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?

@FortunaMajor thanks for the Woman's Prize reviews. I'd like to read the longlist but due to being too tight to buy full price will inevitably be some pace behind. I've seen a lot of love for The Paper Palace on social, so will be interested to judge that.

@GrannieMainland you may like the book I've just finished The Heron's Cry by Anne Cleeves as it fits nicely into your great micro genre. It's just a who dunnit but I do think she does those better than most authors and as I was reading it, I was thinking how well she evokes the weather in her books, in this case a heatwave.

And on weather related books, now feels the perfect time to start Spring by Ali Smith.

Stokey I'm a member of multiple libraries around the country and have managed to find the full set between them all. Some I'm in waiting lists for, the timing isn't horrendous. 7 of the 16 I've found as audiobooks, the ready as ebooks.

A lot of libraries will let you sign up for their Borrowbox service even if you aren't a resident. I abuse friends and fam around the country who don't use the library, but now have membership so I can use it.

I'm on track to read the full longlist within the next few weeks and it hasn't cost me a bean.

Good tip @FortunaMajor. I need to reactivate my library membership and will definitely look at Borrow Box.

GrannieMainland I also love books set in heatwaves. NW by Zadie Smith is a good one in that vein - it really captures the feeling of London when it's just too hot.

Janina Your review of The Instant is the first I've seen and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. The cover looks beautiful! Your review made me even more keen to get to it. I saw The Outrun in the library a couple of weeks ago and picked it up for a reread before I get to The Instant.

24. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling This is where the series goes up a gear. A great big brick of a book, and I love it all 😄 I remember the feeling I had starting on page 1 of my brand-new hardback just after it came out, knowing I had so much new story to get through! It’s been a while since I re-read this one, and I’m glad I went back to it, especially after a couple of years of being subjected to the films on repeat (the DDs are huge fans) - the films missed out so much of the good stuff!

1. My name is why - Lemn Sissay

Born of an Ethiopian mother and unknown father in 1960s England, Lemn is immediately taken into care and this is his autobiography. His journey through foster families and care homes is extremely depressing. I'm so sorry this poor boy went through so much. I can't say I enjoyed this at all but am glad I read it. Stories like these need to be told.

I'm another fan of heatwave books - I'm laughing that there are a few of us (and making notes on the books you all suggest).

I liked Complicit by Nicci French which is another heatwave/hot summer book.

Ha! Apparently it's a thing!

www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/june/fiction-heatwaves-summer-books.html

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/04/atonement-call-me-by-your-name-summer-inspired-literature

@Stokey funnily enough you are the second person to recommend Ann Cleves to me recently! I must try one of hers.

17. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. Much reviewed. I loved it! It's a lyrical novel that follows two young black people falling in love in South East London against a backdrop of societal and police racism. It's also a real celebration of black art and music. It lost a bit of clarity towards the end, but overall I thought it was beautifully written and really captured that early 20s excitement of being in the city and in love for the first time.

@GrannieMainland I've just realised I actually read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox a few years ago and liked it, but I didn't realise it was by Maggie O'Farrell. Definitely going to read some of her others.

I have a lovely problem 🤣 I can't decide what to read next! I usually read on my Kindle In bed but tonight I have the evening free and want to start a new proper book with a very cold glass of wine and can't decide what to read!

In my TBR I 've got...
Mr loverman
The new Yorkshire shepherdess one
Nicci french can't remember name but about the woman accused of murder
The midnight library
The secret garden

There the ones I can think of the top of my head save me going upstairs. Any recommendations??

14. Under a Pole Star by Steff Penney

Tells the parallel stories of Arctic explorers Flora Mackie, daughter of a Scottish whaling captain and Jacob de Beyn, American geologist with a difficult childhood. They both end up in the extreme North in the 1890s where they meet.

A brilliant book with lots of period detail and detailed characters and landscapes. Also, some rather enjoyable sex scenes with restrained use of the more coarse terms (which I always find rather unlikely).

Highly recommended.

14. Red Shift - Alan Garner Tom & Jan are a teenage couple, separated by Jan's nursing course. Tom & Margery are a young married couple living in rural Cheshire during the civil war. Macey is a young Roman soldier of the last remnants of the ninth legion. The 3 time periods are linked by a hill in Cheshire, an ancient axe head and mental illness in the 3 male protagonists who are all subject to visions and moments of complete lack of control over their emotions and actions.

I seem to be on a roll with re-reads from my childhood at the moment. This is a strange book but utterly compelling, even now on my 1000th re-read.

