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?

#13 Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch, translated by Sam Garrett (audiobook)

'Doctor to the stars' comes under investigation when one of his patients dies as a possible result of his malpractice. The novel then retells a series of events that preceded this, focussing on one particular disturbing event, which led to the doctor's current actions.

I really loved this author's previous book, The Dinner. I think his character work and writing in general is excellent and he really draws you in despite his novels burning away at a snail's pace. This book goes at a far slower pace than The Dinner and one I couldn't fire through in a few days like I normally do with audiobooks. There's a general theme of anti-women running through this book that really unsettled me but I think it's supposed to be hard to listen to because of what happens half way through the book.

Overall, this is a really dark book and potential readers should be aware that there are mentions of rape and child abuse throughout but nothing graphically depicted.

It's left me feeling unsettled and a bit unsure of what I made of it. A hardgoing read/listen which just made me so fearful for my own daughter who is a similar age to Julia in this book.

Hope it's OK to mention here for anyone doing the War and Peace readalong, the end of Part 1 comes on Tuesday. So if you've fallen off the thread or reading to a slightly different schedule, please jump back in then and join a general catch up to discuss all things concerning attractive pregnant chipmunks, bears tied to policemen or vice versa, and the Joey Essex of Moscow.

VikingNorthUtsire I wasn't crazy about Station Eleven but I enjoyed your review of it.

@Terpsichore

On Judith Flanders....as a long-time London resident and with a deep interest in its history, I loved The Victorian City, and I'd say that The Victorian House is one of my all-time favourite non-fiction books....but hey, that kind of fact-heavy history is right up my street and I can see it wouldn't appeal to all.

I liked the house one, but I noticed at least one mistake about Victorian literature in the city one and it put me off her.

@Terpsichore I'm always up for London recommendations though (things to do, places to walk, places to eat or drink), if you can think of anything a bit off-beat for a fellow history buff!

What was the mistake, Remus? Interested to know!

25. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng Run of the mill family drama. Authors explores race and difference in the US through the lens of a Chinese/American family in the early 80s where one teen daughter is found dead a few days after going missing. Nothing exciting or special.

Book 4 Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is invited to attend to a company of archaeologists digging in Iraq, when one of them is brutally murdered. A series of mysterious and threatening letters has been found and the anonymous sender is suspected. Everyone seems to be capable, but have cast iron alibis all round.
The story is told from the point of view of brisk, no nonsense Nurse Amy Leatheran, who has recently arrived as a member of staff.
Classic Christie with the inevitable summing up at the end, where the motive, method and finally the murderer is unveiled.

21. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I know everyone else read this a couple of years ago when it was first published. I liked it, but I didn’t think it was worth all the hype. There was some lovely nature writing in there about the marsh setting and the animals, but I was less convinced by Kya’s story. Was it really realistic that a small child would have been left completely on her own like that? And I didn’t buy her learning to read as well as she did - it all seemed to happen very suddenly. I liked it, but not one that I’ll want to keep and reread.

@FortunaMajor how are you on so many books already that's more than one a day?!

5. Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

Another Mumsnetter recommended this to me a while ago and I liked it. I preferred this to the other MK books I've read.

It follows Rachel (obviously) who is a late twenties, middle class girl from Blackrock (Dublin) who has been living in New York and has been taking too many drugs. She ends up taking an overdose by accident and has to have her stomach pumped. Her family convinces her to check into The Cloisters, which is a rehab facility in Ireland. It was genuinely funny and thoughtful. I found the main character obviously quite difficult at times, but relatable too. I also found her dysfunctional family quite believable too. I liked the part of the story based in Ireland a lot more than the New York parts and I didn't enjoy the love story... I don't think the leading man's masterful sexiness and grim faced orders in the bedroom aged well. It sounded a bit of an unhealthy relationship tbh and I was surprised at how nice MK was to that character tbh.

I grew up in Ulster and I did find some of the Irish colloquialisms a bit cringe. People in Blackrock do not speak like that these days ime. A lot of "ah jayzus ye hoor" and "what will the priest and our lord think of you wearing sexy underwear?" type of thing. Again, I'm putting this down to the age of the book....or maybe I've just been in England too long . Rachel's mother is very religious and makes some odd comments that I just don't think you'd hear in Dublin these days. Eg. she says she's so embarrassed having a drug addict for a daughter, but at least she isn't a lesbian like so and so's daughter who kisses her gf in the street in front of everyone . The response from her 27 yo dd is "oh ho ho, I can at least promise I won't do that har har" (not the actual words obviously, but you get the gist).

But all in all I did like it. Just a few things I found a bit irksome.

Something about Wilkie Collins @Terpsichore if I remember correctly.

And now I’m on to Troubled Blood after managing to get it from the library this weekend (been on loan for aaaaages!)

Been looking forward to this one.

A belated Happy New Year to everyone!

I have not got off to a good start with the reading this year - the year so far has involved everyone in my house catching Covid (fortunately we’ve all had mild cases), and all the accompanying juggling school work / work work from home while everyone’s feeling under the weather. It’s all been rather distracting. We still haven’t finished isolation for everyone but hopefully things will be back to normal for us soon.

So not many books so far, and nothing too taxing:

1. The Mayan Prophecy by Steve Alten

Thriller. The Mayan prophecy of the title foretells the potential end of the world, and the only man who can avert this has is locked up in a mental hospital at the start of the book.

2. Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas

Another thriller.
Libby wants to get away from everything for a while, so she and her husband are quick to accept a house swap that’s offered. Of course, things aren’t as they seem, and the consequences threaten to ruin Libby’s entire life.

