50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Nine

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth (and definitely final) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, though reading fifty wasn't mandatory. The lurkers among you are also very welcome to come out of the woodwork and share with us what you've read!

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here, the seventh one here and the eighth one here.

How have you got on this year? Feel free to list your stats, full lists, favourites and disappointments!

I think a few of the popular ones may have been spread over last year too.

52. The Cuckoo’s Calling

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a struggle - so much dialogue and detail I got very bored, and was very disappointed to find I was correct in my early guess whodunnit, but JK is good at plotting and making characters you’re interested in. I may yet go on to read the others but I’ll send my dh down as a canary in the mine first! Nice to end the year on an even 52.

Happy New Year 50 bookers!

I was so surprised at the absence of Eleanor Oliphant on the most read list that I had to go back and check (sorry, it's my journalistic/editorial training...), and I now suspect that Brizzle's excel spreadsheet has done something weird like autocorrect Oliphant to Elephant (as my computer keeps trying to do) or misspell Eleanor and so missed out all the people who read it.

I did a quick search of the lists on this thread and found twelve of us who had read it this year, putting it in top position: me, TurnoftheScrew, TaraHumara, Toomuchsplother, Terpsichore, ScribblyGum, KeithleMonde, Passmethecrisps, Pepelepew, nowanearlyNicemum, Indigosalt and MuseumofHam.

exexpat the plot thickens!

I've also just read back through the lists on this thread and I can't see that anyone read My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises or any Philip Reeve/Sarah McIntyre. And I counted six Bookworms, which would put it in fourth place.
I haven't gone back to the previous thread though, so I'm sure there are some lists I've missed, but still. I think something's gone a bit screwy somewhere.

Thanks for the stats brizzle! Interesting!

Also at least 12 mentions of Little Fires but that didn’t appear.

Just counted on this thread two of my favourites from this year - Why I'm No Longer Talking To... with 12 mentions and The Heart's Invisible Furies with six (not including posts from people still reading it or DNF'd it).

I fell off the thread halfway through the year as my iPad crashed and disappeared my list. I’ve still been reading avidly and have read some great recommendations from these threads so thank you all!

Top 3 of the year:

The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu Speculative fiction short story collection, brilliant writing and world building.

Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley

I got 7 books for Christmas, plus This Thing of Darkness on my tbr pile, and an infallible paper list ready to go for the 2019 thread

Thanks for the lists Brizzle it's really interesting to see it all totted up.

I will admit to being mostly responsible for Susanna Gregory being so popular, but I know someone else was reading her other series to the one I'm neck deep into. The Thomas Chalenor series might be worth a look for anyone having Shardlake withdrawal, it's similar but in a slightly different time period.

I haven't read many of the more popular ones, but have some on the list for next year.

Hi, I'm another lurker de-lurking! I follow these threads with interest but have never been organised enough to post. This year I read 45 books, lots of which were recommended on this thread.

My fiction standouts:
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson [witty, readable translation with a great introduction]
Circe, by Madeline Miller [liked Song of Achilles but Circe was even better]
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley [I seem to remember some people on the thread disliking this but I read it for the first time and thought it was fab -- loved the embedded narratives and the theme of human connection]
Normal People, by Sally Rooney [Conversations with Friends left me a bit 'meh' but Normal People completely won me over]
The Idiot, by Elif Batuman [not perhaps a crowd-pleaser but reminded me very vividly of my own days at uni when email was a new and exotic invention]

I don't normally read much non-fiction, but this year I read some brilliant memoirs:
Educated, by Tara Westover
The Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath, by Leslie Jamison [a curious and illuminating mix of memoir and historical anecdote, based on the theme of creativity, addiction and recovery]
Bookworm, by Lucy Mangan
Retour a Reims, by Didier Eribon [famous gay French sociologist reflects on his working-class northern French background]
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls [a story that would have made good material for misery lit, but is told instead with nuance and sympathy]

Happy New Year 50 Bookers. I got to 43 books, chicken feed to some but not bad considering I was hoping and expecting to hit around 30. Highlights in bold which neatly details my top 10 books this year as well. Book of the year for me was Educated.

