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?

Thanks for the new thread southeast. Here’s my list so far:

1. Writing the Bible: Origins of the Old Testament - Martien Halvorson-Taylor
2. Brain Storm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology - Suzanne O'Sullivan
3. Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD - Eli R. Lebowitz
4. Fantastically Great Women Scientists and Their Stories - Kate Pankhurst
5. This Thing of Darkness - Harry Thompson
6. Language and the Mind - Spencer Kelly
7. Nine Nasty Words - John McWhorter
8. You’re Doing It Wrong - Kaz Cooke
9. Luster - Raven Leilani

10. Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi 11. The Poems of T.S. Eliot 12. Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler 13. Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art - Rebecca Wragg Sykes 14. Beautiful World, Where Are You - Sally Rooney 15. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez

I’ll be back to review Invisible Women later, as I’ve also almost finished Material Girls and they kind of go together.

Thanks for the new thread @southeastdweller. Bringing my list over:

1. Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion
2. Diary of an MP’s Wife – Sasha Swire
3. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister
4. Buried in Secret – Viveca Sten
5. Truth And Beauty – Ann Patchett
6. Material Girls – Kathleen Stock
7. 1979 – Val McDermid
8. Mrs Hemingway – Naomi Wood
9. Mort – Terry Pratchett
10. Scrublands – Chris Hammer
11. The Other Americans – Laila Lalami

Now reading The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett, which I'm enjoying.

1. Good Vibes, Good Life - Vex King
2. The Minimalist Home - Joshua Becker
3. This Tender Land - William Kent Krueger
4. Song of Achillles - Madeline Miller
5. Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes
6. A Thousand Ships - Natalie Haynes
7. Lamentation - C J Samson
8. Hungry - Grace Dent
9. The Sober Girl Society Handbook - Millie Gooch

Thanks for the new thread southeastdweller

Thanks for the new thread southeast.

1. Action Park - Andy Mulvihill & Jake Rossen

2. The Moth and The Mountain - Ed Caesar

1. Cook, Eat, Repeat - Nigella Lawson
2. On Hampstead Heath - Marika Cobbold
3. Raising The Barre - Lauren Kessler
4. Such A Fun Age - Kiley Reid
5. The Mitford Scandal - Jessica Fellowes

8. Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

1. Labels - Evelyn Waugh

10. Head Over Heels - Holly Smale 11. St David of Dewisland - Nona Rees 12. We Are Bellingcat - Eliot Higgins

Currently reading Vanity Fair, which seems to be some kind of literary Tardis, Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart, The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson and Magpie Lane.

My list:

1. The Happy Couple - Samantha Hayes
2. Death and Papa Noel - Ian Moore
3. Raising Laughter: How The Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling In The ‘70s - Robert Sellers
4. 80s Kid: A Memoir Of Growing Up In The Last Decade Before Technology Took Over - Melanie Ashfield
5. Diddly Squat - Jeremy Clarkson
6. Lady Catherine’s Necklace - Joan Aiken
7. How To Read A Novel - John Sutherland
8. Back Trouble - Clare Chambers
9. Watching Neighbours Twice A Day: How 90s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life - Josh Widdicombe

10. And Away…. - Bob Mortimer 11. Set In Stone - Robert Goddard 12. Miss-Adventures: A Tale Of Ignoring Life Advice While Backpacking Around South America - Amy Baker 13. The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver - Shawn Inmon 14. An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots In Charge - Jon O’Farrell 15. 46% Better Than Dave - Alastair Puddick 16. All The Lonely People - Mike Gayle 17. The Girl She Wanted - K L Slater 18. I Know You by Claire McGowan 19. The Couple At No. 9 by Claire Douglas 20. The Angry Chef: Bad Science And The Truth About Healthy Eating by Anthony Warner 21. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 22. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans 23. The Trapped Wife by Samantha Hayes 24. Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes 25. Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid 26. Victoria Wood: Unseen On TV edited by Jasper Rees 27. Single by K. L. Slater 28. Disgrace by J M Coetzee 29. The 86 Fix by Keith A Pearson 30. Beyond Broadhall by Keith A Pearson 31. Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton 32. Eat, Drink, Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad by Bryony Gordon 33. A Girl Aboard The Titanic by Eva Hart 34. The Fallen Stones: Chasing Blue Butterflies, Mayan Secrets, and Happily Ever After In Belize by Diana Marcum 35. Death In The Sunshine by Steph Broadribb 36. Saving Time by Jodi Taylor 37. V for Victory by Lissa Evans 38. The Victorian Chaise Longue by Marghanita Laski 39. Did They Steal A Million Yet? by James Crookes 40. The Shadow At The Door: Four Stories. Four Cases. One Connection.* by Tim Weaver 41. Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung by Min Kym 42. Rebuilding Coventry by Sue Townsend 43. A Life of Contrasts by Diana Mosley 44. Murder By The Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles

