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?

More Discworld from me.

21. Jingo
    The sudden emergence of an island causes a dispute between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and circumstances lead Sam Vimes and the rest of the Watch to take action. An interesting look at nationalism and politics with all the usual humour.

22. The Last Continent
    Rincewind is lost in a country similar to Australia and the wizards end up stranded on a mysterious island. Not one of the best but it has some good moments and some silly fun.

23. Carpe Jugulum
    Granny Weatherwax has a crisis of confidence, a family of vampires move into Lancre and it's up to Nanny Ogg, Agnes and Magrat to try to save their country. Again it's not one of the best, the vampires are a little flat as villains and the plot felt a bit stretched, but there's enough good in it and enough witchiness to make it worth reading.

24. The Fifth Elephant
    Sam Vimes is set on a diplomatic mission to Uberwald, a country mostly populated by dwarfs, werewolves and vampires, where he discovers that a recent crime is threatening the country's political stability. It's an absorbing story and one of the darker Discworld books.

25. The Truth
    Movable type comes to Ankh Morpork and the first newspaper is published. When the Patrician is accused of a crime reporters try to uncover the truth. A very enjoyable read with some good characters.

Thanks for all the replies re the Marple books. LadybirdDaphne hope you find a better and more understanding setting for your DD, good luck to you x

Good luck LadybirdDaphne .

Love Marriage by Monica Ali I enjoyed this but perhaps not quite as much as I’d hoped to given my high expectations. A seemingly golden newly engaged couple bring their families together for the first time, and we watch this meeting and how the next few months unfold. We also see the dynamics within the 2 families and between family members and other characters.

It’s a really good, eventful read with lots of interest and strong characters. I always wanted to read on. Lots of interesting things to say about families, relationships, fidelity, social media, working in the NHS. I read Brick Lane at least 15 years ago and it’s the father character that’s really stayed with me - here too I found the dad and his relationship with his wife and children was probably the most interesting element of the book.

From all the hype, I had high expectations that weren’t always met. The prose though easy to read isn’t exciting. I also felt that it was sometimes hard to relate to/believe in as so many characters’ stories were quite extreme - the ageing feminist character had gone to the lengths of having images of her genitalia published - and there were lots of themes and storylines, some of which were developed and some weren’t, at the expense sometimes of looking at other interesting threads in depth. One character is in therapy for example, and the sessions could have been juicy enough in themselves, but the therapist starts looking like becoming a new plot line.

So a good read but I didn’t find it great, interested to know what others are thinking of it.

24: Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton

Nobody writes quite like Patrick Hamilton. I was riveted by this and had to keep reading to get to the conclusion, although I knew it wouldn’t be happy. His world is one of seedy small hotels and furnished rooms, grimy London streets and, above all, pubs - an epic amount of drinking takes place in all his books, and especially in this one, as big, innocent, ungainly George Harvey Bone is in thrall to the beautiful, vicious, heartless and utterly amoral Netta Longden.

Hamilton is merciless in chronicling George’s abasement, and Netta's exploitation of him, to the point where you can hardly bear to keep reading, but it’s so brilliantly done that you just can’t stop. Dark and compelling - another highlight for the list.

Thanks for the kind wishes everyone - she's been through a lot of changes in the past couple of years (covid lockdowns and move to a new country), on top of possible ASD, and is only 5, so hopefully things will settle down over time.

Sorry to hear she's struggling Ladybird I found The Explosive Child really helpful when my dd (later diagnosed with ASD) was small. I think the single most useful message to me, even more than the tips and techniques is how horrible it is to feel the way that children do when they are 'having a tantrum' (aka autistic meltdown) and that no child 'chooses' to feel this way.

(Indeed I can't remember if it's a direct message in the book but it's been a great help to me in my wider life to recall that people in general are social animals who innately want to get along with each other, and that there's generally an underlying reason when this breaks down)

22. The Naked Don't Fear the Water - A Journey Through the Refugee Underground by Matthieu Aikens

Aikens worked as a journalist based in Afghanistan from 2008 up until 2016, becoming fluent in Dari and making many friends there. His looks (one of his parents is Canadian Japanese) meant that he was often mistaken for an Afghani, and he began to use this to his advantage in his work.

In 2016 with the increasing chaos in the country a close friend of his, known as Omar in the book, decided to flee Afghanistan and attempt to reach Europe via the refugee trail. Aikens wanted to go along, undercover posing as a fellow refugee to report on the journey & (with some reluctance) his friend agreed. This book tells the story of their journey together, and the people they meet on the way who are fleeing war or economic chaos in a number of countries.

I was conflicted about this book initially, obviously there are lots of difficult moral questions about the role Aikens takes, knowing that he can (in most cases - there are definitely times when he could have got himself in serious trouble) always reveal his true nationality / identity and walk away, whereas Omar has no such choice.

However, Aikins does genuinely acknowledge this and I think uses it to really help illuminate the stark realities of the way in which the dice roll of birth nationality divides people's fates. And there is perhaps a strength in it being told by a journalist who makes it more than about just an individual journey, setting their experiences in the wider context and telling a wider story about migration today. Overall my best read of the year so far.

