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50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

782 replies

Southeastdweller · 30/11/2022 10:19

Welcome to the seventh and (and probably) final thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2022, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and even though it's late in the year, it’s not too late to join. Please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

How have you got on this year?

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DameHelena · 04/01/2023 10:29

@LadybirdDaphne , I haven't read David Copperfield (or seen any adaptations) and only have a loose idea of the main characters and plot, and didn't feel that it mattered. Demon Copperhead absolutely stands on its own. I guess if you wanted to do a compare-and-contrast exercise it might be interesting to have David Copperfield in your mind, but it's not necessary IMO.

LadybirdDaphne · 04/01/2023 06:00

Thanks for your hard work on the analysis, @PermanentTemporary!

@DameHelena I’m toying with using my book token to buy Demon Copperhead. Do you think I’d need to refresh my memory of David Copperfield first to get the best out of it? I read it as a teenager but I’m pretty vague on it now! (Could just watch the movie… Grin)

DameHelena · 03/01/2023 16:06

Last ones from me, a bit late I know. I'm afraid I've been lazy and copied blurbs from places like Goodreads and slightly reworded/sometimes shortened them.
Waiting for Sunrise, WIlliam Boyd. Set between Vienna in the 1910s, London in WW1 and the battlefields of France. Lysander is an actor and in Vienna seeing a psychoanalyst about a sexual problem who gets co-opted into wartime intelligence.
I got a bit befuddled by the intricacies of the spy stuff, and I found the writing about women/sex chauvinistic to the point I almost gave up. It's all about his pleasure and nothing to do with the women he has sex with.

Seashaken Houses, Tom Nancollas. Combines travelogue, history and memoir as the author visits and learns about seven of Britain and Ireland’s rock lighthouses. I'd never thought much about lighthouses, but they turn out to be fascinating in their own right as well as interesting in how they are embedded in history and culture. Engagingly written and pretty accessible even to a lay person who is not a buildings conservator like the author.

Winter Solstice, Rosamunde Pilcher. Five people's lives converge around a village and house in northern Scotland.
Gripping and absorbing in the sense of wanting to know how their lives will interconnect and how it will all play out. The relationships are touchingly done and it's quite humorous. Slightly spoiled though by the author's insistence that one of the protagonists, a woman in her very early sixties, is elderly and 'beyond the age for romantic love'. I kept expecting Pilcher or the character herself to kick over this trope, but no, it just seemed to be assumed. Also, lots of everyday sexism with people saying things like 'I can't just invite myself to their house for Christmas; it's not fair on Sarah' when Sarah is the wife but there is also a husband in the picture; the assumption being that she's the only one in charge/capable of cooking/cleaning/hosting guests. Great play is made of men choosing wine though Hmm I had to keep reminding myself that this was only written in 2000; although there are characters who work 'in the City' with 'computers', it largely read like a mid-century effort.

A Christmas Cornucopia by Mark Forsyth. A light and informative Christmas read.

War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden: Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry, Lindy Woodhead.
Fascinating, entertaining, gossipy, although oddly strays at points into dull (for me) details of sales figures and what happened at board meetings etc. Enlightening on these two genuinely extraordinary women and their empires, and simultaneously a fantastic overview of society in the period they both lived through.

Quite, Claudia Winkleman. I think others have not liked this on here. It IS fairly light (although she is heartfelt on things like personal confidence, friendship, embracing life etc, and writes very movingly about nurses in the section about her daughter's horrific accident – she doesn't address this very explicitly but it's obviously what she's talking about.) I liked this. If you like her humour and her voice on the TV/radio, you'll probably enjoy this.
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. As the world and their dog knows, this is a reworking of David Copperfield set in modern-ish day Appalachia. It takes in rural poverty and deprivation, the US opioid crisis, and the prejudice of the rest of the US and the world towards people in this part of the States, while also being a timeless coming-of-age story. The protagonist's voice, humour, outlook and (sometimes unintentional) insight are by turns hilarious, moving, devastating, heartbreaking and laser-sharp and always believable and alive; I really feel like I spent that time listening to him telling me his life story and his heart.
This is rich and multilayered, skilfully done, vivid, and utterly humane. It is a bit of a masterpiece.

ChannelLightVessel · 03/01/2023 14:50

Thank you for your interesting analysis @PermanentTemporary Smile

RoseHarper · 03/01/2023 12:44

I read Still Life, Sarah Winman, over Christmas, I expected to love it, I enjoy multi generational, family stories, historical fiction but I found it a slog. I can see it's well written, with a lot of research but I found it just didnt grab me, and was a bit boring? Was quite far in before I realised there are no speech Mark's too, couldn't put my finger on why I felt out of sorts reading it but that could be it.

