I received a host of superb books this Christmas which will form the heart of my reading for at least the first part of 2022. These include:
A signed copy of Bob Mortimer’s autobiography, And Away;
Post Office, Charles Bukowski’s semi-autobiographical account of his time working for the US Post Office – there couldn’t be much more of a contrast with the Bob Mortimer text!
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates – not a novel I would normally have bought for myself, which I cannot stress strongly enough is a good thing. I want to read outside my comfort zone, and this looks as if it definitely falls into that category;
The Promise, Damon Galgut’s 2021 Booker Prize winner, which will also maintain my push to complete the Booker list (only eight novels left on this list now which gives me a good chance of finishing it in 2022, although some of them are quite hefty);
A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell. One of my very low-key reading targets is to read Orwell’s minor novels. I’ve read Coming Up for Air and Keep the Aspidistra Flying thus far, so A Clergyman’s Daughter will be a good addition to the list. Technically this will be a re-read in that I first read this back in school for an Orwell project – but as that was over 40 years ago it is hardly surprising that all I can remember is a scene where the eponymous character explains to her students the meaning of the phrase “Macduff was from his mothers womb untimely ripped” which causes quite a stir.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which has been on my must-read list now for so long.
Charles Dickens – a biography by Michael Slater, to accompany my 2022 Dickens which is going to be Great Expectations;
When we were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not one of his better known novels, and as far as I know it has not been televised/filmed, but the premise – an unsolved mystery story – looks intriguing;
The New Elites by George Walden – a really timely commentary on why things have gone so badly wrong for the UK in recent years. I suspect I will have a lot to argue about with this book!
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak – another book well outside my comfort zone (again, a very good thing) which I am looking forward to;
Finally, I also plan to re-read Persuasion this year; the last of the major Jane Austen novels I have yet to review.
What with the above and finishing A Suitable Boy, this will be enough to keep me busy for well into 2022 I suspect.
The Reading Bug 