50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Seven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the final thread 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, please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read, and to anyone who hasn't posted, feel free to de-lurk and share with us what you've read so far this year.

The first thread of 2016 is here, second thread here, third thread here, fourth thread here, fifth thread here and sixth thread here.

I'm glad we agree Chillie

Some good books are cheapo today on the Kindle:

Red Rising is 99p! If you haven't read it already, you must get it now. One of very few books that Remus & I have both enjoyed very much, so you know it's exceptional

All 3 books in the Brilliance trilogy are £1 each! Get them, if you have any interest in a bit of light SF. Light but good books about what happens when a small percentage of people develop certain abilities.

The Dark Net is £1.99. I've been waiting for this to drop in price for quite some time. Here's the Amazon blurb:

eyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit lies a vast network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.
The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures, stretching from secret Facebook groups to the encrypted and hidden Tor network. In it, Bartlett goes in search of the people behind the screen, meeting trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes.
Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.

I haven't hit 100, nor do I expect to (sadly), but I have made my Goodreads target which is 70. Of those, 4 were (real) books which I bought, 6 were on audible, 4 were library books (although there were a few more Booker ones which got returned either without being finished, or even opened). The rest were Kindles.

What limiting me is that reading in bed is now giving me an actual pain in the arm, because I have to hold whatever it is I am reading higher than usual to accommodate my CPAP mask (for sleep apnoea). If I don't put it on immediately, I tend to forget and fall asleep ... but wake up feeling like I've not had a wink of sleep. As this is part of the sorting out of my lack of energy issues ... I'm having to grin & bear it (or more accurately, grump but bear it).

To be honest I'd use the library more, except that it costs £1.30 to reserve a book, and if I can buy it for under £2.50 from ebay, I'm often tempted to have it straight away and not wait. Our library is very tiny, so there's relatively few books on the shelves that I want to read (and haven't already read).

Sadik, I really liked Prisoners of Geography and I felt it did offer a new perspective that I hadn't previously considered when following news and current events. I did feel that some chapters were stronger than others. I especially enjoyed the one about Russia for example, and some regions don't get much attention at all but overall it was definitely worth buying. It was a pretty quick read too and easy to dip in and out of without losing the overall thread.

Sometimes I do think I am a bit easy to please though.

Thanks altered - they've got it in the county library system now (didn't have last time I looked for it) so I've splashed out £1.30 to order it!

I finished my challenge - happy days!

49. The North Water by Ian McGuire - rather gory, dark and violent book about a murderer aboard a whaling ship. I liked it a lot! I found it well written and gripping and the detail is great (almost too much at times). I read this while doing some travelling recently; a very unusual thing happens in the book near the end which also happens during the film The Revenant (v good film by the way) which I happened to be watching on a flight during which I was also reading this book. Twas a weird coincidence!

50. Magpie Murders by Antony Horowitz - a whodunnit within a whodunnit. Diverting but only in a very mediocre sort of way. It felt too long. I prefer Agatha Christie.

Ladydepp I've been waiting for The North Water to come down in price on Kindle. And now you've made me want it even more!

Book 123
The Revenant
Reviewed several times already. I liked this but didn’t love it, although at times I thought I was going to! Liked the concept a lot, liked the writing style especially when the plot was moving forward (less keen on the backstory of various bit part characters). The only thing I found disappointing was the ending, which felt rather abrupt. I realise that this was a deliberate choice made by the writer, and know exactly why he did it, but it annoyed me!

I really liked the ending and the backstory of the characters in The Revenant

Didn't love but liked? Can this be another fiction book we both liked, Remus?

I bought The North Water for £0.99 on 31 July 2016. I think it was the Kindle Deal of the Day or some such

I'm glad you liked it LadyDepp! I might read it next, if The Fifth Heart ever ends

Rub it in, why don't you, Cote?

Yes - The Revenant could well be another in our slowly increasing collection of fiction that we wouldn't come to a fist fight over. Thanks for the recommendation. I want us to find one that we both adore though, not just like!

Satsuki - Trying not to give spoilers, but am sure you can imagine why, whilst the ending was obviously done the way it was, I might have wished for something slightly different!

