50 Book Challenge 2019 Part Six

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the sixth 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, it’s not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

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

Thanks south-east. I'll check what number book I'm up so I can start the thread on an accurate note.

Thanks southeast, just checking in. Lots coming up at work, so unlikely to get anything significant read for a while, but enjoying The Secret Lives of Colour as a bedside book - it works perfectly reading a couple of colours a night. (Just have to hope that no-one requests it from the library so that I can keep it long enough to reach the end of the spectrum!)

Thanks southeast and thanks everyone for the Infinite Jest discussion - has been on my reading list for years ever since I enjoyed David Foster Wallace's famous articles on Roger Federer: www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html
and on cruise holidays:
harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

Just need to find the time and gird my loins for the full immersive DFW experience!

Shiny new thread 😊

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. It is a great challenge, I like reading books and I will try to do it.

28. Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1) by Dan Simmons

Brilliant. As flawed a writer as his later books showed him to be, Dan Simmons is perfect in this modern SF classic. The story is interesting and well constructed, characters are fragile and imperfect yet their motives utterly human, the world-building impressive in its scope and detail.

Hyperion takes its name from Keats' work. The book starts with 6 people who come together for the first time, to take part in a pilgrimage to ancient relics on the planet Hyperion that appear to be travelling backward in time. Most of the book is the stories of these 6 people, as shared with the others. The story of humanity until that point is revealed in these six pivotal 1st person stories, as well as the upcoming showdown between humans & AI, and the offshoot of humanity who have evolved to live among the stars.

And yet this book isn't just about the story. It is about poetry, beauty, what makes us human and the pitfalls ahead.

Excellent SF. I recommend it to everyone here.

... and bringing my relatively short list over:

1. A Game of Thrones (A Song if Ice and Fire #1) by George R. R. Martin
2. Avenger by Frederick Forsyth
3. Mr Spaceship by Philip K Dick
4. The Collectors (Camel Club #2) by David Baldacci
5. Longitude by Dava Sobel
6. The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu
7. Total Control by David Baldacci
8. The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein
9. Call For The Dead by John Le Carré (Smiley #1)

10. Other Minds: The Octopus and The Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith 11. The Negotiator by Frederic Forsyth 12. Dune Messiah (Dune #2) by Frank Herbert 13. Children of Dune (Dune #3) by Frank Herbert 14. God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4) by Frank Herbert 15. Heretics of Dune (Dune #5) by Frank Herbert 16. Chapter House Dune (Dune #6) by Frank Herbert 17. Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by J K Rowling Robert Galbraith 18. Tombland (Shardlake #7) by C. J. Sansom 19. On the Cantatas of J. S. Bach - Vol 1 by Hendrik Slegtenhorts 20. Head On by John Scalzi 21. A Brief History Of Classical Music: A Tale Of Time, Tonality and Timbre by Arthur Wenk 22. The Deceiver by Frederick Forsyth 23. Thin Air by Richard Morgan 24. True Grit by Bear Grylls 25. Stone Cold (Camel Club #3) by David Baldacci 26. Divine Justice (Camel Club #4) by David Baldacci 27. Masterpieces on a Weekly Basis: Bach's Start in Leipzig by Bach Museum Leipzig

Thank you South. I am annoyed with myself as have just spent an hour or two mumsnetting when I could have been reading, but it is so hot!

Welcome tomplatz.
Picking up from the last thread I like the sound of Spinning Silver, Sadik I think I may even use one of my jealously guarded audio credits for that. Holes also added to my TBR list, should be easy as I work in a school and there are thirty copies in the classroom.

