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

[Sue]

1/29 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

The life of a boy growing up in poverty in 80's/early 90's Glasgow with his alcoholic mother. Very good but very grim.

(Not sure if we're meant to say stuff about the books or just list them..? )

Eta I'm a few years older than the author/main character but it really struck me that a lot of the stuff in the book is more like stories my parents would tell of growing up in tenements/schemes in the 40s and 50s than the time it's actually set in and which I grew up in. (Thankfully i didn't grow up in such desperate circumstances mind.)

Time-wise it feels really old fashioned..? I mean if it didn't include dates/mentions of Thatcher/YTSs etc, I'd have placed it in the 50s or 60s.

 

[belboid]

I have plumped for 20-29. I will aim for thirty with a minimum of 26. I managed 28 last year, despite having three or four months when I didn’t read anything that long so I reckon I will hit my mark again, just about.

 

[ska invita]

Anyone read Natasha Brown's Assembly ? Just finished it... I'd like to talk about it with someone!! Left me with a couple of questions...Please PM me if so.

ETA: its very very good. and short

 

[petee]

(Not sure if we're meant to say stuff about the books or just list them..? )

i, at least, like to hear an opinion about a book.

 

[BoatieBird]

(Not sure if we're meant to say stuff about the books or just list them..? )

Some do, some don't.
Either is fine

 

[hitmouse]

Yeah, I think providing some kind of opinion makes it more interesting than just posting lists of titles? Anyway, congratulations to Sue and PursuedByBears, who I assume are now on track to read 365 books this year?

 

[Sue]

Yeah, I think providing some kind of opinion makes it more interesting than just posting lists of titles? Anyway, congratulations to Sue and PursuedByBears, who I assume are now on track to read 365 books this year?

Hah, I was halfway through it so...

 

[nogojones]

I think its better to give your opinion on the book, but I'm so lazy I seldom do.

 

[Winot]

I took part in this for the first time in 2020 and found the recording useful as a way of getting back into reading through the pandemic. Read 25 books in 2020 and 29 last year so going for 20-29 again this year as I don't want to up my numbers for the sake of it.

 

[Winot]

1/29 Bright Travellers - Fiona Benson

Her first poetry collection. I read her second, Vertigo & Ghost, last year. This is more conventional and deals movingly with her miscarriages and the birth of her daughter.

 

[Sue]

1/29 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

2/29 The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan

Apocalyptic ice age hits the world, including a disparate group of people in a small town/caravan park in the north of Scotland. Felt freezing just reading it. (Published in 2016 but the whole world disaster thing felt kind of relevant.)

 

[shifting gears]

1/26 - Michael Moorcock - The Whispering Swarm

Really enjoyed this but took me a while to get into - part memoirs of a young creative, part supernatural, historical swashbuckling romp with plenty of layers to attempt to interpret. If, like me, you’re a fan of Mieville’s Bas-Lag series I reckon you’d get on well with this.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I've gone for 30-39 this year. I don't know how many I read last year as I forgot to update my list on here mid-year. Anyway, off we go, and this year I am writing a one line summary of each book....

1/39: Mark Andrews: Paint My Name in Black and Gold

Magnificently well researched history of the greatest goff band ever...read it over the holiday and loved the nostalgia and cultural memories.

2/39: Allan Glenn: Stuart Adamson: Through a Big Country

Lacking input from the main players, not least the remaining band members, and feels a bit cursory.

3/39: Len McCluskey: Why You Should be a Trade Unionist

A Christmas Present from a well meaning relative who knows that I am 'a bit political', boiled my piss with the posturing exceptionalism and labourist drone as I knew it would before even starting it....

