50 Book Challenge 2022 Part Two

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second 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, it’s not too late to join, 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 the 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.

The first thread of the year is here.

What are you reading?

@highlandcoo it was me that read Kristin Lavransdatter. There are two translations into English. I read the modern translation by Tiina Nunnally but it sounds like you read the 1920s translation by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott with the archaic language.

1. The Weekend by Charlotte Wood. Three old friends - Jude, Wendy and Adele - meet to clear out the house of their mutual friend Sylvie several months after her death. After a great start, this became a bit rambling in the second half. I'm happy to read books that are character driven rather than plot driven (eg I love Anne Tyler), but I could have done with a little more happening in this one! However, it is refreshing to read a book with older female protagonists.

1. The Year of the End by Anne Theroux. Non fiction about the first year after the author's separation from her ex-husband Paul Theroux. I feel that Anne Theroux is too reserved to write this type of book - she wasn't very open about her feelings (beyond non-specific statements about being 'in pain'). Not nearly as good as similar post-divorce books by Kathryn Flett, Rachel Cusk and Nora Ephron.

1. The Madness of Grief Richard Coles.

This memoir about the death of Richard’s partner David was very moving. But also quintessentially British as he talks about the parish and his journeys around the UK. I didn’t know details about David’s death and Coles’ made an active decision not to reveal this til half way through and I’m not sure I completely understood his reasons, it just felt like I couldn’t quite connect at first. I found this paragraph on grief both amusing and wierdly truthful ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. One day follows another and I do what I have to do but I feel like I’ve smoked a bale of weed and I am standing in a motorway service station dressed as a velociraptor surrounded by broken crockery and everyone’s gone quiet.’

@MamaNewtNewt

8. Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla

The fifth book in the Dark Tower series and my favourite so far. I loved the call backs to one of King's earlier books (I won't say which as I don't want to ruin it for future readers) and other pop culture references. I absolutely loved this book and I'm already dreading finishing this series.

I'm on this one in my current Tower re-read. It's probably my 2nd favourite of the series.

11. The Choice - Claire Wade
A world where sugar is banned, only healthy food is allowed, you are weighed and measured at the shops and the amount of steps/exercise you do each day determines how much TV you can watch. Baking is banned and people are put into perspex "shame boxes" - or worse - if they break the rules. The story follows Olivia, an ex-cake maker, as she struggles with the rules and the fear of her children being taken away from her if she breaks them.
I enjoyed this, an easy read though my normal dystopian books are a lot bleaker!

That's a perceptive comment on Anne Theroux, Tara. I didn't articulate it so clearly to myself but you're absolutely right.

That quote makes me want to read the Richard Coles book, Pale.

Currently on Wintering, by Katherine May. The concept is a good one, although I find myself muttering that some of us have to work to put food on the table and can't just resign and pickle things instead.

1. In Search of Mycotopia - Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms by Doug Bierend

I'd seen this recommended as an 'if you liked Entangled Life' read, so borrowed it from a friend. It sets out to explore the various communities of people engaged with fungi, as enthusiasts, commercial growers, ecologists etc. Really it's a gentle travelogue style ramble around various groups of mycophiles that the author has encountered, almost entirely within the US. OK, but not particularly thrilling, and not a patch on Entangled Life.

7. 1979 by Val McDermid

I bought this on the Kindle Daily Deal and decided to read it straight away as I was in need of something engrossing and untaxing. This fit the bill for me: I enjoyed the new protagonist and the evocation of the late 70s newspaper office. The plot was refreshingly straightforward and (for those who find the Wire in the Blood series too gory) not overly graphic. Solid.

@bibliomania yes I said the same about wintering on the first thread

9. Things We Left Unsaid by Emma Kennedy

When I can't decide what to read, and get a bit overwhelmed by the choice I use a random number generator to pick a book, and this one came up. I have to admit I was a bit puzzled when I started reading it as it's not my type of thing, but then realised it was by Emma Kennedy, who I do like, so decided to give it a go.

Part of the story is set in the mid 60s and part in the present day. I'm sorry to say that this book was not for me. It just seemed like a mystery/romance by the numbers. So many cliches, the difficult mother / daughter relationship, the bad boyfriend, the conveniently single man (unfortunately devoid of personality) and of course the family secret. And sometimes a familiar formula works - when it is well done, but that was not the case here. Oh and why is it that people in books who get jilted can afford to mope about for months on end before finding themselves and a new partner? They never have to worry about getting back to work to pay the rent and being alone for a while.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I have to ask which is your favourite Dark Tower book? Really hope it's still one I have to read!

Yes, ontana, I remember that and I heartily agree!

I have the Richard Coles book on kindle as I follow him on twitter and he seems like a lovely man. I will read it!
I've just finished The Lost Daughter (book 15)** by Elena Ferrante as I'm going to a friend's to watch the film next week. An odd book but interesting perspectives on motherhood. I think it has confirmed that I don't like Elena Ferrante books! (I really struggled to get through My Brilliant Friend).

Loving some of the book chat going on atm.