Thanks for the new thread Southeast bringing over my list and latest reads:

1.	The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
2.	<strong>Bookworm</strong> by Lucy Mangan
3.	Just William by Richmal Crompton 
4.	Les Miserables by Victor Hugo translation by Catherine Doughton
5.	Bird Box by Josh Malerman
6.	<strong>All The Light We Cannot See</strong> by Anthony Doerr
7.	Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
8.	Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
9.	<strong>Everyone Brave Is Forgiven</strong> by Chris Cleave
10.	<strong>The Hearts Invisible Furies</strong> by John Boyne 
11.	The Green Road by Anne Enright
12.	<strong>A Month In The Country</strong> by J L Carr
13.	Not My Fathers Son by Alan Cumming
14.	After You by Jojo Moyes
15.	<strong>The Salt Path</strong> by Raynor Winn
16.	Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
17.	Milkman by Anna Burns
18.	The Collector by John Fowles
19.	The Cutout Girl by Bart Van Ess
20.	<strong>David Copperfield</strong> by Charles Dickens
21.	The Girls by Lisa Jewell
22.	Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin 
23.	My Thoughts Exactly by Lilly Allen 
24.	The Hoarder by Jess Kidd
25.	Clothes Music Boys by Viv Albertine
26.	The Passenger by Lisa Lutz 
27.	Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein
28.	When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
29.	The Tattooist Of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

And most recently:

30. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
    Bought on a daily deal, mainly because I enjoyed the film, it was a good read, but as one would expect a bit bleak and didn't bear much relation to the film, there wasn't even the dog companion, but maybe that's all for the best ...

31. My Sister* The Serial Killer* by Oyinkan Braithwaite
    I'm in the pro camp on this one but would agree with those who felt it was a bit rushed and anticlimactic at the end. One has to suspend belief that even Lagos police, who she is at pains to point out are extremely inefficient, would not put two and two together where her sisters activities are concerned.

Currently reading A Little Life, which I think is going to be a bit grim but my daughter insists a read it and we have a lot of books in common in our 'best ever' lists.

Thanks as ever, South.
My list to date, corkers in bold:

1. Winter by Ali Smith
2. Help the Witch by Tom Cox

3. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell 4. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

1. The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn

6. The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin

1. The Reading Cure: How Books Restored My Appetite by Laura Freeman.

8.Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

1. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

10. The Ghost by Robert Harris 11. A Month in the Country by JL Carr 12. Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor 13. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower 14. Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe 15. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie 16. The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell 17. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin 18. Chocolat by Joanne Harris 19.Sophia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik 20.Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie 21. Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd 22. The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin 23. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark 24. The Only Story by Julian Barnes 25. Melmoth by Sarah Perry 26. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey 27. Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn 28. Rachel's Holiday by Marion Keyes

I had mis-counted on the other thread and re-numbered here. I am a bit cross that I haven't had a really great read for a while now, so will be following reviews very closely in the hope of finding a hidden gem.

Thanks southeast! I love this thread, even though it has proven quite expensive over the last couple of years .

My latest read: 23. All Grown Up, by Jami Attenberg. Not quite sure how I feel about this one. It was really hyped up a couple of years ago so I expected great things. It's a series of vignettes about Andrea Bern, a 39 year old woman in New York who is - gasp! - single and childless. The vignettes move back and forth across her timeline, explaining her family background and how it has impacted her life. On reflection I think this was very cleverly done but overall I found it quite depressing, rather than the witty and hilarious novel I'd been sold.

And my list so far - need to speed up:

1. Diary of a Bookseller, by Shaun Bythell

1. Dark Sacred Night, by Michael Connolly
2. Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward

4. Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

1. Reading Allowed, by Chris Paling
2. The Art Of Gathering; How We Meet and Why It Matters, by Priya Parker

7. The Great Deluge, by Douglas Brinkley 8. Hollywood's Eve, by Lili Anolik

1. The New Iberia Blues, by James Lee Burke

10. Watching You, by Lisa Jewell 11. Bad Blood, by John Carreyou 12. Milkman, by Anna Burns 13. Duped: Double lives, false identities, and the con man I almost married, by Abby Ellin 14. Harriet, by Jilly Cooper 15. Rivals, by Jilly Cooper 16. Still Midnight, by Denise Mina 17. The Stranger Diaries, by Elly Griffiths 18. A Fatal Inversion, by Barbara Vine 19. Daisy Jones and The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid 20. I'm Not With the Band: A Writer's Life Lost in Music, by Sylvia Patterson 21. The Henchmen of Zenda, by KJ Charles 22. Ordinary People, by Diana Evans

Thanks as ever for a consistently excellent and entertaining thread, Southeast and everyone.

