50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

WHAT WE BOLDED 2022 - the books

A much shorter list this year, but somehow much more thinly spread - perhaps people are getting pickier with their bolds?? Anyway, my love of this data set is due to the fact that any book could be on it for any reason - I love the randomness of it.

Here are a slightly arbitrary Top 7, which are the books bolded by at least 3 contributors.

The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 5
Empire of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe 5
Foster Claire Keegan 4
Again, Rachel Marian Keyes 4
Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 3
Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr 3
The Marriage Portrait Maggie O'Farrell 3

WHAT WE BOLDED - Top Authors

Phew, sorry, long book club! I'm quite liking Dry January book club as well.

A new look at the data compared to last year. This is a list of authors who got more than one mention - either for the same book or for multiple different works. There is a fairly runaway winner, who didn't surprise me given what I've read on the thread, and a very solid top ten who perhaps don't give many gasps of amazement either. They do I think give an idea of what a lot of us were enjoying this year, and show the influence of the readalongs too.

Patrick Radden Keefe 7
Maggie O'Farrell 6
Claire Keegan 5
Marian Keyes 5
Wilkie Collins 5
Barbara Pym 4
Hilary Mantel 4
Kate Atkinson 4
Sarah Moss 4
Andrey Kurkov 3
Annie Ernaux 3
Anthony Doerr 3
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3
Nigel Slater 3
Stephen King 3
Alistair McGuiness 2
Amor Towles 2
Ben Macintyre 2
Catherine Bailey 2
Christopher de Hamel 2
Clare Chambers 2
Donna Tartt 2
Elizabeth Strout 2
Elodie Harper 2
Elspeth Barker 2
Frances Favell 2
Hadley Freeman 2
Janice Galloway 2
John Preston 2
Jonathan Freedland 2
Julian Barnes 2
Leo Tolstoy 2
Louise Erdrich 2
Natasha Pulley 2
Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan 2
Penelope Fitzgerald 2
Phlippe Sands 2
Rumer Godden 2
Ruth Ozeki 2
Susan Orlean 2
Terry Pratchett 2
Una 2
Val McDermid 2
Virginia Woolf 2
Winifred Holtby 2
Winifred Watson 2

Thanks for putting in the work @PermanentTemporary - really looking forward to seeing the results 😊

And that wasn't the question you asked. D' oh, sorry

It's all bolds and how many times bolds were bold IIRC

Looking forward to the list @PermanentTemporary . Just to check does the list of names mean you aren't including the bolds of all 50 bookers that have posted their list, just a sample? No worries if so, it just means I'll probably run through at some point to check other bolds from those you haven't included.

@AliasGrape

Was really enjoying Small Pleasures til the end. Was absolutely fuming. Woeful ending

Just looked up Small Pleasures and feel pretty sure that I'd hate it!

Thanks so much @PermanentTemporary I think I must have missed this last year and am very excited to see the results.

I enjoyed Small Pleasures though the ending pissed me off. I don’t think I’m strong enough for The Only Plane in the Sky - I feel like I should read it but in a bit of a wobbly place understatement as it is right now, one for another time maybe.

Thanks as always @PermanentTemporary, really looking forward to the list.

Thanks @PermanentTemporary how exciting!

:(

As amazingly well done as it is, a specific part made me cry buckets and I cried everytime I remembered it for days after I had finished it, so wise choice.

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit Not read either of those. Just haven't felt strong enough for Plane and not sure I ever will.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers in Fiction

and

Non fiction

The Only Plane In The Sky by Garrett Graff

I think

Oddly enough, I too am really buzzed for this. I'm not always in a place or right time to remember who raved about what last July but I completely rejigged my Wish List over Christmas and so I can now update it properly. They don't explain that this will be how you get your kicks once you go past 40 

Thanks @PermanentTemporary

Please can anybody remind me what the top few were last year?

Thanks @PermanentTemporary Looking forward to seeing this year's!

I’m excited now!

Ooh, looking forwards to the results later! Thanks for doing this PermanentTemporary.

