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?

Thank you Terpsichore! It’s great, so interesting on such a range of topics. I love how it shows how many strands there are to the history of any one place - how forces both huge/ global/ national and also small and personal all go into shaping that one building/institution.

Checking in.

Well done to all of you who've hit your 50. I've nearly hit 30 which I'm incredibly proud of although am slowing down since going back to work.

Currently reading Power of Geography by Tim Marshall and finding it interesting but slow going read. Definitely glad to understand a little more of geopolitics as previously would say I had no idea.

I also tend to slow down with non fiction as I like to ponder it so this one might take a while.

107. The Rising Tide, Ann Cleeves
The latest Vera - murder on Holy Island with a group of old friends in to the frame. Competently done, good misdirection.

108. O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker Lord, I loved this - probably my favourite book of the year. A big thanks to Boiledegg and everyone else who mentioned it. A girl grows up loving books and animals, her family not so much. It's Gothic and funny and beautiful and unsentimental and a rattling good read.

@DameHelena,I have read both The Manningtree Witches and Love is Blind (having previously read Any Human Heart) and wholeheartedly agree with your reviews.

Adding my recent reads:

62. The Night Manager - John Le Carre

Watched the BBC adaptation when it came out so thought I would read the book. For those who have not read it/watched it - do. Jonathan Pine (formerly in the army) is a night manager at smart hotels (first in Egypt and then Switzerland) which brings him into contact with Richard Roper, arms dealer. Jonathan is not able to forgive Roper for his actions and offers his help to the British security services.
I was interested to see how the television adaptation differed from the book - fairly faithful in terms of plot but differs in terms of when and where it’s set. Very good.

63. They Came to Baghdad - Agatha Christie

The latest Agatha Christie challenge book. A chance encounter by Victoria Jones in London with a young man on a park bench leads her to follow him to Baghdad. She is soon embroiled in a murder when a fleeing man dies in her hotel room. The dead man was working for the security services and, having already concealed the fleeing man, Victoria agrees to help them. Some elements of this seemed quite similar to Murder in Mesopotamia. As I always say, I am a traditionalist and this wasn’t for me.

64. Shattered - Dick Francis

My lengthy Dick Francis re-read continues. The protagonist in this book is Gerard, a glass-blower who is best friends with, Bill, a jockey. Bill dies in a race at the beginning of the book but leaves a secret which he was entrusting to Gerard and which leads to threats, theft, violence and death. Whilst there is minimal racing content (my regular gripe) this is a page turner.

65. Under Orders - Dick Francis

Stressful time at work meant I did another easy read. Sid Halley returns. A day at the races and a murdered jockey, some potential race-fixing and concerns about an online gambling company. Are they all connected? Very comforting to be back with Sid and his father-in-law, Charles. There is also more racing content so an enjoyable read for me.

40. Irrepressible: the life and times of Jessica Mitford by Leslie Brody

I've got stuck again with a (very good) novel, so have distracted myself with a chunk of Mitfordiana. This book finishes brilliantly - when Brody is released from repeating Mitford's autobiographical stories but without the wit, her writing improves 100%. It also benefits from being generally though not thoughtlessly affectionate towards its subject. I don't think it achieves what the subtitle suggests it does - none of the Mitford sisters in my view typifies or illuminates that much about their times. I'm perhaps more critical than I should be because Brody is dismissive of my two favourite Jessica Mitford books - A Fine Old Conflict and The Making of a Muckraker. I am particularly p'd off about that because she ransacks both books for her own telling.

I’ve been keeping up with reading the thread, but very behind with my reviews, so here are some.

The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak
A tragic but compelling story of divided Cyprus. I rather liked the fig tree as a first-person narrator, perhaps because I don’t know what a fig tree would sound like, whereas Shafak’s human characters often don’t sound like any people I’ve ever met. I feel it’s a bit mean to say this, but I’m not sure Shafak’s English is quite good enough to live up to her literary ambitions.

The Golden Thread - Kassia St Clair
Thirteen stories from the history of fabric. Mostly very interesting, but necessarily rather episodic. Probably would work better as a radio series I suspect.

Gloucester: Recreating the Past - Philip Moss and Andrew Armstrong
I bought this as a gift for a friend with Gloucester connections, but read it first. A series of historical reconstruction drawings by Moss, with commentary. A lot of gut-wrenching stories of Roman mosaics destroyed to expand the cellar of Boots, for example.

Husband Material - Alexis Hall
Second of a romcom trilogy (the first part was a fake boyfriends story), this one borrowing the structure of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. A lot of humour and feels, but too much manufactured conflict in the central relationship to keep us going until the resolution in the final part.

The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki
After the tragic accidental death of a jazz musician, his wife and teenage son try to cope with their grief in a west-coast city. Brilliant, compassionate, original; a passionate defence of books and the power of stories; a searing but strangely joyous portrait of consumerism and our relationship with things. I really can’t do it justice.