My list so far (on the cusp of the magic 50):

1. The West Pier - Patrick Hamilton

2: The Last Resort - Pamela Hansford Johnson 3: The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford 4: Dark Sacred Night - Michael Connelly 5: American Bloomsbury - Susan Cheever 6: A Party in San Niccolò - Christobel Kent

1. Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary - Ruby Ferguson
2. The Dark Room at Longwood - Jean-Paul Kauffmann
3. Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido

10: Barrow's Boys - Fergus Fleming 11. The Harpole Report - J. L. Carr 12. Their Finest Hour and a Half - Lissa Evans 13: Leadon Hill - Richmal Crompton 14: Deep South - Paul Theroux 15: A Ghost at the Table - Suzanne Berne 16: A Girl in Winter - Philip Larkin 17: An Unsuitable Attachment - Barbara Pym 18: After the Crash - Michel Bussi 19: Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood - Karina Longworth 20: Murder by the Book - Claire Harman 21: The Crime Writer - Jill Dawson 22: Mrs Frensham Describes a Circle - Richmal Crompton 23: Man at the Helm - Nina Stibbe 24: The Cut-Out Girl - Bart Van Es 25: The Year of Reading Dangerously - Andy Miller 26: The Big Necessity - Rose George 27: Transcription - Kate Atkinson 28: The Temptation of Forgiveness - Donna Leon 29: Normal People - Sally Rooney 30: Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty 31: Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 - David Sedaris 32: Mischief - Charlotte Armstrong 33: The Long Drop - Denise Mina 34: Waterloo: The Aftermath - Paul O'Keeffe 35: Moby Dick - Herman Melville 36: Where Shall We Run To? - Alan Garner 37: Ordinary People - Diana Evans 38: The Diary of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell 39: Gentleman Jack: the Real Anne Lister - Anne Choma & Sally Wainwright 40: The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister - ed. Helena Whitbread 41: No Time To Cry - James Oswald 42: The Flight of the Maidens - Jane Gardam 43: L'Appart - The Delights and Disasters of Making my Paris Home - David Leibovitz 44: My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite 45: Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty 46: Milkman - Anna Burns 47: Moondust - Andrew Smith 48: The Lost Man - Jane Harper 49: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start-Up - John Carreyrou

Most enjoyable/best in bold. No real stinkers so far.

Thanks, South.

No list to bring over because I've stopped counting and also am not even reviewing everything, because so much of it has been so crap. And I'm bookless yet again.

Thanks South .
Popping list on, doubt the highlighting is going to work.
Been away dealing with care homes and dementia. Not book related but isn't dementia just fucking awful?
*1. The Salt Path - Raynor Winn

1. Everything Under - Daisy Johnson*
2. An almond for a parrot- Wray Delaney
3. Courage calls to courage everywhere- Jeanette Winterson
4. Admissions: A life in brain surgery- Henry Marsh

6. Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

1. Snap - Belinda Bauer

8. Chronicle of Youth : Vera Brittain’s War Diary, 1913 - 17 - Vera Brittain

1. Transcription - Kate Atkinson**

10. Votes for Women - Jenni Murray 11. Henry VIII and the man who made him - Tracy Borman 12. The Woman in the Window - A J Finn 13. The Tudor Crown - Joanna Hickson 14. How to build a girl - Caitlin Moran 15. The silence of the girls - Pat Barker 16. The Song of Achilles- Madeleine Miller 17. A long way from home - Peter Carey 18. The Binding - Bridget Collins 19.The Glass Woman - Caroline Lea 20. Bodies of light - Sarah Moss 21. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 22. From a low and quiet Sea - Donal Ryan 23. Bookworm . A memoir of childhood reading - Lucy Mangan 24. The Casual Vacancy- J K Rowling 25. Is there anything you want? - Margaret Forster 26. The lion the witch and the wardrobe- C S Lewis 27. The daughter of time - Josephine Tey 28. All that remains: A life in death - Sue Black 29. London lies beneath - Stella Duffy 30. Old baggage - Lissa Evans 31. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans** 32. The five - The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold 33. After the party- Cressida Connolly 34. The Hidden - Mary Chamberlain 35. The Queen and I - Sue Townsend 36. The lost words - Robert Macfarlane 37. Abide with me - Elizabeth Strout 38. Parliament of rooks : Haunting Bronte Country - Karen Perkins 39. Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel 40. Human Croquet- Kate Atkinson 41. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter 42. The complete poems of Rupert Brooke 43. Letters from a lost generation- First World War letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends- Ed. Alan Bishop and Mark Bostridge 44. Boy of my heart - Marie Connor Leighton** 45. Because you died : Poetry and Prose of the First World War and After - Vera Brittain 46. The Familiars - Stacey Halls 47. Graceland - Bethan Roberts 48. The Cut Out Girl- Bart van Es 49. The Cutting Season- Attica Locke 50. My sister the serial killer 51. Bottled Goods - Sophie van Llewyn 52. Lost children archive - Valeria Luiselli 53. Picking up the pieces - Jo Worgan 54. Signs for lost children- Sarah Moss 55. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara 56. This Stolen Life - Jeevani Charaki 57. Stanley and Elsie - Nicola Upson 58. The house at the end of hope street - Meena van Preeg 59. Templar Silks - Elizabeth Chadwick 60. In the shadows of wolves 61. The Doll Factory - Elizabeth Macneal 62. The Rapture - Claire McGlasson 63. A man called Ove 64. Ordinary people - Diana Evans 65. Mrs Everything- Jennifer Weiner 66. An American Marriage 67. Know no evil 68. Remembered- Yvonne Battle Felton 69. Our Little secrets 70. Lowborn - Kerry Hudson 71 Expectations-Anna Hope 72. Tigers Child - Torey Hayden 73. bitter Orange - Claire Fuller 74. The Warlow Experiment- Alix Nathan 75. In the Company of Strangers 76. The Murder of Harriet Monckton - Elizabeth Haynes 77 . Beneath the surface 78. Born a crime - Trevor Noah 79. Arguing with the dead - Alex Nye 80. Don’t think a single thought - Diana Cambridge 81. The Moss House - Clara Barley

Thanks, south! Here's my list:

1. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths
2. Things I Don't Want to Know - Deborah Levy
3. The History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund
4. Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space - Janna Levin
5. Smile - Roddy Doyle
6. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted - Andrew Wilson
7. The Story of a Marriage - Andrew Seer Green
8. The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford
9. My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh

10. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman 11. The Magicians - Lev Grossman 12. Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore 13. My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite 14. The Cyber Effect - Mary Aiken 15. A Life of My Own - Claire Tomalin 16. Our House - Louise Candlish 17. Whatever You Love - Louise Doughty 18. Bitch in a Bonnet - Robert Rodi 19. The Wife - Meg Wolitzer 20. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng 21. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage - Ann Patchet 22. Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel 23. A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler 24. Touching Distance - James Cracknell and Beverley Turner 25. Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There - Rutger Bregman 26. The Wallcreeper - Nell Zink 27. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley 28. An American Marriage - Tayari Jones 29. The Sleep of Reason - David James Smith 30. Finders Keepers - Belinda Bauer 31. The Siege - Helen Dunmore 32. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

Sympathies, splother

Oooo...A lovely new thread. How exciting. Here is the my list of books read since joining. Not doing too badly if I may say so myself

1.Children of Ruin - Adrian Tchaikovsky

1. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
2. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch
3. Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
4. H(A)PPY - Nicola Barker
5. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
6. The Black Painting - Neil Olson
7. Under the Skin - Michel Faber
8. Half a King - Joe Abercrombie

10. The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie 11. The Outsider - Stephen King 12. Vox - Christina Dalcher 13. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin 14. The Blood Road - Stuart Macbride

15. Lord Edgeware Dies - Agatha Christie I was supposed to be reading a bit of a fantasy epic by Brandon Sanderson but it was just too hot for a massive tome so I grabbed some Agatha Christie off Borrowbox for some lighter reading. In this one a woman is heard to declare she wants to kill her husband and is seen entering the house just before the crime is committed. However, at the same time she is at a dinner with twelve other people. How can she be in two places at once? Poirot gets involved and does his thing as only Poirot can. The killer is uncovered and all is well with the world. My only downer on this one is the rather casual antisemitism displayed in places that made me cringe somewhat. Very much a book of its time.

