2023 52 Book challenge - COMPLETED
Challenges for 2023 set out below. Will be added to throughout the year.
1. A book with a subtitle
Seven ages of death : A forensic pathologist's journey through life / Dr. Richard Shepherd.
Fascinating, occasionally gruesome, often surprisingly beautiful account of the work of a UK pathologist, and the wonderful thing that is the human body.
2. Featuring an inheritance
Sad Cypress / Agatha Christie
3. Title starting with the letter “G”
The great darkness by Jim Kelly. Excellent historical crime novel especially for those familiar with the city of Cambridge.
4. Title starting with the letter “H”
How to kill your family / Bella Mackie.
Darkly funny, Bella Mackie was inspired to write her debut novel by her father telling her true crime stories when she was a small child (perhaps I'm heading down the same path as my grandfather did the same).
If you've enjoyed Killing Eve, you'll love this, even if I did find it slightly repulsive. Great twist in the tale though.
5. Title starting with the letter “I”
I, Claudius / Robert Graves.
6. Under 200 pages
It's a vets life / Alex Duncan
7. A city or country name in the title
Hand-grenade practice in Peking / Frances Wood. An astonishing memoire of China in the last days of Chairman Mao. Often laugh out loud funny.
A private cathedral / James Lee Burke.
One of those books (thankfully rare) where you read it and think what the heck was that about?
10. Takes place during the roaring twenties
Partners in crime / Agatha Christie.
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The 20s may not be roaring in London but with Russian spies, drug smugglers and a clergyman's daughter in distress, it's a busy time for crime novel loving Tommy and Tuppence. Interesting insight into the authors that Agatha Christie enjoyed reading too.
This also completes the February Read Christie 2023 challenge.
11. A book about secrets
Dead lion / John and Emery Bonett.
A spot of blackmail leads to murder. Features one of the nastiest victims in any murder mystery.
12. High Fantasy
Finn family Moomintroll / Tove Jansson
Some might argue that this is not High Fantasy. It is set in a place a little like Finland, there is even a (very brief) mention of America. It is so very other worldly though that in my mind it qualifies.
I've known of the Moomins for years and loved the illustrations, but this is the first Moomin book I've read and a holiday in Scandinavia seemed the perfect place to start. I adored the story - gentle and whimsical and utterly adorable. A feel good book on every level.
13. Published posthumously
15. Set in Australia
Walkabout / James Vance Marshall.
Spoiler alert.
I remember seeing the film of this many years ago and finding it rather disturbing. The book has something of the same quality but is also very surprising.
Published in the 1950s, it tells the story of a boy and a girl from the southern United States, who are stranded in the Australian bush, and likely to die until they are befriended by an Aboriginal boy, who is on walkabout.
The language earlier in the novel is undeniably racist, partly I think to reflect the white children's own preconceptions about race, and partly, unfortunately, reflecting outmoded, and plain wrong thinking specifically about Australian first nations.
However it is the Aboriginal boy, whose name we never know, who saves the children's lives, and in doing so loses his.
By the end of the novel the white children realise that he has shown them how to live and there is a new appreciation for their lives, the seemingly hostile environment of the bush, and the aborigines themselves.
The language cleverly changes through the novel reflecting the change in the children's own perceptions.
It's not a comfortable read, but it is undeniably compelling and a love song to the countryside of Australia.
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16. Featuring one of the “seven deadly sins”
Death in the city of light / David King.
An extraordinary true crime book in which a, now largely forgotten, serial killer stalks Paris as the Nazi occupation draws to a close. At the heart of his killing spree lies an extraordinary greed that often targets the most vulnerable.
17. By a Caribbean author
Quartet by Jean Rhys
18. Set during a war other than WWI or WWII - Master and Commander / Patrick O'Brian
Set during the Napoleonic wars, Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian is a cracking start to the Aubrey-Maturin series.
19. Typographic cover
They both die at the end / Adam Silvera.
An extraordinary read. This Young Adult novel blew me away. Incredibly sad but also oddly life affirming. I loved it even if I spent most of the book on the edge of tears.
