50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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, the third one here and the fourth one here.

What are you reading?

I have read three work related books - Sue Palmer's book about 21st Century Girls, tbh even more meh then her boy book and in sore need of updating. As with the boys, I like what she says about education. But she didn't really seem to have much material for girls compared to boys. At least she got rid of the patronising class stereotypes.

Then How To Be a Sociologist. Very good, pocket sized and highly readable.

Lastly, a book written and self published , for her EPQ, by an amazing student of mine. I won't name her , for fear of outing but you can find the book Duskwood on Amazon. It's a feat for a 17 year old , for sure, although by no means perfect. She knows this because she had to rush it for an EPQ deadline! I should have got her to sign my free copy! Se is beyond amazing.

@Palegreenstars Have just started reading Lessons in Chemistry but it's one of several books on the go at the same time so it might take me a while to read it properly

@LemonAndAPear Thanks for the Shirley Jackson letters tip off - I think £1.99 for a book like that is a good deal because it's not like some novels which have a huge library queue now but in a couple of years will be in every charity shop and will be on offer regularly at 99p.

Colm Toibin, The Heather Blazing Another book I've had around for ages, probably 10+ years. I like most of his books that I've read a lot and this sounds like one I need to get to. To whoever posted about this one, The Blackwater Lightship is perhaps in a similar vein and I also recommend The South, Brooklyn and Nora Webster.
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BoiledEggandToast Glad to see Claire Keegan, and I also thought Audrey Magee's debut novel about an ordinary family in Nazi Germany was very good when I read it a few years ago. I have her new novel in the Kindle TBR cloud.

PiggyWasPushed I will look for How to be a Sociologist - I wanted to do Sociology A level but then realised the teacher was someone I hadn't been impressed by in RE lessons. The first A level lesson was her putting notes on the board for us to copy out and I moved to History which was taught much better. DS1 is doing GCSE Sociology (exams due in 2023).

167 The Choice by Claire Wade

Set in an alternative reality where all unhealthy food is banned, exercise is compulsory, and people are arrested and ‘re-educated’ if they don’t comply. This started well, but I thought the last third got ridiculous and the ending just petered out.

168 The Wreckage by Michael Robotham

Thriller featuring two stories which eventually become interlinked - a journalist in Iraq and a retired policeman being robbed in London. Fast paced but I found one storyline more engaging than the other.

169 - 173 all by Damien Boyd
As The Crow Flies
Head In The Sand
Kickback
Dead Level
Death Sentence

The first few books in the series featuring detective Nick Dixon (less book 4, Swansong, which I happened to read earlier this year). These are set near where I live so it’s nice to read about places I know. I’ve read a couple of these before and then discovered they’re on Kindle Unlimited so have got caught up in reading them all.

49 I Know My Name - C J Cooke Another book by Cooke, having really enjoyed The Lighthouse Witches (although I wasn’t so keen on the other book of hers I have read). This started well, with a woman washed up on a remote Greek island with total amnesia, but I saw the twist coming and didn’t really enjoy the second half of the book. I think it was quite well-written but I wanted more from the story (and would have preferred it to go down a different route).

50. The Tempest - William Shakespeare

Quite good if you like that sort of thing.

@elkiedee it was me who posted the Colm Toibin. Thanks for the recommendations, I found his writing fascinating.

What have people read from the Booker longlist? It looks quite varied. I've only read Oh William which was good if you like Elizabeth Stout. It can be read as a stand alone but I'd recommend reading My name is Lucy Barton first. I think several people have read the Alan Garner although was a child I could never get into the Weirdstone books. And will definitely read Claire Keegan.

Hope you're feeling better @EineReiseDurchDieZeit. I echo comfort reading old favourites while stuck. I'm really A town called Solace by Mary Lawson which is a gentle read about a young girl and old woman in northern Canada - along the lines of Ann Tyler, Claire Chambers, Penelope Lively which may be good.

For @elkiedee and others who are getting to Lessons in Chemistry I finished yesterday and whilst it was all wrapped up a little neatly in the end it was still a highlight. The misogyny was still so relevant despite its setting. Interesting article with the author: inews.co.uk/culture/books/bonnie-garmus-lessons-in-chemistry-interview-1728087

I love this review

It's good to see an interesting booker list. I was pleased to see the galley beggar press book after sappho on there. I like they made room for small presses who publish interesting things like Ducks, Newburyport. I will definitely read the Strout. I love her books and am slowly savouring her back catalogue.

Interesting to see the list, having just finished Booth which I enjoyed, and I’d just read the Keegan prior to that which I also loved, though preferred Foster.

I’ve read My Name is Lucy Barton and may try Oh William! Though the only Strout I’ve really loved is Amy and Isabelle.

The Graeme Macrae Burnet looks interesting too. I only just got round to His Bloody Project earlier this year.

I’d love to give them all a try but will probably take me another five years to get round to any of them at this rate!

Ive got into a habit of requesting books on the Borrow Box app that seem to all come available at once so then I’m frantically reading those before they expire and never get round to what’s on my kindle, let alone any physical books.

