2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

Hi folks and happy new year. I haven’t posted any updates for a while, but I have kept a list, all scored out of 10. I made it to 62 in 2022, pretty good for me.
I have enjoyed reading your recommendations and have added a few to my wish list as a result. I get most of my books from Little Free libraries or charity shops, but every now again I treat myself or ask for books as gifts.

Here my list:
1. Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson 8
2. Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler 9
3. Monogamy by Sue Miller 8
4. A Sweet Obscurity by Patrick Gale 8
5. Summer Water by Sarah Moss 8
6. The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Haddow 6 (200 pages too long!)
7. Apologise, Apologize by Elizabeth Kelly 8
8. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 8
9. The Absolutist by John Boyne 7
10. An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel 7
11. Out of Bounds by Val McDermid 9
12. Possession of Mr Cave by Matt Haig 6
13. Wolf Winter by Cecelia Ekback 8
14. 1979 by Val McDermid 9
15. Cunning Women by Elizabeth Lee 6
16. All Adults Here by Emma Straub 9
17. The Japanese Lover by Isabelle Allende 8
18. The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida 8
19. Grandmothers by Sally Vickers 8
20. Containment by Vanda Symon 9 (my first from this author, really enjoyed it and have read a couple more since)
21. Benediction by Kent Haruf 9
22. The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson 8
23. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman 8
24. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 8
25. Plainsong by Kent Haruf 10 (a re read)
26. Eventide by Kent Haruf 10
27. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay 8
28. The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak 6 (very disappointing)
29. Some Luck by Jane Smiley 9
30. Trio by William Boyd 8
31. Modern Lovers by Emma Straub 8
32. Overkill by Vanda Symon 8
33. Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald 6
34. The Death of Remembrance by Denzil Meyrick 8
35. In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear 7
36. Angels Burning by Tawni O’Dell 8
37. The Blackwater Lighthouse by Colm Tobin 8
38. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates 7 (disappointing)
39. The Last Flight by Julie Clark 8
40. Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama 7
41. The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt 6
42. Surface Rights by Melissa Hardy 9 (a real surprise, found in a charity shop in the US)
43. The German Heiress by Anika Scott 7
44. So Lucky by Nicola Griffith 7
45. Good night, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson 7
46. Should We Stay or Should We Go by Lionel Shriver 7
47. After the Party by Cressida Connolly 7
48. Commonwealth by Ann Patchet 7
49. Mrs England by Stacey Halls 7
50. The Cardturner by Louis Sachar 8
51. The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn 8
52. Cold Case by Quintin Jardine 8 (the first l’ve read of his, so I have a lot of catching up to do)
53. Death of a Sunday Writer by Eric Wright 8 (left by a visitor from Canada)
54. The Ninth Child by Sally Magnusson 7
55. Different Class by Joanne Harris 8
56. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 8
57. The Light They Left Behind by Tessa Harris 7
58. The Ringmaster by Vanda Symon 8
59. A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville 8
60. Nantucket Nights by Edin Hilderbrand 7
61. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith 8 (first time I’ve read this classic)
62. The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf 9

My favourite books of the year were Plainsong and Eventide by Kent Haruf, such beautiful writing. It’s good to read over my list again, there are a lot of good memories in it.

Now…on to 2023.

I'm reading that too, 50 or so pages to go, I reckon I'll finish it sometime today, if I don't get too many interruptions

Oh I certainly will, TerriBull, once I finally, finally, get to the end of that Ink Black Heart.

Good to read your list Maggie, I do hope you will join the '23 thread when you are ready. Happy New Year.

Here’s my 2022 list. I give each one a mark out of 10, so have left that on.

I’m a bit narked with myself that I didn’t get to 50 this year. I seem to have slowed down from November, but it has been a busy time. Plus I’m in the middle of The Ink Black Heart audio book - I hadn’t realised the actual book is 1000 pages long, but I did think it was going on a bit! It can be my first read on the 2023 thread.

With that in mind, Happy New Year to everyone!

