50 books challenge - 2023 round up

Thank you, @Tarahumara .

I haven't finished the year's reading but I don't think I will be attempting anything likely to trouble the lists for the rest of the year as I've got a couple of gentle reads lined up.

It's been a really good reading year. I'm so glad I finally got round to the Wolf Hall trilogy, which was definitely the highlight. I didn't read much that was really challenging, but also have very few absolute duds. My big reading resolution at the start of the year, which I'm pleased to say I followed up on, was to join and use the local library. As a result I've spent far less on books than in previous years (helped by going to World of Books as my first port of call for things I want to buy).

FICTION
First place
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Second place
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Third place
The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Honourable mentions
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
A Spell of Good Things by Ayobámi Adébáyò
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
The Nun’s Story by Kathryn Hulme
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie
Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth
A Helping Hand by Celia Dale

NON FICTION
First place
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in New York City by Andrea Elliott

Second place
A Place Apart by Dervla Murphy

Honourable mentions
East West Street by Philippe Sands
The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond by Chris Blackwell
Feral City by Jeremiah Moss
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong

Just popping on to say thank you @Tarahumara for sorting this thread. Not adding as dropped off for this year but I enjoy reading everyone’s yearly round up’s/stats

I've just been looking back at my reading year.

So far I have read 343 books (although that does include 33 children's/YA books, 4 short stories and 1 play, and 25 audiobooks which I know some people don't count). I will probably read a couple more before the end of the year but I need to catch up on my Nicholas Nickleby chapters so that will take up quite a bit of the last week!

199 (58.02%) were by female authors, 140 (40.82%) by male authors, and 4 (1.17%) by both male and female authors. I don't think that's too bad a balance.
25 (7.29%) were audiobooks, 100 (29.15%) were on kindle, and 73 (21.28%) were from the library, with the remainder being hard copy books not from the library. I'm pleased that a fifth of my books came from the library as I really want to support libraries.
33 (9.62%) were children's/YA books, 4 (1.17%) were short stories, 1 (0.29%) was a play, 87 (25.36%) were non fiction and 218 (63.55%) were fiction.
265 (77.26%) were brand new to me, and 78 (22.74%) were rereads. The rereads account for a lot of the children's/YA books and also most of the audiobooks - I don't always focus well on audiobooks so better if it's something I already know.

My bolds are:
A Terrible Kindness - Jo Browning Wroe
Caught In The Light - Robert Goddard
Past Caring - Robert Goddard
In Pale Battalions - Robert Goddard
Into The Blue - Robert Goddard
The Fortnight In September - R C Sherriff
Beyond Recall- Robert Goddard
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim
The Family From One End Street - Eve Garnett
Dying To Tell - Robert Goddard
Troubled Blood - Robert Galbraith
The Ink Black Heart - Robert Galbraith
Days Without Number - Robert Goddard
Further Adventures of the Family From One End Street - Eve Garnett
Holiday At The Dew Drop Inn - Eve Garnett
The Running Grave - Robert Galbraith
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken
The Children Of Green Knowe - Lucy M Boston
Mr Dickens And His Carol - Samantha Silva
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

My duds are:
Children Of Paradise - Camilla Grudova
That Night - Gillian McAllister
Palace Rogue - William Coles
The Other Emily - Dean Koontz

However the duds list only includes books I've actually finished - there's a load more that I didn't even bother finishing (including some that are on other people's bold lists - Trespasses, Kala and Penance were all DNFs for me!)

I have had a great reading year, helped immeasurably by the one New Year's resolution that I have kept - DNF some thing if you don't like it. Hence my list of duds is short fits in with my determination to read all the Women's Prize list and book club.

