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'm still reading traitor in the ice by kJ maitland..didnt realise its book 2 and I got the 1st on kindle for 99p :)

I’m pleased you read and enjoyed Doreen, Boiledegg.

32 Guards,Guards - Terry Pratchett

Eighth Discworld novel and the first introducing Captain Vimes and the guards of the Watch. I don't think it's a classic Pratchett but it rolls along entertainingly enough.

116 The Toy Taker by Luke Delaney

This is the third in the series featuring detective Sean Corrigan. I haven’t read the first two but I don’t think it mattered - there were references to earlier events but it didn’t affect this story. This one features children being snatched from their homes in the middle of the night with no evidence of a break in. I thought it was great and will look out for the others in the series.

117 One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Didn’t like this. It’s told from multiple points of view, which I found confusing here as it switches very frequently. It features four women all connected with a murder - the mother of the victim, the mother of the man convicted, a psychologist, and then another woman and it’s not obvious immediately what her role is. Just too confusing for me and the way the psychologist behaved was very unprofessional and unrealistic.

Just popping in from holiday in Jordan with limited internet to update my finished book

25. This Thing Of Darkness by Harry Thompson

It was 99p recently and I felt I needed to read it and form an opinion for the annual bun fight. Interestingly, rather than love it or hate it, I didn't mind it.

I didn't know any of the story of FitzRoy or Darwin and I enjoyed that but I did often feel like I was very unsubtley being taught something while the two were having scientific discussions and it really turned me off.

Not sure what I'll read next but hopefully something with a really engaging story as I'll have a 5 hour flight home in a few days.

I loved this book!
Enjoy your holiday

Lovely to see This Thing of Darkness back in the room! :)

😁
I bought it for my aunt despite not loving it myself. She was very much in the ‘loved it’ camp as I knew she would be.

Haha that's probably for the best for me as I'm so easily distracted by the Internet when reading.

Still struggling to get stuck into anything so have gone for a re-read of a favourite series

19. The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
    I've decided to re-read the Plantagenet/Tudor series by Gregory and am reading them in her own recommended chronological reading order rather than publication order. This book follows Jacquetta, a member of the Burgundian royal family who is descended from the water goddess Melusina and has the gift of foresight. She is married into the British aristocracy but her marriage is not what she anticipated. She becomes a leading member of the court of Henry VI and a close confidant of his wife Margaret of Anjou. As the wars of the roses rage Jacquetta's fortunes rise and fall on fortunes wheel

20. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
    Book 2 follows Jacquetta's daughter Elizabeth Woodville who finds herself widowed with two young sons on the wrong side of the wars of the roses and thus without her due inheritance. She stands on the roadside to accost the passing king Edward IV, in order to petition him for her lands. He promptly falls in love with her and marries her in a secret ceremony and we then follow their lives as the wars of the roses continue

21. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
    We now follow Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the future Henry VII through her extremely early marriage at the age of 12 and her two subsequent marriages and her constant intriguing to put her son on the throne of England

Gregory's research for her books is extensive and thorough and as such the historical aspects of her books are more accurate than many historical fictions out there. I also really like the way she writes from the female perspective, a perspective so often overlooked in history. Her characters are believable and she demonstrates very successfully the struggles of being a woman, with very little power or autonomy, in this period

I might give Edward Rutherford another go but I thought New York was ridiculous. It was like reading a "tell" not "show" potted history of everything and the various generations just kept casually getting involved in Big Events. The great grandparents walk through a park and oh! There's Abraham Lincoln making a speech! One of the last ones sets off to work on September 11th! Great Uncle George visits Dallas on ....etc etc
I kind of presumed they'd all do that and decided not to bother with any others, but there seems to be much love for them here....

I'm on A Single Thread which is my first Tracey Chevalier and I'm loving every single word.

I'm splashing around happily in the shallows of police procedural fiction with a couple of books by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. She has a long-running series featuring Bill Slider and it's solid, believable stuff - lots of knocking on doors and tracing CCTV footage, very little by way of twisty mctwists or dramatic showdowns in the second-last chapter. They're not comedies, but there are jokes and sparky dialogue. They're not particularly memorable plot-wise - a couple of hours after finishing one I'd struggle to tell you what happened - but they're just what I want to read right now.

