All About Books discussion

Last January I wrote a lot of complicated reading lists relating to different challenges, and then the pandemic swallowed my reading mojo whole and I hardly read at all for much of the year. This year I plan to keep it simple!

I do have some overarching goals though …
1) Aim to read a book a week on average
2) Limit my book buying to one title a month (it’s more likely to be 5!) … there are 100s of unread books in the house!
3) Read mostly women authors … I’m thinking maybe a ratio of 4:1 women to men.
4) Continue my focus on independent small publishers and on works in translation
5) Read more (in English) from Welsh authors/publishers … it won’t be hard to increase on previous annual totals!

All About Books Yearly Challenge 2022: Read Around the World

This one I will tackle as I read a lot of World Lit anyway!

Read a minimum of 1 from each list.
Likely FAR AWAY choices from the book shelves …

France

1. George Perec (France) An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris (first pub. 1975)
2.
3.

Alaska

1. Corinna Cook (Alaska, USA) Leavetakings: Essays (University of Alaska Press/first. pub. 2020)
2. Marie Tozier (Alaska, USA - Iñupiaq) Open the Dark (Boreal Books/first pub. 2020)
3. John McPhee (USA) Coming into the Country: Travels in Alaska (Daunt Books/first pub. 1977)

Rwanda

1. Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda) The Barefoot Woman translated from the French by Jordan Stump (Archipelago Books/first pub. 2008)
2.
3.

Argentina

1. María Sonia Cristoff (Argentina) False Calm: A Journey Through the Ghost Towns of Patagonia translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver (Transit Books/first pub. 2005)
2. Selva Almada (Argentina) The Wind that Lays Waste translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews (Charco Press/first pub. 2012)
3.

Wales

1. Nia Williams (Wales, UK) The Colour of Grass (Seren/first pub. 2011)
2. Gillian Clarke (Wales, UK) Roots Home (Carcanet/2021)
3. Brenda Chamberlain (Wales, UK) Tide-Race (Seren/first pub. 2019)

Australia

1. Kim Mahood (Australia) Craft for a Dry Lake (first pub. 2000) K
2. Kim Mahood (Australia) Position Doubtful: Mapping Landscapes and Memories (Scribe/2016)
3. Jen Craig (Australia) Panthers and the Museum of Fire (Zerogram Press/2020)

Yemen

1. Freya Stark (Europe] A Winter in Arabia: A Journey Through Yemen (first pub. 1940)
2. Patricia Aithie (Wales, UK) The Burning Ashes of Time: From Steamer Point to Tiger Bay, on the Trail of Seafaring Arabs (Seren/first pub. 2005) - Yemen and Wales!
3. Bushes Al-Maqtari (Yemen) What Have You Left Behind? (Fitzcarraldo/first pub. Oct 2022)

Also Ukraine

1. Maria Matios (Ukraine) Sweet Darusya translated from the Ukrainian by Michael M. Naydan and Olha Tytarenko (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing/first pub. 2004) K
2. Serhiy Zhadan (Ukraine) The Orphanage translated from the Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan‑Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (Yale University Press/first pub. 2017)
3. Serhii Plokhy (Ukraine/USA) The Gates of Europe (first pub. 2015) K

Inevitably, a few more lists are creeping in! Bu these are lists to select from, or not, no pressure.