What We Bolded 2022: the preamble

OK I'm stopping! I've got a bit muddled picking up lists so I'm not entirely convinced I've got all the relevant lists and bits. Many apologies. It should at least give a flavour of the year's reading. There's some obvious names missing so I'm a bit worried - please don't be too upset if I've managed to miss you.

Here are this year's contributors - more than last time, hence perhaps the confusion! Ironically I'm now running out to book club, so the actual lists will be a bit later on tonight, sorry.

A very interesting finding as far as I can see is that there won't be quite so much of a standout single book, though I think there probably is one which will 'win', just not by as much as last year. What we have got instead is several authors who are heavily represented. Some are a real surprise to me. All very interesting!

See you later for the lists.

50 Bookers whose contributions are included:
AliasGrape
BestisWest
bettbburg
bibiomania
cassandre
ChannelLightVessel
DaninaDuszejko
dupainduvindufromage
einereisedurchdiezeit
isfuzzybeagmise
LessObviousName
maudofthemarches
MegBusset
noodlezoodle
nowanearlynicemum
Owlbookend
PepeLePew
PermanentTemporary
Piggywaspushed
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
RomanMum
satelliteheart
sollnvictus
stcolumboofnavron
Terpsichore
TheTurnoftheScrew
timeforagandt
virginqueen
WelshWabbit
yolandifuckinvisser
yoshiblue

1. Medici, and Urne-Buriall - Sir Thomas Browne

Approximately two-thirds fiction; just slightly more male than female authors; seven in translation.

Here are my December reads:

106.Masters in the Hall - K.J. Charles
A sweet festive m/m romance novella, with jewel thieves, dastardly aristocrats and its own playlist on Spotify. Entertaining.

107.The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent Dyer
I don’t remember there being so much travelogue in this book. The upper classes of Austria are bewilderingly eager to send their daughters to a school run by some random foreigners in a surplus hotel. The bronchitis kettle makes its first appearance.

108.Jo of the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent Dyer
A welcome return for the bronchitis kettle, as Madge and Jem conduct their courtship via sessions of stripping off Jo’s wet clothes after her repeated falls into the lake.

109.War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
I can’t do this justice, obviously, but a great novel. Thanks to all who contributed to the read-a-long thread.

110.A Christmas Cornucopia - Mark Forsyth
An entertaining pre-Christmas amuse-bouche, particularly for 99p.

111.‘Twas the Nightshift before Christmas - Adam Kay
I think Kay is softer and kinder in this one. Happy memories of my ex-husband missing DD’s first birthday etc.

112.Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper
113.The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
First and second books in this outstanding children’s fantasy series.

114.The Heartstopper Yearbook - Alice Oseman
A sort of annual.

115.Greenwitch - Susan Cooper
Third in the series. I like the fact that the main female character takes centre stage.

Here's my final list for PermanentTemporary and anyone who may be interested.
36 in total - despite the screwy numbering that now seems to be standard for me when I post on these threads!!

1. Unorthodox – Deborah Feldman
2. Me - Elton John
3. Pies and prejudice – Stuart Maconie
4. Winter – Ali Smith
5. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
6. How to build a girl – Caitlin Moran
7. My name is why – Lemn Sissay
8. Life after Life – Kate Atkinson

9. Toast – Nigel Slater
10. Open Water – Caleb Azumah Nelson
11. The Lie – Helen Dunmore
12. Banish clutter forever: How the toothbrush principle will change your life – Sheila Chandra
13. Watermelon – Marian Keyes
14. Hungry – Grace Dent
15. Case Histories – Kate Atkinson
16. Diary of a bookseller – Shaun Bythell
17. Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart

18. Foster – Claire Keegan
19. Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé – Joanne Harris
20. Early morning riser – Katherine Heiny
21. Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
22. Rachel’s Holiday – Marian Keyes
23. The Island – Victoria Hislop
24. Seven days of us – Francesca Hornak
25. One August night – Victoria Hislop
26. I thought it was just me (but it isn’t): telling the truth about perfectionism, inadequacy and power – Brené Brown