This was another book from Fitzcarraldo editions, they're rather beautiful paperbacks. Remus I know you have an interest in Berlin / Germany, one of their recent books The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell might appeal (I haven't read it yet, just the blurb, but it looks like it could be good)

1. Life after Life – Kate Atkinson

This was one of those great books where I was very reluctant to put it down and couldn't wait to pick it up again. The premise of 'what would happen if our life took a different path' was brilliantly executed and whilst several scenes were covered several times they never felt redundant, always bringing something new to the story. Loved it. Felt pretty awful reading about the Blitz and the bombs raining down whilst watching the news from Ukraine.

Logging on to my local library I was disappointed to discover I have now read everything they have by Kate Atkinson (I'm in France). Behind the scenes at the museum which I did NOT enjoy, Transcription which I did and now this which I loved.

@Welshwabbit

I find certain chunks of all of Virginia Woolf's writings to be examples of the finest, most beautiful, utterly perfect, pieces of prose ever written.
Despite having to teach Mrs. Dalloway every year I have never read it from start to finish. This is, I hasten to add in my defence, an indictment of the Italian education system (as much as of me personally!) which has us teach almost every "famous" writer ever, in an obviously very superficial way. Maybe this will be the year I do it.

@Terpsichore, I also love the sound of the Button Box, despite being the person who buys a new shirt if one drops off as am more likely to sew my own finger to the cloth and the button to my forehead. The nursery school mothers probably still tut when they see me as it was common knowledge that when dd aged 3 had to be "a piece of cake" in the end of year show, it was dp who sat sewing and not me. My own mother was a huge sewer and all my clothes were handmade from patterns bought in John Lewis as a child.

Both grans also had button boxes and my 90 year old mother in law still has one of those amazing black Singers with the treadle. She uses it every day. (Down here there is very much a big group of elderly (by now) women who once married (and thus obviously no longer working outside the home, took in sewing, and still do. Terp's cabinet photo reminds me of the haberdashery store I was taken to on far too many afternoons as a child (it had drawers for gloves and hankies)
I was sent "up the street" to "Aunty Marjorie" to be taught how to knit, and can still remember the two "toy" balls of wool, one fluorescent pink, the other lime green (it was the early 70s dear reader) I think we made scarves for my Sindy dolls.

@Palegreenstars (and @SapatSea) I love everything by RF Delderfield and would recommend all his books to everyone. I read The Dreaming Suburb I think 2 years ago- for some reason it had escaped me when I read the others as a teen (following TV dramatisations usually) I was musing on the magnificent TV dramas from the 70s and 80s recently, and have, as a result, a massive list on Britbox and Iplayer to get through.

@Piggywaspushed I loved Rejoice Rejoice! and read it very quickly iirc. I have another on my tbr pile, same premise, called Bang! by Graham Stewart but haven't managed to get into it for some reason. I didn't realise there were more Alwyn Turner books. Have added them to wishlist, Dr. Who and all.

@stokey- I also recommend Sharon Penman for Eleanor of Aquitaine. A lot of her books revolve around Eleanor even if they aren't specifically Eleanor-esque iyswim. (I learned far more about E, for example, from When Christ And His Saints Slept - ostensibly about Stephen and Mauds various than I have in books actually about Eleanor. @noodlezoodle, I gave up on Lionheart too. I'm not averse to the odd battle, but I do need a frock and a bit of conversation every so often.

@Plantsandpuddlesuits- I really like the Yorkshire Shepherdess books (and I almost hate myself for it, as I know she's a bit of a media construct, but if I remove my image of her in her frocks and her make up and just immerse myself in the land and the sheep, I love her!)

I am about halfway through Great Circle (I think it's Fortuna also reading it?) and love the Marian Graves timeline (which has made me move my rereads of Antoine de Saint-Exupery further up the pile) and want to fucking kick the stupid fucking trope-galore badly written modern day actress timeline to fucking kingdom come. And breathe.

Heatwave and summer books- (and I speak as a resolutely wintery person) my absolute favourite is Don't Tell Me Why by Tania Kindersley. Set in London around the Notting Hill carnival, and billed a bit chick-lit-y but it so isn't. TK writes beautifully and I'm only said she didn't write more. If I remember correctly she was a journalist (possibly for Cosmopolitan in the early 90s) It's chick lit in the sense it came out on the wave of Bridgets and Marian Keys, Jane Green, Lisa Jewell etc, but it's definitely more lit than chick.

@LadybirdDaphne to you and dd, may you come out of it all soonest.

Ha, yes just skip past the sci fi stuff!

35. Dinosaur in a Haystack - Stephen J Gould
His seventh book of collected essays (in a vague project, I’m re-reading them) about evolution and the history of science; it’s the mid-90s, so topics include ‘Jurassic Park’, when the 21st century starts, early DNA sequencing. Wide-ranging, entertaining and humane.

36. Candide - Voltaire
Another of my vague projects is reading 18th literature. This short satire of the philosophy of ‘All’s for the best, in the best of all possible worlds’ is a gleeful tale of all the misfortunes that befall the ever-optimistic Candide and his friends; the worst misfortune, short of dying, is surely having one of your buttocks eaten during a siege.

