50 Books Challenge 2023 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 2023, 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.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Who's in for this year?

I loved this book. Highly recommend it

I'm going to have to read that one just to see if I'm mentioned in it 😉

Hi everyone! I tend to be a starter/non-finisher and end up just lurking on these threads, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to log my finishes this year.

Two finishes so far, both of which I started in 2022.

Heroes by Stephen Fry, which I listened to on Audible. For me, the absolute best way to enjoy these books is listening to Fry narrate them. Some of his accents were a bit dubious, but that just made it all the more entertaining. Did a road trip with my 17 year old DD prior to Christmas, and she ended up listening to a big chunk of it with me and thoroughly enjoying it too. Have already listened to Mythos, so will likely try Troy later this year.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. I read this on the back of a 'If you liked the Chronicles of St Mary's, you'll like these' recommendation, and I did. Nice, easy reading - a library, alternate realities, magic, supernatural creatures and secret societies - what's not to love? Will read #2 after a break to read something else.

@bettbburg you have to tell us more

@PepeLePew Chris Blackwell's enthusiasm for his artists even led me to play some U2 despite being well aware that I really am not excited by their music and never will be.

I’ve just ordered lessons in chemistry. I’ve heard good things, so hopefully it will grip me.

Im still reading honeycomb and it’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve read. It really is magical and it’s a mosaic novel so it gives depth and layers and enhancement to the story. I think I will add the book Chocolat to my list to read in the future.

So far The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
Devil's Delight (Agatha Raisin) by MC Beaton / R Green
Just started The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
Not very likely to get to 50 books as I tend to read quite a bit over Christmas but then tend to drift off or stop finding something I want to read for ages, but going to try to read more this year

I’ll go halves @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

@BestIsWest Sorry but no. I would very happily give you my last Rolo or even my last book, but Jarvis is not for sharing.

@bettbburg Stop teasing and spill!

I'm going to have to read that one just to see if I'm mentioned in it

Dibs on you being the ex who bought him a Marianne Faithful LP

Finished my first book of the year. A bit of a monster at almost 600 pages. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen.
This is the first in his A Key to all Mythologies trilogy and it is excellent. It’s compared to Middlemarch on the back (‘a key to all mythologies’ is a reference to it - I think it’s the book being written by Dorothea’s boring husband?).
It is set mostly in the USA in the early seventies and follows the fortunes and foibles of members of a family who have close connections to an evangelical church. ‘Crossroads’ is the name of the hippie youth group connected to their church but obviously refers to the characters ‘being at crossroads’ in their lives.
The characters are beautifully drawn and very believable. Themes include religious faith, infidelity and the treatment of the Navajo people. Although I’m not religious, I liked the way Christianity was examined sympathetically in the novel.
I’m looking forward to reading more of Franzen’s novels as I haven’t done so before.

I got bored of the daily read (although it’s not daily by the end anyway) aspect of The Christmas Chronicles - Nigel Slater so just finished the last few entries of that tonight. It’s already been far more perfectly reviewed by Pepe so I won’t try to add anything more.

I’m sure I’ll return to it to be irritated and charmed in equal measure again some future late November - perhaps one day I’ll even try one of the recipes.

Im tempted by the Jarvis Cocker now, though really really must try to tackle some of the stuff that’s been kicking around my tbr pile for absolute years first.

@Nuffaluff I have this on my Kindle and hope to get to it soon. I loved The Corrections, wasn't as keen on Purity or Freedom so interested to see what he has come up with this time. I read Middlemarch at least 30 years ago and remember just being rather bored by it - do you think you need to know it?

Yes @bettbburg we need more about Jarvis, spill the beans!

@Sadik I do often find myself singing "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" while doing the Christmas jigsaw... Otherwise agree on U2!

Still wading through Glory, I think the story is coming through a bit more now - about halfway through, but unconvinced by some of the stylistic quirks.

