50 Books Challenge 2022 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh and (and probably) final 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, and even though it's late in the year, it’s not too late to join. Please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

How have you got on this year?

Just totted up and 22/64 of my books were fiction this year. Out of those, only one (Bomber by Len Deighton) is in my top ten reads for the year - I also find good genre fiction more likely to hit the spot than today's "literary" fiction.

66. The Long Call by Ann Cleves. My first book by Ann Cleves though lots of people have recommended her to me. I don't read loads of detective fiction but really enjoyed this. I had genuinely no idea what the solution might be until about 85% of the way through which seems like the mark of a good crime novel!

About to embark on Winter Solstice, a day late.

Oh that's good news @MegBusset as I believe Bomber is coming my way for Christmas. Good idea about Backlisted and will take a look at Harry August too.

Some brilliant ideas thanks @SolInvictus

I don’t think I’m as widely read (or nearly as discerning) as many of the readers here but I too have struggled to be impressed by much this year. I do find fiction far easier to read than non fiction but I agree it seems harder to find things I love these days.

It’s not even like I’m reading the most recent stuff, I’m usually a good few years out of date!

A couple of doorstops for my list (and just getting to the magic 50 in time for the end of the year):

50 The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters by Charlotte Mosley. I like biographies and have read the odd diary, but as far as I can remember this is the first collection of letters I've ever read. The wonderful thing is how strongly the individual characters and "voices" of each of the sisters comes through. I really enjoyed this - recommended for Mitford fans.

51 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I've been meaning to read this for years so I took the opportunity of joining the readalong on here. I can see why it's a classic, and it's really interesting how many of the observations made in a book written in the 1860s are still completely relevant today. I guess it shows that people don't really change! I'm very glad to have read it, but not gonna lie (as my kids would say) I did find it a slog at times.

A quick recommendation for anyone looking for a book gift for a music lover - I'm only part way through & listening on Audible but The Islander by Chris Blackwell (founder of Island Records) is an absolute delight & I'm sure will be one of my books of the year.

106 Say What You Mean A Mindful Approach to Non-Violent Communication by Oren Sofer
Gentle and useful combination of mindfulness & NVC. I've got this on audio, & listened while I was working, so really need to work back through when I have time to stop & do the various exercises in the book. Definitely helpful for anyone who like me finds the principles of NVC useful, but struggles to stop & apply them in the moment.

107 Again Rachel by Marian Keyes
I only read the original book earlier this year when people were talking about the sequel on this thread, so I'm not a longstanding fan. I really liked meeting Rachel again in this update, perhaps more than the original - maybe because she's now middle aged, but also I particularly enjoyed the work sections.

Thanks for the recommendation of The Islander, @sadik I spent part of my honeymoon at Chris Blackwell's hotels in Jamaica and we swam in the pool at his house - he was away and someone very kindly directed us to through to his garden. He arrived next day by helicopter and the gate was very much shut after that.

64, Dead Famous - Greg Jenner

A history of celebrity, looking at what makes one and the different aspects of what it means to be one. Many well-researched examples from across history but mostly from the 18th century onwards when the concept of celebrity really hit its stride. Nice tone; I could see it working as an audiobook (perhaps it is one already?).

Totally fallen off the thread so posting my list here to bookmark (sorry to those who hate lists!)

1. Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

1. Diary of an MP’s Wife – Sasha Swire
2. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister
3. Buried in Secret – Viveca Sten
4. Truth And Beauty – Ann Patchett
5. Material Girls – Kathleen Stock
6. 1979 – Val McDermid
7. Mrs Hemingway – Naomi Wood
8. Mort – Terry Pratchett

