50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Four

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth thread of the 50 Books 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.

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here and the third one here.

What are you reading?

I've picked up The Paper Palace and Opal & Nev, and also Midnight's Children, which I've started several times in the past. Can I put in a word for Kent Harruff's Our Souls at Night? It's a short and very moving novel about two older people who decide to spend their nights together and their different reasons for doing so. It's a very emotional read as it deals with family, loneliness and old age, but I loved it.

I liked MP's Wife but I think it was a bit marmite - you definitely have to not mind reading about the lives of the rich and privileged.

"Shortlisted for X prize" normally puts me right off a novel, but I've bought Opal and Nev hoping that it'll be un-literary enough to meet my tastes

I usually approach the deals the other way around - I skim through my wishlist at the start of the month to see if anything on it is reduced - sadly not this month.

I'm currently re-reading Woman on the Edge of Time which is interesting but definitely showing its age (or maybe I'm just showing my age and resultant cynicism!).

The Island Home, Libby Page

This has a pastel coloured chick lit cover but is a lovely read about friendship, community, family and island living. It tied up predictably and nicely, but I didn’t mind. It was an easy read, but definitely had more to it.*

Yes, I do that with the wishlist too, Sadik! One thing was reduced this time.

I've started using my local library much more and borrowing actual books instead of just ebooks. It also has the benefit of forcing me to have a walk into town….

Thank you @noodlezoodle - I haven’t read that Sharon Penman so will add it to my list/pile

The Lamplighters was infuriating. It was a hard plot and concept to ruin but it was just terrible.

MP's Wife definitely worth it with the health warning that she is also infuriating and completely self-obsessed. But funny nonetheless and not a bad insight into the second worst administration in my adult lifetime.

I notice that they’re quietly bumping up the price of more 'deals' to well beyond my standard 99p….I suppose the general price increase is going to affect books too.

Foster is in the deals this month, highly rated by lots of people on this thread. But it's £2.19 and I know it's really short. I feel like a bit of a dick refusing to spend more than £1 on a book, but then all of my "analogue" books are either second hand or from the library. I only buy new books as gifts for other people.

I was going to add Opal and Nev to my wishlist but it's 99p so I've purchased!

I'm still indignant about The Lamplighters. It was so good for most of the way through and then just... wasn't. I know a lot of us felt the same way so I can't believe an editor didn't insist she change it.

37. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

Classic 1970s Utopian novel. Connie, a poor Mexican-American woman is imprisoned in a series of mental institutions on the grounds of ‘violent tendencies’ - committed in this instance after hitting her niece’s pimp with a bottle while trying to protect her from him. At the same time, she is ‘catching’ communications from Luciente, a woman from the 2100s, and eventually is able to travel to her home of Mattapoisett, a small town in future Massachusetts. In this version of the future, the US is a gender neutral, classless society run on eco-anarchist lines, and a large part of the novel is taken up with descriptions of how this future society works.

I first read this in my early 20s - this time around I was much more engaged by the contemporary part of the story and Connie’s relationships within the institutions as well as the (deeply unethical and with no consent) experimentation on the patients, rather than the utopian sections.

In terms of the utopian society pictured, I’d say Le Guin’s The Dispossessed written a couple of years previously is far more realistic in its portrayal of the level of conflict and challenges to be expected. (I was also reminded of Scott Westerfield’s ambiguously dystopian Uglies YA series - where mind control operations leave the population placid and conformist, which subsequently in the series turns out to be the result of a historic society-wide decision to neutralise the human tendencies to war & ecological destruction.)

I also couldn't help reflecting on the likely reaction of many MNers to the vision of a gender neutral society (I like 'per' as a neutral pronoun much better than 'they', I must say) with artificial wombs, both sexes able to breastfeed with the help of hormone shots, etc.

I read The City We Became recently Remus. It's very American, kind of a love letter to New York. I preferred her other books - The Shattered Earth series and her other fantasy books - but it's worth a read.

Thanks for the other Kindle deal recommendations. I've picked up Opal and Nev, The Paper Palace and the Sasha Swires.

24. Life After Life - Raymond Moody

The results of a study, published in 1976, on near death experiences in the US. Looks at the similarities between the case studies, the causes and explanations. Interesting section about the history of NDEs.

Bit of a bumper month for the kindle deals! I bought Monty and Sarah Don's The Jewel Garden, The 1619 Project, Hostage (supposed to be a holiday read but not sure that's a good idea when I'm flying...), Sasha Swire's diaries, and The Twyford Code, because I really enjoyed The Appeal.

