Never mind the virus here's the 2022 reading challenge thread

[shifting gears]

1/26 - Michael Moorcock - The Whispering Swarm
2/26 - Albert Camus - The Outsider
3/26 - Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain
4/26 - Edna O’Brien - Girl
5/26 - The Secret DJ - Book Two
6/26 - David Keenan - Xstabeth
7/26 - Wendy Erskine - Sweet Home
8/26 - Walter Greenwood - Love on the Dole
9/26 - Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
10/26 - Edna O’Brien - Saints and Sinners
11/26 - William McIlvanney - The Papers of Tony Veitch
12/26 - Wendy Erskine - Dance Move
13/26 - Kevin Barry - Beatlebone
14/26 - DBC Pierre - Breakfast with the Borgias
15/26 - William McIlvanney - Strange Loyalties

16/26 - Edna O’Brien - The Little Red Chairs

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Sarah Waters - Fingersmith
2/52 - Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These
3/52 - Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice
4/52 - Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
5/52 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library
6/52 - Patricia Highsmith - A Dog's Ransom
7/52 - Claire Douglas - The Couple at No. 9
8/52 - Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
9/52 - Zadie Smith - On Beauty
10/52 - Stephen King & Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Button Box (reread)
11/52 - Minette Walters - The Cellar
12/52 - Barbara Vine - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy (reread)
13/52 - Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
14/52 - Peter Swanson - Rules for Perfect Murders
15/52 - Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This
16/52 - Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?
17/52 - Toni Morrison - Beloved
18/52 - Denise Mina - The Less Dead
19/52 - Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Magic Feather
20/52 - Sarah Waters - The Night Watch
21/52 - Chibundu Onuzo - Sankofa
22/52 - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Final Task
23/52 - A A Milne - The Red House Mystery
24/52 - A M Homes - May We Be Forgiven
25/52 - Andrew Michael Hurley - Devil's Day
26/52 - Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons
27/52 - Stephen King - Skeleton Crew
28/52 - Ruth Rendell - Portobello (reread)
29/52 - Willy Valutin - The Night Always Comes
30/52 - Stephen King - The Langoliers
31/52 - Elly Griffiths - The Crossing Places

32/53 - Stephen King - Secret Window, Secret Garden

 

[petee]

4/9 Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth. starts slow, then becomes for the most part riveting. there's some hackneyed language and no little bit of ethnic stereotyping. but his detailed descriptions of checkist abuse of everybody and the appalling treatment (by all sides) of jews in particular presents a train wreck. the innumerable details of life in different places are fascinating. the language used about the petrograd strikers (e2a by bolshevik functionaries, not by berkman) is exactly that used by rightwingers today, and the tactics and propaganda against them is the stuff of capitalist dreams. the last two chapters are a thorough condemnation.

i liked this sentence: "The Tchekist cursed and swore in a manner that surpassed anything I had ever before heard in Russia, the variegated complexity of his oaths defying even approximate rendering into English."

5/9 Berkman, The Kronstadt Rebellion. an elaboration of the next-to-last chapter in The Bolshevik Myth. he was an eyewitness and participant in the events there, and while my politics are broadly his and so i'm coming into it sympathetic, it's still shocking to read. the ethnic stereotyping is present here also, but i think i shortchanged his prose style above, he was an outstanding writer.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "The Thursday Murder Club" - Richard Osman.
2. "The Woman in the Window" - A. J. Finn.
3. "Snow" by John Banville
4. "The Lies You Told" - Harriet Tyce
5. "A Gift for the Dying" - MJ Arlidge
6. "One by One" - Ruth Ware
7. "The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways" - a British Library publication edited by Mike Ashley.
8. "The House of Ashes" - Stuart Neville
9. "Lies" - TM Logan.
10. "The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill" - C. S. Robertson.
11. "I See You" - Clare Mackintosh
12. "The Seance" - John Harwood
13. "The Couple Next Door" - Shari Lapena
14. "American Dirt" -Jeanine Cummins
15. "Their Little Secret" - Mark Billingham

16. "The Murder List" - Jackie Kabler. Solid if a little far fetched thriller

 

[marty21]

