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50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Eleven

210 replies

southeastdweller · 30/12/2020 13:48

Welcome to the eleventh (and final!) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2020, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and it's still not too late to delurk and tell us your reading highlights and lowlights of the year.

OP posts:
PepeLePew · 31/12/2020 14:45

@Maria5kids - yes, anyone! Do join in - we’d really like that. It’s the nicest corner of the Internet, and everyone is very friendly.

Sonnet · 31/12/2020 14:51

How lovely to see you're all still going.

I was a part of these threads years ago - enjoyed them and found some new authors- but since then I've been incredibly flakey.. dipping in and out including during 2020.

But I'd like to pop back in for 2021 if you'll have me Smile

I'm not a high brow reader, preferring either a gripping yarn or one that will make me 'think' and 'reflect'

I started Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz today and a quiet day today and one planned for tomorrow means it will be my first of 2021.

Hello to anyone who may recognise me Smile

ClosedAuraOpenMind · 31/12/2020 14:54

did it! (just) finished book 51 last night
full list
1Leaving Time by Jodi Picoul
2 If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckermen
3 The Party by Lisa Hall
4 A Million Dreams by Dani Atkins
5 Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
6 Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
7 West Winging It by Pat Cunanae
8 She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
9 The Day We Met by Roxie Cooper
10 The Final Girls by Riley Sager
11 Violet by SJI Holiday
12 The Little Shop of Happy Ever After by Jenny Colgan
13 After the End by Claire MacKintosh
14 Small World by Matt Beaumont
15 I Thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock
16 Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult
17 Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson
18 Keeper by Jessica Moore
19 An American Marriage by Tayori Jones
20 Expectation by Anne Hope
21 Raven Black by Anne Cleeves
22Our House by Louise Candish
23 House of Cards by Michael Dobbs
24 The Guest List by Lucy Foley
25 The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark
26 The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J Ryan Stadal
27 The Last by Hannah James
28 Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
29 Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
30 A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins
31 White Nights by Anne Cleeves
32 How To Disappear by Gillian McAllister
33 Scabby Queen by Kirsten Innes
34 The Bookshop in the Shore by Jenny Colgan
35 Black River by Will Dean
36 Never Greener by Ruth Jones
37 The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
38 Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rose
39 The Pine by Francine Toon
40 We Should All Be Feminists by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie
41 Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven
42 Three Hours by Rosamund Lipton

43 Born Lippy by Jo Brand
44 Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
45 The Happy Depressive by Alastair Campbell
46 The Last Resort by Suzi Holliday
47 The Plague by Albert Camus
48 Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan
49 Quite by Claudia Winkleman
50 'Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay
51 Llama Drama by Anna McNuff

Sonnet · 31/12/2020 14:56

EmGee
I also thoroughly enjoyed Shuggee Bain and The Sealwomans Gift too.
Hamnet too Piggyinblankets

InTheCludgie · 31/12/2020 15:04

Here’s my final list for 2020. I managed to beat last year’s total of 58 which I’m surprised at tbh, not had great focus for much of the year but I won’t complain:

