Challenge: 50 Books discussion

so I like to have some kind of reading challenge -beyond just numbers. In 2014 it was the 100 year anniversary of WW 1 so I read a lot about it during that year. One year it was to read more books written by women of colour. The year I visited Russia, it was all things by and about Russians.

this year my challenge is a little different.
a book published in 2016
This Census Taker
a book I can finish in one day
The Lover
one recommended by a librarian
The Vegetarian
one recommended by a friend, sibling, spouse
Company of Liars
one I should have read in school but didn't
one I have been meaning to read, but haven't gotten round to
Becoming Madame Mao
one published before I was born
The Scapegoat
a book once banned
one I never finished
the Gone Away World
one I own but have never read
one that intimidates me
one I have already read
The Sheltering Sky

Ooh, I'm looking forward to reading your list! Lots of good categories to fill!

Good luck!

2016 here we come .....52 books - one for each week of the year- AND - they will include the above 12

1. and I'm off to a good start with Purity by Jonathan Franzen ..... one down




2. The Green Road by A Enright.

There are books that are obviously well-written but, for whatever reason, they just don't do anything for you. THIS is one of those books. I didn't care for any of the characters and found no joy being in their presence.

3. A book I can finish in a day

The Lover by Marguerite Duras

She wrote the screen play for Hiroshima Mon Amour, and this slim little novel is very similar to that movie. more poetic than prose, more feeling than thinking.

4. Confessions of a Pagan Nun

This is kind of a tough read .... especially as a woman, though I thought the author showed great restraint. The book could easily have become an anti-christianity rant of EPIC proportions. It illustrates the ugly under belly of misogynistic practices that came along with the new church.

Sooz wrote: "4. Confessions of a Pagan Nun

This is kind of a tough read .... especially as a woman, though I thought the author showed great restraint. The book could easily have become an anti-christianity r..."

Tough, I can take, would you recommend it? I'm, as always, trying to up the nonfiction numbers on my list.

Donna wrote: "Sooz wrote: "4. Confessions of a Pagan Nun

This is kind of a tough read .... especially as a woman, though I thought the author showed great restraint. The book could easily have become an anti-c..."

I'm not sure Donna ... I don't think I know you well enough. I found it really interesting, but I would not call it a page turner. if you have any interest in the history of woman's role in society, or the early days of the christian church you might enjoy it .

Thanks Sooz! Actually this does sound like something I'd find interesting.

Donna wrote: "Thanks Sooz! Actually this does sound like something I'd find interesting."

Donna ... just noticed you refer to it as non-fiction. it's a novel.

5. The Brothers Vonnegut by Ginger Strand

As a young teen I found both Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut and -although their writing styles are very different- I fell in love with both of them. This is a great read for anyone who was as influenced by Vonnegut's novels as I was.

Sooz wrote: Donna ... just noticed you refer to it as non-fiction. it's a novel."

HA!! Then I'll definitely be reading it!

6. The Year of the Runaways by Sanjeev Sahota

I tend to like East Indian novels like The Namesake, A Fine Balance, to name two ... AND i did like this novel right up until the last page. I thought the ending rushed ... after 470 pages how can the ending be rushed?? I had an even worse reaction to the epilogue which I really really did not like. That said, I'd still be willing to give the next Sahota novel a try.

7. This Census Taker by China Mieville

This is a strange little fable-like story.

8 The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

This is a good old fashion gothic tale ... a family melodrama with a dark past and with secrets and a highly improbable narrator. Du Maurier makes it work. its a good read on a cold winter weekend ... AND .... it fills a requirement of my 2016 reading list. it was published a few months before I was born and was the number one on the New York Times best seller list June 1957 ... the month I was born .... so I thought that was kind of fun. do you know what book was number one when you were born?

9. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

set in an Mumbai slum located right beside the city's shiny new international airport it is where poverty and modernity collide head on.

this was chosen as the February read for my real-time book club. it's a good read, but there was something that held me back from truly immersing myself in this book.

10. Company of Liars

This is the one recommended by my sister which fulfills a requirement of my 2016 reading challenge. 4 down!

11. All The Broken Things by K Kuitenbrouwen

a beautiful story. reading the plot summary you'd think it would be grim but the author never gets too heavy-handed. it's a quick and pretty easy read and left me feeling completely satisfied.

12. The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

a great sci fi read translated from Chinese .... the first of a trilogy so yay! there is more where this came from!

13. The Pearl that Broke its Shell

meh. I read this one for my bookclub, and I guess I get why it is popular. While there is a lot of story, it feels superficial to me. I don't feel the author did anything more than scratch at the surface. I am underwhelmed.

14. Time Salvager

a fun sci fi romp through time and space ... but mostly time.

15. When God was a Rabbit

picked by my book club ....it's a fast and easy read. unbelievable and still enjoyable

16. The Lives of Tao

a sci fi that feels a little to light for me. if you like adventure and humour mixed in equal measures with your sci fi, then this book could be for you.

