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?

Fell off the threads a while ago but have kept reading, managed more than last year but still way off. Might aim for 35 next year.

1. You. Caroline Kepnes
2. The Only Plane in the Sky. Garrett Graff
3. Bill Bryson for the Love Hearts appeal. Audio
4. The Gilded Ones. Namina Forna
5. Gossip Girl. Cecile con Zeigesar
6. D.O.G.S. M.A. Bennett
7. The girl with the curly hair.l, Asperger’s and me. Alis Rowe
8. Labyrinth. A.C.H. Smith
9. Unorthodox. Deborah Feidman

10. The Guest List. Lucy Foley 11. North to Paradise. Ousman Umar 12. Everything I never told you. Celeste Ng 13. Jews Don’t Count. David Baddiel 14. Rosemary’s Baby. Ira Levin 15. The Boy at the Back of the Class. Onjali Q. Raúf 16. Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Jeff Lindsay 17. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum 18. Sweet Virginia. Caroline Kepnes 19. Meg 2. Trench. Steve Alten. 20. The Duke and I. Julia Quinn 21. The Viscount who loved me. Julia Quinn 22. An Offer from a Gentleman. Julia Quinn 23. In Sheep’s Clothing. Understanding and dealing with manipulative people. George a Simon Jr. 24. The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes. Suzanne Collins 25. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Stephen King. 26. Where the Cawdads Sing. Delia Owens. 27. Dead Men do Tell Tales. Dr William Maple 28. The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins. 29. Fatal Secrets. Richie Tankersley Cusick 30. Stolen Innocence. My story of growing up in a polygamous sect, becoming a teenage bride and breaking free of Warren Jeffs. Elissa Walls 31. I am Pilgrim. Terry Hayes. 32. The Call of the Wild. Jack London. 33. Just one damn thing after another. The Chronicles of St Mary’s. Jodi Taylor. 34. Shadow and Bone.

Managed to finish another book this afternoon so just sneaking in a final review

42. Katherine Howard: A New History by Conor Byrne Another terribly written history non-fiction. As I was reading it I kept thinking it seemed like a badly written undergrad essay, with incessant mentions of Byrne's main "themes" and the painful repitition. Turns out at the time of writing Byrne was a history undergrad! So it basically is a very long undergrad essay, no idea how he got this published! The "about the author" blurb at the back of the book states "some of the conclusions reached are controversial and likely to spark considerable debate". I'm not sure who he imagines will be debating this as it's not likely to have made much of an impact on historians who are considerably more qualified and experienced than him. And in terms of his "controversial conclusions"... Well they're not particularly controversial and in all honesty he makes some truly humongous leaps in the inferences he draws from his source material that he quite frankly doesn't adequately back up in his argument. A bit sad to have ended my years reading with such a disappointing book but at least it's off my tbr

www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4709765-50-books-challenge-2023-part-one

Just posting my final stats before moving to the new thread

Managed 42 books this year
32 fiction/ 10 non-fiction
36 kindle/ 6 paper
35 female / 6 male / 1 unknown
25 new / 17 re reads

My final stats for the year:

59 books
58 by female authors

Books in French 5
Books in German 4
(rest in English)

Non fiction 22
Fiction 37

2 audible, rest paper.

Posting my final list for 2022 before moving over:

1. Vaxxers - Prof Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green
2. Wintering - Katherine May
3. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
4. Atomic Habits - James Clear
5. Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed
6. The Highly Sensitive Child - Elaine N Aron
7. The Appeal - Janice Hallet
8. Did I Say That Out Loud - Fi Glover and Jane Garvey
9. Learning To Swim - Clare Chambers
10. The Russian Revolution - History in an Hour - Rupert Colley
11. Stalin - History in an Hour - Rupert Colley
12. A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
13. Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason
14. In Black and White - Alexandra Wilson
15. The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald
16. Catholicism - A Short Introduction - Gerald O’Collins
17. The Converts Guide to Roman Catholicism - Keith Nester
18. Why Be Catholic - Patrick Madrid
19. Still Life - Sarah Winman
20. War Doctor - David Nott
21. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
22. Stasiland - Anna Funder
23. Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan
24. Rome Sweet Home - Scott Hahn
25. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
26. The Twyford Code - Janie Hallett
27. Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pymn
28. A Comedian’s Prayer Book - Frank Skinner
29. The Accomplice - Steve Cavanagh
30. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans
31. The Cold War in One Hour - Rupert Colley
32. Remainders of the Day - Shaun Bythell
33. The Great Christmas Knit Off - Alex Brown

55% fiction / 45% non fiction
58% female/ 42% male
Only 6 audio books this year, I much prefer proper reading, but helps squeeze a few extra in.