1. Christmas on Coronation Street, Maggie Sullivan 7
2. Little Darlings, Maggie Golding 7
3. In Plain Sight, Marion Todd 7
4. The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward 4
5. The Motion of the Body through Space, Lionel Shriver 9
6. The Secrets You Keep, Kate White 6
7. Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter, Carol Ann Lee 9
8. The Beekeeper of Aleppo 9
9. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill, Sophie Hannah 4
10. Only Child, Rhiannon Navin 7
11. The Good, the Bad, and the Little Bit Stupid, Monica Lewicka 5
12. Girl A, Abigail Dean 9
13. Hell is Always Today, Jack Higgins 6
14. The Family Tree, Sairish Hussain 6
15. The Good Sister, Sally Hepworth 9
16. The Last Thing to Burn, Will Dean 8
17. The Sight of You, Holly Miller 9
18. The Family Holiday, Elizabeth Noble 7
19. Right Behind Her, Melinda Leigh 5
20. Like Me, Hayley Phelan 5
21. The Couple at the Next Table, Sophie Hannah 4
22. The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman 6
23. A Life Lost, Cathy Glass 4
24. Life Without Children, Roddy Doyle 7
25. Copycat, Diane Saxon 5
26. Charlie Savage, Roddy Doyle 9
27. The Siege, Helen Dunmore 9
28. A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy, Anne Cleeves 7
29. Cry Baby, Mark Billingham 7
30. The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett 9
31. Dolphin Junction, Mick Herron 6
32. Deconstructed, Liz Talley 6
33. All the Lies They Did Not Tell, Pablo Trincia 6
34. The Coronavirus Doctor’s Diary, John Wright 8
35. The Murder Book, Mark Billingham 7
36. A Keeper, Graham Norton 7
37. Left You Dead, Peter James 7
38. Home Stretch, Graham Norton 7
39. She’s Up To No Good, Sara Goodman Confino 7
40. The Curfew, T M Logan 7
41. A Slow Fire Burning, Paula Hawkins 7
42. The Hike, Susi Holliday 5
43. Rabbit Hole, Mark Billingham 6
44. The Love of my Life, Rosie Walsh 7
45. Troubled Blood, Robert Galbraith 8
46. The Reading List, 5

Just finished The Empire in thime for the end of the year. I won`t start another till tomorrow.

I have 14 library books at the moment, including several Anton du Beke books, James Patterson and Damien Boyd so will make a start on them. Then Beekeeper of Aleppo, before continuing on my own large library of books . I read 60 out of a challenge of 52 in 2022, will probably do about the same in 2023.

Phew just got it in to my 2022 reads!
#75 Louisiana Longshot Jana DeLeon.
A very entertaining read set in a small town called Sinful in the Bayou. It features a murder, an undercover CIA assassin who is hiding out in town and a wonderful cast of senior citizens. It appears to be the first in a series so I may revisit Sinful at some point.
Happy new year everyone.

Calendargirl most authors are strong supporters of libraries. They do receive an annual sum based on the number of loans of their books, through the Public Lending Right scheme. Also research has shown that people who borrow from libraries generally also buy books.
My strategy is to buy at least one book from any independent bookshop I visit when travelling around the UK - often they are presents for family or friends (but not always 😀). Bookshops often have coffee shops too! I feel a new thread coming on 😂

Ok, I’ve only posted once but here’s my books read in 2022 list 🙂
A Still Life by Josie George - a beautiful memoir about living with chronic illness and disability. Also posts on Twitter.
Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village by Marit Kapla - fascinating interviews with several generations living in an isolated village
Exit by Belinda Bauer - I enjoyed this a lot but it does deal with voluntary euthanasia so may upset some
The Lido by Libby Page - enjoyable, feel-good read
In a Good Light by Clare Chambers
Salt on My Skin by Sarah Kennedy Norquoy - an interesting memoir, mainly about sea swimming, set on Orkney
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee - historical crime fiction set in India. I enjoyed this and plan to read the next in the series
Duckling by Eve Ainsworth - I loved the quirky characters in this. The author has written YA fiction. I think this is her first for adults.
Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll - a YA title set in Edinburgh and with a cast of figures from folklore and fantasy, a heroine who has dyspraxia and a hidden gift.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue - good read let down by a sentimental ending and some weak characterisation
The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - entertaining as always
The Colony by Audrey Magee - beautifully written but felt ‘incomplete’ to me. Set on a Gaelic speaking island off the west of Ireland - an artist and a linguist visit for a few weeks in the summer, neither is happy that the other is there.
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie - a modern telling of the Antigone story set in a Muslim community in London. This was absorbing and thought provoking but also disturbing
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths - I read the first in this series a while back and have been picking up copies in charity shops and keeping to read in order.

