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?

Sorry - that was to Cote.

Thanks, Teufel.

A Meal In Winter, In Times of Fading Light and All For Nothing- not come across these, so thanks.
Alone In Berlin by Hans Fallada - read this but wasn't a big fan of it.
Stasiland by Anna Funder - liked this
The Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor - loved this

Will look out for the others. Thank you.

It's not to spite you! We just have the exact opposite tastes in fiction

Avoid Germania. Soooo boring. Cba to look up the writer!

Cote - it never fails to amaze me how much I 'click' with you on here, but how very different our tastes in fiction are. But if you love Winter I'll eat my hat.

Ha! A challenge! We'll see

I should probably really choose one of my German books for my next read, but there are so many, I don't know where to start, and my Orwells and Du Mauriers keep glaring at me from their shelves. Sometimes I wish I could employ someone to select books for me.

I've bought My Part in its Downfall as only 99p. And got samples of all of the others. Hopefully some of these will keep me quiet for a while!

Just finished book number 2: Witch is Where Life Got Complicated by Adele Abbott

This is the 2nd book in the series and was another easy to read, no thinking involved book which suits me at the minute.

Have spent a while tonight clearing out my Kindle as had loads on there that I would never read now and it hinders me when choosing my next one to read. I have a habit of downloading free samples to remind me to buy the book when I get the money, but going through them tonight there are some from 2015 which I had never even looked at so I quickly skimmed through a few pages and deleted most of them.

I’m moving house in a fortnight (fingers crossed!) and have packed up all the books. I’m now suffering from withdrawal. It is not helping the pre-move finances if I spend a fortune on Kindle! There are about 8 cardboard boxes of books plus 5 Ikea bags full.

Anyway. New resolution is to get comfy posting from my phone.

1. Night Study
2. Dawn Study, both Maria V Snyder.

These were AWFUL. DH bought me a 6 book box set for Christmas so I dutifully slogged through them so as not to hurt his feelings. But they were shit. The first one was ok, but after that they developed into turgidity v rapidly. The worst point was when the heroine helps some poor beggar children and then every beggar calls her “Lovely Yelena” for the next 4 books. It made me want to scream. Fantasy series about a woman who starts off as a murderess and is made to be a food-taster for a commanding officer in a military society. She then discovers magic and falls in love and gets involved in endless political plotting that was really really bad.

Hopefully you won't be too disappointed, Remus. We all have such different tastes on here, so it can be hard to make recommendations, plus I have the memory of a deceased goldfish, so tend to forget the finer details of books. At least it was reasonably cheap though.

Fivegomad I hate telling people not to bother as I think tastes vary so much but honestly if you have a 'too read pile' I think pretty much everything else would be better than Reader on the 6.27 Having said, that it got some cracking reviews on Goodreads, so what do I know?

I liked The Reader on The 6:27 when I read it, didn't love it though, and there's no depth to it but I enjoyed it at the time. Thinking back now, it's a rather odd book, especially the whole storyline about the legs.

1. The Dark Tower, Stephen King.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this. I read the first 4 over and over again as a teenager/young adult, and then really didn’t get on with Wolves of the Calla when it was published (the bit where Roland dances the commala made me cringe). So I left the series for years, and my DSis told me the bare bones of the ending probably 10 years ago so I knew what was coming. However, when I picked them up again I devoured the first 6. And then somehow with this one I just...stopped. And started and stopped again. I think it was partly fear about what happened to favourite characters, but it was also partly elements like Mia and Mordred, not to mention SK as a character. I decided to accept that - I do think he made a reasonable fist at doing it and certainly didn’t portray himself in a sympathetic light. There were elements in the whole series that I love. There were elements in the latter 3 books that I had to take with a massive pinch of salt (the whole Tet Corporation, for one). I was disappointed with Mordred’s story because it achieved absolutely nothing. Having said all that, though, I still love Roland. And Eddie. I do think the ending reads as if he came up with it when he was 19 and was determined to stick with it.

Roland dancing is one of my favourite scenes.

The Mia stuff bores me though.

1. The Lost Plot, Genevieve Cogman.

Book 4 in the Invisible Library series. I have enjoyed these - cheerful fantastical romps with dragons, Fae and kick ass librarians, plus Chalet School references. This latest one is an improvement on book 3, which I (ironically) thought had lost the plot a bit. No advancing in the Library back story, though, which is a shame.

Remus, now I’m older I quite enjoyed that scene but when I was early 20s I thought it was dire. My tastes have matured somewhat - I used to dislike the Roland/Susan relationship solely because she was older than him and thinks he’s not that bright when they first meet. Oh, and he’s describes as having little imagination, which I thought was a Bad Thing as a teenager. Now it’s probably my favourite book of the series, having got over my irrational teenage prejudices.

Wizard and Glass? I like it the least, as it's all pretty much just back story. I skip most of it now, when I re-read the series. I do like the red shoes bit though!

just finished And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. I really enjoyed it. It's very different from Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. It doesn't have that strong emotional pull of the single story. It's a set of interconnected short stories based loosely around the inhabitants of a house in Kabul during and after the Taliban era, and the people connected to them by blood and work and friendship and war. It jumps from Afghanistan to USA to Europe, following several generations and the after effects of the Afghan war on its families and diaspora. Beautifully written.

Forgot to add, I've not read a book that quickly in years. That's thanks to this thread. Took 5 days and it felt like an effort - a good one. Very out of practise. Not sure what to read next. Maybe a non-fic. I got Oliver Sack's Rivers of Consciousness for Christmas, so maybe that.

Still cracking on with Middlemarch which I'm really falling in love with. A few passages which have really resonated with me and I've also properly laughed in places too.
Still a good few days off finishing it though I should think!

Only managed 25 books last year so hope to improve on that. Just finishing off book from last year which I won't count and then make a start.

1. Jo Nesbo The Thirst

There's a killer on the streets of Oslo, one who murders women who have been on Tinder dates and who kills by biting with iron teeth and drinks his victim's blood. The police know they need Harry Hole to help find the killer, but he's reluctant to return to the murder squad because of all it has cost him in the past. That is until he starts to suspect a connection with his one failed case.

I'm a big fan of Nesbo's books. This is absorbing with lots of red herrings and definitely up there with his best. Not an author for people who prefer to avoid fairly gruesome detail though.

little victory dance for me I'm aiming for one book a week and I was panicking I wouldn't be able to do it even in the first week. I have less than 100 pages left of my first book and it's only the 6th. I'll be finished today 👏🏻👏🏻

I have health issues and combining that with children and daily life I often struggle with reading but I'm sticking to the settling with it when the kids are in bed. I will do this 🙏🏻

To me it's not just about being a bookworm, it's a calming (almost medicinal) thing. When I read my anxiety levels decline and I feel so much more relaxed. This year is a me year for dealing with my health and I'm determined to use reading as the main help.