And
45. Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

The sequel to Rachel’s Holiday. I was nervous about this as Rachel’s Holiday is one of my favourite books but I loved it. Can’t say too much as I don’t want to spoil the story, but it was lovely catching up with Rachel and her sisters again and I was very happy with where Keyes took Rachel’s story.

Forgot to do my highlights - best were 9, 22, 24, 26, 37 and 45.

15. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez
16. Material Girls - Kathleen Stock

Basically, there’s this group of humans who have certain features (xx chromosomes, production of large gametes) and life experiences in common, and have been badly served by technology, medicine and political structures which assume the other group (xy chromosomes, dangly bits) are the default type of human.

Luckily we have a word for this group: women! Although some people have lately become a bit confused about what this word means, so Professor Stock has had to come along and explain it to them.

Place marking. We're moving house today, in the middle of Storm Eunice. Not much reading going to be done for the next few days but hope to be back soon. Storm sounds pretty bad outside already. Stay safe everyone and hope you get to enjoy plenty of reading 📚.

Who is Maud Dixon? Alexandra Andrews

I’m not really a mystery/thriller twisty turns plot heavy reader so I’m not sure why I bought this, presumably in a 99p deal.

Aspiring writer steals identity of established writer following an accident. I did like this, it was a page turner. I did see some of the twists coming but they were still satisfying. It’s just overall not my type of thing, I tend toward the more character driven, slow prose. I think if you read a lot of thrillers you might not enjoy it as if I saw the twists you definitely will. I also didn’t question plausibility or credulity but I suspect if you are a more seasoned reader of this genre you probably will.

Thanks for the new thread south you are so lovely keeping this up even when you are so busy with your studies!

My list:

1. Troubled Blood Robert Galbraith.
2. Many Different Kinds of Love by Michael Rosen.
3. Heartstopper Volume 2 Alice Osemann.
4. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
5. The Madness of Grief Richard Cole’s.
6. Hostage by Claire Mackintosh
7. Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula is one of my favourite classics of all time, I find it a genuinely creepy thriller. I love the slow discovery of the vampires and it’s just such a good yarn. This time I listened to the audio which was excellently narrated by Tim Curry, Alan Cummings and a full cast. Thoroughly recommended.

Today feels like a good day to be off work settled down with a good book. I’m half way through the paying guests by Sarah Waters and loving it.

Mine so far:-

1. The camomile lawn
2. Mrs England
3. Daddy
4. Homestretch
5. Light perpetual
6. Everyone died so I got a dog

Loved number 6 others only ok Have started malibu rising but not grabbing me yet and got a few books out of the library yesterday and started little deaths which has a strong start I've just started a foundation degree so need to keep motivated to read my fifty books that are not course related!

Neal Stephenson's brilliant book Snow Crash is 99p Kindle Deal today! This book ignited the cyberpunk era and came up with the ideas and names of Google Earth, avatar, Metaverse, and many others. It is a wild ride with some fascinating ideas, and an incredible story that ends up tying actual Sumerian legends with hacking the brain stem

A must-read for anyone interested in the SF genre. Don't miss it.

Thanks to southeastdweller for the new thread.

