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?

Viking, that list is amazing! I'm obsessed by IOT but find it hard(ish) to navigate the many options. I've now got a long long list of things to listen to.

Viking I agree! That list is brilliant so thank you. I've bookmarked it to look through properly but even flicking through I've noticed quite a few episodes I'm going to listen to. I love IOT and am always trying to get people to listen to it. The year without a summer episode was voted by listeners into the top ten best episodes: the other 9 are a good starting point especially the episode called P v NP which is mind bending

eitak

Looking forward to browsing the IOT list, thanks for posting.

My latest read was A Will to Kill by RV Raman , a very decent contemporary locked-room country house mystery, with the country house located in misty Indian hills, with trains, landslides and even a suit of armour. A good, escapist read.

23. Angels by Marian Keyes Third of the Walsh sister books, featuring Maggie (the 'good' sister). I didn't enjoy this as much as Rachel's Holiday & in fact nearly gave up about half way through. It felt like there was a lot of predictable/ stereotyped characters (and we got more of Mammy Walsh's prejudice against lesbians). The second half picked up though, with the underlying reasons behind Maggie's actions explained.

26: Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

Cassandre's excellent review above reminded me that I'd bought this when it was 99p recently, and that I also heard a rave review of it on Radio 4's A Good Read. It is indeed very brief - a long short story, really - but packs a significant punch and lingers in the thoughts long after you’ve finished reading. I also loved the skill with which Claire Keegan evoked the setting, a small, everyday Irish town that seemed suspended in time. Although it takes place in the 1980s, this could almost have been a century or two centuries earlier (bar the motor traffic and televisions). Definitely worth a read.

I fell off the thread and have had nothing to update for absolutely ages now, after a fairly strong start in Jan and Feb!

I HAVE been reading, but very very slowly making my way through my latest. It’s no reflection on the book itself, which was excellent, but more on me and how I struggle with non-fiction. I only seem to be able to read/ take it in in very short bursts and therefore it always slows me down.

Anyway, I’ve now finished and definitely recommend 15. The Sleeping Beauties - Suzanne O’Sullivan . The author is a leading neurologist and this is an exploration of the phenomenon of psychosomatic disorders, mass hysteria and other culture-bound syndromes or so called ‘mystery illnesses’ around the world. It’s an absolutely fascinating look at how illness can be the result of living in a particular place, time and culture. I’m pretty sure I was guilty of thinking of psychosomatic illnesses as being ‘not really real’ before and this book definitely taught me a lot. It was maddening and frustrating at times too, particularly from a feminist perspective where we see that these illnesses are often taken more seriously and seen as having a more tangible, physical cause when in adults and especially men, but dismissed as ‘hysteria’ when they happen in the young and especially women.

Really fascinating, but I better move onto some fiction to get my numbers up now

Cassandre and Terpsichore I'm so glad you liked Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Please do also try Foster which I like even more. (Apologies to long-term 50 Bookers who may recall that I have been banging on about Foster for some years.)

And many thanks to Viking for the link.

Thank you from me too Viking for the link - I love In Our Time but definitely find myself scrolling through the episodes and almost choosing at random. I often default to the Eleanor of Aquitaine one when my mind is a bit frazzled at bedtime, I’ve heard it so many times that I don’t mind falling asleep half way through.

15. Dogs of War - Adrian Tchaikovsky Rex is a bioform dog soldier. As far as I can make out this means he is a dog but with enhanced size & strength and also has some human attributes like hands and the ability to reason and speak. He also has some internal hardware, databases & comms and stuff. This makes him a terrifyingly efficient soldier, along with his squad Honey (a bear), Dragon (scary reptile thing) and Bees (a swarm of bees). Rex wants nothing more than to be a Good Dog. His only real desire is to obey his Master, who turns out to be a bad man, which Rex learns by degrees with the careful coaching of Honey, who has superior intelligence.

This isn't really my kind of thing, I read it on the recommendation of DH, who loves this kind of stuff. I thought the parts narrated by Rex were excellent, he perfectly captured the mind of a dog (or what I imagine the mind of a dog is like), but the parts dealing with the humans and the ethics of owning a reasoning entity were less well done and didn't really work for me. Above all, I like a book to be written beautifully. The Rex part worked in this, the humans not so much.