Reads:

1.	<strong>Our Endless Numbered Days</strong>
2.	The Universe versus Alex Woods 
3.	Skellig 
4.	A Monster Calls 
5.	Skeleton Crew 
6.	<strong>Wolf Hall</strong> 
7.	Gallows Pole 
8.	<strong>84 Charing Cross Road</strong>
9.	The Duchess Of Bloomsbury Street
10.	<strong>Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine</strong> 
11.	Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day 
12.	Burial Rites 
13.	The Martian 
14.	The Durrells Of Corfu (Audible)
15.	Dunstan 
16.	Wonder
17.	Nelly Dean (Audible)
18.	The Light Between Oceans
19.	When I Hit You
20.	<strong>The North Water</strong>
21.	The Colour Of Water - James McBride (Audible)
22.	<strong>Educated</strong> (Audible)
23.	Lillian Boxfish Goes For A Walk (Audible)
24.	Reader I Married Him
25.	A Very English Scandal
26.	Exposure (Audible)
27.	The Husbands Secret (Audible)
28.	All Quiet On The Western Front
29.	Rebecca (Audible)
30.	The Woman In White (Audible)
31.	Kensuke’s Kingdom
32.	In The Days Of Rain
33.	<strong>Circe</strong> (Audible)
34.	Born A Crime
35.	Why Mummy Drinks
36.	<strong>The Handmaids Tale</strong>
37.	<strong>Gillespie & I</strong> (Audible)
38.	We Have Always Lived In The Castle
39.	Bleak House
40.	The Plague & I
41.	The House We Grew Up In (Audible)
42.	<strong>I Am I Am I Am</strong>
43.	Persuasion

See you all on the 2019 thread x

I just managed to creep in over the line - thanks to some jetlag and long hours of wakefulness. Oh OK and a couple of short books to finish.

49. Why New Orleans Matters, by Tom Piazza A love letter to New Orleans, written in the five weeks after Hurricane Katrina, when the city was still deserted and it wasn't clear whether or how it would be rebuilt. I bought this when I was there earlier in December and think it's a great summary of why it's such a special place. I'm very glad there is a 2008 epilogue and a 2015 foreword in this edition because without them this would be unbearably bleak.

50. A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr. I'm not quite sure how Carr manages to pack so much into such a short book - it's very sparely but beautifully written; the story of Tom Birkin who is recovering from the war as he restores a painting in a Yorkshire village church over the course of the beautiful summer of 1920. Halfway through this I wasn't entirely sure why it is so beloved, and then during the second half I fell for it completely.

Thank you so much to all for such an enjoyable and inspiring thread, and to southeast for managing the threads. Really looking forward to spending 2019 reading again with you all.

Here is my list for 2018. Didn’t quite manage 50, but still averaged a book every 1.5 weeks so I’m pleased with myself.

1. His dark materials 1, Philip Pullman
2. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, GAIL honeyman
3. All the little children, jo furniss
4. The dead zone, Stephen King
5. The Nix, Nathan Hill
6. Friend request, Laura Marshall
7. Conversations with friends
8. Let me lie, Clare mackintosh
9. How to stop time, Matt haig

10. The Keeper of lost things, Ruth hogan 11. It Stephen King 12. CujoStephen King 13. 11.22.63 Stephen King 14. Humans, Matt Haig 15. The Wildflowers Harriet Evans 16. The Child, Fiona Burton 17. Lies, TM Logan 18. Salem’s Lot, Stephen King 19. The heart’s invisible furies john boyne 20. Broken bones (Kim stone book) Angela marsons 21. Fierce, Gin Philips 22. Mr Mercedes, Stephen king 23. Dying truth (Kim stone 8) Angela marsons 24. Night music, jojo moyes 25. Thinner, Stephen King 26. Finders Keepers, Stephen King 27. Elevation, Stephen King 28. End of watch, Stephen King 29. Fatal promise (Kim stone 9) 30. Year one, Nora Roberts 31. Sometimes I lie, Alice Feeney

Maybe fewer Stephen king books would help me get to 50!

Just posting my complete list for finality and including my final read of 2018 - highlights in bold:

1. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
2. Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada

1. Belgravia - Julian Fellowes

4. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett

1. Curtain Call - Anthony Quinn

6. Life after Life - Kate Atkinson

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2. Ghost Moth - Michele Forbes
3. I See You - Clare Mackintosh

10. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 11. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith 12. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith 13. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith 14. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue 15. The Homecoming : Morland Dynasty 24 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 16. The Question : Morland Dynasty 25 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 17. The Dream Kingdom: Morland Dynasty 26 - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 18. Ordeal by Innocence - Agatha Christie 19. Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo-Lodge 20. Outline - Rachel Cusk 21. Seven stones to stand or fall - Diana Gabaldon 22. Never Mind - Edward St Aubyn 23. Bad News - Edward St Aubyn 24. Some Hope - Edward St Aubyn 25. Mother's Milk - Edward St Aubyn 26. At Last - Edward St Aubyn 27. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson 28. Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett 29. Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor 30. Painter to the King - Amy Sackville 31. World Without End - Ken Follett 32. The Child - Fiona Barton 33. Let me Lie – Clare Mackintosh 34. Marina – Carlos Ruiz Zafon 35. A Question of Upbringing – Anthony Powell 36. Wild Swans – Jung Chang 37. Dunbar – Edward St Aubyn 38. A Secret Garden - Katie Fforde 39. Sprig Muslin – Georgette Heyer 40. Class – Jilly Cooper 41. Anita and Me – Meera Syal 42. The Secret Teacher – Anonymous 43. Pour me – AA Gill 44. I Don’t Know How She Does It – Allison Pearson 45. The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne 46. The Nonesuch – Georgette Heyer 47. A Marriage of Convenience – Georgette Heyer 48. Pulse – Felix Francis 49. Anatomy of a Scandal – Sarah Vaughan 50. The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris 51. Highland Fling – Nancy Mitford

And my final book was:

52. The ABC Murders – Agatha Christie

Had to read this to see how closely the TV adaptation strayed from the book. Enjoyed the book more!