Am currently listening to The Storyteller by Dave Grohl on audio which is quite entertaining although I need to watch I don't have it on around the kids, too many F-bombs being dropped.

I'm almost finished Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer, one of her mysteries set in a house with spooky goings-on, the new residents are determined not to be scared off by the 'ghost' and attempt to get to the bottom of the cause of it. This is a kindle book I bought a couple of years back. I'm making more of an effort this year to read more of my own books and not get so many from the library (only got a little pile of 9 library books to work through!).

Next up will be The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson and I'm also following the War and Peace and Hard Times readalongs.

Thanks for the new thread!

My list so far:

1. The House at Riverton - Kate Morton
2. The Murder in the Tower - Jean Plaidy
3. The Baby Group - Caroline Corcoran
4. An Invincible Summer - Mariah Stewart
5. The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
6. One Small Mistake - Dandy Smith

No stand outs so far. I'm using a random number generator to pick my reads which may be why nothing is grabbing me, as I'm not picking books I'm particularly excited about, just working through the TBR

In other reading related news, I've had my eye on a beautiful blush pink chaise longue for about 4 years which I think will make the perfect reading seat. I've had a spot picked out on the landing beside one of my bookcases. Yesterday I noticed it was 50% off so I ordered it, I'm so excited to have a dedicated space to sit comfortably and read without being disturbed by someone else wanting to use the same space

That sounds so lovely satelliteheart will you be wearing a Jane Austen-type dress? I think you should.

It’s not a Victorian chaise-longue is it @satelliteheart?! If it is don’t read the Marghanita Laski book previously mentioned on these threads…..

Currently on:
Index, A History of the, Dennis Duncan
Self-explanatory title
This is quirky, written in a very lively and readable way. Still a lot of info to take in, so I'm taking it slowly.

Holy Orders, Benjamin Black
No. 6 of the Quirke mysteries by John Banville under his crime nom de plume. I love these; good combination of gripping plots, great characters, lovely period detail (50s Dublin) and of course beautiful writing. This one has a murder, some 'tinkers', family crises and secrets, shame and trauma from a past in Ireland's punitive Church children's homes... A quality page-turner.

My list so far:

1. The Dutch House - Ann Patchett
2. Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
3. Life at the Top - John Braine
4. The Mermaid of Black Conch - Monique Raffey
5. Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann
6. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson
7. The Watchers on the Shore - Stan Barstow

My list so far:

1. Piranesi - Susannah Clarke
2. Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
3. The Camomile Lawn - Mary Wesley
4. Vile Bodies - Evelyn Waugh
5. Nomadland - Jessica Bruder
6. Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh
7. The Christmas Chronicles - Nigel Slater
8. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
9. Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Maconie

10. The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

LadybirdDaphne excellent review of those two books

Also... I have a Victorian chaise longue, should I be worried????

Just don’t fall asleep on it @JaninaDuszejko

My list so far this year.........

1. I who have never know men by Jacqueline Harpman
2. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
3. Bad Blood by Lorna Sage
4. The best catholics in the world by Derek Scally
5. All that man is by David Szalay
6. Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
7. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
8. Frenchmans Creek by Daphne du Maurier
9. Gillespie and I by Joanne Harris
10. Crow Country by Mark Cocker
11. Why we eat too much by Andrew Jenkinson (thanks to the poster that reviewed this – I found this fascinating
12. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
13. The Need by Helen Phillips
14. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
15. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

@LittleDiaries

Place marking. We're moving house today, in the middle of Storm Eunice. Not much reading going to be done for the next few days but hope to be back soon. Storm sounds pretty bad outside already. Stay safe everyone and hope you get to enjoy plenty of reading 📚.

Good luck Little Diaries! I hope everything goes well for you.

How does everyone feel about Where the Crawdads Sing? I'm halfway through the audiobook, and its taken me months to even get this far. Normally I'd have no problems DNFing a book, but I want to get the hype on this book. Does it get good?

I thought it started well but went downhill. The dialogue was poor. The descriptions of nature and the surrounding area were good. The ending was satisfactory. I was happy to finish it, which is not a good sign. I would rate it 3 stars.