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 I actually have a diary reminder to read Autumn in September!

I also DNF’d My Brilliant Friend after getting half way. It was my first DNF for years. The thing is that I do like slow, character driven stories so I’m not sure why I couldn’t get on with it. I have kept it though, so perhaps I am likely to try again.

After all the love that MN gives to the Cazalets, I finally read the first one last year and though it very mediocre. I was also floored by a certain incident that no one EVER mentions when talking about it that really threw me. I might well read the others, I think they are a bit like Bridgerton for me, a good read for when I am busy rather than books I want to really concentrate and become absorbed in.

I'm another one planning to read Autumn in autumn. 🙂

Cornishblues
Do.It's a beautiful book and don't be put off by the two halves idea (which you can read in any order). Both link.

Solinvictus - thank you!
I haven't read Sightlines so is now on my list too.

@Terpsichore you might enjoy Scandals of Classic Hollywood Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema by Anne Helen Peterson - I really enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago now. The author used to write a column on a site called The Toast which, though the site isn’t updated anymore, I think might still be there if you wanted to read a couple first before deciding.

Another one who DNF My Brilliant Friend.

I love the Cazalet Chronicles and I know the incident you’re referring to StColumb. It is quite shocking. If you read Elizabeth Jane Howard’s autobiography you will find that the Cazalet Chronicles are heavily based on EJH’s own life - Louise is based on her and that incident happened to her in real life.

@ChessieFL I think it was more that I wasn’t expecting it. It’s consistently referred to, not just hear as this cosy, comforting read of yesteryear with no mention ever. That said, it wasn’t really incident that made it not work for me. I’m not actually sure what it was because like I said, I like slow, character driven stuff and I don’t crave plot particularly, I really enjoy likeable and unlikeable characters, I enjoy that period, I like history/historically placed fiction. I love things like Downton Abbey so I should have really liked it more than I did.

Gosh my typos. I do know it is ‘here’ and not ‘hear’ amongst the other mistakes. Oh, for an edit button.

8. Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

Reading back on previous threads I'm surprised to see what mixed reviews this has had. I really loved it. I found it emotionally hard, in places, but I really enjoyed the slow pace and the minute detail. Didn't notice the threes which some people have mentioned. The post-Christmas relaxation is dissipating and real life has come back with a vengeance, so I was very much in the mood for a book I could disappear into.

Richard Coles is very endearing. He was on a quiz show last night and he got one of the seven plagues wrong.

@ChessieFL

Another one who DNF My Brilliant Friend.

I love the Cazalet Chronicles and I know the incident you’re referring to StColumb. It is quite shocking. If you read Elizabeth Jane Howard’s autobiography you will find that the Cazalet Chronicles are heavily based on EJH’s own life - Louise is based on her and that incident happened to her in real life.

I’m curious. What incident?

I love Richard Coles on Twitter - just generally seems a nice guy enjoying life.

I found the Cazalet incident very shocking especially as nothing gets resolved. But understandable if semi-autobiographical.

I’m curious. What incident?

Can we please not post a spoiler? I know the Cazalet books are decades old but they are on my list to read ....

17 - Eyrie by Tim Winton (audiobook)

Depressed and self-medicating Tom, struggling to come to terms with his divorce, discovers that his old childhood friend has moved in to the same block of flats he lives in. She's now a grandmother, struggling to raise the six year old son of her incarcerated daughter, and lives under threat from her nasty son in law. Tom gets a little obsessive with this woman and child and does everything he can to keep them safe.

Very slow burning, character-driven story. Over-written in parts but the writer does paint a good scene and gives a strong sense of place. It was just very bland and the ending was maddening. It cut out part way through a scene, just as things were starting to look interesting.

Bleak and boring story. However, I can appreciate the excellent writing style.

@StColumbofNavron I didn’t get into the Cazalet Chronicles either, I did finish The Light Years but it left me really underwhelmed and I didn’t read any others. Like you, I couldn’t adequately tell you why because it’s absolutely the sort of thing I should love. I do occasionally wonder about trying again.

I remember reading My Brilliant Friend thinking ‘I don’t know if I like this really’, I definitely struggled to connect with any of the characters and found it so hard to picture what she was describing somehow, I felt like the text didn’t give me an ‘in’. But I also felt compelled to keep reading. For some reason I switched to the audible version for the second one (I had a long commute at the time and a really horrible job so I badly needed something to focus on during said commute to help keep the anxiety at bay) and that worked so much better for me, I adored the rest of the series in that format.