1/75. The Story of England - Michael Wood .
2/75 Broken Rails : How Privitisation Wrecked Britain's Railways - Christian Wolmar .
3/75 Black and British : A Forgotten History - David Olusoga.
4/75 Shackleton: A Biography - Ranulph Fiennes
5/75 The Secret Barrister: Stories of the law and how its broken - The Secret Barrister
6/75 The Nanny State Made Me : The Story of Britain & How to Save it. - Stuart Maconie
7/75 Conquistadors - Michael Wood.
8/75 Shadows Reel - CJ Box
9/75 Hope & Glory - Stuart Maconie
10/75 Killing Floor - Lee Child
11/75 Die Trying - Lee Child
12/75 Tripwire - Lee Child
13/75 The Visitor - Lee Child
14/75 Echo Burning - Lee Child
15/75 Without Fail - Lee Child
16/75 Persuader - Lee Child
17/75 The Enemy - Lee Child
18/75 One Shot - Lee Child
19/75 The Hard Way - Lee Child
20/75 Sing Backwards and Weep - Mark Lanegan
21/75 Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
22/75 Nothing to Lose - Lee Child
23/75 Gone Tomorrow - Lee Child
24/75 61 Hours - Lee Child
25/75 Worth Dying For - Lee Child
26/75 The Affair - Lee Child
27/75 The Plantagenets : The Kings Who Made England - Dan Jones
28/75 A Wanted Man - Lee Child
29/75 Never Go Back - Lee Child
30/75 Look Here : On The Pleasures of Observing The City - Ana Kinsella.

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Sarah Waters - Fingersmith
2/52 - Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These
3/52 - Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice
4/52 - Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
5/52 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library
6/52 - Patricia Highsmith - A Dog's Ransom
7/52 - Claire Douglas - The Couple at No. 9
8/52 - Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
9/52 - Zadie Smith - On Beauty
10/52 - Stephen King & Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Button Box (reread)
11/52 - Minette Walters - The Cellar
12/52 - Barbara Vine - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy (reread)
13/52 - Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
14/52 - Peter Swanson - Rules for Perfect Murders
15/52 - Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This
16/52 - Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?
17/52 - Toni Morrison - Beloved
18/52 - Denise Mina - The Less Dead
19/52 - Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Magic Feather
20/52 - Sarah Waters - The Night Watch
21/52 - Chibundu Onuzo - Sankofa
22/52 - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Final Task
23/52 - A A Milne - The Red House Mystery
24/52 - A M Homes - May We Be Forgiven
25/52 - Andrew Michael Hurley - Devil's Day
26/52 - Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons
27/52 - Stephen King - Skeleton Crew
28/52 - Ruth Rendell - Portobello (reread)
29/52 - Willy Valutin - The Night Always Comes
30/52 - Stephen King - The Langoliers (reread)
31/52 - Elly Griffiths - The Crossing Places
32/53 - Stephen King - Secret Window, Secret Garden

33/52 - Elizabeth Strout - Oh William!

 

[ska invita]

1. Mr. Tickle
2. Mr. Greedy
3. Mr. Happy
4. Mr. Nosey
5. Mr. Sneeze
6. Mr. Bump
7. Mr. Snow
8. Mr. Messy
9. Mr. Topsy-Turvy
10. Mr. Silly
11. Mr. Snooty
12. Mr. Small
13. Mr. Daydream
14. Mr. Forgetful
15. Mr. Jelly
16. Mr. Noisy
17. The Hard Way - Lee Child
18. Mr. Funny
19. Mr. Mean
20. Mr. Chatterbox
21. Mr. Fussy
22. Mr. Bounce
23. Mr. Muddle
24. Mr. Dizzy
25. Mr. Impossible
26. Mr. Strong
27. Mr. Grumpy
28. Mr. Clumsy
29. Mr. Quiet
30. Mr. Rush
31. Mr. Tall
32. Mr. Worry
33. Mr. Nonsense
34. Mr. Wrong
35. Mr. Skinny
36. Mr. Mischief
37. Mr. Clever
38. Mr. Busy
39. Mr. Slow
40. Mr. Brave
41. The Khruschevites – Enver Hoxha
42. Mr. Perfect
43. Mr. Cheerful
44. Mr. Cool
45. Mr. Rude
46. Mr. Good
47. Mr. Nobody
48. Mr. Marvelous
49. Mr. Adventure

50. Mr. Calm - great read this one, inspiring and relaxing

 

[pseudonarcissus]

