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?

Oh yes!

I've just started on Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Got a few more lined up after that.

FrustratedFrugal Mon 11-Jan-16 17:42:07
Is anyone else a serial non-finisher? Yep started the year with 6 in progress books. I have finished 1, read 6 others and started a further 3 books. So instead of reducing my in progress list I have actually increased it

Started Book 3 last night. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
A kindle bargain mentioned on here/last years thread

Thanks - will give it a try ..

"started the year with 6 in progress books. I have finished 1, read 6 others and started a further 3 books."

How does that work, then? Can you also watch 6 films at the same time?

Maybe more like having a few tv series on the go, Cote? I have more than one book on the go frequently, but never similar ones. I might have a crime thriller book, an audio book of different genre, and a children's book for DS's bedtime. That's about the limit for me, to keep track of plots :o And I do prefer one of my books to be non-fiction as well when reading several.

I usually have a book upstairs and one downstairs; I often have one on my kindle and one non-fiction as well.

Yes, I guess it could be like following several TV series from one week to next, although I don't think there is the same level of immersion in the episode of a TV series. I admire those who can do it.

If a book properly grabs me then the others are neglected while I read that one :)

I only read one book at a time, but I sometimes 'press pause' on one book and take a break while reading other books, then come back to the first one. But I wouldn't flit between books on a daily basis (except books I'm reading to my DC - I don't count those for this thread).

Agree with juggling different genres or fiction/non. I am still dipping in & out of the Dickens biography while reading Life after Life, nice contrast.

1. Our zoo by June Mottershead. I enjoyed the TV series last year and we live very close to Chester zoo so I was interested to read this. Lots of good stories to tell but unfortunately not very well written; it could have done with with another editor or ghost writer to liven things up. I was frustrated by her tendency to think you remembered the names of the animals (or perhaps this is down to me reading other books at the same time!) - for example, she would drop in that the sea lions had to share an enclosure with 'Fred' but not remind you who or what Fred was.

Gosh this thread moves quickly! I spent a day in bed yesterday ( laid low with ear infection and terrible cough) and couldn't MN.

I'd thoroughly recommend the cook book Persiana from the pictures and recipes, though will update when I'm well enough to cook something from it - the proof is in the tasting! I shan't include in my challenge, but it is a lovely book, so worth recommending.

Anyway, I managed to finish reading my next book in between coughing fits.

1. Looking for Alaska John Green. I did enjoy some parts of this - but wasn't blown away by it.

I must be becoming quite a picky reader, as it has been a long time since I have found a book I have loved - I want to find one!

About to start The Lady in the Van on kindle, and have started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

( I too, often have a few books "on the go" at once - a real book, a kindle book, and often, a cook book, oh- and Anna Karenina - I am determined to finish this, this year!)

I have a book on the go on the Kindle app on the iPad so I can read in the dark if sitting in with children, but I do find I don't get as absorbed in these, so try and choose light things I'm less bothered about.

Then usually one main book on the go. In the days when I used to finish books no matter what I would have more than one, but now I don't have as much time to read I give up when I've had enough and really immerse myself in the good ones. If I'm really into a book I just want to read that one until it's done. Only exception being if there's something massive (W&P) and then I do a little at a time in the background. However there is usually a stage when that will take over and become the main read anyway.

Does anyone else find having different options for reading, ie the kindle, makes it harder to actually choose what to read?

OK, I haven't been keeping up with this thread very well but here's my 2016 so far:

1 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street ('reviewed' by me earlier)

2 All My Puny Sorrows. The story of a beautiful, successful woman who is determined to kill herself, and how her sister and family try to cope with it. Devastating, caustic, witty, surprising.

3 The Household Spirit. A wonderful novel about two misfits who are neighbours but don't connect with each other until many years have passed and sad things have happened. Quirky, totally original characters, insightful and compassionate, and the most perfect ending. I can't recommend this highly enough.