3. Feed by Mira Grant

Set in a world that’s a generation after a zombie rising, it follows a team of bloggers who are reporting on a politician’s bid to become the Republican presidential candidate.

The zombie background is well thought through and plausible, even if the politics bits can drag a little at times.

Storming ahead and thanks to excellent recommendations from here, some cracking reads in 2022 already.

1. Songbirds by Christy Lefteri
2. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
3. Come Hell or High Water by JD Kirk

was on holiday in the West Highlands and chose a book written in the location. Hadn’t heard of author so expectations weren’t high but it was an enjoyable, fun and absorbing read. Detective thriller set in Ardnamurchan with lots of humour.

1. Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo Enjoyed this. Girl finds her father after death of her mother. Father was a revolutionary who is a now prime minister in an African country. Well written and engaging book.
2. Spinning Plates by Sophie Ellis Bextor Wouldn’t say I was a fan but chose this reading the good reviews on Audible. Ideal book for a car journey. It’s funny and although some serious bits (dealing with parents’ divorce, rape, difficult pregnancies and births) it’s overall a light listen. She is incredibly self -aware which makes the book all the more engaging.
3. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Late to the party on this one. What a good read! Neither of the two main characters are very likeable but you get so drawn into their stories! Ending pushed your belief a bit but overall a thoroughly worthwhile read.

Now reading Fintan O’Toole’s We Don’t Know Ourselves which is breathtakingly good. Listening to Brian Cox Putting the Rabbit in the Hat which is excellent.

Just read all the Olive Farm books by Carol Drinkwater. Really lifted my mood and great escapism.
The Lost Girls Heather Young
The Signature of All Things Elizabeth Gilbert

@Terpsichore

On Judith Flanders....as a long-time London resident and with a deep interest in its history, I loved The Victorian City, and I'd say that The Victorian House is one of my all-time favourite non-fiction books....but hey, that kind of fact-heavy history is right up my street and I can see it wouldn't appeal to all.

I absolutely adore her The Victorian House — and it’s incredibly illuminating about so many aspects of Victorian fiction.

@SarahJessicaParker3 re lesbian comment, the book was written 20+ years ago and back then that was the attitude of a lot of Irish people. I have 2 gay cousins in Ireland and my older relatives (age 70+) are still very intolerant.

Thanks @ChipPotts. Yes, that's what I said . It is the age of the book and I cannot imagine anyone in Dublin making that sort of comment today. Thank you for backing up what I already said for me

I grew up in Ireland. My brother is still there and is bi. My cousin is gay. I am bi too, but live in England. Actually, my cousin came out in the 90s and his mum was extremely supportive. So the whole "oh no, not the GAYS" and "what will Our Lord say about you wearing a g string" comments did make me cringe as i don't think that's representative of Ireland at all. A nasty stereotype actually. But maybe her intentions were different

And I do let her off as the book is so old. Although I don't personally think those sorts of attitudes were acceptable in Ireland in the 90s (I was there), I accept they may have been more common. They weren't everywhere though and I thought it was flippantly done, obviously for humorous affect. I don't think that has aged well, like Luke ordering Rachel to strip in front of him doesn't sound sexy to me, it just sounds a bit coercive.

1. White Rabbit Red Wolf Tom Pollock

A teen fiction book about a boy who’s mother is stabbed and twin sister disappears. He enters the world of espionage. Ok but a bit far fetched. But that’s probably the teen fiction. A good weekend read.

@GrannieMainland don't apologise at all, I'd rather know it's a dud book before I waste my time on it

[quote ChipPotts]**@SarahJessicaParker3 re lesbian comment, the book was written 20+ years ago and back then that was the attitude of a lot of Irish people. I have 2 gay cousins in Ireland and my older relatives (age 70+) are still very intolerant. [/quote]
Nonsense, @ChipPotts. There have always been homophobes everywhere, but I don’t think the stuff quoted from the Keyes novel is in any way representative. I had a big gay and bi friendship group at university, and although my parents and grandparents are both devout Catholics and had never knowingly met a gay person before, they all took to my friends like ducks to water. This was late 80s and early 90s. And my parents’ generation voted for the legalisation of gay marriage in 2015 like everyone else. Ireland was the first country in the world to establish the right to same -sex marriage by popular vote.

I think MK was going for a cheap crack in Rachel’s Holiday. When people were homophobic, it certainly wasn’t couched in cute little Mammy asides about g-strings hussies and what would Father So and So think?

@Tanaqui - I agree about the Bronze Horseman. I like a big novel set in the past and I don't mind a love affair as part of the plot but it just wasn't very well written imo.

The Victorian House looks good. I studied Victorian literature at university and it's a period I still find fascinating.
I wish I had taken the opportunity, as a child, to talk to my grandfather about his early life. He was born in 1881. I do remember him marvelling at the workings of the telephone and the TV; I don't think he ever quite got over how amazing they were. And as an old man, when he'd become rather confused and forgetful, he used to try to go for a walk down the middle of the road, because in his youth the fastest thing that was likely to come round the corner was a horse pulling a cart. It really was a very different age.

My list so far:

1. The Night She Disappeared – Lisa Jewell - 3/5
2. The One Hundred Years of Lenni & Margot – Marianne Cronin 5/5
3. The Last Thing He Told Me – Laura Dave - 3/5
4. The Paris Library – Janet Skeslien Charles 3/5

The Paris Library was a cliched WW2 story. The ‘real’ story of the American Library in Paris was interesting, but the fictional characters were a bit flat.