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?

Ah, I loved the TV South Riding - is Alderman Mrs Beddows the character played by Penelope Wilton? - <google> - yes she is. Agree that was a great relationship. Will read at some point

(Ta for thread, south.) I have reached another Reader's Block, totally ridiculously as the current book is very enjoyable and very easy. It just always seems simpler to scroll Mumsnet or do a crossword...

24. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
I'm probably the last person on the planet to discover the Jackson Brodie books but never mind, because I'm loving them. He's very much a man written by a woman but a fine creation all the same. I think this is even wilder and tighter than Case Histories. Now googling the others. I think they're worth reading in order, because knowing the events of Case Histories gave this one an extra frisson.

PermanentTemporary the third in the series When Will There Be Good News? is my absolute favourite; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

12 The Colour of Heaven by James Runcie

Short-sighted Paulo leaves mediaeval Italy to find a special stone that will enable his friend to reproduce the blue of eternity in a fresco. Spoiler: he finds it, and various wisdom along the way.

Loved this book. Lyrical but economical writing, handful of characters different but all sympathetic, highfalutin philosophy but with the occasional amusing remark ("Clearly, the nostrils would have to wait.") and suffused with the love of colour.

45. Watching Neighbours Twice a Day, Josh Widdicombe
Picked up as a Kindle deal. It was okay. I'm a few years older and my watching habits were a bit different, so I can't say this was a great nostalgia-fest for me. It was mildly amusing.

This sounds excellent. He's the Grantchester author, I see (don't know the books but I liked the series, until James Norton left anyway).
He's written one about the first time Bach's Passion was performed, too, which also sounds good

Just seen Empire of Pain is on Kindle deal today - I think a few people on here have rated it, was pleased to pick it up as it's been on my TBR for a while.

Thanks for replies re: Kane and Abel. Probably another 99p book I don't need!

51. The Haunting - Margaret Mahy
A children’s book I first read over 35 years ago. Strangely enough, it seemed shorter and less complex than I remembered, but it’s still a great read, a brilliant combination of realism - a loving blended family; the secrets and dysfunction of their older relatives - and fantasy. When a great-uncle dies, 8 year old Barney starts seeing things; someone is coming for him. No horror, but sad and sinister at times, with a happy ending.

@bibliomania on googling I have found that Josh Widdicombe is only a few months younger than me, so I think I would enjoy the nostalgia of his book. Maybe one to listen to rather than read, as his voice would probably make it funnier (it looks like he narrates the audiobook himself).

@ChannelLightVessel i have extremely vague memories of having enjoyed a Margaret Mahy book when I was little, but no idea what it was. Maybe I’ll see if I can get hold of something by her at the library.

37 Five Star Billionaire - Tash Aw This is about five Malaysians who (separately) move to Shanghai to find success, and whose paths cross in various ways throughout the book. It’s a good story with lots of detail about Shanghai itself and the rural parts of Malaysia that they have left - as someone with no knowledge of either of those places, I got a really vivid impression of them from the writing. The characters are interesting and I found myself rooting for some of them. I’m not sure about the ending - I would like a bit more of a resolution but it’s clear that the author wanted to leave us wondering about several elements of the plot so I think he achieved what he was aiming for. A good book which I enjoyed and would recommend; but I can see why it was only longlisted for the Booker Prize rather than shortlisted.

Hey there...good to see some familiar names still here.

Hi bett, welcome back! Tell us what you've been reading....

DuPain, I think the JW book would be good fun if you shared the same childhood viewing and you're right that it would probably be a good listen.

Channel, I loved Margaret Mahy as a teen, especially The Changeover.

46. Fathomless Riches, by the Rev Richard Coles. I've been reading his books in reverse order, and I prefer his later stuff, which reflects a more mature self. This is his memoir of his youth, including his days in the Communards, and what things were like as a gay man when the AIDS crisis first hit. Lots of hedonism until he starts feeling the pull of religion. He's certainly had a life of contrasts, which is always interesting to read about.

Betts lovely to see you back!

Sadik, Empire of Pain is well worth your time. A really well constructed and told story and quite staggering in places.

Betts, welcome back! (I used to be HarlanWillYouStopNamingNuts).

I can't concentrate on anything at the moment so have no updates ... I have four books on the go, just can't settle.

Good to see you back, bett!

35: Judas 62 - Charles Cumming

Spy thriller and loose follow-up to Box 88. Lachlan Kite - 'Lockie' to his friends - is now an established and experienced spook in British intelligence, but when he discovers that an old alias has appeared on a Russian hit-list, it takes him back to his first major job, the covert exfiltration of a chemical weapons expert from Russia. This allows Cumming to write both an extended flashback and a present-day resolution to the story.

No idea whatsoever whether any of it is remotely credible, but it’s pacy enough and a pleasantly undemanding quick read, which is what I wanted.

