the grand 2015 reading challenge thread

[el-ahrairah]

1. Kyme & Priestley, ed. - Tales Of Heresy
2. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - Out Of The Pit
3. Mike Lee - Fallen Angels
4. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain
5. Stella Gibbons - Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm
6. Anne Lecki - Ancillary Justice
7. Rick Pristley - Slaves To Darkness
8. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron
9. Luke Haines - Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In its Downfall
10. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.2
11. Marc Gascoigne - The Trolltooth Wars
12. Ian Watson - Chaos Child
13. John French - Ahriman Sorcerer
14. Chiang Yee - The Silent Traveller In London
15. Graham McNeill - A Thousand Sons
16. Richard Saunders - If A Pirate I Must Be - The Story Of Bartholomew Roberts, King Of The Caribbean
17. Steve jackson - Citadel Of Chaos
18. Ian Livingstone - Forest Of Doom
19. Alan Grant & John Wagner - Doomlord: The Deathlords Of Nox
20. Andrew Ward - Football's Strangest Matches
21. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.3
22. Aaron Dembski Bowden - The First Heretic
23. Ian Livingstone - City Of Thieves
24. Kent Greenfield - The Myth Of Choice
25. Dan Abnett - Prospero Burns
26. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
27. Marianne Grabucker - There's A Good Girl: Gender Stereotyping In The First Three Years, A Diary

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "A Colder War" - Charles Cumming
2. "Sleepyhead" - Mark Billingham
3. "Lamentation"- CJ Samson
4. " The Child Thief " - Dan Smith
5. "The Murder Bag" - Tony Parsons. I enjoyed the story and the characters but there were a few inconsistencies which took me out of the suspension of disbelief iyswim

 

[marty21]

1/60 - 'Til Death - Ed McBain
2/60 - How to Connect with Nature - Tristan Gooley
3/60 - The Dead Women of Juarez - Sam Hawken
4/60 - Jericho: Season 3 Civil War - Dan Shotz,Robert Levine,Jason Burns (Graphic Novel)
5/60 - jericho: Season 4 - Kalinda Vazquez (Graphic Novel)
6/60 - The Black Echo- Michael Connelly
7/60 - The Black Ice - Michael Connelly
8/60 - Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly

 

[xenon]

Slow start and yeah, I've included a couple of short stories But they were separate individual ebooks.

01/25 Echopraxia - Peter Watts
02/25 Beyond Lies the Wub - Philip K Dick
03/25 The Gun - Philip K Dick
04/25 Axiomatic - Greg Egan

 

[Kidda]

1/30 Inferno by Dan Brown
2/30 Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
3/30 Tales of the city by Armistead Maupin
4/30 Rapture by Jd Robb
5/30 Saga Vol 2 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
6/30 Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory
7/30 Kick-ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr
8/30 The Godfather by Mario Puzo
9/30 The Sicilian by Mario Puzo

 

[Manter]

1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
2. The child thief, Dan Smith.
3. Foxglove summer, Ben Aaronovich.
4. The beating of his wings, Paul Hoffman.
5. The cheapside corpse, Susanna Gregory.
6. Il metodo del coccodrillo- Maurizio de Giovanni.
7. The sin-eater's daughter- Melinda Salisbury.
8. Half the world- Joe Abercrombie
9. Tatiana- Martin cruz Smith
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson. Love it love it love it. I watched the film last year and the book is (of course) even better. Incredibly dry, and wry, and yet illuminates people and motivations with a single descriptor or phrase. Just brilliant. And I want an elephant.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

1/30 Roger Hewitt - White Talk Black Talk: Inter-racial friendship and communication amongst adolescents
2/30 Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
3/30 Ambalavaner Sivanandan - Catching History on the Wing: Race, Culture and Globalisation

 

[MrSki]

1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
Snip/
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson. Love it love it love it. I watched the film last year and the book is (of course) even better. Incredibly dry, and wry, and yet illuminates people and motivations with a single descriptor or phrase. Just brilliant. And I want an elephant.

I have not read this but really enjoyed 'The Girl that save the King of Sweden' which I think was his follow up. Must get round to reading it.

 

[Manter]

I have not read this but really enjoyed 'The Girl that save the King of Sweden' which I think was his follow up. Must get round to reading it.