I wasn't planning to post a list but as @PermanentTemporary has stepped splendidly into the What We Bolded breach, here are my bolds for 2022.

The Dark Hours, by Michael Connolly.
Dava Shastri's Last Day, by Kirthana Ramisetti.
1979, by Val McDermid.
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, by Dave Grohl.
Before The Ruins, by Victoria Gosling.
Smile: The Story of a Face, by Sarah Ruhl.
Revival Season, by Monica West.
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro Memoirs, by Beth Ann Fennelly.
Rachel's Holiday, by Marian Keyes.
French Braid, by Anne Tyler.
The Unheard, by Nicci French. (I've gone back and forth on this one but it's staying as bold because it was very compelling and I still remember it, unlike some of the thriller-type stuff I've read!)
Sister Stardust, by Jane Green.
House Arrest, Pandemic Diaries, by Alan Bennett.
Again, Rachel, by Marian Keyes.
Friends and Dark Shapes, by Kavita Bedford.
The Paris Apartment, Lucy Foley.
The Book of the Most Precious Substance, by Sara Gran.
The Year I Stopped to Notice, by Miranda Keeling.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin.
Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir.
Shrines of Gaiety, by Kate Atkinson.

Thanks as always to @Southeastdweller for keeping us organised, and all the lovely 50 bookers for such a wonderful thread.

Final list:

1. The Dark Is Rising, Susan Cooper
2. The Red Parts, Maggie Nelson
3. The Waning of the Middle Ages, Johann Huizinga, trans. by F. Hopman
4. Are We Having Fun Yet?, Lucy Mangan
5. Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
6. The Matrix, Lauren Groff
7. Some Tame Gazelle, Barbara Pym
8. Translations, Brian Friel
9. The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller

10. Remote Sympathy, Catherine Chidgey 11. The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, Dawnie Walton 12. The Wreath, Sigrid Undset, trans. by Tina Nunnally 13. Tales from Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin 14. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan 15. The Fell, Sarah Moss 16. Le Pays des autres [The Country of Others], Leila Slimani 17. The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak 18. Flamingo, Rachel Elliott 19. Death and the Penguin, Andrey Kurkov, trans. by George Bird 20. The Exhibitionist, Charlotte Mendelson 21. Build Your House Around My Body, Violet Kupersmith 22. Careless, Kirsty Capes 23. Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason 24. The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki 25. The Sentence, Louise Erdrich 26. The Bread the Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-Agostini 27. Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead 28. Salt Lick, Lulu Allison 29. Traversée de la Mangrove [Crossing the Mangrove], Maryse Condé 30. Childhood, Youth, Dependency, Tove Ditlevsen, trans. by Tina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman 31. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear 32. L’Événement [Happening], Annie Ernaux 33. Foster, Claire Keegan 34. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus 35. This One Sky Day, Leone Ross 36. Peau noire, masques blancs [Black Skin, White Masks], Frantz Fanon 37. Violeta, Isabel Allende 38. The Colony, Audrey Magee 39. Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, Christopher de Hamel 40. Companion Piece, Ali Smith 41. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym 42. Prudence and Jane, Barbara Pym 43. Less Than Angels, Barbara Pym 44. La Place, Annie Ernaux 45. Assembly, Natasha Brown 46. My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety, Georgia Pritchett 47. Monkey’s Uncle, Jenny Diski 48. Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga 49. Run Towards the Danger, Sarah Polley 50. Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout 51. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel 52. Snow, John Banville 53. The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk 54. O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker 55. The Owl Service, Alan Garner 56. Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism, Kathleen Stock 57. Les Fiancés de l’hiver (La Passe-miroir I), Christelle Dabos [A Winter’s Promise (The Mirror Visitor Book 1) 58. L’Amour des trois soeurs Piale, Richard Millet 59. Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, Maddie Mortimer 60. Hidden Depths, Ann Cleeves 61. The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell 62. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, trans. Philip Gabriel 63. A Glass of Blessings, Barbara Pym 64. Une femme, Annie Ernaux 65. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy, trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky 66. East West Street, Philippe Sands 67. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins 25 bolds (37%). Yeah I know that’s crazily high but no apologies! 56 fiction (84%) 52 by women (78%) 13 by authors of colour (19%) 8 in French (12%) 6 in translation (9%) Another poster here who reads mainly fiction and memoirs written by women.

