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?

17. Magpie Lane - Lucy Atkins. Not a thriller, as such and perhaps hard to categorise. Narrated by a woman who has worked as nanny for various visiting academics at Oxford and has now landed a job looking after the selectively mute traumatised 8 year old daughter of the new Master of one of the Colleges. The new Master and his wife are very unpopular with the staff and make many enemies. His daughter goes missing, under mysterious circumstances and suspicion falls on the nanny. Is she a reliable trustworthy narrator, or not? What happened on that night? It was quite a tense read, with food for thought about what makes a good family.

Ah @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie you recommended Into the Silence? I was certain I'd read about it here but couldn't find it on a search. Thank you - it was a great experience.

Oh, I’ve got Into the Silence kicking around - I keep finding it from time to time and thinking I must read it as it looks so fascinating, but I know it would take weeks and weeks to finish

1. The giver of stars - Jojo moyes

I bloody loved it. I may be a bit late to the party with this one. I just enjoyed the story so much.

War and Peace end of section 2 discussion tomorrow if anyone is waiting to jump back into the thread.

StColumbo - I loved Madonna In a Fur Coat. Its prose was simple enough that I think you would have been OK with it in the TR original. Let me know where you questioned the translation and I'll be happy to look them up and tell you what it says.

Here is my review from 2017:

34. Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna In A Fur Coat) by Sabahattin Ali

This was the poignant and utterly beautiful story of a young man's one meaningful connection with another human being, a woman he loved even before meeting her, and the repercussions of losing her as a result of random events. It is the story of a quiet, unremarkable man who is casually disrespected by nearly everyone who knows him, including his friends. I loved the insight into people's inner worlds, the uncharted territories within each person that mostly remains unseen and unsuspected.

Sabahattin Ali (1907-1948) lived during a time of great change and suffering - a child during WWI which Ottoman Empire lost (1918), then continuing military struggles as Atatuk's rebel army fought (and eventually won in 1923) against each Allied army when they occupied various parts of the Empire. Then would come the building of a new and radically different country.

It is surprising that the book's protagonist Raif does not mention any of these pivotal events and the turmoil that swept through the entire nation during this period. The story-within-the-story (in the diary) takes place in 1923, just as War of Independence was won and the Republic of Turkey was formed.

I can only assume that was the reason why the story takes place in Germany. It could not have taken place back home without the epic struggles the nation was undergoing at the time taking centre stage and diverting attention from the focus he clearly wanted to keep on the (very few) characters' inner worlds.

I would recommend this book, especially if you like Ian Mc Ewan. I found in this book not only the same insight into inner worlds of the characters, but also a similar clear, dignified, undramatic style of writing.

cassandre - What a coincidence that you took a class from the author of my ancient rhetoric book. I can imagine him being a gentle and engaged teacher. I think you would like this book.

And I'm sorry to hear that he has passed away

9) The Sober Girl Society Handbook - Millie Gooch audiobook

Decent quit lit, narrated by the author. She is a likeable person and a good role model imo for younger women who are feeling disillusioned with the party girl lifestyle. Wish she'd been around when I was a bit younger (I'm 38 and the party girl mentality was almost am expectation when I was in my early twenties...or maybe that was just me ).

A good book for people giving up alcohol or who are just 'sober curious'. The only downside was that I found it a bit light on the science and info on damage it does to the body and mind, but there was a bit on this and it doesn't bill itself as that sort of book, so that isn't really a fair criticism.

[quote ChessieFL]@IntermittentParps you need to read the Brodie books in order starting with Case Histories. They are stand alone stories but there are links to/mentions of earlier events which will be spoilers if you haven’t read in order.[/quote]
Belatedly, but thanks for this! I may give them a go.

@CoteDAzur what a great review, you did it far better justice than I did. It has been a long time since I’ve refrained from starting something else because I’ve loved something so much. It was just really tiny things that I wondered whether a character said ‘buyrun’ or ‘geçebilirsiniz’ or ‘hoş geldınız’ and just let him in. Really small things. I experience the same thing when I occasionally watch Turkish drama with my husband and he obviously needs the subtitles and I find them distracting. It’s a similar feeling.