Film is ace too. Apparently Hollywood want to make one now- they shouldn't be allowed to

 

[MrSki]

Film is ace too. Apparently Hollywood want to make one now- they shouldn't be allowed to

Hollywood shite on books.

What film by the way?

 

[Manter]

Hollywood shite on books.

What film by the way?

Of the 100 year old man. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2113681/. Perfectly captures the surreal nature of the story.

 

[yield]

1. The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan. Lightweight fantasy novel could do better.
2. Our Final Century by Martin Rees. Depressing look at how not much has changed in the last decade.

3. Lexicon by Max Barry. A strangely compelling thriller and love story. What if there was a secret cabal who knew how to make NLP work.

 

[Manter]

1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
2. The child thief, Dan Smith.
3. Foxglove summer, Ben Aaronovich.
4. The beating of his wings, Paul Hoffman.
5. The cheapside corpse, Susanna Gregory.
6. Il metodo del coccodrillo- Maurizio de Giovanni.
7. The sin-eater's daughter- Melinda Salisbury.
8. Half the world- Joe Abercrombie
9. Tatiana- Martin cruz Smith
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson.
11. The undertaking- Audrey Macgee. Brilliantly written- but another bleak slice of c20th history. A woman marries a man she has never met in 40s Berlin- him for leave from the eastern front, her for his pension, respectability and a future. Sanctioned by the regime as a sort of breeding programme for nazis. They meet, and fall in love,separate again, then have to try and survive the war. Very nuanced writing- both are deeply flawed, in some ways appalling characters, he's an anti Semite, she's an opportunist, to start with- but also sympathetic. You come to care about them, while also disapproving of them. They are very human I guess. Clever and interesting book.

 

[imposs1904]

1/52 The In Between Time by Alexander Baron
2/52 King Mob : A Critical Hidden History by David Wise with Stuart Wise & Nick Brandt
3/52 Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West
4/52 The Beiderbecke Affair by Alan Plater (Reread)
5/52 The Hour of the Innocents by Robert Paston
6/52 The Beiderbecke Tapes by Alan Plater (Reread)
7/52 Bellies and Bullseyes: The Outrageous True Story of Darts by Sid Waddell

8/52 In The Thirties by Edward Upward

 

[chainsawjob]

1. In the Midst of Life - Jennifer Worth
2. The Eye of the Leopard - Henning Mankell

3. A Grief Observed – C.S. Lewis
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell

 

[el-ahrairah]

1. Kyme & Priestley, ed. - Tales Of Heresy
2. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - Out Of The Pit
3. Mike Lee - Fallen Angels
4. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain
5. Stella Gibbons - Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm
6. Anne Lecki - Ancillary Justice
7. Rick Pristley - Slaves To Darkness
8. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron
9. Luke Haines - Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In its Downfall
10. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.2
11. Marc Gascoigne - The Trolltooth Wars
12. Ian Watson - Chaos Child
13. John French - Ahriman Sorcerer
14. Chiang Yee - The Silent Traveller In London
15. Graham McNeill - A Thousand Sons
16. Richard Saunders - If A Pirate I Must Be - The Story Of Bartholomew Roberts, King Of The Caribbean
17. Steve jackson - Citadel Of Chaos
18. Ian Livingstone - Forest Of Doom
19. Alan Grant & John Wagner - Doomlord: The Deathlords Of Nox
20. Andrew Ward - Football's Strangest Matches
21. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.3
22. Aaron Dembski Bowden - The First Heretic
23. Ian Livingstone - City Of Thieves
24. Kent Greenfield - The Myth Of Choice
25. Dan Abnett - Prospero Burns
26. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
27. Marianne Grabucker - There's A Good Girl: Gender Stereotyping In The First Three Years, A Diary
28. Christian Dunn - Age Of Darkness
29. Ian Livingstone - Deathtrap Dungeon
30. Richard Halliwell - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Rulebook
31. Steve Jackson - Scorpion Swamp

 

[tufty79]

1. The Girl With All The Gifts - M. R. Carey
2. Mark Z. Danielewski's House Of Leaves
3. The Millionaire's Death Club - Mike Hockney
4. The Child Thief - Dan Smith
5. Midwinter Sacrifice - Mons Kallentoft
6. Lean On Pete - Willy Vlautin
7. Motel Life - Willy Vlautin
8. Dolly: A Ghost Story - Susan Hill
9. The Beacon - Susan Hill
10. The Bear - Claire Cameron

