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?

MamaNewtNewt I have reread both The Plague and The Outsider in the last couple of years and got so much more out of them than I did when I first read them (which for me was as a pretentious teenager/early twentysomething).

@Cherrypi, I really enjoyed Sorry I’m Late on audiobook read by the author; how are you getting on? I’m also a shy introvert though so might be biased.

@toomuchsplother I recently read Nudibranch by Irenosen Okojie and it’s a collection of really imaginative, quite weird short stories. Would definitely recommend. Also read both Persephone short story collections last year and loved almost all the stories.

Can’t remember now who was reading The Dutch House but I, too, succumbed to the beautiful hard back!

Anna Karenina I haven’t read since around age 20... would love to reread.

@selmabear I have also added The Witcher series to my TBR pile so will be interested to hear what you make of it. The TV series was ok, and my DH raved over the video game; whereas I was thinking, I bet the books are better!!

Thanks @KnucklesMcGinty... It was bloody hard work but I finally finished it woo hoo!

On to Eleanor Oliphont is completely fine now. Really enjoying it

Thanks @JoeGargery I have made a note of those.

I've just finished book 1, the guilty wife

A psychological thriller with an interesting plot around cot death, it got a bit irritating around the middle with too many potential avenues but was worth continuing to get to the unexpected ending which took me by surprise. 4/5 *

I may join in the Dickens readalong too, I lurked for months on the Bleak House thread, read the chapters and watched Katie's videos however I gave it up after my father passed away in the spring. Bleak House is one of many books on my to-definitely-read (or finish!) list for 2020.

This is one of my challenges to read 50 books ( as well as lose 50lbs and go on 50 proper walks at least 3miles and de-clutter sell 50 things)
Will be mostly non fiction probably 70/30 split

Anyway first book is trains and lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

Happy New Year, everyone! And thanks for the new thread south, racing along as usual in January. And lovely to see you back, five 💐.

I’m aiming for 50 books again this year (I read 60 last year); to continue reading more classics - I have Anna Karenina, David Copperfield, Hard Times and (the one I’m particularly looking forward to) Return of the Native already waiting on Audible, the last one read by Alan Rickman. And I would like to read at least 10-15 books by BAME authors.

I’m starting off with The Go-Between by LP Hartley, which my DH bought me ages ago. And 23 Things they don’t tell you about Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang on audiobook, a book recommended to me on last year’s thread (I want to say it was Sadik, but I’m not entirely sure 😊).

@WeirdPookah yeah several reviews pretty much said the exact same as you. That it came across as poorly written. I read a few pages of 'The Last Wish' last night and I can see what people mean but it hasn't made me feel like its unreadable yet. I'm determined to attempt to read the series. I'll see how this first book goes.

@MogTheSleepyCat I will definitely keep you updated on how it goes. I first heard about The Witcher through my DP who is an avid fan of the game. When he heard it was being adapted into a series he was pretty ecstatic.

Please may I join?

I’ve been lurking on these threads for years. I first found them in 2015, and then went back and read through all of 2013 and 2014, and have followed every year since. Time to join, I think!

I’m currently reading The Body, Bill Bryson and The Book Thief, Markus Zusak. Enjoying both, although I think The Body would have been better in paper format. I’m listening to the audiobook and am enjoying Bryson’s narration, but would like to be able to flick back to previous chapters to re-read bits.

Have just finished Tangerine by Christine Mangan.

I can't say I enjoyed it really. I thought the writing was pretty over-wrought and at the same time lacking in detail about what was actually happening in the story. Even now I couldn't really say what it was about - two former college roommates, one a complete wet lettuce and one a supposed Ripley-type anti-hero? And that was about it, I couldn't get a handle on what their motivations were, or what the point of the story really was.

It was told from the alternating perspectives of these two main characters, but their voices were basically the same, so I kept losing track of which of them I was actually reading about... but to be honest, it didn't matter, as I didn't care about either of them anyway.

The word Tangier was mentioned approximately once per paragraph (only a slight exaggeration), it was all a bit repetitive, and if yet another character broke out in a sweat, or struggled to breathe, or felt the heat pricking their skin... Arghhh!!

