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50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Eight

740 replies

southeastdweller · 30/10/2017 18:31

Welcome to the eighth and final 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 and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read. To anyone who hasn't posted, feel free to de-lurk and share with us what you've read this year.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third thread here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here, and the seventh one here.

How have you got on so far this year?

OP posts:
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8
StitchesInTime · 26/12/2017 09:14

I read The Power of Habit a few weeks ago.

Glad you enjoyed it Tanaqui!

Agree it’ll come in handy for New Year’s resolutions! Xmas Grin

MegBusset · 26/12/2017 10:52

Doesn't look like there's a Kindle Christmas sale this year :(

CoteDAzur · 26/12/2017 10:55

12 days of Xmas sale was shit, too Sad

noodlezoodle · 26/12/2017 11:03

Merry Christmas all! I didn't get any books but I did get a kindle paperwhite which I'm really enjoying.

CoteDAzur · 26/12/2017 12:31

Just coming on here to say that This Is Not A Game: You Don't Get a Second Life is 99p on the Kindle. It's totally worth it, especially at this price.

RMC123 · 26/12/2017 12:59

For those of you mourning the lack of Kindle Sale then Audible is doing some reasonable 2 for 1 Deals.
https://www.audible.co.uk/sp/2for1?sourcecode=EMLDisc1Bk7EM12201794UT&bppua=yes&ref=pee257231_231100841

Have just worked out I have over £100 worth of book tokens. Feeling giddy, can't wait to get to Waterstones!!

122. Thin Air - Michelle Paver Think I must have bought this in a Kindle Sale. Enjoyed it more than I expected. Ghost story set in 1930's during a mountaineering expedition. Page turner and atmospheric in places. Ending felt a bit rushed though. Now on to When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Sticking to easy reads as grabbing time to read on my phone when I should be interacting with the family. Long journey home tonight = good reading time .

Reallytired17 · 26/12/2017 13:20

Thanks, Cote Wine

DesdemonasHandkerchief · 26/12/2017 14:19

Happy Christmas everybody Xmas Smile I didn't get any books this year, but maybe that's okay because I'm a definite Kindle convert. It's taking me an age to get through Our Endless Numbered Days in paperback, I've even thought about downloading it onto the Kindle but it seems such a waste to have it in two formats I've stopped myself, although I am enjoying it thus far. (They've just got to the forest hut.)
I've treated myself to Any Human Heart in the 12 days of Christmas kindle sale, but like others there wasn't much else that tickled my fancy.
And I'm listening to A Christmas Carol on Alexa which is free till 6th Jan if you have Amazon Prime. Hopefully I'll be able to add one more book to my total before the 31st!

Tanaqui · 26/12/2017 19:45

Stitches, I apologise, it was your rec (the power of habit), not Sadik's- I clearly sort posters by initial inside my head! It was great, thank you!

ChessieFL · 26/12/2017 20:14

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! I was very lucky and received 13 books - three were books I had read from the library and wanted my own copy, but have lots of lovely new books to read including Timekeepers by Simon Garfield, Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty, The Importance of Being Trivial by Mark Mason, The Dry by Jane Harper and How To Stop Time by Matt Haig.

I also bought several books in the kindle sale! Currently reading Mr DickensAnd His Carol by Samantha Silva and enjoying it. Also bought The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce, The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin and a collection of Christmas themed murder stories. Plenty to keep my going (as if my TBR pile wasn’t big enough already)!

  1. The Book Of Christmas by Jane Struthers
  2. Christmas:A Biography by Judith Flanders

Two books about our Christmas traditions. The first was easier to read, the second went into more detail. Both good reads if you want to know more about the history of Christmas.

ShakeItOff2000 · 26/12/2017 20:29

61. Freakonomics by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

Probably my last book of 2017 and a random selection from my library when browsing the non-fiction section. Published in 2005, this book has dated somewhat but the authors’ ideas and the way the book is written has definite echoes in more recent books- Sapiens, for example, has a very similar conversational tone.

Dubner summarises the common thread of the book: “It has to do with thinking sensibly about how people behave in the real world. All it requires is a novel way of thinking, of discerning, of measuring. This isn’t a difficult task, nor does it require super sophisticated thinking.... The most likely result of having read this book is a simple one you may find yourself asking a lot of questions.” Definitely! Less swallowing of media “facts” and more questions; I’m looking at you DF! 😘

Murine · 26/12/2017 20:47
  1. Murder on Christmas Eve ed. by Cecily Gayford a collection of short crime and mystery stories set in the festive period, a bit hit and miss but overall enjoyed this.
MegBusset · 26/12/2017 21:45
  1. Twin Peaks - The Final Dossier - Mark Frost

Short but satisfying (for TP fans like me) book which complements the third season of the show and fills in a lot of gaps in what happens to the show's characters.