4 The Shepherd's Life. Memoir from a man whose family have been shepherds in Cumbria for hundreds of years. I didn't finish it. Some interesting stuff about things like the history and law of common land, the way the farms work etc, but his recording of dialogue is toe-curlingly stilted and dull and I just couldn't carry on. I may try again.

Going to read Spill Simmer Falter Wither next.

I'm joining as reading is my luxury and I miss my book group which folded after 7 years. Have just finished Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey (on Audible while dog walking,) and am reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and A modern Way To eat by Anna jones. On Today's dog walk I will begin a Snow garden by Rachel Joyce downloaded from BBC Radio 4 book at bedtime.

Hi all,
read 6 Reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig. really enjoyed this and read it in one sitting. 7. Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World that can't ... by Susan Cain. A great, reassuring read for an introvert like me, would also recommend for any parents of shy children. Backed up with lots of research, saw her TED talk on introverts and this spurred me on to read this. Currently reading The Life and Loves of a He Devil by Graham Norton.

Sorry, that reads poorly. It should be 6. Reasons to Stay Alive .

Remus - was it you that suggested a Cook Book thread? If so did you start one?

I read reasons to Stay alive and thought it was very good and accessible.

Book 5: Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume. Sorry to say I really didn't like it, despite high expectations. It's about a 57 year old man, lonely and with a terrible, neglected background, some unspecified physical issues and possible some form of autism, who adopts a scruffy rescue dog. The first 50 or 100 pages were pretty good, but then it just wallowed. I couldn't quite buy the premise that the narrator would do some of the things he did, and 300 pages of solely internal dialogue overwhelmed my empathy for his sad state of affairs with boredom. I realise the author was trying to pull the reader into his suffocating loneliness, but she lost me and I ended up skim-reading the second half.

I'm still listening to the audible version of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, becoming increasingly impatient with the flat, intonation-less narration but still drawn to the beauty of the writing. I'm going to try to stick it out, not least because I remember from my initial read of the book that the ending is unexpected, but I can't remember the details!

I'd love to read the Inequality book Sadik - it sounds fascinating, I've added it to my wishlist and hopefully will read it when it's in paperback or on kindle. A friend recommended Change Everything by Christian Felber, which sounds like it may be along similar lines, also waiting for a price fall!

1. Golden Son - Pierce Brown. This is the second book in the trilogy. The action moves from the ground and "classsical" battle scenes of the first book to space with some great images of the colonisation of the solar system. The pace continues unabated, can't wait for the third.

I'm going for non-fiction next, Flash Boys by Michael Lewis who wrote Liar's Poker. It's about high-frequency trading and the banking system.

1. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit. Just a quick read for the tube, a book I've been meaning to read for years but somehow never got around to. I guess most people know the story of three children uprooted from their middle class Edwardian existence and dropped in a rural setting near a railway. I've seen two film versions and have to say, I was disappointed by the book. I think I've spent years imagining that this would be a truly great children's classic, like Wind in the Willows or the Narnia books - but for me it just seems a bit flat and obvious. Maybe it needs to be read first at age 10! Other people might find it fab of course!

Can I join? I've just discovered this thread and it's taking a while to read as I keep googling books and adding them to my Amazon wishlist.

I just finished The Tea Planter's Wife which I enjoyed, especially the descriptions of Ceylon and where she lives.

I've almost finished Gone Girl. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and have no idea how it's going to end.

I haven't read anything by Wilkie Collins. Can anyone recommend which book I should start with?

Right, back to page 15 to carry on reading what books you are all reading/enjoying

I love the Railway Children, Waawo, but I've found before that children's classics just don't grab me as much if I read them for the first time as an adult. It's funny, because I can reread ones I read as a kid and still love them just as much.

I can read one book and then put it down to read something more exciting...but if I do that I frequently don't go back to the first one. I have a lot of half-read books. If I have to stop reading a book on Kindle because my battery died that doesn't apply, though - and the joy of the Kindle app on my phone is that I've stopped having to carry books in my handbag at all times so I may start a new Kindle book because I find myself unexpectedly with time to kill and no book. I'm not going to count unfinished books on this thread, though.