26-ish books in 2022

[StColumbofNavron]

Roll up, roll up ...

Shiny new thread for 2022.

I am setting my target at 25 this year.

I want to read at least a min of 5 in hardcopy and at least 4 non-fiction.

I read it with my book club and whilst they didn’t hate it they didn’t love it but the film has been mentioned. I don’t think I can face it to be honest, so will just have to listen to other people’s reviews.

@Divebar2021

I didn’t realise there was so much hate for Crawdads… I didn’t read it I listened on audiobook and was pretty engaged with it. I’m not usually very tolerant of “trashy” novels either- I thought Girl on a Train was a steaming pile of shite and couldn’t work out for the life of me why it was so popular. I’m reading something now that I don’t think is that great but it’s for my book club so I need to be a bit careful in my review in case the “nominator” really loves it. I loved Burial Rites ( can’t remember the author) which was my choice but a couple found that a hard read - I think more for the subject matter than the writing. Ultimately we all connect with novels in a different way depending on our tastes and life experiences.

I loved Girl on a Train 😂

I was fairly neutral on Girl on a Train, it was ok.

@dollybird

You weren’t alone …. It was massively successful.

I’d like to join - obvious reasons! - see username. Think it would give me some good ideas.

Am currently reading a Biography of Saint Paul (hardback).

Have just finished The Rule by David Jackson. (I bought it on impulse when I was in Waterstones and really enjoyed it).
I’m finding it harder to read paperbacks these days - eyesight doesn’t like it - so needs to be kindle or hardback.

Hardbacks are clearly more expensive- but it is nice to hold a book again.

6. The Underground Railroad - Colston Whitehead
Set in the antebellum Deep South, Cora is a slave on a plantation who, after catching the eye of cruel plantation owner and knowing what that will mean, decides to attempt escape to the North via the Underground Railroad. In the book the Underground Railroad is an actual railroad, and the story follows Cora on her journey and paints a vivid picture of the horrors that black people faced (face?) in America.

A powerful book that taught me more than I wanted to know (but needed to know) about slavery and racism, and made me ashamed and embarrassed to be white...while feeling a small amount of relief that at least I'm not American.

I enjoyed Girl on the train too @dollybird

Oh, and if anyone fancies reading The Underground Railroad, it's 99p on Kindle at the moment.

Oh thanks for the tip - I’ll get it! I read The Nickel Boys by the same author and really liked it

I thought both The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys were excellent. Very powerful writing. I think The Underground Railroad is going to be a TV series soon.

StColumbo I heard Louis de Bernieres speak at Edinburgh Book Festival and when I tried to chat to him at a book signing afterwards he was so rude and unpleasant (towards other authors) I can't bring myself to read any of his books in future. Most authors I've met have been exceptionally nice. He was an unfortunate exception.

Aw I also loved Girl on a Train! Really enjoyed that.

Have just read Playing Nice by JP Delaney - I couldn't put it down. So chilling. The whole way through, I was thinking that I could imagine them making a four part drama on BBC of it!

StColumbofNavron
Thank you for a précis of your rant.
I agree with you on all points, particularly re the court scene.

It's a book group book and I think I might be the only one that doesn't love it 😂

@highlandcoo I’ve met him as well and I think grumpy old man sums him up tbh. I followed him on FB and occasionally he, himself, would post bonkers missives about life, kids, writing and cats. If you posted on the comments he would chat and he mentioned a big festival he was doing and I think it must have been nearby but I was busy and said so. He then responded that he was doing a talk about Birds Without Wings - one of the earlier books and not what he was promoting at the big festival really close to where I live. I turned up to a tiny gallery with about 12 other people and we all went to the pub after where he told me about his mate who is a huge, huge very accomplished famous musician, writer and politician in Turkey who I am a huge fan of so we had a massive chat.

The 50 book thread has had a debate about Elif Shafak who I also love that has lowered her in my estimation slightly. I can’t give up Louis today.

That said, I am not surprised by what you say.

1. Freckles by Cecelia Ahern (book)
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (audio)

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (audio) The story of a family torn apart by the war in Syria, narrated by Art Malik. Nuri, a beekeeper and his wife, Afra, leave Aleppo after horrendous war time events destroy their way of life. This story follows their journey to England to be reunited with Nuri's cousin and fellow beekeeper Mustafa. I enjoyed the way the story is told in flashbacks, from their time awaiting a decision on asylum in England following their journey through Europe, with vivid description of people, places and events. The language used is simple but very effective, a great listen.