Current total is 120 books - might sneak a couple more in before the end of the year and will update as necessary

Fictions standouts are:

1 Antarctica - Claire Keegan
2 Stone blind - Natalie Haynes
3 Betty
4 Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
5 Wandering souls - Cecile Pin
6 Black butterflies
7 Other women- Emma Flint
8 Love Marriage - Monica Ali
9 Unsheltered- Barbara Kingsolver
10 Fire rush
11 The dance tree
12 The bandit queens
13 Violets
14 The chosen^^
15 Shy- Max Porter
16 Prize women- Caroline Lea
17 Now we shall be entirely free
18 Little deaths - Emma Flint
19 Waterland - Graham Swift
20 A place of greater safety - Hilary Mantel
21 In memoriam
22 Kala
23 Notes on an execution
24 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
25 North woods- Daniel Mason
26 Excellent women - Barbara Pym

Nonfiction -
1 Written in bone - Sue Black
2 Landlines- Raynor Winn
3 Without warning and only sometimes - Kit De Waal
4 Unwell women
5 Shakespeare- the man who pays the rent - Judi Dench

Duds -
1 I’m a fan
2 One day I shall astonish the world - Nina Stivers
3 Pod
4 Cursed bread

I am on 46 so a week to read 4 more.

But I am impressed by the quality of most people's lists. Mine are filled with things like

17 hercule poirots (reading all in order via libby)
James Patterson and Patricia Cornwall
Jkr Rowling new one
Tackle by jilly cooper

Only one I read that was quality as tomorrow cubed. Which was a bit meh to me. And I work in the gaming industry! It was actually quite similar tp sid Meier autobiography (which I forgot I read so now it's 47!)
And yellow face which I quite enjoyed.

I ignored books I read on corporate governor or risk management for professional exams.

And missed any I read physically that I own as I made my list from library records and Libby list.

I’m placemarking

45 for me this year. So close, but didn't make the 50. Thought i might squeeze another one in, but dont think i will now Did read a novel written in the 19th century though, which was a first for me outside of school (don't think il'll be repeating it any time soon though :-) ).

Best bolds

1. Passing Nella Larsen

16. The Cut Out Girl Bart Van Es Non-fiction about the author's family fostering a jewish girl and hiding her in plain sight in occupied Holland. I dont read a lot of nonfiction, but would really recommend this.

23 Lives Like Mine Eva Verde
Family drama set in post brexit Britain. Didnt think it would be for me, but it grew on me.

33. Small Pleasures Clare Chambers Journalist on a local paper investigates a women's claim that she had a virgin birth. Sounds ridiculous, but one of the most affecting novels I've read recently. People living thwarted lives trying to grab small chances of happiness.

& the stinkers

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, Olivia Hawker
Woo nonsense set on the American frontier. I thought it would be like The Homesman. It wasn't.

7.The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah
Lengthy & uninteresting historical fiction set in the depression. Cant remember quite why I hated it - only that I did.

22. The Schoolhouse Sophie Ward Incredibly boring unthrilling thriller.

I really liked The Reading List. I thought it dealt with a lot with a sensitive, light touch. Was it a little twee in parts, yes, but overall I liked the characters, they were very believable and I liked the friendships and the frustrations.

Favourite Books

Hell Bent - Leigh Bardugo. More dark shenanigans in American academia.
A Sliver Of Darkness - CJ Tudor (short stories)
The Drift - CJ Tudor. Chopped up timeline, skillfully woven.
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell. Captivating reimagining of history.
The Full English- Stuart Maconie. Following the travels of JB Priestley.
Strong Female Character - Fern Brady. Bitingly honest autobiography.
Steeplechasing - Peter Ross. Churches and what they mean to those with faith and those without.
Cuddy - Benjamin Myers My boldest of all the bolds this year. How St Cuthbert did not stop travelling through hearts and minds even when laid to rest in Durham.
The Path Of Thorns - A.G Slatter. Fabulous folk tale, top of all the Swirly Covers for 23.
Kala - Colin Maguire. An old disappearance drags old friends back into its orbit.
Penance - Eliza Clark. Fiction with a True Crime costume on.
The Perfect Golden Circle - Ben Myers. A tribute to the countryside and folklore.
Ironopolis- Glen James Brown. Peg Powler stalks Middlesbrough.
Word Monkey - Christopher Fowler. His last book, detailing his cancer diagnosis but much, much more. Sadly missed.

