The best of 2022

[WndyJW]

I’d like to read more Deborah Levy too. She’s a smart writer.
My Phantoms is great read for families themed reading. The mother and the father are insufferable!

[Roman Clodia]

Levy is smart, indeed. Though I was a little disappointed with her new book August Blue which I read this week as a NetGalley ARC. I mean, it's good and clever and all that, but the ideas of mirrorings and shadowings and contested identities is hardly fresh and I'm not completely sure she has anything new to say.

If anyone is looking for recommendations beyond her fiction, I'd suggest her Things I Don't Want to Know, The Cost of Living, and Real Estate - brilliant, sharp, honest, and with a robust sense of humour (It's the first one that I haven't read yet).

[Roman Clodia]

WndyJW wrote: "My Phantoms is great read for families themed reading. The mother and the father are insufferable!"

It's almost *the* anti-family book! I love it but it's claustrophobic :)

[Nigeyb]

Sounds just the ticket


Thanks both 👏🏻

[WndyJW]

The mother is difficult in such a specific way it makes me wonder if Gwendoline Riley knew someone like the mother in My Phantoms.

[Roman Clodia]

WndyJW wrote: "The mother is difficult in such a specific way it makes me wonder if Gwendoline Riley knew someone like the mother in My Phantoms."

Gulp!

I have herFirst Love which I must read soon.

[Alwynne]

Roman Clodia wrote: "Levy is smart, indeed. Though I was a little disappointed with her new book August Blue which I read this week as a NetGalley ARC. I mean, it's good and clever and all that, but the..."

I loved her autobiographies too but haven't managed to finish any of the fiction of hers I've tried.

[Alwynne]

Roman Clodia wrote: "WndyJW wrote: "The mother is difficult in such a specific way it makes me wonder if Gwendoline Riley knew someone like the mother in My Phantoms."

Gulp!

I have herFirst Lov..."</i>

I liked that a lot as well as [book:Cold Water

[Blaine]

Updated through today. I don’t expect to finish anything I’m starting now before 31 December.

I seem to have been on a female writer streak lately.

2022 stats

32 male/33 female

41 fiction/24 non-fiction

2 pre-20th century(only 2!! 😟)
39 20th Century
19 2000-2019
5 2020-2022

25 UK
31 English non-UK
9 in translation

Plans for 2023

Entangled Life (about fungi)
Transit of Venus
Oroonoko
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (maybe)
The Restless Republic (maybe)
The Leopard
Katalin Street
Candy House

My James Joyce project: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and The Most Dangerous Book

And also:
Elizabeth Bowen (at least one) and Patricia Highsmith (maybe)
An unread Jane Austen
Smiley's People

So many more I want to read!

[Alwynne]

This is my breakdown for the year:

Contemporary vs older books: 119/64

UK-based vs international (includes US and Eire): 61/122

English vs translation or read in French: 125/58

Non-fiction vs fiction: 42/143

Male vs female authors: 39/142

non-binary 5 not including pieces included in anthologies

I don't tend to plan but do want to read more of the books I already own and continue reading more work in translation.