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?

I read Behind The Scenes years ago
and felt nothing for it. In fact I avoided Kate Atkinson for a long timesfter After enjoying the earlier Jackson Brodie books and loving Life After Life (an acquired taste I found) I re read Behind The Scenes last year (or the one before) and thoroughly enjoyed it 😂
I do find my likes and dislikes depend where my head is!

1. The Truants by Kate Weinberg - thanks Welshwabbit it’s on my wish list due to your great review

Currently half way through The Thursday Murder Club - fluffy and amusing, just what I need right now

Troubled Blood - Robert Galbraith

The first thing to say is that it’s far, far to long and if I had been reading this on a kindle i would have struggled. She does like to use 10 words when 1 will do, and her editor need to be more forceful, no is a complete sentence.

If it’s possible to to actually really like and get really irritated by a book then this has done it, the main plot was good, I got lost on the astrology bit, but a good few twists and turns. The sub plots, unless they miraculously play any part in future books were another waste of a few trees. I did get very bored of how women drooled over Strikes’ rugged good looks. I also did fact check a few things which I felt were wrong.

Jk Rowling needs to go back to basics again and just stick to one plot line and do it well.

Moving on to calmer waters now and found my DH’s copy of Good Omens which was his favourite book, so bed and bath tonight before another long day at work again tomorrow.

@scentedgeranium

I'm in! First three arrived today. Using Bookshop.org rather than Amazon which I'm boycotting this year. Yeah that's right. I'm gonna make them squeal! I have no problem finding contemporary fiction and poetry which I'll enjoy but will keep my eyes peeled on this thread for nineteenth century and early twentieth goodies. I used to gorge on stuff like Trollope but haven't had the drive to go for similar stuff for decades now.

I enjoyed Pine

1. The Atrocity Exhibition (Laundry Files #1) by Charles Stross

The premise was interesting enough - What humankind has called "magic" throughout history is nothing more than a branch of applied mathematics. Mathematicians, physicists and even philosophers can stumble upon the formulas allowing them to conjure beings from other dimensions, spellbind people, destroy cities... A secret government agency keeps an eye on "dangerous" theories/inventions, and takes care of occult terrorists.

This had its interesting moments and original ideas, but it was not as good as the author's more recent book Accelerando which I read last year.

fortuna I have an audible credit and might do the same with Ducks, I didn’t think of it. Not that I have any time to myself for the foreseeable future but you never know.

Evening all,

1. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke I loved this magical, hypnotic book who’s gradually became clearer the more one read. I had no expectations or ideas about this, only wanted to read it because I also loved Jonathan Strange...

I have realised however, that I’m not awfully good at writing reviews, so I may end up posting lists and adding to my TBR pile

Ducks is definitely value for money for an audible credit. You do have to cut her off midflow as there are no breaks, but it is quite bitty in some ways so lends itself to listening in pieces. I'd say you need to do little and often though as it does start to link in as you go on and you might miss out on some of the subtle connections. You'll get very trigger happy on the pause button waiting for a decent pause for breath

I haven't had the head for it tonight as it's too good to not pay full attention to. I don't want to miss a thing.

Just a heads up to those not wanting to use amazon. I discovered Bert's Books during lockdown 1.0 (who'd have known we'd have many). Free delivery and the books come wrapped in ribbon.
If the book isn't on the site email or message via twitter or Facebook and it will be added

Blackwell's is also a good Amazon alternative. They deliver free as well and I've always found them to be quite competitive price-wise.

1. The Duke And I (Bridgerton) by Julia Quinn

Remus got there ahead of me and is correct that it is a total turd but enjoyable in a trashy way.

I still stand by my recommendation of the TV series, but it proves one of those rare occasions, where, with several departures, the adaptation is a vast improvement on the source.

fortuna it sounds good but like I might have to go on a special Ducks walk (or waddle, if you will) to listen to it - not a great one to fall asleep to as I’d have no idea where I was!

plus3 I think that’s a good review of that book as you difficult to describe without giving away too much. I really liked it too

And to the anti-Amazon chat I gets a lot of things from Abe books, both new and good condition secondhand. You can order from Blackwells through there too I believe.

AbeBooks are great but also owned by Amazon.

