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?

Remus So nice to hear of another Mary Stewart fan! I think she's due a revival.

@MaudOfTheMarches

Remus So nice to hear of another Mary Stewart fan! I think she's due a revival.

100% thought you meant Mary Queen of Scits 😂.

Scots*

Scits!!!!

I'd never heard of Mary S until MN tbh, so I've gone one of the 50 bookers to thank.

100% thought you meant Mary Queen of Scits Her too!

Tbf, there'd be no shame in being a Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots) fan either! Poor woman

10. Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Salad

This book is 28 days of looking at how I uphold white supremacist structures. I've been reading it with a book club at work over 28 weeks or so.

I would only recommend reading it this way, I'm not sure one would get much out of picking it up and reading it cover to cover. I certainly needed people on hand to discuss the issues with. We've talked about white silence, tokensim and white saviourism. The author suggests it's difficult work and it is. I live in a white middle class bubble where I thought racism was basically a thing of the past until George Floyd was killed and I started learning.

I've got more work to do. My reading is becoming more diverse, and it's easy to find TV shows but my music taste is 100% white. And of course, it's not just about that, it's about workplaces and black people still being followed by security guards in shops and learning that questioning where someone is from is a micro aggression. Thats not intended to be an exhaustive list! But I will start by having my eyes open to what's actually going on.

Thanks for the new thread southeast

Haven't been reading or posting much. Very busy with work. Such a bind when work gets in the way of reading!

1. Unorthodox – Deborah Feldman
2. Me - Elton John
3. Pies and prejudice – Stuart Maconie
4. Winter – Ali Smith

Currently listening to How to build a girl by Caitlin Moran, as well as reading The land where lemons grow by Helena Attlee on my kindle and still enjoying The Handmaid's Tale too.

Great review of The Finkler Question @TheTurn0fTheScrew. It's one of the few recent Booker winners I haven't read as of sounded so unappealing. Nice to have my decision confirmed!

Howard Jacobson is a funny one. I really rate his writing, but he seems to take pride in being an reconstructed "man's man". That's not a compliment. The only book of his I've enjoyed was The Mighty Wurlitzer, but that was largely about small boys so a bit of willy-waving was to be expected.

1. The Paying Guests Sarah Waters. Post WW2 a wealthy widow and her daughter take on a young married couple as lodgers. The excitement of a young ‘clerk class’ couple changes everything for the landladies.

This was my second by the author and I think I had vaguely similar thoughts on the first Fingersmith that the first half was really excellent but I struggled with the resolution / the two parts read like two separate books.

This book was full of longing and unspoken drama in the first half, the second half was (if I’m completely honest) a slightly boring police procedural. Gutted as I thought it would be in my top books of the year and ended up skimming the last 200 pages.

11. Vaxxers: the inside story of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the race against the virus by Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green. This was well worth a read, with a nice mix of scientific explanation and personal narrative about how vaccines work and how this vaccine was developed and tested. I feel rather sad for the authors, who worked so hard to develop a great vaccine which has ended up (although this isn't really covered in the book, as it mainly happened after publication) being sidelined in favour of other vaccines for, as far as I can tell, largely political reasons. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60259302

15. The Organised Mind by Daniel J Levitin

Another random library pick - I'm really enjoying being able to go browse again :) The subtitle is "Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload" and I picked it up thinking it was going to be a self help style book about organising ones time and so forth.
Instead it's (ironically) a real mish-mash of stuff and wanders all over the place. Exploration as to how the brain works and processes information (these bits I found the most interesting and useful perhaps unsurprisingly as the author is a neuroscientist), historical examples (eg how filing systems developed over time) and the 'self help' bits which were, quite literally at the level of 'if you lose your keys regularly, have a place that you always keep them near to the front door'.

Overall I did really enjoy it, I learnt some useful things, and a few random irrelevant but entertaining bits of information (I didn't realise how many top basketball players were over 7 feet tall, for a start).

Sadik I think I remember reading that if you're over 7 foot tall and live in the US, there's a 20% chance that you're a professional basketball player!

Thanks for the advice on A Suitable Boy. I've decided to park it for now and come back to it again another time. It sounds well worth a read when I've got the headspace for it.

I decided to go for something easy and read a PG Wodehouse collection. It was mostly short stories. I wasn't that fussed on the non-Jeeves ones, but found all the What-Ho buffoonery a bit much in such a large dose.

Also read The Betrayal of Trust (Serrailler #6) - Susan Hill
A cold case reopens when a major storm causes a landslide and two women's bodies are found. One known to be a missing teenager and the other an unknown person. It also had a side story of assisted dying facilities which was really interesting to explore.

I usually say of this series that I'm not a fan of the characters and don't enjoy the books much, but can't seem to stop reading them. This one didn't grate in the same way and I actually quite liked it for a change.