Thanks for the new thread southeast. Here’s my list again (some are rereads or audiobooks):

1. Bird Box- Josh Malerman
2. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool- Peter Turner
3. The Road- Cormac McCarthy
4. The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris
5. Why Mummy Drinks- Gill Sims
6. Memory Songs- James Cook
7. Read All About It- Paul Cuddihy
8. The Boys are Back- Simon Carr
9. How to Make Great Radio- David Lloyd

10. The Revenant- Michael Punke 11. Every Song Ever- Ben Ratliff 12. Why Mummy Swears- Gill Sims 13. In the Days of Rain- Rebecca Stott 14. Trilby- George de Maurier 15. Not Your Average Nurse- Maggie Groff 16. The Secret Mother- Shalini Boland 17. My Year of Rest and Relaxation- Otessa Moshfegh 18. Rock Needs River- Vanessa McGrady 19. Three Weeks To Say Goodbye- C.J. Box 20. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine- Gail Honeyman 21. Born Under A Million Shadows- Andrea Busfield 22. The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller 23. De Profundis- Oscar Wilde 24. Weird Things Customers Say in Book Shops- Jen Campbell 25. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 26. More Weird Things Customers Say in Book Shops- Jen Campbell 27. Life Skills: Stuff You Should Really Know by Now- Julia Laflin 28. The Book Shop- Penelope Fitzgerald 29. The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje 30. Brave New World- Aldous Huxley 31. The Collector- John Fowles 32. Mr Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store- Robin Sloan 33. A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving 34. The Lost Child of Philomena Lee- Martin Sixsmith 35. Bookworm- Lucy Mangan 36. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More- Roald Dahl 37. The Lady in the Van- Alan Bennett 38. Jacob’s Room is Full of Books- Susan Hill 39. A Monster Calls- Patrick Ness 40. The Essays of Arthur Shopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism 41. The Music Shop- Rachel Joyce 42. The Last- Hanna Jameson 43. Moab is my Washpot- Stephen Fry 44. The Black Death- Hourly History 45. Boy- Roald Dahl 46. I’d Rather Be Reading- Anne Bogel 47. Anna- Niccolo Ammaniti 48. The Fry Chronicles- Stephen Fry 49. Nick Drake: Remembered for a While- John Murray 50. The Child that Books Built- Francis Spufford 51. More Fool Me- Stephen Fry 52. Atonement- Ian McEwan 53. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- John Boyne 54. Gone- Michael Grant 55. Adolf Hitler- Hourly History 56. Set the Boy Free- Johnny Marr 57. Home Fire- Kamila Shamsie 58. The Middle Ages- Hourly History 59. Kill ‘Em All- John Niven 60. Lord of the Flies- William Golding 61. A Kestrel for a Knave- Barry Hines 62. Fingers in the Sparkle Jar- Chris Packham 63. The Diary of a Bookseller- Shaun Bythell 64. How Not to Be a Boy- Robert Webb 65. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini 66. Animal Farm- George Orwell 67. Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel 68. A Note of Madness- Tabitha Suzuma 69. The Best of Adam Sharp- Graeme Simsion 70. Before I Go to Sleep- SJ Watson 71. Lion: A Long Way Home- Saroo Brierley 72. Long Road from Jarrow- Stuart Maconie 73. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them- JK Rowling 74. The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes 75. The Librarian- Salley Vickers 76. The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood 77. The Cut-Out Girl- Bart van Es 78. To Throw Away Unopened- Viv Albertine 79. Back Story- David Mitchell 80. The Heart’s Invisible Furies- John Boyne 81. Music in the Castle of Heaven- John Eliot Gardiner 82. Convenience Store Woman- Sayaka Murata 83. Misery- Stephen King 84. Close to Home- Cara Hunter 85. A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini 86. World War Two Auschwitz- Hourly History 87. How Does it Feel?- Mark Kermode 88. And the Mountains Echoed- Khaled Hosseini 89. Coal Black Mornings- Brett Anderson 90. The Boy with the Topknot- Sathnam Sanghera 91. This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay 92. The Children of Men- PD James 93. Swallows and Amazons- Arthur Ransome 94. Vox- Christine Dalcher 95. Uncommon People- David Hepworth 96. The Bookseller of Kabul- Asne Seierstad 97. Schindler’s List/Ark- Thomas Keneally 98. Why Catholics Can’t Sing- Thomas Day 99. Faking Friends- Jane Fallon 100. A Town Like Alice- Neville Shute 101. The End We Start From- Megan Hunter 102. Greek Mythology- Hourly History 103. Rosa Parks- Hourly History 104. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4- Sue Townsend 105. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater- Thomas de Quincey 106. Nerdy, Shy and Socially Inappropriate- Cynthia Kim 107. Northern Lights- Philip Pullman 108. Inside Black Mirror- Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, with Jason Arnopp 109. My Sister, the Serial Killer- Oyinkan Braithwaite 110. Nothing is Real- David Hepworth 111. All the Light We Cannot See- Anthony Doerr 112. The Road to Little Dribbling- Bill Bryson 113. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit- Jeannette Winterson 114. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come- Jessica Pan 115. Take Nothing With You- Patrick Gale 116. Forever Today- Deborah Wearing 117. The Antidote- Oliver Burkeman 118. Down Under- Bill Bryson 119. The L-Shaped Room- Lynne Reid Banks

