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?

And here are my comments on the last of those:

47 Just William - Richmal Crompton Having previously only read the 14th in the series (picked up at a jumble sale decades ago and recently read to my DDs), I got the first book for the DDs. It was as you would expect - fun stories where William and his friends are struggling to give priority to the important things (dogs, sweets, getting dirty...) while the adults around them try to make them sit still and be polite to visitors. It was not as hilarious as the one I had previously read so I expect Crompton's style improves over the series, but still very good and the DDs really enjoyed it.

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
This Much is True, Miriam Margoyles
A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson
The Adventures of China Iron, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara tr. Iona Maintyre
Shadowghast, Thomas Taylor (children's fiction)
Lady Macbeth of Mtensk & Other Stories, Nikolai Leskov tr. David McDuff
Madonna in a Fur Coat, Sabahattin Ali tr. Maureen Freely, Alex Dawe
Who Is Maud Dixon?, Alexandra Andrews
Riders, Jilly Cooper (guilty pleasure this one)
My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell
The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker
The Island Home, Libby Page
Bollywood: A History, Mihir Bose
The Unexpected Tale of Bastien Bon Livre, Clare Povey (children's fiction)
Memed, My Hawk, Yaşar Kemal tr. Édouard Roditi
A Family Affair, Mary Campisi
Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford

Thank you southeast!

I have just finished When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. A the tile suggested, it is a very thinly veiled feminist allegory about oppression , denial and freedom. It is set in the 1950s, so also during UnAmerican Activities ear which is also relevant. Basically, there is mass dragoning and everyone loses their mothers, wives, lover, daughters and then they all try to forget it or deny it. Then it happens again. It's good and well written, certainly at first. Barnhill is a YA author , transitioning to adult literature and I think this shows in a slightly preachy narrative and in the plotting. The last 100 pages drag a bit. It is not quite sure of its dragon metaphor - which seems to largely be about women, but sometimes lesbians, always ambitious women, some references to race and socialism and definitely a few reference to gender transition (sorry MN...) so it can get a bit muddled . It even turns a bit Rhinceros at one point!

But for all that, I did think it was very accomplished . It also has a beauty of a cover which sucks me in every time.

1 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
2 Kirstin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset. Translated by Tiina Nunnally
3 Esther's Notebooks 1. Tales from my ten-year-old life by Riad Sattouf. Translated by Sam Taylor
4 Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami. Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd
5 Esther's Notebooks 2. Tales from my eleven-year-old life by Riad Sattouf. Translated by Sam Taylor
6 Esther's Notebooks 3. Tales from my twelve-year-old life by Riad Sattouf. Translated by Sam Taylor
7 Oldladyvoice by Elisa Victoria. Translated by Charlotte Whittle
8 Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans
9 Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov. Translated by George Bird
10 The Instant by Amy Liptrot
11 The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga
12 Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
13 The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett
14 The House with the Stained Glass Window by Żanna Słoniowska. Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
15 Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro. Translated by Frances Riddle
16 Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft
17 The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili. Translated by Elizabeth Heighway
18 Love after Love by Ingrid Persaud
19 Alexa, what is there to know about love? by Brian Bilston
20 Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov. Translated by Boris Dralyuk
21 The Owl Service by Alan Garner
22 The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
23 My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Translated by Ann Goldstein

Currently reading Morvern Callar by Alan Warner which is set in a small Scottish port in the mid 90s and so is reminding me of my youth when I had a summer job in a pub in exactly this kind of place and knew people very like Morvern.

There's a Lynne Ramsay film of Morvern Callar. It's an acquired taste but I liked it.

In case anyone is interested, Diana Athill's memoir Stet is 99p at the moment. It's been on my wishlist for ages.

49: An Awfully Big Adventure - Beryl Bainbridge

In 1950, teenage Stella, moody and histrionic, is offered a job as assistant stage manager at Liverpool's repertory theatre, and is swept into a new, confusing, and thrilling world - to the anxiety of her family at the Aber House Hotel. Soon she’s yearningly in love with the company's enigmatic director, Meredith, and trying to navigate backstage situations and relationships that don’t quite seem to add up. Finally a Christmas production of 'Peter Pan' brings things to a dramatic head.