I have started reading a book I'd never heard of which is a Christmas present from my daughter. It's called To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara, and if I'm honest I wasn't that keen but thought I'd give it a try .... am now on p. 52 and am enjoying it, but won't be reading it in bed as it's a hardback with over 700 pages, so will need something else for bedtime reading.

Has anyone read this?

Happy New Year to fellow bookworms.

48. Losers Club by Yvonne Vincent. A cosy murder mystery. It’s pretty silly, I only read it because it’s set in NE Scotland which I am familiar with.

That’s it for 2022! I’ve already got plenty to keep me going through next year.

Thank you for your collated list, Terribull and thank you for this annual thread, which I really enjoy.

Happy New Year, everyone! Xx

Just fit in one last book
Just Like You- Nick Hornby
Sweet book about the relationship between a forty two year old white school teacher, and a twenty two black DJ/leisure centre worker/butcher.
It’s a lovely story, both really nice characters, you really want it to work, whilst knowing it properly won’t.
Clever dialogue as always with Hornby, would probably make a great film.

Hellogirl also like you, I hate being without a book.

Sparklefizz - I'm really not keen on Elly Griffiths' Brighton based series set in the 1950s, I read a couple and found them disappointing, although she wrote another more contemporary one which was partially set in Brighton which I quite liked.

Although Ruth fantasises about a life with Nelson I'm not sure the reality of it would work for them, anyway he doesn't like Flint the cat so he can't move in can he? Her cottage is too small anyway, I think Elly is going to spin out that conundrum for a few books yet, but we'll see what developments the new one brings on that front.

TerriBull I love the Ruth Galloway series, and although I have read Elly Griffiths' Brighton series, I don't enjoy them nearly as much. I think the will they/won't they relationship between Ruth and Nelson is the lynchpin so a part of me hopes they won't definitely get together (yet!)

Hellogirl I'm like you in that I hate not having something to read and actually feel quite miserable. I look forward to reading a good book, and I love that feeling when I come home from the library with a stack to choose from. If a book I'm reading is really good, I will actually pace myself so that I don't finish it too quickly because I don't want it to end! There have been times when I've felt bereft once I've finished.

I have just re-read the Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel. Such wonderful writing. Even though I've read them all before, I still had that sadness at the end of each one. I guess there's no hope for me

Calendargirl I've got it on reservation from the library too.

Libraries buy 10 or more copies of books to lend out, and multiply that across the UK, it can't be a bad number of sales.... plus people are more likely to buy copies of future books by an author they have grown to like.

I have the next Ruth Galloway on order from the library, but got a ticking off from another GN’er as apparently it’s the biggest insult to an author not to buy the book, but to get it from the library.

Tough!

I understand the authors do get some sort of royalty from their books being borrowed though.

Terribull, my total isn`t that admirable really, just the signs of a mis-spent life, when I should be doing housewifely jobs, I`m more often than not to be found reading! I hate not having anything to read. I`m currently reading book 146, The Empire, by Michael Ball, another Christmas present,but not sure if I`ll finish it by midnight tomorrow, we`ll see.

Yes they're great the Ruth Galloways, so descriptive of that North Norfolk area, which we decided to visit after we'd read a couple. I very much like the way she paints a picture of the cottage where Ruth lives with her daughter Kate and lovely Flint. Heavens! though where's it all going to go with Nelson ? We'll have to wait and see, if the new one is coming out in January maybe there will be some developments on that front, looking forward to it already

We must have a similar taste in books TerriBull as I have read 20 of the ones you've listed....

