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?

I'm going to re-read The City and the City by China Miéville. I'm not sure what I can say about it that wasn't said in past years' threads, but it's become a firm favourite with me.

Forgot to say welcome to @mumto2teenagers, you'll love it in this little corner!

I definitely want to know more about shrieking Margery, she sounds amazing! @BadlydoneHelen

Hello everyone, i hope you won’t mind me joining in. There’s a lot of night-waking going on in our house at the moment and I cope a lot better with it if I’m reading rather than mindlessly scrolling the internet. I have a five month old who is getting every cold and virus going including covid and the nights are long. I need inspiration for my next read.

So far I have read:

1. The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal
2. Hamnet by Maggie O Farrell
3. All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle
4. Half the world Away by Mike Gayle
5. The Hope Family Calendar by Mike Gayle
6. The Man I used to know by Mike Gayle
7. The Danish Way of Parenting by Jessica Alexander
8. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
9. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

10. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

Next up I have Sorrow & Bliss by Meg Mason. I also have Know your Worth by Anna Mathur.

I’m not one to shy away from genuine literary reads but all I’ve had the brain power for this year is easy reading. I’d love something like the Cazelet books by Elizabeth Jane Howard to plough my way through. I’m a fan of Persephone books and loved most things by Dorothy Whipple. I have something by Noel Streatfield to read - Saplings I think? But I’m restricted by needing to use my kindle with a back light as I’m usually holding a sniffly baby and have a child under my other arm (current situation).

I’m also considering re-reading the whole Anne of Green Gables after enjoying Anne with an E on Netflix and being sad it ended. It was good cluster feeding TV!

Oh and the Mike Gayle phase came about after reading a
Newspaper article about him and realising that he lives round the corner and is someone I see walking his dog often!

@ExhaustedMumma I used to love Mike Gayle, but then I re-read some of his early ones and the characters really annoyed me are the later ones worth a read?

11. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

I'm always late to a trend, possibly a decade out this time! A friend has lent me the first three True Blood books and she's right, I do like reading about vampires and sex! However not impressed with the casual racism even taking into account it's set in the south of USA or the fact her brother expected her to 'get over' child abuse now her uncle was older! The whole discussion was over in practically two sentences and covered so superficially I was left reeling.

All that said, I did enjoy turning my brain off for a bit so I might perhaps read the second one. Or I might just watch the series.

@RazorstormUnicorn I would say so. I think his writing has improved over time. I loved All the Lonely People. It has a lot more to it that the others I read.

*than the others I read.

Wailing Margery

I had a Mike Gayle phase when my kids were small. It's a bit scary to think how long ago that was!

Thanks Exhaustedmama I will give him another try. Perhaps he and I are both getting older! I wonder how he views his early books now?

In the guardian article I read he said something like it felt like his first book was written by another person. He was very young when first published but is 50 or so now

Hi everyone

I'm doing ok with my reading though this month has been a bit slow, and I'm hoping to pick up pace again. But I am very behind with posting here, and am not doing too well with reviewing. Plus I need new reading glasses and probably a reading light (but I have very few unoccupied power points to plug such a thing in).

@elkiedee

Hi everyone

I'm doing ok with my reading though this month has been a bit slow, and I'm hoping to pick up pace again. But I am very behind with posting here, and am not doing too well with reviewing. Plus I need new reading glasses and probably a reading light (but I have very few unoccupied power points to plug such a thing in).

Have you tried those little battery ones that clip to your book?
They can be a bit heavy, and obviously a small and not massively strong light, but they do solve the power point issue.

Elk
My husband bought me a 'Serious Reader' lamp for Christmas 2021. Transformed things for me.

New thread and I join 188 posts in 😂

Foxglove Summer -Ben Aaronovitch
The fifth in the Rivers of London series and this one centres on two missing girls near Leominster and unicorns, enjoyed it right until the last bit when I felt it was rushed.

1979. - Val McDermid
Can’t add anything to the reviews, this was my first Val McDermid book and it was a bit meh. Is it worth reading others?

Again, Rachel - Marian Keyes
Don’t want to give any spoilers away but it felt so good to be back with the Walsh Family.

13. The Forensic Record Society - Magnus Mills

Not sure how this ended up on my TBR list. It was ok, not great. Set around a pub where two friends with a passion for vinyl decide to start a forensic records society for just listening to records, no comments or judgement. Things develop with schisms and rival societies, getting more surreal as the story progresses.

There was little character development and in fact I felt we knew nothing about the characters, no outside plot aside from the society business, and the story didn't resolve itself - but maybe that was the point. DH read this book too. He said it felt like a soap opera and the ending was unsatisfactory.

A library book, which is some consolation.

I also had a Mike Gayle phase a few years ago. I think he was doing a decent job of writing about being a decent, average, flawed man of a certain age, without tipping into laddishness.

14. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

Finally finished this. I have nothing intelligent to add to the reams that have already been written on this, so I will just say that I loved the knowingness and the dry humour. Hated Becky Sharp. I admired her resourcefulness, but she treated her husband and son disgracefully, mocked people behind their backs to curry favour
and just came across as someone I would stay very far away from in real life.

