50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Five

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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, 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 and the fourth one here.

How're you getting on so far?

Thanks SouthEast

No list to bring over as I’m not counting.

Started Mrs Bird last night, thankfully only a sample as I hated it.

Slogging on with Bill Bryson’s The Body

Thanks Southeast. Love a shiny new thread. I still haven't sorted my list so it might appear eventually but probably not today.

Currently reading The Sealwoman's Gift.

Thanks Southeast. Also thanks KeithLeMonde about Philippe Sands - I think the podcast is the basis of his new book which is Ratline.

Thanks, South.

I'm not sure what to read next. Might have another go at The Five, but can't say I'm particularly thrilled at the idea right now.

Thanks southeast.

I have bought the lute book, against my better judgement. I feel like certain denizens of the thread have beckoned me down a dark alley - I know I'll regret it eventually but there may be larks on the way.

Thanks southeast

Oh biblio. Another one bites the dust.

Thanks for the new thread, southeast.

Here's my list:

1. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
2. 11.22.63 by Stephen King
3. The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
4. Thomas Hardy: the Time-torn Man by Claire Tomalin
5. Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks
6. The Dark Side of the Mind by Kerry Daynes
7. Back Story by David Mitchell
8. The Path by Malcolm McKay
9. Ulysses by James Joyce

10. The Mother of All Jobs: How to have Children and a Career and Stay Sane by Christine Armstrong 11. Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love by Fergal Keane 12. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss 13. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty 14. Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday 15. Eat, Drink, Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad by Bryony Gordon 16. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 17. To Throw Away Unopened Viv Albertine 18. I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron 19. Bring Me Back by B A Paris 20. My Lovely Wife: A Memoir of Madness and Hope by Mark Lukach 21. The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy 22. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 23. The Stand by Stephen King 24. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 25. Normal People by Sally Rooney

Thanks for the new thread. I don’t think I ever got round to bringing my list over to the last thread so I really will try this time! Will be over the weekend though when I’m on the proper computer rather than phone.

1. Black Hammer Vol 1

2. Life Among the Savages 3. Comet in Moominland 4. Jim Henson’s Biography 5. Catch and Kill 6. A Spool of Blue Thread

1. Thin Air
2. 12 Rules for Life

9. The Sisters Brothers 10. The Pied Piper 11. The Empire of the Sun 12. The 101 Dalamatians 13. The Hobbit 14. My Wild and Sleepless Nights 15. Wild and Crazy Guys 16. The Topeka School 17. Trustee from the Toolroom 18. The Indian in the Cupboard 19. Me Talk Pretty One Day 20. Sputnik Sweetheart

I’m currently reading Such a Fun Age and comfort-listening to Persuasion on Audible

Thank you for the new thread. Here's my updated list, with some short reviews.

1. Wakenhyrst - Michelle Paver
2. Faces: Profiles of Dogs - Vita Sackville-West

1. Country Life - Paul O'Grady
2. French Exit - Patrick DeWitt
3. I've Got Your Number - Sophie Kinsella
4. Hard Pushed - Leah Hazard
5. Trigger Mortis - Anthony Horowitz

8. The Man Who Died - Antti Tuomainen 9. How To Break Up With Your Phone - Catherine Price 10. Burmese Days - George Orwell 11. The Ravenmaster - Christopher Skaife 12. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans 13. Around The World In 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh 14. The Moomins and The Great Flood - Tove Jansson 15. Size Zero - Victoire Dauxerre

16. Shopaholic Ties The Knot - Sophie Kinsella
    Comfort read. This was one of the better books in the series, in my opinion (see no. 24).

17. The Turn of The Key - Ruth Ware

18. My Friend Anna - Rachel DeLoache Williams

19. A Shropshire Lad - A E Housman
    I've meant to read this for ages but it was a struggle to get through it. I appreciate it's not meant to be read straight through. There were a handful of standout poems, but otherwise I found many of them mawkish and others surprisingly macabre.

20. Get Me The Urgent Biscuits - Sweetpea Slight
    Memoir of the assistant to theatrical agent Thelma Holt. Theatre-goers would probably love this, but as I barely have any experience of the theatre it went over my head somewhat.

21. Up - Ben Fogle
    Not sure why I read this when I have Alexandra David Neal's My Journey to Lhasa sitting on desk. I'm sure Ben Fogle is a lovely person but this book is unfortunately not very good.

22. The Truth About These Strange Times - Adam Foulds
This was a surprise. I picked it up at bedtime, woke up DH with my uncontrollable laughter, then the tone darkened very quickly. That being said, it was a rewarding tale of a man with no family and few friends who attaches himself/is adopted by the family of a child prodigy.

23. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez

24. Shopaholic and Sister - Sophie Kinsella
    Contains the most annoying character I've read in a while. I finished it because I wanted an easy read and I'm working my way through the series.

