Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
25
ChessieFL · 30/11/2022 12:41

Thanks for the new thread southeast. I’ll save my list for the end of the year.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 30/11/2022 12:26

Thank you for the thread southeastSmile

I'm really pleased to have past 50, given that I was so unwell this year I basically didn't read for 6 months. I'm also quite shocked at how few I have rated bold but that's basically me being a bit more select than in previous years.

1.	My Friend Anna by Rachel Deloache Williams
2.	The Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham
3.	Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson
4.	Passing by Nella Larsen
5.	Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
6.	The Final Revival Of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton
7.	The Iliac Crest by Cristina Rivera Garza
8.	Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
9.	Convenience Store Worker by Sayaka Murata
10.	Foster by  Clare Keegan
11.	Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
12.	The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan
13.	My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
14.	Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
15.	Matrix by Lauren Groff
16.	Watching Neighbours Twice A Day by Josh Widdecombe
17.	Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan
18.	Taft by Ann Patchett
19.	Untold Night And Day by Bae Suah
20.	Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
21.	Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
22.	Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know by Karl Shaw
23.	Before The Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
24.	Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
25.	The Last Duel by Eric Jager
26.	Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser
27.	Fire And Blood by George RR Martin
28.	Frankenstein In Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
29.	Luster by Raven Leilani
30.	I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
31.	Mrs March by Virginia Feito
32.	Acts Of Desperation by Megan Nolan
33.	Shrines Of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
34.	<strong>The People In The Trees</strong> by Hanya Yanagihara
35.	Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
36.	Witchfinder by Andrew Williams
37.	Madly, Deeply : The Alan Rickman Diaries ed. Alan Taylor
38.	The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
39.	<strong>Natives : Race And Class In The Ruins Of Empire</strong> by Akala
40.	Reality Is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli
41.	<strong>Say Nothing</strong> by Patrick Radden Keefe
42.	Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
43.	Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce
44.	Girl A by Abigail Dean
45.	The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
46.	The Pursuit Of William Abbey by Clare North
47.	Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
48.	The Peripheral by William Gibson
49.	The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
50.	<strong>Madhouse At The End Of The Earth</strong> by Julian Sancton
51.	The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
52.	The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
53.	Death&rsquo;s End by Cixin Liu 
54.	Magician by Raymond E Feist
55.	The Bront&euml;s by Juliet Barker 
56.	Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
57.	A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre
58.	The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

Close but no cigar on bolds :

Foster, All The Small Things, My Policeman, Prairie Fires, Fire And Blood

As to Colleen Hoover, some weird antenna of mine has told me to avoid and I've listened.

MaudOfTheMarches · 30/11/2022 11:30

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller.

  1. Action Park - Andy Mulvihill & Jake Rossen
2. The Moth and The Mountain - Ed Caesar
  1. Cook, Eat, Repeat - Nigella Lawson
  2. On Hampstead Heath - Marika Cobbold
  3. Raising The Barre - Lauren Kessler
  4. Such A Fun Age - Kiley Reid
  5. The Mitford Scandal - Jessica Fellowes
8. Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
  1. Labels - Evelyn Waugh
10. Head Over Heels (Geek Girl 5) - Holly Smale 11. St David of Dewisland - Nona Rees 12. We Are Bellingcat - Eliot Higgins 13. Nine Coaches Waiting - Mary Stewart 14. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray 15. The Way We Eat Now - Bee Wilson 16. Hot Mess - Lucy Vine 17. Magpie Lane - Lucy Atkins 18. The Mission House - Carys Davies 19. The Fun of It - ed Lillian Ross 20. The Fine Art of Invisible Detection - Robert Goddard 21. Fall - John Preston 22. Mr Wilder and Me - Jonathan Coe 23. Young Jane Young - Gabrielle Zevin 24. High Rising - Angela Thirkell 25. Breathless - Amy McCulloch 26. Recovery - Gavin Francis 27. Things I Don't Want to Know - Deborah Levy 28. Moonfleet - J Meade Falkner 29. On The Road Again: Granta 94 ed Ian Jack 30. Wham! George and Me - Andrew Ridgeley 31. The Young Clementina - DE Stevenson 32. I Lost My Girlish Laughter - Jane Allen 33. Our House - Louise Candlish 34. A Florence Diary - Diana Athill 35. Forever Geek - Holly Smale 36. Idol - Louise O'Neill 37. Empire of Pain - Patrick Radden Keefe 38. Hidden Hands - Mary Wellesley 39. In A Lonely Place - Dorothy B Hughes 40. Three Women and a Boat - Anne Youngson 41. Court of Lions - Jane Johnson 42. The Maid - Nita Prose 43. Black Diamonds - Catherine Bailey 44. A Love Letter to Europe - various 45. A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting - Sophie Irwin 46. A Class of Their Own - Matt Knott 47. Why Did You Stay? - Rebecca Humphries 48. 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet - Pamela Paul 49. The Fortunate Isles - Mary Stuart Boyd 50. How to be a Rock Star - Shaun Ryder 51. Bungalows - Kathryn Ferry 52.The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing - Melissa Bank 53. Royals - Emma Forrest

Only two stinkers on my list this year, but I've had a fair few DNFs. I'm back on a good streak, thank goodness. Currently reading Threads of Life, which is taking forever, and The Extra Man by Jonathan Ames (starts with a bit of cross-dressing involving an accident with a bra, in case Remus is around).