I'm behind on my pledge to read a classic, one in every 10 so I've picked up Gogol's Dead Souls as the last stage on my tour of Russian greats.

12. Tinker, Taylor, Schoolmum, Spy by Faye Brann I chose this as it came up as a highly recommend by my library and I wanted something easy and light for a Butlins holiday. I wish I hadn't bothered. It was pretty rubbish despite the great Amazon reviews. I found it shallow, light on reality and with stereotypical characters. I don't find it funny, or engaging or suspenful I'm not sure what it was supposed to be. I'd have been better with a truly fluffy Katie Fforde.

Mine so far (am a bit behind)

1. The casual Vacancy - JK Rowling
2. No one is Talking About This -Patricia Lockwood
3. Hillsborough The Truth- Phil Scraton
4. How to Kill Your Family

5z Everything is Beautiful- Eleanor Ray

1. Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason
2. Again, Rachel - Marian Keyes

Literally just finished Again, Rachel last night. I’m not going to give much away, but I did enjoy enjoy it (though it was never going to live up entirely to Rachel’s Holiday for me).

I've spent the week reading
Flambards
The Edge of the Cloud
Flambards in Summer
Flambards Divided

all by K.M. Peyton.

I decided to try them after seeing that someone else was reading them on the previous thread.

Incredibly atmospheric and made me think of aspects of Edwardian life and the post-WWI era that I'd never before considered. I loved all the exquisite detail.

I feel rather sad for the authors, who worked so hard to develop a great vaccine which has ended up (although this isn't really covered in the book, as it mainly happened after publication) being sidelined in favour of other vaccines for, as far as I can tell, largely political reasons.

It really hasn't been sidelined. More people worldwide have been vaccinated with AZ than with any other vaccine. There are still billions worldwide who are still not vaccinated and they will be vaccinated with AZ and the other cheaper vaccines, not the mRNA vaccines. The west needs to take the expensive mRNA vaccines because we are the ones who can afford them (and by western terms they aren't expensive).

Yes, good point. I saw that graph in the article I linked to, so I agree it hasn't been sidelined internationally. It just seems a bit of a shame that people in the US and Europe think if it as a second rate vaccine.

Question: why do you say "the west needs to take the expensive mRNA vaccines"? I understand that was the case earlier in the vaccine programme, when supply was a massive problem. But at this stage, why does any country need to take any particular vaccine? Is there a reason we can't all just take the cheaper and still effective vaccines?

Hope it's not too late to join. So far this year I have read:

1. Looking for Fireworks by Holly Cavendish
   Was given this for Christmas by my Niece, I hadn't read for a few months and this was a nice easy read to get back in to reading.

2. The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult
   One of my favourite authors so was really looking forward to this, it was okay but not her best in my opinion.

3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
   Not something I would normally pick but I had read good reviews so thought I would give it a go and I really enjoyed it.

4. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
   Absolutely loved it, best book I've read in ages.

I'm currently reading Captain Tom's autobiography as wanted something non-fiction.

@PurgatoryOfPotholes

I've spent the week reading Flambards The Edge of the Cloud Flambards in Summer Flambards Divided

all by K.M. Peyton.

I decided to try them after seeing that someone else was reading them on the previous thread.

Incredibly atmospheric and made me think of aspects of Edwardian life and the post-WWI era that I'd never before considered. I loved all the exquisite detail.

Are these YA? I love the Edwardian era.

4. The Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed
Was a bit disappointed in this, given it has been nominated for a number of awards including Booker long list. Really interesting story about a Somali man wrongfully accused of the murder of a shopkeeper in Cardiff in 1950s. Based on a true story but fictionalised. The pacing in the book was rather off and seem to divert into random tangents at points. It felt a bit lumpy to get through, though I'd say the last 100 pages covering the court case/outcome/epilogue were a much better read. So it was a 3.5 from me, rounded down on Goodreads. I'd still recommend it if you are interested in the story and can get through books quicker than me!

Otherwise in the middle of The Highly Sensitive Child - Elaine N Aron and Atomic Habits - James Clear on audiobook. Plan to finish both this week before starting The Appeal - Janice Hallett which I've just picked up from the library.

8. After the Last Dance by Sarra Manning Dual timeline story Timeline 1 follows Rose during WW2 as she runs away from home in Durham to London with the sole intention of dancing at Rainbow Corner, a social club for American GI's which never closes its doors Timeline 2 follows Jane and Leo in modern times. Leo is Rose's great-nephew and Jane is his new, unlikely wife with a history of secrets

This was a re-read for me and is a story I really enjoy. It's very predictable and ties up very neatly but it's good for some comfort reading. Rainbow Corner was a real place and Manning did extensive research to make the historical sections as accurate as possible. It's a fascinating look into the lives of American GI's in Britain during the war

Just a possible trigger warning, there are references to both child sexual assault and adult sexual assault in the book