50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Thread two 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, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Previous 2016 thread here

On the question of whether you have several books on the go at the same time, I sometimes do and sometimes don't. At the moment, I'm currently reading Book 1 of Game of Thrones, have started Tana French's Into the Woods, and am also reading The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth. I wouldn't have picked up the latter based on its title, but it's written by the author of The Etymologicon and The Horlogicon and is far funnier than you would guess from the subject matter.

Yy Michael Slater is v good on Dickens, might look that up.

I read 4 books last week and have only managed 50 pages this week so far, had a lot going on, going to try and give myself time tonight. Reading God in Ruins which is good so far, and starting The Exclusives tonight on iPad.

2. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Covered some interesting history about the roundup of Jews in Paris during WW2 but it was more 'chintzy' (IYKWIM) than I expected.

I've had 'I Let You Go' on my shelf for a while, so I'm going to read that next. My prediction is a bog-standard psych thriller.

1. Austerity Britain 1945-51 by David Kynaston

Brilliant, I gave it five stars on Goodreads. Accessible recent history from the PoV of diarists and the popular media. I love reading about this period anyway, and the frequent use of quotes from "Mass Observation" i.e. conversations overheard in the street, in shops and so on, adds a different dimension.

Interesting entry from the diary of MP W.J. Brown in December 1945, "A most disturbing feature of it is the number of crimes with violence. In an effort to keep the thing within bounds the police have taken to large-scale raids on the public. Without warning they cordon-off a large area and make everyone produce his identity card. They take anyone who cannot satisfactorily account for himself to the police station for further enquiries. The first of these raids took place in the West End this last week. Many deserters were picked up and many clues found to gangs of robbers responsible for recent crimes. But it adds a new terror to pleasure-seeking in the West End..." - Sounds quite a lot like a much more modern phenomenon, kettling, to me!

This was one of those books - very rare for me in non-fiction - that I didn't want to end. Handy then that there are two more volumes. I'm getting those on my Kindle though, not dragging around any more 650+ page tomes on trains!

Still on Jerusalem but marking place

Can we count reading this thread as one book? Only joking, but this thread does fairly zoom ahead if I don't read it every day.

Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the following books that people have mentioned, in case anyone has them on their tbr pile:

The Crimson Petal and the White, I know there are some haters on here but I thought it was fab. Someone mentioned Where'd you go Bernadette? - I read it for book club a couple of years ago, I thought it was really funny and original, the (minor) bits about school PTA are v funny for those of us with children of primary school age

I can heartily agree with the negative comments about the Wide Sargasso Sea, was forced to read it at Uni, hated it and would never reread.

I am still happily reading Golden Son and GOT4. I don't want either of them to end, but thankfully both have or will have follow on books! Yay. I might need to choose some shorter books for my next ones though, otherwise I'm only going to manage about 10 books this year!

Waawo, Austerity Britain sounds rivetting, although at 650 pages I may need to get my reading flowing before I start it. On to my wish list methinks, even if the bloke gets all high-brow about it as he can only relate to social history if its academic and out of the mouths of movers and shakers, rather than the man in the street, whereas I feel there's a place for both and rather like the viewpoint of someone I can identify with.

1. Life after Life by Kate Atkins, as recommended on here. I found it very slow-starting and nearly gave up, if I'm honest, but the premise that the protagonist, Ursula, had several second chances after her birth/still birth 1910 was gripping. Also that she had the power to change history, to escape her abuser, to help a victim sidestep their murderer, to change her brother's destiny also. And so much fascinating detail about the horrors of living in war torn London, she mentions at one point that Ursula has hardly slept in 8 weeks due to the ceaseless nighttime bombings. I listen do the audiobook and found the narrator was excellent for this book and at putting on a wide variety of accents. Highly recommend this.

1. Very different was Alan Cumming's autobio Not My Father's Son which was very accessible, moving and ultimately uplifting despite its subject matter of his childhood abuse. He writes very well- entertaining and erudite, self-deprecating and very honest. A quick read too.

ladydepp asked: "Can we count reading this thread as one book?"

67266 words of actual text in the first thread (i.e. after editing out the title bar text, dates, "add message | report | message poster" and so on) - so anyone who has read the whole thing has indeed read the equivalent of a reasonable size book ;)

Hi all. Am nearing the end of my third book now. On track for my goal of a novel a week, so feeling chuffed with myself .

1. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronavitch
Cant remember if I have already posted about it? Not my usual thing at all. A detective ghost story. A fast read and good fun.

2. The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
I cannot say enough about this book. Outstanding writing, totally gripping, brutal and powerful and just wonderful. One of those books that stays with you and haunts you. I didn't want to read anything for a few days after finishing it, as I was still totally stuck in the world of the characters. Its set on a plantation in 18th century Jamaica and follows the life of a 'house slave' girl named Lillith. Beautiful, dark, soul-rocking book.

3. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi
This is more of a novella. I read two thirds of it last night, so definitely gripped. Set in Afghanistan. A woman tends her husband, who is in a coma, and begins to talk to him, confessing all her memories, feelings and innermost thoughts in a way she has never been able to in that society before. Very sparse writing. Powerful stuff. Will probably finish it tonight and then going to read something by an Angolan writer called Jose Eduardo Aqualusa, 'The Chameleon'. Trying to read writers from all over the world at the moment. Will report back.

Happy reading, all!

Gosh, feeling a little behind compared to some! Just finished book 3

3. The Crow Trap - Ann Cleeves
It's the first of the Vera Stanhope books that have been made into a TV series. 3 woman are at an isolated cottage to do an enviormental impact survey of a proposed quarry site and one of them is murdered. It's cleverly written and all the characters feel very well rounded, not just the main detective, lots of red herrings to take you off elsewhere, however it was a bit too long (over 500 pages) and felt plodding at some parts. I enjoyed her "Shetland" series of books, so had hoped the "Vera" ones would be as good, but sadly the first one is not, although it could be it's a much earlier book and I'd benefitted from reading older books where she'd got better at telling her stories without pages and pages of plodding along.

I did think the slow feeling of the book meant it took me longer to read, it just wasn't grabbing me.

Biblomania - I'm after a good new detective series, would you recommend the MRC Kasassian ones?

Marking place.

1. The Great Gatsby
2. Slaughterhouse Five

Olly I LOVE Anne Tyler. Will read a couple soon, ones I've missed. Spoil is excellent.

And kinky, two fab books.

3. Rosemary Conley's 3 2 1 Diet have read this and not lost a pound - think I may have to do more than just read the book.

I have a couple of books on the go at the same time too.

Just started my 4th book The Boleyn Inheritance by Phillipa Gregory. Abandoned The Sunday Philosophers Club by Alexander McCall Smith as I just couldn't get into it! It wandered off track too much and was a bit tedious
Loving the new thread! 😊

Hi all and hello to the shiny new thread.

I'm not doing v well - gave up on the boring one I was reading, which was so dull that I've forgotten what it was called. Something to do with a ball, but all I can get in my head at the moment is, 'Invitation to a Beheading' and it definitely wasn't that!

Am now reading a not great Sherlock Holmes thing by Val somebody or other which I bought because it was thruppence ha'penny on Kindle.

Posting to mark my place on the new thread. Am now about halfway through Tregian's Ground and thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm now on book 8, Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood. It's a collection of short stories that I picked up in the library for about 20p. It's ok so far but not really grabbing me. Will finish it but not a keeper.

Stick with Vera Dinosoaurs, they get better and ultimately better than Shetland imho.

No 4. I think you'll find it's A big more complicated than that - Ben Goldacre. Collection of short articles and other writings from the science myth debunker. Okish.

Have had odd goings on in my Amazon account so they have frozen it while they investigate. Very frustrating as I can't buy anything new for my Kindle. Possibly a good thing. Have got SPQR on the go and rereading Bill Bryson's Little Dribbling for light relief. I might have to go to to the library and confess I've lost those books so that I can borrow more.

Finished #1 The ice twins, now on Anna karenina, finding it slow going though! Loved The Ice Twins, very readable.

Finished number 5: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, about a soldier who deserts the Confederate army in the US Civil War and makes his way towards home and his beloved, whose story of survival following her father's death is also told. It's a gorgeous book, very slow paced and heavy on description, but incredibly evocative. It was a re-read for me, and I'm glad to have gone back to it.

I'm now listening to The Martian by Andy Weir on audio when I'm on the move and reading Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt at home. Both are good so far.

***

1. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
2. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
3. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
4. The Whites by Richard Price
5. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

I finally have something to post!

1. A Summer Bird-Cage by Margaret Drabble

I'd never read any of Drabble's work before, so her first novel seemed a fitting place to start. I found it incisive, amusing, and uncomfortable at times.

1. City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

I just finished this book, all 900 pages of it. Its central point is a shooting in Central Park on New Year's in 1977, and it spirals out to explore the lives of the people connected, in one way or another, to this event and to each other. It has multiple sections, including a fanzine and excerpts from a piece of long-form journalism that one of the characters is writing. The book is so intricate and worked well for me, though I did question the necessity of its length sometimes. But, I really do like this book; I'll probably go back to parts of it soon.

1. The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

I just started it and am enjoying it so far. This is my first Patrick Ness novel. Huh, all three of these books are by writers I've never read before...

Just finished my third book which was All The Light We Cannot see by Anthony Doerr. Found this book challenging, as I thought it would be due to the subject matter but persistence with it paid off. The characters and their stories will stay with me for a long time I think.
Book 4- a bit lighter this time- The Life Changing Magic of tidying Marie Kondo, have heard so much about it wanted to read it for myself!