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 really loved both After the Party and Exposure!

40. Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare. Lena Aldridge is a cabaret singer fleeing the scene of a murder she may be a suspect in. She ends up on an ocean liner bound for New York and a new life as a Broadway actress, but her fellow passengers start dying in suspicious circumstances as well.

I bought this in the kindle deals because it sounded fun and I liked Louise Hare's first book, This Lovely City, but it just didn't work for me. Very little characterisation, the murder mystery petered out towards the end, and I was really plodding through it which is rare for a whodunnit. I hope her next book is more of a return to form.

@IsFuzzyBeagMise I read After the Party last year, I agree with your view that it's hard to like Phyllis, she came across as quite weak and unable to stand up for herself, although we're obviously meant to sympathise with her. I'm not sure how accurate the whole storyline is, but I was shocked how easily so many people were imprisoned for so many years without any real judicial process, and also the prison conditions were deeply shocking, if accurate

I read Exposure a few years back and loved it. It made me want to read more of Dunmore’s work but I don’t think I actually have (brain fog at the moment so may well have forgotten one). I’ve a few lined up on kindle though.

Another couple finished for me ..

36 We Were Liars E Lockheart
This came up on my BorrowBox reserves and I dutifully started reading, but can’t really think why I reserved it or what I thought it was when I did so. It was way more YA than I was expecting, which I’m not averse to. I thought it was a bit overdone and silly in parts, the reasoning behind the big dramatic event just didn’t hold up for me, and it was very cliched. That said, it was a right old page turner and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

37 Jane Fairfax Joan Aiken
I really need to start keeping a note of who from this thread recommended things, specifically to thank them. I really enjoyed this companion piece to Austen’s Emma and it did go some way to reconciling me to Frank Churchill who I always found a less than sympathetic character.

I absolutely agree @satelliteheart It was shocking and it was the first I heard of it, presuming it actually happened. I looked up Mosley and the movement and internment was mentioned.

I think I was possibly being hard on Phyllis feeling sorry for herself. She had good cause really! It lasted for years and they never recovered after it. No wonder she became embittered. She's still not likeable though!

It is a clever book in that you have to read between the lines and it was an interesting perspective on those years taken from an oblique angle.

@AliasGrape I think it was me re the Jane Fairfax, but only because somebody on here who I have forgotten recommended Lady Catherine's Necklace a while back. Glad you enjoyed it.

Well thanks Remus it was just what I was in the mood for! I shall look for Lady Catherine’s Necklace too.

56. The Children of Jocasta - Natalie Haynes

The story of Jocasta and her children which starts on Jocasta’s wedding day and cuts between her life and those of her children: Polyn, Eteo, Ani (Antigone) and Ismene. The children’s story is told by Ismene. Oedipus does not make an appearance until quite well through the book and I liked the fact that Jocasta was the focus of the book.

I enjoyed this even though it cut between two timelines (which I often find annoying) and felt it gave a really good sense of Thebes and the royal palace.

I have previously read A Thousand Ships by the same author but having read it at much the same time as Women of Troy I can’t remember which was which and my view on it - and, of course, I can’t find my review because of the rubbish search functionality.

57. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

I have had this on my Kindle for ages and put off reading it as I had read some really negative reviews (not necessarily on this thread). A Little Life is the story of Jude: mathematician, lawyer, talented singer, great cook and very damaged by his abusive childhood which he has kept to himself as he wants to fit in. Key to the story are his three college friends: William (an aspiring actor), Malcolm (an aspiring architect) and JB (an artist). The book follows the stories of the four men from college through the early years of struggling careers to their later successes as they become middle-aged. Jude’s childhood is told in flashbacks as nightmares or as he finally talks about his experiences.

Whilst the book certainly has more than it’s fair share of difficult sections (abuse and self-harm), it is also quite uplifting in the loyalty of the friends to one another and the portrayal of relationships.

I found it gripping but sad and it should probably come with a health warning as some parts are quite harrowing.

Next read will definitely be something lighter!

I love Helen Dunmore. I think Exposure is probably my favourite but really rate her Russian books The Seige and Betrayal too.

