Jen's 2022 WIT challenge

[Jen]

Owned TBR books (options):

[Jen]

Group favourites from 2021:

Paper Houses
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Whereabouts
In the Company of Men
My Grandmother's Braid
Convenience Store Woman

[Jen]

Completed:

1. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami - 3*

2. In Concrete by Anne Garréta and translated by Emma Ramadan - 4* mostly because I’m in awe of the translation!

[Jen]

I've gone off the rails a bit with my reading and Goodreads partipation. But I just saw the thread for the 2023 challenge which reminded me that I haven't come back here to update my 2022 WiT reading!

3. Elena Knows - 5* I thought this was fantastic in every way and has stuck with me. A top read of the year.

4. Real Life - 5* - another standout for me, but I am careful to recommend with the warning that it is violent and raw. But outstanding too.

5. Our Riches - 3* - This had all the markings of a book I would love, but something didn't quite get there for me. Still, recommended, especially if a fictional account of the famous Algerian bookstore/publisher/ library that started the career of Albert Camus appeals to you.

6. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - 4* - It's the distinct voice of its narrator that really sticks with me.

7. The Twilight Zone - 4* - Oomph. This was dark, disorienting... exactly as the fantastic book cover and title suggest.

8. Paper Houses - 4* -from a French Canadian author I'd been wanting to read for some time (and a much admired translator, Rhonda Mullins), this is a fictionalized account of Emily Dickinson's life.

9. Ladivine - 5* - Well it seems all my favourites this year were translated women's fiction. This was achingly good, terribly sad and somewhat unreachable. I can't understand the low(ish) GR rating. It like nothing I've read before.

[Hannah]

Great list Jen! I agree that ladavine is underated and I don't know why. I also thought real life was very good, although not exactly pleasant to read it was very well done. I'm about to read Elena knows so I'm glad you've rated it 5*, I've heard nothing but good things about it. And I hadn't heard of twilight zone so thanks for putting it on my radar