2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

Not sure I belong here. I read very few novels, except old historic favourites I reread when tired.

So far this year I have read two books about the navy in the early 19th century. One is about the squadron we sent to West Africa to try to stop slave ships taking slaves across the Atlantic after we abolished slavery and emancipated all the slaves in Britain.

Other countries abolished the trade on their statute books, but we were the only country to actively send a naval squadron to the areas the slaves were being shipped from to physically try to stop the slave ships leaving port.

I have also read one about the culture of the navy, officers and men, at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar. It is amazing how much the culture on board contributed to our sea victories, at that time, not just Trafalgar, a fact even our opponents, the Spanish and French recognised its importance to our victory, but could not replicate it.

I am currently reading Scoff by Penn Vogler, which describes itself as recounting the history of food and class in the UK. Having read Dorothy Hartley's Food in Britain that showed how what we eat is dictated by what we can grow in our fields or the animals we can pasture, I am finding this book tedious and convoluted. I am halfway through and really am not sure whether I want to waste more time reading anymore of it. I think the publisher decided on the title and subject and then looked for an author to write it. Pen Vogler works very hard to show that what everyone eats all the time is governed by their social class and always has been, but she really has to work at it and it is not convincing.

Next another book about the navy and then The Man in Scarlet by Julian Barnes,

Thanks, Callistemon21.
I love Julia Donaldson's books, especially Room on the Broom. They're ideal for reading aloud with the grandchildren.

Oh yes Granmarie it’s such a treat to read to children and see them absorbed isn’t it? I’m beginning to understand how Enid Blyton’s magic faraway tree stories work perfectly for a 5 year old. Look forward to seeing if Jackie Wilson can get the same effects with her new version.

#11 Richard Osman ‘The Thursday Murder Club’. Mischievous.

No 6. The Fortune Men by Kalifa Mohamed. It’s a novel based on a true story about a Somalian man accused of murder in 1950’s Cardiff. It’s eye-opening, to say the least, and I didn’t expect the ending.

#3
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett.

#10 an audiobook Whispers Underground Ben Aaronovitch. The excellent narrator is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Book 3 in the Rivers of London series. A supernatural crime series with a Metropolitan Police constable who is training to be a wizard. Love it!
#11 The Mortal Word Genevieve Cogman.
Book 5 in the Invisible Library. Another really good series with a supernatural theme.

#11. Bad Boy by Peter Robinson.

Rosalyn if you come back, Twyford Code any good? my next to read, I really liked the author's last one, The Appeal.

Monica, your choice of reading can be anything including non fiction whatever you enjoy.

Loved The Funeral Boat. Now reading book 12, I Am Death, by Chris Carter. A bit gruesome.

#12 Marianne Cronin ‘The 100 years of Lennie and Margot’. I’ll remember especially the foregrounding of honesty, kindness, starlight. Some wickedly funny hospital scenes.

I Am Death was very gruesome, but a brilliant read, I enjoyed it. Book 13, not started yet, will be The Expats, by Chris Pavone.

I have just finished 'The Man in the Red Coat' by Julian Barnes, not one of his novels but a book that is meant to be about the man behind a portrait by Singer Sargent.

Julian Barnes has won the Booker prize and is a superb writer and initially his style is beguiling and very easy to read, very stream of consciousness. The man in the potrait is French Gynagologist and stomach surgeon, Samuel Pozzi, a brilliant and interesting man whose medical achievements saved many people's lives and, but all this book does is trace his life among the French avant garde - and is more about the numerous members of Parisien artistic cafe society than the subject of the painting and, when push comes to shove was really quite, no, very, boring.

The portrait itself is superb.

Just finished ‘Eeny Meeny’, book club choice. Not a book I’d have picked for myself. A bit too much gory detail for me!

I’ve just finished:

10. Only Child, Rhiannon Navin
About a fictional primary school shooting in the US, the narrator is a child whose brother was killed. It’s well written and touching. On a prosaic note, the author mentions someone “shaking their head yes” several times, as well as “shaking their head no”. I kept thinking how much clearer it is to have two different expressions.

I’m now nearing the end of:

11. The Good, the Bad, and the Little Bit Stupid, Monica Lewicka
I love the title. It’s been okay, but nowhere near as good as that short history of tractors. I appreciate that it’s a comedy, but the plot is way too far-fetched to keep the interest going. And some of the jokes get overused - I lost track of how many times the main characters’ name Pantis got mispronounced, and it didn’t get any funnier.

My next book is Girl A, which my DD1 recommended. It looks promising.

I enjoyed my #8 The Dressmaker's Gift, by Fiona Valpy. A time lapse split between second World War Paris and the present day, the link being grandmother and her DGD. Not my usual choice but it was picked for book club, and was a bit chick-litty, but a pleasant read none the less.

Just about to start #9 - Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. Have booked to see the film next Sunday.

#12 A Terrible Kindness Jo Browning Wroe.
Heartbreaking, human and beautiful this may be my book of 2022.

#13 Elizabeth Acevedo ‘The Poet X’. Poignant coming of age story, told in first person poetic style. Not sure I’d have read it but found it captivating as an audiobook.

#12. In Cold Blood by Jane Bettany.

Thank you, * Juno56*. I’m drawn to this and it’s currently 99p in kindle format. Pretty sure I’ll be absorbed.

I am enjoying The Twyford Code. It’s “different” and the style takes a little getting used to. I’d recommend it. I have read her previous book.

I’ve just finished No 7, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. It’s 600 pages which I read in just over three days.

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the tale, which is told from lots of POV but it all comes together by the end. It should make for an intertwining book group read this week!

Interesting

#14 Jo Wroe ‘A Terrible Kindness’. Very glad to have read this. Wasn’t sure about shifting the focus from Aberfan to another perspective over decades but appreciated its wisdom by the end. I felt it honoured the parents who had to endure, and live.