2 Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, trans. by Geoffrey Trousselot

This was a book club read and I loved it. I was wondering about it being too similar to A Midnight Library which we read last month and I thought was very underwhelming and to borrow from other reviewers, creative writing by numbers. But this, this was beautiful, light and heavy at the same time. I savoured every moment and the ending was perfect.

There is a chair in a cafe in Tokyo where you can visit the past, you just have to return to the present before the coffee gets cold. Utterly superbly done. I was interested to read that the writer is really a playwright and this was first written that way and I can envisage it as a stage production and would pay good money to see it.

I finished my first book of 2023 - A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe. This was a beautifully written book. I'd been putting it off because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to read a book about Aberfan but, while the tragedy line large throughout the book, it's very much more the account of a young man's coming off age.

Next is The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn.

Hello and happy new year everyone.

I’d like to join in this year - I get through 50 books or so a year, and in 2021 and 2022 I started cataloguing everything I read. Kept meaning to join in with these threads but both years I forgot all about it until halfway through the summer!

I’ve already finished Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. Just started The Whalebone Theatre but I have a bit of an odd relationship with historical fiction so I’m hoping it grips me.

I’d like to join please! I mostly lurked last year but did manage to read 50 books.
I started out this year reading The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy but just can’t get into it. I’ve persevered for a couple of days but it’s becoming a chore, so it goes.
Instead, I’ve just picked up The Remains of the Day after enjoying Klara and the Sun last year.
I love this thread for all the suggestions for future reading! St Colombo I also loved Before the coffee gets cold.

Warning @StColumbofNavron I LOVED the first one, sequels (two thus far) are a bit diminishing returns.

Heading straight in with a controversial choice @Janedownourlane Ishiguro is much debated on here!

I also DNF The God of Small Things - gave up after finding part of it too upsetting/disturbing. I think I posted about it here at the time actually.

I loved the Remains of the Day though!

Book one finished. Daphne de Mauriers Rebecca. Written beautifully, easy enough to read, but lacking a bit of bite. I’m glad I’ve read it but not totally overwhelmed.

I probably won’t have to worry about that as I am terrible at reading any sort of series. Or I read them years later when I can barely remember them.

Would also like to to join in please; I want to get back into the habit of reading. I'm very rusty so am going to start very gently with light reads and will revisit a few old favourites early on (e.g. Persuasion/Austen and some of Nancy Mitford's novels) to help me get back into the swing of it.

Just started The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz and am enjoying it. Finding it quirkily entertaining.

Looking forward to joining you on your 2023 journey.

Thanks @southeast
Please could I join?
Kicking off with Silverview by John Le Carre.

Hello new joiners!

1. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Newlyweds move in to a building with a dark past and occupants who are not what they seem.

Just like The Talented Mr Ripley I felt my reading experience suffered from having seen the film first, which is why ordinarily I try and make sure I have read the book.

I saw the film roughly 15 years ago, and some scenes in it have really stayed with me. In the novel, whilst the sheer horror of how she is gaslighted and made to feel crazy is there, is not as really fucking scary as it is in the film. The way a woman, who is right, can just be discredited as a hysteric simply for her sex. The book is more subtle, but I think the film does steal this one if only for the end scene and everything it makes you think.

I would still recommend this though.

I wouldn’t normally update quite so quickly but I have just finished another of the Darklands series of books Hex by Jenni Fagan and I wanted to immediately talk about it.

The setting is the North Berwick Witch trials and Geillis Duncan waits in a cell for her execution. She is greeted by Iris, a visiter from the future who comforts and guides her to what has to happen. Don’t be put off by the time traveller element - this is a story of wrongdoing and anger as well as, incredibly, love and positivity. It’s another novella so one to take in over one sitting. I am typically a very fast reader - I almost scan the text so miss huge chunks if not careful. This had me narrating it in my head. The prose is wonderful - furious, damning and beautiful - which made me slow right down and read every single word.

I haven’t read any of the author’s other books so I would love to hear if others have and enjoyed them.