Hello, I've been a long time lurker on this thread and finally I've decided to join...right at the end of the year!
I've not managed the 50 books and don't think I will before January but hope to do 50 plus next year :)

Here's my list so far, ones I've really enjoyed are in bold
1)How to make a journal of your life by Dan Price
2)Moonlight Chronicles by Dan Price
3)Snowflower and the secret fan by Lisa See
4)The owl Killers by Karen Maitland
5)Rabbit stew and a penny or two by Maggie smith-bendall
6)The four streets trilogy 1 by Nadine Dorries
7)Hide her name book 2 by Nadine Dorries
8)In the light of wat we see by Sarah Painter
9)The Ballymara road book 3 by Nadine Dorries
10)The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins
11)To the bright edge of the world by Eowyn Ivey
12)Me before you by Jojo Moyes
13)one thousand white women:the journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
14)Original Wisdom by Robert Wolff
15)These is my words by Nancy E Turner
16)Writing down the bones by Natalie Goldberg
17)Where ever you go there you are by Jon Kabit Zinn
18)Full Catastrophe living by Jon Kabit Zinn
19)The miracle of mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
20)Mindfulness: a practical guide by Mark williams
21)Sarah's quilt by Nancy E Turner
22)Enuff by Kate Carpenter
23)Simplify by Joshua Becker
24)Victoria by Daisy Goodwin
25)The star garden by Nancy E Turner
26)Everything that remains by Joshua Millburn
27)The places that scare you by Pema Chodron
28)The woman who breathed two worlds by Selina siak chin yoke
29)The invention of wings by Sue Monk Kidd
30)The outrun by Amy Liptrot

I'm currently reading Ross Poldark by Winston Graham and In the land of the long white cloud by Sarah Lark.

ah, bold didn't work, doh!

103 Rubicon by Tom Holland

A narrative history of the fall of the Roman Republic, covering Rome/Italy from 140BC through to Augustus. It is wonderful how much information survives of the likes of Cicero, Cato, Pompey, and of course Julius Caesar himself. Holland is a very good story teller too, so I will be moving on to Dynasty next, which is his account of the rise and fall of the House of Caesar, so presumably overlaps Rubicon to begin with.

Welcome, Debbs - I think you need a space before the star to make the bold work. You made me google One Thousand White Women, which I'd never heard of. Sounds fascinating.

LadyDepp I also liked The North Water a lot. I would have made it one of my favourites as it was so well written. I really felt cold, even in the 30 degree heat here and had to put on a jumper.

It was not an enjoyable read, but the tightness of the writing and the way in which it created a believably claustrophobic state of mind in me as a reader was incredibly impressive.

I bought it in the deal on 31st July too. Sorry Remus!

I am glad you liked Rubicon ChillieJeanie. I have wanted to Tom Holland's books for ages but they never seem to come down in price on the kindle.

What did you think of The Invention of Wings, Debbs87? I read The Secret Life of Bees, which I wasn't sure whether I liked or not. I appreciated the place it gave to female characters but I also was uneasy at what seemed to me quite clichéd racial stereotypes.

Yes remus I know what you mean, I felt that way too briefly, but decided it was more meaningful to take it in a different direction, anything else would have been unsatisfying I think.

I'm feeling North Water envy now too.

Hi debs and welcome

Nothing much (to my mind) in the monthly kindle deals - wonder if they're saving some good ones for the twelve days of Christmas sale they usually do. Did spy Brideshead Revisited which is worth a read if you've not got to it yet.

Has anyone read His Bloody Project? I just noticed that it is available on kindle unlimited so I might sign up for the free trial to read it.

There have been a few review of it on here altered, mostly positive iirc. I've just got it from the library but haven't been in the mood for it yet.

Ah, sorry, I should have looked back through the thread. Thanks Satsuki!

Oh no, of course ask, it's a right pain to go scrolling back through to see if anyone's read it

I've read it too, altered. Can't remember when I last posted an update on here - will have to scroll back to check. I got it from the library, after a very long wait. Loved it, and bravely tweeted the author to tell him so. And he replied :) :)

I'm currently reading His Bloody Project so will report back in a few days.

Thank you to everyone who recommended some shorter books. I've now caught up and on schedule to complete my 50 by end of the year. (from 6 books behind a few months back!)