Continuing my reading of 20th century women writers in 2022 … 22 from the TBR …

1. Drusilla Modjeska (Aus) Stravinsky's lunch (Picador/1999)
2. Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus) The Unwomanly Face of War trans. from the Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky (Penguin/first pub. 1983)
3. Dorothy Canfield Fisher (d. 1858 USA) The Deepening Stream (Persephone Books/first pub. 1930)
4. Anne Cuneo (d. 2015 France) Tregian's Ground: The Life and Sometimes Secret Adventures of Francis Tregian, Gentleman and Musician trans. from the French by Roland Glasser & Louise Rogers Lalaurie (And Other Stories/first pub. 1994) K
5. Magda Szabó (d. 2007 Hungary) The Door trans. from the Hungarian by Len Rix (NYRB Classics/first pub. 1987)
6. Lucy M. Boston (d. 1990 England, UK) The Children of Green Knowe (first pub. 1954)
7. Barbara Comyns (d. 1992 England, UK) Mr Fox (Turnpike Books/first pub. 1987)
8. Barbara Comyns (d. 1992 England, UK) The House of Dolls (Turnpike Books/first pub. 1989)
9. Tirzah Garwood (d. 1951 England, UK) Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood (Persephone/written 1942/unpub. until 2012)
10. R Elizabeth Jane Howard (d. 2014 England, UK) Something in Disguise (Picador/first pub. 1969)
11. Sylvia Townsend Warner (d. 1978 England, UK) Mr Fortune's Maggot (NYRB Classics/first pub. 1927)
12. May Sarton (d. 1995 USA) Journal of a Solitude (first pub. 1973) K
13. Annie Proulx (USA) The Shipping News (Fourth Estate/first pub. 1993)
14. Nan Inger Östman (d. 2015 Sweden) Some Kind Of Company trans. from the Swedish by Julia Rivers (Aspal Press/first pub. 1999)
15. Dorothy L. Sayers (d. 1957 England, UK) Gaudy Night (first pub. 1935) K
16. R Rumer Godden (d. 1998 UK) An Episode of Sparrows (Virago/first pub. 1955) K
17. Tove Jansson (d. 2001 Finland) Moominsummer Madness (Sort of Books/first pub. 1954)
18. Eudora Welty (d. 2001 USA) The Ponder Heart (Mariner Books/first pub. 1954)
19. Willa Cather (d. 1947 USA) Lucy Gayheart ((Vintage/first pub. 1935) A
20. Gwendoline Brooks (d. 2000 USA) Maud Martha (Faber/first pub. 1953)
21. Helen Ashton (d. 1958 UK) Bricks and Mortar (Persephone Books/first pub. 1932)
22. R Barbara Noble (UK) The House Opposite (Dean Street Press/first pub. 1943)

Limiting myself to no more than 12 books written by men in 2022 …

1. José Luis de Juan (Spain) Napoleon's Beekeeper trans. from the Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer (Giramondo Publishing/2019)
2. Halldór Laxness (Iceland) The Fish Can Sing trans. from the Icelandic by Magnus Magnusson (1957)
3. R Hisham Matar (USA/UK/Libya) The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between (2016)
4. John Burnside (Scotland, UK) Aurochs and Auks: Essays on Mortality and Extinction (Little Toller/2021)
5. Jeff Young (England) Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadowplay (Little Toller/first pub. 2020)
6. J.A. Baker The Peregrine (Harper Collins/first pub. 1967)
7. Robert Poynton (UK) Do Pause: You are not a To Do list (The Do Book Company/first. pub. 2019)
8. Timothy Snyder (USA) On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (first pub. 2017)
9. Verlyn Klinkenborg (USA) Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile (first pub. 2006)
10. R.C. Sheriff (UK) Greengates (Persephone Books/first pub. 1936)
11. Serhiy Zhadan (Ukraine) The Orphanage trans. from the Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan‑Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (Yale Uni Press/first pub. 2017)
12. Andrew H. Miller (USA) On Not Being Someone Else: Tales of Our Unled Lives (Harvard Uni Press/first pub. 2020)

‘I’ve started so I’ll finish’ - I have a pile of books abandoned when other reads became more pressing …

1. Isa Leshko (USA) Allowed to Grow Old: Portraits of Elderly Animals from Farm Sanctuaries (Uni of Chicago Press/2019)
2. Dulce María Loynaz (b. 1902 d. 1997 Cuba) Absolute Solitude: Selected Poems trans. from the Spanish by James O’Connor (Archipelago Books/first pub. 1953 & posthumously 1997/trans. 2015)
3. Sylvie Weil (France) Selfies trans. from the French by Roz Schwartz (Les Fugitives/2019)

Books bought (£), borrowed (B) or given (G) to me in 2022 (not in order of purchase) …