@StColumbofNavron that's so interesting. Don't give him up on my account . I might get over my encounter with him eventually and read the book of his that's been sitting on the shelf for two and a half years now. You never know.
I would like Ian Rankin as my friend, and have smiled over at him in the Oxford Bar, but didn't want to go over and intrude. Now he's a writer who knows how to talk to his fans nicely

@ExtremelyDetermined we read The Beekeeper of Aleppo in our book group and it went down well. One or two people who'd lacked sympathy for refugees previously did become more open-minded after reading it. I think it's a better book that it's rather cliched title would suggest.

I might suggest The Beekeeper of Alleppo for our book club (cancelled this week thanks to my DS contracting covid)

Another Underground Railroad fan, I listened to it a few years ago. Have to say though the longer I live in the US the more I feel the guilt of the impact racism had on its society and how that really was the fault of the white Europeans who invaded this country, it’s so easy for the Brits to feel like it doesn’t affect them in the same way because the British slave owners conducted their affairs overseas, we haven’t had to deal with the fall out in quite the same way as America and our white ancestors were entirely culpable in the fuck up that has been created today

@Divebar2021 Burial Rites is also one of my top fav books - have you read The Good People also by Hannah Kent?

its not it's - I do know the difference

I don’t have to give him up just yet, since I’ve already read every single thing and there doesn’t appear to be anything else in the works.

I love an author encounter.

I’ve just finished my third title *Frequency of Us” which I thought was OK but not great ( even though I like that genre ). I found it a bit overwrought - Laura ( the main character ) was always “sobbing”and fainting. It was like a typical night on the Relationship board. I did like the comment that the way to engage a man is to make a factual error about a subject he’s interested in.

I would quite like to read something from a pile I have here if anyone would like to recommend or not. My options are:
Dance, Dance Dance - Huriki Murakami
A Pale View of the Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Girl Who Reads on the Metro - Christine Feret-Fleury
American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky.
Cop Hater - Ed McBain. ( I’m trying some “cult “ fiction )
I tend to pick up books in charity shops rather than buying new titles. Any advice?

My recommendation from last year I’ve not seen mentioned is Golden Hill by Francis Spufford - following a young British man who travels for a mysterious reason to New York in 1746. It’s very pacy and entertaining. ( think Hamilton )

@KobaniDaughters. I haven’t read anything else by Hannah Kent but I’m open to it. I thought Burial Rites was bleak but beautiful.

Divebar2021
Out of the books in your list I've only read American Dirt which I thought was great.

I've heard good things about Golden Hill. It's been in my shelf for years but I've never got round to it.

I struggled with Golden Hill for some reason, but so many people have said it's great, I think I should give it another try.

American Dirt is a real page-turner, Chesil Beach is quite understated and melancholy, and Suite Française is very atmospheric, even more so given that Irene Nemirovsky wrote it almost in real time as the Nazis were pushing into France and the danger to Jewish people was looming larger and larger. Of course, her own experience was tragic in the end, which gives a whole other layer of authenticity and sadness to the book.

Oh I read Cop Hater on holiday! It was in the house we rented. It’s a really of it’s time book. Very sexist etc but quite interesting. It’s set in a heat wave and made me feel uncomfortable !

@KobaniDaughters

I might suggest The Beekeeper of Alleppo for our book club (cancelled this week thanks to my DS contracting covid)

Another Underground Railroad fan, I listened to it a few years ago. Have to say though the longer I live in the US the more I feel the guilt of the impact racism had on its society and how that really was the fault of the white Europeans who invaded this country, it’s so easy for the Brits to feel like it doesn’t affect them in the same way because the British slave owners conducted their affairs overseas, we haven’t had to deal with the fall out in quite the same way as America and our white ancestors were entirely culpable in the fuck up that has been created today

@Divebar2021 Burial Rites is also one of my top fav books - have you read The Good People also by Hannah Kent?

@KobaniDaughters - yes, absolutely appreciate that the Americans massacring the native people and running the plantations, etc. were originally white Europeans, and that many British benefitted from slavery - which is what makes me feel ashamed and guilty. Much of this side of our history I've only learnt as an adult because (of course) it wasn't taught at school. It makes me sick to think of how people could treat other human beings in such a brutal way. I think books like the Underground Railroad should be part of the English curriculum in secondary schools so we face up to our (true) history.

@Divebar2021 I've only read American Dirt from your list and it was one of my standout books of last year.