20. A book about siblings
Though by no means solely about siblings, there were lots in Elizabeth Gaskell's heart warming Cranford.
Such a lovely book to read with sweet characters including the adorable Miss Matty, who reminded me so much of my own much loved Great-Aunt. Heart warming.
21. A second-hand book
Maigret right and wrong / Georges Simenon.
A Maigret anthology (Maigret in Montmartre and Maigret's anthology). This rather battered 1st edition from 1954 has a beautiful cover and an interesting history. It belonged originally to an independent library, then went to live with a new owner in Melton Mowbray, ended up in a wonderful secondhand bookshop in rural Suffolk where it was snatched up by me. I do love the history of secondhand books. The Maigret stories are pretty good too.
22. A body-positive message
Have found this a particularly tricky challenge so have gone with the choice of another 52 Book Challenger - The unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. Am going through a difficult time at the moment and Mrs. Pollifax is pure joy.
23. An alliterative title
The discourtesy of death / William Broderick.
First book I've read in the Brother Anselm series and adored it. Set in Suffolk, several scenes are set in one of my favourite places - Leiston Abbey. It also alerted me to the pier at Southwold, that somehow despite numerous visits, I had completely missed.
24. Nordic Noir
The night man / Jorn Lier Horst
25. A fashionable character
Gods and Kings / Dana Thomas.
Loads of fashionable characters in this joint biography of fashion designers John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. Goes oddly well with my last read of I Claudius. Both are tales of decadence.
26. Has an epilogue
Shield of thunder / David Gemmell. The power of a 3000 year old story re-imagined brilliantly. Was completely captivated by it.
27. Newbery Medal Winner
The voyages of Doctor Doolittle / Hugh Lofting
28. Includes a funeral
Human traces by Sebastian Faulks.
Bit of a curate's egg of a novel. Hard going in places (unless you're a fan of psychiatry papers) but with moments of extraordinary beauty. Worth persevering for that.
29. Sends you down a rabbit hole - The ship Asunder / Tom Nancollas
Wonderful book about Britain's relationship with the sea told through the stories of the ships and boats connected to this country. Lots of I never knew that moments. Had me scurrying to find extra information. I loved it.
30. An author with a same name as you
Bel canto / Ann Patchett
Amazing novel. My book of the year so far. Will be reading lots more Ann Patchett.
31. Set in a workplace
Phineas Finn / Anthony Trollope. Partly set in and around the House of Commons, where our eponymous hero is starting his political career. Whether or not it qualifies as a workplace, may be down to your views on politicians!
32. Published by Macmillan
A tale of two cities / Charles Dickens.
Part of the very attractive Macmillan Collector's Library series.
33. A banned book
The little prince / Antoine Saint-Exupery.
Banned in Vichy France (as were all of Saint-Exupery's writings).
What an odd, haunting read.
34. Featuring mythology
Troy: Fall of Kings / David and Stella Gemmell
The last in the Troy series, this is a stunning and surprisingly plausible re-telling of the legend. Absolutely loved it.
35. A book you meant to read last year
A life in secrets / Sarah Helm.
Compelling biography of Vera Atkins, the woman responsible for sending out many of the female agents involved with the French section of SOE in the Second World War. She was also relentless in finding out what had happened to those who never returned.
The background to Vera's own life is quite astonishing. It was also sobering to discover that the very first book I ever read about SOE, many years ago, by former agent John Goldsmith with his suspicions of treachery, has been confirmed by recently declassified papers. It's not always an easy read, but it is incredibly powerful.
36. Chapters have cliffhangers
Death ship / Jim Kelly.
Jim Kelly is swiftly becoming one of my favourite murder mystery writers. I've loved the Cambridge and Ely historical series, and have just discovered his Hunstanton mysteries.
Plenty of cliffhangers in this novel. It also has one of the nicest dedications of any book to the RNLI of Hunstanton.
37. Written in present tense
You let me in / Lucy Clarke
Set at different points in the narrator's life, much of Clarke's creepy psychological thriller is in the present tense. The ending is perhaps a little flat but there's a splendidly eerie build-up to it (especially if you're reading it at night alone in the house!)
