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?

Janina - "Khaled Hosseini has Afghan parents, was born in Kabul and spent the first part of his childhood in Kabul"

He left Afghanistan when he was 5, then returned for a few years and left definitively when he was 11, as I recall.

As I said, he doesn't know much about Afghanistan, especially what Afghanistan became under Taliban since he had left the country years before the Taliban came. And that is sadly very clear from the utter lack of insight into actual Afghanistan in the book which only talks about what we have all read from newspapers - women are being beaten up, they can't travel without men, Taliban blew up the buddha statues etc etc.

@AliasGrape I am an Elif Shafak fan and bought it on offer the other day so looking forward to reading it. The Island of Missing Trees, her most recent was fantastic. I cried, true, ugly tears on the bus. It might partly be that I have Turkish heritage and have an attachment to an island so it spoke to me on so many levels.

Or I might just be sentimental. (I am)

@Robgem81, don't be put off, iirc we have a reader who managed 365 last year!

@Terpsichore, I have realised I can't do audio books and have cancelled my (virtually unused) Audible. My mind just wanders. I did manage the first 3 HPs as a comforting listen when ironing, but started to burn holes in things as I ranted at Stephen Fry's eclectic pronunciation and whiny-girly Hermione voice which made me more cross than a cross thing being cross.

@ChessieFL

Have screenshot your 70s memoirs ones and will be hunting them out forthwith. I think we've discussed these before on these threads, but have you read the How Did It All Go Right books by Andrew Collins? (Growing up normal in the 70s and 80s)

@RomanMum- you'll get used to it. Wait till you read Never Let Me Go or Station 11.

I don't really have a criteria for rating on here, but my Goodreads shelves include :
Don't Know Why I Even Started
Kindle 99ps neither good nor bad
DNF

And you don't want to end up on those shelves, oh no you don't, because those are the ones I write reviews for.

Those and the:
Good crime
Favourite Ever-evers
Well-written non fiction
shelves.

I love the rubbish reviews, and as I tell my students who often have to write reviews as part of their language exams- remember, it's often easier to write a bad one than a good one.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise

A Place of Execution is my favourite Val Mc. Really excellent. I read it in one sitting on a plane and at a stopover in an airport. Might have a reread this year. Highly recommended.

I haven’t read the Andrew Collins books so will look those out. Thanks Sol.

@AliasGrape I've just started the second Richard Osman novel, The Man Who Died Twice. I wasn't totally blown away by The Thursday Murder Club but it was agreeable enough and the library had a waiting list for this one so I thought I might as well reserve it.

It was due to be my turn in March but I got an email two days ago saying it was ready for download - not sure whether that's because lots of people have raced through it really quickly or because they hated it and gave up on it! I'll find out soon enough, I expect....

@AliasGrape you'll be even more in love with Bob by the time you finish the book - he's really honest and modest and generous towards just about everyone he's ever worked with. And lovely about his mum.
If Lisa ever gets fed up with him I am willing to make myself available

Oh, and for comforting suggestions, over the last two challenging years I've enjoyed escaping into the James Herriot vet series. So cosy and reassuring.
If you like a bit of black humour, The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills is good, and for sheer entertainment Christopher Brookmyre; One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night is a good one to start with.
I also really like The Observations by Jane Harris as an amusing read.

SOL Coincidentally, I am rereading Where Did it All Go Right? at the moment!

Finished number 2) The Murder in the Tower by Jean Plaidy

This was bad. Like truly, truly awful writing. I am very unselective in my reading but this was next level terrible. Obviously it was 99p on Kindle and Amazon pushed it hard. I think it was about my 4th email recommending it when I finally purchased it and, much to my horror, another of hers.

It's the first in a series about the Stuart dynasty, covering James I's reign and the court intrigues of Frances Howard. No idea how accurate it is but having looked through her bibliography I would say probably not very as she hardly seems to have done any in-depth research.

The front cover states it's perfect for fans of Phillipa Gregory. It is not. If you're a fan of PG, avoid this book. If you're a fan of well-written, engaging books, avoid this book. I have a policy of never marking a book DNF but this was the closest I've ever come to breaking my personal rule. The writing was overly simplistic, no scene-setting, no descriptive language whatsoever, I have no idea what any of the characters even look like. She makes no attempt to build characters up into 3 dimensional people so it's impossible to have any feelings at all for any of them. You can't get behind anyone, or dislike anyone, or feel sorry for them. Honestly, I feel like my IQ has dropped from reading this book and I'm angry at myself for wasting my time reading it

I know I'm new to the thread so have no book-based posting history, but honestly I am very rarely so scathing of books, it's extremely unusual for me to hate a book with such a passion

Oh, interestingly, although Amazon calls it "The Stuart Saga book 1", I've just added it to my storygraph and they have it as book 3. Either way, not worth reading this or any other in the series in my opinion

I used to love reading Jean Plaidy when I was very young . I would say I have more discriminating taste these days

I read loads of Jean Plaidy when I was a teenager.
I remember really enjoying them at the time, alongside Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. No plans to revisit either though, at present.

