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 am packing to move home in spring sometime, just packed 3 boxes of unread books and still have 50+ on my shelf, also a load of easy read cheap and cheerful ones on my kindle

Phew, not just me with the teetering TBR pile then.

Definitely not in your own. I have a few books on my want to read list in Amazon and I have told myself I need to read 4 of mine before I can buy one

I have a ludicrous number of unread books in my house and on my kindle. I daren't count them. Too many.

And then I get diverted by the shiny books in the library as well.....

1. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

The stories of French girl Marie-Laure, blind since the age of 6, and Werner, a German orphan and their experiences of the second world war. Marie-Laure and her Father leave Paris to flee the Nazi invasion and take refuge with Marie-Laure's great uncle in St Malo. Meanwhile, in the German town of Zollverein, Werner's engineering talent allows him to escape a life of drudgery working in the mines by securing a place at an elite but brutal boys school operated by the Nazi regime.

This book is certainly epic in scale and ambition; it starts in 1934 and concludes in 2014 and has a huge cast of characters. It is very gripping in parts, the sections focusing on the siege of St Malo in 1944 were the strongest in my opinion. The book progresses chronologically, but every few years/chapters it loops back to key events around the few days of the siege which are central to the conclusion.

The style of the book was a bit too self conscious and at times overly descriptive for me and I found the very short chapters (sometimes only a page long) sometimes jarring. The book flits back and forth between Marie-Laure and Werner continuously, but as the novel progressed I was able to work out the connections between them.

The writer is Amercian and there are some Americanisms in the book "math" instead of "maths", which I felt were a bit incongruous given the period and setting.

Overall an enjoyable read but in my view it did not live up to the hype.

My next book is more of novella really, Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal. It picks up in 1945, and revolves around small Czech village during the Nazi occupation. I thought it might be a good companion read to All the Light We Cannot See. So far, it is actually quite funny in parts - not what I expected at all, but good so far.

I've got 19 unread on my Kindle and 23 physical books. I doubt I'll read all of them, though, by the end of the year as I'm studying and haven't even finished one book yet! I've got two on the go now - Winter by Ali Smith and Sirens by Joseph Knox - both likely to be ending up in the 'meh' category.

I have the Mary Beard book on my pile to read, so thanks for your review Whippet!

I got Mary Beard for Christmas too, as well as Hillary Clinton and a biography of Eleanor Marx. Only read Hillary Clinton so far, now reading an Italian book that has been translated into German - Die Frau im Mond .

I'd love to join. I read 62 books last year which is a fairly typical year. Am hoping for more this year and also to read some from the "I should really read that" list I have. Top of which is Clive James' translation of The Divine Comedy. That's an ongoing project.

I have had a few days off at the start of the year so managed to finish a few I started in late December.

So this year so far -

A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin: interesting and rather charming. I enjoyed her biography of Pepys and feel inspired (finally) to pick up her biography of Hardy which I've had for ages.
Exquisite by Sarah Stovell. It was a cheap Kindle offer. It was not good, which is a shame because I wanted an easy but gripping thriller.
The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond. It started so well, but then sort of fell apart. Shame because I wanted to enjoy it and it was an interesting concept but it was as if she just didn't quite know where to take the plot.
One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This was so good; totally engrossing and a really readable book. It made me so grateful for dinner and a warm bed as it's unremittingly bleak and harsh but he's a very sympathetic character.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders - listened to this on audiobook which I think was a mistake as I find fiction tricky to listen to and this was really hard to follow at the outset. I may go back to it as a book at some point if I see a copy in the library.

Now going to start The Nix which various people have raved about.

6. Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House - Michael Wolff. The big shocker of the book is that there really is no big shock. Most of what is written is already a matter of public record and the rest we can pretty much deduce for ourselves from Trump's erratic behaviour. The basic premise of the book is that Trump never expected to win, no one in his team did either and therefore they were woefully unprepared. Trump's need for flattery and ego boosting take up much of his day. He doesn't like detail. Hates bad press and takes everything personally. Is indiscrete, regularly goes off topic when speaking publicly and Tweets without anyone knowing or approving what he says. His camp is made up of factions that are infighting and Trump enjoys this. He watches to see who will flatter him the most in order to decide who he will support. Russian collusion is likely but possibly due to sheer inexperience and stupidity rather than strategy. Book is equally as much about Bannon, Jared and Ivanka as it is about Trump himself. No wonder Trump couldn't take it down as most of it is already reported or easily worked out.
And I see Bannon has issued a statement of 'apology' which has pretty much confirmed he was the author's source.
On to the next one!

Just finished Book 4 Die Last by Tony Parsons

This isn't my normal book but seen it mentioned on here and loved it. It was a fairly quick read with a good storyline and I will be reading more by the author.

pepe I’ve started The Nix too as only had my Kindle on me yesterday and I’m really enjoying it. It had me really giggling in the first part - looking promising. I hadn’t heard of it so had no expectations. It is only £1.19 at the moment in the monthly deals.

I really thinned out my books when I moved house and only kept a few favourites/ classics. I only live a few doors down from the library now so consider it an extension of my own bookshelf. I go regularly and come home with about 10 books at a time so I have a selection. That keeps me on the ball with the TBR pile as they have to go back. It also makes me pretty ruthless, if I don't like or don't fancy something then it gets abandoned with no remorse.