  1. Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
  2. Vinegar Girl – Ann Tyler
3. Me – Elton John
  1. First Lady – James Patterson
  2. Wakenhyrst – Michelle Paver
  3. Bad Spell For The Worst Witch – Jill Murphy
  4. Run Away – Harlan Coben
  5. Funhouse – Diane Hoh
9. The Five – Hallie Rubenhold 10. Melmoth – Sarah Perry 11. Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman 12. The Dutch House – Ann Patchett 13. The Dilemma – B A Paris 14. The Girlfriend – R L Stine 15. The Foundling – Stacey Halls 16. The Guest List – Lucy Foley 17. Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel 18. The Widow’s House – Carol Goodman 19. Cat Among the Pigeons – Agatha Christie 20. Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris 21. When Will There Be Good News? – Kate Atkinson 22. The Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay 23. The Guest House – Abbie Frost 24. The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewell 25 Wolfheart – Richard A Knaak 26. Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham 27. Morgan’s Passing – Ann Tyler 28.Nevertheless – Alec Baldwin 29. The Kennedy Curse – James Patterson 30. 11.22.63 – Stephen King 31. The Nine of Us – Jean Kennedy Smith 32. Searching for Caleb – Ann Tyler 33. The Sunwell Trilogy – Richard A Knaak 34. House of Hell – Steve Jackson 35. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward 36. Moving – Jenny Éclair 37. The Doll Factory – Elizabeth McNeal 38. Exit West – Moshin Hamid 39. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave 40. I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith 41. Ash Mountain – Helen Fitzgerald 42. A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler 43. The Clocks – Agatha Christie 44. My Coney Island Baby – Billy O’Callaghan 45. My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout 46. The Baby-sitters Club – Ann M Martin 47.The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler 48. Educated – Tara Westover 49. The Glass Woman – Caroline Lea 50. The Woman in Black – Susan Hill 51. Trick or Treat – Richie Tankersley Cusick 52. Watching You – Lisa Jewell 53. Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor 54. Career of Evil – Robert Galbraith 55. Daisy Jones and the Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid 56. Malory Towers First Term – Enid Blyton 57. My Cousin Rachel – Daphne du Maurier 58. Number One Chinese Restaurant – Lillian Li 59. Heartburn – Nora Ephron 60.Hercule Poirot’s Christmas – Agatha Christie 61. Christmas at the Beach Hut – Veronica Henry 62. Seven Days of Us – Francesca Hornak 63. A Redbird Christmas- Fannie Flagg 64. Redhead By The Side of the Road – Anne Tyler 65. Christmas at High Rising – Angela Thirkell 66. Skipping Christmas – John Grisham 67. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Stats:

47 female authors / 20 male authors

59 fiction, 8 non-fiction

29 Physical books/ 19 audio/ 19 ebooks

No real turkeys this year although I’d say the one I enjoyed least was Christmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell. It wasn’t bad as such, but I didn’t realise that it was a short story collection. I get on ok with short stories normally but it wasn’t what I was expecting when I bought it.

Top 5 books in no particular order –

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett,
A Spool of Blue Thread, Ann Tyler
Fannie Flagg’s A Redbird Christmas
The Woman in Black, Susan Hill
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 31/12/2020 15:09

Hi Sonnet. Lovely to 'see' you.

Boiledeggandtoast · 31/12/2020 15:10

My last two reads of 2020:

After Midnight by Irmgard Keun Recommended on here I think but I'm sorry I can't remember who by. Written in 1937, the year after Keun left Nazi Germany as a blacklisted author, it tells the story of 19 year old Sanna and her circle of family, friends and acquaintances from a variety of backgrounds over a brief period. It's not a long book and I read it quite quickly, but it brilliantly conveys the horror and hysteria of pre-war Germany and I found it much more menacing and unsettling than Alone in Berlin which I read earlier this year.

Negative Capability by Michele Roberts Another recommendation from this thread, from Terpsichore, for which many thanks. Michele Roberts decided to write a diary after her latest novel was rejected. It is a wonderfully honest account of her insecurities as well as her life as an author and friend. I live and work in South-East London so know many of the places she describes, and have also read a few of her novels so was really interested in the insights from her personal life, but I think it would still work beautifully if you came to it blind, as it is full of wonderful descriptions of France, food, love and life in general.

Finally, my stand out reads for 2020:

A Chelsea Concerto, and The Dancing Bear, both by Frances Faviell
I Will Never See the World Again by Ahmet Altan
Autumn Journal by Louis McNeice
Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman

Many thanks for all the wonderful reviews and wise and witty words from the thread in 2020, and a Happy New Year to all fellow readers!

