Threads
Topics
Usernames
50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Three
999
southeastdweller · 21/02/2020 17:14
Welcome to the third 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.
The first thread of the year is here and the second one here.
What are you reading?
Piggywaspushed · 21/02/2020 17:17
Thank you!
FortunaMajor · 21/02/2020 17:34
Thanks for the new thread Southeast.
The list so far...
-
Asymmetry - Lisa Halliday
- The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
- Woke – Titania McGrath
-
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
- The Familiars – Stacey Halls
- The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
- The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
-
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- The Sanctuary Murders – Susanna Gregory
-
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
- Villette – Charlotte Brontë
- Night Boat to Tangiers – Kevin Barry
- Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
- Homesick for Another World - Ottessa Moshfegh
- Middlemarch – George Eliot
- Galatea – Madeline Miller
- The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
- The Running Hare – John Lewis Stempel
- The Hidden World of the Fox – Adele Brand
- The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway #2) – Elly Griffiths
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
- And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
- The Witches Are Coming – Lindy West
-
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
- The Confession – Jessie Burton
- The Wall – John Lanchester
- The Man Who Saw Everything – Deborah Levy
- Bone China - Laura Purcell
- I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell
- Call the Midwife – Jennifer Worth
- Candide - Voltaire
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
-
The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
- The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
Sirzy · 21/02/2020 17:37
Thanks for the new thread.
I have just finished Queenie and loved it. Something really different but very hard to put down.
AnUnlikelyWorldofInvisibleShad · 21/02/2020 17:45
Just checking in with my list here.
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Mary Roach (3/5)
- Circe: Madeline Miller (2/5)
- The Girl with all the Gifts: M. R. Carey (4/5)
- Odd Girl Out: Laura James (3/5)
- Their Skeletons Speak: Sally M Walker and Douglas W Owsley (4/5)
- The Royal Art of Poison: Eleanor Herman (3/5)
- The Boy on the Bridge: M R Carey (4/5)
- Rivers of London: Ben Aaronovitch (2/5)
- The Handmaid's Tale: Margaret Atwood (5/5)
- The Vagina Bible: Dr Jen Gunter (4/5)
- Hormonal: Eleanor Morgan (2/5)
- Bosh! How To Live Vegan: Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (4/5)
- Ready Player One: Ernest Cline (5/5)
ChessieFL · 21/02/2020 18:16
My list:
- My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
- The Dilemma by B A Paris
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
- Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr
- Literary Landscapes by John Sutherland
- The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
- The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
- The Secretary by Renee Knight
- Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West
- Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorne
- Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks
- The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
- The Chalk Man by C J Tudor
- When The Lights Go Out by Mary Kubica
- Finders Keepers by Belinda Bauer
- Confessions Of A Showbiz Reporter by Holly Forrest
- After Me Comes The Flood by Sarah Perry
- Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
- Friend Of The Family by Tasmina Perry
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- Death At Wolf’s Nick by Diane James
- All The Rage by Cara Hunter
- Haven’t They Grown by Sophie Hannah
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
- A Spoonful of Jam by Michelle Magorian
- Tea By The Nursery Fire by Noel Streatfeild
- Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
- Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell
- The Sudden Departure of The Frasers by Louise Candlish
- The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen
- The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
- Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland
- The Boy At The Back Of The Class by Onjali Q Rauf
- The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor
- Grown-Ups by Marian Keyes
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- That Girl From Nowhere by Dorothy Koomson
- Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
- One Shot by Lee Child
- The Silence by Daisy Pearce
- The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock by Jane Riley
- Not On My Patch, Lad: More Tales Of A Yorkshire Bobby by Mike Pannett
- Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
- Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Currently reading Little Fires Everywhere, plus David Copperfield for the readalong and Mansfield Park on Audible.
EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 21/02/2020 18:19
Thank you southeast
My list
- Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman
- Vox by Christina Dalcher
- In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Spasm by Lauren Slater
- Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
-
Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders
- Written On The Body by Jeanette Winterson
- Lion by Saroo Brierley
- Tony And Susan by Austin Wright
- The Purveyor Of Enchantment by Marika Cobbold
-
Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
- His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnett
13. Friendly Fire by Patrick Gale
14. The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
15. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
16. The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey
17. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
18. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
19. Touch by Claire North
20. A Year Of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman
21. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
22. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
23. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
24. Small Island by Andrea Levy
25. Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
26. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
27. Ayoade On Top by Richard Ayoade
28. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
29. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
30. Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Remi Eddo-Lodge
EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 21/02/2020 18:25
It's very disappointing that out of 30 books, I've only loved 7.
InMyOwnParticularIdiom · 21/02/2020 18:50
Thanks Southeast.
Here's my list:
- The Secrets of Blood and Bone - Rebecca Alexander
- Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
- Identity Crisis - Ben Elton
- Sunny Side Up - Susan Calman
- How to Stop Losing Your Shit with Your Kids - Carla Naumburg
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Caitlin Doughty
-
This Book Will Change Your Mind about Mental Health - Nathan Filer
-
Damascus - Christos Tsiolkas
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse - David Mitchell
-
Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams
Currently reading Murderous Contagion, a history of disease which I am 'enjoying' in my own unique way.
InMyOwnParticularIdiom · 21/02/2020 18:54
Fortuna - I missed out on meeting Peter Ustinov by one year and got my degree from Bill Bryson instead...
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 21/02/2020 19:06
Thanks southeast, my list:
1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen
2. Holes by Louis Sachar
3. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
4. The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
5. The Green Mile by Stephen King
6. Sweet Sorrow by David Nichols
7. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
8. The Acceptance World (Book 3 of A Dance To The Music Of Time) by Anthony Powell
9. Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Currently listening to Himself by Jess Kidd and reading Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue
Chrissysouth · 21/02/2020 19:06
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- The Girls by Lisa Jewell
- I am, I am, I am by Maggie O'Farrell
- The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- I Found You by Lisa Jewell
- The Sister by Louise Jensen
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
- The Lost Man by Jane Harper
- In a Dark, Dark, Wood by Ruth Ware
- The Dry by Jane Harper
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Deju Death by Kathy Reichs
- Now You See Her by Heidi Perks
- Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
- A Proper Family Christmas by Chrissy Manby
- The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Death Sculptor by Chris Carter
- One by One by Chris Carter
- China Lake by Meg Gardiner
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
- Vox by Christina Dalcher
- Sister by Rosamund Lupton
- Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
- Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich
- The Time Traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- The Island by Victoria Hislop
- Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon
- The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne
- Seven Days by Alex Lake
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG
- The Narrow Bed by Sophie Hannah
- The Blood of an Englishman by M.C. Beaton
- Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
- Force of Nature by Jane Harper
- The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
- The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish
Currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Terpsichore · 21/02/2020 19:17
Thanks so much for the thread, Southeast
My list so far:
1: Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym
2: The Sale of the Late King's Goods - Jerry Brotton
3: The House Opposite - Barbara Noble
4: Jacob's Room is Full of Books - Susan Hill
5: The Gathering - Anne Enright
6: The Night Fire - Michael Connelly
7: The Shadow District - Arnaldur Indriðason
8: 1939 - Frederick Taylor
9: North Korea Journal - Michael Palin
10: Clock Dance - Anne Tyler
11: The Missing Ink - Philip Hensher
12: A Very Private Eye - Barbara Pym
13: Odd One Out - Lissa Evans
14: Whistle in the Dark - Emma Healey
15: The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden
16: Some Tame Gazelle - Barbara Pym
17: The Lying Room - Nicci Gerrard
18: Not in Your Lifetime: The Assassination of JFK - Anthony Summers
19: Our Friends in Berlin - Anthony Quinn
20: Airhead - Emily Maitlis
21: Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane - Paul Thomas Murphy
Just started Robert Harris's Conclave , and I'm on the David Copperfield readalong train too...
FortunaMajor · 21/02/2020 19:29
Idiom he was a legend for going on as long as he did. We were the first year to graduate from the cathedral rather than the castle. I think I probably left just as you started. I used to spend far too much time in the Oxfam bookshop.
Currently listening to Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid on audio and reading Bring Up the Bodies in print.