Thank you all for encouraging me to read more widely and to notch up 50 books. See you on the 2019 thread.

Interesting stats.
I did read My grandmother sends her regards and apologises but I didn't see it on anyone else's list...

Nearly finished my first book of 2019. Do we have a new thread yet? Looking forward to sharing a new year of reading with you all.

New thread here!

A belated thank you to you all here, before I head off into the new thread!

I'm finally getting around to posting my list for 2018. The books I would recommend are in bold. Thank you all for a great year

1. Would They Lie To You? by Robert Hutton
2. High Crimes by Joseph Finder
3. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
4. Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
5. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
6. Bach à Son Temps by Gilles Cantagrel
7. Deep State by Walter Jon Williams
8. Music In The Baroque Era - From Monteverdi To Bach by Manfred f. Bukofzer
9. The Harpsichord and the Clavichord by Raymond Russell

10. Extraordinary Powers by Joseph Finder 11. The Midnight Line by Lee Child 12. An Evil Eye (Yashim the Eunuch #4) by Jason Goodwin 13. The Forgotten by David Baldacci (John Puller #2) 14. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill 15. Light by M John Harrison (Kefahuchi Tract Trilogy #1) 16. The Escape (John Puller #3) by David Baldacci 17. Johann Sebastian Bach, His Life, Art, And Work by Johann Nikolaus Forkel 18. Daughter of Eden (Dark Eden #3) by Chris Beckett 19. No Man's Land (John Puller #4) by David Baldacci 20. Evening In The Palace Of Reason by James Gaines 21. The Devotion Of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 22. House Of Cards by Michael Dobbs 23. Jack and Jill James Patterson 24. The Crysalids by John Wyndham 25. One Few Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 26. The Innocent (Will Robie #1) by David Baldacci 27. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré 28. Pale Rider - The Spanish Flu Of 1918 and How It Changed The World by Laura Spinney 29. Influx by Daniel Suarez 30. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall 31. The Hit (Will Robie #2) by David Baldacci 32. Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke 33. Ark (Flood #2) by Stephen Baxter 34. The Camel Club by David Baldacci 35. The Target (Will Robie #3) by David Baldacci 36. Landfall - Tales from the Flood/Ark Universe (Flood #3) by Stephen Baxter 37. Red Square (Arkady Renko #3) by Martin Cruz Smith 38. The Target (Will Robie #4) by David Baldacci 39. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) by Pierce Brown 40. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 41. The Abominable by Dan Simmons 42. Split Second by David Baldacci 43. City of Mirrors (The Passage #3) by Justin Cronin 44. Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings 45. No Tomorrow (Villanelle #2) by Luke Jennings 46. On Tyranny: Twenty lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder 47. Stephen King Goes To The Movies by Stephen King 48. Jennifer Government by Max Barry 49. Mozart's Journey To Prague by Eduard Mörike 50. My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan

Inspired by Cote posting a list just now, here's my list for 2018, even though I fell off the thread in about March. Must try harder! Highlights in bold, least favourite in italic - all three were book club choices!