25. Rupture - Ragnar Jonasson
Loved this. This is the third in a five-part police procedural series set on the north coast of Iceland. The main character has ended up there against his wishes and struggles with the isolation. Weirdly, in this instalment the town has been locked down because of an outbreak of an infectious disease. That doesn't feature heavily in the plot, though, and I really enjoyed this. I have the final two books in the series to read and hope to get to them soon.

26. A House of Ghosts - W C Ryan
Loved this. It's a bit of a yarn, set on an island off the Devon coast in 1920, and features spies, ghosts, seances, fake mediums and an arms dealer host. Oh, and a bit of romance.

27. The Book of Forgotten Authors - Christopher Fowler Short pieces on 99 "forgotten" authors, ranging from the not-really-forgotten-but-unfashionable (Georgette Heyer) to one hit wonders and bestsellers who have now disappeared (Jean Plaidy). Fun to read and sent me looking in some new directions.

Currently reading:
Sushi & Beyond - Michael Booth
Metropolitan Stories - Christine Coulson
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Abandoned:
Family Trust - Kathy Wang
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel

1. Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman
2. Vox by Christina Dalcher
3. In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4. Spasm by Lauren Slater
5. Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
6. Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders
7. Written On The Body by Jeanette Winterson
8. Lion by Saroo Brierley
9. Tony And Susan by Austin Wright

10. The Purveyor Of Enchantment by Marika Cobbold 11. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier 12. 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 Reni Eddo-Lodge 31. My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 32. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 33. The Wings Of The Dove by Henry James 34. The Mirror And The Light by Hilary Mantel 35. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 36. The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 37. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold 38. Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 39. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 40. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 41. Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker 42. The Gift Of Fear by Gavin de Becker 43. Capital by John Lanchester 44. Love Child by Allegra Huston 45. The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss 46. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 47. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 48. Little by Edward Carey 49. Lost Girls by Robert Kolker 50. Becoming by Michelle Obama 51. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman 52. Normal People by Sally Rooney 53. Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

Currently reading :

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

What the fuck man? My list is all to cock

Eine, did you mean to post that second post? Your list is fine.

Many thanks as ever South.
My ridiculously small list:

1. March Violets by Philip Kerr
2. Ring The Hill by Tom Cox
3. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
4. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
5. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.
6. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

7. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

1. The Secret Barrister - Stories of the Law and How It's Broken
2. Enigma by Robert Harris

10.Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata 11. Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 12. The Citadel by AJ Cronin

Currently reading The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel. I will take bets on whether I can get through that before the thread is full!

@HarlanWillYouStopNamingNuts

It's emboldened all the wrong books

Ooh, I see, that is annoying. I was amused at your turn of phrase.

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

1. Vox by Christina Dalcher
2. In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Spasm by Lauren Slater
4. Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
5. Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders
6. Written On The Body by Jeanette Winterson
7. Lion by Saroo Brierley
8. Tony And Susan by Austin Wright

10. The Purveyor Of Enchantment by Marika Cobbold 11. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier 12. 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 Everywhereby 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 Reni Eddo-Lodge 31. My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 32. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 33. The Wings Of The Dove by Henry James 34. The Mirror And The Light by Hilary Mantel 35. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 36. The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 37. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold 38. Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 39. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 40. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 41. Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker 42. The Gift Of Fear by Gavin de Becker 43. Capital by John Lanchester 44. Love Child by Allegra Huston 45. The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss 46. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 47. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 48. Little by Edward Carey 49. Lost Girls by Robert Kolker 50. Becoming by Michelle Obama 51. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman 52. Normal People by Sally Rooney 53. Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

Fixedish

Bringing across my list:

1. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
2. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

3. Once upon a River - Diane Setterfield

1. Tombland - CJ Sansom
2. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas - Agatha Christie
3. White House Farm - Carol Ann Lee
4. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

8. A History of Loneliness - John Boyne

1. The Last Tudor - Philippa Gregory

10. The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie 11. Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway 12. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams 13. Pigeon Pie - Nancy Mitford 14. A Country Escape - Katie Fforde 15. Slow Horses - Mick Herron 16. Bookworm - Lucy Mangan 17. Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor 18. A Symphony of Echoes - Jodi Taylor 19. The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard 20. A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor 21. Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut 22. Circe - Madeleine Miller 23. Dead Cert - Dick Francis 24. Nerve - Dick Francis 25. For Kicks - Dick Francis

Currently reading Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

And thank you southeast!

Thanks southeast.

