50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

Thanks for the new thread Southeast. Here’s my list, I’m well behind on my reviews, and due to being crazy busy with work I’ve been sticking to easy reads.

1.	Needful Things by Stephen King
2.	Ramble by Adam Buxton
<strong>3.	Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers</strong>

4. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
5. A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins
6. Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes
7. A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas
8. Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
9. Things We Left Unsaid by Emma Kennedy
10. 1979 by Val McDermid
11. The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah by Stephen King
12. Brass Ring by Diane Chamberlain
13. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
14. The Door into Summer by Robert A Heinlein
15. Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen
16. The Face of Death by Cody McFadyen
17. Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
18. Einstein’s Secret by Irving Belateche
19. Becoming Unbecoming by Una
20. Kill Me Again by Rachel Abbot
21. This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes
22. The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver
23. Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
24. This Must be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
25. She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
26. The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain
27. Eve by Una
28. The Last Lost Girl by Maria Hoey
29. My Sister Milly by Gemma Dowler
30. The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
31. A Darker Domain by Val McDermid
32. Consider Her Ways: And Others by John Wyndham
33. A Catalogue of Catastrophes by Jodi Taylor
34. Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes
35. The Editor's Wife by Clare Chambers
36. The Vision by Dean Koontz
37. The Waiting Rooms by Eve Smith
38. Girl A by Abigail Dean
39. Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
40. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
41. Cop Town by Karin Slaughter
42. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
43. The Sixth Window by Rachel Abbot
44. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
45. Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
46. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
47. Odd Girl Out by Laura James
48. New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey
49. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
50. The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti
51. The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J Sawyer
52. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
53. Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
54. Empire of Time by Daniel Godfrey
55. Insomnia by Stephen King
56. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell
57. White Bones by Graham Masterson
58. The Premonitions Bureau: A True Story by Sam Knight
59. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
60. Behind Closed Doors by Susan Lewis
61. The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
62. The Dark Queens by Shelly Puhak
63. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
64. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
65. The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
66. The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison
67. Mrs England by Stacey Halls
68. The Problem With Men: When Is International Men's Day? By Richard Herring
69. Netherspace by Andrew Lane
70. Did You See Melody by Sophie Hannah
71. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
72. Where She Lies by Michael Scanlon
73. The Rehearsals by Annette Christie
74. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
75. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
76. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
77. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
78. About Time by Jodi Taylor
79. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
80. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
81. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
82. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
83. Hungry by Grace Dent

<strong>84.	The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid</strong>
<strong>85.	Out of Bounds by Val McDermid</strong>
<strong>86.	Broken Ground by Val McDermid</strong>
<strong>87.	Still Life by Val McDermid</strong>

The Karen Pirie cold case series. I love a cold case book, but these were all a bit too recent for me. My own fault for reading a few in a row, but I was heartily sick of Karen Pirie and her sincere belief that she is the only member of the police who cares about solving crimes by the time I hit the last book. Still they were easy reads and kept me interested.

<strong>88.	Hillsborough Voices: The Real Story Told by the People Themselves by Kevin Sampson</strong>

This was a bit of a funny one. I was expecting something along the lines of The Last Plane in the Sky and given subject matter it was obviously very emotional, and enraging, but for some reason it felt a bit lightweight. I don’t know if he struggled to get people to contribute (and I could understand that), but the voices he mentions are fairly limited in number and didn’t really add much to what I already knew.

<strong>89.	2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke</strong>

I listened to this on audiobook and it really brought home to me what a visual film 2001 is and parts definitely didn’t lend themselves well to a book format.

<strong>90.	The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni</strong>

This was a management bollocks book I had to read for work, which I actually ending up kind of enjoying. It helped that it was structured as a story, and was short, and worked pretty well as an audiobook. I mean I wouldn’t read it for fun, but if you have to read kinda thing there are definitely worse books out there.

<strong>91.	Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie</strong>
<strong>92.	Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie</strong>

The second and third books in the First Law series. Fantasy books, which didn’t go the way I expected at all. No one turned out to be who I thought they were and their fates were somewhat unexpected too. I really enjoyed these after a slow start with the first book in the trilogy.