11. Cell - Stephen King
12. Knots & Crosses - Ian Rankin
13. The Black Book - Ian Rankin

 

[Manter]

]1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
2. The child thief, Dan Smith.
3. Foxglove summer, Ben Aaronovich.
4. The beating of his wings, Paul Hoffman.
5. The cheapside corpse, Susanna Gregory.
6. Il metodo del coccodrillo- Maurizio de Giovanni.
7. The sin-eater's daughter- Melinda Salisbury.
8. Half the world- Joe Abercrombie
9. Tatiana- Martin cruz Smith
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson.
11. The undertaking- Audrey Macgee
12. The book of life- Deborah Harkness. Twaddle. But entertaining twaddle.

 

[rich!]

33. Kings Blades 5 Jaguar Knights
34. The Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan (sequel to A Natural History of Dragons, and equally excellent)
35. Half a King, Joe Abercrombie.
36. Best of British Fantasy 2013, ed Steve Haynes

37. Another HP fanfic.
38. Another HP fanfic.
39 Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg.

 

[etnea]

1. Haruki Murakami - What I Talk about when I Talk about Running
2. Alexander McColl Smith - Bertie Plays the Blues

3. A. L. Kennedy - The Blue Book
I loved this. Haven't read any AL Kennedy before, and her style is so absorbing. The storyline was haunting, and ultimately devastating.

 

[BoatieBird]

1/60 - JM Barrie - Peter Pan*
2/60 - Joe Hill - NOS4R2
3/60 - Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons*
4/60 - Belinda Bauer - Rubbernecker
5/60 - Roddy Doyle - The Guts
6/60 - Phillipa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden*
7/60 - Mildred D Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry*
8/60 - Denise Mina - Exile
9/60 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
10/60 - Jon Ronson - Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries

11/60 - Iain McEwan - The Children Act

 

[rich!]

33. Kings Blades 5 Jaguar Knights
34. The Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan (sequel to A Natural History of Dragons, and equally excellent)
35. Half a King, Joe Abercrombie.
36. Best of British Fantasy 2013, ed Steve Haynes

37. Another HP fanfic.
38. Another HP fanfic.
39 Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg.

40. A Delicate Truth, John le Carre

 

[el-ahrairah]

1. Kyme & Priestley, ed. - Tales Of Heresy
2. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - Out Of The Pit
3. Mike Lee - Fallen Angels
4. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain
5. Stella Gibbons - Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm
6. Anne Lecki - Ancillary Justice
7. Rick Pristley - Slaves To Darkness
8. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron
9. Luke Haines - Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In its Downfall
10. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.2
11. Marc Gascoigne - The Trolltooth Wars
12. Ian Watson - Chaos Child
13. John French - Ahriman Sorcerer
14. Chiang Yee - The Silent Traveller In London
15. Graham McNeill - A Thousand Sons
16. Richard Saunders - If A Pirate I Must Be - The Story Of Bartholomew Roberts, King Of The Caribbean
17. Steve jackson - Citadel Of Chaos
18. Ian Livingstone - Forest Of Doom
19. Alan Grant & John Wagner - Doomlord: The Deathlords Of Nox
20. Andrew Ward - Football's Strangest Matches
21. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.3
22. Aaron Dembski Bowden - The First Heretic
23. Ian Livingstone - City Of Thieves
24. Kent Greenfield - The Myth Of Choice
25. Dan Abnett - Prospero Burns
26. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
27. Marianne Grabucker - There's A Good Girl: Gender Stereotyping In The First Three Years, A Diary
28. Christian Dunn - Age Of Darkness
29. Ian Livingstone - Deathtrap Dungeon
30. Richard Halliwell - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Rulebook
31. Steve Jackson - Scorpion Swamp
32. Alan Bligh - Imperial Armour Volume Nine: The Badab War Part One

 

[toggle]

Think they're kid-safe. One or two deaths, some sadness, lots of rather entertaining social mores and commentary. It's set in a kind of near-British-Empire and ... yes rather enjoyed it!

and i bhave favourable reports from the lass

 

[BoatieBird]

