50 Book Challenge 2021 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?

The Land of Maybe even. Think I'm conflating it with The Year of Living Danishly which was just being discussed!

I’ve started The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I seem to be starting the year with vintage children’s fiction.

Kicking off with All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead, which so far is excellent.

@Aahotep

I thought it was devastating, even though I knew how they would end up I felt their shock (I mean Camille and George Jaques had no sadness for Maximilian).

I finally got round to reading APOGS last year and was devastated about Camille and Danton too. Also Thomas Cromwell in the Mirror and the Light, despite in both cases being well aware of the history. Such is the power of Hilary Mantel

Okay, bookers. You've got £30 to order real live books. You want something beautiful that you will wish to keep forever. this means it will not be shitty modern fiction.

What do you buy, and why?

I'm thinking maybe a beautiful cook book and a new copy of The Dark is Rising, but am open to persuasion.

A quick re-read of Moominland Midwinter by Tove Janssen for old times sake.
Next up is Mythology by Stephen Fry

Remus, I don’t usually buy cook books but made an exception for Nigella’s new one. It is lovely and comforting and for the fish finger bhorta alone it is is worth it.

I bought Clememcy Burton-Hill’s Year of Wonder in a similar “something lovely” vein. I plan to work my way through it over the course of 2021 to educate myself about classical music.

Pepe - coincidentally, I made the bhorta a few days ago, as dp was desperate to try it! I was wondering about Nigella, as I do like reading her, but so many of her recipes are carnivorous that she's not really much use for me.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie what about the Penguin Clothbound Classics? I got some for Xmas and am getting a few more for my birthday and they are gorgeous. They have the usual suspects like the Brontes, War and Peace but also some more 'modern' options like Brideshead Revisited and Day of the Triffids.

Her sandwich loaf recipe is also terrific - I’ve got rid of the bread maker and make a loaf every day. I don’t tend to cook her meat recipes as they are a bit much for the DC but I do like the way she puts ingredients together.

1 Hilo Waking the Monsters by Judd Winick

Quite possibly the lowest brow possible first book of the year. Fourth in a series of children's graphic novels belonging to my 8yo. The adventures of an alien boy who falls to earth. Great fun and has a good range of skin colours in the human characters, both major and minor.

Remus, I got Ottolenghi Flavour for Christmas which is lovely, also James Morton’s Bread book which I also like the look of (I’m a good cook but a terrible baker so decided to learn this year).

I bought all the ingredients for the bhorta but was ill so never got around to it. I must try it again. I’ve got quite a few Nigella books and her recipes are usually spot on. I also like the way she credits other people for recipes she’s picked up on.

I'm in! Managed to hit my best total in ages last year so will aim again for 50 but hopefully manage more. Depends how work/the year/my attempt to finally write my own novel goes! Off to a decent start though but don't imagine I'll maintain this pace all year.

1. The Hollow Ones - Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro
I imagine this would work better as a film or tv series. The female character was extremely two dimensional but then again the only character who was really drawn out in any remotely substantial way was demon hunter Hugo Blackwood. I finished this book because by the time I realised it wasn't very good I was in too deep and wanted to find out what happened. What happened was clearly the set up for the next book in the series where it seems the fate of the world will be at stake, but my time and attention will not. I would maybe watch this if it ever made it to screen though.

2. The Sisterhood - Penelope Friday
Lovely fluff. Austen (although not as well written) with lesbians. One mildly titillating sex scene so this is more about the feelings, emotions, and events of the time (Abolitionism) than all that. A pleasurable diversion and a nice palate cleanser after the disappointing first read.

Jessitup , thanks for the recommendation - Plutocrats sounds interesting.

I've started my year with Who They Was which is WAY too gritty for my current mood, but came through on a library ebook reservation which I would feel bad about wasting.

@remus if it were me I'd buy some of the illustratrated Harry Potter books.

I could sleep last night so read Going Green by Nick Spalding not exactly taxing but a good easy read, if a bit formulaic. Will finish it today, then complete Dissolution. My sister brought me some Pc Cast Goddess books that she enjoyed not really my normal thing but I'll give them a crack.

With £30 what about a pop up London? More art than literature. Or something like Building Stories. Or a couple of the Penguin Drop Caps.

Couldn't sleep!

I'd like to join in and aim to read fifty books this year.
Hello to all!

I'm finishing One By One by Ruth Ware.
It's a gripping read and I am ploughing through it quickly.

Can I join in? I found it hard to read early in 2020 and during the first lockdown. But I've been reading furiously over the Christmas break and intend to continue that in 2021. Sure, you can't do anything else in lockdown/winter.

First book is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

@dementedma

A quick re-read of Moominland Midwinter by Tove Janssen for old times sake. Next up is Mythology by Stephen Fry

dementedma Which is the best Moomin book to start with?

Another fan of both Iceland and Names for the sea myself. I must look out for some of her other books.

I'm enjoying Born Lippy by Jo Brand. That said I don't that DS Is appreciating the guffaws that result, though not in all chapters. How ironic that in the 'be nice to each other' chapter she's scornful of the work of a so-called celebrity but also how hypocritical that I agree with her!

Magic Aside from the fact that it's £10 something has stopped me from trying The Thursday Murder Club, I think it's that I like what Osman does on television and I think he should stick at what he is good it. Part of me thinks he is cashing in on his success and cynical me wonders if he wrote it himself or employed a ghost writer. From various reviews I've seen I doubt I will ever read it.

Sol I enjoyed Living Danishly too. She wrote another book as well, the name escapes me, but it wasn't anywhere near as good.

Forth OK then. I hope you enjoy the Faroes book. It was a DNF for me last year, I think it just wasn't the right book for the time so I'll be restarting it again at some point this year. I'm also on #TeamFitzroy but prefer the original shipping forecast name, I'll leave it you to work out which book the second part comes from

Welcome to IsFuzzy and Tayto

Having welcomed the new people I've realised that I think last year was the first year that I have actually started and finished the year on the thread, in previous years I've always dropped off the thread by about February/March (but carried on reading).

@Taytocrisps are the best crisps so obviously you are welcome

Currently reading Half A World Away by Mike Gayle and listening to The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, enjoying both so far. I'm also slowly ploughing through Our Mutual Friend but having to stop every so often to read a list of who's who, getting a little lost with all the characters!

Runforwine and minsmum I've wanted to read the Shardlake books for a while and plan to reserve the first when the libraries (hopefully) open again later this month. Have also bought Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson book from the Kindle 99p sale.

So after my optimistic start my dog found my book on the sofa and ate it so I had to buy it again on kindle!

I have a gifted copy of The Thursday Murder Club on my shelf to read but have similar reservations @finisterreforever, it’s hard not to be cynical about successful celebrities who are good at what they do also magically being good at writing. Or possibly just a little bit resentful wanting to write myself!