@CluelessMama - I really enjoyed The High House when I read it at the end of last year, I'm not sure why but I wasn't expecting much and wasn't in the mood for something about climate change but I got completely caught up in the domesticity of it.

28. Restless by William Boyd
I read a Boyd book a couple of years ago for a book group and I remember not being particularly impressed so I’m glad I gave Boyd another chance as this one got me out of a bit of a book rut. It has two timelines, an historic one following a women as she joins a branch of MI6 before WWII and a modern timeline involving her academic daughter. I was interested in both timelines and read this quite quickly, I wouldn’t say this was an edge on your seat thriller or anything but there was tension, a twist and a love story which drove the story along.

The Birds: Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier
These are ones I’ve read before, if you want short stories where something actually happens and there is a proper beginning, middle and end then you can’t go wrong with du Maurier. Enjoyed all of these in the collection.

The Collector by John Fowles
A Chilling book, an impotent sociopath called Fred kidnaps an art student called Miranda and holds her hostage in his basement hoping she will fall in love with him. Half of the book is told from Freds point of view while the other half is from Mirandas as she makes effort after effort to escape. One of those books that made me want to keep reading and the kidnapper is a truly horrible character.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Much review on here – a very gentle book which I appreciated after reading the collector.

Nothing to Envy: Real lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
One I picked up as a result of this thread and very glad I did. Eye-opening and fascinating.

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella I've read a few William Boyd novels and they've all been quite different to each other so it was probably a good idea to try another. Might have to take a look at Restless to see what I think about that.

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella I read The Collector years and years ago (in my teens I think) but it’s stuck with me quite vividly unlike most books that I instantly forget the details of. Absolutely horrifying but gripping.

Last night I finished 20. Hungry - Grace Dent - has been well reviewed on here and I enjoyed it too. I’m a bit younger but my siblings are of similar ages to Grace and my parents were of the same era as hers, and definitely working class background though had quite a bit more money by the time I came along. So there was quite a lot I recognised. I also recognised a lot about having a less than perfect parent who you nevertheless love fiercely and remain protective of, despite the ways they’ve let you down. And sadly the part about caring for/ losing her mum to cancer. All in all it left me feeling a bit raw in a way I wasn’t expecting, but also made me smile quite a lot too.

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella Nothing to Envy: Real lives in North Korea I read that a few years ago and may well have recommended it. Glad you enjoyed it if I did,

I've read less books this year but highlights have been Wilding by Isabella Tree and My penguin year by Lindsay McCrae.

47. Tristram Shandy: Life & Opinions of the Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne
I did it! Have been reading a few chapters every day this year, and made it through. Somewhat bemused by the whole thing. It was audacious to subvert the novel right back at the time it's being created. Sterne doesn't so much break the fourth wall as seat himself comfortably on it, legs swinging, grinning at the reader. The plot goes nowhere at great length and it's infuriating, often incomprehensible, occasionally amusing and every now and then endearing. I might miss it just a little bit but I'm pretty sure I'll never read it again. And in just over a week I'm going to visit Shandy Hall, so I'm pleased to have it under my belt.

I love Tristram Shandy. It's the most meta book I've ever read, and it was written 250 years ago. Maybe it was easier to subvert the form when what we consider to be a novel wasn't set in stone. A Victorian could never have written Tristram Shandy, or perhaps more accurately could never have got it published. And anyone who has literary pretentions and aims to subvert the form should be made to read it and then told, if you can't do better than that don't try. It would save us from a lot of turgid prose.

Sterne doesn't so much break the fourth wall as seat himself comfortably on it, legs swinging, grinning at the reader.

An excellent description 😁

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Tristram Shandy is in fact mentioned in the highly entertaining Dead Famous , which I have just finished - public historian Greg Jenner's rundown of celebrity and celebrities , mostly from times long past. I learnt that, up until relatively recently, women celebrities were higher earners than men (he doesn't really go into why this changed). I was also interested by his passages on WG Grace who I had thought of as a rather dull, high scoring cricketer.

He returns to some figures rather more than he needs to but it's great stuff, written with brio.

I never normally read acknowledgements but his caught my eye. Read them. It's a beautiful homage to his wife, and brought a tear to my eye.

25. Re-educated - Lucy Kellaway

How a successful FT journalist gave up her job, moved house, ended her marriage and went into teaching, also co-founding an educational charity getting older people into the teaching profession. I found the teaching part of the book highly readable (published last year, this went from teacher training, to working in London comprehensives, and coping through the pandemic) but the rest of her life was less so. Understand why these parts went into the book, to illustrate the wholly reinvented/re-educated life, I just found the teaching part more interesting.

I read The Collector probably 30 years ago. It still makes me shiver when I see the title. Horrible.