Classic Bainbridge, this; a slim novel (drawn from the author's own experience as a young actress) that says a lot in a small space. Often very funny whilst also unflinchingly bleak, and especially resonant for me because I know Liverpool well and could visualise the scene on every page.

Thanks for the new thread! Here's my list so far for placemarking:

1.	Rizzio by Denise Mina
2.	Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
3.	Magpie by Elizabeth Day
4.	Why Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma Matter by Amy Brown
5.	Luster by Raven Leilani
6.	The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
7.	The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
8.	<strong>Matrix by Lauren Groff</strong>
9.	The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
10.	Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly
11.	The Turnout by Megan Abbott
12.	<strong>Still Life by Sarah Winman</strong>
13.	Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
14.	<strong>Long Bright River by Liz Moore</strong>
15.	The Cutting Season by Atticka Locke
16.	<strong>Unsettled Ground by Clare Fuller</strong>
17.	<strong>Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson</strong>
18.	Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades
19.	True Crime Story by Joseph Knox
20.	Learning to Swim by Clare Chambers
21.	Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan 
22.	Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
23.	<strong>The Sealwoman&rsquo;s Gift by Sally Magnusson</strong>
24.	Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
25.	Love Marriage by Monica Ali
26.	<strong>Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy</strong>
27.	Broken Harbour by Tana French
28.	The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson 
29.	Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
30.	Different Class by Joanne Harris
31.	The Narrow Door by Joanne Harris 
32.	Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
33.	Book Lovers by Emily Henry
34.	Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson 
35.	You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty - Akwaeke Emezi

Thanks for the new thread!

39. Zippy and Me - Ronnie Le Drew

Thank you to whoever reviewed this in the last thread. I loved it! I was a huge fan of Rainbow as a pre-schooler, and puppetry in general even now. The memoir of one of the UK's most respected puppeteers, the book tells of life behind/below the puppet with fascinating stories of behind the scenes antics, the hard work that goes into producing a performance for stage or screen, encounters with cinematic legends and the drawbacks of his profession. Definitely recommended.

that was me RomanMum, glad to have provided a good recommendation for you!

Thanks South!

32. Coasting: Running Around The Coast of Britain by Elise Downing

Picked up for 99p as I am a sucker for random person having an adventure books and it's the perfect daydream as my illness has turned out to be COVID so I'll be at home on the sofa for a while yet.

Elise is bored and out of almost nowhere she quits her job to run around the coast Britain. She does so little planning I nearly have a heart attack on her behalf and she can't read a map (which she admits is stupid). She also doesn't run much. However she is resourceful and pretty determined and just gets on with it, trying to leave her preconceived ideas of what it means to be an adventurer behind.

A decade ago I was convinced I wanted to do adventures like this, I just needed some money. Having (sadly) come into a small inheritance I can now tell you it's my dislike of the cold, wet and being out in it that is holding me back. I'm certain I don't want to do a 10 month escapade like this.

However the thought is still there that I very much want to do something... so maybe while I am sitting on the sofa waiting to test negative I can give that some thought.

I'd recommend the book if you like this sort of thing!
**

Excellent review RazorStorm there's a lot of that in all of us!!
Hope you feel better soon - but feel free to keep us updated with any adventurous reads in the meantime.

16. Diary of a bookseller – Shaun Bythell This has been a perfect audible companion for me as I rush around trying to deliver my children to all-the-end-of-term-shenanigans whilst fulfilling my work commitments. Bite-size pieces of book banter. Very pleasant!

@Terpsichore love Beryl Bainbridge so much. There's a good film of An Awfully Big Adventure with Hugh Grant as Meredith. I saw it after I'd read then forgotten the story then remembered the ending about half way through 🙄

@JaninaDuszejko I haven’t seen the film but I’d really like to. I also have the biog of Beryl Bainbridge on the tbr pile, which I must get round to soon!

Thanks for the list @Southeastdweller !

Halfway through the year and I'm past 40 books - that's more than my total for the last couple of years!

Currently got three on the go : still on Bob Stanley's fabulous Let's Do It: The Birth Of Pop, plus Erik Larson's The Devil And The White City and, on Audible, Command And Control, a history of nuclear weapons by Eric Schlosser.