and here are my most recent books:

120. In the Dark- Cara Hunter I didn’t think this was as good as Close to Home, but it was still an enjoyable novel. Once again, I loved all the references to Oxford, especially May Morning at the beginning.

121. Down and Out in Paris and London- George Orwell I read this years ago, but got it cheaply on Audible. The narrator was pretty good, but his impersonations of French accents were quite irritating.

122. Cujo- Stephen King I picked this as my second Stephen King novel, probably because Simon Pegg’s character references it (or, more likely, the film) in ’Spaced’ (along with The Shining which I also plan to read very soon). As expected, the plot and characters were handled very well. I liked the way in which the terror built up so gradually.

123. The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett This was pure nostalgia, as I had it on cassette as a child: this was a different version, read by Johanna Ward (not the brand new one which Audible has just released). It is a fantastic book and was beautifully read.

124. The Cry- Helen Fitzgerald I am quite keen on novels by Australian writers and thought this was great. I didn’t see the TV series but, based on what I’ve heard, I suspect the book is miles better.

125. How to Behave Badly in Renaissance Britain- Ruth Goodman This was recommended on one of these threads (so sorry, I’ve forgotten by whom) and was rather fun. I especially liked the sections about bad language, which included such sixteenth century insults as ‘stinkard’, ‘nitty, slitty breached knave’, ‘I care not a fart for you’ and ‘a turd in your teeth!’. I also enjoyed the chapters on ‘Disgusting Habits’ and ‘Repulsive Bodies’ which contained Elizabethan views on farting, picking your nose, scratching yourself in public etc. which, surprisingly, were not that different to those of the present day.

126. A Fabulous Creation- David Hepworth In this, the third of his books I’ve read in recent weeks, Hepworth concentrates on 1967-82 (‘Sergeant Pepper…’ to ’Thriller’) as the golden age of the album. He describes the thrill of hunting for records circa 1970 and the cachet that these precious treasures held. He also reminds us of the ritual and ceremony of playing LPs. He then recounts the amazement and wonder of his first experience, in 1980, of the Sony Walkman. He reminisces about the fun of making mixtapes for people you fancied. Towards the end of the book, Hepworth briefly brings us up to date, first with the birth of the sterile, unsexy CD, then mp3s, then streaming services, until I actually felt quite sad about how music has become so easily accessible and disposable. But what does Hepworth know- he doesn’t like the first Clash album!?

