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?

I’m someone who enjoyed the Elena Ferrante trilogy - although I haven’t rushed to read her other books - but I know DM found them over-involved, and struggled to complete.

My head is feeling a lot better, but still lacking in energy, so I’ve read:
21. The Fateful Year. England 1914 - Mark Bostridge
This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive history of England in 1914, but a series of snapshots, both before and after the war started, adding up to an impression of what it was like to live through the year. Bostridge manages to find some new (to me, anyway) angles, eg class struggle in a rural school strike, a rector who chronicled new uses of language in war-time. It seems pretty clear that the U.K., from the government down, was rather taken by surprise by the escalation of the assassination crisis because people were so preoccupied by the threat of an Irish civil war. A very interesting read.
22. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
To my shame, I’ve never read any Steinbeck, and DD studied this in English last term. An intense and tragic novella about friendship and loneliness among transient farm workers. I did feel, however, given the near-universal misogyny of the other characters, Curley’s wife should have been given more space to tell her story. Glad I didn’t study it at school, as it’s so short they must have analysed every syllable. Must make a brilliant play. A classic.

My Sister, the Serial Killer
I've just finished this and I'm completely underwhelmed. I thought it started strongly, and the evocation of place was good, but ultimately most of the characters were paper-thin (with the exception of the narrator). Themes were raised but not explored, events did not result in characters behaving differently, and the ending was abrupt and unconvincing. It's a pretty weak book all told and I don't understand why it got so many plaudits.

There are so many French authors between Sempé and Zola @highlandcoo .

Have you tried Marc Levy or Guillaume Musso for example? Fred Vargas is a bit more complex language but also very good.

I have two Alice Zentner's that I got for Christmas so will report on those in due course.

I couldn't get on with My Brilliant Friend at all and gave up. I found the writing stilted and lifeless and it meant I didn't get a sense of the characters or place or time at all. Basically, it didn't come off the page and to life.
I did wonder if it was something to do with it being in translation, but many people love it, so maybe it's just not a style that I enjoy.

Thanks very much @Taswama for the French author suggestions. I will check out Levy and Musso and will be interested to hear what you make of Alice Zentner too. I've read some of Fred Vargas in English and the ending of one book in particular is still giving me nightmares .. it might have been a one-off but was too grim for me.

I've found Marcel Pagnol to be a good level of difficulty, also have coped OK with reading Le Chapeau de Mitterand, La delicatesse and Le Confident. If a book is too long I feel daunted by it I'm afraid.

My tutor is adamant that we shouldn't break off reading to look up vocabulary but I feel compelled to .I love the language and it would be amazing if reading in French didn't feel like school homework .. I will persevere!

I'm behind on posting but have just about kept up with reading the thread. I know how fast it moves at the beginning of the year so hope to post more regularly when it slows down a bit.

1. Mr Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo

Read by plenty here so I doubt I need to go into detail about the plot, but briefly, it concerns a gay Caribbean man in his seventies living in England, unhappily married to his wife who believes he is cheating on her with other women. Barry is, in fact, in a decades-long relationship with his childhood friend, Morris.

I enjoyed this; far more lighthearted and flowing than Girl, Woman, Other, whilst tackling some of the same themes (race, sexuality, repression and oppression in various forms, friendship, family, ageing). Pleasantly flawed characters with realistic, interesting development as the story played out. I thought at first that Barrington’s bitter, miserable wife was going to remain somewhat 2D, and I was getting rather irritated with her, but Evaristo fleshed her out in the last third or so, so that she becomes a more sympathetic voice in the narrative.

1. Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee

I didn’t especially like or dislike this. I note that Chessie has recently read it too; I’d say “middle aged white man feeling sorry for himself” sums it up pretty neatly.

1. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout

Again, read by many here I believe. Each chapter of this jumps to a new point of view, providing a snapshot into the life of someone connected to Olive, or occasionally Olive herself. I liked Olive very much: blunt, a little intimidating, as insecure as everyone around her but not about to let anyone know it. I’m years behind on this one but am glad because it means I can read the follow-up, Olive, Again soon without having forgotten too much of the detail.

