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Fifty Books a Year (or fewer)

(805 Posts)
TerriBull Tue 01-Jan-19 07:58:29

Here it is then, GN very own 50 books a year thead, or as the title suggest for those who think that may be a tad too many for them, whatever your personal best may be after a culmination of reading for a year. Don't be daunted by the "50" benchmark, as this is the first thread of its kind, it is experimental and will evolve as it progresses.

So to recap, start off with what you are reading now, or with a new book. How often you come to the thread is up to the individual. Over on MN, some seem to up date every so often with the next few they've read. If you feel so inclined post a review or a synopsis of the book. Definitely share if it's something you've loved......or hated, or shelved hmm Reading material is not restricted to fiction, it can be anything, factual, audio, childrens, The Hungry Caterpillar or the like even!, such books count towards the 50, so who knows, you could be at that figure by the end of today grin

At the end of the year post your complete list with your best read in bold, worst in italics and mention your top five, or top book if you've just read five sad

Here's wishing those who partake a great reading year ahead in 2019.

janeainsworth Wed 06-Feb-19 17:11:58

Oh I’d like to read that greyduster.
She was an amazing woman and such a fascinating, eccentric family.
Years ago I read a book about her sister Unity and her dalliance with Hitler, can’t remember what it was called now.

Greyduster Wed 06-Feb-19 16:01:57

Book eight: “Wait for Me”, an autobiography of Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

mrshat Wed 06-Feb-19 15:29:27

Finished book 5 - Rough Music by Patrick Gale. Excellent read about a family on holiday 30 years ago and today. Well worth reading.
Book 6 - The Herbalist by Niamh Boyce was disappointing. A slightly far fetched story set in 1930's Ireland although some things did ring true!
Currently reading Book 7 - Don't Close your Eyes by Holly Seddon. So far it is promising and I'm enjoying it.

Parsley3 Wed 06-Feb-19 13:10:26

Book 7 : Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain.

mrswoo Wed 06-Feb-19 12:30:30

Kackie I agree with you about The Little Stranger - it was all a bit of a let down and not really what I expected/hoped for.
I love Sarah Waters though so she is forgiven.

mrswoo Wed 06-Feb-19 12:26:59

I’ve just finished The Necessary Marriage by Elisa Lodato it was a bit of a disappointment and not especially enjoyable. I read An Unremarkable Body by the same author a few weeks ago and thought it was much much better and was really looking forward to reading more of her books. Disappointed.
I’ve now started The Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard and so far I am really enjoying it. It is beautifully written.

I’m a bit of a “pot luck” reader, I have favourite authors but I read on Kindle and tend to download anything that catches my eye providing it’s not expensive. I generally skim the reviews and tend to read the 5 star and 1 Star ones and then make up my own mind. I’m finding this thread really useful for recommendations.

Greyduster Tue 05-Feb-19 23:08:33

Just finished number seven ‘Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker. I’ve read many books about the Trojan War, but not from a female perspective. Brilliant, harrowing, unputdownable.

kackie Tue 05-Feb-19 10:27:47

Just finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Walters. Rather disappointed with the ending, not as chilling as I expected. Next is Before this is over byAmanda Hickie.

EthelJ Tue 05-Feb-19 10:14:21

I've just finished number 4.I'm pretty sure I won't read 50 novels unless children's picture books count as I have read several of those to my grandchildren.
Book 4 was 'an academic question 'by Barbara Pym. I only discovered her last year and have to say I do like her. She reminds me of a twentieth century Jane Austen. Stories about manners, romance, relationships and the middle class with a mix of humour and pathos. I loved Quartet in Autumn which I read last year and an unsuitable attachment which I also read last year. I didn't enjoy an Academic Question as much. I think maybe because it was published after her death based on drafts she had written which Hazel Holt has amalgamated to complete the novel.
It's about Caro a graduate who married an academic just after university without ever having worked. Her life is focused on , her husband's career and her colourful friends. She has a child but is not particularly interested in her. She is lot more resourceful than her husband and probably more intelligent but it is he with the career. . I found this book quite an interesting snapshot of life in the 70s

anewilliams5 Tue 05-Feb-19 08:10:47

Should check out some of these, probably your list will exceed the mark 100...... :p

www.books2door.com

SueDonim Tue 05-Feb-19 01:04:45

My eighth book is Love in an English Garden by Victoria Connelly. It's exactly as you might imagine a book of that title to be! grin

Tartlet Tue 05-Feb-19 00:34:03

Just finished ‘The Murder of Harriet Monckton’ by Elizabeth Haynes. Enjoyable but I found it jumped around too much because of the numerous changes of narrator. Worth reading though.

Now on with ‘The Duchess of Nowhere’ by Laurie Graham and enjoying it very much as I have all this author’s books. This is one of her several books which is based on historical fact and her very engaging literary style makes the history both cone to life and entertain. Other books of hers in a similar theme are ‘Gone With the Windsors’, ‘The Importance of Being Kennedy’ and ‘Humble Companion’, the latter about Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s maid. All highly recommended.