19. The Instant by Amy Liptrot
This has been reviewed on here quite a few times since it's release in March. I agree with others who said that they preferred her previous book, The Outrun. I also understand those who have said she comes across as a bit privileged. I'm not as critical as some have been however. The way that Liptrot links writing about the natural world and modern technology, using one to enhance her interest in the other and drawing parallels between the two, is really interesting to me. There are enough small similarities between myself and the author to make me occasionally relate to her, and then I find it fascinating how differently she views the world and the decisions she makes.
20. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
I previously listened to the audiobook of The Antidote by this author after seeing positive reviews on here. I started Four Thousand Weeks on audio, but ultimately bought a paper copy so I could fill it with book darts marking all the passages that I wanted to flip back to and revisit! Burkeman shares anecdotes and philosophy research to support his points as he did in The Antidote, but I found more practical information and guidance in this, more tips that I could actually refer back to. Suspect this might have reshaped how I think.
21. The Postmistress of Paris by Meg Waite Clayton
Nanee is a young, independent, wealthy American living in Paris at the outbreak of WW2. Her social life brings her into contact with prominent artists of the day (I felt that the author did a lot of name dropping!). When Paris is occupied, Nanee flees the city but refuses to return to the States, determined to stay and use her money and status to help others in greater danger than herself.
This is historical fiction based on fact. Nanee is a fictional character based on a real American but not using her real name. Leading man Eduoard, a photographer, is also fictional but the author cites at the end of the novel which real artists and photographs inspired her descriptions of Eduoard's work. Many of the other characters and the locations are real and the author has clearly done a lot of research in order to set Nanee and Eduoard's story in an accurate picture of 1940s France (although not as much Paris as the title would have you believe - The Postmistress of Marseille would be a better fit). This is neither the best or worst of historical fiction. I could relate quite a lot back to books I've previously read and enjoyed like Suite Francaise and House of Glass, and in that way I found it interesting. And I loved Luki - Eduoard's daughter is a great character.
I have a few other books set in France lined up, so my head will be staying there for another few weeks even if my reality is firmly in the UK.

32. The Family Experience of PDA - Eliza Fricker

Short, illustrated guide to Pathological Demand Avoidance, full of gentle humour and tips on what has worked for Eliza and her daughter.

33. In Control: dangerous relationships and how they end in murder - Jane Monckton Smith

Professor Monckton Smith is a criminologist specialising in domestic homicide, and here outlines the eight-step pathway typically followed in controlling relationships that end in murder. Her hope is that if police and other authorities are aware of the typical danger signs at the earlier stages of the process, tragedy might be averted. Very readable, and shocking in the way the court process is often stacked against the victims of coercive control and violence. (Thankfully, unlike the previous book, this one doesn't relate to my own situation.)

satelliteheart, that's a great idea for reading Philippa Gregory; I've read them in pub order and find myself trying to knit together bits of half-remembered info from all kinds of periods.
I just wish I had the time/could justify rereading them!

I have a DNF: Miss Benson's Beetle. I've given it a go over the last couple of nights in bed but am officially dropping it. There's an interesting story in there, and some good characters (and of course it speaks interestingly to how much and how little has changed in terms of women's position regarding work/economic power etc); but I just can't get on with the writing. It's a bit... silly, is the word I keep thinking.
If I had more free reading time and fewer books on my list, I'd probably persevere and think it was 'OK' by the end, but I feel like I need to just be ruthless. A pity.

I did finish a few:
Florilegia by Annabel Dover A piece of art rather than a straightforward book/reading experience. She's an illustrator/printmaker and this is peppered with images both of her own making and some by other people that she's found and selected. It follows the life of various real figures, primarily Anna Atkins, who was an amateur botanist and widely considered to be the first woman ever to have taken a photograph. Excerpts from/glimpses of her life are interspersed with snatches of other people's, including the author's own. This is an impressionistic read, although there are connections, more or less obscure/fanciful, to be made between the stories/scenarios/images. A one-off.

The Past, Tessa Hadley A novel of manners, really, about a set of grown-up siblings and assorted children/friends gathering at their grandparents' old house for a long summer holiday. They've done this for years, but this year there is a sense of an ending as they're starting to think they may need to come to an agreement about selling the place.
It is quite restrained and observational. There is some quiet and sly humour, and psychological insight. It's beautifully written and I did feel satisfied at the end, although couldn't shake a slight feeling of 'what's it for?', probably in part because I read it after The Night Watchman, which is SO different in its vivid dialogue and situations, and lively in its humour and wit.

Making Babies, Anne Enright. Her memoir (well, an assembled collection of essays) of pregnancy, birth and motherhood. If you like her, you will like this – it's packed with her sardonic and sometimes breathtakingly honest wit and sensibility. Hilariously funny sometimes, and at others piercingly sad. Vintage Enright, in other words. It was exhilarating to come across someone writing so originally and perceptively in such an overcrowded subject arena.

Think I'll try either The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually, Helen Cullen, or Sea State, Tabitha Lasley, next.

I’ve got a bit of catching up to do on this thread. Getting close to the end of my Discworld journey now.

32. A Hatful of Sky
    The second Tiffany Aching book and I much prefer it to the first. Tiffany goes away to live with and learn from a witch but something is following her. It’s a fun and thoughtful book.

33. Going Postal
    Brilliant story of fraudster Moist von Lipwig who is forced to take the job of postmaster at the neglected Ankh Morpork post office. One of the best. Loved it.

34 Thud!
Tensions rise between troll and dwarfs and it’s up to Vimes and the Watch to keep the peace. One of the darker books but still with plenty of humour.

