50 Book Challenge 2022 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 and the second one here.

What are you reading?

23. End to End, Paul Jones
I don't often pick up books from the Sports section of the library, but made an exception for this one as I have a vague ambition to cycle Land's End to John O'Groats at some point. If I ever do, it will be at a leisurely pace, not something that features much in this book, which focuses on the men and women who've broken the speed records for the journey. He turns up for cups of tea with elderly people who did it decades ago and are charmingly modest about the feat. He has a go at the trip himself, knowing he'll never set any records but attempting some punishingly long days and hating it. I enjoyed the read.

1. The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams – 3/5

Just okay, I liked the idea of a found list of books to read, but nothing very original happened. 10. Rabbit Hole - Mark Billingham – 3/5 Not very thrilling, easy to read, but very forgettable. No standout reads for me in February, hopefully March will be better. My best read of 2022 is still The One Hundred Years of Lenni & Margot

8. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory I love a good historical fiction, and I've enjoyed a lot of her books previously like The White Queen. With royalty historical fiction, of course, the reader knows what is coming (generally), but with this one, which is not a true story, I was expecting a little bit more of a page-turner as I obviously didn't know what is going to happen at the end.

It is the story of Alinor, a poor woman from a line of wise women who lives on the south coast of England around the time of the execution of Charles I. She has been abandoned by her fisherman husband, and now lives alone with her two children. As neither a wife nor a widow, she has an uncomfortable position in the local community. She supports her family by working as a nurse and midwife and selling herbs. Then one night she meets James, a catholic priest on a secret mission to rescue the king, and she helps him find his way through the marshland.

To me it was all a bit predictable, she is obviously being set up to be tried as a witch, and there was too much romance for me. James was unbelievable as a character and Alinor (who I really wanted to like) was just too perfect. The ending was very rushed and far too contrived. I probably won't bother with the next one.

9. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman Much reviewed cosy read about a group of pensioners who live in a retirement village and have created Thursday Murder Club, alongside the more usual clubs like crochet and chess. They go over old murder cases and try to solve them. Then a local property developer gets brutally murdered in his own home and the Murder Club is delighted to have a real live case on their hands. Using cake as a powerful weapon, they insert themselves into the investigation and get busy. It does get quite convoluted and it seems virtually everyone in the sleepy retirement home has something to hide, there are multiple motives, and suspects and bodies start to pile up. It has had a lot of hype, and I did begin it thinking it would be a bit twee (thinking cozy Miss Marple style) but I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. It was well written, funny in parts, and in some parts genuinely quite touching. Not the best crime storyline I have ever read, but not the worst by far either. I will probably read the second one at some point. (I will also watch it on BBC as well when inevitably make a Sunday evening drama of it- it is perfect for that 8pm slot)

@ynysmoncrone do you have any recommendations for good historical fiction? I'd like to read more of it this year.

Oh, very broad genre there.

Medieval/Tudor history I like Alison Weir - enjoying her Six Tudor Queens series about the wives of Henry VIII. Also Katherine by Anya Seton. I like Ken Follet as well (despite the slightly dodgy descriptions of breasts) - Pillars of the Earth, World Without End.

Older history, I like Bernard Cornwell, esp his King Arthur series, starting with The Winter King, also his fictionalised story of the Building of Stonehenge. Also Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. I lie Elizabeth Chadwick's series about Eleanor of Aquitaine starting with The Summer Queen and the Shardlake series.

20th Century - Ken Follet's Century series starting with Fall of Giants,, or Kate Quinn's books, The Alice network and *The Rose Code".

Thanks! I have the first of the Six Tudor Queens on order from the library as I went to the Tower of London and saw Six last week and wanted more history and bought Katherine on kindle yesterday! I want to try the Ken Follets on audible :)

15. An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears Completely by accident, I ended up reading another book set in the 1660s straight after Girl with a Pearl Earring. And there's a nice symmetry, in that Girl with a PE is (pretty much) a story about a man told wholly through the eyes of a woman, whereas this book is about a woman, told through the words of four different men - it was very clear that women have no voice in 1660s Oxford and are barely treated as human.

