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?

@Terpsichore that's another one on my (heavily influenced by Backlisted) TBR!

@bibliomania

1. The Wisdom of the Ancients, by Neil Oliver

Loved this. The title and ostensible premise are a bit hokey - life lessons from the past - but the real focus is on those moments when we feel a connection to individuals who were here and are now long gone. He writes quite tenderly about long-lost children. He speculates that one reason for humans settling down to farming is that hunter-gatherer women were sick of losing babies to infanticide - you can't have multiple babies and toddlers when you're on the move. They stopped moving to keep their babies. It's unprovable of course, but an interesting new perspective. And other random comments - if crocodile tastes like chicken, it's because they both taste like their ancestor, dinosaur. He doesn't pretend to be scientific, but I enjoyed his thoughts. (And it's in the kindle monthly deal, if anyone is tempted).

I’ve got that on my ‘possibles’ list from the monthly deals too - might go back in and get it. I’ve seen women’s rejection of infanticide mooted as part of the attraction of early Christianity too - Greek and Roman cultures commonly rejected infants (often on the grounds of being female) whereas Judaism and Christianity were anti-infanticide.

Aargh, I've only been on this thread for one day and, as usual, you have added to my wishlist, Terpsichore. I think you were responsible for more of my purchases than anyone else last year

Aaaaand I discovered I already had the Neil Oliver in my tbr Kindle pile. Which is more of a mountain than a pile.

Adam Buxton was studying Spanish in Salamanca at exactly the same time as me I learned just now. I wonder if he was at the Talk Talk concert we went to or walked past me when I was pissed ridiculous eating boccadilloes at 6 in the morning on the Gran Via. 'Appy Days.

Hello I am in as well!

@mackerella

Aargh, I've only been on this thread for one day and, as usual, you have added to my wishlist, Terpsichore. I think you were responsible for more of my purchases than anyone else last year

Aargh, sorry!

@LethargeMarg I read The Camomile Lawn last year and really disliked it. I think my abiding thought was that if ever a group of people needed to broaden their social circle it was this one. Most of them were living in London, at least part of the time, and yet couldn't seem to find anyone to sleep with that wasn't part of their childhood circle.

A day late but can I join please? I lurked all of last year and got lots of great recommendations and managed a total of 52 so hoping to manage the same again this year.

My TBR pile is out of control (200 books) so my new Year's resolution is not to buy any more books, which will probably be a struggle with all the recommendations on this thread. I've decided to randomly select titles from my list otherwise I get stuck in a rut of cheap 99p kindle crime novels

Currently reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.
My brother in law bought me three of her books about 4 years ago and this is the first one I've gotten round to reading

I’ve just finished [1] Wintering by Katherine May. There is a bit of a theme running through my books. This year rather than wishing away the dark, dampness of winter I am trying to accept and appreciate it! Am actually managing this better than I thought. I found ‘Wintering’ really helpful. It is less about the season of winter than I had expected (than the author had expected too from the sounds of it) and a bit more about winters of the soul. Those times in life when you just need to hunker down, hideaway from the world and, if you following this thread, probably just read! There is still plenty about the season though. There is an element of eat pray love to it, but it is more mature and, I think, wiser. But this could just be me seeing what I want to see (!) as a lot of what she writes about resonated with me. I would definitely recommend it, but be warned it may leave you with a strong urge for winter sea bathing. I haven’t quite worked up the courage yet, but I think I’ll get there!

In keeping with this theme, I am also reading Christmas Chronicles and The Bear and the Nightingale. Plus have the last couple of chapters of Braiding Sweetgrass to finish, but I can’t quite bear to because then it’s all gone. And am doing the W&P readalong.

I to listen to quite a lot of audiobooks as I work. They tend to murders and thrillers but I’d like to listen to more biographies. I really enjoyed ‘Let it go’, Dame Stephanie Shirley’s memoir. Can anyone recommend any other biographies? Preferably women.

1. Troubled Blood Robert Galbraith. I know this has been well received here and I’m in agreement. Strike and Robin’s 5th instalment sees the pair look to solve a 40 year old disappearance. I loved the character development and as with her previous book the mystery felt solvable to the reader (i didn’t outright guess but I speculated). My favourite part was how excellent Robin’s development is, seeing her detective skills improve and dealing with work place sexism. I punched the air a few times. My main annoyance is with the authors tendency to use a quote in all her books at every, chapter, part and start. They just felt pointless and I stopped reading them.

It’s evidence to the size of my tbr that 3 of the great reviews mentioned today - I’ve just checked and I unknowingly already have on my kindle!

[1] Wintering by Katherine May This year rather than wishing away the dark, dampness of winter I am trying to accept and appreciate it! Am actually managing this better than I thought. I found ‘Wintering’ really helpful and interesting. It is less about the season of winter than I had expected (than the author had expected too from the sounds of it) and a bit more about winters of the soul. Those times in life when you just need to hunker down, hideaway from the world and, if you following this thread, probably just read! There is an element of eat pray love to it, but it is more mature and, I think, wiser. But this could just be me seeing what I want to see (!) as a lot of what she writes resonated with me. I would definitely recommend it, but be warned it may leave you with a strong urge for winter sea bathing. I haven’t quite worked up the courage yet, but I think I’ll get there!