Thank you everyone for a fabulous year! I loved the lists and reviews. Reading is my main interest and I swear it keeps me sane. OK, not that sane but sane enough to carry on. Happy New Year!

My final list, for anyone interested for statistical purposes. I really fell off the reading wagon at the end of the year. Just too much going on. Hope to do better next year. I have finished the two tail-enders I had this morning, and will use them to kick-start my new list on the new thread!

1. Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion
2. Diary of an MP’s Wife – Sasha Swire
3. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister
4. Buried in Secret – Viveca Sten
5. Truth And Beauty – Ann Patchett
6. Material Girls – Kathleen Stock
7. 1979 – Val McDermid
8. Mrs Hemingway – Naomi Wood
9. 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 Shahra
62. The Quaker - Liam McIlvanney
63. The Godmother - Hannelore Cayre
64. Invisible City - Julia Dahl
65. The Complete Yes Minister - Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay
66. A People's History of Heaven - Mathangi Subramanian
67. The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper
68. Christmas is Murder – Val McDermid

Here's my final list for PermanentTemporary and anyone who may be interested.
36 in total - despite the screwy numbering that now seems to be standard for me when I post on these threads!!

1. Unorthodox – Deborah Feldman
2. Me - Elton John
3. Pies and prejudice – Stuart Maconie
4. Winter – Ali Smith
5. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
6. How to build a girl – Caitlin Moran
7. My name is why – Lemn Sissay
8. Life after Life – Kate Atkinson

9. Toast – Nigel Slater
10. Open Water – Caleb Azumah Nelson
11. The Lie – Helen Dunmore
12. Banish clutter forever: How the toothbrush principle will change your life – Sheila Chandra
13. Watermelon – Marian Keyes
14. Hungry – Grace Dent
15. Case Histories – Kate Atkinson
16. Diary of a bookseller – Shaun Bythell
17. Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart

18. Foster – Claire Keegan
19. Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé – Joanne Harris
20. Early morning riser – Katherine Heiny
21. Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
22. Rachel’s Holiday – Marian Keyes
23. The Island – Victoria Hislop
24. Seven days of us – Francesca Hornak
25. One August night – Victoria Hislop
26. I thought it was just me (but it isn’t): telling the truth about perfectionism, inadequacy and power – Brené Brown

DNF : The devil in the Kitchen – Marco Pierre White & James Steen

27. The man who died twice – Richard Osman
28. Frugal Food – Delia Smith
29. Public Library and other stories – Ali Smith
30. Moon Tiger – Penelope Lively
31. Half-baked idea – Olivia Potts
32. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
33. The Swimmer – Graham Norton
34. Taste – Stanley Tucci
35. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
36. Eight months on ghazzah street – Hilary Mantel

Here are my December reads:

106.Masters in the Hall - K.J. Charles
A sweet festive m/m romance novella, with jewel thieves, dastardly aristocrats and its own playlist on Spotify. Entertaining.

107.The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent Dyer
I don’t remember there being so much travelogue in this book. The upper classes of Austria are bewilderingly eager to send their daughters to a school run by some random foreigners in a surplus hotel. The bronchitis kettle makes its first appearance.

108.Jo of the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent Dyer
A welcome return for the bronchitis kettle, as Madge and Jem conduct their courtship via sessions of stripping off Jo’s wet clothes after her repeated falls into the lake.

109.War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
I can’t do this justice, obviously, but a great novel. Thanks to all who contributed to the read-a-long thread.

110.A Christmas Cornucopia - Mark Forsyth
An entertaining pre-Christmas amuse-bouche, particularly for 99p.