<strong>93.	Marking Time by April White</strong>
<strong>94.	Tempting Fate by April White</strong>
<strong>95.	Changing Nature by April White</strong>
<strong>96.	Waging War by April White</strong>
<strong>97.	Cheating Death by April White</strong>

YA time travel series where the descendants of Immortals have gifts depending on their ancestry. There’s clockers, shifters, seers, mongers and the descendants of Death. If you can see past the not great writing, the inordinate amount of smirking, and the slightly irritating heroine, these are a fun and easy read which I didn’t mind at all.

I’ve opted for It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet for tonight’s lovely book.

I’d never heard of him tonight so knew nothing about him. I quite like a bit of steam punk, so will give it a go.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations everyone - I’m going to download some samples when I get in bed later (not much later - I’m shattered!).

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit absorbing sounds ideal. Will check both of those out.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I have indeed read 84 Charing Cross Road but that is a very good shout for a reread.

@Sadik I don’t read much fantasy but I’m not against it, will see if I can get a sample.

Tigerman looks good too thank you @DuPainDuVinDuFromage

I was a bit mixed on A Gentleman in Moscow @Tarahumara though on balance I think it won me over overall. I do have Piranesi waiting on my kindle, I was just scared as I battled so much with her previous one earlier this year!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I haven't read Tigerman or Gone-away World but I have read Angelmaker and enjoyed it - I think it's what they call steampunk. Did you know that Nick Harkaway is John le Carre's son?

After promising not to start anything new and focus on finishing everything I am part way through I did start and finish another book. I was in a rut and this was just what I needed.

Au Revoir, Tristesse, Viv Groskop
I enjoy Viv Groskop’s literally musings and had fun with The Anna Karenina Fix previously. I basically fell in love with Russian and Russian history/literature at uni and she had a similar obsession. I also, walked into my first French class aged 11 and fell totally in love - which is exactly what happened to her. This book is a set of essays about different French books that can help you be happy, even though the list includes L’Etranger, Les Miserables and others. This book just made me happy and hit four stars, but I think it’s because her feelings about French and France mirror mine so closely that I don’t quite believe it is possible.

When people make these requests I realise how few "nice" books I read. I'm going to suggest @AliasGrape The Invention Of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd or The Vintners Luck by Elizabeth Knox, in terms of none too hard work, or sad. It's a while since I read either and they may not fit the bill. They are not so much cosy cottage or nicey nicey as they are good absorbing reads to take you out of reality. Check out the samples if you have a Kindle.

Tigerman sounds good. Also, has anybody read The Gone-away World because that sounds up my street too.

@MegBusset
I loved Slow Horses.
Jackson Lamb is a work of genius.

63 Slow Horses - Mick Herron

Silly but readable modern spy thriller, not really inspiring me to say much about it but an easy read.

@AliasGrape the ones that occurred to me were A Gentleman in Moscow and Piranesi.

@AliasGrape I assume you've read 84 Charing Cross Road? One of the very loveliest books ever.

@AliasGrape how about Tigerman by Nick Harkaway? Quite unusual, but in a good way, and I think it meets your criteria in terms of the right kind of cosy…

69 Creepy Stories: A Classic Collection - various authors This is one of DH’s books, which he probably got to improve his English (I don’t think he’s ever read it - he’s more of a graphic novel kind of guy). It’s rare for me to pick one of his books off the shelf as they’re mostly French classics, but after many years of it staring me in the face I decided around Halloween that this could be fun.

Well, it wasn’t particularly fun, but overall was ok. The stories are all pretty old - the most recent were written about 80 years ago - and there is a lot of colonialism, misogyny, classism and racism. Looking past that, some of the stories are quite interesting, some are almost creepy, but nothing was really memorable. It helped that most of them were short, so I could always move on to the next in hope! Probably the best thing was that I went down plenty of rabbit holes googling the authors I didn’t recognise - I’ve learned a lot!

I must admit that with Patrick G his books all tend to blur into one; I'm pretty sure Iv've read most if not all of them, but struggle to remember the details (barring the two I mention upthread, because I liked them a lot, and Mother's Boy, which I read recently).

I loved Notes On An Exhibition and its (sort of) follow up A Perfectly Good Man

Do you read fantasy? The Goblin Emperor by Katharine Addison is a strangely lovely book, though you wouldn't expect it to be so from the description. I don't usually read high fantasy these days (all those orcs & elves) but I found it delightful.