@Sadik

This was another book from Fitzcarraldo editions, they're rather beautiful paperbacks. Remus I know you have an interest in Berlin / Germany, one of their recent books The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell might appeal (I haven't read it yet, just the blurb, but it looks like it could be good)

Thanks, Sadik.

Sol completely agree on Great Circle, the two storylines don't belong in the same book. I don't think the modern Hollywood part adds anything.

Daphne hope you manage to get things sorted for your daughter.

@FortunaMajor

Sol completely agree on Great Circle, the two storylines don't belong in the same book. I don't think the modern Hollywood part adds anything.

Daphne hope you manage to get things sorted for your daughter.

I've abandoned it. I ploughed through a bit more this afternoon then realized that despite reading it for a solid week I'm only 22% through it. Checked Goodreads and there are lots of DNF reviews.

The Tanya Kindersley book I recommended earlier is called Goodbye Johnny Thunders not Don't Ask Me Why.

Don't ask me why (fnar) I said it was.

18. Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

This seemed a good follow-up to Mrs Dalloway, featuring, as it does, Virginia Woolf. Wade writes about five women who lived on Mecklenburgh Square, which hosted a startling number of the Bloomsbury set, during and between the wars. She covers, in order, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), a poet, novelist and memoirist; Dorothy L. Sayers, the detective novelist (and author of many plays); Jane Harrison, a classicist; Eileen Power, an economic historian and Virginia Woolf (you probably know who she was). Of those, I was familiar only with Sayers and Woolf, but learned many new things about both. The lives of the other women were all interesting and unconventional for the time (many of them would be unconventional now!). I enjoyed both learning about them and reading about an area of London with which I am fairly familiar in its modern day guise. Wade manages to convey the excitement and novelty these women must have felt in ploughing their different furrows, whilst also examining the struggles they faced along the way. I think I would have found several of them quite annoying, but I would love to have met Sayers and Power.

@SOLINVICTUS I looked up Don't Ask Me Why and bought a used copy because the blurb sounded right up my street! If I like it I might buy Goodbye Johnny Thunders as well!

[quote Welshwabbit]**@SOLINVICTUS* I looked up Don't* Ask Me Why and bought a used copy because the blurb sounded right up my street! If I like it I might buy Goodbye Johnny Thunders as well![/quote]
Oh, it's good, it's just not the Notting Hill heatwave one

@SOLINVICTUS

The Tanya Kindersley book I recommended earlier is called Goodbye Johnny Thunders not Don't Ask Me Why.

Don't ask me why (fnar) I said it was.

SOLV I love Tania Kindersley's writing so I've just ordered a used copy of this, thank you!

10 :Where the grass is green by Lauren weisberger
Apologies for lack of capitals ! Also have just realised the title is from a guns n roses song
Really enjoyed this from the author of 'devil wears prada' wasn't expecting much from it and it was just one I kind of added to my pile in the library but it was great - really readable, very glamorous New York but also a big serving of cynicism . Plot was about the American college admissions scandal and the impact this had on two families. I've listened to a few podcasts about the college admissions fixing so was already quite interested in this topic but I hadn't realised this was the plot till I started reading it. The main characters should have been totally awful but I found myself rooting for them all.

@LadybirdDaphne DTS1 (6) has ASD and coincidentally, has been really awful this weekend usually he's a bright, sparky little boy with loads of energy but the past couple of days... aarrggghhh. There's been no calming him down, his attention span's terrible and he can't get to sleep. I'm hoping that being back in his school routine will help!

There were a couple of books which helped me - written about DC with more severe autism than mine, but still, useful tips:

Jo Worgan - My Life with Tom, Living with Autism
Jo writes a lot for autism blogs/ magazines, there's this book and one about her son Tom when he was younger. I liked both of them, they were written in a helpful, chatty style and gave lots of tips about making life a bit easier.

Alice Boardman - Toast: Autism in the early years
Especially relevant for DTS1 who is such a beige eater!! The title is about the author's DC who has autism and was a very picky eater, and again, more strategies for coping.

to you as it can be very, very hard work!

@ABookWyrm I think Jingo is one of my favourite Pratchetts! I'm re-reading a lot of them at the moment as with everything that's going on IRL, I want a bit of escapism when I read, not more doom and gloom. So Pratchett, cookery books and Georgette Heyer are the order of the day

Thanks Clara, I will look into those recommendations. DD has been pretty unsettled the last few days, it must be very strange for her suddenly being taken out of school (but it wasn't safe for her there and my mental health really couldn't cope with the school's blame-the-parents, she-clearly-has-no-boundaries-at-home attitude )

@YolandiFuckinVisser

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.

This sounds really fascinating. I didn't read it as a child; do you think it works if you come to it first time as an adult?

SOL and others, I agree about Great Circle and the modern-day actress timeline. I kept waiting for it to really embed into the other story,
and/or for her to really change something or discover something or do something interesting, but it just doesn't quite happen. I did finish the book, and I'm glad I've read it, but th
at really weakened it for me.