DNF : The devil in the Kitchen – Marco Pierre White & James Steen

27. The man who died twice – Richard Osman
28. Frugal Food – Delia Smith
29. Public Library and other stories – Ali Smith
30. Moon Tiger – Penelope Lively
31. Half-baked idea – Olivia Potts
32. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
33. The Swimmer – Graham Norton
34. Taste – Stanley Tucci
35. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
36. Eight months on ghazzah street – Hilary Mantel

My final list, for anyone interested for statistical purposes. I really fell off the reading wagon at the end of the year. Just too much going on. Hope to do better next year. I have finished the two tail-enders I had this morning, and will use them to kick-start my new list on the new thread!

1. Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion
2. Diary of an MP’s Wife – Sasha Swire
3. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister
4. Buried in Secret – Viveca Sten
5. Truth And Beauty – Ann Patchett
6. Material Girls – Kathleen Stock
7. 1979 – Val McDermid
8. Mrs Hemingway – Naomi Wood
9. Mort – Terry Pratchett
10. Scrublands – Chris Hammer
11. The Other Americans – Laila Lalami
12. The Magician’s Assistant – Ann Patchett
13. Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett
14. Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett
15. The Greengage Summer – Rumer Godden
16. The Pull of the Stars – Emma Donoghue
17. Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
18. Square Haunting – Francesca Wade
19. Strange Hotel – Eimear McBride
20. Don’t Ask Me Why – Tania Kindersley
21. The White Album – Joan Didion
22. The Long Call – Ann Cleeves
23. The Heron’s Cry – Ann Cleeves
24. The Women in Black – Madeleine St John
25. South Riding - Winifred Holtby
26. A Narrow Door – Joanne Harris
27. An Unsuitable Match – Joanna Trollope
28. Taft – Ann Patchett
29. Again, Rachel – Marian Keyes
30. Slow Horses – Mick Herron
31. The Decagon House Murders – Yukito Ayatsuji
32. The Searcher – Tana French
33. The Patron Saint of Liars – Ann Patchett
34. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café – Fannie Flagg
35. Two Heads – Uta, Chris and Alex Frith and Daniel Locke
36. Here We Are – Graham Swift
37. On Connection – Kae Tempest
38. Remain Silent – Susie Steiner
39. Dead Lions – Mick Herron
40. Exposure – Helen Dunmore
41. Just for One Day – Louise Wener
42. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
43. Summerwater – Sarah Moss
44. Offshore – Penelope Fitzgerald
45. Old Filth – Jane Gardam
46. The Man in the Wooden Hat – Jane Gardam
47. Last Friends – Jane Gardam
48. The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo
49. Still Life – Sarah Winman
50. The Mountains Sing – Nguyen Phan Que Mai
51. Augustown – Kei Miller
52. A Change of Circumstance – Susan Hill
53. Anthills of the Savannah – Chinua Achebe
54. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
55. The Rising Tide - Ann Cleeves
56. Sweet Bean Paste - Durian Sukegawa
57. A Change of Climate - Hilary Mantel
58. The Ink Black Heart - Robert Galbraith
59. The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng
60. Mrs Mohr Goes Missing - Maryla Szymiczkowa
61. Typhoon - Qaisra Shahra
62. The Quaker - Liam McIlvanney
63. The Godmother - Hannelore Cayre
64. Invisible City - Julia Dahl
65. The Complete Yes Minister - Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay
66. A People's History of Heaven - Mathangi Subramanian
67. The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper
68. Christmas is Murder – Val McDermid

Final list:

1. The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper
2. The Red Parts, Maggie Nelson
3. The Waning of the Middle Ages, Johann Huizinga, trans. by F. Hopman
4. Are We Having Fun Yet?, Lucy Mangan
5. Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
6. The Matrix, Lauren Groff
7. Some Tame Gazelle, Barbara Pym
8. Translations, Brian Friel
9. The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller

Thank you everyone for a fabulous year! I loved the lists and reviews. Reading is my main interest and I swear it keeps me sane. OK, not that sane but sane enough to carry on. Happy New Year!