1. Just Like You, Nick Hornby

The blurb of this wouldn’t normally draw me in, but as it was Nick Hornby (I think How to be Good is excellent), I thought I’d give it a go. It was…fine. But not really for me. It’s about a romance between a white, divorced mother of two in her forties and a young black man who’s just starting out in life. Hornby explores the idea of falling for someone very different to yourself: in age, background, life aims, experience, and so on, and whether those differences can be successfully negotiated.

The back and forth between the married couple in How to be Good is sharp, spiky and intelligent, and really gets to the heart of the frustrations of an already complicated relationship undergoing external and internal pressure. Just Like You had none of that, feeling flat and a bit trite at times. I’ve also read Juliet, Naked and A Long Way Down by Hornby and neither of those grabbed me either. Perhaps, for me, he’s a one-hit wonder.

1. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones

The story of young couple Roy and Celestial, and how they manage their relationship after Roy is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.

Oof. This is well-written, and is engaging and insightful, but man has it left me feeling sad and miserable about the world. I need something more cheerful now, I think, but I don’t know what.

@DelightfulDinosaurs would you recommend Mr loverman, it's on my TBR?

@Plantsandpuddlesuits I would. It's a bright, easy read, without being saccharine or shallow.

Pagnol is also good, although I've not read in years. I did Pagnol at A'Level. They are sat on the bookshelf next to Marguerite Duras, who I studied at uni. Not sure I'd recommend her though, she may have improved in the last 20 years.

7. A Place of Execution, Val McDermid

Wow. Just wow.

Just finished this one. Set in the Peak District in the 60s, its the story of a teenage girl's disappearance and the police's efforts to find out what has happened to her. The main characters are DI George Bennett on his first big case after being fast tracked as a graduate recruit and Tommy Clough, his colleague. The descriptions of the countryside, the police force at the time and the portraits of the mother and others are fantastic. The plot develops slowly, as the police gather evidence to support their (and my) first suspect. But will it be enough to convict and is there more to this than meets the eye?
I have read several Val McDermid's previously but this one is definitely one of the best.

4. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is set in a near-future, where animals have been bioengineered into large intelligent killing machines, with feedback implants to encourage compliance to their masters.
It’s told mostly through the eyes of Rex, a dog bioform, who’s part of a multiform squad that also includes a giant bear, a reptilian sniper, and an intelligent swarm of bees.

It’s a great read, with lots of interesting ideas.

11Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan really enjoyed this, all the different threads coming together with a very satisfactory ending.

I have slowed down my reading as I have broken my wrist and can't balance books.

Sorry to hear that minsmum

Can you not get a small child or a pet to hold your book for you?

Kindle app on your phone minsmum- one handed reading! (But hope it feels better soon).

I read the Cazalets off the back of the love here, and although I quite enjoyed them, I don't have an urge to reread- I think sometimes really enjoying a hook depends on the time and age that you read it, and suspect that where I enjoy revisiting Jilly Cooper or Georgette Heyer, others have that sense of warmth and familiarity from EJH.

10. Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie. 4 Poirot short stories- I prefer the novels, so these were a bit meh- I like the characters more than the murder reveal I guess. Sometimes it is interesting to see where she has reworked plots/places and people into other books.

Still carrying on the My Brilliant Friend conversation, I'd say I'm a fan of the quartet, but struggled a bit with the first book. Felt I spent the whole time going back to the front to reminder myself who everyone was, some with very similar names. I think books 3 and 4 are a lot more enjoyable once you instantly know who all the characters are without getting confused.

I saw enough in My Brilliant Friend itself to carry on and glad I did. I felt overcome with emotion and feeling bereft when I finished the last book! I'm not really one to recommend tv adaptations, but the HBO series is amazing; it's literally one of the best things I've ever watched. For those of you who might want to give it another chance, I'd watch series one - I think it's on Sky or the dvd is relatively cheap.

