50 Books a year challenge.

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by AndrewTheAndroid, Mar 6, 2016.

  1. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    Just finished my first novel since starting this challenge.

    1. Hard-Boiled Wonder Land and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

    It is a wonderful novel that blends fantasy and reality by alternating between two different worlds. It has a positive message that even when life sucks you can still be happy.

    Favorite quote: "Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can."

    Next Book: Frostborn: The First Quest by Jonathan Moeller
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2016
  2. 23rdwave

    23rdwave Valued Member

    1 book every two months = 6 books a year. You are a sandbagger, Sir! :hat:
     
  3. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    I am a pretty slow reader as well. I just happen to have a lot of time on my hands right now. Another member here gave me a few tips on time management so I could fit more reading in.
     
  4. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    2. Frostborn: The First Quest by Jonathan Moeller

    A Christian fantasy novel that was really short and had a simple plot. It just about a knight with a magic sword that storms a castle. Other than the heavy Christian messages in the beginning there was a lot of action. I wouldn't recommend this book and I don't know if I will continue the series but it was still a fun book to read.

    I didn't have a favorite quote from this book.

    Next Book: Torrents of Spring by Earnest Hemingway
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2016
  5. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    White Panda has kindly given me permission to join in the challenge, so I'll be logging my books here as well as on my Goodreads account.

    I try and read 52 books a year and usually have another couple of aims in the challenge. This year I'll catch up on some music related stuff, there's about 15 books I need to get and read, and also read up a little on the English Civil War and general stuff about the 17th century.

    1: A Prince Among Stones: That Business with the Rolling Stones and other Adventures by Prince Rupert Loewenstein

    Towards the end of the 1960s the Stones began to question why despite being considered one of the biggest rock bands going and having excellent record sales and sell out concerts, they had little money to show for it. They draft in merchant banker Loewenstein to get their finances in order, free them from their existing contract and basically make them a huge pile of cash.

    Despite starting well I was quite disappointed with this book. The book is not a straight rock biography, it also shows how society was changing in the 1960s and also how the financial sector began to view rock music. No longer were bands seen as "long haired louts" but long haired louts who could make buckets load of cash. That's all good stuff, but the remainder of the book is basically Loewenstein, a descendant of European aristocracy, name dropping and telling pointless and dull anecdotes about meeting various members of the aristocracy, the powerful and the ultra rich that more often than not had no relation to the Stones, their business or rock music in general.

    It could have been a cracking read.
     
  6. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    3. Torrents of Spring by Earnest Hemingway

    Great novel by a great writer. All the important characters were likable and had a lot of depth. It starts off a little slow but picks up towards the end.

    Next Book: The Name of the Wind.
     
  7. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Mind if the rest of us jump in and post our 50BAY reading lists pal?
     
  8. AndrewTheAndroid

    AndrewTheAndroid A hero for fun.

    Go a head :).
     
  9. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    I was hoping we'd get more people in on the challenge!
     
  10. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    I routinely read 50+ books a year, so not a challenge for me.
     
  11. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    What I have read thus far in 2016.

    1. '48 Laws of Power' by Robert Greene

    A blueprint for controlling your emotions, thoughts and actions in social settings, which allows you to [somewhat] influence the emotions, thoughts and actions of those around you. Not quite a manual on Jedi mind control. Think of it more like 'The Art of War' meets 'NLP for Dummies.' I think significant practice of the principles outlined in the book is required to have a degree of success. But I can attest to using some of the lessons to drive positive outcomes (for me), in particular when it came to negotiating for better interest rates on a business loan. Certainly worth a look.

    2. 'Becoming a Supple Leopard' by Kelly Starrett

    I read this title once before, but went through it in its entirety again after referencing some mobilisation exercises for the hip capsule. As some of you might know, I make my living from being a sports therapist and athletic trainer with a specialist focus on flexibility training. I own pretty much every title available on the subject, and have met and trained with most of the authors (including Starrett). The guy knows his stuff. You should expect so, given he is a doctor in physical therapy. This book in particular has been much touted by the CrossFit community, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. Now forgive me, but I'm going to make some generalisations about those enthusiastic folk. On the one hand, they seek out all the latest knowledge to give them the very best advantage in their "sport" (if you can call it such). But on the other hand, the moment they find something which has even the slightest return on investment (including returns which can be described as perceptual and anecdotal at best), they latch onto it with blinding passion. As such, 'BASL' is promoted by the CrossFit community as the koran of mobility training, with a zeal that rivals the most fervent preachers in ISIS. The downside here is they overlook some advice of Starrett's which I would say is horse crap. In particular, he says static stretching ("Hanging out in end range" as he calls it) offers zero benefits whatsoever, which is contrary to all the peer-reviewed literature out there (hint: 'BASL' is not peer-reviewed). It's good but it's not the be-all-end-all like some would have you believe.

    3. 'Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement' by Sigrid Macdonald'

    I bought this last summer in anticipation of undergoing double hip replacement surgery in late November (right THR and revision on previous left THR). I've been through the process before and my knowledge base as a sports therapist meant I already had my rehabilitation planned out before the procedure was booked. I wanted reading material that addressed the nerves and uncertainty which accompany an invasive procedure like THR. This book delivered on all fronts and the humorous tone was great. I might be cheating here as I read it last year, but I include it in this list as I re-read it twice this year already (and may do so again several more times).

