Challenge: 50 Books discussion

This is my first time posting in this group, although I kept track of my book count in 2009 on my own. I read 52 books last year, although a number of those were plays, children's lit or anthologies of poetry. This year I'm going to count two of these together as one book.

1. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (review) - 8th Jan

2. The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson (review) - 16th Jan

3. Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (review) - 27th Jan

Oh great, I'm slowing down already... :(

pick smaller books. catch up fast. ;)

Thanks for the encouragement, Sooz. I think I might do just that. :)

4. Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (review) - 30th Jan

I was really into this one so I think I went through it relatively quickly.

5a. Copenhagen by Michael Frayn (review) - 6th Feb

It's a play! The stuff I have to read for class is getting heavier so I might be falling behind on my recreational reading a little bit. Anyway, I think I'll read something else short before I claim book number 5. Maybe The 39 Steps.

5b. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (review) - 9th Feb

6. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - 19th Feb

The Virgin Suicides - is this the book that inspired Sophia Copella's movie of the same name? and next question - is it based on an actual occurence?

oh what the heck - while i'm peppering you with questions -

i read what you said about The Thirty-nine Steps - about having high expectations because of Hitchock's movie. i take it you liked the movie? i'm a big Hitchcock fan and am interested in his adaptations from novels like Rebecca and The Thirty-nine Steps etc.

Ask away. :)

Yup, this is the book that The Virgin Suicides movie was based on. It's not "based on a true story" as far as I know, but I've heard that it was indirectly inspired by the decline of Detroit (where the novel is set).

And yes, I did like The Thirty-Nine Steps film. The movie does vaguely follow the overall plot of the novel, but there were quite a lot of liberties taken with the details. For example my favourite bit in the movie was completely absent in the book... not sure if I should say what it is because that might constitute a spoiler, hah.

i've seen the movie several times, and am not likely to read the book - the to-read list is already unmanagable - so no worries about potential spoilers!

7. Death in Venice and Other Stories by Thomas Mann - 31st Mar

I've had an epic dry spell.

8. Among the Thugs by Bill Buford - 5th Apr

9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - 9th Apr

10. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - 14th Apr

11. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima - 28th Apr

12. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - 29th Apr

13. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - 2nd May

14. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - 3rd May

15. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris - 4th May

16. The New World of Mr Tompkins by George Gamow and Russell Stannard - 8th May

17. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger - 11th May

18. Remaking Eden by Lee M. Silver - 17th May

19. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson - 18th May

20. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones - 18th May

I've been productive today. :)

21. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas - 20th May

22. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - 25th May

23. The Zen of Fish, by Trevor Corson - 29th May

24. The Beach by Alex Garland - 1st June

25. Breakfast at Tiffany's (and other stories) by Truman Capote - 2nd June

26. 1984 by George Orwell - 5th June


Halfway through! :D

27. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - 7th June

28. The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom by Alexander McCall Smith (review) - 21st June

29. Mutants: On the Forms, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi - 21st June

30. Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges - 27th June

31. 84, Charing Cross Road (review) and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff - 1st July

32. The Library At Night by Alberto Manguel - 5th July

33. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes - 12th July

34. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - 15th July

35. Turn Again Home by Carol Birch - 18th July

Haven't updated in a while...

36a. White Egrets by Derek Walcott - 24th May
36b. The Character of Rain by Amélie Nothomb - 25th Jul

37. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (review) - 25th Jul

38. Uzumaki by Ito Junji - 13th Aug

39. Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen - 27th Aug

40. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - 3rd Sept

41. The Loser by Thomas Bernhard (review) - 7th Sept

42. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh - 12th Sept

43. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - 6th Oct

44. Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor - 12th Oct

45. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene - 14th Oct


Apparently I've been on some kind of Catholic authors kick and I've only just realized.

46. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe - 18th Oct

47. Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernandez - 1st Nov

48. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox - 8th Nov

49. An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds by Jonathan Silvertown - 14th Nov


One more to go!

50. Behind the Red Mist by Ho Anh Thai - 15th Nov (hurray!)

51. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino - 22nd Nov

52. The Grotesque by Patrick McGrath - 23rd Nov

53. The Prestige by Christopher Priest - 24th Nov

54. The Code Book by Simon Singh - 25th Nov

55. The Political Animal by Jeremy Paxman - 28th Nov

56. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester - 5th Dec

57. Counting Sheep by Paul Martin - 20th Dec

58. Monkey Girl by Edward Humes - 23rd Dec

59. The Erasers by Alain Robbe-Grillet - 28th Dec