I wish I had more self control becuase I currently have 8 books out of the library as well as enormous paper and kindle TBR piles. In my case it's definitely true that buying books and reading books are two different pursuits...

noodle, so true about book buying and book consuming being different hobbies!

22. History of the Rain by Niall Williams. Ruth Swain, lying ill in bed surrounded by books in a dilapidated house in County Clare, tells the fictional history of her family and their dreams and disasters. It took me a while to get into this, but when I did I really loved it. Quirky, beautifully written and a wonderful combination of sorrow and hope.

Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft

Exactly what it says on the tin. Mary Wollstonecraft took her infant child Fanny and a nursemaid to Scandinavia to find out what had happened to a boatload of silver her lover Gilbert Imlay had been swindled out of. As she travelled she wrote these letters reflecting on the landscape and people. This was her most successful book during her life and was an early example of romantic landscape description. Fascinating.

34: This Long Pursuit - Richard Holmes

By happy coincidence, this chimes in with Janina's mention of Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the subjects explored in this excellent book of biographical essays. Holmes has written two previous books, Footsteps and Sidetracks, which are effectively musings on the life and business of being a biographer, and this is the last in the trilogy.

Here he delves into many of his own experiences as a 'Romantic biographer' as well as shining long-overdue light on women subjects and biographers who've perhaps been less well-known (eg science writer Mary Somerville; Mary Wollstonecraft; the devoted Anne Gilchrist, who completed her husband’s pioneering biography of William Blake after his premature death).

I picked this up and down for a couple of weeks between other things, but the essay structure lent itself well to dipping in. Packed with fascinating insights and nuggets of information to treasure, and - as ever with Holmes - the writing radiates intelligence, enthusiasm and gentle humour.

Oh, that looks good Terpsichore, I read his The Age of Wonder which is excellent and has the most complete biography of Caroline Herschel and her astronomy work I've found.

I've been in a reading rut for the past month but feel I'm coming out the other side of it now.

I began Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy but have stopped halfway through as my ebook reserve of The Duke and I became available. These two books are light night and day- both set in the regency period but that's where it ends really. The second book just felt too 'modern', almost like the characters were playing at being in the regency era. Overall it was just bad in comparison, but ok for a bit of brain fluff I guess. Not sure I'll read the others in the series although I do want to know what happens with the other Bridgerton characters.

Just finished this :-
11. All my mothers by Joanna Glen
Brilliant first half but found last half bit of a slog but overall a good read about friendship, family and growing up. I felt it lost the period detail and features of the times which is one of the things I really liked when I started reading it .

9.Mrs England by Stacey Halls Well firstly I have actually finished a book after not having the headspace or anything that has grabbed me for a fair bit. That in itself indicates that this did interest me to finish the book. I enjoyed it. It was not above average but I have enjoyed it better than her other book The Foundling. I think it was atmospheric and held my attention to find out more. It is about a Nursery Nurse called Ruby May who takes on a position with the mysterious Mrs England in her isolated home set in West Yorkshire. I have to agree with an earlier review that the very ending was a bit odd. This was given to me to read by DM I don’t think I will seek out any other of her work when and if she writes another.

I'm another where book purchase exceeds book reading, especially this year where I've hardly ready anything.

On the monthly deals I've bought Dominion by Tom Holland, The Wednesday morning wild swim, 7 1/2 lessons about the brain, harrier 809, the painful truth, tough women adventure stories and that's enough to admit to 😉

I have also over-indulged in the monthly deals buying more than I can read…..

32. All Change - Elizabeth Jane Howard

The fifth book in the Cazalet family saga. Came with warnings from many of you that it was not of the same calibre as the earlier books. However, I wanted to know what happened to the characters so took the risk. I agree that it is not as good as the earlier books and there are some inconsistencies with the earlier books such as Louise, who has (understandably) steered clear of her father, going on holiday with him. It was comforting revisiting Home House and I was quite pleased that, at least, it avoided a happily ever after ending. I don’t regret reading it.

13 The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox
Fox looks at the relationship of humankind to seven colours, from ancient times to today. He covers a variety of angles, from looking scientifically at wavelengths, photosythesis, and the manufacture of synthetic dyes; to the links of colours with moral qualities, religious significance, and of course their uses throughout art.

This was great - hugely informative but still accessible. The passages on art and artefacts were particular highlights. A treat.

That sounds good, TheTurn! <scurries off to wishlist>