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.

1. Beartown by Fredrik Backman I chose to start the year with this book having enjoyed A Man Called Ove and reading brilliant reviews. The story focuses on the community of a failing small town that has pinned it's hopes and dreams on their successful junior ice hockey team. When the star of the team is accused of rape, Beartown is thrown into turmoil and the story follows the reactions of the town. It was a sombre read that addressed difficult subjects with great sensitivity and there were some poignant moments that genuinely brought a tear to my eye. However, I felt it was too long and had too many characters with sub-plots that detracted from the main story . Cynical me also felt that the author was trying too hard to be profound at times. Glad I read it but think I'll give the sequel a miss.
I'm fancying something lighter now! I might re-read The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend.

@ExtremelyDetermined I have had my eye on Midnight Library for a while. Do you think it is suitable for younger teens?
@Puddock1 I love Adrian Mole. The description of his school trip to London is one of the funniest things I’ve read.

I’m still reading No One is Talking About This. I have to say I am finding it very hard going but I’m half way through so I will plough on.

@Puddock1

1. Beartown by Fredrik Backman I chose to start the year with this book having enjoyed A Man Called Ove and reading brilliant reviews. The story focuses on the community of a failing small town that has pinned it's hopes and dreams on their successful junior ice hockey team. When the star of the team is accused of rape, Beartown is thrown into turmoil and the story follows the reactions of the town. It was a sombre read that addressed difficult subjects with great sensitivity and there were some poignant moments that genuinely brought a tear to my eye. However, I felt it was too long and had too many characters with sub-plots that detracted from the main story . Cynical me also felt that the author was trying too hard to be profound at times. Glad I read it but think I'll give the sequel a miss. I'm fancying something lighter now! I might re-read The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend.

I felt similar about Beartown, it seemed to miss it's mark.

Just finished book 2 of 2022, I read it quickly because I would lose it at midnight (KU subscription).

1. The House at Old Vine by Norah Lofts
2. The House at Sunset by Norah Lofts

This was just a continuation of her Suffolk House trilogy, covering the history of the house up until 1950s. I enjoyed the series, seems well researched historically and is a light and easy read. I grew up in the area it is based apon so found the local history fascinating.

Not sure which to read next - Piranesi or Paperback Crush. Two very different books!

@ExtremelyDetermined

I finished an audiobook today, so that will be No 2. I think I will keep a list going on my posts. So,

1. Freckles by Cecelia Ahern (book)

2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (audio) I enjoyed this book, it was an interesting concept, as Nora explores alternative lives she could have led, via the concept of books in a library with a friendly librarian. However it could have done with being a bit shorter, by the final third I was getting impatient for a conclusion, I felt it got a bit self-indulgent. The narration was nice and calming.

I felt the same about the midnight library! I really enjoyed it but I wished id read a physical book so I could have gotten through it quicker. Loved the narrator right enough.

I've been following some book related things on TikTok, there's one in a book shop and the woman asks her colleagues to pick a book based on X, the other day was pick the book that got them into reading and another was pick the book that had an amazing ending. I've gotten some recommendations that I've added to my TBR list on Goodreads.

Finished book one of 2022 - The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown (still don't know how to do bold, can someone advise?). I felt only a little more than indifferent to it. A book about witch trials in the 1600s should surely feel atmospheric, tense... something?? The ending where the main character talks about moving somewhere new made me LOL though.

@LadyMacnet - I'd say maybe not. It is written in a simple and straightforward style but it is centred around mental health and although there's nothing particularly graphic it could be difficult, as the main character has reached the point where they are about to take their own life. I did cry at one point. There is some fairly mild sexual content too. Maybe 15+.

@Manteo click on the italic sign below the text box (you sometimes need to press twice) and then a list of styles come up. Select bold and then type between the two asterisks that appear.

@Manteo

Finished book one of 2022 - The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown (still don't know how to do bold, can someone advise?). I felt only a little more than indifferent to it. A book about witch trials in the 1600s should surely feel atmospheric, tense... something?? The ending where the main character talks about moving somewhere new made me LOL though.

Have you read Witch Light by Susan Fletcher (also sometimes titled Corrag). It is wonderfully atmospheric, set in Glencoe leading up to the massacre.

