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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Three

993 replies

southeastdweller · 06/02/2017 08:00

Welcome to the third 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 first thread of the year is here and the second one here.

OP posts:
BestIsWest · 07/02/2017 18:02
  1. Death On The Nile - Agatha Christie. Classic Poirot with the usual gathering of a group of suspects all with motives. Great fun - I think I prefer Poirot to Marple, it's all a bit more ridiculous.
HappyFlappy · 07/02/2017 18:12

Is The Testament of Mary good, Murine? I really liked the look of it.

Just finished Anna Karenina - sometimes you forget what good writing is, but this is a wonderful reminder. I'm starting The Bone Clocks tomorrow - having a night off after AK all day today. Just under 800 pages of tiny font - my eyeballs are aching and ready to pop any minute. I wasn't going to read so much at once but I got so engrossed.

Also Great Expectations (on audio). Not a great lover of Dickens (though obviously grateful for The Muppets Christmas Carol, as Muddler (I think it was) pointed out, but I was clearing a cupboard and found a collection of unabridged classics on CD (thank you Penguin), so decided t listen to them while I cleaned the oven etc. Six days of purgatory and the first is done.

One good thing - when I watched "Dickensian" a year ago I really enjoyed it but didn't recognise the name "Compeyson" as the man who jilted Miss Haversham. But sure enough - there he was near the end of GE. I felt a warm, rosy glow.

ChessieFL · 07/02/2017 18:32
  1. The Singles Game by Lauren Weisberger

I started this on Sunday, when I was hungover so just needed an easy read. This is chicklit about a female tennis player. It's all very predictable, but I enjoyed it because I like tennis. However, if tennis bores you senseless then don't read this, because there is quite a lot in there about life on the tennis circuit!

BestIsWest · 07/02/2017 18:55

It's funny though, I love a good Dickens TV dramatisation.

Murine · 07/02/2017 19:29

The Testament of Mary is very good, HappyFlappy. It's a short read, hence me already being 80% through, I'll more than likely finish it tonight.
It is unsettling and poignant, with familiar stories such as the wedding feast at which Jesus turns water into wine and Lazarus' resurrection being given a new slant when seen through Mary's raw grief and indifference to her sons claims and his followers, but not disrespectfully so if that makes sense.

I've never read any Colm Toibin before, I'm certainly going to add some more of his novels to my never ending TBR list (any recommendations as to what to choose are very welcome!).

CheerfulMuddler · 07/02/2017 19:51

Tanaqui Oh, hurrah! I thought I was a lone Antonia Forest fan on this thread.

And no, I haven't. I am working my way through all the Forest in my local library reserves - just started The Thursday Kidnapping today. And then I shall have to wait until I visit a friend who is also a fan and borrow her stash. It means I am reading them all out of order, which is something I usually disapprove of.

It is very disheartening falling in love with a new author who is almost entirely out of print.

Happy, oh, Anna Karenina. Sighs. Very impressed that you are reading 50 books in a year and one of them is Anna.

RMC123 I spent the last year doing similar (hence Regeneration.) Have you read Testament of Youth yet? If not, you MUST.

Tarahumara · 07/02/2017 20:19

I loved Antonia Forest as a young teen. My copy of The Cricket Term is completely falling apart as I read it so many times!

SatsukiKusakabe · 07/02/2017 20:32

murine I liked Testament of Mary too, quite unexpectedly moving. I went on to read Brooklyn, which I also enjoyed.

RMC123 · 07/02/2017 20:33

Cheerful- yes I have read Testament of youth and all the Pat Barker; regeneration and Toby's Room trilogies. Think I will have to reread Testament of youth as it was about two years ago. Trying to frame a novel loosely around family experiences in WW1. Really trying for historical accuracy.
Thought that Rebecca West's Return of the Soldier was very powerful too.
If you haven't already read them then My Dear I wanted to tell you and The heroes welcome by Louisa Young are very good. Also Wake by Anna Hope. This one is about the aftermath of the war, from different woman's perspective, set around the time the body of the Unknown Soldier was brought back to Westminster Abbey.
Also need to read All quiet on the western front and Not so quiet.
Got a few factual books to get through first

bella4024 · 07/02/2017 21:07
  1. Last Scene Alive - Charlaine Harris
The seventh in a series of cozy mysteries featuring a female librarian. I had enjoyed the previous books in the series, but I wasn't keen on this one. I felt that the main character acted out of character, and there was a lot of sexual references which weren't as prevalent in the other books. I was disappointed in this one.
DrDiva · 07/02/2017 21:07

