UK Book Club discussion

I'm not sure if this is where this belongs, if not please excuse me and point me in the right direction. As 50 books aren't that difficult for me in a year (I average about 1 a week) I have set my goal to 60 books this year, 12 of which I want to read in German (I used to live in Germany so I would like to keep up my German). So far I'm ahead of schedule with the amount but my German target is lagging behind.
So here goes...

January saw me finish:
1) Terry Jones' Medieval Lives by Terry Jones
2) The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
3) The Candle Man by Alex Scarrow
4) Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe
5) Doctor Who - The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter
6) The Flowering of the Rose by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
7) White Rose Turned to Blood by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
8) The Jakarta Pandemic by Steven Konkoly
9) A Daughter of Warwick by Julie May Ruddock
10) Plague (I don't seem to be able to find a link for this one) by Lisa C Hinsley

All in all, January was a good month for reading except...German books? ...

In February I read:
11) The Cornmaiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates
12) The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
13) Die Münze im Becher by Iny Lorentz
14) Fury From Within by Francis Smith I confess to not quite completing this one. I was only a couple of chapters from the end when I gave up (this book has earned the dubious accolade of being the only book so far that I have no intention of ever finishing - it was that bad). However as I got so close I feel it deserves to go on the list.
15) Snowbound by Blake Crouch
16) Das Parfum by Patrick Susskind

Including 2 German books (well, ok, so one was a short story...)

March delights:
17) Evolution by Stephen Baxter
18) The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner
19) The Martian by Andy Weir
20) Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts
21) Intrusion by Ken MacLeod

And my German book for this month was....um....hmmm, looks like I didn't read one.

April:
22) Existence by David Brin
23) The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
24) Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer
25) Eater by Gregory Benford
26) Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
27) The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

No German books here either.

May:
28) The Twelve by Justin Cronin
29) Life... With No Breaks by Nick Spalding
30) Plague Year: The Author's Cut by Jeff Carlson
31) Plague War: The Author's Cut
32) Plague Zone: The Author's Cut
33) I, Jacqueline
34) Doomsday Book
35) Ready Player One
36) The King's Daughter★★★★☆
37) A Noble Assassin★★★☆☆


June:
38) Mist Over Pendle★★★★☆
39) Daughters of the Witching Hill★★★★☆
40) The Year of the Flood ★★★★☆
41) Rivals of the Tudor Court ★★★★☆
42) Secrets of The Tudor Court ★★★☆☆
43) Elizabeth of York: The Forgotten Tudor Queen ★★☆☆☆
44) Last Light ★★★★★ ♥

July:

45)Darwin's Radio ★★★★☆
46) Darwin's Children ★★★★☆

May:


28)

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this one but in the end I did. It had a slightly different taste (if you'll pardon the pun) to The Passage so I didn't enjoy it as much. I can see why some people said it was written for the big screen - there were a lot of explosions and shooting in it. I also found it a bit hard to believe that, after 100 years of neglect, any roads or bridges would still be passable. I will take his word for it though as I'm not a civil engineer and I'm sure he has done his research properly

I started number 29 a couple of days ago. After The Twelve I couldn't decide whether to go for something completely different or stay on the same kind of topic. In the end I went for . It is kind of in the same vein (oops, another pun there, sorry) although there are no vampires in it. It is post-apocalyptic and there is a bit of cannibalism in it too. So far I'm enjoying it, I'm about 20% in.

I've stopped reading The Plague Year for a moment and have gone for something a little more light-hearted.
I found on Amazon for free today, so I started reading it. I'm 48% through now. I've been laughing until I cry.

A few quotes:

"The drunken man isn't good at fighting the effect alcohol has on his complicated organic processes and tends to surrender quicker than a Frenchman in 1940". When talking about an embarrassing incident at university.

"I wrench the front door open and shamble off into the night, running like a sailor with rickets". Describing the same embarrassing incident.

"I guess spring must be a good time for a sixty-knot blow job through the harbour". Wondering why there is a picture of a speed boat on his calendar in April.

I am so enjoying this!

I have now finished "Life...With no breaks" and loved it. At times it was hilarious, I love his way of describing things, and at times it got quite serious but I was glued to the whole book. So that will make "Plague Year" no. 30 (if I don't get distracted again). I still have on the go, I'm determined to finish it but it is quite hard going. Our 'heroine' isn't a particularly sympathetic character imo.

Plague year is finished and left me wanting to find out what happens next. I found the issues with the lack of proof-reading really annoying. Normally, I can overlook a few typos but here there were words added, words missing and whole sentences I couldn't make sense of. Still, I'm not holding that against the author, I've already downloaded the sequel. So, no 31 will be

Finished The Plague War. I would like to believe that in a situation like that, when we have destroyed half the planet and most of its people, we could work together to rebuild. Unfortunately, I think a scenario like this one is much more likely. I've now moved on to book 3 - I have got to know how it ends. Whereas there were only a few small proofreading issues in no.2, no.3 looks like it is going to be as bad as no.1 again. I'm only 3 chapters in and there are missing words and added words galore!

Finished - in the end the proof-reading issues weren't too bad at all. Not a bad story, but I think book 2 was my favourite in the trilogy. What to read now...

re message 1 - this is the most logical place for your thread Jules, so post away.....as you have been doing. Look forward to reading your thoughts.

Continuing on my 17th century quest, I've started reading . I'm looking at rural life now and accusations of witchcraft in Lancashire

I'm having trouble settling on anything at the moment. I have started so many books again and then put them to one side. Out of desperation I turned to a former love, . It still took me over a week to read but I have finished now and started the sequel, . Hopefully, this will get me back on track ;)

I actually completed my 60 books quite comfortably but somehow forgot to add them to this thread. Is there any way of closing the thread now? Anyway, I'm up for a 70 book challenge this year.

I can close the thread to further comments for you.

Message me if you want me to re-open it.