Sonnet · 31/12/2020 15:19

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Hi Sonnet. Lovely to 'see' you.
You too Remus Smile
IsFuzzyBeagMise · 31/12/2020 15:20

Hello, I'd like to join in for next year. I am always reading, and I would like to start a log. I'm looking forward to getting some recommendations here. I usually read fiction and love getting lost in a good book.

Sonnet I read 'Magpie Murders' last year and I really enjoyed it. I would read it again, and I don't say that often!

Terpsichoreindeer · 31/12/2020 15:28

Oops, I’ve managed to squeeze in one more before midnight - and it brings me to a nice round number so win-win Smile

105: To Bed With Grand Music - Marghanita Laski

This was published in 1946 under a pseudonym, Sarah Russell. Young wife and mother Deborah Robertson bids goodbye to husband Graham as he goes reluctantly off to war, both of them agreeing - rather vaguely - that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they had the occasional marital lapse under the circumstances. Deborah proceeds to embark on a career of full-on wining, dining and bedding with assorted males, facilitated by her knowing friend Madeleine. Laski is merciless in laying bare Deborah’s absurdly self-indulgent thought-processes in justifying her behaviour as she gradually jettisons all the attachments that anchored her to her old life, including her toddler son, and becomes a spoiled, egotistical monster unable to face the truth of her own
behaviour (her ‘unfaithfulness’ certainly isn’t an issue to me; the problem is Deborah’s inability to admit what she’s doing and trying to dismiss it with ever more ludicrous justifications to herself). A fascinating and unusual view of ‘home front’ wartime behaviour which was, predictably, badly reviewed on first publication, but has the inescapable ring of truth.

FortunaMajor · 31/12/2020 15:39

I've just done my stats. Despite good intentions, my tally chart got abandoned months ago. I was originally tracking how many books in translation and how many classics, but I lost count. I had toyed with the idea of only reading women this year,

Fiction 87%

Non-fic 13%
Female 83%
Male 17 %
BAME 19%
Print 3%
Ebook 3%
Audio 94%

I've compared to 2019 out of curiosity.

Fiction 90%
Non-fic 10%
Female 68%
Male 32%
BAME 13%
Print 22%

E-book 8%
Audio 70%

I need to start picking up actual book again as I have a house full of them.

TimeforaGandT · 31/12/2020 15:42

Here’s my list for 2020:

  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. The 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 26. Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell 27. Odds Against - Dick Francis 28. Flying Finish - Dick Francis 29. Blood Sport - Dick Francis 30. Dishonesty is the second best policy - David Mitchell 31. Forfeit - Dick Francis 32. Rat Race - Dick Francis 33. Bonecrack - Dick Francis 34. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway 35. The Thief of Time - John Boyne 36. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 37. A Thousand Ships - Natalie Haynes 38. Smokescreen - Dick Francis 39. Slay Ride - Dick Francis 40. April Lady - Georgette Heyer 41. All the Light we cannot See - Anthony Doerr 42. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving 43. Knock Down - Dick Francis 44. Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier 45. High Stakes - Dick Francis 46. The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker 47. First Term at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 48. Magpie Lane - Lucy Atkins 49. The Dutch House - Ann Patchett 50. Middlemarch - George Eliot 51. In the Frame - Dick Francis 52. Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey 53. Risk - Dick Francis 54. The Weekend - Charlotte Wood 55. Trial Run - Dick Francis 56. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos - Dominic Smith 57. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth 58. The Binder - Bridget Collins 59. Whip Hand - Dick Francis 60. Reflex - Dick Francis 61. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie 62. Marking Time - Elizabeth Jane Howard 63. Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid 64. Second Form at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 65. A Change of Climate - Hilary Mantel 66. The Franchise - Josephine Tey 67. In the Third at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 68. The Dressmaker’s Gift - Fiona Valpy 69. Upper Fourth at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 70. Burnt Sugar - Avni Doshi 71. Cotillion - Georgette Heyer 72. In the Fifth at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 73. Twice Shy - Dick Francis 74. After the Party - Cressida Connolly 75. Last term at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton 76. Heartburn - Nora Ephron 77. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - John Le Carre 78. Fifty Fifty - Steve Cavanagh 79. Dead Lions - Mick Herron 80. Thinking about it only makes it worse - David Mitchell

Very pleased with this number as 10 more than last year although some of them were pretty short (Malory Towers) but balanced by some longish ones.

