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?

I'll join again this year, I did a lot of last year although I've NC and I managed 35 books in the end. DETERMINED to make it to 50 in 2018.

Teufelsrad Giants looks good, now on my list, thank you

Toomuchsplother Sounds interesting, another one on the list

SatsukiKusakabe Star of the Sea is already in my pile.

CoteDAzur Seveneves is in my basket, looks good. Free sample of Red Rising on my kindle. 1984 is one I keep on my shelves. The Worst Journey is now on my list. I have to check my shelves as I know I wanted to read Into Thin Air but can't remember if I bought it or not. The North Water and The Revenant are both in my basket now.

And I've added Burial Rites on my list as well after seeing it mentioned on here so often.

Thanks everyone, loads more on my list now

Adding my first two reads:-

1. Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig

This was the third in his trilogy for children, set in Elfhelm. A young girl, Amelia, who featured in the second novel and has been adopted by Father Christmas, struggles to fit into life with the elves. Quirky, and sweet little story. I rather enjoyed reading it to my children.

1. The Durrells of Corfu by Michael Haag. An interesting retelling of the lives of the Durrells, correcting Gerald Durrell's often fictional slant. Very good but quite bittersweet - all was not happy in their lives and Corfu was not the perfect paradise all the time.

5. The reader on the 6.27 - Jean- Paul Didierlaurent First stinker of the year! Oh Good Lord this was awful! Made more awful by the fact I seem to have a paper copy and a Kindle copy. It must have been highly recommended by someone but haven't got a clue who. Started it just before the school run and finished it 10 mins ago. Have managed to do housework and cook a meal in that time too, that's how trite it is!! Basic story disillusioned main works at a book pumping plant, everyday he saves pages and reads them aloud on the 6.27 train. Everyone loves this apparently One day on train he find a USB drive with the ramblings of lavatory attendant on! Stops reading random pages, reads these instead, looks for lavatory attendant because he has decided he is in love with her!! 3 hours of my life gone!

Toomuch that sounds truly horrendous. You have my sympathy,

I didn't love Giants. Thought it contained an awful lot of padding and wasn't very well written, unfortunately.

Review should read 'disillusioned man works at a book pulping plant. '
Lesson - never write an irate review without checking the spelling !!

Toomuch I've just laughed at that review... god it sounds awful!

magimedi The Unseen World is on my shelf to read this year too. Thanks for your review, it’s definitely been bumped up the list of what to read next.

Just finished book 1. Totlandia book 8 by Josie Brown.

There are 8 books in the series each book is a season, the first 4 are the onsies and books 5-8 are the Twosies. The books follow the lives of mums and children who are members of an exclusive Mum's and Tot's group.

I have loved the whole series as I find it so easy to get lost in the books and have eagerly awaited the next book, sadly this is the last book ... unless Josie Brown writes more.

Oh I love this. I always want to read more. Currently reading ‘When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit’

1. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

I know this has had mixed reviews on here. I don’t want to say I loved it because the ultimate outcome isn’t one to love, but I really enjoyed reading it and could really picture the forest while I was reading. Usually when I finish a book I straight away pick up the next, but I wanted to spend some time thinking about this one before moving on.

gizlotsmum I have just finished that one, I'm going to get the second one to read later.

It was the first time I had read it, I had got the book for dd1 and she didn't get on with it at all.

1. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark - Set in 1930s Edinburgh, a subversive school teacher uses her influence to dominate the minds and lives of a chosen ‘set’ of schoolgirls. She uses them to advance her own affairs. The headmistress seeks to remove her from the school but fails to gather sufficient evidence, until one of Miss Brodie’s girls sees her for what she is and betrays her.

What an odd little book. The biggest virtue being the brevity (which is also meant to be part of its brilliance). There is a lot to be discussed of the motives of the characters, themes such as fascism, religion etc. but I feel I’ve seriously missed something with this one.

fortuna I read it last year and didn’t enjoy it either.

My first reading slump of the year was mercifully brief.

I started and finished two books today.

My 8th book was *Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories. I loved this. I don't believe in ghosts but I'm a big fan of old fashioned ghost stories, and this was perfect. As is inevitable with short story collections some are better than others, but I enjoyed all of them, and a few were standouts. If you're a particularly avid fan of ghost stories, then I'm not sure many will be that new to you, but if you're a more casual fan then I'd recommend it.

The 9th book was English Animals by Laura Kaye. This was about a young Slovakian immigrant called Mirka who accepts a job in the mistaken belief that the position is that of an au-pair but it's actually as an taxidermist's assistant for a strange upper class couple.

I don't want to say much more than that because of spoilers, but I enjoyed this one. It wasn't quite deserving of the Booktube hype, but it was a good read. There are very few likeable characters in this so if that's an issue for anyone, it may be best avoided, but I enjoyed it in spite of finding one particularly character utterly loathsome and unappealing.

I'm not sure what to read next. I'm really in the mood for spooky tales, but I should probably try something different, perhaps another non-fiction or an Orwell.

I'm not finding Our Man in Havana very funny. It's definitely not calling to me to finish it.

Thank you MuseumofHam and Vistaverde. I'll add your recommendations to my list.

teufelsrad adding the ghost story to my list

I have the Reader on the 6.27 one on my to read shelf, so hopefully a quick read or shouldn't I waste my time?

In laws looked after the DC today so finished 2. Artemis by Andy Weir whoever said up thread that I shouldn’t bother was probably right. Basically a crime caper set on the moon which felt like YA fiction with lots of wisecracking conversation. Also I don’t think the author does a women’s voice well.

Starting 3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik Fantasy novel by the author of the Temeraire series.

I forgot to add that Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories is a collection selected by him, and not written by him. They're still worth reading though. The only one that didn't really work for me was the Norwegian one, but I suspect that much has been lost in translation, and to my lack of knowledge about Norwegian culture.

Took me a while but I have finally left the starting blocks

1. Hidden Depths - Ann Cleaves

The third instalment of the Vera Stanhope series. The murder of a young man, strangled and left floating in a bath of flowers leads them to a disfunctional group of birdwatchers.

Very enjoyable but given how long it took me for a simple read I had better up my game!

Remus - "read A Place Called Winter. Had really hoped to like it, but didn't much"

There's hope for me yet, then

I was very disappointed by Berlin Now also, Remus. I've kept it because I want to build my collection of German books, but I struggled to get through it. It just didn't hold my interest.

I don't know that I can think of any original suggestions for those interested in Germany, but a few of my favourite German and Germany related books are...

Fiction: A Meal In Winter by Hubert Mingarelli. This is a novella so a very quick read but one that has stayed with me.
All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski.
Alone In Berlin by Hans Fallada(Though I suspect everyone has read that one.)
In Times of Fading Light by Eugen Rouge(Not quite as good as I hoped, but I enjoyed it anyway)

Non-Fiction. The Race Against The Stasi by Herbie Sykes
Stasiland by Anna Funder
The Collapse by Mary Elise Sarotte
The Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor
The Year That Changed The World by Michael Meyer
1989: The Berlin Wall: My Part In It's Downfall by Peter Millar(It was actually much more interesting than the 'comedic' title suggests.
Red Love: The Story of An East German Family by Maxim Leo

Knowing you, you'll now love it - just to spite me!