50 Book Challenge 2017 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2017, 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.

Who's in for this year?

Thanks all, quite exciting to be able to read just before it gets published, though will be an interesting exercise as I wont be able to get lost in it.

Ken Follet's century trilogy just arrived, popping it on the pile

In addition to what's already been mentioned, I've found podcasts a good source for book recommendations.

What podcasts do you listen to Vanderlyle?

A Good Read with Harriet Gilbert is my favourite .. I save it up on my phone for long car journeys.

ClashCity, I read The Fireman last year and you're completely right. Most boring end of the world ever!

I finished book #1 last night, The invisible library by Genevieve Cogman.
Utter dross.
Very disapointing first read of 2017 which surprised me a bit considering how good the reviews on amazon and Goodreads were.
Oh well! Onwards and upwards.

Book #2 is Blackout by Marc Elsberg.
It's an Amazon 99p cheapie so we'll see, but from the first few chapters I read last night it's looking ok.

I'm in for this year. I read over 70 books last year and interestingly almost 50/50 split between male and female authors.

Kate Atkinson was on the radio the other day. She is writing a short novel but it has taken her longer to write than her longest novel. She was saying that she hoped to finish it by the spring - but she sounded a bit doubtful and a little bit fed up with it. I liked Behind the Scenes which I read when it first came out but was disappointed with the next two - which I think was Human Croquet and Emotionally Weird. At that point I remember thinking I probably wouldn't try reading another one. I think someone must have given me the first Jackson Brodie ones - they are a different style of book and I do like them - even with the coincidences and unlikely plot developments. Even the first one I wasn't very convinced of the ending.

Last book of 2016 was Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens which I really enjoyed. Nicholas's father dies penniless and his mother appeals to her brother in law for help. He sends Nicholas off to work at boys school in Yorkshire and his sister to work for a dressmaker. There are various adventures, lots of funny bits, some sad bits and the usual Dickens coincidences. I think some of the characters lack the depth of his later works. It was a good read overall.

I am currently reading Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard.

Finished The Outsiders last night. I cried. Lovely book.

Starting Stephen King's Needful Things today

(whilst still chugging a long with Anna Karenina at night...its been over a year since I started I read almost everything on kindle but have the large paperback on my nightstand. When getting hooked on other books it gets ignored but I always come back to it. It's like an old friend. Maybe I'll finish this year!!)

Hello all, I'd like to join a little late please!

After reading on a publishing blog that the industry apparently considers those who read 5-6 books a year 'heavy readers' I counted up my tally last night. Shocked if only read about 20 books last year! I blame my phone...

Aiming for 50 but this will include children's books for research (though not picture books - I read zillions of them daily it seems!)

I am reading Adrian Mole - The Prostate Years after realising I hadn't read them all as I though. Saw a fab documentary about Sur Townsend before Christmas.

Can'tStand I read Needful Things as an impressionable teenager and some bits have really stayed with me for some reason.

Remus I'd be interested to know what you think of Golden Hill as I have been dithering over whether to buy it, it seems to have got a lot of hype and I think just won a Costa award thingy. The period it covers has never appealed to me but I think I should put that aside and see if it's any good.

I LOVE Anna Karenina. I did the opppsite and raced through it Ina couple of days, know I will reread with more care one day.

I have started listening to the Penguin Podcasts, highlandcoo and they're quite enjoyable - there's lots of backdated ones inc Kate Atkinson talking about God in Ruins. Also recently Zadie Smith talking about Swing Time. I have also listened to the New Yorker fiction ones, recommended by vanderly, who does have lots of good suggestions in this area

I've just started Golden Hill too, good so far. Reasonable price on Kindle at the moment. Time period tallies with the Hamilton bio I'm also reading.

5-6 books a year blerg? Crikey. I have read that since November and don't consider myself a voracious reader.

Does anyone else find it harder to start books on kindle? When I have an actual physical book I really want to pick it up and open it. When it is kindle I find it gets out off. I finished my book 2 days ago and still haven't started the next one on kindle yet despite having joined this group! I should get a move on.

I am interested to see so many people mention the Essex Serpent. I got it for 99p the other day on kindle then read the reviews. Very variable to say the least.

Right. Enough phone use. I am off to start The Muse

I'm up for the challenge again. I was on the thread last year and got up to 39. The thread inspired me to read much than I had done in previous years.

I've finished my first for this year - A Street Cat Named Bob' - James Bowen. I'd seen the film last year based - quite loosely- on this book. A quick read and an inspiring tale of how looking after a pet can inspire someone to have a focus and look after themselves.