1/60 - JM Barrie - Peter Pan*
2/60 - Joe Hill - NOS4R2
3/60 - Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons*
4/60 - Belinda Bauer - Rubbernecker
5/60 - Roddy Doyle - The Guts
6/60 - Phillipa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden*
7/60 - Mildred D Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry*
8/60 - Denise Mina - Exile
9/60 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
10/60 - Jon Ronson - Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
11/60 - Iain McEwan - The Children Act

12/60 - Denise Mina - Resolution

 

[Greebo]

1/60 The Cowboy and the Cossack - Clair Huffaker
2/60 Briefe aus dem Gefängnis - Rosa Luxemburg
3/60 Chita: a memory of Last Island - Lafadio Hearn
4/60 Zla miłość - Aleksander Sowa
5/60 Frog Żaba - Colin Hann, Ryszard Bart and Pedro Páramo
6/60 Amexica: War along the borderline - Ed Vulliamy
7/60 Good mother, bad daughter? - Martha Penn
8/60 Czy wiesz, co widzę? - Richárde
9/60 Glaslügen - Nicholas Vega
10/60 Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex and Politics - Starhawk
11/60 Plötzlich Callgirl - Portia da Costa (one of the least clunky translations I've come across)
12/60 99% Darkness - Jacob Stringer

 

[belboid]

1/31 - 23 Shades of Black - Ken Wishnia
2/31 - Richard Ayoade - Ayoade On Ayoade: a cinematic odyssey
3/31 - Iain Banks - The Quarry
4/31 - Raymond Chandler - The High Window
5/31 - Raymond Chandler - The Lady in the Lake
6/31 - Ric Rawlins - Rise of the Super Furry Animals

7/31 - Heiner Flassbeck & Costas Lapavitsas - Against the Troika: Crisis and Austerity in the Eurozone

Apparently, austerity is shite, and the troika are bastards. And it's all about Nominal Unit Labour Costs (+2%)

 

[el-ahrairah]

1. Kyme & Priestley, ed. - Tales Of Heresy
2. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - Out Of The Pit
3. Mike Lee - Fallen Angels
4. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone - The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain
5. Stella Gibbons - Christmas At Cold Comfort Farm
6. Anne Lecki - Ancillary Justice
7. Rick Pristley - Slaves To Darkness
8. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron
9. Luke Haines - Bad Vibes: Britpop And My Part In its Downfall
10. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.2
11. Marc Gascoigne - The Trolltooth Wars
12. Ian Watson - Chaos Child
13. John French - Ahriman Sorcerer
14. Chiang Yee - The Silent Traveller In London
15. Graham McNeill - A Thousand Sons
16. Richard Saunders - If A Pirate I Must Be - The Story Of Bartholomew Roberts, King Of The Caribbean
17. Steve jackson - Citadel Of Chaos
18. Ian Livingstone - Forest Of Doom
19. Alan Grant & John Wagner - Doomlord: The Deathlords Of Nox
20. Andrew Ward - Football's Strangest Matches
21. Shane McCarthy - All Hail Megatron V.3
22. Aaron Dembski Bowden - The First Heretic
23. Ian Livingstone - City Of Thieves
24. Kent Greenfield - The Myth Of Choice
25. Dan Abnett - Prospero Burns
26. Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
27. Marianne Grabucker - There's A Good Girl: Gender Stereotyping In The First Three Years, A Diary
28. Christian Dunn - Age Of Darkness
29. Ian Livingstone - Deathtrap Dungeon
30. Richard Halliwell - Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Rulebook
31. Steve Jackson - Scorpion Swamp
32. Alan Bligh - Imperial Armour Volume Nine: The Badab War Part One
33. Alan Bligh - Imperial Armour Volume Ten: The Badab War Part Two

 

[8115]

1/20 We are all completely beside ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler.
2/20 Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin wall, Anna Funder.
3/20 In the realm of hungry ghosts: close encounters with addiction, Gabor Mate.

 

[Me76]

1/50 Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
2/50 The Child Thief, Dan Smith
3/50 Wanted, Nick Stephenson
4/50 The Graft, Martina Cole
5/50 Stardust, Neil Gaiman
6/50 Alys, Always, Harriet Lane
7/50 Bad Things Happen, K Leitch
8/50 Post Human Book 1, David Simpson
9/50 Bolthole, AJ Oates
10/50 Post Human book 2, David Simpson

11/50 The Bees, Laline Paull - interesting premise (the story of a bee) and overall good. Just a bit over long while also rushed at the end.