I have read lots of new authors, read some classics I had never previously read, re-read some old favourites (still going with the Dick Francis re-reads) and enjoyed some series which I have yet to finish (the Cazelets, Slow Horses, the Chronicles of St Mary’s).

Thank you all for your reviews, recommendations, good humour and company.

Happy new year and a better 2021 to you all. See you on the 2021 thread when I finally finish A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel - 500 pages in and about 400 to go!

Terpsichoreindeer · 31/12/2020 15:55

@Maria5kids Join us! Welcome. No need to do anything except read a book and come and share how you felt about it Smile

A few stats from me - I won’t post my whole list.

I read 105, which is the highest total I’ve ever managed. This feels like a big achievement, especially since I lost my mum in October and had a period of not really being able to read much. And to be honest the books since then haven’t been all that taxing, but at least I managed to start again.

Favourites this year:

The Missing Ink - Philip Hensher
A Very Private Eye - Barbara Pym
The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden
Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel
On the Plain of Snakes - Paul Theroux
Nothing to Report - Carola Oman
Somewhere in England - Carola Oman
Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life - Rose Tremain
Nine Pints - Rose George
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The House by the Thames - Gillian Tindall
The Man in the Red Coat - Julian Barnes
Walking With Ghosts - Gabriel Byrne

Of my 105, 63 were by women writers
19 were library e-books
42 were non-fiction

bibliomania · 31/12/2020 16:06

Everyone welcome, new and old (hi again, Sonnet!)

There's no shame if people need to to duck out of the threads for a bit, or don't read many books, or don't feel they read the 'right' kind of book. If you've read something (or abandoned it in disgust) and you want to talk about it, just hop on board!

FortunaMajor · 31/12/2020 16:10

For the second year I've noticed that I have a high hit rate for stand out non-fic. I'll aim to read more next year.

Top 5 non-fic standouts were

Our Bodies, Their Battlefields - Christina Lamb
Guest House for Young Widows - Azadeh Moaveni
Our Women on the Ground - Zahra Hankir
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
The Five - Hallie Rubenhold

Top 5 fiction

Actress - Anne Enright
My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell
Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel
Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar
The Other Americans - Laila Lalami

I had about 20 DNFs, but I'm too lazy to list them.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 31/12/2020 16:23

I'm another hasn't read Kes since I was 15. Should give it a go.

@highlandcoo

Bridgerton - you know BAFTA worthy it is not, but absolute perfection in terms of festive viewing.

BestIsWest · 31/12/2020 16:52

Betts it was so good I read it again as soon as I finished it.

bettbattenburg · 31/12/2020 17:03

Welcome Sonnet and Maria

Indigosalt · 31/12/2020 17:13

Happy New Year to you all Smile and a huge thank you to Southeast for diligently keeping the thread going during this most difficult of years.

I have fallen off the thread spectacularly as result of taking on a new role at work which has been much more demanding than I anticipated. I'm determined to achieve a better work life balance in 2021, and hoping this thread will keep me on track. I hope everyone is well, and that you've all had a peaceful and happy Christmas!

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's highlights and have added many titles to my 2021 TBR list.

Although it has not been a classic year for reading for me, I've still come across a few gems. I've posted my full list below with highlights in bold.