10. Scrublands – Chris Hammer 11. The Other Americans – Laila Lalami 12. The Magician’s Assistant – Ann Patchett 13. Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett 14. Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett 15. The Greengage Summer – Rumer Godden 16. The Pull of the Stars – Emma Donoghue 17. Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf 18. Square Haunting – Francesca Wade 19. Strange Hotel – Eimear McBride 20. Don’t Ask Me Why – Tania Kindersley 21. The White Album – Joan Didion 22. The Long Call – Ann Cleeves 23. The Heron’s Cry – Ann Cleeves 24. The Women in Black – Madeleine St John 25. South Riding - Winifred Holtby 26. A Narrow Door – Joanne Harris 27. An Unsuitable Match – Joanna Trollope 28. Taft – Ann Patchett 29. Again, Rachel – Marian Keyes 30. Slow Horses - Mick Herron 31. The Decagon House Murders – Yukito Ayatsuji 32. The Searcher – Tana French 33. The Patron Saint of Liars – Ann Patchett 34. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café – Fannie Flagg 35. Two Heads – Uta, Chris and Alex Frith and Daniel Locke 36. Here We Are – Graham Swift 37. On Connection – Kae Tempest 38. Remain Silent – Susie Steiner 39. Dead Lions – Mick Herron 40. Exposure – Helen Dunmore 41. Just for One Day – Louise Wener 42. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave 43. Summerwater – Sarah Moss 44. Offshore – Penelope Fitzgerald 45. Old Filth – Jane Gardam 46. The Man in the Wooden Hat – Jane Gardam 47. Last Friends – Jane Gardam 48. The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo 49. Still Life – Sarah Winman 50. The Mountains Sing – Nguyen Phan Que Mai 51. Augustown – Kei Miller 52. A Change of Circumstance – Susan Hill 53. Anthills of the Savannah – Chinua Achebe 54. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe 55. The Rising Tide - Ann Cleeves 56. Sweet Bean Paste - Durian Sukegawa 57. A Change of Climate - Hilary Mantel 58. The Ink Black Heart - Robert Galbraith 59. The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng 60. Mrs Mohr Goes Missing - Maryla Szymiczkowa 61. Typhoon - Qaisra Shahraz 62 The Quaker - Liam McIlvanney 63 The Godmother - Hannelore Cayre 64 Invisible City - Julia Dahl

And the pathetically small number of additions:

65 The Complete Yes Minister - Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay

A very enjoyable re-read, not looked at this for about 20 years. So much of it is still true today. The chapter about equal opportunities still stands up, which is a bit terrifying.

66 A People's History of Heaven - Mathangi Subramanian

Latest Shelter book club pick, a novel about a group of girls living in a Bangalore slum known as Heaven. I enjoyed this. It felt a bit YA in places and the girls did seem to be picked to embody a level of diversity that you might not expect to find in a small friendship group. So it was a little contrived, but the writing was good and it was overall a hopeful, joyful book without feeling entirely without realism.

I'm going to go back and read the thread now. Hope everyone's OK. It feels as though it's been a particularly brutal run up to Christmas.

Have just finished Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris.
This was brilliant. Set in the 1660s at the time of the Restoration when Charles the Second is on the throne and has pardoned everyone except the 'regicides' who signed his father's death warrant.
These regicides are ruthlessly hunted down - two escape to the Puritan colonies in New England and become fugitives for years, constantly on the run.
I also enjoyed the descriptions of the colonies and the people who lived there.

@Tarahumara

Letters Between Two Sisters is one of my all time favourite books

79. Goodbye To Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

I got this because it was 99p and I'm hoping to see Cabaret sometime. I didn't know beforehand that Isherwood actively disliked Cabaret, mainly due to its depictions of lavish lifestyles impossible during the dying days of the Weimar Republic.
It's a semi-fiction in which he appears as a character. People he met and places he went are renamed in what is basically a selection of short sketches of Berlin as Nazi sentiment begins to rise. I preferred the first half and found it a bit dull after Sally Bowles leaves the scene.

80. The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham

The title is probably a spoiler. Like most Wyndham novels it's a dystopia/apocalypse scenario. Phyllis and Mike Watson notice fireballs in the sky whilst on honeymoon, in the coming years it becomes evident that extra terrestrial life has landed in the oceans and lurks in the deep.
Absolutely not a patch on The Day Of The Triffids or The Chrysalids both of which are amazing. Earlier in the year I had numerous reservations over the turn the plot took in The Trouble With Lichen but it was still engaging. This just drags so much and doesn't really have characters you can invest in. A damp squib, pun intended. Sad really, as it's my first Wyndham to have been a total letdown.

And With That :

Stick A Fork In Me For I Am Done For 2022. I wanted to end on a nice round number, and I want to spend the rest of 2022 watching shite and eating cheese.