    4. 'Bill Gates: 101 Greatest Business Lessons, Inspiration & Quotes' by Chris Johnston

    Fairly light reading. Most of the content could have been found in an hour's Google search. One or two useful pointers but nothing groundbreaking.

    5. 'Talk like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds' by Carmine Gallo

    Possibly the best book on public speaking/presentation skills I've ever read. Very easy to digest style of writing and all the referenced presentations are available free online, so watching the videos while reading the text really drives the author's points home. You will find it useful if your role involves talking to people in any format, be that an audience of 1 or 1000.

    6. 'Alien: River of Pain' by Christopher Golden

    I will devour any novel based on the Alien franchise in a matter of hours. This was different however. Book 3 in the most recent series to be released (I think the last series was the 'Earth Hive / Female War / Nightmare Asylum' trilogy in the early 90s), this title focuses on the parents of Newt (the young girl in the second movie) as they try to build a life on the doomed LV-426 colony of Hadley's Hope. The first two books were real page turners, but this was a let-down. I abandoned it for a few weeks after reading only the first half dozen or so chapters. I think my love for the Alien franchise is what pushed me through to the finish line. The story had potential but was slow to take off (I think it didn't get started properly until around the 200 page mark... and there's maybe 350 pages in total) and the author failed to bring any characters to life.

    7. 'Predator - Incusion: The Rage War 1' by Tim Lebbon

    This was great! Got it in a BOGOF offer on Amazon with the aforementioned disaster that was 'Alien: River of Pain.' Lebbon wrote the first book in the latest trilogy of novels. His style is very easy to read and his pacing is excellent. 'Rage War 1' charts the start of a full scale interstellar war between predators and humans, leading to some brilliantly-told battles between the two species. The xenomorphs don't want to stay out of the limelight for long, and they too get stuck in. Fast-paced with believable, fleshed-out characters and a damn fine plot. Can't wait to start the other two books in the trilogy.
     
  12. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    All right smarty pants, post your list then lol. :p
     
  13. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    I am a little behind on the 1 (ish) a week needed for 50 books this year. but so far.

    Karl Hiassen- Double Whammy, and Native Tongue.

    Environmental black crime comedy well worth a go if you have not read any.

    Peter v brett - Painted Man, Desert Spear, Daylight War, The Skull Throne.

    Fantasy with some good new ideas. They started off really well but sadly the last book did nothing to advance the plot and also had a major inconsistency that you could drive a hoard of demons through. hope it is not going to turn out like the wheel of time which was so boring that even the author lost the will to live.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2016
  14. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    2: The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

    H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi/horror tale and commentary on vivisection and "man playing God". I'm not much of a fan of contemporary sci-fi but some of the old stuff is great and I do like Wells. The book and themes come across as quite dated now but I can understand why this was a shocker back in the day.

    3: Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

    A reread for me. Brilliant absurd and satirical anti-war text based around World War II and the Dresden bombing. Not for everyone, but a must for those who enjoy post-modernist fiction and dark humour.
     
  15. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Jesus. I almost want to join in. Although my goal would probably be a much more moderate 20.
     
  16. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    Join in and just read 20.

    You'll probably finish first and win first prize...A complete collection of Stephen K Hayes' ninja books!!!
     
  17. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    Were do people get there 50 books from? I used to use the library. but got feed up with all the fines for forgetting to take them back. I now buy my books second hand from abe I seldom pay more than 2.50 including delivery. If I like them I keep them, if not I take them down the charity shop.
     
  18. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Charity shops and second hand book shops. Quite a few in Edinburgh.
     
  19. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    Anywhere and everywhere.

    I buy all my music stuff (proper books, not ebooks) as that's probably my biggest interest in life. And then from the usual online places (Amazon, Play, Book Depository, Abe, Ebay), the library, borrow from friends and family, free stuff from ebook sites (you'll be surprised what you can get - but I haven't bothered checking them for a while), and for old classics I use Project Gutenberg, you can get free ebooks there. It's all old stuff on PG, but there is some good stuff there and a few surprises.

    It really depends on what the book is and whether I just want to read it, or own it.

    I get a lot for present too...as apparently I am difficult to buy for. So people buy me a pile of books. How is that difficult? :rolleyes:

    Getting these tonight.
     

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    Last edited: Mar 14, 2016
  20. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    4. Another Day in Paradise by Eddie Little.

    I keep thinking of a certain British "comedy" due whenever I see the author's name.

    Decent gritty, semi-autobiographical crime novel, very similar to Edward Bunker, who played Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs. Another Day in Paradise is set in the early '70s and follows the journey of Bobby from small time thief, into a hardened criminal.

    Worth reading if you like crime novels that have a whole bunch of oddball supporting characters. Little only wrote two books before his death, I have the other one (Steel Toes) somewhere and'll have to dig it out and get that read too.

    I also decided to read Harry Potter at some point this year as part of the challenge. I've only read the first book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
     

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