Thanks DameHelena for all those recs, I will look them up now. The Household Spirit looks promising. I thought I'd read some Patrick Gayle but don't recognise those titles. I HAVE read Pure - it was a mixed bag for me though I did love the period detail!

Alias, a slightly strange one sprang to mind when I read your post; in that it's not straightforwardly 'lovely', but does have wonderful characters and, although difficult things do happen, it is overall not sad or cynical. And IMO it has a perfect ending. It's The Household Spirit by Tod Wodicka.
Or how about Patrick Gale? Not 'cosy' really, but quite domestic, about the details of people's lives. Wryly funny and sort of gentle but very perceptive too. I especially like Rough Music and Notes from an Exhibition.
And, mentioned on these threads, Pure by Andrew Miller, about a young engineer tasked with removing the Les Innocents cemetery from Les Halles, Paris in 1786. I found this very witty, very good on period detail, immersive and gripping.

50 A View of the Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor
There's not been much I've loved this year, and my last two reads were O Caledonia and Good Behaviour both of which were of the supposedly 'darkly comic' mould, and whilst I admired them I couldn't love them really. I said when I posted about them that I was ready for something with sympathetic characters who had, at least some, good things happening to them.

Well this was not that!

It's a rather bleak, although expertly drawn, portrait of a down at heel seaside town still recovering from WW2, and of the characters that populate this closed and insular little community. Most of the characters are varying degrees of sad, indeed tragic. Few were particularly sympathetic (although my heart ached for poor old Lily Wilson), and Bertram with this white knight complex actually made my skin crawl.

This is really really good, I can't deny that, and I was drawn in despite myself. It just wasn't particularly what I was after, although having read 2 more of Taylor's books previously I did know what I was getting into really.

So that brings me to a plea really - I have a TBR list as long as my arm, physical and kindle shelves groaning with stuff I've not opened, but I am feeling low and decidedly unfestive and I just need something 'lovely'. Can anyone recommend a 'lovely' book please? I don't mean 'cosy' as in 'Wizard's niece learns life lessons from eccentric locals whilst selling cupcakes by the sea before falling in love with local landowner who previously appeared rather aloof' type. I don't really have a preference for genre other than not that - I just want something that's maybe a bit warmer and not too cynical or sad, something with a really satisfying resolution. I'm probably not describing it well at all but does anyone know what I mean?

Hi @InTheCludgie

@SolInvictus

I did start it with trepidation as I'm in Italy. People that were allowed to form bubbles and go for a walk don't really get to tell me and mine about what a lockdown is

I was/am CEV and barely left the house so I hear this totally. Other people just really didn't understand why I couldn't just come over and some acting like I was spoiling things purposely

Hi I hope everyone is well. I haven't posted in a while and fell behind both with keeping up with this thread and my reading ambitions for this year. I had set a personal goal of 79 books but looks like it'll be around 60 or so this year, this will be the first time since I began following the challenge five years ago that I won't make my personal target. However, it's all good as I've been busy with life in general and productive in other ways!

I'll post my final tally at the end of the month along with everyone else.

Posted too soon ...
I think Mary sets the bar for royal grievances.

Meghan Markle plying needle and thread on a vast tapestry of her grievances against the Windsors Ha, yes!

Haha yes, Maud, I noticed Embroidering her Truth when I was looking up your recommendation, and it gave me unpleasant mental images of Meghan Markle plying needle and thread on a vast tapestry of her grievances against the Windsors. Despite that I do quite fancy it myself!

@SolInvictus Laughing at your prediction of the dross-laden bandwagon - I've been reading this morning about Matt Hancock's The Pandemic Diaries. I'm sure it's going to be laden with something, for sure .

@Terpsichore It's well worth a read - there is so much in there. I think the reason it took me so long was that I wanted to do it justice. The tone is a bit portentous at times but the content is fascinating and important, I think. She has a separate book about Mary Queen of Scots' embroidery, subtitled "Embroidering her Truth", which was almost enough to put me off. The chapter about her in Threads of Life was one of the best, though, and needlework was so integral to Mary's life that I'm really interested in reading it.