I always like a new thread to see everyone's stand outs.
FranKatzenjammer · 21/02/2020 19:35
Thanks for the new thread, southeast. Here's my list:
- My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
- Damaged- Cathy Glass
- Wonder- R.J. Palacio
-
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries- John Ronson
- Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television- Louis Theroux
- Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks
- Lord of the Flies- William Golding
- The Beatrix Potter Collection- Beatrix Potter
- The Cold War: a History from Beginning to End- Hourly History
- The Subtle Knife- Philip Pullman
- The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman
- Nine Perfect Strangers- Liane Moriarty
- Brazil- Michael Palin
- The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Collector- John Fowles
-
Ready Player One- Ernest Cline
- Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life- Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Engleby- Sebastian Faulks
- Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure- John Cleland
- The Boy at the Back of the Class- Onjali Q. Rauf
- Prison: A Survival Guide- Carl Cattermole
- The Children- Alice Meynell
- The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller
- This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay
- Mummy Told Me Not to Tell- Cathy Glass
- The Aerodynamics of Pork- Patrick Gale
- Aztec Civilisation: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History
- Cannery Row- John Steinbeck
- La Belle Sauvage- Philip Pullman
- War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line- David Nott
- The Bookshop that Floated Away- Sarah Henshaw
- The Imperial Phase: The Rise & Fall of British Indie Music 1986-1997- Ray Dexter
- Lunch with the Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and Excess in 13½ Chapters- Phill Savidge
and here are my most recent reads and listens:
35. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer This was on a Kindle Deal recently. It is the true story of a teenage boy who builds a windmill to provide power for his village in Malawi. I found it very moving to read about famine from a young person’s point of view and also inspirational to discover the difficulties he overcame (e.g. being kicked out of school as his parents couldn’t pay the fees). I know very little about physics but it was still interesting to read the details of how he built the wind turbines.
36. Frost in May- Antonia White A convent school story from 1933, published as one of the Virago Modern Classics. Based partly on the author’s own experiences, the first half of the novel describes the protagonist’s Catholic education beautifully. I enjoyed the second half slightly less, but when the end came it was quite shocking and rather sudden. I was sorry not to have read this earlier and will probably take a look at the sequels.
37. Lyra’s Oxford- Philip Pullman It was good to be back with Lyra- especially in Oxford- but this felt very short and inconsequential.
38. Scrublands- Chris Hammer I reviewed this Australian novel last year, but this was the audiobook. I enjoyed it again but still thought it was slightly too long. The narrator was excellent.
39. A History of Loneliness- John Boyne This story about child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland is expertly handled by John Boyne. He tells the tale with a lightness of touch and with engaging subplots, so that it is extremely readable. I zipped through it, the full horror of the story revealing itself only gradually. At the end, I felt strong, conflicting emotions: shock and distaste mixed with elation at what a fantastic novel I had just read.
40. Here Comes the Clown: A Stumble Through Showbusiness- Dom Joly I got this in the recent Audible sale, having enjoyed Joly’s two travel books. This one is a memoir, in which Joly tells us about the making of Trigger Happy TV and also several programmes I’ve never really bothered with. I like his self-deprecating humour, which makes him very likeable: he admits that he sometimes comes across as a bit of a wanker and that several of his programmes have been turkeys!
I've now got a few books on the go (as usual): I'm reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, The Lost World by Michael Crichton, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and (for the readalong) David Copperfield. On Audible, I'm just about to start Inside Broadmoor.
mackerella · 21/02/2020 19:38
Here's my list so far:
- Hall of Mirrors by Christopher Fowler
- Festive Spirits by Kate Atkinson
-
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel
- The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths
- Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson
-
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
- The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
- The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
- The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
- The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
- The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
-
Normal People by Sally Rooney
- The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths
- The Herring Seller's Apprentice by L. C. Tyler
- To Siri With Love by Judith Newman
- The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co) by Jonathan Stroud
- 9th and 13th by Jonathan Coe
- Literary Life by Posy Simmonds
- Bach by Denis Arnold
-
The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert
Currently listening to England's Glory (Bryant and May short stories) and about to start Bamber Gascoigne's book about Kit Williams' Masquerade, which I luckily got through the library - second-hand copies sell for several hundred pounds

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 21/02/2020 19:44
How did I manage to buy read and review the book without realising its Reni not Remi! 😱
MamaNewtNewt · 21/02/2020 19:47
Just bringing my list over.
