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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part One

999 replies

southeastdweller · 01/01/2017 10:12

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?

OP posts:
eitak22 · 08/01/2017 10:52

Haven't read we need to talk about Kevin but must admit to really being impacted by Room. It was a online book club read and i read it in a day (in a year i was struggling to read) and actually felt the fact the ending wasn't completely rosy was good. Would also agree with Remus that the first few chapters were best and it really made me feel the sense of claustophobia they felt.

I agree its difficult when books mirror actual crimes particularly if they are written in a way to be sensational or to make a film as it does seem to belittle the experience of the victims and the crime simplistic/black and white when often these situations are far from this.

Still reading A Year of living Danishly and enjoying it this far.

SatsukiKusakabe · 08/01/2017 11:18

Just finished Golden Hill this morning after staying up late last night with it. Will review later when I e had a chance to think about it!

AnneEtAramis · 08/01/2017 11:44

I thought Room was quite good. It's not the sort of thing I often read, the second half I agree with a pp wasn't as good.

Books 2/3 are The Whisperers by Orlando Figes (partly for an essay, partly for a class and partly because I like Russian history) and The Romanovs by Virginia Cowle.

I looked at Kindle daily deals today and got Girl on a Train for 99p and The Princess Bride for £1.89. I am always late with on trend books.

I want book 4 to be A Handmaid's Tale as I know there is a series or film coming out soon.

ChessieFL · 08/01/2017 11:58

Anne - Girl on a Train by AJ Waines is a different book to the psychological thriller that was everywhere last year. That's The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins.

I thought the same as Stitches about Kevin - I was caught up in it but can't use the word 'enjoyed' due to the subject matter. It has stayed with me and I want to reread it now I know the twist.

AnneEtAramis · 08/01/2017 12:13

Ah ok. Oh well, neither are really my thing so I guess I guess I will just keep it until I am in a real rut with nothing to read - maybe 2045.

HandsomeDevil · 08/01/2017 12:54

I noticed all the Shardlake love earlier on the thread.
I've just been rummaging through DH's books for something to read, and I've found Dissolution. Am I right in thinking this is the first? If so I might give that a go next.

ChessieFL · 08/01/2017 13:12

Anne you never know, it might be brilliant! Thanks for reminder about The Handmaid's Tale, I also want to reread that before the Tv version.

Wex · 08/01/2017 13:18

GetAHaircutCarl I read The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson last year. I quite enjoyed it but agree it seemed written to the popular current psychological thriller format. Tried another of his but it was dreadful.
Kevin is on my to read shelf. I read Room and didn't enjoy the style or content, in a similar vein to boy in Striped Pajamas.

I've just started This Boy by Alan Johnson.

I love the idea of a book group where you all just talk about books you enjoy.

DrDiva · 08/01/2017 15:01

Oh, didn't know about Handmaid's Tale becoming a film. Must finish reading it - or rather, listening, as I have an audiobook of it. Another claustrophobic book. I find this kind of fundamentalist religion really hard reading so I stopped listening for a while, but I could go back to it now I think.

I loved Good Omens too. particularly the four men of the apocalypse!

EverySongbirdSays · 08/01/2017 15:18

It's on the Hulu service in the US and I'm really hoping for a UK channel or service to buy it - I need to see it :-C

VanderlyleGeek · 08/01/2017 15:28

Alias Grace is also being made into a miniseries, but for Netflix.

Murine · 08/01/2017 15:40

I finished book 3 last night, Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves. I enjoyed it, and found it difficult to believe it is her debut novel.
It is very well written and insightful. It is set in 1920's Alabama, telling the story of Roscoe, an electrician turned reluctant farmer who siphons state electricity illegally to his property. Life is good for a few years, until a man is electrocuted accidentally on Roscoe's handiwork, resulting in his arrest. The book bleakly depicts his guilt and despair and the events after his arrest, as well the brutal treatment of prisoners, but ultimately is full of hope towards the end and the goodness in people.
My book 4 will be American Gods by Neil Gaiman, I'm about 10% in on my kindle and am enjoying it so far, it's the first of his books I've tried.