This aspect was one of the things that made me struggle with the first part of the book, and I also found it very slow-going generally to start with. It didn't help that there were almost no likeable characters. My early thoughts were that it was clearly a "good" book but not an enjoyable one.

However, I'm really glad I kept reading, as my understanding of the early parts of the book was helped by the later parts, and it turns into something quite unexpected and really fascinating. My opinion had completely changed by the end of the book and I now think it is absolutely fantastic - genuinely a masterpiece. I'm sure there will be plenty of people who are put off by its longwindedness but I would say it is definitely worth persevering. One of the best books I've read for a while!

@YnysMonCrone I felt the same about Tidelands - definitely not as good as her royal historical fiction. I've heard the sequel is rubbish so I definitely wouldn't bother seeking it out if I were you! I think my favourite Philippa Gregory is The Lady of the Rivers.

I've just finished They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy which was recommended on here a few years ago and was randomly selected from my huge wishlist. At only 123 pages, I read this in less than a day and what a good read it was. Set in 1935, an aspiring actress and aspiring director meet by chance in LA and agree to take part in a dance marathon in the hope of winning the thousand dollars prize money and hopefully some attention by the movie industry along the way. However it doesn't quite go as planned.

Now reading Mr Bowling Buys A Newspaper by Donald Henderson, not quite sure what to make of this one yet although reviews on it seem good and the fact it was also beloved by Raymond Chandler is enough to keep me going with it so far.

Was listening to Liane Moriarty's Apples Never Fall on audio, only managed about 4 hours out of 14 before it disappeared from my library but not very much happened in that time. Felt like it was a lot of waffle and not much else but I might reserve it again as I'm interested to know how it pans out (missing mum, four children, some of them suspect their dad was involved in some way).

I finished but really didn't love Fingerpost having expected it to be right up my street.

It was quite tough-going wasn’t it @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie? And the hatred of women was difficult to stomach. But I thought it was very clever in the way it stuck to what people really thought at that time (about women, science, religion, etc), and the way it wove in so many real-life events and people, and the unreliability of all four narrators…

It's such a long time ago that I can remember very little about it. Maybe I should give it another chance?

Interestingly as someone who only really reads genre fiction I really liked Fingerpost Perhaps the focus on worldbuilding over plot suited my tastes? I also enjoyed Arcadia by the same author.

12. The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. I didn't choose this deliberately, as I started reading it over a week ago when, unbelievably, the invasion still seemed very unlikely, but it certainly added interest and poignancy to be reading it at the same time as current world events. It is a set of intertwining narratives from multiple viewpoints set in (mainly) Russia and (partly) Chechnya and covering a timespan from 1937 (during the Stalinist purges) to 2013. The characters are vivid and vibrant and flawed and human, and the writing is the kind when a sentence stops you in your tracks and you don't just want to read it twice, you find yourself turning back a few pages further on to read it for a third or fourth time. I absolutely loved this - my stand out book of the year so far.

@InTheCludgie, I remember the film of They Shoot Horses Don't They as being v good (although I saw it a long time ago!).
@TimeforaGandT, I rather like To The Hilt, but I honestly felt the central relationship was so clearly Al and Chris, that is rather jarred when it ended up Al and Emma. One of the better later ones though.

@Tanaqui - I did enjoy it (and see what you mean about the relationships) but prefer those which are more horsey….

@Tanaqui I didn't know it had been made into a film! Will need to add to my list of must-watch movies (which is nearly as long as my reading wish-list )

It’s been ages since I saw the film of They Shoot Horses but yes, it’s good...grim but good - definitely worth seeing if you can, InTheCludgie. I read the book too, years ago.

1. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

I'm not generally a dystopian fiction reader but DD1 is studying this so I thought I really ought to give it a go. Absolutely brilliant, a definite thumbs up from me. Not sure whether to try The Testaments at a later date. The reviews that I've seen on these threads (that I value highly!) are somewhat ambivalent...