I've only read about 6 or 7 Pratchett books and started the Discworld series in order which was maybe a mistake - not overly keen on the Rincewind books! Got Guards! Guards! to read next. I've put 1979 on my TBR list, wasn't keen on the Hill/Jordan or Lindsay Gordon books, but loved Kate Brannigan. Have them all on my shelf and might do a re-read soon.

I want to read at least two Stephen King books this year so might start with Wizard and Glass, which is my next one to read in The Dark Tower series (first read of this series as a whole and think it's fantastic!).

agnes - "I absolutely LOVED Cryptonomicon. Have read 2 of the 3 Baroque Cycle, but can’t quite bring myself to settle down to the last. Haven’t been sure which to approach next as they have very mixed reviews but will go for either Snow Crash and Anathem as recommended above."

They are both brilliant but they are quite different. Snow Crash is a book of big ideas and revolutionary concepts that predicted Metaverse, avatars, virtual reality, gaming, Google Earth and an eye-popping story that ties together Sumerian legends and hacking the brain like a computer. Cryptonomicon is a lot like The Martian, with lots of calculations and cryptography.

I loved both but I'd say the choice depends on your mood.

15 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (audiobook)

Almost 40 year old Alice gets a head injury from falling at the gym and forgets the past ten years of her life. 500 pages of her trying to piece her memories back together to reconcile with loved ones she has had tensions with over the years, and getting to know the children she can’t remember giving birth to.

This was a DNF last year but went back to it after recently quite enjoying Nine Perfect Strangers. This was as awful the second time but I got to the end as I kept thinking surely something has to happen soon! Nope, it did not. Far too long. Very weak plot if you can even call it a plot. It felt really badly edited with details and view points that added nothing. It was basically just watching a middle class SAH mum get on with the daily humdrum of parenting with the added “oh I can’t remember this person” bit. Quite enjoyed Libby’s sections but I can imagine these being quite tough to read for people dealing with infertility.

Wouldn’t recommend this book at all unless you’re in the mood for 500 pages of inane rambling.

1. All the beautiful lies by Peter Swanson

It was a bit meh to be honest. None of the characters really had anything interesting about them. The story was boring and lacked any twists or turns. None that stood out. First time reading this author. Got through it quickly as isolating with covid!

This book came through in one of those box of books, hope the others are better 🤞

16 - Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine

Children’s/teenage book about a teenager adjusting to her Mum’s new boyfriend.

Loved this! Proper laugh out loud moments. Refreshing and realistic observation of this girl’s mum dating following her divorce and rushing a new man into her daughters’ lives quickly without thinking of their feelings over her own.

Realised this was first published in 1989. Felt very modern and relevant, particularly with the eco/green subplot and hints at the younger sister’s mild learning difficulties.

I think maybe it’s a bit too old for my current class but will definitely consider popping a copy into my class library if I get a P7 class in the future.

Will definitely be trying more of Anne Fine’s books. Also, I didn’t realise she wrote the story that the film Mrs Doubtfire is based on!

6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

I am sure this has already been reviewed on here, so I won't go on too much.

I enjoyed this. Lots of old school Hollywood glamour and it was also really thought provoking in parts, when it came to sexuality, love and womanhood. I didn't find I cared very much about Monique, but then her story was really such a small part of the book. I found the ending very predictable. The bit where Monique gets angry with Evelyn, and the few pages after that, were a bit messy I thought. The article at the end was quite neat though. That was probably the only Monique bit that I really liked or found interesting.

It took me a bit of time to get into as well, as I found the beginning really shallow, but maybe this was deliberate. Also the on again off again romance was great in parts but tedious in other parts.

3.75/5 for me. Very specific

10. Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Not really for me. I feel like my judgement of novels is increasingly based on style rather than plot, and whether it was the original or the fault of the translator, this was prosaic and ploddy. At first I was prepared to be charmed by the set-up (in the special underground cafe, you can travel to the past or future but only when you sit in the special seat which becomes vacant just once a day when the resident ghost visits the loo…) but by the end it was getting on my nerves so much I was just getting fixated on the daftness of the time travel mechanism. It doesn’t seem to be a multiverse sort of scenario, but people’s actions when they time travel have no impact on the course of events - how????

4. The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, by Dave Grohl. This is not an autobiography; it is, as per the title, a series of stories from DG’s life. The stories are told in themes rather than chronological order, and some periods of his life are only lightly touched on (you won't learn much about his time in Nirvana or anything at all about his first wife). However this is beautifully done, including the little echoes and repetitions of phrases that remind you he's a songwriter first and foremost. I hope there's another volume soon.

Bookbanter there was a TV adaptation of Goggle-Eyes in the early/mid 90s, with Honeysuckle Weeks as the main teenage character. It was really good. It’s available on YouTube if you want to give it a go.

@ChessieFL

Bookbanter there was a TV adaptation of Goggle-Eyes in the early/mid 90s, with Honeysuckle Weeks as the main teenage character. It was really good. It’s available on YouTube if you want to give it a go.

Oh great! Thank you. I'll take a look.

I love Anne Fine- the TV adaptation of Goggle Eyes was lovely, and much more like the book than Mrs Doubtfire- the book (Madam Doubtfire!) is much better than the film.

noodleoodle thanks for the review of The Storyteller, I'll be getting my audio version from the library in a couple of days.