18/12 You Made a Fool of Death with you Beauty - Akwaeke Emezi

very good

17/12 Under the Net - Iris Murdoch.
16/12 The White Album - Joan Didion
15/12 Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl - Andrea Lawlor
14/12 Nothing but the Truth - The Secret Barrister
13/12 Under Western Eyes - Joseph Conrad
12/12 The fake Up -Justin Myers
11/12 The Magician - Colm Toiban
10/12 The Sorrows of Young Werther - Goethe
9/12 The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
8/12 Harsh Times - Mario Vargas Llosa
7/12 Talking at the Gates, a Life of James Baldwin - James Campbell
6/12 Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion
5/12 A Dutiful Boy: A memoir of secrets, lies and family love - Mohsin Zaidi
4/12 To the End of the World: Travels with Oscar Wilde - Rupert Everett
3/12 White on Black on White - Coleman Dowell
2/12 The Charterhouse of Parma - Stendhal
1/12 The Shortest History of Germany - James Hawes

 

[Fozzie Bear]

11/29 Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone - Charged: How the police try to suppress protest.

A detailed but readable critical look at police tactics at some key protests including Warrington, Orgreave, Battle of the Beanfield, Wapping, the poll tax riot, Welling, Hyde Park CJB, Mayday 2001, Gleneagles 2005, G20 London 2009, student fees 2010.

 

[nogojones]

1. Mr. Tickle
2. Mr. Greedy
3. Mr. Happy
4. Mr. Nosey
5. Mr. Sneeze
6. Mr. Bump
7. Mr. Snow
8. Mr. Messy
9. Mr. Topsy-Turvy
10. Mr. Silly
11. Mr. Snooty
12. Mr. Small
13. Mr. Daydream
14. Mr. Forgetful
15. Mr. Jelly
16. Mr. Noisy
17. The Hard Way - Lee Child
18. Mr. Funny
19. Mr. Mean
20. Mr. Chatterbox
21. Mr. Fussy
22. Mr. Bounce
23. Mr. Muddle
24. Mr. Dizzy
25. Mr. Impossible
26. Mr. Strong
27. Mr. Grumpy
28. Mr. Clumsy
29. Mr. Quiet
30. Mr. Rush
31. Mr. Tall
32. Mr. Worry
33. Mr. Nonsense
34. Mr. Wrong
35. Mr. Skinny
36. Mr. Mischief
37. Mr. Clever
38. Mr. Busy
39. Mr. Slow
40. Mr. Brave
41. The Khruschevites – Enver Hoxha
42. Mr. Perfect
43. Mr. Cheerful
44. Mr. Cool
45. Mr. Rude
46. Mr. Good
47. Mr. Nobody
48. Mr. Marvelous
49. Mr. Adventure

50. Mr. Calm - great read this one, inspiring and relaxing

Have you now hit your target for the year?

One criticism... I'm not a bibliography purest, but including the author really helps if I want to track these books down, unless they were all by Hoxha, then sorry, my bad.

 

[nogojones]

1/45 Maya Angelou - Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
2/45 Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch
3/45 Julia Buxton - The Political Economy of Narcotics
4/45 Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You
5/45 Becky Chambers - Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
6/45 Cindy Milstein - Taking Sides
7/45 Phillip K. Dick - The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
8/45 Jim Thompson - Recoil
9/45 Joseph Conrad - The Secret Agent
10/45 Ellen Meisksins Wood - Empire of Capital
11/45 Bernard Schweizer - Hating God: The Untold Story of Misotheism
12/45 Donna Tartt - The Little Friend
13/45 Arkady Martine - A Memory Called Empire
14/45 Joan Didion - Slouching Towards Bethlehem
15/45 Tayyib Salih - Season of Migration to the North
16/45 Arkady Martine - A Desolation Called Peace
17/45 Stacey M. Floyd (Ed.) - Liberation Theologies in the United States
18/45 Hew Lemmey - Red Tory: My Corbyn Chemsex Hell
19/45 Roldolfo Walsh - Operation Massacre
20/45 Joan Didion - The White Album
21/45 Brian Manning - Aristocrats, Plebeians and Revolution in England 1640-1660
22/45 Noel Ignatiev - Acceptable Men

23/45 Toni Morrison - Home

I got to stop reading depressing books

 

[petee]

One criticism... I'm not a bibliography purest, but including the author really helps if I want to track these books down, unless they were all by Hoxha, then sorry, my bad.

here y'go

Enver Hoxha Internet Archive

www.marxists.org

 

[hitmouse]