19. The Explosive Child - Ross W. Greene

Approach to parenting chronically inflexibly children, based on collaborative problem solving rather than imposing your will. I can see this being very helpful with DD (who is currently being assessed for ASD), because the more pressure you put on her to do something, the more she avoids the demand. I've had a bit of a rough week because we decided to withdraw her from the school she was attending (she was running away into the street, and the school were being very inflexible - I don't think they've read this book...) and now trying to keep her learning ticking over while we find a new place for her.

My neighbour recommended that one a few years ago @LadybirdDaphne . Her son turned out to have PDA.
Hope you can find the right setting for your DD.

66. The Widow by K L Slater

Kate has to work out how well she really knew her husband when he becomes prime suspect in the disappearance of a local woman. Standard psychological thriller, fine but nothing special.

67. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

25 year old black woman Queenie navigates men, friends and work. I did like the character of Queenie, but I did find her self absorbed and the rather graphic sex scenes didn’t appeal to me - but then I’m not really the target age group!

68. The Last Landlady: An English Memoir by Laura Thompson

The author’s memories of staying at the pub run by her grandmother in the 1970s. I enjoyed the social history bits about the history of pubs, but the memoir parts jumped around too much.

69. The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen

Augusta is a twin, but whereas Julia fits in well Augusta thinks about things differently and doesn’t fit in so easily. When a tragedy happens Augusta needs to work out what will really make her happy. Interspersed with Augusta’s story is Parfait’s story, who is a refugee from Burundi. I enjoyed this even if the ending was rather predictable.

15. A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson

Found on the website recommended by Fortuna about trip fiction. Finished this morning before I fly to Lisbon this afternoon

The book is set over two timelines, one in the second world war and the other is a1990s police procedural. The two storylines start to converge and I didn't pick up many clues about what would happen as I have a terrible memory and didn't notice some of the same names cropping up.... I liked the book but not enough to seek out others by the same author.

There's some pretty distasteful elements to the storyline but it's not glorified and I suspect most police will have investigated same/worse.

15. The Searcher: Tana French

I finished reading 'The Dublin Murder Squad' series a while ago which I loved, so I have had this on my reading list and have been looking forward to reading it, saving it for a long weekend :)

Cal has retired from the police force in Chicago and is tired, fed up and burnt out. His marriage is over too and he needs time and space to process everything. He comes to live in a small village in the west of Ireland and moves into a dilapidated cottage. An affable man, he soon settles into the community. He strikes up a friendship with a young teen who asks him to look for his older brother who disappeared suddenly a few months ago. Once Cal starts to investigate, the community reveals its darker side and he soon realises that if he continues to investigate this young man's disappearance, his own life will be in danger.

I liked this book very much. It is calm, unhurried and reflective. It is not action-packed. The crime has already occurred. It is up to Cal to figure it out. and there are no big surprises.

The friendship between Cal and Trey is the focus of the story and the interaction between Cal and the locals is an integral part of the book. The characterisation is very good. French gives an excellent account of what it is like as an outsider to try and join a small rural community. The portrait of a small Irish village is accurate and well drawn, the story-telling is accomplished; it really drew me in. It is a slow burn, however. I could see how readers could lose patience with it if they are looking for something livelier. Overall, a very satisfactory read: 4 stars.

That sounds stressful LadybirdDaphne. I hope you find a better place for her.

@Tarahumara

That sounds stressful LadybirdDaphne. I hope you find a better place for her.

Yes, LadybirdDaphne. Thinking of you and her.

LadybirdDaphne hope the situation is resolved soon.

17. The Women of Troy - Pat Barker

LadybirdDaphne wrote a fine review a couple of days ago, after with all of it - not much more to add except the story seemed to fizzle out with the girls separating and being taken to their respective new homes. I enjoyed this (and The Silence of the Girls) but not as much as A Thousand Ships.

*agree, not after. Stupid Autocorrect

That sounds extremely stressful ladybirdDaphne

Enjoy Lisbon RazorstormUnicorn.
One of my favourite places ever.

LadybirdDaphne good luck.

Ellie Griffiths- The Locked Room

Latest in the Dr Ruth Galloway series. I love this series, love the characters especially Ruth herself. Some are better than others though and sometimes the story feels contrived and just a vehicle to get Ruth and Nelson alone together.
The detecting in this took a back seat to the early days of the pandemic. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about reading a book set during lock down but it seems such a long time ago (two years yesterday) that we were sent home from the office.
In fact I loved this and didn’t want to finish it.