50 Book Challenge 2020 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 2020, 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?

Copperstars my personal favourite is Jude the Obscure which is gorgeously, poetically, tragic

Tess of the D'Urbevilles is also wonderful.

For Dickens my absolute favourite is Great Expectations. I also enjoy Nicholas Nickleby a lot but that's partly because of the lovely RSC production from the 80s. A real joy.

PotterHead there are different ways to use it but the more info you give it, the more it can do for you.

I mostly use it to record what I've read and what I want to read. I don't bother writing reviews but find other people's reviews helpful.

When I tell it what I've read and give the books a star rating. It then makes recommendations based on that.

I also keep a 'want to read' list

You can also tell it which genres you prefer. When you search for books it will offer suggestions of other books by that author, similar books, books that others who read it enjoyed and lists of books that the book appears on. The list might be 'best books of 2019'.

Excuse the dodgy photos of my laptop as some examples of where to find recommendations on the web version. In the app just scroll to the bottom of the page.

In the app you can scan books, either by bar code or the cover to find more info or to quickly add it to a list. Great tool in bookshops etc.

There are also forums, book groups etc which I don't bother with.

I only have 2 IRL friends who use it who I am linked to on there and it shows me what they are reading etc. I can then hit up their bookshelves for a cheeky borrow. It also helps me keep track of which books I have at home so I don't accidentally buy duplicates in charity shops.

You can join the reading challenge and set a target number for the year (editable) and it tells you if you are on track or how you need to pace to meet it.

I find the web version more user friendly than the app for a general browse and when exploring for recommendations.

Basically just click each part to see what's in there and if it suits what you want it to do.

@PotterHead1985 in addition to what Keith said, I use goodreads.com to record all of the books I have read, the ones I want to read (commonly known on here as our To Be Read / TBR pile) and what I am currently reading. You can set the date you read something and when you finish/ed it, if you re-read something you can add the dates you did that too.

You can set yourself a yearly challenge and keep track of your progress.

I have the app on my phone and find it a great way to check if I have already read something, or if it is on my TBR pile when I am out and about in bookshops/charity shops etc

You can also have friends, a bit like on Facebook, where you can see each others lists and reviews.

Cross post with Fortuna !

PotterHead you can also follow your favourite authors for updates on new releases and they often add extra notes or info about a book.

Mog If I spent less time playing on Goodreads and this thread I might get more reading done!

Hi. Can I join? I am on to the second book of the year. I am reading Still Me by JoJo Moyes. I don't think it's as good as the first two.

1. The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley
I read extremely few books from this genre and really enjoyed this one. Raced through this huit clos set in the Scottish Highlands and didn't find it completely predictable (maybe just a little bit!).
Unlikely I'll read another whodunnit this year but with the fab recommendations that abound on this thread - who knows?!?

I would love to join in! I'm always looking for books to add to my 'want to read' list.

Currently reading The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell.

@CopperStars I love Hardy. I just reread Jude last year. The Mayor of Casterbridge is good, as is Far From the Madding Crowd.
I'm less bothered by Tess of the d'Urbevilles though, possibly because I read it every year for about 5 years due to school & uni reading lists!

Yikes, just counted that I have 65 unread books on my kindle so I will try and address that in 2020. I usually only buy 99p deals but need to be more discerning I think. I am going to take advantage of The Dutch House deal though
I daren't count how many unread books I have on my bookshelves but it maybe the same again . At my reading rate that would be almost 3 years worth of reading! And that doesn't include the ones I frequently order from the library.

And you lot don't help!!!!

@JoeGargery I'm really enjoying sorry I'm late and it's giving me some ideas too as a natural introvert.

I'm in!

Kicking the New Year off with The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley. So far so good.

I have tonnes of books to get through and a wonderful local library so I'm also determined not to buy more books....

I'm in.

Trying to decide what to read next, I've narrowed it down to-
A man called ove
Kite runner
The Rosie Project
The Handmaid's Tale
Sarah's Key.

Any recommendations?

1. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Humanity is in its dying days - the sun is weakening, the earth polluted, and the remaining few hundred thousand people alive are crowded into one city, Shadrapar, surrounded by hostile wilderness. The only exception is those unlucky enough to be sentenced to exile up-river on a prison island deep in the jungle. Stefan Advani - academic and would-be revolutionary - is on a boat heading towards the island as the book starts.

This was a great start to 2020, very different to Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War or Children of Time, but none the worse for it. The world building is fantastic, and the prison, city and surrounding wilderness come to life from page 1. I've avoided the author's fantasy novels to date, but I think I'll definitely seek them out as well as getting Children of Ruin at some point.

1. Because Internet : Understanding how language is changing by Gretchen McCulloch

This was a present from a friend I met online and it turned out to be a fascinating read, full of little gems of information about the evolution of communication and language in a digital society. It looks at topics such as emojis, memes, and different internet tribes, and explores them in an entertaining style. I learned a lot about linguistics along the way. Definitely recommend this one if the subject appeals to you at all.

Delighted to have finished my first book already although I have to confess I read almost half of it last year. I used to be a voracious reader but now have a terrible problem with attention span and actually finishing books (ironically I'm pretty sure this is caused by Internet use ). However I am sure things will improve with practice. I'm motivated to go for the 50 this year even if some are deliberately short ones.

Chrissy I enjoyed all of those except Ove (too sentimental for me) and Sarah's Key (haven't read it).

I'd love to join in please.

Have always read a lot but have had severe mental health problems over the last few years and lost the ability to concentrate. I'm much better now and back into reading. Just finished my first book of the year, Missing by Karin Alvtegen which was a fairly average crime story. Next is Of Mice and Men as my dd3 is doing it for GCSE and I've never read it.

I would also be interested in a group reading of David Copperfield.

I'm not going to say how many books I have unread on my kindle but I have had it 10 years (not the same kindle, I think this is number 3).

I'm now reading The Little book of Hygge by Miek Wiking.

1. Anatomy of a Scandal - Sarah Vaughan

It's difficult to describe the plot for this one without dropping spoilers, but safe to say this was a decent enough thriller/courtroom drama with a number of twists, some of which were fairly obvious. I raced through this in a couple of days; it's pacey and plot driven although a bit at the expense of depth. In summary this was an plesantly undemanding read, but lacked the ambiguity a novel needs to make it really satisfying.

Chrissy I read Sarah’s Key a few years ago, I found it gripping, but also a very difficult book to read from an emotional point of view, because of the subject matter.

The other one of those I read recently was The Rosie Project, I enjoyed reading that a lot. It’s much more lightweight than Sarah’s Key.

Thank you all

1. Northern Lights (audiobook) by Phillip Pullman

So conflicted about this. I meant to read it before seeing the series as I'm a firm believer in that being "the correct way" but as I said in a PP my concentration has been shot for reading, so I thought I'd try it as an audiobook. I still didn't really listen to it much til after the series.
On the thread for the series there were complaints that this or that wasn't "done right" but I found it fairly faithful in terms of book to screen except for a character swap in one incident.

It's a high concept really interesting plot and I'd like to know where it goes. I know it's "hallowed turf to its major fans...only I found both the prose and dialogue quite weak. There are far better YA writers and I felt stylistically, it was more childish than the subject matter should allow.

I definitely want to know where it goes in terms of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass but I won't be doing it as audiobook because :

The audiobook is fucking awful. Avoid it like the plague. Though Phillip Pullman is fine reading the prose, all of the actors doing the dialogue lines are SHIT. Like painful to listen to. Terrible school play level. A 40 yr old woman is putting a wet screechy voice on to pretend to be a child, and because it's a fake child's voice it just sounds one note all the time. The Pantalimon voice is worse still and the Lee Scoresby voice just cringeworthy.

I realise that my big issue with the novel is the format I used, but I really wasn't blown away in general. Episodic.

3/5

@noodlezoodle thank you very much for the Kathleen Jamie heads up. I read and very much enjoyed Sightlines last year so have picked up the other two on Kindle. Great nature writing/essays.