50 Book Challenge 2019 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 2019, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

Who's in for this year?

I'm in! Got to 59 last year thanks to this thread. Looking forward to reading everyone's reviews** and recommendations!

Starting with Touch by Claire North. Always enjoy her novels but she does have a tendency to waffle on sometimes

Please can I join? Some of you may remember me from past years

1. Feather boy - Nicky Singer
DD2 is currently reading this for school so I have just read it to be able to discuss with her. I thought this was great. Fascinating and complex characters, particularly the not-your-average bully. DD hasn't quite finished it yet but am looking forward to talking to her about it.

All the Hardy talk is making me want to read / reread some of his work.

One of my resolutions is to read more so I'm in

I'm starting with an equally fascinating and terrifying non fiction book "the cyber effect" by Dr Mary Aiken" which is all about forensic cyberpsychology and how human behaviour changes online. I'd say it's essential reading for any parent, albeit pretty scary!

Ooh can I join, I read most nights so get through quite a few books but am always looking for inspiration to try different types.

I have just started Little fires everywhere by Celeste Ng courtesy of a christmas present from my brother.

I quite like Hardy if we're talking classics...I struggle generally with bonnetry and poor people but despite the sadness find him easy to read unlike some other classics. Apart from those mentioned I like Far From the Madding Crowd (reminds me of the 70s film version which I watched at my gran's)

In an economy drive I have bought about £20 of kindle 99p books (I also have an aversion to e-reading that I'm trying to train myself out of...I hadn't thought of my Audible account that's got about 6 credits on it. Might have a bash there too, especially once back at work next week. Gah.

I'd like to join too. Dipped in last year briefly. I did 38/30 on my Goodreads challenge so I've upped it to 40 this year, not sure there's much chance if me making it to 50! Starting with a quick read Ethan From by Edith Wharton

I’m in - read 41 books last year and and aiming for 50 this year. Have followed this thread for a while and I look forward to taking part

Currently reading the new Karin Slaughter novel, Pieces of her

I’m in - I dropped off early on last year because I’d started getting regular migraines which was making reading difficult. They’ve improved a lot but I think I will aim for 25 as it might be more realistic if they flare up again. Purely psychological, but I’m inclined to ‘give up’ if the target I set is not going to be achieved.

Currently reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle which I’m enjoying. So beautifully written.

Hardy is depressing; in sentence structure as well as subject. I thought Jude was good but my goodness it doesn’t get darker. I don’t think I could be bothered to read Tess again, the men are all hateful and so is the florid writing. I do like his poetry though and I’ve been tempted to read Madding Crowd - is that the one with Bathsheba?

I want to read more classics again this year as read a lot of contemporary fiction last year.

Oh I'm in. I too would like to read more but am not terribly fast so to read 50 would be great.

I didn't want to join last year or sign up to the challenge on Good Reads as it felt like I was turning reading into a chore and feeling stressed/guilty if I didn't read. It was a stressful year and sadly my reading fell by the wayside but I think I might have felt better if I had lost myself in someone else's world. So here I am!

Ideally I'd like to read a book a week and am halfway through The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. So far so good although it's a bit gory. I usually like my crime cosier.

I just hope I won't be inspired by this thread to buy too many new books - I'm on a tight budget this year and I need to work through my extensive TBR pile plus have 24 Audible credits to use

If anybody is going for Far From the Madding Crowd I'd recommend the film with Carey whatshername and the beautiful Matthias somebodyorother to watch after reading.

I've just finished my second book of the year which was Did You Ever have a Family? by Bill Clegg. It's about June who loses her entire family in a house fire on the day of her daughter's wedding.

It was ok. I loved the start and I enjoyed his writing style but there are far too many characters for me to keep track of, and far too much backstory for the various characters and I struggled to remember who was who. It was also told from multiple POV which I rarely enjoy. It gets some great reviews and I can see why to an extent, but I think it just isn't for me.

This thread was one of my best discoveries of last year and has definitely got me to focus on reading books instead of AIBU every night! I have also benefited from some great suggestions for new books, one of which was the Dark Tower series. I'm carrying over book 4, Wizard and Glass from last year - it's a biggie, but I'm around halfway through. Have a number of Kindle sale books lined up to read next.

Finished my first book, Blue: a memoir - keeping the peace and falling to pieces by John Sutherland. He was a high ranking police officer in the Met and the book describes his career path and how it contributed to a mental breakdown. It was interesting but it felt a bit soulless somehow. He frequently mentions the links between violence and previous exposure to domestic violence. He is convinced that tackling DV would help reduce violent crime however he doesn’t elaborate on any efforts he made to address the issues. Interesting read though.

Can I join? I read lots it will be interesting to review what I read during the year and get some good recommendations.

My first book of 2019 is Across the Nightingale Floor: Tales of the Otori Book 1 Japasnese fantasy which was a Christmas prersent from DM. So far so very good. Not atypical in terms of fantasy but enjoying the different cultural background.

Added so many to my TBR list already!

I'm about to start my first non fiction of the year Pickled, Potted and Canned: How The Preservation of Food Changed Civilisation by Sue Shepard. I enjoy books about the history and culture of good so hopefully this will be a hit.

I'm also hoping to finish Tales of Twilight and the Unseen by Arthur Conan Doyle tomorrow or perhaps Thursday as I'm not enjoying the stories and would like to move on to something better.

Just finished book no 1:

So disdained by Nevil Shute .

Written in 1928, it’s set about then and is the story of a man and what happens when he helps out an old wartime comrade. It’s very dated of course with some language (Dagos!) and attitudes that are very much of its time but is an interesting discourse on loyalty to ones friends or to ones country. I first discovered Nevil Shute as a teenager (A town like Alice) and was happy to find this in a 2nd hand bookshop recently.

so disdained is 99p on kindke now, i love nevil shute books especially trustee from the toolroom

Bought! Thank you.

I LOVED Across the Nightingale Floor.

Happy 2019, 50 Bookers, and thank you, southeast!

My first book of 2019 will be Toni Adryemi's Children of Blood and Bone, which I'm very much looking forward to. In terms of reading goals, I really want to explore genre fiction and read more non fiction.

Satsuki, I read Crazy Rich Asians last summer and enjoyed it thoroughly. The Bible study! 😂

That should be Tomi Adeyemi in my previous post. Always at least one typo...

I read 26 last year. Would love to aim higher. I had a few low reading months which I don't want to have this year.

I'm carrying "This is going to hurt" over from end of last year on audible. But my first read of the year will be All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. Saw that recommended on twitter and I'm looking forward to it.

My last read of of 2018 was a random P.D. James novel (The Murder Room) which is part of the Adam Dalgleish series. Never read any of them before and I was utterly sucked in. Loved it. So I definitely read more of that series this year.