I have just started His Bloody Project having got it on BorrowBox from the library. Late to the party as with most things.

@MaudOfTheMarches don’t worry, I deliberately didn’t specify, though I would argue it isn’t a spoiler really and I would have liked to have been aware. @UnicornsReal I can PM you.

Janina my eldest daughter loves the Riad Sattouf Cahier d'Esther books! We live in France and they are indeed very popular. The French on the whole are pretty big on 'BD' (bandes dessinées - comic books) and book shops have a huge BD section.

Can't remember what number I'm on - possibly 6 but here are my two latest reads:

Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by Robert Preston. Quite enjoyed this as I didn't know a huge amount about Maxwell, and used to get him and Murdoch muddled up, so I feel I've learnt a bit about the two publishing Roberts! I just couldn't get my head around the sheer sums of money being bandied about - too many zeros for me to comprehend.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
A reimagining of the classic Gothic horror tale - young socialite Noemí is sent off to an isolated mansion in the Mexican countryside to find out why her cousin is behaving so mysteriously.
This was disappointing. It started off really well, very atmospheric with all a deep sense of something evil in the background. Half way through I felt the writer just lost her way and rushed towards the ending. Another thing that irritated me was the way the characters started speaking 'modern speak' even though the novel was set in the 50s.

Current read is Sebastian Faulk's Snow Country. It is the second in the Austrian trilogy - the first being the superb Human Traces. I am quite enjoying it so far.

StColumbofNavron Gotcha, I think I see what you mean. Totally understand in that case if it's a case of giving fair warning of something where that might be helpful.

[quote AliasGrape]**@Terpsichore* you might enjoy Scandals of Classic Hollywood Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema* by Anne Helen Peterson - I really enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago now. The author used to write a column on a site called The Toast which, though the site isn’t updated anymore, I think might still be there if you wanted to read a couple first before deciding.[/quote]
Oooh, thank you @AliasGrape - I'll check that one out.

@MaudOfTheMarches , I saw that! But as he said, Exodus was a long time ago 😂

I started but didn't finish both My Brilliant Friend and The Cazalet Chronicles.. Tedious.

I have Mexican Gothic geekily diarised for October.

Oh god, what have I started!

I don't think the Cazalet Chronicles are great works of literature, but are fine to get lost in for a while if you like easy reading sprawling family sagas. I could easily have ditched the first at the end of part one as I didn't think much of the start.

In terms of Louise, and trying not to spoiler - isn't the point that these things did happen and nobody talked about it/ brushed it under the carpet? I'm sad to hear it was based on the author's own experiences.

Another DND-er of My Brilliant Friend here. I was bored and just couldn't be bothered. Which is unlike me, I usually persist. Hence flogging through to the end of The Wolf Den this weekend which was a very average piece of historical fiction set in a Pompeii brothel. Dull and not very worthy of my time.

Mexican Gothic I did make it to the end of, but only with an effort. Completely after it started well then fizzled out in a real WTF kind of way.

I finished My Brilliant Friend. It was hard work.

Hello! Can I join ? I've only just discovered this thread. I used to be an avid reader but have let TV and mindless phone scrolling take over the last couple of years. Last year I only managed 16 books!

I've set myself a goal of 52 books this year. Very ambitious as I have a five month old keeping me busy so I doubt I'll manage it, but I'd like to make some headway in reading all the books that have sat on my shelves for years without being read.

So far I have read:

Three Wishes by Lianne Moriarty - I like the author but this one was a bit meh for me. It's about triplets who are very different and it builds up to an argument they have on their 34th birthday. The reveal of what caused the argument wasn't really worth the wait in my opinion, but I did like the relationship between the sisters.

The Last Anniversary by Lianne Moriarty - the last Lianne Moriarty on my shelf, this one was much better I felt. Two sisters find an abandoned baby and raise it together, using the mystery of what happened to the parents to make their small island home a tourist hotspot. The mystery was not hugely surprising in my opinion but I enjoyed getting there.

Little Fires Everywhere - by Celeste Ng my first by this author, really enjoyed it. Characters were engaging, especially the teenagers. I will look out for others by the author.

I am currently reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates which I'm really enjoying so far, and David Copperfield which I'm about three quarters of the way through and have been since before my daughter was born. I will finish it though...eventually.