50 Book Challenge 2022 Part One

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book 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 please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Who's in for this year?

Viking great review. I found your comparisons to Ali Smith really interesting as I loved Mrs Death but I really don't get on with Smith. I know what you mean though. I agree the plot petered out and that it didn't always work as a cohesive piece, but there was something about the writing that carried me away. I often think when a poet turns to novels, they bring something a little different to the table. I'd be interested to see what she does next. I also think she's a good egg. I'd responded to Caroline Hardman's tweet asking about favourite reads of the year, Salena saw mine and messaged me to say thank you.

@YnysMonCrone

I loved A Woman of no Importance. I got First Lady by the same author for Xmas - about the life of Clementine Churchill. Will get around to picking it up soon

@YnysMonCrone I'd be really interested to hear what you think about it. Marie Benedict has also written one about her called Lady Clementine. I really rate both authors so feel quite torn which to read. I don't think I'm interested enough in the subject to want to read both as I imagine they will be quite samey.

I downloaded Year of Wonder and am listening to / reading about the first three pieces of music (there's a Spotify playlist helpfully). I've always wanted to learn more about classical music and this seems like a manageable way to do it. I'd be up for a separate chat on this if enough people are interested. If not I don't see why we couldn't chat on here about it as we go along.

First book finished this afternoon.
1. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

I'm not sure whether enjoyed is quite the right word for this book, given its subject matter, but it was a very interesting read. It raised a lot of questions about Victorian family life, its secrets, hidden illnesses, fear of being shamed in society and society in general's horror at the new investigative team of detectives working for the Metropolitan Police - imagine a middle class family being questioned about a crime by a working class detective!

The book hints at more than can be said outright. It's left to the reader to conclude whether the conviction was sound or not given the heavy reliance upon the written confession and lack of physical evidence.

1. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

The Year of Magical Thinking is up there in my top reads of all time, so I am somewhat ashamed that it took Didion's death at the end of last year to tip me into buying some more of her work. This is one of three essay collections I bought in a compendium on Amazon. It's not as gut-punchingly raw and glittering as Magical Thinking, but it is really, really good. Didion for me is at her best when she is writing about herself (which is one of the criticisms most frequently levelled at her), but for me it's not a criticism, because she draws universality from her own experience.

Of the reportage in the book my favourites were the first essay (Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream) - a masterpiece of ambiguity, and the title essay which is her account of days spent in Haight Ashbury. Magical Thinking doesn't reveal much about Didion's politics and in her essays she comes across as more conservative than I would have expected from her reputation, but at the same time , she doesn't generally make explicit judgments. Her feelings about some aspects of her subject-matter are clear, but there is empathy and understanding and often a lack even of implicit judgment in what she says, which I like.

But as I say, I enjoyed the personal stuff most - my standouts were "On Self Respect", "On Going Home", the piece about the Santa Ana and especially the very last essay "Goodbye to All That", which is both a splendid evocation of New York and a fantastically concise description of how it feels to grow up, leaving behind that time where every moment and every person is full of promise. She was a beautiful writer.

I'm saving the next volume (The White Album) for later in the year, but this was a great start to my 2022 reading.

On other discussions of the moment, I agree that Rules of Civility was a disappointment after reading A Gentleman in Moscow, which I absolutely loved.

More controversially perhaps, I did not like When God Was A Rabbit AT ALL, and swore that I wouldn't read any more books by Sarah Winman. However, Still Life sounds right up my street. Has anyone read both and if so, can you reassure me that Still Life is less twee? Apologies to those who liked Rabbit, it's probably me that's lacking...

highlandcoo that looks amazing and not one I’d ever heard of before. Thank you!

I normally listen to crime / thrillers but I seem to have run out of the really gripping ones and are on some that are ok but I keep losing track of what’s going on and am not bothered enough about the story to rewind. But. I now have a cracking ‘pile’ of audio books about interesting lives to accompany me as I work.

noodlezoodle I have the neoprene socks and changing robe and everything. Just can’t make myself get in the water! 😬😆🥶

And I really enjoyed The Dark Hours too.