- Pet Semetary by Stephen King (2/5)
- The Outsider by Albert Camus (5/5)
- Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter by Carol Ann Lee (3/5)
- Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. (4/5)
- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. (5/5)
- 4321 by Paul Auster. (4/5)
- Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. (3/5)
- The Devil's Teardrop by Jeffrey Deaver. (1/5)
- A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor. (3/5)
- What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. (4/5)
- A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor. (4/5)
- A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor. (4/5)
- Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay. (1/5)
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. (3/5)
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 21/02/2020 19:55
Thanks, South. No list to bring over, as I've not made one. I'm finding it oddly liberating!
BestIsWest · 21/02/2020 20:07
Thank you SouthEast also no list here (joins Remus in the rebel’s corner).
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 21/02/2020 20:23
Best - fist bump.
Piggywaspushed · 21/02/2020 20:24
My list is a bit short :
- Following On – Emma John
-
Number One Chinese Restaurant – Lillian Li
- If Cats Disappeared From The World – Genki Kawamura
- Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
- The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
- Now We Shall Be Entirely Free – Andrew Miller
- The Ballroom – Anna Hope
- Emma - Jane Austen
- The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
AnUnlikelyWorldofInvisibleShad · 21/02/2020 21:32
MurderousContagion is great. I'm hoping to reread it this year.
Jux · 21/02/2020 21:43
Hi all! I haven't got a list of books read this year, and I'm pretty sure if I did one I'd be massively embarrassed by how short it is! If I take one thing from these threads it is that I am not spending enough time reading! For an erstwhile life-long bookworm, that is a bit of a shock!
EineReise, re A S Byatt, I think that I loved her books because they featured a young woman who was studious, intelligent, and rather naive (possibly autobiographical?) which reminded me of me. I suspect that I might find them a little self-indulgent if I were to reread them now. OTOH, we both loved The Children's Book. You could try The Game, which isn't a 'Frederica'' book - though I think it's still autobiographical - or take a punt on The Biographer's Tale, which I haven't read either. Just warning you, I really loved Possession.
Fortuna, I'm v uncertain about the Fry; in nearly 60 years I haven't found any retellings of the myths and legends that beat Graves.
RubySlippers77 · 21/02/2020 22:23
I quite enjoyed The Name of the Rose although that was many years ago - suspect I wouldn't have the patience now! @Terpsichore are you enjoying Conclave? I quite liked that too but found it dragged on a bit - don't think I'd read it again.
I'm suffering with horrible ear infections which means audiobooks are out , but have recently read:
21. The Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
The first in the Amelia Peabody Emerson series of archaeology mysteries. Soooo good and loads of fun. Set in Victorian times; I have no idea if all the archaeological details are correct, but Amelia is a formidable character, especially for the era!
22. Black Arts - Prentice & Weil
YA fiction about a boy who develops, yes you've guessed it I kept thinking I'd enjoy this more than I actually did, but kept going till the end regardless. Don't think I'd read any more in the series though (if there are any?! I didn't even care enough to check...)
23. One of Us is Lying - Karen McManus
YA fiction again, this time about a murder which takes place during a high school detention, and working out whodunnit. Cross between a locked room mystery and The Breakfast Club. I guessed the culprit before the end (unusual for me as I'm a bit dim at these things!) but it held my attention well and I'd read another book by this author.
Taswama · 21/02/2020 22:38
Mostly place marking. I managed 40 books last year (just) and am aiming for 45 this year. Currently on no 11 and my favourites so far:
- Towards zero by Agatha Christie
- 50 things that made the modern economy (audiobook)
- Walking with Plato - musings on philosophy while walking from John O’Groats to Lands End
- Thin Air and 10. White Nights both by Ann Cleves - murder mysteries in the Shetland’s - read in the wrong order
- Last confession of Thomas Hawkins
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.