49. The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak. This is set in Cyprus and London and has two parallel stories. In modern day, teenage Ada whose mother died a year ago, tries to come to terms with her death, teenage life and find out more about her family. In the past, her parents Greek Kostas and Turkish Defne fall in love in Cyprus at a time of civil wear and unrest. Oh there's also a fig tree that narrates quite a bit of it. I didn't really know much about Cyprus beyond the superficial so it was interesting from that perspective and I quite liked the tree's chapters and descriptions of eco-systems, but I felt the whole book wore it's history a bit heavily sand the story didn't quite carry it along. I didn't get a strong attachment to or opinion of any of the protagonists.

50. Nightbitch - Rachel Yoder. An unnamed mother of a young child is struggling to cope with motherhood, loss of her art career and isolation of being a SAHM. She discovers strange patches of hair, her teeth seem to look more canine and she seems to be growing a tail. This was quite crazy and kind of fun. The bits about mothers and fathers and career loss were pretty familiar, and sometimes a bit lecturer, but the bit about the dog, we never find out why this is happening, and her suburban life and how it all pans out were very original, if a bit unconvincing. Would be interested in others views on this although could see people hating it.

bibliomania I also have a copy of The Corner that Held Them that I started years ago, haven’t officially given up on but somehow haven’t picked up for years.

I have a bookmark still marking the spot so maybe one day, Cornish ...

20. The Saturday Big Tent WeddingParty
21. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
22. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon
23. The Handsome Man's De Luxe Café More of the ladies detective agency by Alexander Mccall Smith. I'm really enjoying these books and they've definitely helped with my reading slump. Would argue that the later entries are definitely more for fans as they focus on the characters and their interactions rather than the cases.

24 That's your own time your wasting Adam and Lee Parkinson. This is their second book about working in a school. A very easy and funny read this time focusing on the funny stories they have heard or experienced that have taken place in school. I would definitely recommend this as a light read if you work in a school as found myself laughing out loud.

I'm super excited as I'm 1 book away from my 25 target... First time in 4 years! I'm going to have to extend it which is lovely tbh.

Next read 25. The woman who walked in sunshine Alexander Mccall Smith.

Sending unmumsnetty hugs to all who need them.

20. Early Morning Riser - Katherine Heiny
Loved it. This was just what I was in the mood for. A somewhat unconventional family who grow together through moments of joy and moments of sadness. This is the second book of Heiny's that I've read and will definitely look out for more.

A few to catch up on.

I’m a confirmed fan of Sarah Moss’ since reading Summerwater earlier this year and am now catching up on her earlier books. My latest are Bodies of Light and Night Waking.

Whilst I really enjoyed both, I didn’t think they were up there with Names for the Sea (non-fic Iceland memoir), The Fell or Summerwater. They are both longer than the latter two novels and don’t use the stream of consciousness style.

Bodies of Light is historical; we meet Elizabeth, her puritanical mother and her fiancé in Victorian Manchester. The wedding, honeymoon, and birth of Ally, the first of 2 daughters, are covered in the first couple of chapters, allowing us to see how Elizabeth’s fanatical austerity has been formed by her own upbringing. We then spend the rest of the book with Ally as she grows up under this righteous mother who shoots down any joy as if by reflex, and internalises the views of her mother. It is certainly not unrelieved - both Elizabeth’s sister and Ally’s escape this joyless cycle, and the father is decent. Ally’s mother does laudable social and campaigning work and the book is thought provoking about the line between doing good and do-gooding. Ally herself escapes to train as one of the first female doctors, and we see the resistance the women encounter from men.

Night Waking is mainly contemporary, though there are sections where we read historical letters and the main character is prompted by events to research the history of the island. Via the letters, there is an intersection with Bodies of Light, though the novels are stand-alone (actually Night Waking is the earlier, I read them out of order). Anna is an academic who has followed her husband to a (actually ‘his’, as the ancestral heir) remote Scottish island so that he can observe puffins while she struggles to raise two small children. I preferred this to Bodies of Light, though I found it rather over-long, as there is sharp comedy about the exhausting and frustrating experience of being the main carer for small children and fearing for your career. As well as the comedy though there is also environmental and social-injustice guilt and the book sent me googling a couple of fascinating but very sad topics.