Interesting Fortuna - I know Ali Smith is a bit marmite but I really like her, whereas I started to get a bit irritated by Mrs Death. I think it was the lack of plot - I liked it much better when things were happening. I've seen Godden pop up quite often in my Twitter feed responding really graciously to praise for the book - that was part of the reason for me seeking it out.

Noodlezoodle, Agnes I think Roger Deakin's Waterlog is 99p in the Kindle sale at the mo. I too have the neoprene booties but haven't been brave enough to swim except on the hottest of summer days.

@agnesmartin I really enjoyed Let IT Go when I read it a few years back.

Other auto/biographies by/of women that I've enjoyed include The Hard Way Up by Hannah Mitchell (autobiography by a working class suffragette), Living My Life (autobiography by the anarchist Emma Goldman - I've got the Penguin Classics edition which is somewhat edited but I think considered a good version), and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin by Georgina Ferry (biography of the Nobel prize winning scientist).
I'd also especially recommend The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson which is both a biography of pioneering bioscientist Jennifer Doudna, but also a wider survey of her field of gene editing / the discoveries around Crispr, one of my best books last year.

Just finished book 1, with a first goal of 25.

1. Tales of a Midwife - Maria Anderson

Probably not the most sensible thing to read at 30 weeks pregnant! Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. I’m still reading Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney which is great, but is written in quite a literary style, so I’m reading it slower than I normally read.

Viking, noodle and agnesmartin I'm another one with the wetsuit and the booties. Just lacking the courage! I swam loads in the Scottish sea in the summer, sometimes in a wetsuit but on warm days just a swimsuit, then I was lucky enough to be over in France in the autumn and adjusting from the Mediterranean back to open water swimming here was just a bridge too far I'm afraid I don't have the gloves yet so that's my official excuse

I tried to read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and The Five, but couldn't get into them. Then I listened to them on audible and found them absolutely fascinating. I wonder if I am too used to having my non fiction delivered by documentaries and podcasts? Anyway I highly recommend listening to them - both the female narrators have good tempo and the right pitch for my ear.

Does anyone else find some audible narrators tricky to listen to? The chap who read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was awful for me - way too breathy and very odd pacing. I thought it might have been a stylistic choice but then I accidentally downloaded another book he narrated and it was the same style. I will avoid in future. Similarly I really like the original narrator of Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway series, but when the narrator changed I lost my engagement with them.

Finished my first book:

The Long and Short of It - Jodi Taylor

This is a collection of short stories from The Chronicles of St Mary’s (the time-travelling historians) - the stories slot in between the various books in terms of chronology but I have just read them together. Entertaining but only for existing fans!

Now reading The Manningtree Witches

Hello everyone, I’d like to join in if I may? Last full year I recorded my reading was 2016!! I’d like to try again. Currently reading A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life by Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying which was a Christmas present from DH. Very interesting so far and not too hard going as I had feared (struggle with brain fog so mainly stick to easier reads). Have already noted down a few TBRs from the thread so far

1. Good Vibes Good Life - Vex King
2. Entangled Lives - Merlin Sheldrake

Hmmmmm, not for me I'm afraid. I tried! I think I'm just not scientific enough even for this more accessible book about fungi. The passion the author has for fungi is amazing though. There were some truly fascinating aspects of fungi discussed in the book and fungi are clearly amazing. The zombie ones who infect leafcutter ants freaked me the fuck out if I'm honest... nervous system still intact (not envy).

Weirdest part apart from that was when he described fungi interacting with tree roots (I think) "sexy". I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

@SirSidneyRuffDiamond, yes, I really struggle with some of the narration on audiobooks! It's also too slow for me.