1/30 Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
2/30 Joan Didion - The White Album (re-read)
3/30 Saidiya Hartman - Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
4/30 Joan Didion - After Henry (another re-read, first published in UK as Sentimental Journeys)
5/30 Flannery O'Connor - The Violent Bear It Away
6/30 Joan Didion - Play It As It Lays (re-read)
7/30 Iris Murdoch - Under the Net (re-read)
8/30 Joan Didion - South and West
9/30 Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing
10/30 Koshka Duff (ed) - Abolishing the Police
11/30 Jane Holgate - Arise
12/30 F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (re-read)
13/30 12 Rules for What/Sam Moore and Alex Roberts - Post-Internet Far Right
14/30 Brad Logan & John Gentile - Architects of Self-Destruction: The Oral History of Leftover Crack
15/30 Emily Nagoski - Come As You Are
16/30 Barney Farmer - Park by the River
17/30 Nina Power - What Do Men Want?
18/30 Jean-Paul Sartre - Intimacy (re-read)
19/30 Agustín Guillamón - Insurrection: The Bloody Events of May 1937
20/30 Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
21/30 James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room
22/30 Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
23/30 HP Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories (re-read)
24/30 Chris Whitaker - Tall Oaks
25/30 Jen Calleja - I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For

26/30 Hanif Abdurraqib - They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

Really good, can see how it might be a bit too earnest for some people but it mostly really hit the spot for me. Passionate, intense, that sort of thing.
Now starting:
Joe Burns - Class Struggle Unionism

 

[nogojones]

here y'go

Enver Hoxha Internet Archive

www.marxists.org

And I always thought Mr Tickle was one of his earlier works

 

[Fozzie Bear]

12/29 Tim Wells - Shine On Me

The second of the author’s skinhead werewolf novels set in Stamford Hill and North London generally in the early 1980s. A joy to read - the fun plot aided by some excellent digs at Crass fans and boneheads. Some lovely turns of phrase.

 

[Me76]

1/40 Just Like You, Nick Hornby - dl
2/40 A Place Called Winter, Patrick Gale
3/40 Blood Men, Paul Cleave,
4/40 The Middlesteins, Jami Attenberg- dl
5/40 the Midnight Library, Matt Haig
6/40 Born Lippy, Jo Brand
7/40 All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr- dl
8/40 The Secretary, Zoe Lea
9/40 The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary
10/40 Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
11/40 Gwendy's Button Box, Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
12/40 Gwendy's Magic Feather, Richard Chizmar
13/40 Gwendy's Final Task, Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
14/40, Find the Girl, Nic Roberts
15/40, Queenie, Candice Carty Williams
16/40 The Madness of Grief, Panayotis, Cacoyannis
17/40 The Advocate's Labyrinth, Tessa Burell
18/40 Solomon Vs Lord, Paul Levine
19/40 Tuesday's Child, Anya Mora
20/40 Sleep Donation, Karen Russell
21/40 All Grown Up, Jami Attenberg
22/40 More Than This, Patrick Ness
23/40 The Deep Blue Alibi, Paul Levine
24/40 The Man by the Sea, Jack Benton
25/40 Should We Stay or Should We Go, Lionel Shriver
26/40 Two Steps Forward, Graeme Simison and Anne Buist
27/40 Fanny Bower Puts Herself Out There, Julia Ariss
28/40 Cold Bath Lane, Lorna Dounaeva
29/40 Spin, KJ Farnham
30/40 The Three Body Problem, Liu Cixin
31/40 The Silent Ones, Linda Coles
32/40 The World Beneath, Rebecca Cantrell

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Sarah Waters - Fingersmith
2/52 - Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These
3/52 - Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice
4/52 - Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
5/52 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library
6/52 - Patricia Highsmith - A Dog's Ransom
7/52 - Claire Douglas - The Couple at No. 9
8/52 - Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
9/52 - Zadie Smith - On Beauty
10/52 - Stephen King & Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Button Box (reread)
11/52 - Minette Walters - The Cellar
12/52 - Barbara Vine - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy (reread)
13/52 - Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
14/52 - Peter Swanson - Rules for Perfect Murders
15/52 - Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This
16/52 - Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?
17/52 - Toni Morrison - Beloved
18/52 - Denise Mina - The Less Dead
19/52 - Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Magic Feather
20/52 - Sarah Waters - The Night Watch
21/52 - Chibundu Onuzo - Sankofa
22/52 - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Final Task
23/52 - A A Milne - The Red House Mystery
24/52 - A M Homes - May We Be Forgiven
25/52 - Andrew Michael Hurley - Devil's Day
26/52 - Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons
27/52 - Stephen King - Skeleton Crew
28/52 - Ruth Rendell - Portobello (reread)
29/52 - Willy Valutin - The Night Always Comes
30/52 - Stephen King - The Langoliers (reread)
31/52 - Elly Griffiths - The Crossing Places
32/53 - Stephen King - Secret Window, Secret Garden
33/52 - Elizabeth Strout - Oh William!