17. The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

very good read about one of the earliest groups of conquistadors, explorers, settlers, clergymen and slaves that landed in Florida. the narrator is one of the slaves and so has a unique view as an outsider looking in. as the fate of the group changes and those in charge slowly lose their place of privilege, we begin to to see how society and civilization prop up caste systems.



18. Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min

I find the cultural revolution fascinating and have had this on my to read' shelf for ages. it definitely qualifies for my 2016 challenge as 'a book I have been meaning to read, but haven't gotten around to'

19 The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway

This meets the criteria of one of my 2016 reading challenge .... I started it a year ago? more? maybe? Anyway, it is one I didn't finish at the time and so I can cross off, 'read one I never finished'

20. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountation

a fairly short concise novel that takes place in one day and while the Iraq war centers prominently in the story, there is no actual war in the story. and even if you are thinking you have no interest in either football or war, you still might really like this book.

21. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

this is one I choose to reread to meet one of my reading challenges. I don't reread a lot ..... there are too many new books on my to read list and I am too curious about them to go back .... but .... there have been books (The Sun Also Rises and The Catcher in the Rye) which were profoundly different experiences for me when I reread them. The Sheltering Sky was not like that. I got one of my challenges (Reread something you've already read) done though, so I can strike that from the list.

22. Horses of God by Mahi Binebine

I don't know what to say about this one. It is a novella - short and concise but at the same time rich in detail with a slow deliberate pace. It was written a few years ago but -given the impact of fundamentalist radicalization plays today- it is still a relevant story.

23. A Gestured Life by Change Rae Lee

meh

24. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu or if you use the Chinese method of last name first .... by Liu Cixin.

this is part two of a sci fi trilogy. The first was not an easy read and neither is this one, but for interesting and compelling and sublime ideas, moral dilemmas and sheer imagination, is an undertaking worth the effort.

25. The Four Books by Yan Lianke

meh.



26. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

this was such an entertaining read!

27. Morgue: A Life in Death

pretty short and pretty entertaining

28. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

a sci fi story about a great quest that takes place in virtual reality. a romping good read that entertained the hell out of me.

29. We are all completely beside ourselves - Karen Fowler

really enjoyed Fowler's writing.

30. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

my first 5 star book of 2016

31. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin




32. I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid.

I love this little book ... as soon as I finished it I started over again. I just had to ...it was that compelling (and short) :)

Red Rising
Station Eleven

You might want to try these two books. Red Rising is a little violent but I liked them both

Kathy wrote: "Red Rising
Station Eleven

You might want to try these two books. Red Rising is a little violent b..."

Kathy wrote: "Red Rising
Station Eleven

You might want to try these two books. Red Rising is a little violent b..."

I have read Station Eleven and liked it a lot ... so you definitely have 'my number'. AND I do not mind violence .... at least it would have to be pretty severe before it would turn me off a book.

33. Infomacracy

it's the author's first novel and I think you can tell

34. City and the City by China Mieville

With every book I read by Mieville I become more impressed.

35. The Girls by Emma Cline

I thought this would be a nice easy summer read. It really wasn't. It was downright unpleasant to read at times but I still ended up liking it, oh the things an author can do!



36. The Vegetarian by H Kang

This is a really curious little book about obsession. I really was intrigued by the first two segments, but the author kind of lost me in the third -and final- segment.



37. Company Town by M Ashby

here's my easy breezy summertime read ... a sci fi not to hard not too soft but juuuuuust right for a lazy afternoon in the sun.

38. The Orion Plan ...

A sci fi action-drama that is a good summer read for those who enjoy sci fi ...



39. The Truth about Luck

meh

40. The Portrait by Iain Pears

41. The Trip




42. Underground Airlines



two so-so reads

43. The Lakehouse by K Morton

I don't read a lot of mystery. For me to pick one up -of my own accord- it would really have to be considered the best of the genre. This is not one I would have read had it not been my book club's choice for a summer read. it's another so-so book except for the ending which I actively dislikes. it's one of those 'tied up with a ribbon and bow' ending where every tittle thing fits in perfectly. those endings feel ridiculous to me ... no worse. I feel insulted by those endings.

44. Time Siege by Wesley Chu

part two of a sci-fi trilogy and the ride continues. the book ends with the stage set for a grand finale. this series is just a romping good adventure.

45. My Brilliant Friend


46. The Story of a New Name


Book one and two of the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. I am sooooo hooked on this series. I am a little surprised by how much I am enjoying them. They are not my usual book fodder.

I'm glad you're enjoying these. They've been on my list for a while, but it's good to know someone whose opinion I respect has given them a thumbs up. Just having a bit of work getting my hands on them.

47. Those who leave and those who stay book three!

Donna wrote: "I'm glad you're enjoying these. They've been on my list for a while, but it's good to know someone whose opinion I respect has given them a thumbs up. Just having a bit of work getting my hands on ..."

apparently I am hooked .... I'm not reading anything else until I am done the series!

48. The Lost Child by Elena Ferrente. AND i'm done. The ending wasn't completely satisfying but then I'm not sure how one ends a four book story of this kind. The entirety of the story is so big and yet so nuanced and intimate and specific ... yeah, I have no idea how you stop a story that is so filled with life.