25 (ish) books in 2018 anyone?

[Homemadehopeful]

I know there is the 50 books thread but that is totally unrealistic for me so wondered whether anyone wants a slower paced thread with a hopefully more achievable target?

I read 22 books last year and have set myself a target of 25 for this year.

I've started with The Handmaid's Tale, nearly finished and really enjoyed it.

I'm afraid my choices of books would make me look dumb

Can I join?

I’ve read The magpie murders and am readingThe witness

Ordered a few library books from the Richard and Judy reading list

iklboo - I despise intellectual snobbery

I, for one, love to hear about books people have really enjoyed and why. Don’t care if they are chick lit, highbrow, whevs. I like to read a variety of stuff and am always looking for recommendations!

I love an alternate reality book ( faves Station Eleven, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, one of the chapters in Cloud Atlas, Handmaids Tale, Never Let Me Go ) but I found The Power and the much vaunted The Girl With All The Gifts very meh.

Ah lovely. I've read so far this year:

Forsaken (Forgotten series book 2) by M R Forbes

The Four Horsemen (How To Be Dead series Book 4) by Dave Turner

Halfway through The Sword Of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Planning on:

Dream Warriors by Graham Masterton
A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Antony
Balance by M R Forbes
Love Like Blood by Mark Bellingham
Our Man In Havana by Graham Greene

Ooh can I join too? I would like to average two books a month as well, have already read The Keeper of Lost Things, it was a fairly easy read. I’m currently reading La Belle Sauvage, in a beautiful hardback copy, but I can’t take it in my handbag!

Does anyone use the GoodReads app?

I enjoyed La Belle Sauvage Rainboho.

@Piggywaspushed yes!

This looks like a thread I could join!

I’m on my third now.

1. Elizabeth is missing (Emma Healy) I found unutterably dull from start to end.

1. Elmet (Fiona Mozley) well written with a simplistic style. I wasn’t hooked until after halfway so it’s worth persisting.

1. Ready player one (Ernest Cline) I’ve just started this. I’m a fan of dystopian fiction but this one is very heavily into 80s pop culture as enjoyed by teenage boys of the era. It’s YA fiction so I wasn’t expecting particularly beautiful prose and I will persist. Lots of footnotes in this one....

Oh kinraddie I love that book!

@iklboo I’m halfway through and really hoping it doesn’t just lead on to the next book at the end!

I’d love to join this thread. I’d actually be happy if I read 12 books this year but 25 is a good aim.
At the moment I’m reading The Power. I’ve only read about 60 pages or so and it’s ok. Hasn’t drawn me in yet.

I'll join in too.
I'm on book 2 so need to speed up a bit! Problem I have is I feel guilty sitting down to read in the day when I look around at the state my house is in, and then I end up getting up to tidy up...
I am also trying to read a stack of magazines that have built up by my bedside so need to keep going on those. And they aren't quick reads themselves - mostly BBC Wildlife and BBC History with a smattering of members magazines thrown in, so they do detract from my book reading time..!
My first book I've finished is The Minaturist. I tried to read it in time for the TV adaptation and failed miserably.
I'm now reading Funny Girl by Nick Hornby, for my book group.
Fingers crossed I can get to 25 as I have so many unread books lying around it's not funny.
(I did a quick count for another thread and I stopped at around 800, which includes the unread titles on my kindle.)
Maybe this thread will help to not make me feel guilty about reading even though I have Stuff To Do!

Welcome to everyone who's recently joined.
Ilkboo I've always been told it doesn't matter what you're reading as long as you are reading.

Just finished book 3
See you in September by Charity Norman - very enjoyable not exactly chic lit but nearly. Read it in 2 days which is unheard of for me but had a surprise day off today and as the weather is atrocious decided I'd have some reading time.

Thank you. I love reading, I've read loads of the books people call classics, some Booker books etc. But I've got a stressful job reading lots of heavy going material so when it comes to reading for pleasure I prefer something I can just switch off for, if that makes any sense?

Iklboo- I have a literature degree and hate book snobbery too! Sometimes you just want to get lost in a nice book, not chalk up intellectual ‘points’!

I did A level English Literature. I love all kinds of books and have read a vast amount of supernatural romance. I love them when I want to switch off or when I can’t sleep.
I love all kinds of books and read to suit my mood.

babybythesea you don't need to speed up, 2 books per month on average is the right kind of ball park.
I bought the Minaturists before Christmas with a view to reading it before watching it but so far have done neither!

whatthefox I agree re Elizabeth is Missing. I spent most of the time trying to decide whether to continue with it or not, and hoping it would liven up a bit. Sadly it didn't!

Rainboho I have never used Goodreads but have seen it mentioned on the MN Books page quite a bit so might take a look. I like things that encourage me to try something different from the genres I normally go for.

And meant to add that I definitely agree re the no book snobbery!!

I did join the 50 books thread but I'm never going to get anywhere near 50 in a year.

I'm currently listening to La Belle Sauvage. I am enjoying it, it reads like an old fashioned adventure story.
I've just started reading Lincoln in the Bardo, haven't read enough to form an opinion yet.

I'd echo what others have said, I can't stand book snobbery. I read and listen to a wide variety of books. I finished last year with Dan Brown's latest - it's never going to win any great literature prizes but it goes along at a pace, I didn't like it as much as his previous books, I'm quite fond of The DaVinci Code.

I agree about book snobbery but have struggled with finding a good book over the last few years. Nearly everything - highbrow or otherwise- written in the last ten years or so has been shit. I think it's a glut of books, a relative ease at getting them published these days and a lot of writers from creative writing backgrounds writing by numbers. leading to overrated bilge. I agree about 'Elizabeth Is Missing' for example and found The Essex Serpent and The Miniaturist underwhelming and overwritten. It took me over a month to read The Miniaturist so I would never survive on a 50 book thread!!

Hopefully threads like this will point me in the right direction. Need to finish Middlemarch first. Too busy procrastinating over booking a holiday to read ! Does obsessive compulsive Trip Advisor reading count towards a book!

I love booking holidays! (used to be a travel agent & still miss it!)

I’m off work today & am going to try and read a good chunk of The Bees.

Hi guys

#1. Love Nina Nina Stibbe listened to it on audible. It's letters written by Nina to her sister while working as a nanny in London. Nice easy read.
#2. How Not To Be a Boy Robert Webb of Peep Show fame. Autobiographical about his life and gender. Very touching & honest account.
#3."Autumn" Ali Smith. This was the first of her books I ever read. I enjoyed it but can't describe it! It's about relationships between mother & daughter & the daughter & an old man who was their neighbour when she was a child.

Reading 'the trouble with goats & sheep' at the moment & 'station eleven' both due back to library 📚

I don’t have any time for book snobbery either! What I would really like is a well written book with a gripping plot and characters you care about. This is harder to find than you’d think.

Homemadehopeful – I am really enjoying The Good People, if 'enjoying' is the right word as it is so desolate and sad. It seems to have several reviews of people saying it is slow but I am finding it quite gripping. I think Hannah Kent is a great writer – her language is beautiful but it's not at the expense of keeping the plot moving. I really need to try Burial Rites sometime.

No book snobbery (or music or TV snobbery for that matter) from me, either. Can't abide that. Reading is a pastime like any other; something to enjoy in your free time, so read whatever the hell you want – and I, too, will take any recommendation going.

I felt much the same about The Miniaturist as the rest of you – a great idea that led to nothing much at all. I have tried The Essex Serpent but, again, found it hard work. I don't know if it is lack of concentration on my part or if it's just overrated.

I think I'll be trying Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine next.