I seem to have more or less given up on fiction this year. I'm finding it really hard to find the quality of writing I need to get into a novel.

Razorstorm I always thought it was time holding me back from things - not things like running around Britain, but things like maybe learning a language or practising musical instruments more. However I learnt during lockdown that the real reason I don’t do these things is either laziness or really that deep down I don’t really want to. I had loads of time during lockdown and yet I still didn’t do these things. Maybe once I retire and I really have lots of time……

38. Remain Silent by Susie Steiner

The last Manon Bradshaw book, which I'd been saving (I now rather wish I had read it before Susie Steiner died). An up to the minute plot about migrant workers Cambridgeshire and all the attendant tensions is fine but isn't the main point, for me anyway. Manon Bradshaw is a masterly creation, trying and failing to juggle life and friends and kids and work and keeping the show on the road. There have been various points in all three of these books where I've felt as though Steiner has somehow got inside my head and is writing out my thoughts, just rather more eloquently than I manage. I think it was CS Lewis who said we read to know we're not alone - well, Steiner's death has made my reading life that little bit lonelier.

Yes, I discovered something similar during lockdown! In my case it was related to the tidiness of my house

However, I've always thought I would exercise more if I had more time and that turned out to be true.

I loved that book but I couldn't explain why!

I've just finished Souvenirs of Kyiv and can recommend it.

Hello all. I’ve been MIA as I’m on a university course (work related) that I’m effectively completing in my “spare” time, so reading has been squeezed out rather. At this pace I'll be lucky to finish 30 books, never mind 50! Roll on final submissions in mid-August. I did treat myself today by leaving the boring texts behind and taking an Agatha Christie out while waiting for DC2 between drop-offs.

1. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

1. Merivel by Rose Tremain
2. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
3. How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
4. The Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff

6. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

1. When Will There be Good News by Kate Atkinson
2. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
3. Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene

10. Pompeii by Robert Harris 11. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson 12.Big Sky by Kate Atkinson 13 The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox 14 The Fell by Sarah Moss 15. The Foundling by Stacey Halls

And I’ve just finished 16. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Classic Christie with a country house murder, rogues and hidden identities aplenty, and everyone’s favourite Belgian (Kevin De Bruyne aside) getting to the bottom of things. I liked the twist, which I anticipated not so early as to ruin the fun, but early enough that it made me hungry for the reveal.

In The End It Was All About Love by Musa Okwonga

One of Them by the same author was one of my standout reads last year. This follows his move to Berlin where issues from his past continue to haunt him, particularly with regards race, and become more pressing as he approaches the age when his father was killed. I really like MO's writing, which is deceptively simple. This could be read on its own, but I think probably best read as a follow-on from One of Them for a more in-depth understanding.

Apricots on the Nile by Colette Rossant This was a recommendation from several threads ago (Terpsichore I think) for which many thanks. CR's memoir about growing up among her paternal Egyptian-Jewish relatives in Cairo during World War II (her French mother had essentially abandoned her, taking her brother back to France, although she does reappear at intervals), including recipes for some of the dishes she reminisces about. I really enjoyed this and have just bought the sequel Return to Paris.

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake A mind-blowing investigation into fungi and its importance to life on earth. I studied Zoology at university (many, many years ago) as I had found plants rather boring. More recently so much has been discovered about fungi (and that they are not plants!), as described in this wonderful book, that I could well imagine choosing mycology today. Fascinating stuff if you like this sort of thing.

Glad you enjoyed Apricots on the Nile, @Boiledeggandtoast!

58 Shadowlands by Matthew Green
Reviewed by Biblio on the previous thread - the author visits eight now abandoned locations across Britain, from the prehistoric dwellings of Skara Brae to settlements abandoned in the modern era.

I felt some parts were rather over-written, but on the whole I enjoyed this. I found the chapter about Capel Celyn the most affecting. Although I knew the history of the flooding of the Tryweryn valley to provide water to Liverpool (the origin of the 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' slogan that has become linked with Welsh nationalism) Green really brings the story & the fight to save the valley to life.