold DS's attention. It all seemed rather surreal (more so than the others), drifting about the ocean in a boat called The Oshun Oxtra, encountering peculiar creatures such as the Nibblings and the Island Ghost (who incidentally I did rather like for his woeful laments, and love of knitting :o)

Started The Blackhouse by Peter May today, which appears to be shaping up nicely.

Book 3 Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole. I have read a fair few of these now, all the immortal beings you can imagine, vampires, fey, demons etc. In this one Reginleit, a valkyrie is captured and held with other immortals in a facility. There they are tortured until the facility is breached. Really enjoyed it.
I also have The Man in the High Castle, War and Peace and a book about the holocaust on the go.

Red Rising and Golden Son were two of my fave books of 2015.

Thanks to cote who drew my attention to them I think.

Someone mentioned London below, can they explain, is it a book. Only I saw a series on BBC 2 many years ago and if it was based on books I would like to read them

Yes, I am the proud discoverer of Red Rising and its sequel Golden Son

minsmum Was the series Neverwhere - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r522y

It's based on a book of the same name, and someone recommended a short story from the author, Neil Gaiman, How the Marquis Got His Coat Back. Currently 99p on Kindle

Yes that's the one. It was brilliant. Thank you so much So Slightly

cote I believe a film is in the making.

Personally, I think the books are too dense for film and that the series lends itself far more easily to a HBO box set structure.

southeastdweller I'm a newcomer and I'm enjoying the thread. I live reading all the recommendations and getting ideas for future reading.
I'm also amazed that people have read books so quickly already!
But it's giving me a push too

I finished my first book of 2016 yesterday: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I thought it would go into more detail than it did but we cleared out 4 bags of clothes for the charity shop last night so it's done some good already!

Please can I join? Hope it isn't too late! I read quite a bit over Christmas but had been waiting to go back to work so I can start reading The Secret History on my commute. Never got round to it when it was first out but it's been on my list for ages so hoping it lives up to expectation!

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield £1.79 on the Kindle. Don't miss this fantastic book.

Morning all, gosh this thread moves like lightening, think that's why I lost track last year!

I've just finished book 2 All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This was one of the big reads of 2015 so I'm sure it's been reviewed before, but a brief synopsis: it's set in WW2 and follows a blind French girl and a young German boy and their experiences through the war. There's a strong science element to it, the girl's father is a locksmith at a museum and she learns by touching various objects, and the boy is a genius at radio transmission. The book is beautifully written and very moving but there was something a bit lacking for me. It's told in alternate chapters between the characters, the chapters are very short and I think that makes it difficult to build up tension. For me it wasn't unputdownable but I'd still recommend it.

I'm not sure what's next, I've had Red Rising on my Kindle for ages so may go there.