JaninaDuszejko · 03/01/2023 12:19

Thanks for that @PermanentTemporary, it's so interesting to see the final stats.

Also thanks also to @Piggywaspushed for pushing Wilkie Collins to the top of the favourite's list thanks to the Woman In White Readalong.

bibliomania · 03/01/2023 09:41

Thanks Perm.. I love the element of arbitrariness.

Terpsichore · 03/01/2023 09:37

Thanks @PermanentTemporary - so interesting!

SolInvictus · 03/01/2023 09:37

BestIsWest · 03/01/2023 09:33

Sterling work there @PermanentTemporary
I’ve never heard of Patrick Radden Keefe either! Must pay attention in class.

Glad it wasn't just me!
I must read more of other people's bolds!
Thank you so much @PermanentTemporary 😍

BestIsWest · 03/01/2023 09:33

Sterling work there @PermanentTemporary
I’ve never heard of Patrick Radden Keefe either! Must pay attention in class.

AliasGrape · 03/01/2023 09:20

Thanks so much @PermanentTemporary - amazing work and really interesting!

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 03/01/2023 08:48

Brilliant work @PermanentTemporary well done 👏 great to have this as a resource for what to read this year.

Owlbookend · 03/01/2023 08:38

Many thanks @PermanentTemporary - great to be able to read through the summary lists.

MamaNewtNewt · 03/01/2023 08:21

Thanks for this @PermanentTemporary very interesting reading. I'd completely missed the number one book so will definitely take a look.

nowanearlyNicemum · 03/01/2023 07:57

Many thanks for crunching the numbers @PermanentTemporary A wonderfully eclectic collection! And plenty that have been added to my TBR list!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 03/01/2023 07:20

Thanks @PermanentTemporary
There are lots here that I don’t recognise.

Worth saying again, I think, that since so many people liked The Woman in White then maybe 2023 could be the year of more Wilkie.

ChessieFL · 03/01/2023 07:13

Ooh, interesting! Thanks Permanent. My bolds weren’t included but if they had been Marian Keyes and Wilkie Collins would have been bumped up the author list, and Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles would have made it on to the top books list!

noodlezoodle · 03/01/2023 03:08

Thank you for that @PermanentTemporary, it must have taken forever! Fascinating stuff - we're an eclectic lot, aren't we?!

RomanMum · 02/01/2023 23:26

PT, thanks for all that work. See y'all on the next thread!

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 02/01/2023 23:20

Well Done Perm

DuPainDuVinDuFromage · 02/01/2023 23:14

Really interesting, @PermanentTemporary , thanks very much!

PermanentTemporary · 02/01/2023 22:55

See you on the new thread, thanks Southeast Brew

PermanentTemporary · 02/01/2023 22:51

WHAT WE BOLDED 2022 - the final books

And the last section; the books bolded by just one person. Several authors made it into the top authors list by having multiple works bolded once each, and not always by the same contributor.

