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 reminder RomanMum; my friend did mention that at the time but I somehow didn't get round to listening and I see it's now disappeared from BBC Sounds unfortunately. I rate TG and PR - it must be one of the last things he did before he sadly died - so it would be great to catch it at some point.

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller is in today's kindle daily deals. I'm not sure if I want it. I've read her previous three novels, and only really liked Swimming Lessons. Is it worth a go as it's 99p?

LittleDiaries I really enjoyed it and it was generally well received in here last year.

OK. Thanks @FortunaMajor. I'll give it a go. I think Claire Fuller writes well, and her characters are memorable, if not always likeable. It appeals more to me than Bitter Orange, which I didn't really enjoy, but don't know why - it ought to have ticked a lot more boxes for the sort of books I enjoy than it actually did.

Ignore that random "OK" at the start. No idea where that came from

11. Mr Foreigner - Matthew Kneale Daniel is a young British man teaching English in a Tokyo language school. He has no teaching permit, has lost his passport, his employer regularly refuses to pay him his agreed salaryand a relationship with one of his students leads him into trouble with her gangster family.

I enjoyed this, it's a short book but well written. Kneale successfully conveys the confusion and misunderstandings arising from Daniel's inability to speak Japanese, surrounded by people with little or no knowledge of English. I couldn't work out what was going on either! The tragic outcome of Daniel's flailings around the seedy side of Tokyo felt a little abrupt at the end but I didn't see it coming.

Yolandi I loved English Passengers by Matthew Kneale. I recall that the story was related by many different characters which if badly done can be a real pain, however it worked extremely well and never got confusing. Must reread it soon.

I think Mr Foreigner was his first book? My son might enjoy it as he taught English in a school in Sendai for a couple of years. He had a great time there but a few mix-ups himself caused by the language barrier. On his very first day he ended up out in the countryside having climbed on the right bus but heading in the wrong direction; no-one could speak English and his Japanese was very sketchy. Luckily he's a resilent sort and treated everything as a big adventure and a bit of fun.

highlandcoo I loved English Passengers too! It is definitely in my top 5. I've read a few others from Matthew Kneale and they're all good, clever use of language and well-drawn characters but nothing matches up to English Passengers for me

19. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing I absolutely whizzed through this - it’s written so compellingly and of course the story it tells is so incredible. I only knew the main facts of the expedition, so although I broadly knew the outcome that didn’t feel like a spoiler. The extent of the hardships they suffered and the amazingly good luck they had at times is hardly believable - one of those “you couldn’t make it up” situations. The book was written in the 50s so has a very different perspective from the present day - the indiscriminate clubbing of seals etc for food and fuel is told very matter-of-factly, which can be a bit jarring but helps to give an impression of what it was really like - the date of writing is decades closer to the actual events than to now, and it is based on interviews with, and the diaries of, the men on the expedition. Very much recommended!

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage

19. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing I absolutely whizzed through this - it’s written so compellingly and of course the story it tells is so incredible. I only knew the main facts of the expedition, so although I broadly knew the outcome that didn’t feel like a spoiler. The extent of the hardships they suffered and the amazingly good luck they had at times is hardly believable - one of those “you couldn’t make it up” situations. The book was written in the 50s so has a very different perspective from the present day - the indiscriminate clubbing of seals etc for food and fuel is told very matter-of-factly, which can be a bit jarring but helps to give an impression of what it was really like - the date of writing is decades closer to the actual events than to now, and it is based on interviews with, and the diaries of, the men on the expedition. Very much recommended!

I really loved this as well, the audio version was totally absorbing.

@LittleDiaries

OK. Thanks *@FortunaMajor. I'll give it a go. I think Claire Fuller writes well, and her characters are memorable, if not always likeable. It appeals more to me than Bitter Orange*, which I didn't really enjoy, but don't know why - it ought to have ticked a lot more boxes for the sort of books I enjoy than it actually did.

I felt the same about Bitter Orange, it ticked all the right boxes in theory, but didn't quite deliver on the page.

I've now finished Sorrow and Bliss and agree with Tarahumara, it's quite chic-litty. I'm not convinced it's prize worthy, but it's an ok read.

I'm 40% into The Sentence which I feel very favourably towards so far.

Forgot to say I'm also very interested in reading The Button Box. My grandmother was a seamstress and I grew up playing with her button box. I still have a stash of zips, binding, lace, bobbins etc that were hers. She was also a knitter which has passed down the line. She'd have been thrilled to see me go on to have some of my patterns professionally published. I think practical craft is such an interesting part of women's history and an important way of women connecting with one another.

I'm another who has seamstresses in the family and an inherited stash of needlework items. I have been a knitter since I was small - Fortuna, just today I bought This Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter, which is a history of knitting in various parts of Britain. Haven't read it yet, obviously, but you may want to look at it.

I bought This Golden Fleece yesterday too, Maud, just after finishing The Button Box. At this rate we might need to set up a 50-Booker craft circle

I see I'm in good company! I had a look at the illustrations in This Golden Fleece and it's got me itching to start a Shetland shawl.

@Terpsichore

I bought This Golden Fleece yesterday too, Maud, just after finishing The Button Box. At this rate we might need to set up a 50-Booker craft circle

Can I be part of it - have just bought This Golden Fleece too.

