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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Six

993 replies

southeastdweller · 05/06/2017 21:26

Welcome to the sixth 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, the second one here, the third thread here, the fourth one here, and the fifth one here.

What are you reading?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Cedar03 · 08/06/2017 12:16

Thanks for the new thread.

Biblio your post reminds me that its about time I read another Barbara Pym. I don't think I've read Some Tame Gazelle yet so I must look it up.

28 The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
Tarquin is a pompous food writer who uses 20 words when one will do. This book gets darker and darker as it goes on as you gradually realise there is lot more to him than just an over extended vocabulary. It pulls you in.

29 Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler
Morgan likes to pretend he is someone else. He becomes obsessed with a young couple he meets at the start of the story. He is very funny - the kind of person I'd probably hate in real life - but here his bizarre behaviour and his eccentric family amused me.

ChessieFL · 08/06/2017 12:36
  1. The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell

Third in The Corfu Trilogy. Not as good as My Family & Other Animals, but still a really good read.

  1. Join Me by Danny Wallace

Inspired by his great uncle, Danny decides to see if he can get people to join him for no reason. He then has to come up with a reason. I read this years ago and listened to it in audible this time. It was read by Wallace himself which I liked, and you get to hear the official Join Me anthem!!

80.Marrying off Mother And Other Stories by Gerald Durrell

Collection of short stories including one based on the family's time in Corfu. Some of the writing is dated now but still funny.

bibliomania · 08/06/2017 13:33

Hope you enjoy Some Tame Gazelle, cedar. I absolutely love The Debt to Pleasure.

spinningheart · 08/06/2017 14:24

My list so far, the order has been mixed up but I can't find my last post to cut and paste. Never mind..

  1. The Kitchen House
  2. The Wangs Vs the World
  3. Dark Places
  4. Mothering Sunday
  5. I'll Take You There
  6. The Mountain Story
  7. The Maid's Version
  8. Rules of Civility
  9. The One in a Million Boy
10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 11. Dark Matter 12. This Must Be the Place 13. Rush-Oh! by Shirley Barrett 14. Jamaica Inn 15. All We Shall Know 16. Eileen 17. End of Watch 18. Be Frank With Me 19. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk 20. I Let You Go 21. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter 22. Before the Fall 23. The Boston Girl 24. The North Water 25. Nightwoods 26. The Uncommon Reader 27. Still Life 28. A Country Road, A Tree 29. Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave 30. Ready, Player One 31. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day 32. Our Endless Numbered Days 33. The Nest 34. Under the Udala Tree 35. The Nix by Nathan Hill 36. A Fatal Grace 37. Peace Like a River 38. You'll Grow Out of It 39. The Mothers 40. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August 41. Whatever You Love 42. Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist

So far a good year with a few of stand-out favourites. 30 from the library and the rest from my Audible subscription. I picked up Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi at the library and really looking forward to this one.
Did anyone else read the 15 Lives of Harry August? I'm listening to it on audible and I am struggling, tempted to give up but have endured >7 hours of it so far.

JoylessFucker · 08/06/2017 14:33

Bringing my list over and updating, although I'm not sure where I got to last ...

1.The Skeleton Cupboard: stories from a clinical psychologist by Tanya Byron
2.All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
3.Where the Eagle Landed: Mystery of the German Invasion of Britain, 1940 by Peter Haining
4.The Sellout by Paul Beatty
5.A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
6.The Great St Mary’s Day Out & My Name is Markham by Jodi Taylor
7.Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
8.Straight by Dick Francis
9.The Universe vs Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
10.The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
11.Ink in the Blood by Hilary Mantel
12.Bitch in a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen from the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps Volume 1 by Robert Rodi
13.The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
14.My Antonia by Willa Cather
15.The Leaving of Things by Jay Antani
16.Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J B West
17.For Kicks by Dick Francis
18.Aunty Ida’s Full Service Mental Institution by Isa-Lee Wolf
19.Purity by Jonathan Franzen
20.The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
21.And the Rest is History by Jodi Taylor
22.Artic Summer by Damon Galgut
23.Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
24.War Brides by Helen Bryan
25.The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell
26.The American Boy by Andrew Taylor
27.Absolute Friends by John Le Carre
28.The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan

American Boy Nice period piece thriller with a rather spurious (imho) link to Edgar Allan Poe. Rather contrived ending.
Absolute Friends was going really great until Le Carre starting to lecture, hector and generally self-indulge in expounding his views rather than focusing on his novel.
The Opposite of Loneliness is the much hyped assemblage of short stories and essays by a 20-something Yale graduate with a great future, who then died in a car crash. But she can really write and this book enabled me to get into the mind of a 20-something high achiever, rather than the typical hormonal angst that's all over the place. I'd recommend it.

JoylessFucker · 08/06/2017 14:36

Currently reading Barkskins whilst being gutted that I missed the deal on Lincoln in the Bardo. That's what I get from not checking on this thread regularly [sobs]

spinningheart · 08/06/2017 14:41

I missed a few - so for sake of completeness:
43. The Sellout by Paul Beatty
44. The Butcher's Hook
45. Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
46 The Power by Naomi Alderman

Cedar03 · 08/06/2017 14:56

Biblio I really enjoyed The Debt to Pleasure as well. It took me a little while to twig exactly which direction it was going in and I was pleased that I'd deliberately not read the introduction to the book until afterwards as it gave away the plot on the second page!

bibliomania · 08/06/2017 15:34

Oh I agree, it's the creeping realisation that's a big part of the fun. Hiss boo to the introduction giving it away. Shouldn't be allowed.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 08/06/2017 18:27

I have nothing to say, but just want to pop my head in so I remember how much of the thread I've read!