I notice you've read The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths. I love that series and have read all the previous 12 (some of them twice when I've had a "run out of books crisis"!) Her next one in the series is due out in January.

Yes please do Sparklefizz.

It's one heavy book especially to read in bed

I had The Ink Black Heart for Christmas but it's such a whopper that I won't be able to read it in bed as I couldn't hold it up for long. Looking forward to getting stuck in, though.

I read a great deal and must remember to come onto this thread which looks very interesting.

Sweet Caress William Boyd

In the spirit of MN's 50 Books a year thread, I'm listing my year's reading, with the best books in bold if anyone else wants to do the same, please feel free to do so. Although if I were Hello Girl or Music Girl I could quite understand with that many you wouldn't want to, amazing totals! I quite like to look back on my year's reading particularly the highlights.

1 Magpie Elizabeth Day
2 Hanging Hill Mo Hayder
3 Unheard Nicci French
4 Anything is Possible Elizabeth Strout
5 Mrs England Stacy Halls
6 Frostquake Juliet NIcholson
7 Before We Say Goodbye Louise Candlish
8 Twyford Code Janice Hallett
9 Regeneration Pat Barker
10 The Couple at Number 9 Claire Douglas
11 It Ends With Us Colleen Hoover
12 His Bloody Project Graeme Macrae Burnett
13 The Lying Room Nicci French
14 The Locked Room Elly Griffiths
15 *Sweet Caress" William Boyd
16 Reputation Sarah Vaughan
17 Blue Eyed Blue Joanne Harris
18 Trust Me T M Logan
19 River Kings Cat Jarman
20 Dinner at The Homesick Restaurant Ann Tyler
21 Something in Disguise Elizabeth Jane Howard
22 The Maid Nita Prose
23 Saturday Night Requiem Nicci French
24 The Heatwave Kate Riordan
25 Forever Young Hayley Mills
26 No! I don't Want To Join a Bookclub Virginia Ironside
27 Under Your Skin Sabine Durrant
28 The Beloved Girls Harriet Evans
29 How to Kill Your Family Bella Mackie
30 The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller
31 The Island of Missing Trees Elif Shafak
32 The Black Dress Deborah Moggach
33 The Lamplighters Emma Stonex
34 In the Dark Wood - Amanda Craig
35 Trespassers Rose Tremain
36 Balancing Act Joanna Trollope
37 The Stopped Heart Julie Myerson
38 State of Wonder Ann Patchett
39 Sun Damage Sabine Durrant
40 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante
41 The Garden of Lost and Found Harriet Evans
42 The Storyteller Dave Grohl
43 The Family Remains Lisa Jewell
44 Laura Blundy Julie Myerson
45 The Governess Wendy Holden
46 The Whalebone Theatre Joanna Quinn
47 The Radleys Matt Haig
48 A Line to Kill Anthony Horrowitz
49 Blackbird Tim Weaver
50 Late in the Day Tessa Hadley
51 A Slow Fire Burning Paula Hawkins
52 The Good Girl Fiona Neil
53 Free Love Tessa Hadley
54 Vanity Dies Hard Ruth Rendell
55 The Keys to The Street Ruth Rendell
56 Shrines of Gaiety Kate Atkinson
57 The Water's Lovely Ruth Rendell
58 The Palace Papers Tina Brown
59 Nonfiction Julie Myerson
60 The Carer Deborah Moggach
61 The Skeleton Key Erin Kelly
62 The Killing Doll
63 About Face Donna Leon
64 The Ink Black Heart Robert Galbraith (haven't finished it yet but I think it deserves to be listed as one of my best books)

Looking back I can see the majority of my books are by female writers, not by design. Note to self will try to read more books by men, I have a Robert Harris waiting for me and I do love William Boyd.

Musicgirl
That’s an amazing achievement, I don’t know how you do it!