Halfway point - favorites, looking forward to reading

[Carol]

It's the perfect time to look backwards and forwards.

Let's use this thread to discuss the best of the first 6 months of 2022 reading and to share what you're most excited about reading between now and year's end. (women authors, please.)

5*/Best Reads of 2022 so far?

The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire

Most Anticipated Second Half Books

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

[Susan]

Ooh, I love this thread!

My best reads by women authors this year so far:
The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
The Colony by Audrey Magee
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro

Most anticipated
Companion Piece by Ali Smith
Ganbare!: Workshops on Dying by Katarzyna Boni
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer

[Ozsaur]

It was interesting looking over all the books I've read so far. The ones that stand out:

Black Water Sister
Sin Eater
The Witness for the Dead

What I'm looking forward to:
What Moves the Dead
Lapvona

[JanGlen]

I loved these:

Convenience Store Woman. Sayaka Murata
Sea of Tranquility. Emily St John Mandel
Credo. Olivia Laing
Priestdaddy. Patricia Lockwood

What I’m looking forward to:

Amy and Lan. Sadie Jones
I’m Sorry You Feel That Way. Rebecca Wait

[Hannah]

My 5* reads:
A Tale for the Time Being and The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini

Most anticipated:
All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

[Shomeret]

My 5* of 2022 So Far:

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales

Pelosi by Molly Ball

How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them by Barbara F. Walter

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World by Ben Mattlin

Most Anticipated:

Dance Among the Flames by Tori Eldridge

Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals by David Hackett Fischer

[Lindsey]

Love this! Adding several of these to my TBR list...

My favorites so far:
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World by Jacqueline Novogratz

Most Anticipated:
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

[Misty]

My favorites so far:
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
Passing by Nella Larsen
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna

Most Anticipated:
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe

[Carol]

It's that time of year. Let's share your favorite reads of 2023 so far, and what you're most anticipating.

Admittedly, happily, my most-enjoyed reads are many. I thought about trimming the list down and concluded, nah:

The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (Nigeria, feminist, mid-century)
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay(nonfiction, essays, brilliance)
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion(California, classic, a magnificent, surprising ending)
The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches, and Reminiscences by Dorothy West(short stories and autobiographical essays, classic, I love every sentence)
A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor(British, classic, mesmerizing)
How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell(what great nonfiction looks like, efficient, well-paced, compelling)
Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho (#WiT, Portugal, historical fic, couldn't look away)
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff(India, feminism, friendships, compelling)
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard(history, nonfiction, never a dull moment, pitched to just the right target reader, compelling)
Nada by Carmen Laforet (#WiT, Spain, historical fic)
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue(Africa, environmental impact, politics, family)
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo(#WiT, Korea, noir, protagonist over 60, brilliant)

Most Anticipating

The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
So Many People, Mariana by Maria Judite de Carvalho
The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

You?

[Shomeret]

Five Stars of 2023 So Far

Our Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women by Christina Lamb
When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error by Danielle Ofri
California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric--and What It Means for America's Power Grid by Katherine Blunt

Most Anticipated

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga- Yamatta Taylor

A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni

[Ozsaur]

Thistlefoot - first book of the year, first five star read.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - wasn't expecting this to be five stars.
Sourdough - charming and whimsical.
Gobbelino London & A Contagion of Zombies - just as fun as the first in the series
The Once and Future Witches - Simply awesome!
She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 2 - Lovely!

[Monica]

5 Star (women) so far 2023:
Caucasia by Danzy Senna (historical fiction, early 1970s, interracial children coping in a changing American landscape)
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (black feminist activists from 1970s interviewed in 2010s)
Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond by Stacy T. Sims (title says it all, better book than the title suggests, unexpectedly excellent)
Womanish: A Grown Black Woman Speaks on Love and Life by Kim McLarin (essays, cathartic, captures middle aged, educated black female experience)
Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis by Samantha Montano (FEMA, climate change, scientist below age 40, excellent)
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo (brilliant, passionate memoir about complex PTSD and mental health)

Books I'm looking forward to end of year (at the moment):
Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman
Bunny by Mona Awad
The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II by Katherine Sharp Landdeck

[Carol]

I'm so excited to grow my TBR with a dozen titles I wasn't familiar with. Thank you!