111.‘Twas the Nightshift before Christmas - Adam Kay
I think Kay is softer and kinder in this one. Happy memories of my ex-husband missing DD’s first birthday etc.

112.Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper
113.The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper
First and second books in this outstanding children’s fantasy series.

114.The Heartstopper Yearbook - Alice Oseman
A sort of annual.

115.Greenwitch - Susan Cooper
Third in the series. I like the fact that the main female character takes centre stage.

1. Medici, and Urne-Buriall - Sir Thomas Browne

2.Lost Children Archive - Valeria Luiselli 3.Space Boy Vol. 6 - Stephen McCranie 4.Space Boy Vol. 7 - Stephen McCranie 5.Three Twins at the Crater School - Chaz Brenchley 6.A Bit of a Stretch - Chris Atkins 7.The Etymologicon - Mark Forsyth 8.Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch 9.East West Street - Philippe Sands 10.Uncommon Danger - Eric Ambler 11.The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil 12.Space Boy Vol. 8 - Stephen McCranie 13.Space Boy Vol. 9 - Stephen McCranie 14.Space Boy Vol. 10 - Stephen McCranie 15.Space Boy Vol. 11 - Stephen McCranie 16.Austria Hungary - G.E. Mitton 17.The Only Plane in the Sky - Garrett M. Graff 18.Maniac: the Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer - Harold Schechter 19.Something Fabulous - Alexis Hall 20.Lean Fall Stand - John McGregor 21.The Fateful Year - Mark Bostridge 22.Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 23.Journey into the Past - Stefan Zweig 24.The Word Hord: Daily Life in Old English - Hana Videen 25.The Dance of the Happy Shades - Alice Munro 26.The Haunting of Alma Fielding - Kate Summerscale 27.The Wicked Boy - Kate Summerscale 28.The Passenger - Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz 29.Apeirogon - Colum McCann 30.Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell - John Preston 31.Whispers Under Ground - Ben Aaronovitch 32.Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch 33.The Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch 34.Becoming Unbecoming - Una 35.Dinosaurs in a Haystack - Stephen Jay Gould 36.Candide - Voltaire 37.Alive, Alive Oh! - Diana Athill 38.The Seventh Raven - Peter Dickinson 39.The Beat Goes On - Ian Rankin 40.The Complaints - Ian Rankin 41.Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel 42.Jeffry, The Poet’s Cat - Oliver Soden 43.Out of Character - Annabeth Albert 44.A Book of Book Lists - Alex Johnson 45.The Inverts - Crystal Jeans 46.Thy Will Be Done: The 2021 Lent Book - Stephen Cherry 47.The Spider’s Web - Joseph Roth 48.A Patchwork Planet - Ann Tyler 49.The Heart’s Time: A poem a day for Lent and Easter - Janet Morley 50.The World of Stonehenge - Duncan Garrow and Neil Wilkin 51.The Western Wind - Samantha Harvey 52.The Haunting - Margaret Mahy 53.The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin 54,The Female Eunuch - Germaine Greer 55.The Shadow King - Maaza Mengiste 56.Tramps and Vagabonds - Aster Glenn Gray 57.Unreliable Memoirs - Clive James 58.Women, Men and the Great War - ed. Trudi Tate 59.If This Gets Out - Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich 60.Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art - Rebecca Wragg Sykes 61.Innocence - Penelope Fitzgerald 62.Bullies: A Friendship - Alex Abramovitch 63.Awfully Ambrose - Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey 64.The Break - Katherena Vermette 65.Coastlines - Patrick Barkham 66.Gentleman Jim - Raymond Briggs 67.Go Went Gone - Jenny Erpenbeck 68.The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers 1804-2011 - Misha Glenny 69.Esther’s Notebooks: Tales from my ten-year-old life - Riad Sattouf 70.Burial Rites - Hannah Kent 71.Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World - Laura Spinney 72.Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis - Wendy Cope 73.Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett 74.V For Victory - Lissa Evans 75.Discovering Medieval Houses - Anthony Emery 76.Richard III - William Shakespeare 77.The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak 78.The Golden Thread - Kassia St Clair 79.Gloucester: Recreating the Past - Philip Moss and Andrew Armstrong 80.Husband Material - Alexis Hall 81.The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozecki 82.The Road to Lichfield - Penelope Lively 83.Elena Knows - Claudia Piñeiro 84.Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line - Deepa Anappara 85.Walks for all Ages: 20 Circular Walks in Nottinghamshire - Jane Broomhead 86.Vows of Empire - Emily Skrutskie 87.Visitation - Jenny Erpenbeck 88.Letters to Camondo - Edmund de Waal 89.The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte 90.The Mermaid of Black Conch - Monique Roffey 91.The See-Through House - Shelley Klein 92.Transcription - Kate Atkinson 93.Horribly Harry - Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey 94.Eyewitness Mesopotamia - Philip Steele 95.After Sappho - Selby Wynn Schwartz 96.Rome in the Late Republic - Mary Beard and Michael Crawford 97.The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett 98.Family Secrets: The Things We Tried to Hide - Deborah Cohen 99.Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat 100.Black Narcissus - Romer Godden 101.Ocean’s Echo - Everina Maxwell 102.Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune 103.One Damned Thing After Another - Jodie Taylor 104.Fences Vol. 1 - C.S. Pacat 105.A Start in Life - Anita Brookner 106.Masters in the Hall - K.J. Charles 107.The School at the Chalet - Elinor M. Brent Dyer 108.Jo of the Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent Dyer 109.War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 110.A Christmas Cornucopia - Mark Forsyth 111.‘Twas the Nightshift before Christmas - Adam Kay 112.Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper 113.The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper 114.The Heartstopper Yearbook - Alice Oseman 115.Greenwitch - Susan Cooper