Have spent the last few weeks unable to focus on any reading other than for work purposes or newspapers.
This is very unlike me.
However, I enjoyed The Outrun by Amy Liptrot a few years ago and thought I would try The Instant.
In The Instant she goes to live in Berlin (looking for love and raccoons). She is variously successful.
I enjoy Liptrot's eye for detail and her searing honesty ( although given what we're seeing in the news at the moment she can seem self-indulgent and self obsessed.)
For me the real love interest of the book is Berlin itself and its smells, sounds and the life evident in the descriptions of the places she lives and frequents. The club scenes are particularly good.
I would recommend it - although you might find yourself losing patience with her at times as she lets herself be emotionally manipulated by her German lover.

@Cherrypi

7. The instant by Amy Liptrot A woman move to Berlin and details her life and loves there including her social media use and nature.

I loved this book. I read it on Libby but may buy a copy with some Waterstones vouchers as it's a beautiful book inside and out. It was interesting to read a book where the internet was included. It made me want to go to Berlin.

I'm currently reading hidden figures for book club which is definitely a rare case of the film being better than the book.

Can anyone recommend anything similar to Amy Liptrot to get me out of my reading slump? Thanks

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie (non fiction) The siege by Helen Dunmore (fiction) If you like Amy Liptrot (I do) I think you may enjoy these (same sense of detail and honest observations?)

A comfort-listening podcast to fall asleep to is genius Alias , I need to find myself one.

CornishBlues I sometimes need to trick my brain that I’m not really trying to go to sleep, podcasts often do the trick. I like Dead to Me too, though sometimes it’s a bit loud and doesn’t work. In Our Time is great but often so interesting I have to listen to ones I’ve already heard otherwise I get annoyed that I missed the end!

That's interesting that you've struggled with The Five remus, I have it on tbr but haven't gotten round to it yet. I also enjoyed Lady Worsley's Whim by her, which I believe has been re-printed as The Scandalous Lady W after the tv adaptation. Which I also haven't watched but may try to get to sometime

Sadik - I thought Angels was really weak. I felt Keyes was struggling to understand a character she had observed so well from the outside.

You read my mind, boiledegg, I’ve already reserved Foster from the library!

Also chiming in to endorse In Our Time as a good listen; I’m another who often resorts to it on sleepless nights (and then has to catch up because I’ve dropped off and missed interesting bits). I’d heard the one about the year without a summer and it was fascinating. The fact that Frankenstein might never have been written, if not for the climate impacts of the eruption of Tambora (ie solid rain while the Shelleys, Byron & co were holed up in Villa Diodati) is something to ponder...! But there are so many good editions to choose, and lots of literary ones.

@Cornishblues

eitak

Looking forward to browsing the IOT list, thanks for posting.

My latest read was A Will to Kill by RV Raman , a very decent contemporary locked-room country house mystery, with the country house located in misty Indian hills, with trains, landslides and even a suit of armour. A good, escapist read.

I like the idea of an Indian locked-room country house mystery! Will give this a go.

11. Tai-Pan by James Clavell

This was beautifully written, gigantic in scope, intelligent, witty, and profound. It was everything I like in historical fiction, much like the author's previous book Shogun.

It is the story of British Hong Kong's early days, centering the head of the largest British trading house doing business with China, and focusing on the political power plays, personal, commercial, and military decisions that paved the way. All of the 30-odd characters are meticulously drawn, their personalities, motivations and even humour recognizable to the reader. Cultural and often irreconcilable differences between British people and their Chinese friends, opponents, and concubines are portrayed in stark relief. The story is engaging and the prose is beautiful.

I enjoyed every one of this book's 732 pages. Highly recommended.

I fall asleep holding my kindle most nights!

17. The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare. This is the story of Adunni, who is 14 and devastated by her mother's death. She wants to finish school, but her father marries her off to an older man. Will she have the opportunity to pursue her dreams? Adunni is an appealing character and I enjoyed this a lot.

Thank you @Gingerwarthog. I will take a look

I read Shogun what feels like a hundred years ago but remember loving it. Had no idea there were other books in the same vein. Thanks for the review Cote

nowanearly - It even has a sequel called Noble House

According to my Kindle there are 7 books in The Asian Saga by James Clavell. Gai-Jin, the third in the series is 99p at the moment.

I've also added the Indian locked house mystery.

I've just finished Spring by Ali Smith. This is the third in her seasonal quartet and I've been reading them through the year. This was a slow burner for me. I've been working crazy hours and it was a real book rather than on Kindle so I couldn't read it in my sleepless 6am stints. But I ended up really enjoying it. Its weird how the Brexit time already feels a bit dated in some ways, but other parts of the book dealing with refugees and detention centres are just as relevant now. I loved the scenery in the Highlands, and the way she has different artists in the background of each book. I do think the series is a great accomplishment.