Books of 2022: A Selection
Reading has sometimes been hard this year, for no reason I can put my finger on. I've got into audio books in a big way, and sometimes holding a big hardback (with arthritic fingers) can be hard, but... that's no excuse when you also read (and enjoy reading) on a Kindle. And, of course, my reading - as always - isn't confined to what's just been published. I'm still playing catch-up with books I find, or read about, or hear about, and can't believe I've never read. The Unbearable Lightness of Being was the latest. Unbelievable lack of reading.
However, however, however... The Goodreads review page might be a bit neglected but here, for what it's worth, are some of the books that I've most enjoyed this year:
The Painful Truth: The New Science of Why We Hurt and How We Can Heal, by Monty Lyman (Penguin, Feb. 2022) is one of those books that has a foot in both camps - that of patient and doctor. Lyman is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, and a trained medic. More importantly, he has lived experience of chronic pain having suffered for years from debilitating IBS. Adding clinical validation to his intuitive conclusions on the cause and nature of his own illness leads both to an epiphany, and recovery. Lyman’s book is both a vivid and readable introduction to the latest pain science, and a valuable self-help guide. Knowing why you hurt really can help you feel better!
Beware of the Bull: The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray (Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd 11 Aug. 2022) is the long-awaited biography of the Yorkshire chansonnier by Paul Thompson and John Watterson. Thackray was a song-writing genius. He deserved much wider recognition, and much better than the lonely, alcohol-related death he suffered. This book is a gem, putting the record straight but without pulling any punches. Jake was a complex man: who wouldn't be, given his upbringing, his Catholicism, his demons? The well-spring of true genius is often torment of some kind and the cliché of the sad clown isn't always that wide of the mark. What isn't in any doubt is that Thackray's complex genius is brilliantly served in this very special biography.
Murder Before Evensong, by Richard Coles is the eponymous priest and former pop-star's first foray into fiction. I'm not a natural crime fiction fan, although I've enjoyed a few of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books and the odd Val McDermid crime thriller. But I had the great good fortune to host Richard in discussion about his latest book at this year's Boston Book Festival, and read his first venture into the genre as preparation. And a thoroughly enjoyable duty it turned out to be, meeting a colourful cast of characters that includes Stella Harper and Anne Dollinger, the church flower arrangers, local worthy Bernard de Floures and retired headmaster Ned Thwaite all of whom orbit the vicar-cum-detective Daniel Clement and his feisty mother, Audrey. Oh, and there's a loo, too!
Next up is a children's book. I still sometimes get sent books to review and this one is especially useful to any parent wanting to steer their child through the ever-rougher waters of human social interaction. I mean, is it just me or is everything, these days, freighted with more meaning, more potential pitfalls, more minefields of danger than ever before? I don't long for the old pre-social media days of everything being settled by a playground punch-up. But the invidious, poisonous social media-type pile-ons of today and the way they now seem to taint IRL conversations and relationships is a nest of rattlesnakes. Polite disagreement... is that even possible?
Yes, according to award-winning and bestselling author, Matthew Syed, whose new book helps young readers discover how debates and disagreements can give them new ideas, stronger friendships, and help change the world for the better. What Do YOU Think? (Hachette Children’s Group, Oct. 2022) is a positive and empowering toolkit for kids looking to be heard and understood in an increasingly polarized and argumentative world. It will help them (and help parents, carers and educators supporting them) gain the tools they need to navigate a world that’s increasingly at odds and inspire them to form their own opinions and communicate them with confidence and kindness.
And another one intended for the kids, especially kids in pain, is the latest series from Australian NOI Group entitled Zoe and Zak's Pain Hacks. Written by Dr Joshua W. Pate these colourful and engaging books are a fabulous attempt to share the latest brain-based approaches to pain management with a younger audience. Written in rhyming couplets, the five books are designed to help children, family, friends, teachers and health professionals all learn about pain and help children thrive! There's so much about pain that is downright strange as well as fascinating and knowing just a little bit about your body in this way can be hugely empowering. Niche, maybe - but necessary!
Talking of our amazing brains, July saw the publication of another truly amazing book about them. How the Mind Changed: A Human History of our Evolving Brain by Joseph Jebelli is described as "a seven-million-year journey through our own heads, packed with vivid stories, groundbreaking science, and thrilling surprises... Discover how memory has almost nothing to do with the past," the blurb goes on; "[how] meditation rewires our synapses; magic mushroom use might be responsible for our intelligence; climate accounts for linguistic diversity; and how autism teaches us hugely positive lessons about our past and future." Highly recommended.On the face of it, Muzungu - a memoir by Rod Madocks subtitled 'A Rhodesian Testament' - is a straightforward tale of growing up in Africa as neither Englishman abroad nor true native. But the book is full of surprises. Not least is the fact that Cecil Rhodes himself could be quite the humanist, rather than the cancelled old-colonial he now seems destined forever to be. It's a book full of such apparent contradictions, painting a tender portrait of a lost land of colonial life that could also be nasty, brutish and short (and that's just for the ex-pats - Madock's mother had a penchant for stubbing out her cigarettes on the boy's chest, and he was so brutally beaten at school he still bears both physical and mental scars). Despite everything, and especially its colonial faults, the land of Madock's birth clearly casts a long and lingering shadow over the author's subsequent life.
God: An Anatomy, by Francesca Stavrakopoulou was actually published in hardback last year, but the audiobook only came out in 2022. Actually, although I began by listening, I had to switch to reading the book instead; the author has written a fabulous book... but she isn't (to my ears) its best narrator. Nevertheless, if you want to wrestle with the intellectual muddle of the Western concept of god (or gods) then this is a highly entertaining as well as academically well-argued book. But one to read, rather than listen to. At least, in my opinion!
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith is out in paperback on January 6th 2023, so if you've got some Christmas money left and you need a little help facing the grim remainder of winter, this could be for you. It's therapy as common sense, based on science. No wonder the book is a No 1 Sunday Times Bestseller! Smith draws on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, sharing "secrets from a therapist's toolkit" in order to produce a self-help book with a difference.
Last, but by no means least, Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell was Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and a worthy winner too. John Donne is a fascinating subject: pirate, law student, prisoner, poet and priest, the Dean of St Paul's didn't do anything by halves. And neither does this excellent biography, which treads the line between telling the story and trying to explain it, not least by reference to the poetry, with deft skill. Whether you like Donne's poetry, or loathe it, you will love this book because the life is fascinating, and the way it's told here is so exciting. As the man himself wrote: "Love's mysteries in souls do grow, But yet the body is his book."
