50 Book Challenge 2018 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

@BadBuddha did you get a kindle/kindle paperwhite or a kindle fire? If you got the fire you can download an app called overdrive and if your local library is a member you can use your library card to read loads of books for free! That's how I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird at the minute. I've also signed up for Netgalley and do reviews on goodreads in return for free kindle books that haven't been released yet!

I have an ARC of Still Me by JoJo Moyes that I'm excited to get stuck in to as well!

Can I still join, please?

I am ashamed to say I only read about 2-3 books last year (changing jobs etc), so I have decided to challenge myself this year and get back to reading more.

I have bookcase full of unread books, but I have decided to start with Handmaid's tale.

1. Quiet London –Very short but I've read a lot of travel guides over the holiday which I didn't count, so I'm counting this nice little book about lesser known museums, parks for quiet contemplation in London, as well as cafes, restaurants, spas etc. I liked this and will certainly revisit it before our next trip to London. It’s got the wonderful Postman’s Park in, which everybody should visit if they haven’t yet done so!

I've finished twist of faith Ellen J Green. A womans has been told she was adopted after being found in a church at 6 weeks old. She begins to look for her birth mother after her adoptive mother dies.

It was ok for a free kindle first book, nothing amazing.

Can I still join? I am reading Hillbilly Elogy by JD Vance but looking for inspiration for the next one and the thread is a gold mine!

Best book I read last year was Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead, if anyone is looking for ideas.

@TheIntrovertedMum It's the Paperwhite, but I've implemented a self imposed download ban (for the rest of Jan at least ) and I'm making a list of books to request from our local library from my Goodreads 'want to read' list. I have plenty on my Kindle to keep me going anyway...

remus I know. I am so anticipating loving it that I’ve been saving it - but I’ve had such a boring run, then eye issues, that I’ve decided to treat myself to the greatest hits now

1. The Habit of Murder by Susanna Gregory

The 23rd of her Matthew Bartholomew crime series set in the 14th century. A group of scholars from Michaelhouse College, Cambridge visit the village of Clare in the hope of an inheritance from the Lady of Clare and lots of murders happen. I've read all of these and think she's running out of ideas. Not a great book for its 400+ pages, I didn't guess the perpetrator though.

weebarra I've got about 50 pages left of number 5, A Wicked Deed. I never guess the perpetrator and am starting to feel a bit thick. I enjoy them though. I assume you've read the Cadfael series?

Hope you absolutely love it, Satsuki. It's pretty much perfect, as far as I'm concerned. And, as you'll know but newbies won't, it's one of the very few works of fiction that Cote and I both rave about!

Remus I've just looked up This Thing of Darkness in my library. There are 2 books of the same title both written by a Harry.

I read the blurb of the wrong one (the one in stock!) and thought it didn't sound like something either of you would read.

Coffee, yes, hippo ranching! So absurd, but it really was a serious plan. If you google, you can find articles about the hippo ranching scheme. Apparently, the New York Times even did a hippo meat feature, complete with recipes.

Satsuki, that's so weird, I have I Love Dick sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read! I keep pushing it down the list and picking other things up, but I do want to read it. The TV show is quite different to the book. For some reason I didn't want to look back over my reading challenge on Goodreads and see I Love Dick as the first book of the year.

1. Zuckerman Unbound - Philip Roth

I didn't like this as much as The Ghost Writer, the novel that precedes this one. Here, Zuckerman has become a famous novelist but struggles with his notoriety and the disapproval of his Jewish family. This did pick up in the last third and reminded me that Roth is a great writer really. I'm hoping to read all the Zuckerman novels this year, including American Pastoral. Fingers crossed.

Fortuna

The 'right' one is £4.99 on Kindle - bargain.

Oh I would love to join in. I have read my first book of the year The Good Daughter by Katen Slaughter. I don't read high brow books just easy fiction.

whippet what can I say? I’ve chosen to embrace it I read about 50 pages the other month and was determined to finish it before it’s due back at library so it’s ended up straddling... I’ll leave it there. It wasn’t a particularly enjoyable read but it was short and definitely compelling in places.

remus I’ve read the first chapter and looking good so far.

2\100

I finished reading Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller yesterday. I literally couldn't put it down. The book is about her life growing up with boarder parents. She is very descriptive and I was left feeling quite guilty for my love of the Hoarders tv show. I certainly have a much more in-depth idea of hoarding and it's long reaching effects after her book.

DH started listening to the wrong This Thing of Darkness on audible after I had really enjoyed it FortunaMajor (I had borrowed it from the library) he was bemused by my recommendation! The one I'd intended isn't available, bah!

I started reading Five Children on the Western Front. I thought 'this is very easy going'...it's YA! I have form for this...Oh well I can pass it on to DD I guess!

I’m in! First book is The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini.

Not sure I’ll reach 50 unless I can count board books about tractors ...

Murine Glad it's not just me. I had the sense to be suspicious and go to Goodreads instead. I've a feeling the reviews of the 'wrong' one wouldn't be quite so favourable.

1. A Wicked Deed by Susanna Gregory, 5th in the series. Matthew and the monks head off to rural Suffolk where it turns into a medieval Midsomer and everybody dies in ridiculous circumstances. I yet again failed to work out whodunnit. However, I like the characters so will continue merrily with the series to see if I ever figure one out.

Underground Railroad next which was a Christmas present.

Best and TooMuch - I really enjoyed How To measure a Cow when I read it last year but ashamed to say I've never written anything else she's written. You have both inspired me now - which would you suggest I read next?
FortunaMajor - Underground Railroad was one of the best books I read last year! You're in for a treat,
This Thing of Darkness is on my kindle after recommendations last year (or even the year before). I had forgotten I had it and only came across it after a kindle sort out. I'd better bring it nearer the top of my TR pile

Five children go to the western front? At first glance I thought that was one of those spoof Famous Five books. “Five die futile deaths in the trenches of Kirren Island” kind of thing

Sonnet I don't think you will be disappointed by any of Margaret Foster's work. As I mention Diary of an Ordinary Woman is my favourite but Hidden Lives, and The Battle for Christobel stand out** from memory. She is quite prolific so you are in for a treat.