3 The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling

I loved this. JKR is another writer who is very easy to read (I'm forgiving the slightly awkward representation of elided speech... after all I grew up with Cookson's Mary Ann). Lots of unsympathetic characters and family issues. Found myself caring about most of them.

Spent some time wondering why the "authenticity" thing was ringing bells. Half-way through it occurred to me that Fats is Hayden Caulfield written by a better person, though I still think there's something else I'm not quite remembering. I wonder if Fats has read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance...

[As a personal aside, I noticed that though I powered through a relatively complex passage on people and their interaction I had to read the ensuing short description of the hospital four times before it meant anything. Need to practise reading about Things.]

There were authorial acerbic comments about most of the characters. Interestingly the ones about the woman with the violent husband were all put into her son's voice. If I hadn't already known I wouldn't have been surprised to discover that JKR was in a dv situation.

Is that us at the end of part 2 of War and Peace already? Time has been flying past for sure.

I fell off the thread, so will quickly update that I finished 12. Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie last night. Like others on this thread I read it partly because of the Read Christie challenge so thank you to the poster who brought that to my attention, and because of the film coming out. I doubt I’ll stick to the suggested books/ order of the challenge much longer as I’ll just pick up whichever are available in the library probably. I’m sure any Christie fan has already read this and there have been previous reviews so will just say I enjoyed it. I remember the ‘who’ but not the how so was good to remind myself again.

The trouble with focusing on her books that involve travel though is that there’s far too much scope for talk of ‘natives’ ‘savages’ and other worse terms, which are so jarring.

I’ve given up on The Luminaries for now. Going to crack on with the chapters for the Hard Times read along.

7. Die Trying by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher thriller.

Reacher is walking along a street, minding his own business, when he bumps into a woman coming out of a dry cleaners. He stops to catch her clothes and hand them back, and next thing you know, 3 armed kidnappers have appeared and are driving Reacher and the woman halfway across America.

There’s lots of action, and, unsurprisingly, Reacher prevails. Helped on by some seriously dubious decision making on the part of the bad guys.
At times the way the bad guys were behaving towards Reacher was reminiscent of those old Bond films where the villain decides to kill Bond through some fiendishly complicated scheme involving something like sharks with lasers on their heads, instead of just shooting him.

@StitchesInTime

7. Die Trying by Lee Child

A Jack Reacher thriller.

Reacher is walking along a street, minding his own business, when he bumps into a woman coming out of a dry cleaners. He stops to catch her clothes and hand them back, and next thing you know, 3 armed kidnappers have appeared and are driving Reacher and the woman halfway across America.

There’s lots of action, and, unsurprisingly, Reacher prevails. Helped on by some seriously dubious decision making on the part of the bad guys.
At times the way the bad guys were behaving towards Reacher was reminiscent of those old Bond films where the villain decides to kill Bond through some fiendishly complicated scheme involving something like sharks with lasers on their heads, instead of just shooting him.

I read that one last year! I love the Reacher books. Bonkers and silly, but enjoyable (to me). I've actually just rejoined Amazon Prime so that I can watch the new series

SarahJessicaPorker I saw an advert for the Reacher TV series the other day, I’m quite tempted to try it.
The lead actor looks like he could be a more convincing Jack Reacher than Tom Cruise was.

Yes, I thought the same stitches. I think I watched about 5 minutes of the Tom Cruise one and just thought "no"!

I am planning to start watching it tonight (if dh agrees) so can report back

@SarahJessicaPorker, I'd like to know what you think if Reacher- to the best of my recollection, it was very very close to the first book, but it's a long time since I read it, and I'm not in the mood to reread! Imo the TV show was an awful lot better than the films!

Agree Tanaqui I really enjoyed the Reacher TV series and am happy there's going to be a season 2. Wonder if future seasons will follow the publication order or be random/merge aspects of books like they did with the Bosch series.

Still Life by Sarah Winman I know this received a lot of love on the thread, but it was a very disappointing DNF for me.