1. Gods of the Morning by John Lister-Kaye
2. The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Grey
3. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
4. Ten to Zen by Owen O'Kane
5. Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
6. The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner
7. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
8. Black and British by David Olusoga
9. The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid

10. Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie 11. Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves (Vera #4) 12. Wonder by RJ Palacio 13. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 14. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky 15. The Chosen Dead by MR Hall (The Coroner #5) 16. This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health by Nathan Filer 17. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot 18. A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale 19. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy 20. The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves (Vera #5) 21. The Affair by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #16) 22. Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit 23. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry 24. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn 25. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris 26. Heartburn by Nora Ephron 27. The Dry by Jane Harper 28. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 29. Dry by Augusten Burroughs 30. The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly 31. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

And latest completion is:
32. Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves (Vera #6) Not the best in the series, but another competent addition. This one just seemed to mark time in terms of character development of Vera and her team. The story itself became more engaging in the last third of the book. It's set in the run up to Christmas, so I'd probably have enjoyed it more as a cosy murder mystery if I'd read it at the right time of year.

Satsuki

Thanks Southeast, here is my list to date:
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 by Anthony Powell
9. Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
10. Himself by Jess Kidd
11. The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
12. The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
13. The Dutch House by Anne Pratchet
14. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

15. My Antonia by Willa Carter
16. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

17. 11.22.63 by Stephen King on Audible, a much read on here book about a time traveller, Jake, who attempts to stop the assassination of JFK. I much preferred the earlier part of this book where Jake attempts to right wrongs closer to home than the presidents death. Once we get into the part dealing with Lee Harvey Oswald King's meticulous research is very much to the fore and it all got ever so slightly over detailed and a bit dull. That coupled with the fact that the male Audible narrator gave Jakes love interest a whiny southern drawl means this wasn't a great hit with me. Another book that could have been tightened up by a good editor.

Thanks Southeast

Fortuna I am very jealous that you are reading The Sealwoman's Gift as I've already read it and wish I hadn't so I could read it again.

Bringing over my list

1.The xenophobes guide to the English, Anthony Miall

1. Between the stops, Sandi Toksvig

3.Once gone, Blake Pierce 4.The Guilty Mother, Diane Jeffrey 5.The little book of hygge, Meik Wiking 6.It’s too late now, A.A. Milne 7.The world I fell out of, Melanie Reid 8.The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley 9.Christmas at Rachel’s pudding pantry, Caroline Roberts 10.The Patron saint of lost souls, Menna van Praag 11.The octopus nest, Sophie Hannah 12.The 50 list, Nigel Holland 13.The power trip, Jackie Collins 14.The lost child, Patricia Gibney 15.Heads you win, Jeffrey Archer 16.Titanic survivor: Life boat number 6, Pierre Beaumont 17.Sunny Side Up, Susan Calman 18.Honeysuckle House, Christina Jones 19.Double take tales, Donna Brown 20.The deal of a lifetime, Frederick Backman 21.My life in comedy, Nicholas Parsons 22.Seahouses, Richard Barnett 23.Little fires everywhere, Celeste Ng 24.A crime short story collection, Bloomsbury 25.Little girl missing, J.G. Roberts 26.The second book of general ignorance, John Lloyd (QI) 27.New Zealand calling, Alex Richards 28.Swimming with orca, Ingrid Visser 29.The sealand incident, Brent Saltzman 30.Ka Mate, Dan Coxon 31.Fresh of the boat, Simon Collins 32.New Zealand, James Boyle 33.The british colonisation of New Zealand, Charles River 34.The laughing policeman, Glenn Wood 35.Trustee from the toolroom, Nevil Shute Norway 36.The very picture of you, Isabel Wolff 37.Cop Out, Glenn Wood 38.The divine storyteller, William McCandless 39.Swell: a waterbiography, Jenny Landreth 40.If clouds were sheep, Sue Andrews 41.The telephone box library, Rachael Lucas 42.Two old fools down under, Victoria Twead 43.You’ll never see me again, Lesley Pearce 44.Keep calm and swim to France, Mark Ransom 45.Step by step, my life in journeys, Simon Reeve 46.Christmas at the lucky parrot garden centre, Beth Good 47.The MacFarlane guide to descriptive text: recommended reading whilst sitting on a glistening rock after a stroll along a gently babbling brook, Robert Macfarlane 48.Hourly Histories American Revolution 49.Squashed possums: off the beaten track in NZ Jonathan Tindale 50.All balls and glitter, Craig Revel Horwood 51. The Photographer's Saga, Petra Durst-Benning 52. Pulse, Felix Francis 53. The Sealwoman's Gift, Sally Magnussen* 54. QI Book of general ignorance 55. The pants of perspective, Anna McNuff 56. Breaking Borders, James Asquith 57. The corner shop in Cockleberry Bay, Nicola May 58. If street lights could glow ultraviolet, Katherine Highland 59. The Seedwoman, Petra Durst-Benning 60. Secrets at At Bride's, Debbie Young ^Returned for refund* 61. New Zealand: 36 days in wonderland, Mark Wallace

Thanks Southeast

Will bring over my list and update it when I am next on the laptop. Currently reading Olive Kitteridge