Sammy's 50 book challenge 2020

2020 will start with
Irish Ghosts and Hauntings by Michael Scott .

Happy reading in 2020. Cheers!

Thank you! :) :)

Continuing with The Twice Born by Pauline Gedge.

Finally finished The Twice Born.
Don't get much time to read at the moment.

Therefore I continue with two quick reads from the late 1970s which I guess you would call YA nowadays.
3. Stimmen aus dem Kamin (Voices from the chimney)
and
4. Das Schloss im Nebel (The castle in the fog), both by Ursula Isbel.

YA thrillers with a bit of romance and supernatural elements. Her books used to be among my favourites when I was a teen. Let's see whether the old fascination returns. :)

I'm on an Ursula Isbel reading spree at the moment...

Finished the two previous books and am now reading
5. Die Frau am Meer (The woman at the sea)
and
6. Der Schimmel im Moor (The white horse in the moor)

7. Human Acts by Han Kang

Wow, Human Acts was intense... Pretty intense, but it was worth it. I consider it a very important book.

8. Saving fish from drowning by Amy Tan.

Big one, but not nearly as intense. Light and amusing travel fiction about a trip to China and Burma. Started pretty slowly, I nearly DNFed it, but I decided to continue because a customer of mine gave it to me and recommended it. From page 60 on it has started to get better. Let's see... :)

Saving fish from drowning was ok, but too boring to be above 3***.

9: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Really enjoyed Rebecca . Gothic read, builds up a lot of suspense, although I've watched the movie some years ago and remembered the main plot...

10: More than you know by Beth Gutcheon . This one has been sitting on my TBR-list for years...

Grrrrr, my copy of More than you know is faulty... There are 30 duplicate pages and another 30 pages missing. Just when the story started to become interesting.

I've had to find and buy another edition of the book on the web. Now I'm waiting for it to arrive - hopefully that one won't be faulty!!! If it is, I'll throw the book at the wall and go berserk... ;)

Recently started:

11: Playing for thrills by Wang Shuo , but still haven't finished More than you know .

Finished More than you know the day before yesterday and feel quite indifferent towards it. But it was ok and a nice little read.

Then finished Playing for thrills yesterday. Couldn't stand that book. It really really wasn't for me and I've had to fight my way through.

Now all I want is a quick, fun read! Therefore I started
12. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by Joanne K. Rowling today. Never read Harry Potter before. Let's see how I like it...

Really liked Harry Potter No. 1.

Started next quick read:
13. The Nightmare Room #3: My Name is Evil by R. L. Stine .

Another quick read:
14. Mostly Ghostly - One night in Doom House by R. L. Stine.

Started
15. My cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier today.

Finished My cousin Rachel and started
16. Strange weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami two days ago.

Really enjoyed My cousin Rachel. Daphne du Maurier doesn't let me down.

Strange weather in Tokyo started quite promising, too. :)

Started
17. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte today.

Agnes Grey was a nice read. The translation was excellent and made for a good part of the enjoyment.

Just started
18. Revenant by John Trenmore. An epic fantasy - not really my favourite genre, but the plot sounds really interesting.

Revenant was great, an entertaining read dealing with the topic how peoples' beliefs shape the world they live in. All the while the hero had to travel the world and fight his way through waves of different kinds of undead creatures.

On to
19. The goddesses by Swan Huntley.

The Goddesses was a winner. :)

20. The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes.

After The Domino Men, which started promising and was a quick, fluent read, but some of the events were a bit too nasty for my taste, I started Mr Toppit by Charles Elton and DNFed it after ten pages or so. Just not my writing style, and the plot didn't interest me enough to push through 400 pages.

Now: 21. The other woman by Sandie Jones.

The other woman was a highly enjoyable read!

22. Autofiction by Hitomi Kanehara.

Autofiction was... Well... Feel free to read my review.

23. The house of the sleeping beauties by Yasunari Kawabata.

24. The envy of the stranger by Caroline Graham.

25. An anonymous girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen.

A bit of non-fiction:

26. In plain sight - The life and lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies.

In Plain Sight - The life and lies of Jimmy Savile was though. Very tough.
It took me forever to read.

Now for a bit of light entertainment:
27. Nur aus Liebe, Flamingo = Only for love, flamingo by Mira Morton.

28. The wife between us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen.

Still at The wife between us. Just taking a break from it right now and started
29. Folklore: a dark anthology by N.J. McKay.

Put The wife between us down for a while. I don't DNF it - I will pick it up later, presumably by the beginning of July 2020.
Just finished Folklore: a dark anthology.

For now picking up
30. Blues of autumn by Richard Adamson, my second Early Reviewer copy this month, as well as
31. One hundred lyrics and a poem by Neil Tennant, the first book on my schedule for the #readyoursign readathon on Litsy in June. But since I know most of the lyrics by heart, I don't think it will take me that long to finish.

Ongoing reads: One hundred lyrics and a poem and The wife between us.

Finished Blues of autumn today and started
32. The comfort of strangers by Ian McEwan.

The comfort of strangers is finished.

33. Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs is finished.

Started 34. Annas Atoll by Gabriele Hoffmann yesterday evening.