@Stokey

I loved A Town Called Solace and that reminds me I already had her other two books in Kindle TBR earlier.

Off to see my dad so will respond re Booker listing later. I love an award list.

Very surprised to see Treacle Walker on the list. I thought it was pretty silly tbh.

Hello all. Not reading as much with the school hols but have thoroughly enjoyed:

42. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

Late to the party (again!) with this and probably not much I can add except to say I loved it; one of my standout books this year.

A keeper. Damn. Trying to rationalise my book collection!

The only one on the list I’ve read is Small Things Like These which is stunning.

Fight Night by Miriam Toews Swiv has been suspended from school after heeding her grandmother’s advice that ‘you’re a small thing and you must learn to fight’, and is now undergoing an idiosyncratic home education care of this feisty grandmother. We spend a few weeks in the company of Swiv and her mother and grandmother getting to know them and getting glimpses of some of the often traumatic events that the women have lived through.

Although I enjoyed this very much to begin with - it’s witty and lively and distinctive and the characters and their relationships are well drawn - my interest waned. I think this is because the tone doesn’t vary much and it all became a bit frantic and extrovert for me.

51. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

Alexander Rostov is placed under house arrest at the Metropole Hotel in Moscow in 1922 and this is the story of his life in the hotel. I have read this (more than once) before and it’s a favourite of mine.

52. Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty

Set in Sydney and the story of Joy and Stan, who ran a tennis school together, and their four adult children. Joy disappears. Is her disappearance linked to the stranger who turned up on their doorstep and to whom they gave refuge? Or is Stan responsible? The adult children all have their own suspicions (and issues). This was a gift and I haven’t previously read anything by this author - and am not sure I would read another on the strength of this. It all felt a bit contrived and I didn’t really manage to engage with it.

All the Living and the Dead: A Personal Investigation into the Death Trade -
Hayley Campbell - I knew this would be my sort of thing. Thanks @MegBusset Anybody who's enjoyed Smoke Gets in your Eyes or Stiff would also like this.

Walking the Himalayas: An Adventure of Survival and Endurance- Levison Wood. Also enjoyed this. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

54: It's All in Your Head - Suzanne O'Sullivan

Non-fiction. With plentiful examples from her own caseloads, consultant neurologist O'Sullivan explores the ways in which our brains can have devastating and debilitating effects on our bodies, and how difficult - sometimes impossible - it can be for patients to accept that very real illnesses are indeed genuine, and in no way 'put on', while still being 'all in the mind'. Also includes a very interesting and illuminating history of the development of thinking around psychosomatic illnesses.

@Terpsichore have you read The Sleeping Beauties by the same author? Covers similar ground but focus is on cases of what is often described as ‘mass hysteria’ across the world. I really enjoyed it and am considering reading All In Your Head but not sure if they’re too similar.

@AliasGrape yes, I have - I think I read them the wrong way round, as It's All in Your Head is her first book iirc…..but they’re quite different, I’d say. Both fascinating, though. This one focuses on cases she’s been personally involved with, and looks at the history behind our understanding of psychosomatic illness (the theories of Charcot, Janet, Freud et al). The Sleeping Beauties is from a different perspective really, when she was looking at unusual neurological phenomena around the world.

I didn’t realise she’s written a 3rd book, Brainstorm, about epilepsy. I’ll keep an eye out for that now.

I enjoyed Sleeping Beauties so have now bought It's all in your head - thanks for the rec. I didn't realise they were the same writer.

I thought Sleeping Beauties was fascinating. I'd love to know her take on the apparent 'contagion' of Tourettes in teenage girls. It seems like a chapter for her book.

Just checking in while reading Insomnia as my latest in the King rereads. Actually really enjoying this compared to some others and wishing work was a bit less busy and I could devote more time to it. I think it will race to a crescendo at the end so must time that right!

Sorry to hear you've been so poorly Eine and others who are ill and having ops. Wishing good health to you all.

Just checking in. I've got Covid, not too badly fortunately so have been reading, but nothing particularly taxing. I won't bother listing my 2 days of Heyer re-reads (other than to note that Cotillion is still the best cure for feeling dreadful that I know of), but otherwise:

61 Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
Very late to the party on this one, but as I've watched the TV version it made ideal zero effort reading. I thought the ending of the book better than the series.

62 Lost Connections by Johann Hari
Interesting examination of the (relative lack of) evidence for a purely chemical understanding of depression & anxiety, the factors within modern lifestyles that contribute, and non-medical interventions that can assist.

63 Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken
Thanks for recommendation Remus - I think I had read this before, but agree it definitely withstood revisiting.

64 The Wild Life by John Lewis Stempel
The farming/wildlife author tackles a crisis in his life by deciding to spend a year eating only wild food foraged on his 40 acre farm. I probably wouldn't recommend this to vegetarians as there's an awful lot of shooting with rabbit being his default option when nothing else is available. It's much less joyful than his other books, with the challenge of remaining fed taking up most of his time and energy (I couldn't help feeling that his family are very long-suffering).

@Terpsichore that’s great to know, I’ll definitely add her others to my list then thank you