Bilge List (not including DNFs)

A Chipshop In Poznan - Ben Aitken. Navel gazing, intermittently creepy.
The Whispering Muse - Laura Purcell. She’s phoning it in now.
The Social Distance Between Us - Darren McGarvey. Mostly a rehash of the tv programme he made, full of interesting avenues that don’t go anywhere.
Depraved New World - John Crace. Repetitive anger and scorn that failed to connect for me.

I'm just going through mine. Still have a few books to read this year but in the interests of stats, my favourite books this year have been in reading order:

The Sentence - Louise Erdrich
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
Children of Paradise - Camilla Grudova
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies - Maddie Mortimer
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
Fire Rush - Jacqueline Crooks
Foster - Claire Keegan
In Memoriam - Alice Winn
All The Little Bird Hearts - Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Amy & Lan - Sadie Jones
Venomous Lumpsucker - Ned Beauman

That's 10% of my books read so seems like a good number!

Worst read was Whale by Cheon Myong-Kwan, which I'm still flabbergasted was short-listed for the International Booker.

I've seen them both on the worse reads of the year @RomanMum as well as the best! Both were book club reads. We had book club last week about The Binding which a few of us thought was meh (also felt uncomfortable about some of the male/female dynamics) and two other members absolutely loved it. I think it makes book club more interesting when we disagree!

@Mothership4two funnily enough The Reading List was a DNF for me and I found Lessons in Chemistry a bit meh. But life would be dull if we all liked the same things.

My best reads this year have all been fiction:

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

Any Human Heart by William Boyd

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Artemis by Andy Weir

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Murder in the Fast Lane by Natasha Orme

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Some of these are listed on the worst reads of the year!

The two stand outs for me were:

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Also, many thanks in advance RomanMum for offering to run the stats.

Many thanks for the thread Tarahumara

My top reads this year have been non-fiction:

Gulag, a History by Anne Applebaum
Conversations with Stalin by Milovan Djilas
House of Glass by Hadley Freeman
Trans by Helen Joyce
The Long Pursuit by Richard Holmes

My top fiction (although only Claire Keegan scored as highly as my non-fiction choices):

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Tresspasses by Louise Kennedy

@RomanMum thank you, I definitely have no inclination but would enjoy reading them.

Go For It @RomanMum

That would be great

That would be interesting to see @RomanMum

That's very good (and brave) of you to offer, RomanMum!

Instead of cleaning/catching up on my personal finances/sorting Christmas/all the other stuff on my to do list, I don't mind trying to produce some stats on bolds/stinkers for the New Year... unless anyone else has a burning desire to?

I DNFd that @StColumbofNavron

Self pitying nonsense

I also need some time to look through and process my bolds, but love this thread already.

I can tell you that my worst book of the year, indeed possibly my life was:

My Year of Rest and Relaxtion,
Otessa Moshfegh

I have a physical reaction to this book, which maybe means it was ‘good’ but I hated it and continue to hate it.

I've done appallingly bad this year - only 22 books and will likely end on 24. Life has got in the way! Still, had a number of 5 star reads, in particular non fiction this year (left notes for the less well known ones)

Fiction
His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnett (Atmospheric historical novel set on the Scottish Highlands involving a triple murder)
Lord of the Flies - William Golding (haven't read this since school at loved it!)

Non Fiction
Your Child is Not Broken - Heidi Mavir (About supporting her autistic child)
A Heart That Works - Rob Delaney
Our Daily Bread - Father Alex Frost (Lovely guy who went from being a Argos store manager to C of E priest in Burnley - a very deprived community in Lancashire)
Empire of Pain - Patrick Radden Keefe
House of Glass - Hadley Freeman

I would stick my neck out at say favourite fiction and non fiction of the year are:

His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnett
House of Glass - Hadley Freeman