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Original poster

26-ish books in 2022

791 replies

StColumbofNavron · 31/12/2021 11:49

Roll up, roll up ...

Shiny new thread for 2022.

I am setting my target at 25 this year.

I want to read at least a min of 5 in hardcopy and at least 4 non-fiction.

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Thread gallery
6
LadyMacnet · 07/01/2022 18:31
  1. No one is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

This was nominated for the Booker Prize and Women’s Prize For Fiction last year and I bought it last autumn as I was curious to read it based on some reviews. I have to say though that I found it really hard going both in subject matter and style. It’s a difficult read, especially part 2 which is about a baby with a life-limiting disability. Part 1 is about the narrator’s on-line persona. The book has ”important” ideas but it was just quite difficult to follow and referenced a lot of memes which were a bit lost on me.

Next up I need to read a bit more of a page turner. I am considering Rose Tremain’s Restoration.

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 07/01/2022 18:25

iPlayer usually

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Manteo · 07/01/2022 18:22

Ooh do you know where I can watch this episode? Love WDYTYA but I don't think I've seen this one! Added the book to my Goodreads TBR shelf too!

BaconAndAvocado · 07/01/2022 18:09

CaptainChannel
Gentleman is a very very special book and I have to immediately disassociate myself from anyone who thinks otherwise 😂

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 07/01/2022 17:52

@CaptainChannel

Just finished book 2 A Gentleman in Moscow. I loved it so much I don't know how to put it into words. Amazing book.
My heart is complete once again. I said to a friend that I hesitated to recommend it to her because if she didn’t like it it would be like rejected my child. I am a drama queen clearly. But I just loved it so much.

She didn’t.

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dollybird · 07/01/2022 17:41

@livingonpurpose

Wow *@dollybird* - I just read about his WDYTYA episode and what he found out...that was amazing! Shock It's like the dream result from taking part in that programme.
Amazing isn't it? I didn't really know who he was either. The traffic lady on our local radio station watched it and said it was the best episode ever, so I gave it a watch and it didn't disappoint 🙂
livingonpurpose · 07/01/2022 16:09

Wow @dollybird - I just read about his WDYTYA episode and what he found out...that was amazing! Shock It's like the dream result from taking part in that programme.

livingonpurpose · 07/01/2022 16:02

@dollybird No - I am embarrassed to admit I have no idea who Josh Widdicombe is - although I figured out he must be a comedian from things he says in the book! I will try and see if I can watch that episode of WDYTYA online though.

CaptainChannel · 07/01/2022 15:08

Just finished book 2 A Gentleman in Moscow. I loved it so much I don't know how to put it into words. Amazing book.

dollybird · 07/01/2022 12:46

@livingonpurpose

4. Watching Neighbours Twice A Day - Josh Widdicombe Recommendation from TheAnswerIsCake at the end of last year's thread, the subtitle of this book is 'How 90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life', and I thought I would enjoy the recollections from my early teens to early twenties.

A good few laughs, a nicely paced book and fun reminiscing made this a quick, fun read. I particularly liked that Josh grew up in an out-of-the-way place in Devon, which closely mirrored my own experience in Somerset.

I enjoyed reflecting back on this decade, before the internet had taken off and social media/iPhones were not around, and agreed with his comment that 'sandwiched between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and resultant wars, the '90s feels almost like a self-contained period of naive political and social hope'.

After starting the year off with quite a few 'heavy' reads, it was nice to break things up with this light read.

This sounds good, I will add to my Goodreads. Have you seen Josh Widdicombe's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? It's epic!
livingonpurpose · 07/01/2022 12:28

4. Watching Neighbours Twice A Day - Josh Widdicombe
Recommendation from TheAnswerIsCake at the end of last year's thread, the subtitle of this book is 'How 90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life', and I thought I would enjoy the recollections from my early teens to early twenties.

A good few laughs, a nicely paced book and fun reminiscing made this a quick, fun read. I particularly liked that Josh grew up in an out-of-the-way place in Devon, which closely mirrored my own experience in Somerset.

I enjoyed reflecting back on this decade, before the internet had taken off and social media/iPhones were not around, and agreed with his comment that 'sandwiched between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and resultant wars, the '90s feels almost like a self-contained period of naive political and social hope'.

After starting the year off with quite a few 'heavy' reads, it was nice to break things up with this light read.

dollybird · 07/01/2022 11:28

Just finished book 1- The True Story of the Christmas Truce by Anthony Richards Interesting, but quite repetitive. Only 207 pages long, but I was keen to finish it.

