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?

Expat
I love The Loved One (see what I did there?). So funny. Did you enjoy it?

I'm 50 pages into The Tin Drum - the writing is incredible, but demands concentration so think it might take a while! Has anyone else read it?

1. Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson

DD age 8 is very keen for me to read her books so we can talk about them. This one is about best friends who are separated when one family moves away. Obviously I am not the target audience here but I actually enjoyed it - believable characters, funny and reassuring for children in that situation.

1. Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen

I picked this up for 99p in the kindle sale because I had seen it recommended by Marian Keyes. This was fun - fluffy and predictable but certainly nowhere near the worst chicklit I’ve read. It was very Irish though so I didn’t get all the references. I needed something fluffy and easy though because I am away with work and feeling ill so needed something to cheer me up and this fit the bill.

Now reading The Miniaturist. Not bad so far but not loving it.

My DS has just put me in panic mode by insisting I tell him what my favourite book is!

Remus - yes, it was fun - haven't read any Waugh for years, so I'm now wondering if I should go back and re-read some old favourites like Scoop.

DD keeps asking me that Five! I’ve told her many times now that I don’t have one favourite but she still keeps asking!

Book 6, started and finished today. The Sugar Men by Ray Kingfisher

This was a wonderful book which I couldn't put down.

It is the story of one of the "lucky ones" that survived Birkenau. It is told by her on her death bed and is a really interesting read.

2. Her Husband’s Secret - Janice Frost

A man is murdered and dumped far from his home. What is his connection to the town and what secrets are the residents hiding? Including his wife who doesn’t seem too moved by his death or to have known him very well.

This was a kindle unlimited read from my wish list and I’m glad I didn’t bother buying as I wasn’t too interested in what happened until the last few chapters. May have been due to illness and my second book of the year has now felt like a drag!

Expat Or Vile Bodies which makes me howl! Not read Scoop for a long time - might need to revisit.

Too Much - have added Sugar Money and Gillespie and I to my wishlist, as I enjoyed The Observations - thank you!

Indigo I think Gillespie and I is one of my top 20 books.

2.Closely Watched Trains - Bohumil Hrabal

Milos works as an apprentice at a small Czech railway station in 1945. Germany has occupied the country but are losing the war, and death and destruction have become common place. I thought this might be a sad read, but it was actually a cheeky, farcical kind of book.

3.Women and Power: A Manifesto - Mary Beard

Another quick read. First time I've read anything by Mary Beard, and based on this I would definitely like to read more of her stuff. Interesting, accessible and thought provoking. Timely too, as it considers the Trump/Clinton dynamic . Would recommend.

Too Much that's good to hear. The Observations was a fantastic book: it's sort of made my day to discover she has written two more.

Can I join? I must average more than 50, but fail miserably to record them so this thread might be what I need. Read so far 1. Larry's Party by Carol Shields which I loved. It is the life of Larry Weller, and is split into sections taking in the very different phases making up Larry's adult life, his relationships, jobs, family etc, culminating in a party at the end which kind of brings all those phases together. I liked it because it is almost a 'short epic' if that makes sense? That idea of a whole life, but really quite an easy read.

2. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Weird and dark, a great read. I hadn't even heard of it before, just an impulse choice. It is a bit 'coming of age meets gothic horror.'

3. The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did, but found it really gripping. It really brought that immediate post-war chaos and uncertainty to life. Very evocative. Reminded me a little of The Paying Guests. It was one of those books where you don't particularly like any of the characters but find them fascinating.

Debating which of my enormous TBR pile will come next!

Cote I will admit to reading A Place Called Winter last year, but I've looked up my review and I don't think it can be the one that made you buy it!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/2947550-50-Book-Challenge-2017-Part-Six?pg=34

Remus I read a lot of Waugh back in the 80s (though never Brideshead, despite that being big at the time due to the TV series). Not sure if all of it would still be to my taste, but I might give another one or two a re-read.

When I looked back through the books I read last year, only two or three were pre-WW2, and none were pre 20th century, which rather surprised me, so I'm aiming for a few more classics/modern classics this year.

Some Virginia Woolf is definitely on my list this year (I think I am more of an age to appreciate her now than when I first read some), and I might attempt some Thomas Hardy to see if I still hate him (I was force-fed Hardy for O-level).

exexpat, I have never read any Virginia Woolf either and it’s on my list this year. Do you have a book in mind? I thought about Mrs Dalloway but only because I own a copy.
Thomas Hardy I love. Tess of the D’Urbevilles is my favourite but I do also like The Mayor of Casterbridge very much.

I almost bought Gillespie and I in a charity shop today, I might go back and get it tomorrow after seeing the positive reviews on here! I did however get Atonement, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (pleased to find these two as I used to own them and was disappointed when they disappeared in our house move) and The People's Act of Love by James Meek.

Just seen this thread so I'd like to join please. It will remind me to switch off the TV and read some of the hundred or so books on my bookshelf I've been meaning to read/re-read for ages. So far this year have read one of my Mum's favourite authors, Reflex by Dick Francis published in 1980. I have read a couple of his now and they seem to follow the same formula but I enjoyed this one more than the previous two as it has a slightly unusual slant. Over Christmas I read The Christmas Collection by Susan Hill, which are a collection of short stories. I really enjoyed this book, the stories made me feel a little melancholy but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I've just taken Harm Done by Ruth Rendell down from the bookshelf and just started this last night.

You're off the hook then, Tarahumara

Phew

1. The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting An intricate, poignant, slow moving family saga. Edvard has been brought up by his grandfather on a remote Norwegian farm after a tragic 1971 uncleared minefield accident in the Somme left him an orphan, following which the three year old mysteriously vanished for four days. After his grandfather's death Edvard gradually pieces together the reasons his parents ventured into a mine field, and the story of the farmstead's flame birch and unusual, beautiful wood of the 16 walnut trees in Authuille.

The moving novel spans a century and the loves and loss of two families, with beautiful depictions of the settings in Norway, The Shetlands and France: the descriptions of the brutal weather and bleakness of Haaf Gruney island in particular were wonderful. Sadly, it was let down by the two main female characters being rather unrealistic, almost caricatures at times. I think I can just about forgive this as it really was an excellent read otherwise, I never thought I'd be quite so interested in finding out what happened to 16 old walnut trees!

I'm ploughing on with The Pillars of the Earth still, now 500+ pages in and very much enjoying it.

I finished book 12. Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson.

It's an Icelandic crime thriller featuring a young police officer who moves from Reykjavik to take a position in the far North of Iceland.

It was ok. I really enjoyed the first third or so. I've never read a book that was set in Iceland and it was interesting to learn about Icelandic customs, but there were too many characters, all with quite detailed backgrounds and I began to lose track of them.
There was also a certain recurring section that was overly drawn out, turning from tension to tedium.

I'll probably give the next book in the series a chance, because I loved reading about the country and perhaps I'll enjoy the second more.

I've just started on The Underground Railroad.

I think Mrs dalloway is quite an accessible Woolf to begin with, as its structure and themes are more straightforward than others.

I enjoyed Mrs Dalloway but my favourite Virginia Woolf is The Waves.