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?

@BookWitch Anna Karenina is my nemesis started and stopped so many times. Maybe the audio is a good shout.

@Welshwabbit - love Autumn Term!

It's 38 hours! So a bit daunting.

Have started Conversations with Friends. Have also vowed to only read the books I already have on my Kindle, a vow which will last until around 8.15 tonight if previous years are anything to go by

I'm in

I mostly read non fiction, but keen for more of a mix this year

Starting with Bill Bryson - short history of nearly everything. If I can find it!

Happy New Year everyone!

I am currently reading Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson.

I am hoping to get back into the reading habit this year. Used to read constantly with two to three books being read at a time, whereas I now just seem to read stuff online.

I'd like to try again this year. I managed until about March last year & then illness & family illness took over. But I did lurk & love these threads so much & have had some inspired recommendations from them.

I read Anna Karenina many years ago (pre kindles) when I ran out of books on holiday. I just loved it and it was so different from my mis-preconceptions of it.

Good morning everyone... I'd love to join, please.

Welshwabbit Antonia Forest is one of my absolute favourites and I was thinking about a reread this year. I hope you enjoy Autumn Term.

I've got a nice stack of books from Christmas and not quite sure where to start. Are we allowed to count books we've already begun in 2019 in the total? I'm terrible for starting and not finishing, so it might inspire me to do better.

@namechange49
A Short History of Nearly Everything was one of my top reads last year, really enjoyed it

Anna Karenina is my nemesis started and stopped so many times. Maybe the audio is a good shout.

I've never been able to get further than about a third in. I don't get on with audiobooks sadly - my mind wanders and I miss huge chunks and then have to go back.

I gave audible another go when I was re-reading Little Dorrit for Victober but even Anton Lesser couldn't stop me from wool-gathering when I should have been listening.

I'm in! I tend to re-read a lot of comfortable old books, so my challenge is to read at least one new (to me) book every week.
Will be eagerly scanning this thread for recommendations!
I might as well start with the most controversial - I have 12 Rules For Life unopened on my bedside table.

Morning! I'm going to attempt this again. I've set my goodreads challenge at 60 books which should be doable if I watch less netflix!

My first book is Skyward by Brandon Sanderson.
It's a YA science fiction book. I'm concerned that my first read of the year may turn out to be a dud...

@DamnItsSevenAM Yes, people have been doing that since the threads started years ago

Here we go again! Happy New Year and Happy Shiny New Thread. Thanks Southeast.

Lovely to see everyone new and old. Just a tip if you're new, in the first few weeks the thread seems to fly along at an alarming pace and it can seem a bit daunting to try and keep up with it as well as your own reading. Don't let this put you off, it evens out soon enough. No pressure to keep up with the conversation if it gets too much, just come along with your updates as and when.

Aiming for 100 this year with 25% 'classic/great works of literature.' It'll never happen, but new year wouldn't be new year without a doomed resolution!

Kicked off the year with Frankenstein.

PrivateSpidey I read Tangerine last year and it was one of my worst reads of the year.

I'm drowning under piles of unread books so have resolved not to buy any physical books this year, other than those I need for my book group. Even writing that down is anxiety-inducing. Currently reading Lethal White by Robert Galbraith. It's very thick which makes it hard to open and impossible to out in my bag to read on the train. It would have been better on Kindle!

Can I join? I go through phases of reading then not reading. I tried to read all of the Booker shortlist in the autumn, but I got stuck on Ducks, Newburyport. It really is the most tedious drivel ever. I'm going to give up on it and move on to my last one, An Orchestra of Minorities.

Me! I’m reading Belle Sauvage - hope to follow up with the new one and all the others, as I haven’t read them in ages and watching the TV series made me realise I’d half forgotten everything.

Happy new reading year everyone, and thanks for the new thread southeast.

I read 65 books last year. My favourite authors were Jenny Eclair, Stephen King and John Boyne.

I'm planning to spend less time mindlessly browsing the internet this year and up my reads to nearer 100. I had a big splurge on audio books in the Audible boxing day sale, plus I have loads of books on my kindle I haven't read yet so I'm all set.

First read of the year is the Sherlock Holmes definitive collection read by Stephen Fry on Audible. It's 70 hours of listening time so it may take a while!

Can I join in please, decided I'd try and read 52 books from one Christmas to the next (always find I get a good start the week after Christmas)

Have just finished reading 'The knife of never letting' go by Patrick Ness. So haven't technically read any this year yet, hoping to read the next in the series later today when I borrow it from my mum.

@Lizsmum This might be controversial amongst book people ;) but when I commuted in pre-Kindle days I just might have ever so occasionally sliced thick paperbacks into chapters with a scalpel just for the train...

I'm in, although I'm going to aim for more than 50 (maybe 75).

First book of the year is A Room with a View by E. M. Forster. About half way through, and to be honest, it's not my cup of tea. It's really insipid and for me, just lacks any warmth. Only another 100 pages to go 🙄

I'm in for the 2020 challenge, have mostly lurked on the last two years' threads but will post more this time.
Have three books on the go - Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes which I borrowed from the library, Vinegar Girl by Ann Tyler on audiobook and Run Away by Harlan Coben, an ebook from the library also.

@Waawo ha! I used to do that with my Uni Lit. tomes, for better reading in the bath!
I've married a man who never even leaves a book open face down, so I've had to reform.

I'm giving this a go again this year. Lurked in 2017, joined 2018 and didn't participate last year but probably read about 20.

Happy New Year! I am going to try to be a better poster this year.
Just finished my first book which feels a bit of a cheat as I started it last year, but heigh ho.
So number 1 is Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall her latest book of short stories. Hall is a beautiful writer, who writes about Cumbria especially well. The title story in this collection is a heartfelt and genuine representation of the death of a parent. Really moving .
On the look out for more good collections of short stories as I read some crackers last year. Any suggestions