[Anetq]

My 5 stars so far:
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems by Warsan Shire
"Colonisation in Reverse" by Louise Bennett
Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy
C'est égal / Det er lige meget by Ágota Kristóf
The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell by Deborah Levy
The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography by Deborah Levy

...yes I just realised that's 4 x 5 stars for Deborah Levy - I highly recommend her work!
(and btw there was only one book by a man with 5 stars!)

The 5 star Graphic Novels:
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado
I love this part by Tillie Walden

Looking forward to...
This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books by Joan Anim-Addo (I started, it's good!)
It's a Continent: Unravelling Africa's history one country at a time by Astrid Madimba (same!)
Small Things Like These and Antarctica
Something by Tessa Hadley
Real Estate by Deborah Levy
...two titles by Eva Menasse
Autumn by Ali Smith
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty: A Novel by Akwaeke Emezi
All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse
Break It Down by Lydia Davis

Graphic Novel: Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug
A few more titles by Tillie Walden: Alone in Space: A Collection and Are You Listening?

[Alwynne]

Standouts so far:

A Very Easy Death Simone de Beauvoir's frank account of her mother's slow decline. Not an easy read but a very powerful one

Study for Obedience Sarah Bernstein's unsettling exploration of gender and power

Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's unorthodox memoir

Mild Vertigo Mieko Kanai's fascinating depiction of the everyday of an ordinary Japanese housewife

Biography of X an intriguing novel from Catherine Lacey

Down with the Poor! Shumona Sinha's moving and fierce novel that explores issues around race, gender and identity - one I'd happily press on anyone and everyone

Nails and Eyes an unnerving collection of short stories by Kaori Fujino

The Long Form by Kate Briggs, which looks at literature and motherhood.

Enjoying reading everyone's selections, love Mona Awad, Yoka Tawada and Tillie Walden and thought Deborah Levy's autobiographies were brilliant - was disappointed to finish. Also surprised to enjoy Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead quite so much, it connected well with my own thoughts about animals, although I've had less success with her other books. Joan Didion is always fascinating, and Nella Larsen's brilliant - only wish she'd written more books.

I'm looking forward to reading a new collection from Camilla Grudova The Coiled Serpent; Yuko Tsushima's Laughing Wolf; a collection of classic Korean short stories The Age of Doubt by Pak Kyongni; a new Bora Chung Your Utopia: Stories; more of Tove Jansson's adult novels and rereading some queer classics like Olivia Also planning to reread Antonia Forest's Marlow novels starting with Autumn Term

[Melissa]

My 5-star favorites by women authors this year:

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro - fiction
Rattlebone by Maxine Clair - fiction/historical fiction
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang - fiction
The Hatching: Experiments in Motherhood and Technology by Jenni Quilter - nonfiction/memoir
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith - memoir
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas - memoir
Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life by Abigail Thomas - memoir
What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail Thomas - memoir
(I hadn't read any of Abigail Thomas before this year and when I finally did, I wanted to read everything.)
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai - fiction/psychological suspense
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - fiction

And some very worthy 4 star reads:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - fiction
None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive by Carolyn Prusa - fiction
Boulder by Eva Baltasar - fiction/lgbtqia
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell - historical fiction
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie - fiction
The Girl Who Outgrew the World by Zoje Stage - fiction/fantasy
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett - nonfiction/essays

[Alwynne]

Melissa wrote: "My 5-star favorites by women authors this year:
"

I really liked Abigail Thomas's dog book too, that and Mark Doty's Dog Years are probably my favourite books about life with dogs. I also really liked the writing in Rattlebone, have you tried Maud Martha? Another story written by a poet and some overlapping themes, thought it was a brilliant novel.

[Melissa]

Alwynne wrote: "Melissa wrote: "My 5-star favorites by women authors this year:
"

I really liked Abigail Thomas's dog book too, that and Mark Doty's Dog Years are probably my favourite books abou..."

Love Mark Doty! I haven't read Maud Martha -- it's on my Goodreads TBR but maybe I need to bump that up. Thanks!

[Carol]

Melissa wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Melissa wrote: "My 5-star favorites by women authors this year:
"

I really liked Abigail Thomas's dog book too, that and Mark Doty's Dog Years are probably my favo..."

I second the rec of Maud Martha. Really strong and underrated.