50 Book Challenge 2017 Part Eight

[southeastdweller]

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?

Happy New Year to you all!

I managed 52 books this year - got off to a flying start and then slowed down massively from September onwards. Hoping to reach the 50 target again next year.

Looking forward to the 2018 as recently I've been reading much more & hoping to manage many more than 50 in the new year. (and to follow this thread much more closely!)

In the end this year I managed 46/50 books so not quite there. Here is my full list.

1. Bee Wilson, 'this is not a diet book'
2. Harry Potter & the chamber of secrets
3. Jennifer Weiner, 'all fall down'
4. Lauren Sandler, 'one and only'
5. Rene and Goscinny, the Nicholas Book (children's book)
6. Katja Rowell, fussy eating book
7. Nicola Yoon, 'everything everything' (YA book)
8. JD Robb, 'echoes in death'
9. JD Vance, 'Hillbilly elegy'
10. Jonathan Kellerman, Heartbreak Hotel
11. Haemin Sunim, The things you can see only when you slow down
12. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie We should all be feminists
13. Sarah A. Denzil Silent Child
14. Anna Bell The bucket list to mend a broken heart
15. Elin Hilderbrand The Rumor
16. William Styron Sophie's choice
17. Diane Ackerman the Zookeeper's wife
18. Leap in: A woman, some waves and the will to swim by Alexandra Heminsley
19. Αύγουστος Κορτώ Μικρό χρονικό τρέλλας (in greek)
20. The breakdown B. A. Paris
21. Floating: A life regained by Joe Minihane
22. Here's to us Elin Hilderbrand
23. Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
24. Hidden nature by Alys Fowler
25. Running like a girl by Alexandra Heminsley
26. paper hearts and summer kisses by Carole Matthews
27. Rosemary: The hidden Kennedy daughter by Kate Clifford Larson
28. Margaret Davidson Helen Keller's teacher
29. This is how you lose her Junot Diaz
30. Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett and the dawn of Pink Floyd by Pete Anderson
31. The four tendencies Gretchen Rubin
32. A dry white season Andre Brink
33. My not so perfect life Sophie Kinsella
34. Glass castle by Jeannette Walls
35. My brilliant friend Elena Ferrante
36. The shack William P. Young
37. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
38. Lover of unreason: the life & tragic death of Assia Wevill by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev
39. You can't spell America without me (audiobook) Kurt Andersen & Alec Baldwin
40. Little girl blue: The life of Karen Carpenter Randy Schmidt
41. The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
42. The gift of failure by Jessica Lahey
43. Fixed ideas Joan Didion
44. Railway children E. Nesbit
45. The rosie project Graeme Simsion
46. Into the wild Jon Krakauer

Happy reading everyone for 2018

Posting my full lis for last year:

1. Even Dogs in the Wild - Ian Rankin
2. Cheer up Love - Susan Calman
3. The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
4. I'll Have What She's Having - Rebecca Harrington
5. Leap In - Alexandra Hemingsley
6. The Goldfish Boy - Lisa Thompson
7. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
8. The Liar's Chair - Rebecca Whitney
9. Shockaholic - Carrie Fisher

10. Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class - Owen Jones 11. Letter from New York - Helene Hanff 12. Jonathan Unleashed - Meg Rosoff 13. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 14. Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl: A Memoir of Food, Family, Film & Fashion - Kay Plunkett-Hogg 15. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool - Peter Turner 16. A Month in the Country - JL Carr 17. Let's Make Lots of Money: Secrets of a Rich, Fat, Gay, Lucky Bastard - Tom Watkins 18. Keeping On Keeping On - Alan Bennett 19. A Survival Guide for Life - Bear Grylls 20. The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon 21. The Indian in the Cupboard - Lynne Reid Banks 22. The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher 23. Into the Water - Paula Hawkins 24. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara 25. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman 26. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo 27. The Girls - Emma Cline 28. Significant Others - Armistead Maupin 29. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas 30. A Very English Scandal - John Preston 31. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - Mark Manson 32. A Manual for Heartache - Cathy Rentzenbrink 33. Adele - Sam Smith 34. The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop - Clare Balding 35. The Silence Between Breaths - Cath Staincliffe 36. My No Spend Year: How I Spent Less and Lived More - Michelle McGagh 37. Swing Time - Zadie Smith 38. Days Without End – Sebastian Barry 39. I’m Not With the Band – Sylvia Patterson 40. Dead Now Of Course – Phyllida Law 41. Get Me the Urgent Biscuits – Sweetpea Slight 42. The People at Number 9 – Felicity Everett 43. Standard Deviation – Katherine Heiny 44. Mummy’s Boy – Larry Lamb 45. Wonder - R.G Palagio 46. One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson 47. help – Simon Amstell 48. The Examined Life - Stephen Grosz 49. Room - Emma Donaghue 50. A Child in Time - Ian McEwan 51. An Almost Perfect Christmas - Nina Stibbe 52. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng 53. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris 54. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney 55. The Diary of a Bookseller - Sean Bythell

The new thread is up now:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/3126771-50-Book-Challenge-2018-Part-One

Thank you SouthEastDweller and everyone else on these threads. See you in 2018.