Excellent Women Barbara Pym
Life After Life Kate Atkinson
L’Événement [Happening] Annie Ernaux
Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla Stephen King
A Taste of Australia Alistair McGuiness
Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre
The Secret Rooms Catherine Bailey
In a Good Light Clare Chambers
The Secret History Donna Tartt
Anything is Possible Elizabeth Strout
Wolf Den Elodie Harper
This Is Not About Me Janice Galloway
The Lost Future of Pepper Harrow Natasha Pulley
Equal Rites Terry Pratchett
A Place of Execution Val McDermid
Possession A S Byatt
Ramble Book Adam Buxton
Natives : Race And Class In The Ruins Of Empire Akala
House Arrest: Pandemic Diaries Alan Bennett
Lost Japan Alex Kerr
In Black and White Alexandra Wilson
Mary Ann Sale, Imbecile Alice Jolly
The Color Purple Alice Walker
Slow Down and Enjoy The Ride Alistair McGuiness
Breathless Amy McCulloch
Grey Bees Andrey Kurkov
Dominicana Angie Cruz
A Start in Life Anita Brookner
The Magician's Assistant Ann Patchett
Red Famine Anne Applebaum
French Braid Anne Tyler
La Place Annie Ernaux
Une Femme Annie Ernaux
Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
Pereira Maintains Antonio Tabbuchi
The Colony Audrey Magee
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Some Tame Gazelle Barbara Pym
Less Than Angels Barbara Pym
Quartet in Autumn Barbara Pym
A Dark Adapted Eye Barbara Vine
A Fatal Inversion Barbara Vine
The Way we Eat Now Bee Wilson
A Spy among Friends Ben Macintyre
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro Memoirs, by Beth Ann Fennelly. Beth Ann Fennelly
Translations Brian Friel
The Betrayals Bridget Collins
How to Build a Girl Caitlin Moran
Open Water Caleb Azumah Nelson
Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez
Written in Blood Caroline Graham
The Mission House Carys Davies
BlackDiamonds Catherine Bailey
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
Three Twins at the Crater School Chaz Brenchley
A Pensioner's Folly Chris Ayres
The Penguin Book of English Short Stories Christopher Doltey (ed)
Hurdy Gurdy Christopher Wilson
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan
Small Pleasures Clare Chambers
Hostage Clare Macintosh Clare Macintosh
A Year of Wonder Clemency Burton-Hill
Apeirogon Colum McCann
After The Party Cressida Connolly
The Terror Dan Simmons
My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier
The Storyteller:Tales of Life and Music Dave Grohl
The BBC: A People's History David Hendy
Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
War Doctor David Nott
Family Secrets: the things we tried to hide Deborah Cohen
Real Estate Deborah Levy
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Deepa Anappara
Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones
The Queen of Dirt Island Donal Ryan
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
In a Lonely place Dorothy B Hughes
Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart
The Railway Children E Nesbit
The Moth and The Mountain Ed Caesar
How Iceland Changed the World Egill Bjarnasson
My Briliiant Friend Elena Ferrante
No Halt at Sunset Elizabeth M. Harland
The Blank Wall Elizabeth Sanxay Holding
Olive, Again Elizabeth Strout
The House with the Golden Door Elodie Harper
Me Elton John
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
The Skeleton Key Erin Kelly
The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern
Wildlands Evan Osnos
Kiss Myself Goodbye: The Many Lives of Aunt Munca Ferdinand Mount
Crippled : Austerity and the demonization of disabled people Frances Ryan
Peau noire, masques blancs Frantz Fanon
A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman
Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin
The Only Plane in the Sky Garrett Graff
Tomb of Sand Geetanjali Shree
My Sister Milly Gemma Dowler
Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell
The Toll Gate Georgette Heyer
Hungry Grace Dent
Mothering Sunday Graham Swift
Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and the Extraordinary Story of Harris's List Hallie Rubenhold
The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English Hana Videen
Burial Rites - Hannah Kent Hannah Kent
The Godmother Hannelore Cayre
The People In The Trees Hanya Yanagihara
A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara
Exposure Helen Dunmore
Charlotte Helen Moffatt
Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Hilary Mantel
Moonfleet J Meade Falkner
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin James Baldwin
The World According to Colour: A Cultural History James Fox
To Calais, in Ordinary Time James Meek
Old Filth Jane Gardam
Sister Stardust Jane Green
Four Mums in a Boat Janette Benaddi, Helen Butters, Niki Doeg & Frances Davies
All Made Up Janice Galloway
Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck
Nomadland Jessica Bruder
Hons and Rebels Jessica Mitford
A Terrible Kindness Jo Browning Wroe
Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion
The Whalebone Theatre Joanna Quinn
She Said Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Consider Her Ways and others John Wyndham
The Complete Yes Minister Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay
Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor
Don't Eat the Puffin: Tales from a Travel Writer's Life Jules Brown
Our Wives Under the Sea Julia Armfeld
A Village in the Third Reich Julia Boyd
Madhouse at the End of the Earth Julian Sancton
On Connection Kae Tempest
Booth Karen Joy Fowler
Case Histories Kate Atkinson
One Good Turn Kate Atkinson
Shrines of Gaiety Kate Atkinson
The Awakening Kate Chopin
Early Morning Riser Katherine Heiny
Friends and Dark Shapes Kavita Bedford
Augustown Kei Miller
The Converts Guide to Roman Catholicism Keith Nester
And In the End: The Last Days of the Beatles Ken McNab