34/52 - Annie Proulx - Wyoming Stories (reread)

 

[hitmouse]

1/30 Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
2/30 Joan Didion - The White Album (re-read)
3/30 Saidiya Hartman - Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
4/30 Joan Didion - After Henry (another re-read, first published in UK as Sentimental Journeys)
5/30 Flannery O'Connor - The Violent Bear It Away
6/30 Joan Didion - Play It As It Lays (re-read)
7/30 Iris Murdoch - Under the Net (re-read)
8/30 Joan Didion - South and West
9/30 Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing
10/30 Koshka Duff (ed) - Abolishing the Police
11/30 Jane Holgate - Arise
12/30 F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (re-read)
13/30 12 Rules for What/Sam Moore and Alex Roberts - Post-Internet Far Right
14/30 Brad Logan & John Gentile - Architects of Self-Destruction: The Oral History of Leftover Crack
15/30 Emily Nagoski - Come As You Are
16/30 Barney Farmer - Park by the River
17/30 Nina Power - What Do Men Want?
18/30 Jean-Paul Sartre - Intimacy (re-read)
19/30 Agustín Guillamón - Insurrection: The Bloody Events of May 1937
20/30 Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
21/30 James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room
22/30 Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
23/30 HP Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories (re-read)
24/30 Chris Whitaker - Tall Oaks
25/30 Jen Calleja - I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For
26/30 Hanif Abdurraqib - They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

27/30 Joe Burns - Class Struggle Unionism

Bucking the trend, it's a book about unionism not written by someone called Jane! Short, readable, interestingly different in focus from some of the other stuff on the subject, less concerned with organising techniques and more on big picture/vision questions like the need for a union movement that can break the law in order to take effective action. Written in a US context, but some of the discussion around a declining union movement operating in a legal environment that's set up to make effective strikes difficult or impossible might just potentially be relevant to here as well. Now starting:

Colson Whitehead - Apex Hides The Hurt

Book about a town changing its name. Having read two previous Whitehead books, one about lift inspectors and one about... I dunno what you'd call them, PR journalists? Puff piece writers? Anyway, it's not entirely surprising to find that this book is also about someone with an unusual job connected to the field of marketing and advertising.

 

[marty21]

1/75. The Story of England - Michael Wood .
2/75 Broken Rails : How Privitisation Wrecked Britain's Railways - Christian Wolmar .
3/75 Black and British : A Forgotten History - David Olusoga.
4/75 Shackleton: A Biography - Ranulph Fiennes
5/75 The Secret Barrister: Stories of the law and how its broken - The Secret Barrister
6/75 The Nanny State Made Me : The Story of Britain & How to Save it. - Stuart Maconie
7/75 Conquistadors - Michael Wood.
8/75 Shadows Reel - CJ Box
9/75 Hope & Glory - Stuart Maconie
10/75 Killing Floor - Lee Child
11/75 Die Trying - Lee Child
12/75 Tripwire - Lee Child
13/75 The Visitor - Lee Child
14/75 Echo Burning - Lee Child
15/75 Without Fail - Lee Child
16/75 Persuader - Lee Child
17/75 The Enemy - Lee Child
18/75 One Shot - Lee Child
19/75 The Hard Way - Lee Child
20/75 Sing Backwards and Weep - Mark Lanegan
21/75 Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
22/75 Nothing to Lose - Lee Child
23/75 Gone Tomorrow - Lee Child
24/75 61 Hours - Lee Child
25/75 Worth Dying For - Lee Child
26/75 The Affair - Lee Child
27/75 The Plantagenets : The Kings Who Made England - Dan Jones
28/75 A Wanted Man - Lee Child
29/75 Never Go Back - Lee Child
30/75 Look Here : On The Pleasures of Observing The City - Ana Kinsella.
31/75 Personal - Lee Child

 

[Pickman's model]

11/29 Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone - Charged: How the police try to suppress protest.