TheTurnOfTheScrew · 26/12/2017 22:07

Merry Christmas y'all. Hope everyone has had a restful couple of days, and that you're all able to carve out a little reading time between mince pies. Am watching the adaptation of The Miniaturist on telly, but am finding it much less atmospheric than the book (although would happily watch Paapa Essiedu all day long).

44. The 4.50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie. Mrs McGillicuddy witnessed a man strangling a woman on a train, as it pulls alongside the train she is travelling on. She reports the incident, but no evidence of wrongdoing is found, so she approaches Miss Marple for advice. It turns into a pretty standard country house murder mystery when the body eventually turns up. Good fun, not earth-shattering.

45. The Girls by Emma Cline. Fictional account of a teenage girl's experience of life inside a Manson-like cult in 1960s California. While the book detailed well how easily young girls can fall victim to sexual exploitation I thought it lacked depth and true reflection.

I am currently reading The Deaths by Mark Lawson, which contains some of the worst literary sex in recent memory. I sprayed tea everywhere when our anti-hero "released his busting truncheon".

Matilda2013 · 27/12/2017 10:51

71. The Lying Game - Ruth Ware

Isa gets a text from an old school friend that she needs her and off she goes to the village of Salten. Why was her time at boarding school there cut short? And what secrets do her and her friends hide?

Another not festive book. Enjoyable read from the library though!

Cedar03 · 27/12/2017 12:07

A 'busting truncheon'?!!! What an appalling thought!

I've received a couple of Mary Beard books for Christmas so will be immersing myself in ancient Rome fairly soon. I also got a copy of Alan Bennett's latest diaries.

I think it's been a while since I've updated.
65. The Dubliners by James Joyce
Short stories about the lives of people living in Dublin. The difficulty I have with short stories is I'd always like more of some of them!

  1. The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett
    An American tycoon's daughter is refused her off-menu dinner order at a top London hotel so he buys the hotel. There is a mystery going on there, though, involving theft and murder. Thoroughly enjoyable if unlikely in places.

  2. Several Perceptions by Angela Carter
    Main message of this seems to be that depression and unhappiness can be solved by a good party and lots of sex. Well written.

  3. Death of a Village by M C Beaton
    Unlikely plot but a good murder story.

69 Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie
This had a ridiculous plot and I ended up skim reading to the end. Not one of her best but it has a brilliant description of a cigar smoking civil servant whose secretary has to come and brush off his cigar dust.

  1. The Card by Arnold Bennett Very enjoyable read about the rise of a young man in the Potteries. Very funny.
Sonnet · 27/12/2017 12:14

Just xcame on here to say "Hello" and "Happy Christmas".
I've not been on this thread in 2017 except for a brief time prior to going on holiday....
I am planning to join you all again in 2018.

I got a £30 book voucher which I'm looking forward to spending Grin

I got "Small Island" off a Book Group friend and have "He Said She Said" to read by the 9th for Book Group....

Looking forward to catchinmg up with you all again
Happy New Year!

Ladydepp · 27/12/2017 12:35

Well I seem to have reached 50 books by the skin of my teeth:

  1. The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau by GM Burnet - same author as His Bloody Project. This is a quirky mystery that takes place in a small French town, I liked it but not nearly as much as HBP.

46.The Nowhere Man - Orphan X 2 - A cheap audio book and a completely unbelievable thriller about a Jason Bourne type assasin, but entertaining all the same. Junk food for the ears.

  1. The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman - number 2 of the Sally Lockhart books. Entertaining YA Victorian mystery.

  2. Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin - another Rebus, I love these books. Rankin is a really good writer, he keeps the plot fairly ticking along and the dialogue is great. This one combines a cold case murder with a current case assault on a gangster. Great characters.

  3. Black Widow - a Jack Parlabane thriller by Christopher Brookmyre - another cheap audio book, another thriller. I seem to have trouble concentrating on audio books unless something extremely dramatic happens every five minutes. This is a pretty good thriller about a woman being put on trial for the murder of her new husband. There was WAY too much background for me, but it was wrapped up pretty neatly.