35. Wintersmith
    Tiffany accidentally attracts the attentions of the personification of winter. The story’s slightly more grown up than the previous Tiffany books. A good read.

36. Making Money
    Moist von Lipwig is called on to take over the Ankh Morpork bank. Good story but doesn’t have the energy that Going Postal has.

37. Unseen Academicals
    The wizards discover they’re contractually obliged to form a football team, football hooligans are on the streets of Ankh Morpork and there’s a hint of Romeo and Juliet as two people from opposing sides meet. One of the weaker books. The best part was the subplot of the mysterious Nutt who works in the university.

38. I Shall Wear Midnight
    Another Tiffany Aching book and much more adult than the others so far, as she has to deal with some very difficult things as she grows into her role as village witch. People are turning against witches and Tiffany has to find the source of the hatred. It’s very good, but I wouldn’t recommend it anyone under the age of twelve.

39. Snuff
    I found this one a bit of a slog to get through. Vimes and Sybil go to her family house in the country for a holiday but of course Vimes discovers crimes that need solving. I liked the goblins, but the story as a whole isn’t that great.

Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
A Belgian attempt at the Magnetic South ends up recruiting Roald Amundsen and an American doctor as part of the crew. Anything with snow, ice, peril and penguins tends to appeal to me and this was an interesting enough read. A bit American, and some padding I could have lived without, plus a bit of a tendency to make a mountain out of a mole hill in terms of the writing style, but overall interesting and readable.

The Homecoming by Anna Enquist is good, it's a novel based on the life of the wife of James Cook. I'm only 4 chapters in but it's going to be really rather good I think.

Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay
An assay on her relationship with feminism through the lens of being black and gay. Some interesting thoughts about feminist 'purity'.

Bewilderment - Richard Powers
A man struggles to bring up his neurodiverse son alone after the death of his wife. As the school pushes for medical intervention, he creates new worlds for his son to inhabit.

I should say that I abandoned The Overstory well over halfway through as I found it tedious. This has a similar feel. It's a little too pleased with itself and bashes you over the head with the author's preachy views. There are some beautiful almost poetic sentences in places, but that wasn't enough to carry me through the boredom of the scientific parts or general lack of plot.

Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith
A reworking of Metamorphoses exploring the original and also a modern timeline with a twist. I'm not convinced it really worked, but was still very well written. I'm not sure I'm destined to get on with Ali Smith, but I persevere because I recognise she is a very talented writer.

Sistersong - Lucy Holland
Inspired by an ancient ballad, this is a fantasy novel about three sisters each with a magic gift they will have to learn to use as their father the king holds off the Saxon invasion of their lands.
Decent enough plot and characters but over long.

Hungry - Grace Dent
Much discussed, didn't disappoint.

We Are All Birds of Uganda - Hafsa Zayyan
Disenchanted city boy escapes the London ratrace and goes to explore his family's roots as an Asian Muslim family living in Uganda, before they were exiled to Britain under Idi Amin's regime which left them stateless. It's an exploration of race and class, family, relationships and belonging. It's done very sensitively and is really interesting. It would make a brilliant book club choice with loads to discuss in it.

The Long Call - Ann Cleeves
Competent police procedural. I haven't read any of hers before, but it ticks all the boxes for an easy and entertaining read when you don't have the brain space for anything else.

The Midwife - Tricia Cresswell
Mid 1800s, two characters, one a woman who is found close to death on the moors with no memory, discovers she has medical knowledge and uses it to rebuild her shattered life. The other a young doctor mocked for specialising in obstetrics when it was seen as women's work. Decent and well researched historical fiction that explores the lives of women of different classes at a time when they were limited by society. I really liked this.

@satelliteheart Lady of the Rivers is my absolute favourite of Philippa Gregory’s books - since I read it I’ve been a bit disappointed by other ones I’ve read subsequently! I do like The White Queen and The White Princess though. As you say, she’s great at presenting historical events from a woman’s perspective.

I need to pop in and tell you that ducks' penises are corkscrew shaped and when inside the duck are the length of its body.

You'll not look a duck in quite the same way again, now, admit it.

(No, not the wrong thread, but the most enjoyable snippet so far of The Museums of Whales You Will Not See I've already highlighted lots of beautifully written paragraphs, rather reminiscent of Kathleen Jamie's observations. And then .well, them there are the penis paragraphs which are fascinating! )

@SOLINVICTUS I particularly enjoyed that book too.

Was it maybe you who recommended it? I'm terrible at remembering people's recommendations- if so thank you! I'm loving it!

Well, thanks to this thread I've ordered sistersong and the museum of whales you will never see 🤣🤣

Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud

Written from the alternating viewpoints of Betty Ramdin, her lodger Mr Chetan and her adolescent son Solo. The dark secret promised in the blurb was entirely predictable from the first page, and by the time I got to the third 'issue' the book was discussed I was fed up. Easy enough too read but overhyped.

Alexa, what is there to know about love? by Brian Bilston

Short poetry selection by the social media sensation.