I'm following this post up with a "roundup" post in a minute

I liked Goodbye to Berlin and Mr Norris Changes Trains but found the other Isherwoods that I’ve tried completely unreadable. I did go on a little pilgrimage to find his house in Berlin though.

@RomanMum the Dead Famous book is on my TBR as picked it up for £1 from the works.

My 2022 Roundup

Standout Fiction :

The People In The Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

A man becomes highly esteemed as a scientist, anthropologist, and researcher, but is he everything he claims?

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Two young people become obsessed with their childhood home, having been cheated out of their inheritance.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

A woman self destructs following the end of a toxic relationship

Standout Non Fiction

Natives : Race And Class In The Ruins Of Empire by Akala

An important voice in ongoing debates around discriminatory behaviour and institutional prejudice

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

A compelling deep dive into what it was to be a member of the IRA at the height of tensions in Northern Ireland

Madhouse At The End Of The Earth by Julian Sancton

A Belgian expedition to the South Pole goes badly awry

House Of Glass by Hadley Freeman

A journalist follows the journey of her Jewish family from pogroms in Poland to the advent of Nazism in Europe and all that implies.

Action Park by Andy Mulvihill with Jake Rossen

A family owns and runs a theme park, operating it in a completely preposterous fashion

Biggest Failures :

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett

Annoying prose suffered through to be only made worse by the size of the twists. Bollocks to it.

Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Enough has been said

And that's a wrap! 8 out of 80 bolds is not great though.

@eitak22 me too!

Glad to hear Act of Oblivion is good, I bought it for my mum for Christmas and asked for it for myself too.

Apologies to everyone who didn't enjoy The Christmas Cornucopia as much as me

Have recently discovered the Backlisted podcast and now 1) I'm not listening to any audiobooks because all my earphone time is spent on Backlisted, 2) my want-to-read list now includes Riddley Walker, North and South, The Inheritors, Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf... and I want to re-read The Rainbow, which was one of my favourite novels aged 16 (which says a lot about 16-year-old me).

78. Women and Girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder - Sarah Hendrickx

Exploration of the lived experiences of women on the spectrum. I'm reading a lot in this area at the moment because of my daughter's recent diagnosis - and increasingly seeing that I've got an awful lot of traits myself (my parents and brother too).

@LadybirdDaphne I liked Cornucopia, I just should have dipped into it instead of reading it straight through. Parts of it are very funny.

@LadybirdDaphne The Rainbow was also one of my favourite books aged 16. I was a strange 16 year old.

Number 50! Hurrah!

50. Undoctored by Adam Kay

This is half about how he got into medicine and half about what he has done since. Much less funny anecdotes.

I know Mumsnet is a bit divided on Adam Kay, if you like him, this is worth a read. If you think he's a twat, this won't change your mind.
**

@LadybirdDaphne I really enjoyed A Christmas Cornucopia,** the knowing tone that irritated some worked for me and I found out lots of interesting facts. And all for 99p 😊

I read The Rainbow at 18, I suspect teenagers are best placed to enjoy DH Lawrence, having more tolerance for his more turgid sections than those of us who are older and have less time on our hands.

65 Madly, Deeply - The Alan Rickman Diaries

Subject of some mixed reviews on here - I have to say I enjoyed it, though those after deep psychological insights should look elsewhere. Instead it's an occasionally peevish luvvie-fest which I found fun to dip into.

Just rattled through Talking to my Daughter : A Brief History of Capitalism.Largely I was preoccupied by thinking 'blimey, Yanis' DD must be awfully clever because I still don't understand' but many of his points are interesting and analogies helpful.

I loved both The Rainbow and Women In Love and have huge swathes of both highlighted with teenage angst. I remember my Mum watching Alan Bates writhing naked on the rug in a 70s ? TV adaptation too but I've not seen that.
Lady Chatterley is one of my favourite re-reads. As a child, there was an orange Penguin paperback copy of it in a cupboard at home, turned round so I wouldn't be contaminated with lust for the lower classes and learn words I shouldn't. 😂
I still like to tell people about DHL's arches and why they matter.

It's bad that I've read both and can't remember either, must be 20 years ago. They were on my third year reading list. I did love Sons And Lovers and Lady's Chatterley's Lover. I mostly enjoyed hating Paul.