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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Two

992 replies

southeastdweller · 14/01/2017 11:26

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

The previous thread is here.

How're you getting on so far?

OP posts:
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6
HardRockHallelujah · 02/02/2017 22:05

Evening all! I have just finished my first book of the year. Definitely a marathon rather than a sprint!!Return of the King by Tolkien. Great book, I read it first quite some years ago and had forgotten most of it so the ending was a complete surprise!

HardRockHallelujah · 02/02/2017 22:05

Evening all! I have just finished my first book of the year. Definitely a marathon rather than a sprint!!Return of the King by Tolkien. Great book, I read it first quite some years ago and had forgotten most of it so the ending was a complete surprise!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:33

Starting "Anna Karenina". (17) As a PP has said - it is l-o-n-g!

If I may coin a phrase - "I'm just going to sit down with this book. I may be some time . . ."

MegBusset · 02/02/2017 22:34
  1. Set The Boy Free - Johnny Marr

As a lifelong Smiths obsessive fan I was really looking forward to this, but I'm sad to say I found it a bit boring :( His writing style is a bit flat and after some interesting stuff about his childhood and adolescence it pretty much turns into a list of all the famous people he's ever played with. But at least it wasn't as cringe-making as Morrissey's autobiography.

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:36

my neighbours are the library and an off-licence

Fortuna - you live up to your name! I envy you your idyllic lifestyle . . .

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:42

6) The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah. This has already been reviewed upthread, it's Hannah writing an Agatha Christie Poirot novel. This one was much better than her other (Closed Casket) and I would give it a whirl if you like a Poirot, but not bother otherwise

I agree Tanaqui - the Monogram Murders was by far the better of the two. I was disappointed in Closed Casket.

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:49

Or fictional characters' mumsnet.

AIBU - have just discovered my fiancé's been keeping his mad wife in the attic. He tells me it's not bigamy because she doesn't know any different and wants me to run off with him. AIBU to just run off into the night with only the clothes on my back?

This is GREAT Muddler!

Bung it on a new thread and give a link some can all join in!

BTW - may I suggest that you give her a username (UnlovedOrphan or PluckyLittleGoverness or something) some can all tell her to LTB. Except for one individual who is bound to suggest that the finance is having a bad day because he is under stress and she is being very very U.

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:54

Cheerful and Happy there is a wonderful book of poems called The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy - which is very similar to this. Wives of famous historical and literary figures. Worth a look !

Oooh - thank you. It's now on my list, RMC

PS - Suggest she LTB!

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:55

Have no idea how this posted 3 times as I only hit the button once.

Sorry All.

HappyFlappy · 02/02/2017 22:55

Hell - SEVEN times!

WTF????

HolisticAssassin · 02/02/2017 23:11

Can I join late please?

  1. The Three Sarah Lotz: loved it. Three survivors from plane crashes but are they miracles, aliens, malevolent spirits or horsemen of the apocalypse? Oral tradition type storytelling like in World War Z.
  2. Mutton India Knight: not enjoying. The character Clara was destroyed in Comfort and Joy but still I hoped for a return to form.
  3. The improbability of love: okay so far. An object as a narrative voice was used in The collector collector. That was a pot iirc.
  4. Swing time Zadie Smith thank you to the pp who mentioned the podcast Flowers
Adory · 02/02/2017 23:11

Newbie!

Here's mine so far this year -

  1. The Missing Hours - Emma Kavanagh (good)
  1. Another Love - Amanda Prowse (eye opener)
  1. Love, Or Nearest Offer - Adele Geras (good)
  1. The View From The Corner Shop - Kathleen Hey (hated, gave up chapter 4)
  1. A Better Man - Leah McLaren (good)
  1. The Olive Tree - Lucinda Riley (good)
  1. The Butterfly Summer - Harriet Evans (didn't like, gave up chapter 4)
  1. Little Sister - David Hewson (perseverance needed)

Have I got the right idea? New to this thread! Never done book club type thing before 😊

CoteDAzur · 03/02/2017 06:46

Sort of, Adory Smile We only count books we have actually read, so don't list books you gave up on.

Also, please tell us a bit more about the books you read (because we are a curious lot)..

CoteDAzur · 03/02/2017 06:48

What does "eye opener" mean regarding a book you've read, for example?

ThereAreNoGhostsHere · 03/02/2017 06:57

Hello to all newbies :)

Interesting fact - Adele Geras is Sophie Hannah's mum .

My books for this week have been Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and Regeneration by Pat Barker. I won't finish Regeneration just yet, but the other two will be over the weekend. Also still plodding along with Alan Bennett's Keeping On, Keeping On, which is interesting but am finding it a little downbeat with his accounts of deaths of friends etc, which I know you have to expect as you get older but still ...

Tarahumara · 03/02/2017 07:01

EverySongbird my Mum had brain surgery in 2003 (to treat trigeminal neuralgia) and her surgeon was the man the McEwan shadowed while researching Saturday. My Mum has a kind of hero worship for him (the surgeon), because he completely cured her of a very painful condition, and she felt it was a good portrayal of him (although of course it was a work of fiction). However, I agree with you that it isn't among McEwan's better books (I'm a fan of his, although I know lots of people on this thread aren't!).

Adory · 03/02/2017 08:36

Cote eye opener - gave me an entirely different view of alcoholism (what the book it about), my ex husband was an alcoholic (or so I thought because his drinking affected all aspects of our lives) I now think he was a mild alcoholic, still extremely glad he's my ex though!

frenchfancy · 03/02/2017 08:49
  1. Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force her to trust her neighbour, Mitch. Then one day, with a heart full of agony, Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch and never returns.

The story switches between the characters and in time (which seems to be very common in the books I read at least). It is a fairly easy read and somewhat thought provoking but I don't think the writing is quite good enough for me to recommend it - a 3.5 stars kind of book.

I picked this up off my bookcase when I was looking for something to read. It looks like I must have started it last time but not finished it - though I have no recollection of it. It was from the 2007 crop of Richard and Judy books which I think I bought all of. Worth a read if it is on your shelf but don't rush out and buy it.

HappyFlappy · 03/02/2017 09:45

I'm so glad I joined this thread.

I have Sjogren's Syndrome, and among the 58,000 life-ruining (but happily not terminal) symptoms are sheer bloody exhaustion and difficult sleeping even though you're dead on your feet( due to problems i.e. pain, mainly, caused by other symptoms).

I am spending my nocturnal hours reading rather than lying there tossing and turning. I know I could have read anyway, but I just didn't have the impetus - now I am being bombarded with reports about amazing books I think "This one I'm reading is brilliant, but I must get it finished so I can get onto that one. It looks AMAZING"

Thank you all for your therapeutic intervention. Smile

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