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?

Also managed to get into The Essex Serpent eventually and now 46% in. I like that I have no idea where it's going.

1. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson Wonderfully human account of Captain FitzRoy and Darwin's travels on the Beagle, and through life. Amazing evocation of all the places involved, from Tierra del Feugo to a London street, and the issues they grappled with. This needed to be as long as it was to cover everything within its ambitious remit - colonialism, race relations, seafaring, evolution, meteorology, mental illness...and the list goes on - and it still manages to tell a gripping, and true, tale. I fell in love with FitzRoy a little bit. Fantastic start to my reading year.

mugglebum thanks for the review of The Mountain in My Shoe by Louise Beech . Her first novel How to be Brave was one of my stand out reads last year and I didn't know she had another out. I know you found it a bit pedestrian but it looks like my kind of thing; I'm not a thrill seeker. Plus it's 99p on kindle

I am currently halfway through The Life of a Scilly Sergeant and two thirds of the way through the audiobook of The Year of Living Danishly (thanks to whoever on the thread recommended the latter) and am enjoying them both very much so far. Both light, easy reads to get me back into reading after a break around Christmas when I had no time to pick up a book!

Yes to hypnotising, I felt very much drawn into the world of both those books - with HBP in Roderick's section especially - and still thought about them afterwards, this was more like an entertainment I was a bit removed from.

Museum - This Thing Of Darkness is amazing, isn't it? I read it straight after Cloud Atlas and just nothing lived up to expectations after those masterpieces. Good luck finding a good to read now

Cote I refuse to believe it's all downhill from here. I have a few promising things lined up. My other current book is 11.22.63 which is great in different ways. What it shares with This Thing of Darkness is its very great length, which is how I have mostly kept out of the melee of the early January thread, not actually having finished any books until now.

I'm reading 11.22.63 now too museum and I've been holding off on This Thing of Darkness for a while, need to get to it soon.

My copy of North Water is in to collect next week, looking forward to that.

I've got 11.22.63 on my reading pile too. Not sure when I'm going to be ready to tackle it. I really like the sound of This Thing of Darkness.

5. The Wine of Angels - Phil Rickman
The first in the Merrily Watkins series. An enjoyable crime caper taking in the politics of rural life. I liked the way it included more esoteric elements and that the eventual killer turned out to be suitably mundane and more horrifying for it.

Museum -do read the mountain in my shoe! I don't regret reading it at all and it Tackles some good subjects, I read it within a couple of days and always looked forward to reading it so it can't have been that bad :-)

I have the Essex serpent and this thing of darkness to read but I've started with another thriller, the sisters

Currently having to study heavy stuff so the thrillers are taking me through January before I tackle the heavy stuff!

1. The Brontesaurus by John Sutherland

Billed as an A-Z of the Bronte's but it stops at W and a couple of other letters have no entries either! There was some really interesting stuff in here, some I had heard before but some that was new. My only issue with it was the lack of bibliography, and in some cases he said things with no evidence given to explain. Sometimes he said that something was his opinion, which is fine, but other times he just said things without any evidence of stating whether it was just his opinion - for example at one point he says Charlotte didn't like dogs and was 'probably a cat person'. Now that might well be true, but he gave no evidence or sources so I was left wondering why he thought that. The author blurb says he is an eminent scholar in the area of Victorian fiction so I'm sure he's done his research and is right, but when reading things like this I like to see some evidence behind assertions and to be able to follow up on sources if I want to.

I would still recommend it if you're interested in the Brontes though!

5 Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
Started but got put aside before Christmas. I'm not quite sure how I've reached my late 40s without either reading this or seeing the film, but I'm very glad I picked it up in the library. Just a perfect little story, with characters that feel genuinely real.

Not sure what will be next, I've got a few things on the go but none really gripping me.

I thought you might be interested in this

17 highly-anticipated books of 2017

The Brontesaurus sounds good, Chessie - have reserved at the library. I'm also waiting for Samantha Ellis' book on Anne Bronte, due out soon - I really enjoyed her previous book How to be a Heroine.

Thanks for that link DrDiva. I am very excited at the prospect of a new book by Arundhati Roy and I can't believe it's been 20 years since I read The God of Small Things which I rate very highly.

I am currently reading last years Pulitzer winner The Sympathizer. It's a 500 pager and as I am a very slow reader, I could be a while. In fact I have revised my 100 book target down to 50 to allow me to read much longer novels, which is something I haven't done for the last two years.
The Sympathizer is excellent BTW.