@StColumbofNavron I have to confess I hadn’t heard of Shafak before and just grabbed this in the kindle deals because it looked interesting. I actually googled the book last night as I was curious to find out a bit of context. She sounds a really interesting author and I’ve made a note of the other title. I know very little about Turkey really despite having visited a few times (just beach holidays with a bit of sightseeing nothing more cultural) but would like to find out more.

Thanks @Terpsichore - I have both of those on audible - I’ve heard a mix of reviews so will be interested to see what you think and whether it was indeed available early because people couldn’t put it down!

@highlandcoo oh I’m really looking forward to it, I’m glad he comes across so well though wouldn’t have expected anything else Thank you for the other recs too.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise and @LittleDiaries That's interesting, I actually did Google to see if she was a children's author as the book was so simplistic I couldn't believe it was aimed at adults. I think I also probably would have had a higher opinion as a teenager but definitely need something a bit more intellectually stimulating nowadays

First book of 2022 finished, Pat Barker's The Women of Troy. I remember really admiring The Silence of the Girls but can't remember too much about why and how it differs from Natalie Haynes' book.

This follow up is also very good but not much really happens. I think that may be part of the point - everyone is trapped. It's very restrained - sometimes it feels like something dreadful will happen, and then it just doesn't. Most of it is narrated, again, by Briseis, which does mean interesting characters like Cassandra are under developed. There are some sections in the third person, notably about Pyrrhus. Unfortunately, this only serves to draw attention to the fact that he is more compelling that the eponymous 'women'.

It is a good book , though, and not a taxing read.

Newbie here and have just happily stumbled across you (and having read the thread may have added another few books to my reading list)
So far I've read
magpie
Enjoyed it but figured out the twist early on (partly because I got confused about birds) and the evil mother in law trope was a bit much
the midnight man
Enjoyed it but the ending wrapped it all up in a neat bow a bit quicky
And am reading 3 things about Elsie at the moment

satelliteheart My late DGM used to read a lot of that sort of historical fiction, and she once described it to my DF as ‘the same story in different venues’.

Who needs winter sea swimming when you can get to walk out in the cold, cold rain

Book three was Flying Finish by Dick Francis

From the back
Amateur jockey Lord Henry Grey decides on a whim to join the bloodstock market, transporting racehorses around the world. That is until a horse unexpectedly dies and a colleague vanishes. Then Grey discovers that both his predecessors also went missing in curious circumstances and begins to doubt the wisdom of his career change. Either he turns detective or his own disappearance could be next ..

Like Lord Henry this book was dull, his constant chip on his shoulder about his birth was irritating, lack of racing was also missing and the story line just didn’t grab me. I read most if Dick Francis’ books in the eighties and I am enjoying re-reading them as comfort reads but I don’t remember reading this one and won’t be rushing back.

Next up is Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford which has sat in my TBR pile far too long

Anyone else get a little bit of satisfaction adding a new book to their TBR pile (or their online kindle library)

I have just bought (on Kindle) a book I've been waiting to.be released for months, it's part of a series. Marked the release date in my diary and everything. Now I've downloaded it and saw it in my kindle library and it sparks a little bit of joy knowing that I've "drawn my line in the sand" as it were and said to myself that my "me time" ( I hate that phrase) but that's a dedicated time when I will not think of anything else apart from what's happening in the book. It's taken me a long time to not feel selfish for taking time "off".

In the same vein, does anyone have any reading routines? At the moment the only times I can really read are last thing at night or in the bath ( waterproof kindle). I aim to read for 20 mins last thing at night I like to listen to a YouTube "read along with me" video with calming sounds and one I particularly like is 23 mins so perfect. I also have a little pouch on my bedside table with hand cream, eye cream, pillow spray, sleep balm, my kindle and book and that's my little nightly routine

I can't cope with Bob Mortimer. He makes me feel uneasy and even a bit scared.

My favourite thing is when someone here recommends a book and I go to add it on Goodreads only to find it's already there. Usually I've spotted it as a review somewhere or seen someone I follow on Goodreads giving it a positive reaction - then someone here liking it just confirms that I've spotted a goodun.

May I tag along. My star rating would go:
5 - gets a place in my fancy bookcase and I will reread it once a year or so
4 - a keeper, somewhere on The Shelves
3 - might lend it to a friend and tell them I don't want it back
2 - charity shop
1 - recycling bin

This year I've read The Weekend, brilliant and The stubborn light of things, very good. That's so far.

@AliasGrape my two favourite comfort reads are 84, Charing Cross Road and I Capture The Castle.

I enjoyed the review, satellite.

Never heard of "read along with me" video, plants, but will take a look.

Excellent classification system, Fangs!