Hello @ExhaustedMumma. I read Georgette Heyer and Elinor Brent Dyer when I was cluster feeding! @SOLINVICTUS, that corridor sounds amazing! And do tell why you work at a boardijg school in the summer?!

17. Better Off Dead by Lee and Andrew Child. I'm sorry to say, but I think the Reacher books should have stopped about 5 episodes ago. This one is almost a parody. The sentences are short. The goodies are good. The baddies get smashed up. Reacher instantly can tell who to trust. Coffee and pie feature. A shame, because I really wanted it to be back on form! However, I did enjoy the Amazon TV series.

18. Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan. I loved this. I find SRB v v amusing, and this, based on the Fence comic by CS Pacat, was totally my thing. It's basically very funny slashy fanfic, of the very best kind. @Sadik, it might be right up your street (though it is YA). Loved it.

@FiveGoMadInDorset I recommended A Place Of Execution as Val McDermid's best upthread and I think a couple of people have since read and enjoyed it.

13. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

I decided that in order to give Pratchett a fair go, I needed to read three of his books. So after the (for me) somewhat disappointing Mort I tried this one, which was my husband's recommendation. Loved it! Found it much more funny and engaging. The subject matter (girls aren't allowed to be wizards: oh, here's a girl wizard) was right up my street and I really, really liked Granny Weatherwax. My favourite bit I think:

“She was opposed to books on strict moral grounds, since she had heard that many of them were written by dead people and therefore it stood to reason reading them would be as bad as necromancy.”

Anyway, I have now gone straight into The Thief of Time, which was recommended by a friend, so I shall see if I like that one too. And if I do then, Heaven forfend, I might have to read some more.

That looks very much my sort of thing Tanaqui - will definitely add it to the TBR (quite happy with YA)

@SOLINVICTUS your book corridor sounds amazing

I found my Flambards set of books while sorting out some old books, two sets but I think I have taken the second lot to the charity shop but will check @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

1. Blood Ties by A J Quinnell

A young man is reported dead while working on a boat in East Africa, and his mother leaves everything to go search for her son, believing in her heart that he is not dead.

This was a brilliant thriller - slow burning, humane, spiced with interesting characters and their stories. I thoroughly enjoyed it, like I did all of the author's previous books that I have read.

Recommended.

I think there's one of the characters from Mathew Kneale's Pilgrims based on Margery Kempe, isn't there? She generally annoys her fellow passengers by wailing, also telling them that her lover, the holy spirit, has decided that she should ride in the cart/on horseback and not be one of the ones who have to walk

9. Family Money by Chad Zunker Successful family man Alex is in Mexico with his family doing some charity work at an orphanage. On a shopping trip into the local village Alex's father-in-law, Joe, is kidnapped right in front of his eyes. On his return to the States a mysterious text message comes into Joe's phone. Is it related to his kidnap? Alex starts looking into Joe's financials to ensure his mother-in-law will be ok financially and he discovers some anomalies, specifically around the large investment Joe made into Alex's startup a few years previously. Does Alex really know Joe at all?

This was an Amazon first reads freebie. It was a very quick read, only took me 3 hours but that made the storyline seem a bit rushed. The speed with which Alex unravels Joe's past is fairly unrealistic. The whole story is fairly implausible. But if you want to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours for a speedy thriller then this might be for you

Viking, that sounds like Margery. The Lord does seem to tell her many things that are, shall we say, highly suited to Margery's best interests.

@Welshwabbit I’m so glad you liked Equal Rites! It would be worth looking at the other books with Granny Weatherwax - Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, and several more…. Thief of Time is not a Witches book but is excellent - hope you enjoy it!

Fell off the thread and reading going very slowly.
1. Violeta - Isabel Allende (didatic and dull)
2. French Braid - Anne Tyler (this rolled along nicely)
3. Bad Relations - Cressida Connolly (enjoyed this)
4. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois - Fannone Jeffers (over 800 pages, like wading through treacle - there was a good book in there but got drowned out in exposition and dross)
5. The Quiet Whispers Never Stop - Olivia Fitzsimmons. Northern Irish writer, her debut. Yeah! Started really strongly but descended into "Rooney-esque" repetetive relationship misery syndrome. Glad when it was over.

6. Reputation - Sarah Vaughan. New one from The Anatomy of a Scandal Writer I thought this would be a light zippy read but I found it a bit dull. It's about a female MP who is getting lots of hate and threats for pushing a domestic violence bill forward and how she ends up in court on a murder charge. The book spent far too long scene setting and repeating and illustrating how awful it is for a female MP out and about (it must be but don't need reminding for chapter upon chapter)without getting on with the murder story it teased in the opening page.

7. The Slow Worm's Song - Andrew Miller I should have been warned by the title , this was so slow. A recovering alcoholic, ex Quaker, former squaddie gets an official letter requesting he answer questions about an incident in Northern Ireland where he was stationed in 1982. His story unfolds as if he is telling or writing to his daughter about his life history (with lots of meandering and inconsequential detail and jumping around). Grr.. it got so that I didn't care what might eventually be revealed to have happened in 1982.

I also wondered if tellingt he story through a letter to a young relative is becoming a trend , as my number 1. Violeta by Isabel Allende was also written as a letter to a younger relative, The conceit doesn't really work as the details given about sex life and other things are too candid for what you'd relate to a younger close relative. (IMHO)