The Sympathizer looks interesting, whippet.

I don't pay much attention to the length of books now I read a lot on Kindle but it was funny when I started the Stephen King on the Paperwhite and it suggested 15 hours reading time! Like a part time job. I like getting stuck into huge books, as long as they're good of course, going to knock a few off my list this year.

Yes, I've got a few longer ones on my list this year too - 11.22.63, IT, The Luminaries and The Poisonwood Bible. I need a few hours where I can read solidly and then find I can carry on much easier. I struggle to keep going if I can only read in half hour stretches initially.

highlandcoo At the moment it's more of a memoir with bits of research thrown in. I think there is a later part which has tips for living danisly so i think there is a way to apply it too.

I also read The Happiness Project last year and found that it was great for having little changes you could make to increase happiness. One thing i started doing was a grattitude a day and found it really helped me to see the good amongst the difficult.

Ha, yes, when the Kindle tells you it's going to take 15 hours of your life it's a bit
I love a long session to read but I do try and fit in shorter bits where I can but it does make it a bit disjointed boldly

This one is a paperback from the library which I am lugging around so I aware of its length.
I really want to read A Little Life too but it's another tome. I have to say that I had forgotten how much I enjoy reading long books. I do recommend it Satsuki.

biblio I didn't know there was a book coming out about Anne Bronte. I will add to my wish list. How to be a heroine is already there! Could be a while until I get them as I'm trying not to get any new books this year in an attempt to diminish my enormous to-read pile.

I'm another one trying to read some longer/'better' books this year - I read loads of books last year but very few classics so trying to read more of those this year. I have most of Dickens on my to-read pile!

whippet A Little Life is worth the lugging, a great book.
I also like a nice weighty tome to heft about, it's feels somehow comforting, I suppose because there is the promise of lots of story to go before the end.

1. The Marble Collector, Celia Ahern

Didn't love this, didn't hate it. I picked it up because of the pretty cover, but then discovered that it was written by the author of PS I Love You, which I really didn't like. I'm not much of a chick-lit person, though I hope I'm not a book snob (certainly I like an easy read sometimes).

This was a nice idea. Dad has had a stroke and is in a nursing home suffering from memory loss. Grown-up daughter, in a rut, marital issues, overloaded with responsibilities. She receives a delivery of his belongings which include a collection of beautiful glass marbles. Goes on a mission to find out more about them and in the process discovers a lot of things about her dad which she didn't know.

It all felt very rushed and a bit far-fetched unfortunately. Fergus (the dad) was just about the only character with any depth. The things that Sabrina discovered about him didn't strike me as very realistic. And what was with groups of grown men playing marbles in pubs? Do people really do this? (actually strike that, I've just googled and apparently they do! Who knew?)

I didn't throw it across the room but TBH I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it if it wasn't for the 50 book challenge.

I absolutely loved How to be a Heroine. Not trying to tempt you away from your resolutions, but here's a review of the Anne Bronte book by Lucy Mangan.

Sorry, that last was to Chessie and I misattributed the review - it's by someone else and just has a link to a piece written by Lucy Mangan.

I loved A Little Life. i borrowed it from the library and read it in a bout 4 days despite it being mammoth. I couldn't put it down. I actually think I'll invest in my own copy so I can reread it.

1. Swing Time - Zadie Smith. This was definitely reviewed on the last thread by Vanderlye - I'm not sure if anyone has reviewed it this time. It is about two mixed race girls growing up in northwest London who are united in their love for dancing. Tracey is a natural dancer and the far sparkier character, the narrator (whose name we never find out) is a good singer and more of an observer than a participant. The narrator goes on to work for a Madonna type superstar as her PA, and goes to Africa with her to build a school . I really enjoyed the first half of this book but felt it lost itself somewhere in the middle. There were lots of overarching themes - belonging, family, poverty, politics, fame - but it lacked soul. The narrator was rather unsympathetic, I just wanted to shake her and tell her to enjoy herself.

I did find myself wondering how autobiographical it was. I don't know if you touched on this when you met her Vanderlye. The strongest parts for me were definitely the parts in London at the start, while the African parts and characters all seemed a bit two dimensional.

LookingForMe

what the fuck is this blasphemy? You DON'T like Much Ado?

"and then, a star danced, and under that was I born"

Have you seen the Ken and Em film?

Have you seen the NEW one in Black and White by Joss Whedon filmed at his house?