Right after easing myself in gently into am going to tackle Jessie Burton's 'The Muse' now.

I suppose I only purchased 5-6 books new last year - a couple with vouchers, the Shardlakes to share around with my dh and dad, I think I bought one just for myself because I wanted it. Most of my reading is on Kindle, or from library and charity shop, or what I receive in gifts. In fact, in contrast to many others, this year I have resolved to start buying a few more books from a proper shop again, as I haven't for a few years now and it is a small thing I can do for myself that brings an inexpensive burst of happiness.

After many years of kindle use I've only just started to prefer it. I love the highlighting / note facility.
Does anyone write reviews? Either just for yourself or on Goodreads? I read so many reviews and appreciate the effort that has gone into some of them. I'm setting myself the challenge of writing a review of each book as part of a creative writing course.

Just finished book number one In the Morning I'll be Gone by Adrian McKinty. One of the Sean Duffy series set in bleak 1980s Belfast. I just love his writing, I follow his blog as well.
The book is littered with stark descriptions of bleak Belfast in the 80s
Belfast in silent tableaux: skeleton cars, men in balaclavas, men in riot gear, bonfires, the tea coloured lough, bombsites growing with fern and alyssum, Venus above the Pleiades, petrol smell as sweet as new mown hay,felled telegraph poles, feral kids, smoke curled over the city streets like some great dragon

Erm, we all write reviews on here, wex

I tend to start something else quickly on the kindle too, but love getting a new paper book or a stack from the library.

I find it easier to pick up my Kindle, especially if I am in bed. I really love reading on Kindle when it's dark and I am bundled up in my duvet. If my house was broken into I would be the most devastated about my Kindle being stolen I think.
I think I love my Kindle too much sometimes. I think my DP thinks so too, especially when I wake up in the morning to find I am still grasping it in a loving manner. He is

Maybe I should treat myself to a new one. This one has a scratch over the page courtesy of dd. I don't know, there is just something about a physical book that I don't find with the kindle.

What I do know though is that I read more quality stuff with the kindle. What would happen previously is that I would finish a book then panic buy something in a whim in the supermarket. Whereas now I find my range is wider and I am reading much more literary stuff. Not all of it obviously. Still love the odd police procedural!

My favourite book of the last year was probably All The Light We Cannot See closely followed by The Miniaturist. I absolutely loved them both. Both left me thinking about the characters long after the book had finished and wondering how they are getting on. As I haven't caught up with the whole thread yet (I must and do so with my wish list open) I am not sure if anyone is considering those. I would highly recommend them

Whippet I love my kindle too!
I always say that it's the one , none essential, could live without it if I had to, thing that I would replace instantly if it broke/got lost.
I adore physical books and still buy/borrow them, but being able to instantly browse and buy new books is an amazing thing.

Few days late but I am in. I seemed to have fallen out of the habit of reading recently after a lifetime of having at least two books on the go at anytime.
Got a stack of books for Christmas & have loaded up my kindle as well. Am planning on a mix of rereading old favourites as well as making a dent in my ever growing reading list.
First up Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawasaki.

blairatholl Strange Weather in Tokyo was one of my favourites from last year.

Just read a (slightly cheating) number 3. Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

Cheating because only 17 letters plus some brief notes, took me 30 mins to read. One of the popsugar challenge prompts was a book of letters. Yesterday (still off work this week and not well so lots of tv/reading going on) I was catching up on Six Wives with Lucy Worsley on iplayer, also great but nothing I didn't already know, and they talked about the letters so I looked and they're available in a collection free for kindle. Really fascinating actually, can't believe I didn't read them before.

whippet - "I think I love my Kindle too much sometimes. I think my DP thinks so too, especially when I wake up in the morning to find I am still grasping it in a loving manner."

I have been told more than once by DH that he wishes he could get half the attention my Kindle gets in our bed

SatsukiKusakbe am looking forward to it. Hadn't heard of it before but was a present. Only a few pages in but am liking the style of it.

I found it lovely, quiet and atmospheric. It also made me want to drink sake and eat noodles. I hope you enjoy it too.

Abecedario thanks for the love letters recommendation. As it's free on kindle, I feel I can allow it to sneak into the shopping bag ...

blair, like Satsuki that was one of my most enjoyable reads from last year too. You're in for a lovely, gentle treat.

Still reading Tanya Byron (and really enjoying it) as well as being a beta reader for a twitter writing friend. This one is harder, as I have to make notes as I go, rather than just letting me get carried along.

Thanks for the kind word on my Dad you lovely lot.