Matilda2013 · 08/06/2017 18:35
  1. The One We Fell in Love With - Paige Toon
  2. This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp
  3. The Girl Who Lied - Sue Fortin
4. Girls on Fire - Robin Wasserman 5. The Heat of Betrayal - Douglas Kennedy
  1. Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton - Sandra Gregory
  2. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
  3. Trust in Me - Sophie McKenzie
9. Close Enough to Kill - Beverly Barton 10. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl 11. How I Lost You - Jenny Blackhurst 12. The Girls - Lisa Jewell 13. The Breakdown - B A Paris 14. 206 Bones - Kathy Reichs 15. Daisy in Chains - Sharon Bolton 16. Off Sides - Sawyer Bennett 17. The Loving Husband - Christobel Kent 18. Do No Harm - Henry Marsh 19. Silent Child - Sarah A Denzil 20. The Escape Artist - Diane Chamberlain 21. Holding - Graham Norton 22. The Things We Have in Common - Tasha Kavanagh 23. You Can't Have My Daughter - Elizabeth McDonnnell 24. Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty 25. The Escape - C L Taylor 26. The Butterfly Garden - Dot Hutchison 27. Obsession - Amanda Robson 28. Cut - Hibo Wardere 29. The Mistake I Made - Paula Daly 30. Little Black Lies - Sharon Bolton 31. Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan 32. Don't Let Go - Michael Bussi 33. The Cry - Helen Fitzgerald 34. I Let You Go - Clare MacKintosh

Currently reading 35. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld and almost finished but thought I would bring my list over

Tarahumara · 08/06/2017 19:18

How exciting passmethecrisps - good luck with the birth!

RMC123 · 08/06/2017 19:24

Passmethecrisps Congratulations and good luck . Will certainly update on Nella's Last War. Nearly halfway through having had to wait in all day while British Gas fixed two leaking central heating pipes under the floor board. Indoor water feature now fixed!
I haven't found the Vera book twee at all. Solid and entertaining but not twee. Will be interested to see what you think.

On another note thinking I am going to have to change my username! It was a trial one when I joined Mumsnet and it's boring the pants off me!

BestIsWest · 08/06/2017 20:59

Ooo, exciting Passmethecrisps. Congratulations. I read Jilly Cooper's Polo through both labours. Kept me going.

Passmethecrisps · 08/06/2017 21:06

Thanks ladies! With the last one I read half an Ian Rankin book in the two days before labour and then took a year to finish the rest! I am hoping to be more focussed this time.

I am enjoying the Vera book thus far. I have read that it is a fair while until Vera actually makes an appearance so I will wait and see!

RMC123 · 08/06/2017 21:14

Passme yes Vera does take a while to appear in the first but not in any of the others I read

BestIsWest · 08/06/2017 21:19

Vera books are very good. Definitely not twee.

RMC I namechanged a dozen times before I found one I was comfortable with. It's probably meaningless to anyone else but suits me.

boldlygoingsomewhere · 08/06/2017 21:27

Thanks for the new thread. I don't have much to add at the moment as I'm working my way through The Rainwild Chronicles by Robin Hobb. Very much enjoying them! Not sure what to read after them. I've got Snow Crash and The Poisonwood Bible in my to-be-read pile. I'm in the mood for some non-fiction I think but not sure what...

Will update with my full list soon.

CoteDAzur · 08/06/2017 21:31

Neal Stephenson's new book is coming out in the next few days!

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Kindle Edition
by Neal Stephenson (Author), Nicole Galland (Author)
Kindle Edition £11.99
You think you know how the world works? Think again.

1851 England
The Great Exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace has opened, celebrating the rise of technology and commerce. With it the power of magic – in decline since the industrial revolution began – is completely snuffed out. The existence of magic begins its gradual devolution into mere myth.

21st Century America
Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past.
After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations – D.O.D.O. – is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history.

But when you interfere with the past, there’s no telling what you might find in your future…

Matilda2013 · 09/06/2017 07:52

35. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld

Daisy and Violet are twins with "senses". But whilst Violet embraces them Daisy wants to forget she ever had them. When Violet publicly predicts an earthquake you are left waiting to see if her predictions are real or whether she will be publicly humiliated.

This was an okay read at best. Quite slow and I got a bit bored waiting to see if they were right or not and the actual ending annoyed me and was so unrealistic to my mind.

Now onto book 36. Misery - Stephen King which is my 2nd ever Stephen King book so I'm hoping I enjoy it!

boldlygoingsomewhere · 09/06/2017 08:22

That book looks good, Cote but £11.99 on kindle. Shock Think I will wait for it to come down in price.

CoteDAzur · 09/06/2017 09:12

I know Sad but I waited over a year for Seveneves to come down in price and finally ended up buying it for £9.99.

Deathraystare · 09/06/2017 09:13

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
This was an audio book. Really enjoyable story of how a young woman copes with a long trek on the Pacific Crest Trail. Quite thought provoking and very well told. Didn't know it was a film so might seek it out.

I got it from the library a while back and loved it.

Deathraystare · 09/06/2017 09:27
  1. Testimony, Anita Shreve

Keith Lemonde - I actually did not get the same feeling you did. I just thought it was interesting how far the knock on effect went - with the boys and the teacher and the reputation of the establishment.

I had it on CD and think it was more powerful perhaps than in a book?

StitchesInTime · 09/06/2017 10:32

32. Snow Blind by Christopher Golden

Several people die in a winter snowstorm, killed by ice demons. 12 years later, there's another big storm, bringing back the ice demons and the ghosts of the dead.

Not all that interesting or memorable.

33. No Time Like The Past by Jodi Taylor

Another of her Chronicles of St Mary's books with time travelling historians. Much the same as the previous books in the series.

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