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.

28: Tap to Tidy by Stacey Solomon (audio). Stacey's collected wisdom on the subjects of organising your home and crafting. I like Stacey, but this was sickly sweet in the extreme, a lot of it fell in the category of stating the obvious but some good tips. Could have done with out all the Christmas crafting stuff at the end, it doesn't translate very well to audio. But overall a nice feelgood book.

I've just got back into reading in a big way again following a hand injury meaning I couldn't. I'd love to join your club 😍😍🫣

Finally finished the quite heavy going “ Under The Affluence “ and now working on the
19 The Whistler - John Grisham
20 The Elevation - Stephen King I read on our trip then started on
21.Evicted ;Poverty and Profit in the American City - Matthew Desmond
When I’m done with The Whistler I think I want to start the huge new Fairytale by Stephen King I just got

24- The Foundling - Stacey Halls

Having not enjoyed one of her other books, I was not sure about this initially but I found it an enjoyable and easy read.

Recently finished 'The Documents in the Case', and 'Whose Body?' both by Dorothy L. Sayers. Strange to have such a big dollop of the British class system served up all at once. Both books were a fascinating glimpse into preoccupations and mores of another age.

Currently dipping my toes into 'Winston Churchill's War' by Max Hastings.

I'm really behind everyone here but I finished book 9 last night

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - it's not my usual type of book but I absolutely loved it, so interesting.

25 Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu

This was a fantastic book, read as part of my quest to read more Asian literature this year. Only thing was all the way through the author uses the word quieten instead of quiet. I found it super annoying as it was otherwise very well researched and written. This will be right up the street of any Pachinko fans

23. Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse - A tale of 2 Influencers. One a glossy, middle class, aspirational Instagrammer and 'activist'. The other a single mum on a zero hours contract, with dreams of becoming a writer & an anonymous blog about the realities of parenting on a shoestring and tips on how to make ends meet. They met IRL when their kids start at the same school and become friends. Things spiral from there.

I enjoyed this book, which delved into cancel culture and the toxic side of social media. I didn't think it touched on anything particularly new, but there were some witty observations.

I've now started on The Eye of the Reindeer by Eva Weaver.

26 - Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

This is the first book that's made my cry in a very long time. It's amazing, a real highlight of my reading year.

Finished 29 Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith.
I have to admit it was a slow start and I wasn't as impressed as with previous books but once I got into it I was engrossed. It's spot on with internet trolls/MRAs of course and the twist at the end was well written.

I've made a slow start with The Ink Black Heart too, finding the online dialogue tricky to read the way it's been printed (and I've been pre-occupied with getting DS off to Uni). Glad to hear someone has finished it, I have loved the other Strike books.

Currently reading The Ink Black Heart, about a quarter of the way through.
Loving it, another superb story, don’t want it to end!

24. The Eye of The Reindeer by Eva Weaver - Ritva, a young Finnish woman, is sent to an asylum on a remote island by her father when she starts having visions. There she befriends Martta, a Sami woman, and together they escape and head north to start a new life among Martta's kin.

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed learning more about the Sami, however I thought the unquestioning and universal acceptance of outsider Ritva into their community was a bit unrealistic given the prejudices the Sami had faced from southerners like Ritva in the past. It would have been more interesting to see some conflict there. Overall a good read which gave me Captain Corelli vibes towards the end.

Finished no 30 Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor, recommended by someone on here. Really liked it but I'm not too sure I'll read more in the series. The "whacky" tone gets a bit confusing after a while and she seems to think it's illegal to name people in a conversation.

20. Watching You by Lisa Jewell
21. A Slow Fire Burning

Whoops posted too soon. Book 21 by Paula Hawkins

29: Songbirds by Christy Lefteri (audio) - a beautifully written (and narrated) book, the tale of Nisha, the Sri Lankan maid to a widowed mother, Petra and her daughter in Cyprus. Nisha too is widowed and has a daughter at home in Sri Lanka, she also has a lover, Yiannis. Nisha goes missing one day, this book is told through the eyes of Petra and Yiannis as they search for her and realise how little they knew of the real Nisha.

27 The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
This was brilliant, absolutely lived up to the hype

Oh didn't it? I loved this book.

@dalisdrippingclock so good. I think I am now likely to enter a book slump!

I finished the Whistler by John Grisham but am still reading Evicted on my Kindle . In the meanwhile I read
22 Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman I got ages ago ( we have the two next ones too ) . It was ok ,quite easy to read . Then started
23 Undoctored Adam Kay which I like and have read his others too

30 - Making It by Jay Blades (audio). This was fascinating, Jay has led such an interesting life. Born to a single mother, with no father figure in his life, encountering racism from an early age, struggling with education due to undiagnosed dyslexia, studying for a degree as a mature student with dyslexia diagnosed, then setting up various organisations to help improve the lives of undeprivileged young people, eventually leading to his role as the presenter of The Repair Shop.

I finished Undoctored by Adam Kay , now starting
24 The man who died twice - Richard Osman ( the second Thursday Murder Club book

28 - The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal
Having read Circus of Wonders earlier this year I was really looking forward to this. It was well written and readable but it moved into 'thriller' territory which isn't my favourite. Bit slow moving in places too.

31: Coming to England by Floella Benjamin (audio). Floella and her family arrived in Britain from Trinidad in 1960, this book tells the story of her early life in Trinidad, the memorable journey across the Atlantic and her early years in Britain where she found she had to work hard to be accepted. Interesting and enjoyable, narrated in her inimitable style.