7 pages already? Hello gang, I’m in again this year - so many great recs on last years thread

@Puddock1 I adored Beartown, there’s a follow up to it I haven’t read so will put that on tbr list

1. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

I loved this, loved how weird it was, loved the world building - there were times when I thought she’d lost me but then I got pulled back in again. I actually think it’s worth a second read in the not too distant future

Finished book 2 last night Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies Sad read about his childhood.
TW child abuse

Welcome back @KobaniDaughters

One of my children does an activity with his child and when the book was published I wanted to say something but it didn’t really seem an appropriate forum.

Morning!

I’ve started number 3 this morning. I have quite a long commute which I normally spend mindlessly scrolling the internet but I’m going to try to read instead. I’ve gone for The Red House by AA Milne. It was Milne’s only mystery novel - his attempt at a locked room whodunnit. I’m enjoying it so far, it’s very pure genre which I quite like! I’ve got a few on my list like this that I got from another novel I read last year called the Honjin Murders, one of the characters in that is obsessed with locked room mysteries and it lists some of the ones in his collection.

[quote Puddock1]@Manteo click on the italic sign below the text box (you sometimes need to press twice) and then a list of styles come up. Select bold and then type between the two asterisks that appear.[/quote]
Thanks

Nope but I've now added to my tbr list on Goodreads!

I've now started Killers of the Flower moon by David Grann. It's going to be released as a film with Leo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro later this year. It's a true story about a native American tribe who became very wealthy when oil was discovered on their land and them some tribe members start being murdered...

On chapter 3, enjoying it so far.

I'm aiming for ~20 books this year, and to cull my backlog of Kindle samples! I finished my first read last night:

1. The Inheritance Of Loss by Kiran Desai - Beautiful prose, but a bit meandering. The action picked up in the last quarter, but before that it was a slow burn. The judge is a fascinating character though. Awful, but still somehow pitiable at parts.

I've just started reading The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan. The story starts after the recent suicide of a student (the titular Miwako), who had gone into hiding immediately prior to her death. In the aftermath, her friends go to the remote village where Miwako spent her final days to try and make sense of what happened, and discover that she had a secret identity. I've enjoyed what I've read so far, and look forward to finding out about Miwako's backstory.

1. Vanity Fair, W. M. Thackeray

2. This Much is True, Miriam Margolyes

If you are feeling down, a little ill, winter blues then this will be a nice, easy, sometimes funny, short chaptered pick me up. I'm often told that I am very self aware and honest about my strengths and weaknesses and here Miriam Margolyes basically personifies that x1000. I loved the confidence that she exudes and the give no shits attitude. She also freely admits to wanting to be the centre of attention and laps it up so I question some of her more out there stories of occasional sexual encounters with men that seem far-fetched and a bit nuts. There is no real trauma or drama (except Miriam branded drama) so it is a nice, easy one.

I wouldn't probably pay £9-10 for a hardcopy but it was on a Kindle deal for 99p. This is partly because I am not a huge biography reader so wouldn't pick one in a shop and because I know who she is and I recognise her but until recently probably by face than name.

A solid 3 stars.

@StColumbofNavron now I’m intrigued!!!!

It was 99p so for that price it was definitely good value.

I have it on Audible, it is quite amusing listening to it in her own voice. I prefer autobiographies in audio form.

I can imagine she would be brilliant, given her OBE (I now know) was for services to audio books and she has done so much more voice over work than I ever could have imagined.

I just can’t get to grips with audio books though. I keep trying and do have an audible account. The only thing I have managed to stick with are some of the Great Lectures series but I just cannot absorb a story whilst doing other things the way that others seem to, I just zone out.

I zone out even if I am doing nothing else! I struggle with audiobooks a lot, often they make me fall asleep. I think that is from my childhood, where we would listen to those 'read along' storybook & cassette tapes at bedtime.

I am currently going through chemotherapy though, and some days I can't read or watch TV, so lying with my eyes closed and listening to an audiobook makes me feel like I am at least doing something.

That makes sense @weefae. Hope that you are coming through the treatment as best you can.