In other news I've nearly finished book 3 A Gentleman in Moscow and have loved it

I have read and enjoyed both The Cazalet and My Brilliant Friend series. However, I struggle with science fiction and can’t do Terry Pratchett.

Just finished:

9. Love is Blind - William Boyd

I know others have read this recently which made me move it up my TBR pile. Starting in the 1890s it follows Brodie Moncur, a skilled piano tuner, from his first job in Edinburgh as he moves to Paris and then around Europe. Brodie is keen to travel and put distance between himself and his unpleasant, domineering father and piano tuning allows him to work anywhere. Brodie’s life becomes complicated when his path crosses that of an Irish composer and pianist and a Russian singer. I enjoyed this but not as much as Any Human Heart.

11. The Benefit of Hindsight by Susan Hill

The next (for me) in the Simon Serrailler series. I've been dipping in and out of this series for a number of years now. Some have been a bit hit and miss and others have been more enjoyable. This one I liked a lot, but it's not without faults. Its central theme is based around some big burglaries to order. A murder happens when one of the break-ins goes wrong.

As this series progresses, I have to say I'm starting to dislike Simon Serrailler quite a lot (not that I ever really liked him in the first place). I get the feeling that perhaps Susan Hill doesn't like him quite as much any more either . I'll see the series through to end because the stories are still good.

Simon Serrailler is just so wooden, Little. And Susan Hill's conviction that he is irresistible to women is just coming across as him being a sleaze - hands off the lower ranks, man. In the most recent book (not a spoiler) he can't bring himself to assign any work to someone who reports to him because he previously took her out to dinner and is now trying to keep his distance. Send that man on a sexual harassment training course asap.

I've read all the Serailler books apart from the most recent (still waiting for it to drop to 99p) and I wrestle mightily with my hatred of the whole crew. But somehow I can't stop reading them

Pleased to be around other Sally Rooney/Elena Ferrante refuseniks. It just gets boring when everyone is reading the same few books - of course it's interesting to compare notes on the same book at times, but I also enjoy seeing people pursue some of their more esoteric interests on here!

11. Wintering, by Katherine May
The author talks about winter as a metaphor for those darker times in our lives, contending that we shouldn't be urging ourselves out of it but learning to do what we need to survive and regenerate. I think this is a useful concept and I enjoyed it. As ontana noted previously, she's a bit disingenuous about the financial aspects - we can't all resign from our jobs to enjoy our house by the beach and expensive Nordic holidays. That said, there's nothing duller than virtue-signaling check-your-privilege inserts of "Of course I'm very lucky and not everyone can" so I'm glad to be spared that. She's entitled to talk about her own experience.

Now on Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women, by Annabel Abbs which is entirely up my street. The writer discusses women who struck out on long walks (starting with Frieda Lawrence and Gwen John* and reflects on her own experience as her children are growing up and leaving home. I'm always up for a discussion on the tension between domesticity and domesticity, and the competing pulls of family and freedom, although this won't be for everyone.

@bibliomania

Simon Serrailler is just so wooden, Little. And Susan Hill's conviction that he is irresistible to women is just coming across as him being a sleaze - hands off the lower ranks, man. In the most recent book (not a spoiler) he can't bring himself to assign any work to someone who reports to him because he previously took her out to dinner and is now trying to keep his distance. Send that man on a sexual harassment training course asap.

I know which character you mean, bibliomania . Agree he is a sleaze, and deeply unattractive as a result of that behaviour. He's not far behind his father in his treatment of women - you can see where he gets it from. His father is just vile.

I'm lucky that my library has the series, so I haven't needed to buy them.

Not very tempted by the kindle monthly deals. Bought one, which has been admired on here: Unwell Woman. (Strictly speaking I bought a second, entirely by accident. It's a book about breastfeeding and my only child is 14, so not of particular relevance. Returned for a refund).

Library copies here too, Little!

Unwell Women not Woman. My typing fingers are going off in all directions today.