I wouldn’t recommend either as a first Sarah Moss, but they are still excellent books and I enjoy her tone, themes and sensibilities.

My holiday read was Susie Steiner’s Persons Unknown. This was the second Manon Bradshaw, thanks again Welshwabbit, and as in the first I enjoyed the mystery, and the characters and their relationships, as Manon encounters a case that falls close to home.

To Calais In Ordinary Time: James Meek

This was another loan from the library. I'm not counting this on my list as I didn't read it properly; I skimmed it through. I was just wondering if anyone else came across it. It came out in September 2019.

The blurb sounded good and it's recommended by Hilary Mantel. Various travellers are going across to Calais from England during the time of the black death.

I found it hard to read. It's written in a kind of pseudo middle English which takes time to decipher and it jumps from one narrator to the other without having established who any of the characters are. There are also some really crude sex scenes that made me think of the book as a medieval fifty shades of grey.

It seemed to settle down in the last third into a coherent narrative and describe what the story was all about, the plague, but that was very late in the day. I'm afraid I was muttering 'pyle of shyte' all the way through.

Laughing at "Pyle of shyte". Yes, I attempted that book but abandoned it. It wasn't working for me.

Oh good. Not just me then!

'His height was at a default, but he had puissant shoulders'.

That was on the first page and I was 🙄

Definitely not just you! I've read two other novels this year featuring a medieval religious setting, Hurdy Gurdy and Matrix and found them more accessible reads. I don't want to work that hard unless there's a bigger reward.

Very true. Thanks! I'll look them up.

I think Pilgrims by Matthew Neale also had good reviews on here, but I haven't got round to reading it myself yet,

I only gave it a couple of pages. I think from the review I’d expected something similar to English Passengers, which I loved, but I didn’t take to it and it came as a massive library hardback which didn’t help.

(the Calais one that is, I haven’t read Pilgrims).

@IsFuzzyBeagMise - definitely not you. I read To Calais in Ordinary Time last year and counted it as one of my low points! This was my review at the time:

“OMG this was hard work. I have never read anything by this author before and certainly won’t be attempting another.

It’s set in the time of Edward III and the English are fighting the French and it’s the time of plague. I like historical fiction so this seemed right up my street. The story follows a band of bowmen/archers as they walk from the Cotswolds to Dorset to catch their boat to France. They are joined by a proctor who is seeking to rejoin his abbey in Avignon and the Lady Bernadine who has run away from home to avoid marriage to an elderly man and to seek the knight who the archers serve. The story is told variously by one of the bowmen (Will), the proctor (Thomas) and Lady Bernadine. All sounds promising until I tell you that it’s written in contemporaneous (or a vague stab at contemporaneous) English so Middle English (adjusted to reflect class and educational distinctions). Just so painful and too many bowmen/archers for me to remember (or care) who was who. Don’t bother unless you’ve got insomnia. It’s not even a long book and it took me 10 days to get through it…..”

Well done for making it through @TimeforaGandT ! Good review too.
I did a search here but nothing came up
I read some reviews on Good Reads where the majority praised it and I wondered.

Thanks Maud for mentioning Pilgrams.

My second holiday read was The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett. I liked the ingenuity of her first book where I felt individual voices came though strongly and wittily. This one is nearly entirely voice notes recorded on to a phone and wears thin after a short time. The homage to Enid Blyton was laboured as was the unreliable narrator trope to be honest. Easy enough to get through but I just didn't care enough and lost the thread of the two stories from the past several times. The ending was obvious to me, but I still felt cheated.

I am DNFing so many things I thought I would like. The Twyford Code is one. I liked the first of her books. Richard Coles - Murder before Evensong is another and I like his non fiction writing. Several Poirots remain unfinished, etc. etc. Nothing exactly challenging. I did finish a couple of Jane Fallon books which were enjoyable.
There’s not even anything wrong. I think I have just lost patience.