Anyway. Things can only get better, so onto the next one (not sure what as yet, lots of TBRs as seems a common issue on the thread It's great reading everyone's reviews, and I've already made two purchases based on previous posts - need to go to the library more this year!).

@PrivateSpidey I felt similarly about Tangerine. Having visited Morocco a few times, I wanted to enjoy it more than I actually did and overall felt it was a bit try hard.
Agree that I couldn't actually picture Alice & Lucy being friends, therefore the plot didn't seem genuine to me.

I have just finished The Familiars by Stacey Halls. For a debut novel, I thought it was excellent. Witchy, gothic and perfect for cold winter nights. As in my previous post, would liken it to Katherine Arden's The Winter Witch Trilogy. Her second novel is due out in Feb which has gone straight on my list.

Just about to start The Testament by Margaret Atwood. I read some disappointing reviews on the last thread but enjoyed rereading The Handmaids Tale last year so thought I'd give it a go.

private
I read Tangerine last month and I agree with you on everything. I can’t remember anything about it now.
It was an interesting setting I suppose, but the characters weren’t quite believable and there were massive plot holes. The ending was meh.

Happy new year 50 Bookers new and old, thanks for kicking us off again Southeast and welcome new joiners.
I'm in again for my fourth year. I think of this thread as my virtual book club, I'd love to have an actual book club but I'm not sure I could stand the tyranny of having to read other people's choices that don't appeal!
My first book is not very taxing, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, brought home from work (primary school) to check out its potential for a reading group I'm running. Despite it being short and written for pre teens and teens I'm not exactly speeding through it.
I'm also 33% through Ron Chernow's Hamilton.
Interesting to hear from NowANearly that The Hunting Party is a good read for this time of year, I picked it up on a cheapie Audible deal so may start that as well. I'm hoping it will be a little like The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle but not disappear up its own backside in quite such an alarming way!
I did look but couldn't find you on Goodreads Mog.

@DesdamonasHandkerchief I’m in a book club and that is sometimes a real struggle getting through something you would never choose in real life. It can sometimes be lovely when you find a gem that way.

There is one member of ours that will only attend when she likes the book which drives me mad. The arguments are my favourite part.

I have just counted how many books I've got unread on my Kindle app and there are 58 . I also have several hard copy books to get through, so that's probably going to last me the year! I am going to try really hard not to buy stuff on the Daily Deals etc, and will only shell out my 99p if it is genuinely something I've wanted for ages (let's see how long that lasts...). Currently got both The Mutual Admiration Society (socking great hardback) and Swan Song (on the Kindle) on the go; enjoying both so far.

I'm currently reading the very first book in the Witcher series after watching it on Netflix. It's amazing if you haven't seen it and after something new to watch.
I do love reading and happy to read all sorts so will probably check out what some of you are reading too.

BayHorse and Nuffaluff yes, exactly. I was in just the mood for reading about a hot, intriguing, mysterious city, but it just didn't capture any of that for me at all.

I followed the threads last year, but never posted, I would like to join you all this year. I read around 100 last year and I'm aiming for about 75 this year.
I've a house full of unread books, so I will be trying to read some of these, most are books I've wanted to read for a while :)

I too have so many unread books, most of them bought secondhand. It’s those National Trust secondhand bookshops that get me. I can’t stop. And I’ve got about eight books out of the library at the moment, it’s ridiculous.
I do have a new rule about getting rid of books. If I give it four or five stars out of five then I have to keep it. This is since I read the two Wolf Hall books and DH read them too, so we charity shopped them! Big mistake. I need to buy the first one back now (friend gave me a copy of the second) because they’re too good and I want to read them again.

Book 2 finished, my latest kindle read the picture on the fridge by Ian Sainsbury I nearly gave up half way through but the second half had many more twists and turns and became much more interesting and can’t put down type

@BellatrixLeStrangest this is what I'm reading too after falling in love with the series

Which Mural Admiration Society is it, Welshwabbit - the novel or the one about DLS? I'm hoping it's the latter as I listened to a very entertaining episode of the Shedunnit podcast recently, which was all about Sayers and her Mutual Admiration Society. I didn't realise there was a book about it - that's definitely going on my list!