Maud a Shetland shawl is quite an undertaking! Isn't it supposed to be so fine that you can pull it through a wedding ring? I'm a knitter but more of a Fair Isle enthusiast. I find it very absorbing (and easier to rectify if you go wrong)

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I highly recommend this too, if you liked Endurance
Frank Worsley

Thank you everyone for your fascinating reviews and comments. I’m rather behind with my reviews I’m afraid (too much Old English is my excuse).

28. The Passenger - Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz
This 1938 novel, about a middle-aged Jewish businessman desperately trying to escape Germany after Kristallnacht, is being marketed as a thriller, which it isn’t. What it does do is give a vivid sense of the nightmarish reality of a respectable and respected war veteran who suddenly finds himself an outcast in his own country, and of the different ways German people reacted to Nazi anti-semitism.

29. Apeirogon - Colm McCann
This novel is a harrowing but at times beautiful exploration of the real-life friendship between two fathers and peace activists, one Israeli, one Palestinian, who have both lost a daughter to the conflict. A nuanced and compassionate exploration of grief and injustice. The only criticism I have is that we never really hear the mothers’ voices.

30. Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell - John Preston
I’m afraid I don’t have any RM anecdotes like previous readers. A bit superficial: I would have liked more hard facts, and less gossip about people who knew him.

31.-33. Whispers Under Ground, Broken Homes, The Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronvitch
Books 3-5 of this entertaining series about the London cop policing the magical. I do feel a bit annoyed by the number of loose ends: I want Hercule Poirot in the library with all the characters explaining every last clue and red herring.

a Shetland shawl is quite an undertaking! Isn't it supposed to be so fine that you can pull it through a wedding ring?

Right on both counts. Lace I can do, though I've only ever used 2-ply, which is not as fine as cobweb lace. Hats off to you knitting Fair Isle - I can do it but it's a stretch.

Thanks @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie! Incidentally, noting your excellent username, I’ve just started a(nother) re-read of the Harry Potter books 😄

@MaudOfTheMarches

I'm another who has seamstresses in the family and an inherited stash of needlework items. I have been a knitter since I was small - Fortuna, just today I bought This Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter, which is a history of knitting in various parts of Britain. Haven't read it yet, obviously, but you may want to look at it.

Thank you for this recommendation, it looks really interesting.

I find it really fascinating how many of us have so many things in common beyond just reading.

Popping on to say I agree with you all about Bitter Orange (should have been right up my street, found it quite dull), but I thought Our Endless Numbered Days was really good.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage and @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I have just finished reading The Deathly Hallows to my boys (9 and 7). 9 yo had already read them all to himself but still wanted to join in the bedtime story-athon. My husband and I took turns to read chapters and I was quite pleased I got to read Snape's memory chapter and the final chapter in the last book. Not so pleased to read about Dobby's demise and have to comfort the devastated 7yo! Finishing them feels like the end of an era.

Terpsichore when you mention the sadness of beautiful vintage cabinets being thrown away, it reminded me of what happened after my grandparents died.

My uncle, a lovely man but not in the least sentimental, had given up tailoring by then; it was hard to make a living after the arrival of mass-produced clothes. An antique dealer type came to the door and my uncle allowed him to clear my grandpa's workshop and told me happily he'd received a measly £20 for the lot. Which included a foot treadle vintage sewing machine, a few goose irons and worst of all the miniature chest of drawers where my grandpa kept his reels of thread. The dealer must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. I would have so loved to have that little chest. Still makes me sad now.

Fortuna I am so impressed that you've had knitting patterns published! I was trying to alter one recently (to make a hat for my larger-than-average head) and it struck me how much patience was necessary to knit something again and again and keep tweaking it to get the right fit. I just want to bash on and get it done

And yes, so interesting that so many of us share similar interests. It does annoy me when knitting in particular is used as shorthand insult for being a boring elderly woman. Obviously handcrafts don't appeal to everyone, but like baking, cooking and gardening, during lockdown lots of people turned to creative activities. It's not just about the end result; there's something about the process that feels rewarding in itself.

I've managed to get The Button Box from the library, although at best I can cobble together the most basic of repairs.

Finished two Poirots:
Murder on the Links and One Two, Buckle My Shoe. Not classic Christie - I wanted all suspects to be summoned to the drawing room so that the solution could be elucidated, which doesn't quite happen.

Then No One Around Here Reads Tolstoy, by Mark Hodkinson, which is a mixed bag. It's partly an account of becoming an enthusiastic reader in the face of no encouragement and outright suspicion by those around you - this part I really enjoyed. It's also about his experience of working class life in a Northern town from the 60s - it occasionally reminded me of Grace Dent's memoir, although she is a good decade younger. I was less interested in his passion for punk and independent music, including his time in a band and by his early career in local journalism. His account of attempting to run his own small publishing house was honest about the difficulties, including trying to surreptitiously offload remaindered stock. I do think that more ruthless editing would have improved the book, but overall it was worth the read.

Interesting how many of us have seamstresses in the family - I guess it was a very common trade for women back in the day. My Nan was apprenticed as a seamstress when she left school age 14 though she had to leave after a few months as she fell pregnant.

(She did then have a nice sideline selling jewellery made from buttons as well as cloth scrap dollies during WW2 - she got the buttons on the side from a 'nice young chap' who came to the Lyons where she worked)