Gufo · 07/01/2022 11:04

Ooh, can I be a latecomer too?

I almost read Fugitive Pieces. Loved the first half then just found it slow going and tedious (a reflection on my mind, not the book!)

Now reading and enjoying The Salt Path.

UnexpectedMorrisDancer · 06/01/2022 23:02

Can I join please? I really need to get out of this no reading funk I’m in.
My tbr list had grown immensely from the suggestions on the thread!
I’m currently reading The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
And listening to The Midnight Library on Audible while I knit.

MargotMoon · 06/01/2022 19:53

@TankGirl97 I think Natives is absolutely brilliant - should be compulsory reading on the school curriculum!

I'm also thinking I need to dig out my old Adrian Moles Grin

MargotMoon · 06/01/2022 19:46

@RosieposiePuddingandPi

Can I join you all? I have really fallen out of love with reading over the last year and am determined to get back on the bandwagon this year. I've just started Ordinary People by Diana Evans which I'm struggling with a bit but I'm persevering for now. I'd be happy to get through one book a month for 2022!
Is that the same woman who wrote 26a? I loved that! Have always meant to read more of hers, shame to hear it's not great.
Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 06/01/2022 16:53

That makes sense @weefae. Hope that you are coming through the treatment as best you can.

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WeeFae · 06/01/2022 16:42

I zone out even if I am doing nothing else! I struggle with audiobooks a lot, often they make me fall asleep. I think that is from my childhood, where we would listen to those 'read along' storybook & cassette tapes at bedtime.

I am currently going through chemotherapy though, and some days I can't read or watch TV, so lying with my eyes closed and listening to an audiobook makes me feel like I am at least doing something.

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 06/01/2022 16:35

I can imagine she would be brilliant, given her OBE (I now know) was for services to audio books and she has done so much more voice over work than I ever could have imagined.

I just can’t get to grips with audio books though. I keep trying and do have an audible account. The only thing I have managed to stick with are some of the Great Lectures series but I just cannot absorb a story whilst doing other things the way that others seem to, I just zone out.

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WeeFae · 06/01/2022 16:28

I have it on Audible, it is quite amusing listening to it in her own voice. I prefer autobiographies in audio form.

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 06/01/2022 16:21

It was 99p so for that price it was definitely good value.

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KobaniDaughters · 06/01/2022 16:03

@StColumbofNavron now I’m intrigued!!!!

Original poster
StColumbofNavron · 06/01/2022 14:47
  1. Vanity Fair, W. M. Thackeray
2. This Much is True, Miriam Margolyes

If you are feeling down, a little ill, winter blues then this will be a nice, easy, sometimes funny, short chaptered pick me up. I'm often told that I am very self aware and honest about my strengths and weaknesses and here Miriam Margolyes basically personifies that x1000. I loved the confidence that she exudes and the give no shits attitude. She also freely admits to wanting to be the centre of attention and laps it up so I question some of her more out there stories of occasional sexual encounters with men that seem far-fetched and a bit nuts. There is no real trauma or drama (except Miriam branded drama) so it is a nice, easy one.

I wouldn't probably pay £9-10 for a hardcopy but it was on a Kindle deal for 99p. This is partly because I am not a huge biography reader so wouldn't pick one in a shop and because I know who she is and I recognise her but until recently probably by face than name.

A solid 3 stars.

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DonEmmanuelsDingleberries · 06/01/2022 09:49

I'm aiming for ~20 books this year, and to cull my backlog of Kindle samples! I finished my first read last night:

  1. The Inheritance Of Loss by Kiran Desai - Beautiful prose, but a bit meandering. The action picked up in the last quarter, but before that it was a slow burn. The judge is a fascinating character though. Awful, but still somehow pitiable at parts.

I've just started reading The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan. The story starts after the recent suicide of a student (the titular Miwako), who had gone into hiding immediately prior to her death. In the aftermath, her friends go to the remote village where Miwako spent her final days to try and make sense of what happened, and discover that she had a secret identity. I've enjoyed what I've read so far, and look forward to finding out about Miwako's backstory.

Manteo · 06/01/2022 09:27

I've now started Killers of the Flower moon by David Grann. It's going to be released as a film with Leo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro later this year. It's a true story about a native American tribe who became very wealthy when oil was discovered on their land and them some tribe members start being murdered...

On chapter 3, enjoying it so far.