Sorry, post cut off. I was surprised to read that Abe had been bought out by Amazon as they have long been my place to look for second-hand/vintage books, especially when I want something specific.

1. Llama Drama: A two-woman, 5,500 mile cycling adventure through South America by Anna McNuff

Does what it says on the tin! It started well and ended well but I felt the middle sagged a bit as a lot of it was quite repetitive. I read her book where she cycled through the USA but in that one she stayed with lots of people so hearing about them kept the book interesting. Here they were mainly wild camping so didn’t meet that many people. I also found her habit of referring to her friend as Faye-Bomb very annoying.

I’m really enjoying uk.bookshop.org/ both of my local independents have store fronts on it so they benefit if they have the stock you want. Plus it has the few click ease of purchase that Amazon does.

1. Treachery by SJ Parris
This is the 4th book in a series and is a well written historical murder mystery set in Elizabethan England with nice details of actual events and people and in this one follows Sir Francis Drake in Plymouth as he embarks on a voyage to the New World. I didn't think I'd like the setting but there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me turning the page. I like the insights into the players of Elizabeth's court as well.

One for fans of Shardlake.

I've abandoned Big Magic about a third of the way through. The author actually means actual magic, so it's just too woo for me.

Am now reading The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgely. I'm only in the prologue, but he's talking about swimming around the British aisles with a jellyfish stuck to his face, and I'm inspired already!

Thanks the recommendation @Juniperandrage. I've download Wintering and looking forward to hunkering down and reading it.

For those wanting magic and witches, Lolly Willowes by Syvlia Townshead Warner is an interesting spin on things and set in the early 20th century. It's as much of a tale of a woman not accepting her lot in life and taking her own path later on in the life.

harlan I’ve been asleep, clearly. Like you, I find it’s the only place to get hold of older, hard to find things. I generally otherwise use the library in normal times and can’t afford to buy new often. Between that and the Kindle I think I might be a subsidiary of Amazon. My independent isn’t signed up to Bookshop so I try to buy direct from them a few times a year to support them.

tammyswanson I really got a lot out of Big Magic, I ignored how she got there and just focussed on what she was saying if you see what I mean. The bones of it, about how to live a creative life and prioritise it if it was ever important to you, had a impact on me and I reignited an activity because of it I had given up, with quite a degree of success, and it’s now a part of my life again. So completely understand how you feel as I diverged at that point too, however I did find it a useful book, but perhaps only if you are in the right frame of mind and willing to sift through the woo.

Can I join please? So far this year I've read 1. Love your life by Sophie Kinsella for the first time and now re-reading 2. Mr Mercedes by Stephen King.

Nice photo reading my #1 for the new year while on holiday!

I'll go against the majority here and profess my love for Amazon. I know that Amazon has become a giant and that the small bookshops are struggling to survive, but as long as I can't get Kindle books anywhere else, it's Amazon all the way for me. I'm grateful to Amazon for having invested in e-readers and e-books when nobody else would, and I'm never going back to print books that you have to cut trees for, physically transport half way around the globe, and carry around town to continue reading.

Also, they have absolutely brilliant customer service that has never disappointed me in the 20+ years that I've been a customer in three different countries. As far as I'm concerned, Amazon deserves every Euro centime that they earn.

My last experience with a bookstore here in France was last year, when DH bought the keyboard score of Well-Tempered Clavier I for me as a present. I already had Vol I so wanted to exchange it with Vol II, literally without having opened a single page. It was refused with a "We don't exchange musical scores because you may have photocopied them"

Do you think I was sad when they went under and had to close?

I buy musical scores from Amazon now, delivered quickly, for free, and in perfect condition. They make no fuss when I return one and they reimburse me immediately.

Satsuki I know, I was surprised. I only found out through a conversation in the Oxfam bookshop, of all places. One of the volunteers recommended Abe because the shop was closing once again for lockdown, and mentioned the ownership as an afterthought. Having said that, Abe still does what it has always done and has a wider reach now, which is good.

I totally love bookshop.org - it couldn't have come at a better time for independent bookshops.

It may have been me who mentioned Ragnar Jonasson. His books are my comfort read at the moment, although the subject matter is not so comforting. It feels very good to go back to a set of familiar characters when your brain is a bit fried.