The Road to Lichfield - Penelope Lively
Read for the Rather Dated Book Club. Only dated in the sense that it was written in about 1975. Beautifully understated writing, with a quietly devastating final scene.

Hilo Book 8: Gina and the Big Secret by Judd Winick

Graphic novel from a series my 10yo DS has reread so many times the first three books have fallen apart. The series started with a boy who fell to earth. That story finished in book 6 and now the focus has moved to Gina who discovered she had magical powers after travelling to another dimension but has accidentally changed the history of the world so it's ruled by magical creatures, so now they have to work out how to get back to the old world. Child friendly jokes and an ethnically diverse cast make this series very popular in this house. Great fun.

This sounds intriguing Remus, and it happens to be 99p on kindle so... it would be rude not to. (Cue me not reading it for another 6 years)

I am in a holiday cottage in rural Herefordshire. It has the most amazing selection of books. All my teenage reading. Dick Francis, James Herriot, John Wyndham, Judith Krantz, Jilly Cooper, Arthur Hailey, Wilbur Smith, Jacqueline Susann and more. I want to take it all home. I’m still plodding on with Ink Black Heart however.

bibliomania I'm so glad you enjoyed O Caledonia too.

Definitely worth a shot for 99p, although Dreamland is a superior beast imo.

Thank you for the recommendations, everyone! I think I have to buy O Caledonia ASAP. I mean, I NEED it. 😁 I've also added Our Lady of the Nile, Augustown and The Road to Lichfield to my TBR list.

BestIsWest, I love it when there is a good selection of books in a holiday cottage! Lucky you, enjoy!

@eitak22 i wonder if sharing a geopolitics blog link is ok here ?

TimeforaGandT I haven't read the book, but I loved the BBC adaptation of The Night Manager. Brilliantly cast.

A couple of years ago, after reading Square Haunting, there was a brief discussion on here about the Imagist poet HD. Just in case anyone is interested, here is a link to a programme about HD and Amy Lowell broadcast on Radio 4 earlier today. As a bonus, Fiona Benson is a contributor.

Oops, sorry, forgot the link:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001c67q

Just abandoned Black Drop by Leonora Nattrass which was recommended to me, but which is really badly written.

Tarahumara - I might be watching the BBC adaptation again (halfway through!). The adaptation is very faithful to the book in terms of characterisation - the turns of phrase etc are faithfully replicated.

29. Luster by Raven Leilani

A troubled young woman has become the current conquest of a man in an open marriage. Down on her luck, she turns to the couple for help and moves in with them temporarily.

I didn't find the plot particularly believable, but I will look out for this writer in the future because I really liked some of the prose writing, particularly the human observations

30. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

40 women are under guard in a cage and have been for many years. They have all but given up hope when an alarm sounds.

This is a quietly emotive dystopian nightmare. My main criticism is a massive spoiler so I'll have to leave it there.

I am contemplating DNFing Ducks, Newburyport, it is waffle, no?

Eine - I absolutely LOVED Ducks, Newburyport (I think it might make it into my top 10 books ever), but if you're not enjoying it then it is quite a long investment of your time!

I'm 9 hours or so in, audiobook, and she has just ranted about the film Julie & Julia and gone on to sing The French National Anthem.

And I'm just like...Why?

I get it, as a stylistic approach/concept but I don't know if I can do 36 more hours

Hmm. I can’t quite picture how it would work as an audiobook!

Tara it was marvellous as an audiobook, almost hypnotic and poetic. The narrator did an amazing job.

Eine I absolutely loved the book, another who would put it in my all time greats. It is whimsy woven with wisdom, serious musings in with the mundane.

However if you don't feel the love then at 9 hours in, you've a long way to go.

Speaking about bloody long. On Troubled Blood I thought it must be ready to wrap up, but no, 5 hours left.

I finished The Library Book - Susan Orleans which I’ve discussed above, and was well reviewed by Terpsichore so won’t say too much more. I really enjoyed this, it took me a long time to get through because I read non-fiction much more slowly for some reason, but it was a really interesting history of the LA Library fire, that library itself, libraries in general and any number of other fascinating tangents and diversions.

I also listened to My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell which somehow I’d never read before. Enjoyed this, quite charming although the poor bloody creatures being constantly taken from their homes and interfered with. Will definitely get round to the others at some point.

They were 40 and 41.

I’ve now moved onto Troubled Blood which has been sat on my kindle a long time. I’m enjoying it fine so far, with the usual caveats about she could do with tightening things up and a bloody good edit. I’m not very far in yet though. I think I’m quite invested in Strike and Robin (not particularly in a romantic sense, just as characters) and that carries me through a lot.

I'm not sure about Ducks, Newburyport as an audio book. I zone in and out with audio books and although Ducks meanders, there is just enough plot dropped in to mean I'd almost certainly have missed the relevant bits. I loved it too, so much I read it twice which is really unusual for me. But you have to just go with it, I think, and enjoy the discursive nature.

If you're not feeling it at this point, Eine, I'm not sure that's going to change!