Like (I think) several others on this thread, I work in education and I’m now on holiday for six weeks. I hope you others are enjoying a slower pace of life and having more time to read.

So sorry splother - dementia is absolutely catastrophically monstrously crap

Sorry to hear that, Splother. flowers

Thanks South-East! Here is my list:

1.Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
2.Animal - Sara Pascoe
3.The Bull from the Sea - Mary Renault
4.Women and Power - Mary Beard
5.Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue - John McWhorter
6.The Winter Isles - Antonia Senior
7.Dynasties: the Rise and Fall of Animal Families - Stephen Moss
8.A History of the World In 21 Women - Jenni Murray
9.The Monogram Murders - Sophie Hannah
10.This is Going to Hurt - Adam Kay
11.Adventures of a Young Naturalist - David Attenborough
12.In Your Defence - Sarah Langford
13.Did You See Melody? - Sophie Hannah
14.A History of Britain in 21 Women - Jenni Murray
15.All That Remains: a Life in Death - Sue Black
16.Bridget Jones’s Baby - Helen Fielding
17.A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett
18.The Ark Before Noah - Irving Finkel
19.Dear Mrs Bird - A.J. Pearce
20.The Outcasts of Time - Ian Mortimer
21.Burning Bright - Helen Dunmore
22.Unnatural Causes - Richard Shepherd
23.The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
24.Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín
25.I Contain Multitudes - Ed Yong
26.Closed Casket - Sophie Hannah
27.Slade House - David Mitchell
28.The Gentle Discipline Book - Sarah Ockwell-Smith
29.Educated - Tara Westover
30. How Not to be a Boy - Robert Webb
31. Bright Air Black - David Vann
32. Warriors of the Storm - Bernard Cornwell
33. The Mystery of Three Quarters - Sophie Hannah
34. Bloody British History: Winchester - Clare Dixon et al
35. A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
36. The Idle Parent - Tom Hodgkinson
37. Under the Pendulum Sun - Jeannette Ng
38. War Doctor - David Nott
39. Daisy Jones & the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
40. Monkeys with Typewriters - Scarlett Thomas
41. Bernard Who? - Bernard Cribbins
42. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read - Philippa Perry
43. Back Story - David Mitchell
44. The Tournament - Matthew Reilly
45. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte
46. My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
47. The Dark Side of the Mind - Kerry Daynes
48. Home Grown: how domestic violence turns men into terrorists - Joan Smith

And just finished:
49. The Whole-Brain Child - Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson
Fairly standard emotionally literate parenting advice, but linking this in an interesting way with what we know about brain structure and development. The key message is about bringing 'integration' (i.e. balance) to different parts of our neurological make-up. The 12 central strategies are succinctly explained and I will definitely be making efforts to apply them, but if anything the book was too short and more case studies on how to apply these strategies would have been helpful.

Thanks for the new thread southeast

My list so far:

1. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
2. Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence
3. The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher
4. The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly
5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
6. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
7. An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor
8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
9. The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

10. The Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle 11. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett 12. Wool by Hugh Howey 13. Sticks and Stones by Jo Jakeman 14. When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen 15. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge 16. The Anomaly by Michael Rutger 17. The Breakdown by B. A. Paris 18. Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders 19. The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware 20. Our House by Louise Candlish 21. Symbiont by Mira Grant 22. The Child by Fiona Barton 23. Perfect People by Peter James 24. The Three Secret Cities by Matthew Reilly 25. Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent 26. Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon 27. The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke 28. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 29. Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 30. I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist 31. The Dark Path by Michelle Sacks 32. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman 33. Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho 34. The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman 35. The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman 36. Night After Night by Phil Rickman 37. Grimm Tales by Philip Pullman 38. Ghost Virus by Graham Masterton 39. It Was Her by Mark Hill 40. The Farm by Emily McKay 41. A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin 42. The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb 43. Tell Me a Secret by Jane Fallon 44. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty 45. Humans by Tom Phillips 46. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson 47. The Magician King by Lev Grossman 48. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 49. The True Queen by Zen Cho 50. Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott 51. Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah 52. Bad Apple by Zoje Stage 53. Artemis by Andy Weir 54. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith 55. Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge 56. Atlas Alone by Emma Newman 57. The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton

Thanks for the new thread, enjoying it a lot.