Mopsx4 Mon 04-Feb-19 23:12:23

Here are my next 5 books
6 little big man by Katy Reagan
7 summer with my sisters by Holly Chamberlain
8 the mouseproof kitchen by Saira Shah
9 Silver bay by Jojo Moyes
10 The Briny cafe by Susan Duncan

All enjoyable easy reads.

raggyanna Mon 04-Feb-19 15:02:34

3 more books for the list! Nothing like cold and snowy weather for settling down by the fire with a book!
5..Amanda Owen..The Yorkshire Sheperdess. Lovely read, many of you will have seen the TV Programmes about Amanda and Clive Owen and their life as sheep farmers, while rearing their growing family. Funny and interesting, from Yorkshire traditions to dialect, from dreadful weather endured in a very remote part of North Yorkshire to all the friends and neighbours who share their lives. Lovely!
6.. Love and War in London by Olivia Crocket. Another Mass Observation diary kept by a young woman during part of WW2. Fascinating detail about daily lives, not quite in the Nella Last class but entertaining.
7, Marcus Crouch..The Nesbit Tradition, The Children's Novel 1945-1970. A serious look at children's reading, but I loved it as I read many of these books as a child and some of them I read to my children. Brought back many happy memories!

nanaK54 Sun 03-Feb-19 16:27:04

Book 9 - Where the Forest meets the Stars - started yesterday and finished today - what a wonderful book
Oh sorry author Glendy Vanderah

Maggiemaybe Sun 03-Feb-19 15:59:53

I’ve enjoyed my number 4, The Snowman, highly implausible though it was, and I’ll be reading more Jo Nesbø on the back of it. But for now I’ve to be a bit more highbrow with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, for my library reading group meeting on Friday.

seacliff Sat 02-Feb-19 14:20:16

I have just borrowed Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, thanks Sue Donin. Looking forward to escaping to the warm Mediterranean for a few hours. I love his descriptions of the landscape.

seacliff Sat 02-Feb-19 14:12:26

I have been reading books by Lisa Jewell online from my library. I have run out now, I have several more on the wait list. It is I suppose chick lit, but written well, and the stories really drew me in straight away. Rather like Celecia Ahearne books.

I loved Vince and Joy, I Found You, The Third Wife, Before I Met You, The Girls, and Then She was Gone.

nanaK54 Sat 02-Feb-19 13:34:28

Book 8 - The Rumour Lesley Kara - a kindle 99p if I remember correctly - was okay is all I can say really

daffodil07 Sat 02-Feb-19 13:15:33

So far have read, The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morten, 2 JP Delaney books Believe Me and The Girl Before and A Place to Lie by Rebecca Griffiths. All excellent reads. My one disappointment The Librarian by Sally Vickers. Just received my copy of The Suspect by Fiona Barton so will curl up with this tonight whilst the rugby's on tv!

matson Fri 01-Feb-19 16:23:30

Finished Among the lemon trees by Nadia Marks...an easy read holiday type book.
No 8 will be The Suspect by Fiona Barton

Greyduster Fri 01-Feb-19 11:36:23

Finished ‘Songwoman’ by Ilka Tempke. A novel about Caractacus and the Roman invasion of Britain. It was peculiarly engaging to start with but became sort of flabby. She is no Manda Scott, whose Boudicca trilogy stands peerless for that period. This afternoon I will pickup Pat Barker’s ‘Silence of the Girls’, a novel about the Trojan wars. I have read Pat Barker before but it was a novel about the First World War. I hope it won’t disappoint.

Grandy2 Fri 01-Feb-19 10:49:20

Hi Bathsheba, I've read both of those as well. Just checking out Amazon and see she has a new book out in October.

Bathsheba Fri 01-Feb-19 10:27:14

Grandy The Glovemaker's Daughter was a wonderful story, wasn't it? I've read a few of Leah Fleming's books - The Captain's Daughter and The Girl Under the Olive Tree were particular favourites.

SueDonim Thu 31-Jan-19 14:11:02

My Book no 7 is Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Laurence Durrell. It's a memoir of his time living in Cyprus after WW2 and is perfect for this chilly weather. It's a fascinating mix of politics (Cyprus wanting to unite with Greece) and local characters and very funny episodes such as claiming to his neighbours that his brother Gerald died at the Battle of Thermopylae and then meeting a man who claimed to have fought beside him! grin

Terribull I'm glad you persisted - it's wonderful, isn't it?

The Sealwoman's Gift was ultimately disappointing. It could have been so much better. It's a novel based on a true episode of Barbary slavers kidnapping people from Iceland in the 1600's. The Icelandic bits were good but the Algeriers side of the story just wasn't credible. I came away thinking that being a white slave wasn't so bad, lots of scented rosewater and warm sun, jasmine and purple satin.

The time line was also confusing, three years would pass as you turned a page. It's as though Sally Magnusson didn't have enough belief in herself to write a truly good book and so made it rather chick-lit like.