Dickens and cleaning the oven at the same time??! Happyflappy were you very bad in a past life? Shock Grin

In other news, my goal in joining this thread was to read more books than the twelve I read in the whole of 2016.
Today is 06 February and I will finish my 13th book tonight. Smile

CheerfulMuddler · 07/02/2017 21:31

Hurrah, DrDiva!
RMC123 Oh no, I'm not reading anything WW1ish anymore. I am reading books for sheer pleasure, and it is glorious.

weebarra · 07/02/2017 21:36

Just picked up This Thing of Darkness from the charity shop next to my work for £2. It is a very thick book!

MuseumOfHam · 07/02/2017 21:48

Just marking place on the new thread. Real Life been intervening more than I'd have liked the last few days. I'm about 70% through The Devil in the Marshalsea which is nicely providing just the level of escapism needed.

RMC123 · 07/02/2017 21:55

Good for you Cheeful Trying to punctuate my reading with pleasure too!

HappyFlappy · 07/02/2017 21:57

I've never read any Colm Toibin before, I'm certainly going to add some more of his novels to my never ending TBR list (any recommendations as to what to choose are very welcome!)

Murine - I've got a copy of "Nora Webster" on my "to read" pile - I'll read it after Bone Clock and let you know what I think.

HappyFlappy · 07/02/2017 22:00

Testament of Youth yet? If not, you MUST.

Agree with Muddler - I read Testament of Youth and Testament of Experience donkey's years ago - and they are wonderful (especially Testament of Youth). Read them if you get the chance.

RemusLupinsChristmasMovie · 08/02/2017 07:28

Book 12
Left for Dead by Beck Weathers
So disappointed with this. Weathers nearly died on Everest in the 1996 disaster, somehow managed to wake up and walk, having been declared virtually dead and then was left overnight in a tent to die alone. Somehow he didn’t die and was dramatically rescued by helicopter, going on to face multiple amputations. So far, so interesting. Unfortunately most of this book was about Beck Weathers and Beck Weathers’ wife and friends, and not much about the man and the mountain, or the man and his recovery. It was spectacularly dull and made me really dislike him too. Fail.

CheerfulMuddler · 08/02/2017 09:48

Sorry Tarahumara, missed you there.

Remus, I'm assuming you've read The Tin Drum? I'm afraid that's the only German-set book I can think of to recommend. The only other one was The Magic Mountain, but that's set in Switzerland, though lots of it is about Germany really.

Vistaverde · 08/02/2017 10:01

6 - The Heart Goes Last - Margaret Atwood - I felt this book was a bit of a let down. I have loved previous Atwood books I have read but I felt that this was too far fetched in places. Whilst I understand that it is supposed to be satirical it just wasn't very believable in places.

Next for me is Ruby Wax - Frazzled

SatsukiKusakabe · 08/02/2017 10:54

vistaverde check out the penguin podcast - you can listen online - the latest one was David Baddiel interviewing Ruby Wax about that book. It was funny and gave a bit of background to what brought her to write it.

SatsukiKusakabe · 08/02/2017 10:56

Found the link here Frazzled

Murine · 08/02/2017 12:05

Ooh that would be great, HappyFlappy, I'll look forward to seeing what you think. I've just reserved Brooklyn at the local library too, SatsukiKusakabe, thankyou.

I finished my book 11, The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin , last night, I already sort of reviewed this earlier so will be brief: it's a well written,poignant novella depicting a grieving Mary living alone, years after the crucifixion. Her "keepers" are two unnamed writers of the gospels who care for her and record her version of events in her son's life. A good short read, I'm glad I finally got round to this after it had been sat on my kindle for years!

Desdemonashandkerchief · 08/02/2017 12:39

Thanks Remus I'll give 'Left For Dead' a wide berth then, shame because it would have been nice to have a different perspective on what happened but it sounds pretty dreadful. Maybe stop feeling quite so sorry for him now too!

Tarahumara · 08/02/2017 12:53

Remus have you seen the 2015 film Everest? Beck Weathers comes across as quite irritating in that too.

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