Book 31 One hundred lyrics and a poem is finished. :)

Annas Atoll is finished. A historical fiction based on true events set on an exotic island. Can recommend that one.

Started 35. The slayers of Seth by Paul Doherty. A mystery set in Ancient Egypt.

The Slayers of Seth was great. I'm interested to read more of Paul Doherty's books, and I think I will AT LEAST pick up the ones set in Ancient Egypt, if not the ones set in Medieval England as well.

36. Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo by Miyuki Miyabe.

Finally finished No. 28. An anonymous girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Not reading anything at the moment. Perhaps starting something new tomorrow.

Started
37. Jane Eyre by - of course - Charlotte Bronte yesterday. Have high hopes for this one!

Jane Eyre was fantastic.

From July 8th - July 12th I read a German thriller,
38. Der Gesang des Blutes (=The song of blood) by Andreas Winkelmann. That one I didn't particularly like.

Starting 39. The life and soul of the party by Mike Gayle today. This is a reread for me and a 100% mood read right now.

Loved The life and soul of the party the first time I read it and loved it the second time, too.

40. Good girls die first by Kathryn Foxfield.

41. Sarah J Naughton's the other couple.

Really enjoyed The other couple.

Started Monteperdido by Agustín Martínez today.

Monteperdido took me soo long to finish. It wasn't bad though.

43. Nocturnes: five stories of music and nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Nocturnes flew by.

44. Wie Eulen in der Nacht = All the crooked saints by Maggie Stiefvater.

Oh well, I'm back from my internet hiatus = holidays on a tiny island with hardly any internet access, which is why I didn't even bother trying :D

In the meantime, I finished All the crooked saints as well as

45. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller and

46. Shark drunk by Morten A. Stroksnes.

Am halfway through 47. The woman who wouldn't die by Colin Cotterill.

It seems I forgot to add my last read. The woman who wouldn't die is finished.

Also finished 48. Lethal Investments by Kjell Ola Dahl.

Started 49. The north water by Ian McGuire yesterday.

Wow, The North Water packs a punch! Feel free to read my review. One of my favourite reads of this year.

50. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Can you tell I've been obsessed with stories about the sea and seafaring lately? :)

>47 Yuki_Onna: "Can you tell I've been obsessed with stories about the sea and seafaring lately? :)

If you want something long and very good, try We, the Drowned by Danish author Carsten Jensen.

>48 rocketjk: rocketjk: Oh, perfect! I once came across that one in a bookstore and wondered if it was any good. I was intimidated by its length though and didn't buy it back then... Now it's back on my wish list. Thank you so much for the recommendation!

>49 Yuki_Onna: Well, I hope you like it. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it has a lot of good memories for me, as well, as I bought my copy off the English language shelf of a lovely bookstore in a small town in northern Finland. That was a fun vacation!

>50 rocketjk: rocketjk: Holiday book buying in small towns is the best!!! You're right, you get so many fond memories from it! -I'm sure I'll like that book! The synopsis sounded good, and now you recommend it to me too, I'm more than convinced. I'll keep my eyes open for it when I'm back at the seaside in November and let you know when I've read it!

Unfortunately, I didn't like Peter Pan all that much...

51. The land of dreams by Vidar Sundstol. I'm finally back to my TBR list of unread books I've owned for ages...

52. The good daughter by Karin Slaughter. This one is one of the buddy reads for #TeamSlaughter #Scarathlon2020 on Litsy.

53. Newcomer by Keigo Higashino.

54. Mädchen aus dem Moor (Just before I died) by S. K. Tremayne.

55. Tote Zeugen lügen nicht (Dead witnesses don't lie) by Björn Bottolvs.

Fitting in an Irish crime fiction I won from Early Reviewers, so that I can (hopefully) already review it at the end of this month:

56. Orchids and lies by Fiona Gartland.

Orchids and Lies was fantastic! So far it's my favourite book this year.

Started 57. The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan yesterday.

DNFed The Doll House for now. It's not bad by any means, I'm just really not in the mood for it. I couldn't get into it at all and didn't want to have to force my way through it. Will surely pick it back up sometime in the future.

Picked up an Agatha Christie instead. Can't go wrong with Dame Agatha, can you?
So, the new no. 57 is After the funeral, one of the few of hers I haven't read before.

58. An unwanted guest by Shari Lapena.

59. People from my neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami.

60. Intuitive fiction writing by John Trenmore.

Haven't read anything for over a week now because I've had so much other stuff to do. Have experienced serious reading withdrawal symptoms :P and finally started

61. Lock every door by Riley Sager today.

Finished Lock every door in record time (for me).

Started 62. The assistant by S. K. Tremayne yesterday.

63. My dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
I'm super thrilled to read this!

My dark Vanessa was a lot, but good to a point it was frightening...

64. The silent patient by Alex Michaelides.

The silent patient was great, also one of my favourite reads this year.

Just started 65. Confessions by Kanae Minato. I know the film, it's one of my favourites - now I'm curious for the book.

Hadn't I watched the film Confessions before, I'd have been shocked...

Next is 66. Bunny by Mona Awad.