Terpsichore · 30/11/2022 11:17

I’m going to steal bollocking toshfests for later use, soll 😂

SolInvictus · 30/11/2022 11:12

Here's my list.
Bolding the goodies (5 stars only), and italicising the duffers.

  1. Ramble Book -Adam Buxton
  2. Enigma - Robert Harris
  3. Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater
  4. 221163 - Stephen King
  5. A Place of Execution -Val McDermid
  6. Howards End is on the Landing -Susan Hill
  7. Hidden Killers- Lynda La Plante
  8. The Wreath- Sigrid Undset
  9. Fatal Isles- Maria Adolfson
  10. The Great Circle- Maggie Shipstead
  11. The Whole Truth- Cara Huntley
  12. A Dark Adapted Eye- Barbara Vine
  13. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher- Kate Summerscale
  14. British Summer Time Begins- Ysenda Graham
  15. The Haunting of Alma Fielding Kate Summerscale
  16. The Day of the Jackal- Frederick Forsyth
  17. How Iceland Changed the World Egill Bjarnasson
  18. A Single Thread- Tracey Chevalier
  19. The Essex Serpent- Sarah Perry
  20. The Lost Continent- Bill Bryson
  21. The Wimbledon Poisoner- Nigel Williams
  22. Magpie Lane- Lucy Atkins
  23. Slow Trains Around Spain- Tom Chessyre
  24. Daughters of Spain- Jean Plaidy
  25. Blood Orange- Harriet Tyce
  26. Written in Blood Caroline Graham
  27. September Rosamund Pilcher
  28. The Family Upstairs- Lisa Jewell
  29. Once Upon a River- Diane Setterfield
  30. I know you- Clare McGowan
  31. The Night Visitor- Lucy Atkins
  32. Watching Neighbours Twice A Day- Josh Widdecomb
  33. It Ends at Midnight- Harriet Tyce
  34. The Bone Bed Patricia Cornwell
  35. The Museum of Whales You Will Not See D Kendra Greene
  36. The Secret History Donna Tartt
  37. The Way through the woods- Bill Bryson
  38. The Chestnut Man - Soren Sveistrup
  39. The Magdalene Deception- Gary McAvoy
  40. Hostage Clare Macintosh
  41. Wintering Katherine May (DNF but got over halfway)
  42. Let Me Lie- Clare Macintosh
  43. I see you- Clare Macintosh
  44. The Maidens Alex Michaelides

So, 9 goodies, 5 bollocking toshfests. Strange, it seems like it was so many more...

satelliteheart · 30/11/2022 10:57

Ooh, new thread, thanks south

I'll bring my list over

  1. The House at Riverton; Kate Morton
  2. The Murder in the Tower; Jean Plaidy
  3. The Baby Group; Caroline Corcoran
  4. An Invincible Summer; Mariah Stewart
  5. The Bourne Identity; Robert Ludlum
  6. One Small Mistake; Dandy Smith
  7. All the Rage; Cara Hunter
  8. After the Last Dance; Sarra Manning
  9. Family Money; Chad Zunker
  10. The Killings at Badger's Drift; Caroline Graham
  11. Death of a Hollow Man; Caroline Graham
  12. The Lost Tudor Princess: A Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox; Alison Weir
  13. Uneasy Lies the Head; Jean Plaidy
  14. Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and the Extraordinary Story of Harris's List; Hallie Rubenhold
  15. The Corpse Played Dead; Georgina Clarke
  16. This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor; Adam Kay
  17. The Night Burns Bright; Ross Barkan
  18. The Windsor Knot; S. J. Bennett
  19. The Lady of the Rivers; Philippa Gregory
  20. The White Queen; Philippa Gregory
  21. The Red Queen; Philippa Gregory
  22. The Kingmaker's Daughter; Philippa Gregory
  23. The White Princess; Philippa Gregory
  24. The Constant Princess; Philippa Gregory
  25. The King's Curse; Philippa Gregory
  26. Three Sisters, Three Queens; Philippa Gregory
  27. The Other Boleyn Girl; Philippa Gregory
  28. The Boleyn Inheritance; Philippa Gregory
  29. The Taming of the Queen; Philippa Gregory
  30. The Secret Rooms; Catherine Bailey
  31. False Step; Victoria Helen Stone
  32. The Bone Jar; S. W. Kane
  33. A Fire Sparkling; Julianne MacLean
  34. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; Agatha Christie

Not sure if I'll hit 50 or not this year. I was a definite no a few weeks ago but night feeds have really upped my reading speed so it's possible now. Not too worried either way

SolInvictus · 30/11/2022 10:44

Thanks South!

Stokey- can't tag you because you're not here yet! Funnily, I was looking on my proper paper book pile this morning and pulled It Ends With Us out and read the blurb. I'm a bit scared to start anything new as I've had such a run of duffers...now that others have confirmed it's a bit M&B I've shoved it back on the shelf.

As I'm on the thread on Day 1 for once I'll go and get The List.