A detailed but readable critical look at police tactics at some key protests including Warrington, Orgreave, Battle of the Beanfield, Wapping, the poll tax riot, Welling, Hyde Park CJB, Mayday 2001, Gleneagles 2005, G20 London 2009, student fees 2010.

thank you, bought

 

[Fozzie Bear]

thank you, bought

No worries, I'd be interested to know what you make of it.

 

[Winot]

1/29 Bright Travellers - Fiona Benson
2/29 The Emigrants - WG Sebald
3/29 Inside Story - Martin Amis
4/29 Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; Seymour - an Introduction - JD Salinger (reread)
5/29 Art Can Help - Robert Adams
6/29 The Right to Sex - Amia Srinivasan
7/29 Boyle: Between God and Science - Michael Hunter
8/29 Autumn - Ali Smith

9/29 The Latecomers - Anita Brookner

 

[petee]

5/9 Berkman, The Kronstadt Rebellion. an elaboration of the next-to-last chapter in The Bolshevik Myth. he was an eyewitness and participant in the events there, and while my politics are broadly his and so i'm coming into it sympathetic, it's still shocking to read. the ethnic stereotyping is present here also, but i think i shortchanged his prose style above, he was an outstanding writer.

6/9 Pestana, Seventy Days on Russia - What I Saw
7/9 Pestana, The CNT and the Third International. a spanish syndicalist who attended the same international berkman did, though the two had very different roles. these are reports. otoh they make for quite tedious reading in places, otoh they will be invaluable for the historian. his judgement of the bolsheviks is brutal, though he came away with high regard for lenin himself. the prose, when not tedious, is ... ripe (i can't help but compare him with berkman).

there is also a Seventy Days in Russia - What I Thought, but it hasn't been translated in to english.

 

[Me76]

For some reason my Evernote won't let me copy my whole book list but this is my last one

33/40 Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg

Loved it. Two stories in one about trans life and the establishment.

 

[hitmouse]

1/30 Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
2/30 Joan Didion - The White Album (re-read)
3/30 Saidiya Hartman - Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
4/30 Joan Didion - After Henry (another re-read, first published in UK as Sentimental Journeys)
5/30 Flannery O'Connor - The Violent Bear It Away
6/30 Joan Didion - Play It As It Lays (re-read)
7/30 Iris Murdoch - Under the Net (re-read)
8/30 Joan Didion - South and West
9/30 Yaa Gyasi - Homegoing
10/30 Koshka Duff (ed) - Abolishing the Police
11/30 Jane Holgate - Arise
12/30 F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (re-read)
13/30 12 Rules for What/Sam Moore and Alex Roberts - Post-Internet Far Right
14/30 Brad Logan & John Gentile - Architects of Self-Destruction: The Oral History of Leftover Crack
15/30 Emily Nagoski - Come As You Are
16/30 Barney Farmer - Park by the River
17/30 Nina Power - What Do Men Want?
18/30 Jean-Paul Sartre - Intimacy (re-read)
19/30 Agustín Guillamón - Insurrection: The Bloody Events of May 1937
20/30 Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
21/30 James Baldwin - Giovanni's Room
22/30 Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
23/30 HP Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories (re-read)
24/30 Chris Whitaker - Tall Oaks
25/30 Jen Calleja - I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For
26/30 Hanif Abdurraqib - They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us
27/30 Joe Burns - Class Struggle Unionism

28/30 Colson Whitehead - Apex Hides The Hurt

A surprisingly gripping read, considering that the plot is just "man stubs his toe a lot and helps a town decide on a new name". What I've read of Whitehead always feels like getting to explore a very unique perspective, someone who takes a real joy in worldbuilding and so on. Recommended if you want to read a novel about names? Now starting:

Sheila Rowbotham - Daring to Hope: My Life in the 1970s

Finding it very fun and readable for a book dealing with ancient history. If Fozzie Bear hasn't read enough books about Hackney yet, this and her previous book on the 60s (which I've not read) seem pretty Hackney-heavy?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Sheila Rowbotham - Daring to Hope: My Life in the 1970s

Finding it very fun and readable for a book dealing with ancient history. If Fozzie Bear hasn't read enough books about Hackney yet, this and her previous book on the 60s (which I've not read) seem pretty Hackney-heavy?