 

[Pickman's model]

(Not sure if we're meant to say stuff about the books or just list them..? )

this thread and its predecessors have always been intended as an aid to participants' keeping an eye on their progress against the target they've set themselves. there is no actual need to list the books read, or to offer an opinion or summary of them. however, it'd be a nice thing to see a couple of sentences about books which have impressed or appalled.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Going to try to up my reading this year so have gone for 30-39, ten more than last year

1. "The Thursday Murder Club" - Richard Osman. Thought I'd like this but I didn't enjoy the writing and found it a struggle to finish.

 

[l'Otters]

1/n
So you’ve been publicly shamed by Jon Ronson
All kinds of Twitter events I’d had no idea of at the time.

0/n
Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
Might come back to this later but after initially finding it interesting I got bored.

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 David Katz - People Funny Boy: the genius of Lee Scratch Perry

2/45 Onjali Q Rauf - The Star Outside My Window

 

[hitmouse]

So you’ve been publicly shamed by Jon Ronson

Never noticed it before, but that's one of those book titles where putting "by [author's name]" at the end really alters the effect.

1/30 Taylor Jenkins Reid - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Can't say I loved this one. After Set the Night on Fire and Slouching Towards Bethlehem, suppose that makes it the third book in a row I read that at least partly deals with LA in the 60s? Maybe it's petty to point out it's the only one of the three that doesn't mention Watts, but maybe it isn't. Anyway, not wild about it, but there were some moments that were insightful and I thought the end was OK?

Starting to re-read Joan Didion - The White Album next. Which is great.

 

[marty21]

1. The Story of England - Michael Wood .

 

[braindancer]

1/20 - Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

First book in The Expanse series. I really enjoyed the first third but grew a little tired in the middle and took me ages to summon the will to finish. Anyone read the series? I've got the second book so will probably carry on but there are 9!

 

[Pickman's model]

1. joe abercrombie, the wisdom of crowds

Found I've been reading Abercrombie since 2008 and he's kept his books really strong. I think this isn't his best: but still very good.

 

[shifting gears]

1/26 - Michael Moorcock - The Whispering Swarm

2/26 - Albert Camus - The Outsider

 

[Me76]

1/40 Nick Hornby, Just Like You
Excellent quick read, touches on a lot of racial stuff that I found a bit superficial knowing that Nick Hornby is a white man, but I suppose someone like him bringing it up is better than ignoring it...

2/40 Patrick Gale, A Place Called Winter
Beautiful book. Harsh and sad at times, but beautiful.

 

[Saffy]

Going to try to up my reading this year so have gone for 30-39, ten more than last year

1. "The Thursday Murder Club" - Richard Osman. Thought I'd like this but I didn't enjoy the writing and found it a struggle to finish.

I've tried to read this 3 times now and I just can't!
If anyone fancies trying to read it, I'm happy to send it to them.

I'm going to try and read more this year. I'm going for 20 books this year.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. "The Thursday Murder Club" - Richard Osman.

2. "The Woman in the Window" - A. J. Finn. I devoured this in a few days! Very readable, a brilliant thriller. Reminded me of "The Girl of the Train" and "Blood Orange" both of which have flawed, interesting protagonists

 

[inva]

I doubt I've managed to read more than about 10 books in total since I last did one of these reading challenges in 2017 so I'll aim for 10 and see how it goes, if I can actually get back to reading regularly I might get through a lot more.

Since I forgot to vote I'm changing that to 20 as I've started pretty well.

1/20 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

 

[smmudge]

1 - Pain & Prejudice, Gabrielle Jackson. Decided to start by finishing some books I've had on the go for ages. Can't remember the last time I finished a book

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Sarah Waters - Fingersmith

What a great start to my 2022 list.
This had passed me by when it was published in 2002 and I went into it without knowing any of the plot twists, I actually gasped at one point
Superb story telling.

 

[nogojones]

1/45 Maya Angelou - Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas

Third part of her autobiog. Sweet. A joy to read.

 

[ginger_syn]

1/9 Crossroads of Twilight . Robert Jordan.
Book 10 of the wheel of time.
Hoping to read more than 9 books this year but thought I'd start low as I've only recently got back into reading again