In keeping with this theme, I am also reading Christmas Chronicles and The Bear and the Nightingale. Plus have the last couple of chapters of Braiding Sweetgrass to finish, but I can’t quite bear to because then it’s all gone. And am doing the W&P readalong.

Happy New Year everyone! And thanks for the thread @southeastdweller I always float in and out of the threads as I’m not very good at reviewing! Aiming for 80 books again this year as I got to 87 and 80 seems to be about right each year without much pressure.

Also aiming to “beat the backlog” as they’re calling it on Twitter which isn’t a book buying ban but an aim to clear off some of the books that have languished on the TBR pile for a long time.

With that my first book of 2022 was His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnett which was probably recommended on here years ago and I’ve been a little intimidated by it ever since, I always am with “prize winning books”. I actually really enjoyed the story and didn’t find it as brutal as I was warned but I think it says more about what I read/watch. The method of story telling I felt was really original and I was hooked! Good way to start 2022.

And now for another backlog book Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon which discusses her mental health issues and experiences.

For the poster who asked about top books from last year (I can’t remember the name) my top books were

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah
The End of Men by Christina Sweeny Baird
Always, in December by Emily Stone
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Bit of a mix there

@agnesmartin I'm currently listening to This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes and am really enjoying it so far. Not sure if it's your thing (and it's definitely not about women) but The Beastie Boys Book was one of my favourite listens of 2020.

[quote MamaNewtNewt]**@agnesmartin* I'm currently listening to This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes and am really enjoying it so far. Not sure if it's your thing (and it's definitely not about women) but The Beastie Boys Book* was one of my favourite listens of 2020. [/quote]
Oh, thank you for the recommendations. Will hunt them out. Didn't know the Beastie Boys had done a book. Danced madly to many of their tracks back when I did that kind of thing!

Im so glad I found this! I used to be a voracious reader but life has gotten in the way over the years and I'm a phone scroller much to my own annoyance. For the last two years my new year's resolution has been to read a book a week. In 2020 I managed 12; last year I managed 8. They weren't War and Peace type tomes either. I've just started Richard Osman's "The Man Who Died Twice", having read his first one last year. Now I have an incentive to read more and hopefully stick to my resolution. Thank you!

Just read Station 11 and was disappointed with the end. Not sure if it has been left open. Only managed 27 books last year compared to 52 in the first lockdown!
Best book I read last year was The red tent or The girl with the louding voice.

The Beastie Boys Book was so good! Mike D and Ad-Rock narrate a lot of the chapters but get guests (such as Rosie Perez, Steve Buscemi and Jarvis Cocker) to cover some. There's also a playlist on Spotify which includes all of the many songs they mention in the book. I didn't discover than until after I'd read it so plan to go back one day to re-listen alongside the playlist.

Checking in. Currently reading how to stop time by Matt Haig which I’m loving.

@pansypotter123

Im so glad I found this! I used to be a voracious reader but life has gotten in the way over the years and I'm a phone scroller much to my own annoyance. For the last two years my new year's resolution has been to read a book a week. In 2020 I managed 12; last year I managed 8. They weren't War and Peace type tomes either. I've just started Richard Osman's "The Man Who Died Twice", having read his first one last year. Now I have an incentive to read more and hopefully stick to my resolution. Thank you!

I really enjoyed The man who died twice was one of the few books I read quickly last year.

Morning folks. I've not completed this next book, and indeed won't until the end of the year, but just wanted to add it here in case it tickles anyone else's fancy. It's Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day by Clemency Burton-Hill.

As you can probably guess, she's selected a single piece to listen to for each day of the year, and written an introduction to it. I'm a relative newcomer to classical music (through my DC starting to play for decent youth orchestras) and have already enjoyed the first three selections. I bet there's a playlist out there for anyone who just fancies the music, but I appreciate Burton-Hill's tasting notes.

@eitak22 it is a quick read! My in laws live in a retirement village which sounds just like the one in these books, even down to the nuns/convent. Some of the descriptions make me laugh out loud!

Thanks MamaNewtNewt! I will hunt out the play list too.

On the subject of winter, I read Wintering by Katherine May last year, when I was waiting for an operation and could do nothing but rest. I found it calming and was exactly the book I needed at that time.

This year I'm reading Every Day Nature by Andy Beer. It has short pieces talking about seasons, wildlife, nature spotting etc. It's soothing, and good for my mental health (last year was a very bad year physical health-wise), encouraging people to get outside and embrace the seasons in all their glory. I like to start looking for the tiny signs of spring around now, small shoots and buds, birds beginning to scout out nesting places etc. It feels more hopeful than just looking out at grey skies and rain

Forgot to bold - Every Day Nature by Andy Beer.