One I have for the school run which I'm really enjoying is Lamentation by CJ Samson. I didn't love those paper books, but love this audio book! Ditto Wolf Hall trilogy. I have no idea why this is. It isn't a historical fiction thing, as I love reading some Philippa Gregory novels but can't stand the only audio book I tried.

following with interest.
Book 1. Magpie by Elizabeth Day

I can't really keep track of who n said what at this stage in the thread but the Mrs Death book sounds interesting. I'm a bit on the fence with Ali Smith but have decided to read her 4 quartets this year. I read Aurumn a few years ago and didn't live it but read Winter last month and really enjoyed it. Will try Spring in March I think.

First book finished The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. This was one of the top books of the year on the last thread which motivated me to read it. I can see why people loved it but it didn't quite tick all the boxes for me. I think I prefer I capture the Castle for eccentric aristocrats, although the autobiographical aspects are fascinating.

1. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Late to the party on this one & it's been much reviewed already. I enjoyed it overall (not generally a crime reader, but DP had a copy). I have to say I found it a great deal more sad and less funny than I expected - possibly because my life is rather full of elderly people struggling in different ways at the moment. The Thursday Murder club did remind me rather of a committee I used to be on with a number of retired professional women (including a barrister who must have qualified in around 1960, pretty impressive for the time) - as a result of which the most improbable thing for me in the book was the general level of competence and lack of mansplaining from the male characters. (Fortunately my fellow committee members were pretty efficient at re-directing the energy of the troublesome chaps elsewhere.)

@SarahJessicaParker1 If I am finding the narration pace too slow I sometimes speed it up to x1.2. At first it sounds too much but the ear soon adjusts. I listen on my daily dog walks and I walk quicker when I do this too / win win

I think I am one of a minority to not live The Thursday Murder Club. Most people I know found it a riot and laugh out loud. I found it just mildly amusing and the central mystery did not grab my attention at all. The cast of characters did not seem well differentiated either, more an amorphous mass with each interchangeable with the others. I accept that I might be an oddity in this opinion.

sadik lovely, thanks, so many interesting books. Book chat is the best. My husband bought me Death In Ten Minutes by Fern Riddell for Christmas. It's about the radical suffragette, Kitty Marion, so looks like it will tie in with others on your list. Have you come across it?

Ref sea swimming I am right by the sea so really have no excuse, except that I don't have gloves either! 😉

[quote SirSidneyRuffDiamond]@SarahJessicaParker1 If I am finding the narration pace too slow I sometimes speed it up to x1.2. At first it sounds too much but the ear soon adjusts. I listen on my daily dog walks and I walk quicker when I do this too / win win [/quote]
Ha! Why didn't I think of that??

I think I didn't notice until I was reading a paperback for a book club. Then decided I'd get the audiobook (had a free credit) so I could get exercise at the same time. Tried to catch up to where I'd left the paperback after just starting it and it took ages! (Also the narration on that one is bad. The voice for the leading man in it is like a woman doing an impression of popeye)

I also can't quite keep up with who has said what with the thread moving at this speed, but I'm another one who has unfulfilled aspirations around sea swimming, loved A Gentleman in Moscow, and is reading Wintering, which I'm enjoying a lot.

Book 1 - A Tapping at my Door by David Jackson

Just finished tonight. Detective Nathan Cody is partnered with his ex to investigate a series of police murders across Liverpool.

Good points - easy read. Enjoyable dialogue for the most part.

Bad points - pacing was very slow at some points. Ending dragged on with very little suspense. The killer was so out of the blue it annoyed me. Absolutely no clues whatsoever beforehand and it was pulled out of thin air. Also, I find the reason for the killings (revealed at the end) really off. Don’t want to say too much but it didn’t sit right with me at all. Lots of cliches and sexism peppered throughout.

Overall, an okayish read but wouldn’t be rushing to read any more in this series. Doesn’t stand out from other meh police/crime books out there. If you’re bored and absolutely love police/crime thrillers, give it a read. I was mostly annoyed by the lack of clues for the killer and their rationale for their actions. Nothing at all building up to it.

2/5 stars from me.