The Museum of Whales You Will Not See Kendra Greene
The Ministry for the Future Kim Stanley Robinson
The Mercies Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Dava Shastri's Last Day Kirthana Ramisetti
The House of Many Lives L K Wilde
Mudlarking Lara Maiklem
Odd Girl Out Laura James
Bomber Len Deighton
This One Sky Day Leone Ross
The North Island to Starboard Liam Thorn
Old Baggage Lissa Evans
Magpie Lane Lucy Atkins
Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellman
The Paris Apartment Lucy Foley
The Button Box: Lifting the Lid on Women's Lives Lynn Knight
The Women in Black Madeleine St John
Great Circle Maggie Shipstead
The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X
QualityLane Marc-Uwe Kling
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
The Book of Margery Kempe Margery Kempe
The Victorian Chaise Longue Marghanita Laski
Rachel's Holiday Marian Keyes
Tune In - The Beatles Mark Lewisohn
Journey Through India Mark Probert
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Nine Coaches Weighting Mary Stewart
The Fortunate Isles Mary Stuart Boyd
Hidden Hands Mary Wellesley
Traversée de la Mangrove [Crossing the Mangrove] Maryse Conde
The Cheese and I: An Englishman's Voyage through the Land of Fromage Matt Feroze
The Dark Hours Michael Connolly
Beastie Boys Book Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz
The Durrells of Corfu Michael Haag
Slow Horses Mick Herron
Pachinko Min Jin Lee
The Year I Stopped to Notice Miranda Keeling
This Much is True Miriam Margolyes
The Light between Oceans ML Stedman
Revival Season Monica West
The Gilded Ones Namina Forna
The Children of Jocasta Natalie Haynes
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street Natasha Pulley
The Kingdoms Natasha Pulley
The Unheard Nicci French
Toast Nigel Slater
Butler to the World Oliver Bullough
Half Baked Idea Olivia Potts
The Silence of the Girls Pat Barker
No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood
Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton
Why Be Catholic Patrick Madrid
Moon Tiger – Penelope Lively Penelope Lively
The Road to Lichfield Penelope Lively
Nothing is True and Everything is Possible Peter Pomerantsev
The Dictionary of Lost Words Pip Williams
A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson Polly Samson
Why Did You Stay? Rebecca Humphries
Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art Rebecca Wragg Sykes
Esther's Notebooks 1. Tales from my ten-year-old life Riad Sattouf
The Madness of Grief Richard Coles
The Man who Died Twice Richard Osman
Lethal White Robert Galbraith
Zippy and Me Ronnie Le Drew
Dreamland Rosa Rankin Gee
September Rosamund Pilcher
Merivel Rose Tremain
The Decade in Tory Russell Jones
The Book of the Most Precious Substance Sarah Gran
Summerwater Sarah Moss
The Fell Sarah Moss
Run Towards the Danger Sarah Polley
Smile: The Story of a Face Sarah Ruhl
Affinity Sarah Waters
Still Life Sarah Winman
Falls the Shadow Sharon Penman
The Reckoning Sharon Penman
Banish clutter forever: How the toothbrush principle will change your life Sheila Chandra
The Dark Queens Shelley Puhak
Kirstin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath Sigrid Unset
Chums Simon Kruper
Set my Heart to Five Simon Stephenson
A woman of no importance Sonia Purnell
A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Telling Sophie Irwin
Taste Stanley Tucci
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Stephen King
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption Stephen King
Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind Sue Black
The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper
Piranesi Susannah Clarke
Remain Silent Susie Steiner
What Does Jeremy Think? Suzanne Heywood
The Sleeping Beauties Suzanne O'Sullivan
Nona the Ninth Tamsyn Muir
The Garden of Evening Mists Tan Twan Eng
I am Pilgrim Terry Hayes
Thief of Time Terry Pratchett
The Chrysalids The Chrysalids
Schindler's Ark Thomas Keneally
Childhood, Youth, Dependency Tove Ditlevsen
Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga
1979 Val McDermid
Before the Ruins Victoria Gosling
Au Revoir, Tristesse, Viv Groskop Viv Groskop
Into the Silence Wade Davis
Nina Simone's Gum Warren Ellis
Waiting for Sunrise William Boyd
Richard III William Shakespeare
Vanity Fair William Thackeray
Memed, My Hawk Yasar Kemal
Notes on a Scandal Zoe Heller

PermanentTemporary · 02/01/2023 22:48

WHAT WE BOLDED 2022 - the books continued

And now on to the books which were bolded by 2 contributors. A good mix of classics, thread favourites for some time, and newer works.

Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe
A Change of Climate Hilary Mantel
Ghost Wall Sarah Moss
Death and the Penguin Andrey Kurkov
The Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater
A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts Christopher de Hamel
O Caledonia Elspeth Barker
The Dancing Bear Frances Favell
House of Glass Hadley Freeman
Fall John Preston
The Escape Artist Jonathan Freedland
Arthur & George Julian Barnes
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
The Sentence Louise Erdrich
Faith, Hope and Carnage Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
East West Street Phlippe Sands
Black Narcissus Rumer Godden
The Book of Form and Empires Ruth Ozeki
The Library Book Susan Orlean
Becoming Unbecoming Una
Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf
South Riding Winifred Holtby
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson
Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Piggywaspushed · 02/01/2023 22:47

Thanks for all that work PT.

I certainly bolded 4 of those!

Haven't been paying attention though as haven't heard of yer man Keefe!!

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