1. Jane Harper – The Dry
2. Jane French – I spy a great reader: Unlock the Literary Secret and Get Your Child Hooked on Books
3. Robbie Abed – Fire Me I Beg You
4. James Patterson – The People vs Alex Cross
5. Walter Dean Myers – Just Write: Here's How
6. Margaret Forster – Diary of an Ordinary Schoolgirl
7. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Marina
8. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
9. Kristin Hannah – The Nightingale
10. Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Shadow of the Wind
11. Ben Lerner – The Hatred of Poetry
12. Daphe Du Maurier – Rebecca
13. Wendy Jones – Grayson Perry: Portrait of the artist as a young girl
14. Peter Carey – A Long Way from Home
15. Mary Shelly – Frankenstein
16. William Langland – Piers the Ploughman
17. Sheila Tyler – The Manager's Good Study Guide
18. Patricia Wilson – Island of Secrets
19. Gavin Maxwell – Ring of Bright Water
20. Rachel Waddilove - Sleep Solutions
21. Matthew Walker – Why We Sleep
22. Jessie Burton – The Muse
23. Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray
24. Emily Fridlund – History of Wolves
25. Paul Bahn – Archaeology A Very Short Introduction
26. Erich Kästner – Emil and the Detectives
27. Mary Beard – Confronting the Classics
28. Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo – Asterix the Gaul
29. Jerry Toner – The Ancient World
30. Pierre Dukan – Dukan Diet 2
31. Clive Gamble – Archaeology the Basics
32. WA Smallcombe – Archaeology for Young People
33. Mitch Albom – The Five People you Meet in Heaven
34. Anne Patchett – Bel Canto
35. PH Sawyer – Kings and Vikings: Scandanavia and Europe 7000AS-1100AD
36. Gavin Maxwell – The Rocks Remain
37. Rita Pullen – A Straightforward Guide to Essay Writing
38. Charles Hadfield & Michael Streat – Holiday Cruising on Inland Waterways
39. Kapka Kassabova – Street Without a Name
40. Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo – Asterix and the Golden Sickle
41. Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo – Asterix and the Goths
42. James Deetz – In Small Things Forgotten
43. Mick Aston – Interpreting the Landscape from the Air
44. Roald Dahl – The Witches
45. Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
46. Henry Chapman – Landscape Archaeology and GIS
47. Chris Packham – Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
48. Etienne De La Boetie & Murray N Rothbard, (trans) Harry Kurz – The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
49. Erin Morgenstein – The Night Circus
50. JL Carr – A Month in the Country
51. Susannah Walker – The Life of Stuff
52. University of Leicester – Aims & Methods in Archaeology Course Reader
53. Jean Rhys – Good Morning, Midnight
54. Amy Liptrot – The Outrun
55. Simon Dawson – Pigs in Clover
56. Simon Dawson – The Sty's the Limit
57. Kevin Greene & Tom Moore – Archaeology: An Introduction
58. Belinda Bauer – Snap
59. Colin Renfrew & Paul Bahn – Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice
60. Stephen Fry – Mythos
61. George Monbiot – Out of the Wreckage
62. Edward St Aubyn – Never Mind
63. Esi Edugyan – Washington Black
64. Paul Cartledge – Ancient Greece A Very Short Introduction
65. Max Porter – Grief is the thing with Feathers

My list

1. Normal People by Sally Rooney
2. The Core by Peter V Brett
3. Murder never misses by Faith Martin (a Hillary Greene detective novel)
4. The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
5. Cactus by Sarah Haywood.
6. A Fatal Obsession by Faith Martin
7. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver.
8. Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin (a Hillary Greene detective novel)
9. The Clock maker's daughter by Kate Morton
10. Gray Mountain by John Grisham
11. Believe Me by JP Delaney
12. Copy Me and Other Science Fiction Stories by Laston Kirkland
13. Snap by Belinda Bauer
14. Murder at the University by Faith Martin
15. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
16. The Psychobiotic Revolution by Scott C. Anderson
17. The Mystery of Three Quarters (Poirot) by Sophie Hannah
18. Broken Ground by Val McDermid
19. Murder of the Bride by Faith Martin
20. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
21. Making it up as I go along by Marian Keyes
22. Legion and The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
23. Wych Elm by Tana French
24. Steel heart by Brandon Sanderson
25. Murder at Midnight (Hillary Greene Book #16) by Faith Martin
26. Far from True by Linwood Barclay
27. The Watchmaker's Daughter (Glass and Steele Book 1) by C. J. Archer
28. 24 Hours in Ancient Rome by Philip Matyszak
29. Still Waters (Sandham Murders 1) by Viveca Sten
30. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
31. Vox by Christina Dalcher
32. City of Thieves by David Benioff
33. Murder in Mind (Hillary Greene #16) by Faith Martin Dnf : The House by the River by Lena Manta
34. An American Princess by Annet van der Zijl
35. Hillary's Final Case (Hillary Greene #17) by Faith Martin
36. Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffery Archer
37. Gentle Sleep Book by Sarah Ockwell Smith
38. Closed Circles (Sandham Murders 2) by Vivica Sten
39. A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin
40. Educated by Tara Westover
41. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
42. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed Dnf : The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu
43. Sleep by CL Taylor
44. The Palace of Lost Memories (After The Rift Book 1) by C. J. Archer
45. The Last by Hanna Jameson Dnf : The Corset by Laura Purcell
46. Transcription by Kate Atkinson
47. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
48. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
49. The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
50. The Riverboat Murder by Faith Martin (Jenny Starling #3) Dnf : The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and Robert Patterson
51. The River by Peter Heller
52. The Perfect Wife by Blake Pierce (Jessie Hunt#1)
53. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
54. Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald
55. Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton
56. Hushabye (Kate Redmond#1) by Celina Grace
57. To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine Dnf: Beloved by Yvonne Battle Fenton

Good books in bold. Dire ones in italics

Oooops. Wrong thread. I've resurrected a zombie