  4. Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson - I loved this, the perfect book for this time of year and for finishing the 50 book challenge. 12 rather magical stories combined with 12 recipes and the background to them. A gorgeous illustrated hardcover. Highly recommended for next year.

I am now reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine which I am really enjoying - but since I have a perfect 50 for this year I will save the last page for January 1st Wink. Particularly since I am only 8 percent into the Alexander Hamilton biog!

I think I only received one book for Christmas Shock, The Book of Dust. Looking forward to it!

ghostiechicken · 27/12/2017 14:07

sigh Picked up Stef Penney's Under a Pole Star for 1.99 for the Kindle version. And while I was at it, I've been reading over the threads for this year and seen nothing but raving for This Thing of Darkness so picked that up for 2.80 and well. And now I really am, absolutely 100% done buying books. For a bit.

Also hoping to finish Red Seas Under Red Skies so I can start with a blank slate in the new year. Just over a quarter into it.

highlandcoo · 27/12/2017 17:29

Happy Christmas all Xmas Smile

Like Sonnet, I haven't been around much this year but plan to get involved again next week, and be more organised about keeping track of my reading in 2018.

I already go to a book group in my local independent book shop and have just started another with friends, so that will dictate some of my book choices next year.

At the moment I'm trying to finish Golden Hill by Francis Spufford and not quite sure why I'm finding it such hard going. I need to polish it off soon in order to read A Room with a View and North Water for my two book groups on 9 and 10 January.

RMC123 · 27/12/2017 20:28

123. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - True account of Judith Kerr's escape from Nazi Germany as a child. Being told from a child's perspective there is a sense of wonder and adventure so the story is uplifting and hopeful. Will read the two follow up books at some point.
124. Swimming Lessons - Claire Fuller, read our Our Endless Numbered Days and was underwhelmed. This one felt more readable but the themes are very much the same. Daughter with bohemian parents, lack of understanding about true nature of parental relationships, disappearance, regrets, wanted, unwanted and undiscovered pregnancies. Would love to know how much of Fullers own experiences go into her books. Seems to a strong preoccupation with adored but ultimately flawed father figures.

First foray to spend my voucher haul and came back with
Madame Zero - Sarah Hall - book club read for January. Short stories are not usually my thing but I did enjoy Haweswater so will reserve judgement.
*How to measure a cow - Margaret Forster
Home Going - Yaa Gyasi
A History of Britain in 21 woman - Jenni Murray
Vinegar Girl - Ann Tyler *
Was disappointed that Burial Rites was out of stock but lots to be be getting on with.

Out of interest can anyone find our previous threads ? The links at the beginning of this one take you to 2016 threads and searching only brings up thread number 1.

OP posts:
RMC123 · 27/12/2017 20:42

Thanks Southeast. Grin

Composteleana · 28/12/2017 07:54

Morning all.

Well the Christmas break/ sheer determination on my part meant I finally finished 56. A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. I’m not sure if enjoyed is the right word, but I was definitely more engaged in the last third of the book. I’m a Mantel fan, and there was some breathtaking writing in this book, but the constant switches of point of view got really waring- moving between individual characters’ POV to an omniscient narrator again, going from addressing the reader directly to more standard third person stuff. Plus just too many characters, I know she’s dealing with actual historical events but i just felt she was trying to do, and cover, too much.

  1. The Misletoe Murders and other Stories P.D. James - an easy and entertaining read in the few hours I was awake before everyone else on Christmas Day!

  2. The Railway Children E Nesbit - I’d never read it, and it fitted a prompt in the popsugar/goodreads challenge I’ve been doing all year but have no chance of finishing thanks to book number 56 above Xmas Confused

CheerfulMuddler · 28/12/2017 10:20

Happy Christmas everyone! Very jealous of you all indulging in Christmas break reading binges. Christmas with a two-year-old is ... Not so much like that. Although it is lovely not having to work.
Respectable book haul this year:
Autumn Ali Smith
Winter Ali Smith both in hardback from the in-laws, who have excellent taste (though Autumn was reprinting so I'll have to wait to get that one, but reviews from this thread are making me keen to read).
The Invisible Child/The Fir Tree Tove Janssen (which if i have any chance of making 50 will definitely be read nextish)
Murder for Christmas Frances Duncan
Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World Lyndall Gordon
Currently reading A Surfeit of Lamphreys, as Remus's post upthread reminded me I've never read any Marsh and have been meaning to for ages. It is glorious.

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