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 08/01/2017 16:36

Dissolution is the first Shardlake, yep. Do try the second too, even if you're not completely in love with the first, because then you meet the gorgeous Jack Barak.

ChillieJeanie · 08/01/2017 17:48
  1. Mean Spirit by Phil Rickman

This isn't in the Merrily Watkins series but is the follow up to A Cold Calling, featuring American journalist Grayle Underhill, professional curmudgeon and publisher of a small time paranormal magazine Marcus Bacton, and Celtic shaman and transvestite Cindy Mars Lewis. Bacton is contacted by Seffi Callard, fashionable celebrity medium for whom Bacton had been a kind of mentor 20 years previously. She needs help with a particularly nasty presence from the other side that keeps showing up when she is conducting a seance. Bacton, suffering a bad case of flu, sends Underhill to find out what's going on but things quickly turn deadly as they find themselves the unwitting targets of a vicious career-criminal with a particular interest in life after death.

This was a re-read, and I really like Phil Rickman as an author. This group of characters is really good. There are three books featuring them so far, and I do hope there will be more.

I paid a visit to the Red Cross bookshop this morning and came back with five books for under £10, so I have a few new options to choose from.

DementedUnicorn · 08/01/2017 17:50

Read A room of ones own by Virginia Wolfe today. It's basically an extended essay produced on being asked to discuss woman and fiction so a quick read at just over a hundred pages. I found it thought provoking and insightful whilst not too heavy. A great introduction to feminism.

KeithLeMonde · 08/01/2017 17:52

I thought Kevin was brilliant. And didn't think the father got off scot free - the focus was on the relationship between Kevin and his mother but there was a lot in there about the clash between the views of the two parents which you had to think about and tease out.

I thought Eva was so cleverly portrayed. However, was a bit disappointed to read another book by Lionel Shriver and find that (a) it was about snooker (b) it was quite shit and (c) the female first-person narrator had a similar voice to Eva despite being such a different character. That made me wonder how much Eva was a brilliant literary construct and how much she is just a typical Shriver female voice. Haven't yet got round to reading a third one to find out. I've seen a few mentions here of Big Brother so might keep an eye out for that.

I've finished God in Ruins today, will dig up the old posts about it elsewhere to share my opinions in spoiler-y fashion.

DementedUnicorn · 08/01/2017 18:05

I tried to reread Kevin last year but couldn't get into it again. The first time I read it I was gripped in discovering what happened but on revisiting I found Shriver too long winded and depressing.

Gettingtherenow · 08/01/2017 19:46

So - started the year with a bit of a retro feel and in response to sad news at Christmas....

  1. Watership Down - this was a re-read and a revisit to one of my kids favourites that seemed appropriate - watched the film too. Guess it doesn't need reviewing here - it was as good as it's always been.....
  1. As an easy lead in this year I also revisited And then there was One (prev 10 Little Indians). This was probably my first ever Agatha Christie back in the day....I remember reading it under the duvet with a torch when I was supposed to be going to sleep - thrilled as it was one of the first books I was allowed from the 'adult shelves' in the library. It was a really quick read and it brought back really good reading memories for me and was worth the time spent from that point of view - even if the story doesn't stack up as well now.
  1. Lila - Marilynne Robinson. I loved this - stream of consciousness, a love story, an exploration of relationships, motherhood, values, what is really important for survival from a practical, emotional and spiritual point of view, how nature supports and challenges our survival, time and how it expands and contracts understanding - all told through the eyes of Lila as she remembers and starts to understand her childhood memories and the personalities and circumstances she encountered. I found beautifully written, lyrical, gentle and descriptive in an enthralling way.