For completeness' sake here is my full (short) list, highlights in bold:

1.The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
2. Mothering Sunday - Graham Swift

1. Under the Skin - Michel Faber
2. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
3. The Muse - Jessie Burton
4. Swing Time - Zadie Smith
5. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
6. A Question of Identity - Susan Hill
7. The Vows of Silence - Susan Hill

10. A Kiss Before Dying - Ira Levin 11. The Shadows in the Street - Susan Hill 12. The Gate of Angels - Penelope Fitzgerald 13. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - John Le Carre 14. The Book of Daniel - E.L. Doctorow 15. Different Class - Joanne Harris 16. The Gustav Sonata - Rose Tremain 17. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch 18. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 19. Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave 20. A Call for the Dead by John le Carre 21. The Birds in the Trees by Nina Bawden 22. The Sellout by Paul Beatty 23. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim 24. Moving by Jenny Eclair 25. The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss 26. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh 27. We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson 28. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 29. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith 30. Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau 31. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 32. All Creatures Great and Small by James Heriot 33. Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny 34. The Pedant In The Kitchen by Julian Barnes 35. His Bloody Project by Graeme MacRae Burnet. 36. Waking Lions by Ayelet Gudnar-Goshen 37. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 38. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald 39. A Murder of Quality by John le Carre 40. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill 41. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald 42. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes 43. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 44. The 4.50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie 45. The Girls by Emma Cline 46. The Deaths by Mark Lawson

I fell far short this year so will just post my particular highlights:

The Essex Serpent
His Bloody Project
11.22.63
The Long Goodbye
Lincoln in the Bardo
Today Will Be Different
The Handmaid’s Tale
Fatherland
The Summer Book
Rush Oh
Into Thin Air

There were others I quite enjoyed too so not too bad a year looking back, but a rough last few months of book abandonment and illness scuppered it a bit. Nice to end on a high with Into Thin Air and join the club of its fans.

Happy New Year everyone

Satsuki, I'm so glad you enjoyed Today Will Be Different! I thought of you while reading it, given our shared love of Bernadette.

Happy new year everyone!

Here's my final list:

1. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
2. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
3. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin
4. His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
5. The Iceberg by Marion Coutts
6. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
7. Reaching down the rabbit hole by Allan Ropper
8. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
9. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

10. The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett 11. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot 12. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett 13. Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann 14. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher 15. The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain 16. The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse 17. Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford 18. Nora Webster by Colm Toibin 19. The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss 20. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews 21. Footsteps by Richard Holmes 22. The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble 23. Darkness Visible by William Styron 24. The City and the City by China Mieville 25. Running High, Running Low, Running Long by Ben Rolfe 26. The Power by Naomi Alderman 27. Spectacles by Sue Perkins 28. This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell 29. Nutshell by Ian McEwan 30. The Penguin Lessons by Tom Mitchell 31. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett 32. A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart 33. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 34. Love's Executioner by Irvin D Yalom 35. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley 36. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 37. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale 38. Only When I Laugh by Paul Merton 39. The Girls by Emma Cline 40. Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon 41. Serious Sweet by AL Kennedy 42. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters 43. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver 44. Three Corvettes by Nicholas Monsarrat 45. Nine Lives by Alan C Deere 46. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter 47. The Sex Lives of English Women by Wendy Jones 48. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson 49. The Dry by Jane Harper 50. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell 51. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 52. The Image of You by Adele Parks 53. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 54. In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

And my top books of the year are:

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

See you on the new thread!

vanderley that’s nice, yes I didn’t think it was as taut as Bernadette by I enjoyed it on its own terms and could forgive its weak spots because she is so insightful in her observations. I look forward to anything else she writes, really like her style.

Just posting my final two reviews of the year.

95 How To Stop Time - Matt Haig I had been looking forward to reading this for a while but sadly it was very disappointing and I struggled to get to the end. Whippet I can understand why you wanted to give up and Scribby I agree with many of your sentiments about it.

96 Munich - Robert Harris Set at the time of the 1938 Munich Peace Conference this is a political thriller which tells the story of a British and a German men who play pivotal roles in the meetings between Hitler and Chamberlain. Another book I had been patiently been waiting for from the library and I am pleased to say that this one did not disappoint. Having read both Fatherland and Conclave I had high expectations of this and it definitely exceeded them. I will be adding some of Robert Harris's other books to my to read list for the coming year.

vistaverde excited about Munich - glad to hear it’s good!

I used my Christmas Waterstones vouchers to get Munich after hearing Robert Harris discuss it on radio 4, it's not the sort of thing I would usually choose at all but sounds so interesting! Even more excited to get stuck in now after your review Vistaverde