The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
The 5th in The Ashes of London series. It was okay, but not the best in the series. I really like the two central characters but it's all getting a bit Robin and Strike in its will they won't they-ness. The writing was a bit wooden in places too, and it felt a bit unfinished, even allowing for the fact there will obviously be more to follow. Having said that, it interested me enough to read it and I'll read any others that come out, once they're reduced to less than a fiver! 😁

53. The Sound Of Laughter by Peter Kay

I read this when it first came out, but just listened to it on audible read by Peter himself. There’s extra chapters plus as he’s reading the original chapters there’s little asides he adds in. I really enjoyed it.

54. Bruno’s Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales by Martin Walker

The Bruno in question is a police officer in a small town in the Dordogne, and there’s a series of books about him. I haven’t read any, but gave meant to for a while as I have relatives in the area. This collection of short stories came up for 99p so I gave it a go. Probably not the best place to start. I expected them all to be crime, but some were about food/cooking and some just about village events. Probably fine if you know the characters, but a bit odd if you don’t. I’ll probably still try the first in the proper series to see if I like it, but was a bit disappointed with the short stories.

55. A Talent To Annoy by Nancy Mitford

A collection of her journalism and book reviews. I really liked some pieces, others I didn’t really get because I don’t know the people or events referred to. I liked one article where, writing in the 1960s she looked at how much things had changed since her twenties in the 1920s, and of course things have changed a lot since the 60s as well so that was interesting.

56. The Dartmoor Murders by Stephanie Austin

Book 5 in a series set in Ashburton in Devon, featuring antiques dealer Juno who keeps getting caught up in murder cases and helping to solve them. I like these, they’re light hearted with a good cast of characters and fairly undemanding. This one was good too.

Sapat - I hope you read Mockingbird soon, so that we can discuss it before the details slip my mind. It was truly a remarkable book with SF ideas I have never seen +40 years of avid reading. It's hard to believe that it was published in 1980, even before the first smart phone.

So despite being in a complete reading slump, not being able to read physical books much at the moment due to having a toddler sleeping in with me so can’t put light on, and already having more physical/ kindle/ borrowbox/ audible titles lined up waiting than I think I’ve ever had at any other time in my life - I still managed to pick 3 up at the charity shop on the way back from the dentist.

I got
A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom - John Boyne
Picked up partly on the back of The Heart’s Invisible Furies, mainly because my aunt is coming to stay from abroad soon and I recommended that one to her which she loved, and I know she wanted to try others by Boyne. If nothing else I can pass this on to her.

Writers and Lovers - Lily King
Might be slightly regretting this already - not sure what drew me to it at all really. Good reviews from Marian Keyes, Ann Patchett and Madeleine Miller amongst others, and from the blurb the main character has lost her mum and is the age I was when I lost mine. So we shall see.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton - Sara Collins
Was a Costa winner, I liked the cover and Margaret Atwood apparently tweeted that it was like Wide Sargasso Sea meets Beloved meets Alias Grace.

Anyone read any of the above?

15. The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

I have read many of Godden's children's books but until last year I had only read one of her adult ones (Black Narcissus). This sits on the cusp between the two, I think. It's a short, hugely evocative, semi-autobiographical account of a young girl's coming-of-age summer in France. The Godden stand-in is Cecil, who is I think 13 when the action takes place, but all of her family are fully realised, from the almost-adult Joss, through pragmatic, inquisitive Hester, fashion-obsessed Willmouse (the only boy) and little Vicky. Their mother sweeps them to France on an impulse but develops septicaemia on the way. They are left in the care of a somewhat Bohemian hotel and, in particular, in the hands of the enigmatic Eliot, an Englishman who is not what he first seems. The book is in some ways very much of its time; lots of older men falling in love with the teenage Joss, of which Cecil disapproves, but the response is not quite in the trenchant terms we might expect today. But the overall mood created by the book is just right - at the same time langorous, evoking the feel of a long French summer, but also on the brink of a thunderstorm that will change Cecil's life forever.

One thing that always strikes me about reading Godden's books is a peculiar quirk of her writing style - she will write speech after "and" or "but" e.g. "I was going to run outside but, "Look at the thunderclouds" said Amy". I find it slightly jarring, but at the same time comfortingly recognisable.

I wasn’t a fan of Frannie Langton sorry Alias, and it made Remus irate if I remember correctly. It tries to cram in masses of issues and plot elements while piling daft simile on simile, like small oily fish in a sealed metal container.