I can imagine that some folks will hate it though - it has no chapters, there are time shifts that you need to keep your eye on and there's little 'action' in a gung ho sense. If you liked Stoner (John Williams) or Norah Webster (Colm Toibin) - you might like this too.

Strange Weather in Tokyo for me next I think - I think I saw someone here recommend it the other day....

Happy Reading!

Littlepleasures · 08/01/2017 19:46

I've read both Big Brother and Kevin and got really involved in the issues raised. I remember being particularly interested in whether Kevin was born like that and his growing personality affected her negatively as she tried to cope with a baby who didn't seem to love her or whether she had mental health problems which negatively affected Kevin's emotional development. I thought the ending was apt because it made me feel that it was the former and she never gave up on him because that's what mothers do. Being overweight myself I found Bb raised some poignant issues.
I've tried a few of her other books but not got past the first few chapters. They just didn't make me care.
Have finished my 3rd book of the year, The Final Murder by Anne Holt the second in the Vik and Stubo murder series. I am really invested in the characters now and have ordered the 3rd one from the library. Did start Lonesome Dove but haven't clicked with it yet. Next read will be Holding by Graham Norton.

EverySongbirdSays · 08/01/2017 20:09

Gettingthere Did you know Lila is in an interlinked trilogy with Gilead and Home

Both beautiful but read Gilead first as the end of Home is more of a punch that way

Less keen on Housekeeping same author, but not connected to the Gilead three.

ClashCityRocker · 08/01/2017 20:27

I've read most of Shriver's books - I do agree that there are a lot of similarities between Eva in Kevin and Irina in the post-birthday world. They both have an inherently selfish streak yet require a male to fulfill them. Big Brother is decent, but the ending makes me stabby and feels a bit of a copout - I do wonder if it was planned by Shriver to be that way.

One of the problems with kevin is that...well, in the real world, how long would it take for someone to suggest that he had some class of behavioural problem? Eva knows there's something 'not right' about him, but does bugger all about it other than hand-wringing - even after she suspects he may have done something terrible to his little sister.

I liked so much for that by her, but know a lot of people who don't. I must admit I spent most of the post birthday world thinking 'ditch them both, ffs*.

I love Watership down. If I'm blue, it's always one of my rereads

Vistaverde · 08/01/2017 20:42

I must have been one of the few people who didn't like kevin. Room on the other hand I felt was very good.

I have just finished my first book The Kingsmaker's Daughter which I really enjoyed. I do wonder though whether Gregory over sensationalises events in her books. Also with an interest in history I would really like to know more about the facts and the evidence used to write her books.

Have now started Girl with A Dragon Tattoo.

Gettingtherenow · 08/01/2017 20:45

Thanks Songbird.....think I'm missing Lila already - so will go back to Gilead while I'm in the groove....and save the Tokyo one for later!

I read Kevin a while ago now and remember being disturbed along the lines people are talking about upthread - but not great at keeping reviews so can't remember the detail! Blush

HappyFlappy · 08/01/2017 21:01

diamant

You will LOVE "Good Omens'!

"Apocalypse Now" meets "Just William". I'd log been a fan of Terry Pratchett, but this got me into Neil Gaiman, too.

I've just finished my 3rd book - "And the Mountains Echoed". Took some getting into, then I began to get interested, then it became disjointed. I think the author became too clever for his own good. He tried to interweave a number of characters' stories, and failed miserably. One or two worked, more didn't, and a couple were just dead ends - I couldn't see why they had been put in because they didn't fit with the others, and added nothing to the book (except another 150 pages!). They were just literary dead ends as far as I could see. The end of the book was very unsatisfying, and I couldn't see what relationship the title had to the story (or lack of story). All in all a very disappointing read. I think the author's first book was his best (A Thousand Splendid Suns). They have gradually got less gripping. I doubt I'll bother with him again.

HappyFlappy · 08/01/2017 21:07

Just started "The Blind Assassin" (Margaret Atwood). It's a big book. No pictures Grin

This will not be a quick read. . . .