1. A Masterly Murder by Susanna Gregory - more murder and intrigue in the hallowed halls of 14th century Cambridge University with Matthew Bartholomew on the case. These are easy but substantial reads. I've decided that I will never work out the murderer in this series as in this one there were that many murders that seem interconnected and then end up being unrelated than I don't stand a chance.

PepeLePew Clive James' translation is fabulous, although I did find Paradise rather a dull section. Inferno, on the other hand, just begs to be declaimed to an audience. How are you enjoying it so far?

1. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park Just finished the book about the unfortunately named Fanny Price. Had to keep reminding myself this was a serious book when I came across items such as "Edmund could barely manage without Fanny." Guess I will never grow up. Now reading The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

I've finished home Harlen Coben. It's about 2 boys who where abducted when they were 6, then 10 years later one is found. What I didn't realise when I read it was it was the last of a series of 11, but it worked ok as a stand alone. I enjoyed it enough to buy the first one in the series, even though I am supposed to be working througg my kindle backlog before I get anymore books.

I've now stated the silver sword. Another childrens classic that I have never read.

1. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

I hated hated hated this. I did manage to finish it as I had read The Rosie Project in december & for some reason wanted to find out what happened to the characters (although I'm mystified why, given that I also didn't enjoy the Rosie Project much). Halfway through I regretted pushing forward with the Rosie Effect but then had committed to over 150 pages & decided to just get it done.

You probably know the premise. These books are written in the first person, main character clearly has aspergers (and is quite likable as a character). The books describe his journey (in the first book) of building a romantic relationship and (in the second book) of becoming a father.

While the first book at least had a few laugh out loud moments to redeem it, the second book: 1) had no plot; 2) was not funny; 3) the baby wasn't even born for most of the book; 4) Rosie was very much in the background of the book; 5) there was a number of horribly formulaic / cliche scenes, eg rushing to the airport to get Rosie to come back to him. For these and other reasons, I just think this book was boring & badly written & shouldn't have been written so quickly after the success of Rosie project. There's a much better book hiding in there somewhereeg if Rosie had had her baby early on & we could then watch Don and Rosie adjusting to life with new babybut this is not it.

I am still mystified as to why these 2 books have been so wildly popular, would love to hear what others think.

I quite enjoyed The Rosie Project but not enough to read the second. Not what I would usually read but ok for a bit of fluff. I think you’ve hit on the key points - the likeability of the main character, the humour, plus an affectionate portrayal of someone with social difficulties added up to its success. But it’s only a light read, so not something I gave much time to thinking about.

ChillieJeannie - it's great! My Italian academic friend recommended it as being highly accessible and well written and it's both. I've got Cliff Notes on hand to navigate the references and am cracking through Inferno. I can't find a reading of it which would be helpful; as you say, it needs to be read aloud. I am just about getting away with not reading it out loud at the moment because it's just so gripping and the images are so compelling but perhaps Paradise needs to be treated much more as poetry. And I know from experience that I can only really engage with poetry when it's read to me.

I thought The Rosie Effect wasn’t half as good as The Rosie Project.

So many questionable choices that were perhaps meant to be amusing but weren’t - look! Don’s too socially unaware to realise that this will get him arrested and have social services knocking on the door! - and then Don’s more NT friends either sitting back and waiting for him to fall flat on his face, or going along with something that someone more socially aware can see will be a bad idea, like agreeing to impersonate Rosie in front of social workers

The second book just seemed a lot less affectionate towards Don. And it could definitely have done with more Rosie in it.

1. The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore. Sequel to The Siege that I read last autumn. The protagonists, Andrei, Anna and Kolya have adapted to life ten or so years after the end of the Leningrad Siege. Andrei, a respected doctor, finds himself mixed up in a case at the hospital involving the son of a high-ranking Soviet party leader. Dunmore captures the paranoia of this era perfectly so that you almost find yourself breaking out in cold sweat. It remains a very humane novel where the characters are definitely the central part of the story - and they are beautiful portrayed. A very quick and easy read and, in my opinion, a real page-turner.

I've got about 10 books on my tbr and about another 10 books on reserve for at the library. I like to have a choice of what I read depending on my mood etc.

For the first time in ages I have given up on a book and that really takes something as I read some pretty awful stuff last year. Leap Year - by Helen Russell. I didn't really tell me anything new and I found the author's voice really irritating. I don't generally read self help type books and now I know why.

A bit late to the party, but would love to join. I have just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I thought was gut-wrenchingly brilliant. I started it on 2 Jan, so it can count as my first of the year!

I have now just restarted The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, having abandoned it after 100 pages or so last year (am back at the beginning).

I haven't read the full thread yet - it's long! But intend to go through bit by bit in a quest for new ideas.

Pepe and Jeannie The Divine Comedy is something I've always meant to read - I've now been inspired to add it to my TBR list - I've downloaded a sample to my Kindle to see if it's readable in that format - poetry often isn't, I find. If the Kindle version is no good, I'll order the book.

Thanks both of you for the recommendation.