I haven’t and keep meaning to check those out

I on a bit of a roll with early 70s Hackney feminism myself at the moment so perhaps it’s time.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "The Thursday Murder Club" - Richard Osman.
2. "The Woman in the Window" - A. J. Finn.
3. "Snow" by John Banville
4. "The Lies You Told" - Harriet Tyce
5. "A Gift for the Dying" - MJ Arlidge
6. "One by One" - Ruth Ware
7. "The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways" - a British Library publication edited by Mike Ashley.
8. "The House of Ashes" - Stuart Neville
9. "Lies" - TM Logan.
10. "The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill" - C. S. Robertson.
11. "I See You" - Clare Mackintosh
12. "The Seance" - John Harwood
13. "The Couple Next Door" - Shari Lapena
14. "American Dirt" -Jeanine Cummins
15. "Their Little Secret" - Mark Billingham
16. "The Murder List" - Jackie Kabler

17. "Twelve Secrets" - Robert Gold. Interesting thriller but I found it hard to envisage the scenes and locations in my mind

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Sarah Waters - Fingersmith
2/52 - Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These
3/52 - Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice
4/52 - Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
5/52 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library
6/52 - Patricia Highsmith - A Dog's Ransom
7/52 - Claire Douglas - The Couple at No. 9
8/52 - Daniel Mason - The Piano Tuner
9/52 - Zadie Smith - On Beauty
10/52 - Stephen King & Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Button Box (reread)
11/52 - Minette Walters - The Cellar
12/52 - Barbara Vine - The Chimney Sweeper's Boy (reread)
13/52 - Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman
14/52 - Peter Swanson - Rules for Perfect Murders
15/52 - Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This
16/52 - Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?
17/52 - Toni Morrison - Beloved
18/52 - Denise Mina - The Less Dead
19/52 - Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Magic Feather
20/52 - Sarah Waters - The Night Watch
21/52 - Chibundu Onuzo - Sankofa
22/52 - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Final Task
23/52 - A A Milne - The Red House Mystery
24/52 - A M Homes - May We Be Forgiven
25/52 - Andrew Michael Hurley - Devil's Day
26/52 - Anne Tyler - Breathing Lessons
27/52 - Stephen King - Skeleton Crew
28/52 - Ruth Rendell - Portobello (reread)
29/52 - Willy Valutin - The Night Always Comes
30/52 - Stephen King - The Langoliers (reread)
31/52 - Elly Griffiths - The Crossing Places
32/53 - Stephen King - Secret Window, Secret Garden
33/52 - Elizabeth Strout - Oh William!
34/52 - Annie Proulx - Wyoming Stories (reread)

35/52 - Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley (reread)
36/52 - Peter Swanson - Nine Lives

 

[Smokeandsteam]

1/39 - Mark Andrews: Paint My Name in Black and Gold
2/39 - Allan Glenn: Stuart Adamson: Through a Big Country
3/39 - Len McCluskey: Why You Should be a Trade Unionist
4/39 - Dick Hebidge: Subculture: The meaning of style
5/39 - Walter Benjamin: Illuminations
6/39 - Jeremy Seabrook: What Went Wrong
7/39 - Raymond Williams: People of the Black Mountains
8/39 - Michael Lind - The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite
9/39 - McKenzie Wark - Capital is Dead: Is this something worse?
10/39 - Raymond Williams - Second Generation
11/39 - Joel Kotkin: The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class
12/39 - Paolo Gerbaudo: The Great Recoil: Politics after Populism and Pandemic

Highly recommended. A deeply ironic read - given the Tory leadership election where hopelessly dated idiots are queuing up to promise tax cuts and a smaller state- that connivingly shows how late capitalist economies across the world are beginning to shift away from the neo-liberal experience and towards onshoring, economic protection and increased state activity in the absence of private sector innovation or desire to fix post-covid socio-economic crises.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

"We're not beautiful
We're not ugly
We're angry"

13/29 Sue Finch, Jenny Fortune, Jane Grant, Jo Robinson, Sarah Wilson (eds) - Misbehaving: Stories of Protest Against The Miss World Contest and the Beauty Industry

A book by the women who disrupted Miss World at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970. They did the book around the release of the Misbehaviour film that covers the event with Keira Knightley et al. It's nicely done - the protest is told via a series of biographies of participants who then continue their stories, in some cases through the ensuing trial - but all of them have had interesting lives. The leaflet the women produced shortly afterwards "Why Miss World?" is reproduced in full and provides some useful insights and vintage cartoons by one of the contibutors. There is a good concluding piece on some current issues around the black beauty industry, data mining etc too.