Red Famine by Anne Applebaum Brilliant and devastating analysis and account of the Ukrainian famine in the early 1930s which led to nearly 4 million deaths. She chronicles events from the Bolshevik revolution through to the time of writing (2017), which provides important background context as well as highlighting the subsequent consequences. She concludes that although collectivisation created the conditions for famine, starvation was a result of forcibly removing food from people's homes; preventing peasants from travelling in search of work or food; harsh blacklists imposed on farms and villages; restrictions on barter and trade; and vicious propaganda. All this was aimed in particular at those who sought an independent sovereign Ukraine that truly represented Ukrainians.

Issues around the famine have inevitably become politicised both in Ukraine and Russia and I found the book really helpful in understanding current events, although as AA is careful to make clear, the famine was not a result of Russian policy - there was no Russian state in the 1930s - rather the blame lies with Stalin and the Soviet Communist Party. I am following AA on twitter and have found links to her more recent writing invaluable too.

@Terpsichore

Oh, I’ve got Into the Silence kicking around - I keep finding it from time to time and thinking I must read it as it looks so fascinating, but I know it would take weeks and weeks to finish

I think you'd love it @Terpsichore. ~yes, it's an investment, but definitely a worthwhile one.

Into the Silence is one of my outstanding reads ever! I read it when I had pleurisy several years ago so had a really good run at it.

Must be a thing, I read Into The Silence when I was in bed with a chest infection a few years back!

Agree @Boiledeggandtoast I lasted ten minutes listening to Still Life on audio, not for me.
7) The Couple at No.9 by Claire Douglas This was described as an average thriller earlier on in the thread and I suppose it was but I enjoyed it and will read more of Claire Douglas’s books in future. This is about a young couple who are stating out their lives in a cottage in a village called Begger’s Nook. The builder’s start a kitchen extension and discover two bodies under the patio. All in all I recommend and I like the ending.

Latest dispatches from my travels in Discworld.

11.Reaper Man
One of the best Discworld books. When Death is told he has become mortal he goes to live on a farm. Meanwhile a build up of life force creates havoc in Ankh Morpork. It's a lot more wizardy than I remember and I would have liked more time with Death on the farm, he's such a great character, but it's still a wonderful story.

12. Witches Abroad
    A story about stories. The three witches last seen in Wyrd Sisters travel to the rather New Orleansesque city of Genua to stop a girl marrying a prince after her fairy godmother dies. Lots of fun (and some sadness) is had on their travels and I love the concept of stories needing to play out.

13. Small Gods
    The Great god Om comes to novice Brutha in the form of a tortoise. This book has a slightly different feel to the rest of the series, almost like taking a holiday to a previously unvisited part of Discworld. The story explores belief, religion, politics and philosophy as Brutha goes on a life changing journey.

14. Lords and Ladies
    Back with the witches again. On their return home from Genua youngest witch, Magrat, struggles with a change in lifestyle while Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg discover that teenagers have been dabbling in witchcraft and summoning elves. As much as I liked Witches Abroad I definitely prefer seeing the witches on their home soil, especially Granny Weatherwax who seems very connected to the land. I really enjoyed this.

15. Men at Arms
    The Night Watch we first met in Guards! Guards! has been ordered to become more diverse so new recruits, a troll, a dwarf and a woman are introduced. A slightly twisty crime story ensues, complicated by tensions between different species.

Trying to catch up with the book chat...

I see there's been some talk about Discworld and recommendations for one that could be read as a stand alone, of those I've read so far this year I would say Wyrd Sisters, Reaper Man or Small Gods. (It's been too long since I've read any of the later ones to remember enough to recommend.)

I loved Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum I read it so many times in my late teens and early twenties. I don't know if I want read it again now though, just in case it isn't as good as I remember.

And Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Purple Hibiscus I was given it for Christmas years ago, I didn't know anything about the book or the writer but as soon as I started reading I was totally absorbed and read the whole book in one sitting.

Also agree with those recommending Iain Banks' The Crow Road. I've enjoyed most of his books, even The Wasp Factory (apart from the one science fiction book of his I tried, that I just couldn't get into) but I think The Crow Road is definitely the best.