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?

Thanks all for comments re Johnathan Strange - I definitely agree with wanting to like it more than I actually do biblio - it ticks so many boxes for me! But it’s just not working for me right now somehow.

I think having got it via borrowbox isn’t helping. Knowing I’ve only got a set time to get it finished is sort of taking the joy out of it, and the app doesn’t work for footnotes at all so it’s either scroll backwards and forwards constantly or just read them all at the end of the chapter where they kind of fall a bit flat.

And as great as it is to have access to so many titles to ‘borrow’ this way, I don’t particularly enjoy reading on the iPad, whereas I do like the kindle.

I think I’ll keep an eye for either a kindle deal or a paperback appearing in the charity shop - my big exciting plans for the summer are to try and get DD in her own room so I should be able to have a reading lamp and be able to read physical books in bed again 🎉 That might time to tackle rambling historical pastiches and the like!

I gave up on Jonathon Strange too. I've got her other one to try, but keep putting it off.

Just re-read The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

Also read The Italian Secretary which is Caleb Carr of The Alienist fame doing Sherlock Holmes. Mostly I enjoyed this, but there was some silly ghost stuff which just didn't work for me.

Another Norrell abandonment occurred here. I used to have a 100 page rule, if I wasn't into a book by then I stopped. The older I get the less my patience is and the number of pages is shrinking.

I think I did finish Jonathan Strange but don't think the plot ever got going really. The rambling style reminded me of the worst of Dickens - I also had a hardback and got annoyed by the weight and footnotes. I loved Piranesi though, would never have guessed they were the same author.

Apologies for repeated misspelling of Jonathan - I’m not quite sure what came over me.

Adding in numbers for my recent reads:

52. Headlong, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
53. Dying Fall, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
54. Stuff I've Been Reading, by Nick Horny
55. British Summer Time Begins, by Ysenda Maxtone Gaham
56. Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People, Frances Ryan
57. Cruel as the Grave, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

The Harrod-Eagles books are nice straightforward police procedurals.

That's my favourite Bill Bryson, Remus.

Great typo there Biblio

The Jonathan Strange discussion has made me realise that I am never going to read it so I have ejected it from my bookshelves for a car boot sale tomorrow - I am generally loathe to part with books so quite significant for me (and gives me a little bit of space!). Notwithstanding a massive collection of books I have only managed to part with six…..

Oops, didn't even spot that till you said it, Best.

I enjoyed Jonathan Strange but I have a pretty high tolerance for SFF with no / incomprehensible plot if I'm enjoying the worldbuilding. I definitely wouldn't persevere if it's not hooked you by a few chapters in.

I got a £10 Waterstone's voucher from a lovely year 13 today. Want a nice book to buy so it's not just a random paperback but no idea what to get!

41: In a Good Light - Clare Chambers

30-something Esther Fairchild shares a house with her brother Christian, makes a modest living as a childrens' book illustrator, and has a quietly-unambitious life. A chance meeting with the daughter of a figure from Esther's eccentric childhood leads to an affectionate reminiscence of her 70s upbringing with two loving but unworldly parents, her off/on friendship with Donovan, son of permanently disaster-prone Aunty Barbara, and Christian's relationship with the glamorous Penny, as well as the end of the idyll when Christian suffers a life-changing accident. Back in the present, the threads of the past tie up in perhaps predictable but satisfying ways.

A gentle and enjoyable novel, but I read Chambers' Learning to Swim earlier this year, and I feel it maybe ran along rather too similar lines, especially the growing-up-with-kooky-parents theme. I do like her writing, though, and I bought several of her books a while ago in a 99p splurge, so I might try another after a decent gap.

43. After I've Gone by Linda Green When Jess logs into Facebook her timeline is eighteen months in the future and her friends and family are mourning her recent death. It seemed like an interesting premise but really it was just a gimmick. The story, about domestic abuse, could have been deeper and more meaningful without the future Facebook posts popping up all the time. The book's easy to read and trundles along with everything happening just as you expect it to.

The Fitzcarraldo Editions are very beautiful books Piggy - I have two, Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton, and The Naked Don't Fear the Water by Matthieu Aikens

Thanks sadik. Looks v interesting!

I finished A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris recently. Why have I never read her before?! Why have I read the third book in the series first?! 😲 Absolutely not what I expected at all. Great characters, sharp, raw writing, and Machiavellian levels of shenanigans in a school setting: it left me feeling almost sucker-punched, I feel bereft. And I’m going about my day with a newfound suspicion that everyone is plotting something and is not who they appear to be 🙃 Well. Stunning book!

@LeniGray i read Gentlemen & Players a few years ago (first in the series I think). I loved it. I watch all the time for her books to be in deals and even subscribed to her newsletter.

Although it was very popular, I wasn't keen on Chocolat and have avoided Joanne Harris since, however Gentlemen and Players sounds much more my kind of thing.

@LeniGray do you think it would be best to read the other books first or was it ok as a stand-alone? I listened to Joanne Harris talking about A Narrow Door on a podcast recently and thought it sounded great, but wasn't sure about starting at the end of a trilogy!

Have just finished Cranford which was blessedly short and always described as 'charming' which it indeed is. It's a light bit of froth really , and I do think the Oxford World Classics Intro may be talking it up a bit - or I just missed all the searing social commentary!

The bit where the cat eats lace which is then - ummm- extracted did make me laugh out loud!

I’m the opposite, I think Chocolat sounds right up my street, but didn’t think G&P would be my thing. I don’t normally love plot heavy, psychological thrillers but thought it was fab.

14 Hungry - Grace Dent
Much loved on this thread so I can only add my appreciation!

Am struggling to find time to pick up my kindle or physical books at the moment so I'm eternally grateful to audible for preventing my reading from drying up altogether.

I’ve been told by someone who’s read all the Malbry books that it’s best to start with G&P (which I’m now on!). I’m always late to the party 😳A Narrow Door does work as a stand-alone novel, although characters and things that happened in the previous novels are mentioned, it’s only ever a brief aside. You don’t need to know what happened in the other books to enjoy it, the plot is self-contained.

On the strength of the praise here for G&P, I have retrieved it from the car boot sale pile - I did start it but it didn’t gel but I will give it another go in case I was just in the wrong frame of mind. I enjoyed both Chocolate and Strawberry Wine.