Approximately two-thirds fiction; just slightly more male than female authors; seven in translation.

What We Bolded 2022: the preamble

OK I'm stopping! I've got a bit muddled picking up lists so I'm not entirely convinced I've got all the relevant lists and bits. Many apologies. It should at least give a flavour of the year's reading. There's some obvious names missing so I'm a bit worried - please don't be too upset if I've managed to miss you.

Here are this year's contributors - more than last time, hence perhaps the confusion! Ironically I'm now running out to book club, so the actual lists will be a bit later on tonight, sorry.

A very interesting finding as far as I can see is that there won't be quite so much of a standout single book, though I think there probably is one which will 'win', just not by as much as last year. What we have got instead is several authors who are heavily represented. Some are a real surprise to me. All very interesting!

See you later for the lists.

50 Bookers whose contributions are included:
AliasGrape
BestisWest
bettbburg
bibiomania
cassandre
ChannelLightVessel
DaninaDuszejko
dupainduvindufromage
einereisedurchdiezeit
isfuzzybeagmise
LessObviousName
maudofthemarches
MegBusset
noodlezoodle
nowanearlynicemum
Owlbookend
PepeLePew
PermanentTemporary
Piggywaspushed
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
RomanMum
satelliteheart
sollnvictus
stcolumboofnavron
Terpsichore
TheTurnoftheScrew
timeforagandt
virginqueen
WelshWabbit
yolandifuckinvisser
yoshiblue

Ooh, looking forwards to the results later! Thanks for doing this PermanentTemporary.

I’m excited now!

Please can anybody remind me what the top few were last year?

Thanks @PermanentTemporary Looking forward to seeing this year's!

Oddly enough, I too am really buzzed for this. I'm not always in a place or right time to remember who raved about what last July but I completely rejigged my Wish List over Christmas and so I can now update it properly. They don't explain that this will be how you get your kicks once you go past 40 

Thanks @PermanentTemporary

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers in Fiction

and

Non fiction

The Only Plane In The Sky by Garrett Graff

I think

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit Not read either of those. Just haven't felt strong enough for Plane and not sure I ever will.

As amazingly well done as it is, a specific part made me cry buckets and I cried everytime I remembered it for days after I had finished it, so wise choice.

:(

Thanks @PermanentTemporary how exciting!

Thanks as always @PermanentTemporary, really looking forward to the list.

Thanks so much @PermanentTemporary I think I must have missed this last year and am very excited to see the results.

I enjoyed Small Pleasures though the ending pissed me off. I don’t think I’m strong enough for The Only Plane in the Sky - I feel like I should read it but in a bit of a wobbly place understatement as it is right now, one for another time maybe.

Just looked up Small Pleasures and feel pretty sure that I'd hate it!