  1. Anatomy of a Scandal – Sarah Vaughan
  2. Childhood: The Copenhagen Trilogy 1 – Tove Ditlevsen
  3. Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
  4. Animal Farm – George Orwell
  5. Hazards of Time Travel – Joyce Carol Oates
  6. Ghost Wall – Sarah Moss
  7. Florida – Lauren Groff
  8. This is Pleasure –Mary Gaitskill
  9. Only Killers and Thieves – Paul Howarth
  10. Milkman – Anna Burns
  11. Ladder of Years – Anne Tyler
  12. Youth: The Copenhagen Trilogy 2 – Tove Ditlevsen
  13. Motherwell – Deborah Orr
  14. The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
  15. The Five – Haillie Rubenhold
  16. Slack-Tide – Elanor Dymot
  17. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
  18. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
  19. A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry
  20. The Garden of Evening Mists – Tan Twan Eng
  21. Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell
  22. Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
  23. Amnesty – Aravind Adiga
  24. Hurricane Season – Fernanda Melchor
  25. The Gathering – Anne Enright
  26. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
  27. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys – Viv Albertine
  28. Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
  29. Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
  30. Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy 3 – Tove Ditlevsen
  31. On Chapel Sands – Laura Cumming
  32. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
  33. Invisible Women : Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado Perez
  34. My Face for the World to See – Alfred Hayes
  35. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernadine Evaristo
  36. After Midnight – Irmgard Keun
  37. Blue in Chicago – Bette Howland
  38. Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
  39. The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo
  40. Shane – Jack Schaefer
  41. Saltwater – Jessica Andrews
  42. Slaves of New York – Tama Janowitz
  43. Segu – Maryse Conde
  44. A Luminous Republic – Andres Barba.
  45. American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins
  46. On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey – Paul Theroux
  47. A Clergyman’s Daughter – George Orwell
  48. Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
  49. The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler
  50. Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency – Olivia Laing
  51. The Lying Life of Adults – Elena Ferrante
  52. The Road to Wigan Pier – George Orwell
  53. How Much of These Hills is Gold – C Pam Zhang
  54. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
  55. Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me – Kate Clanchy
  56. Human Acts – Han Kang
  57. The Book of Not – Tsitsi Dangarembga
  58. The Missionaries – Norman Lewis
  59. The Outrun – Amy Liptrot
  60. The New Wilderness – Diane Cook
  61. The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story Kate Summerscale
  62. This Mournable Body – Tsitisi Dangarembga

Fiction highlights

it's a tie between two trilogies. I loved Tove Ditlevsen's Copenhagen Trilogy and Tsitisi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions Trilogy equally and couldn't choose between the two.

Non-fiction highlights

I've read some really excellent non-fiction this year. My top 5 below.

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys – Viv Albertine
The Five – Haillie Rubenhold
Invisible Women : Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado Perez
On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey – Paul Theroux
Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell

I've been catching up on my OMF so I can re-join the readalong thread tomorrow and I also plan to finally make a start on Middlemarch as my first book of 2021. I'm ashamed to admit, I've never read it! Blush.

Happy New Year to you all Wine

Readingandrighting · 31/12/2020 17:48

I’m excited about joining the 2021 thread soon. Thanks for the warm welcome on the previous thread. I love this idea.

Sonnet · 31/12/2020 17:59

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

Hello, I'd like to join in for next year. I am always reading, and I would like to start a log. I'm looking forward to getting some recommendations here. I usually read fiction and love getting lost in a good book.

Sonnet I read 'Magpie Murders' last year and I really enjoyed it. I would read it again, and I don't say that often!

I'm loving it.. Smile
DesdamonasHandkerchief · 31/12/2020 18:00

Hello Maria5Kids, everyone is very welcome in 2021, although if you really have 5 kids I take my hat of to you if you have time to read! See you on the next thread x

Sonnet · 31/12/2020 18:00

@bettbattenburg

Welcome Sonnet and Maria
Thank you !
Maria5kids · 31/12/2020 18:00

Thank you! So nice to join others with the love of reading. At the moment I'm reading
His wife's sister by a j wills. It's a cracker of a book so fa

Maria5kids · 31/12/2020 18:01

And yes, single mum of 5 here! But reading is my escape!