And yes dementia is fucking shit

My updated list including reviews of latest.

1. This is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay
2. Normal People : Sally Rooney
3. Wundersmith, The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
4. The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
5. The unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Grey
6. Eve of Man Giovanna and Tom Fletcher
7. On Palestine Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappé
8. My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout
9. I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes

10. This will only hurt a little busy phillips 11. Our House Louise Candlish 12. if Beale Street Could Talk James Baldwin. 13. A Place For Us Fatima Fahreem Mirza 14. Big Bones by Laura Dockrill. 15 in a dark dark wood by Ruth Ware 16. I am, I am, I am by Maggie O’Farrell. 17. Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter (reread) 18. The Love of a Bad Man Laura Elizabeth Woollett 19. the Standing Chandelier by Lionel Shriver. 20. The Good Immigrant various. 21. The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. 22. Running Upon The Wire by Kate Tempest. 23. The Silence of the Girls Pat Barker. 24. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower 25. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig 26. Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girls Bible by Yomi Adegoki & Elizabeth Uvibinene 27. The Subtle Knife Phillip Pullman. 28. The Lady In the Van by Alan Bennett. 29. Sophia Khan is not Obliged by Ayisha Malik. 30. The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Thurton. 31. The Burning by Laura Bates. 32. what Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty. 33. Still Me by JoJo Moyes. 34. How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb. 35. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller 36. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. 37. The Amber Spyglass: Phillip Pullman. 38. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

And newly
39. What I’ve learnt about Love by Dolly Allderton
This was a bit scatter gun as the front cover suggested. However, I found much some of it relevant to my own experiences and pretty honest (particularly with regards to drug use of many young middle class people). None the less it was pretty naval gazing - most of the experiences discussed happened to other people.
40. Becoming by Michelle Obama. Loved this - she narrates the audio and her life story (unlike Dolly’s) is fascinating. A real insight into the 8 year administration and how this woman with her own significant career battled to keep a sense of self.
41. winter of the world by Ken Follett
Round two in the Century trilogy following the build up and duration of WW2. Once again I was gripped by the political drama unfolding, once again he can’t write a female character or sex scene for toffee. I did find some of the violence more gratuitous in this book than the last. Whilst the author obviously researched the historical aspects of the book thoroughly I don’t think (for example) he did much research into the impact of rape on women and therefore the fall out of one scene was all about moving the plot along than realism. Without spoiling anything I also find the authors moral code is too heavy handed, bad people are always shown to get their comeuppance which doesn’t ring true to the historical situation. I know zero about the Cold War though so from that POV am looking forward to number 3.

Thanks for the new thread southeast

splother dementia is truly awful. Wishing you some wonderful books you can lie down and switch your mind off in.

No updates here. I'm continuing my re read of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but have slowed up to wait for the absolutely excellent History of Westeros' podcast Valar Rereadis to catch up to where I am. If you want a super in-depth analysis of these books I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I DNFd the Brandon Sanderson I had started to listen to. My concerns proved right. It was crap. Eight hours of my life I'll never get back.
Have started The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which I think is probably not going to be crap but I'm struggling to really get in to it at the moment.

I had to laugh at the Booker longlist. There to my utter astonishment was The Wall by John Lanchester. I listened to it a few months ago and thought it so decidedly average, flimsy and silly I couldn’t be arsed to review it on here. An now it’s in the running for the Booker! Just goes to show how I haven’t got a clue what makes for great contemporary fiction.

Thanks lovely people. Reading is keeping me marginally sane. Have downloaded a few book about the subject but in all honesty I can't get into now, need to escape