38. An enemies-to-lovers plot
39. The final book in a series
As of May 13th 2023 Letters from the dead by Sam Hurcom is the final book in the Thomas Bexley series. Judging by the cliffhanger at the end, there may well be more, but who knows...
Strange book. I picked it up expecting a detective story set in Victorian times, it was that but was principally a rather strange Dennis Wheatley / Sixth sense / Fu Manchu melange.
Would I read more in the series? Not sure. Did I enjoy this one? Took some getting into, but proved to be surprisingly compulsive.
40. Written by a comedian
Adolf Hitler : my part in his downfall / Spike Milligan.
Spike Milligan's memoir of the early days of the Second World War has not altogether aged well. But there are some wonderfully comical laugh out loud moments made all the more powerful by their juxtaposition with some dreadful memories. He writes well about the madness and oddness of a world suddenly plunged into war.
41. A character who is a refugee
Lots of refugees, most notably Prince Yakimov in the first volume of Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy - The Great Fortune. One of my favourite books (you can see I have a very old edition)
42. Time in the title
The 12.30 from Croydon / Freeman Wills Crofts.
Excellent Golden Age detective novel.
43. A book “everyone” has read
Flowers for Algernon / Daniel Keyes.
Chose this as I know its frequently a set text in schools, so will have been widely read. It would also fit the prompts for Banned book, Dedication and A book involving siblings.
Amazing powerful writing. Am sat here sobbing having just finished it. I loved the characters especially Charlie, Algernon and Alice. I can quite understand why Keyes wrestled with numerous publishers, who wanted to change the bleak ending to a happy ever after tale. The bleakness is the only ending that makes sense, but it is cruelly hard to read. Unforgettable.
44. A contemporary setting
Something to hide / Deborah Moggach.
Not entirely convinced by the plot, a couple of huge loopholes in it. And yet...it is astonishingly readable and kept me hooked. I ended up reading it at lightning speed.
Would also work well for the Secrets prompt.
45. First word in the book is “The”
The secret life of Mr. Roos / Hakan Nesser.
Bit of a slow burner, but another excellent Nordic noir from Hakan Nesser.
Hide and Seek / Andrea Mara.
Flawed crime novel. Fun though.
48. A book by Octavia E. Butler.
Kindred.
So glad to have discovered Octavia Butler thanks to this challenge. What an astonishing writer. She reminds me very much of one of my favourite sci-fi writers, Connie Willis, who must have been strongly influenced by Butler.
Kindred is compelling, sometimes brutal, always thought provoking, Novels about time travel seem an unlikely platform on which to write about history but both Butler and Willis do it flawlessly. No other book that I've read, with the exception of The underground railway, writes about slavery so graphically or terrifyingly.
49. Books on the cover
The paper chase / John Jay Osborn, Jr.
In the 40th anniversary edition, the original book appears unusually on the front cover.
Decent novel, but one of those rare instances where the film and the marvellous TV series were even better.
50. Related to the word “Murder”
Murder under her skin / Stephen Spotswood.
Absolutely loved this Pentecost and Parker mystery. Second in the series but, as I discovered, easy to read as a stand-alone. An unusual pair of detectives, great period atmosphere (post-war America) and cleverly constructed mystery. Thoroughly recommended.
51. A book that doesn’t fit any of the other 51 prompts
Le cote de Guermantes / Marcel Proust
Although I read it in translation - The Guermantes way - under the original title, this fits nicely into this category. Not as easy a read as the earlier books in the In search of lost time sequence, volume 3 contains some incredibly tedious passages, but then you chance upon the sheer beauty of Proust's writing and unexpectedly comic moments and all is forgiven.
52. Published in 2023
Back in the day / Melvyn Bragg
Beautifully written memoir of Bragg's childhood in a much loved Cumbrian town.
Slight cheat here. It was first published in 2022, but wasn't published in paperback until 2023. I read the paperback edition.
Weirdly and completely unplanned I finished the challenge on the same date as last year - November 27th. Now bring on the 2024 challenge.
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