1. Kerri ní Dochartaigh (N. Ireland, UK) Thin Places: A Natural History of Healing and Home (Canongate/2021) £
2. Nia Williams (Wales, UK) The Colour of Grass (Seren/first pub. 2011) £
3. Elif Shafak How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division (Wellcome Collection/first pub. 2020) K £ (or rather pennies)
4. Johann Hari Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention K £
5. Nan Inger Östman Some Kind Of Company trans. from the Swedish by Julia Rivers (Aspal Press/first pub. 1999) £
6. Mikhail Bulgakov (Ukraine) The White Guard (first pub. 1925) P+K £
7. Serhii Plokhy (Ukraine/USA) The Gates of Europe (first pub. 2015) K £p
8. Dorothy L. Sayers (UK) Gaudy Night (first pub. 1935) K £
9. Cal Flynn (UK) Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape (first pub. 2021) £
10. Robert Poynton (UK) Do Pause: You are not a To Do list (The Do Book Company/first. pub. 2019) £
11. Corinna Cook (Alaska, USA) Leavetakings: Essays (Uni of Alaska Press/2020) £
12. Deborah Suggs Ryan (UK) Ideal homes: Uncovering the history and design of the interwar house (Manchester Uni Press/first pub. 2020) £
13. Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda) The Barefoot Woman trans. from the French by Jordan Stump (Archipelago Books/first pub. 2008) £
14. Catherine Belton (UK) Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took On the West (first pub. 2020) K £
15. Verlyn Klinkenborg (USA) Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile (first pub. 2006) £
16. Dorothy Canfield Fisher (USA) The Deepening Stream (Persephone Books/first pub. 1930) £
17. Helen Ashton (UK) Bricks and Mortar (Persephone Books/first pub. 1932) £
18. R.C. Sheriff (UK) Greengates (Persephone Books/first pub. 1936) £
19. Lisa Selin Davies (USA) Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different (Legacy Lit/first pub. 2020) £
20. Gwendoline Brooks (USA) Maud Martha (Faber/first pub. 1953) £
21. Serhiy Zhadan (Ukraine) The Orphanage trans. from the Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan‑Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (Yale University Press/first pub. 2017) £
22. Andrew H. Miller (USA) On Not Being Someone Else: Tales of Our Unled Lives (Harvard Uni Press/first pub. 2020) £
23. Maria Matios (Ukraine) Sweet Darusya trans. from the Ukrainian by Michael M. Naydan and Olha Tytarenko (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing/first pub. 2004) K £p
24. Julie Bindel (UK) Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation (Constable/first pub. 2021) K £
25. Helen Lewis (UK) Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights (Vintage Digital/first pub. 2020) K £p
26. Mary Midgley (UK) The Myths We Live by (Routledge/first pub. 2003) K Free
27. Willow Crossley (UK) Flourish (first pub. 2017) K £p
28. Grace Alexander (UK) Flourish and Flower: A year in a cut flower field (Quadrille/first pub. 2021) K £
29. Ernst Becker (USA) The Denial of Death (Souvenir/first pub. 1973) K £
30. Cormac McCarthy (USA) No Country for Old Men (first pub. 2005) K £
31. Peter Turchi (USA) A Muse and a Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery, and Magic (Trinity Uni Press/first pub. 2014) K £
32. Antonia Fraser (UK) The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton: A 19th Century Heroine Who Wanted Justice for Women (first pub. 2021) K £p
33. Heather Brunskell-Evans (ed.) and Michele Moore (ed.) (UK) Inventing Transgender Children and Young People (first pub. 2019) K £
34. Lucy M. Boston (UK) The Children of Green Knowe (first pub. 1954) £
35. Vincent Black (USA) iPhone 12 Pro Max: The Complete Photography Guide (first pub. 2020) K £
36. Raymond Briggs (UK) Notes From the Sofa (Unbound/first pub. 2015) £
37. Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus) The Unwomanly Face of War trans. from the Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky (first pub. 1983) £
38. Maxim Peter Griffin (UK) Field Notes (Unbound/first pub. 2022)
39. Willa Cather (USA) Lucy Gayheart ((Vintage/first pub. 1935)
40. R Jane Kite (UK) The Blanket (Maytree Press/first pub. 2022)
41. Wendell Berry (USA) The Peace of Wild Things: And Other Poems (first pub. 2018) £
42. Holly Lawford-Smith (NZ/AUS) Gender-Critical Feminism (Oxford Uni Press/first pub. 2022) £
43. Stefan Buczaki (UK) and Felicity Price-Smith (Illustrator) Earth to Earth: A Natural History of Churchyards (Unicorn/first pub. 2018) £
44. Keri Smith (Canada) The Wander Society (first pub. 2016) £
45. Shelley Rhodes (UK) Sketchbook Explorations: for mixed-media and textile artists (first. pub. 2018) £
46. Shelley Rhodes (UK) Fragmentation and Repair: for Mixed-Media and Textile Artists (first. pub. 2021) £
47. Georges Perec (France) An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris. (Wakefield Press/first pub. 1975) £
48. Georges Perec (France) Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (first pub. 1974) £
49. Deborah Solomon (USA) Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell (Other Press/first pub. 2015) £
50. Christopher Andreae (UK) Mary Fedden: Enigmas and Variations (Lund Humphries/first pub. 2014) ££
51. Peter Mrhar Cyanotype: Historical and alternative photography (first pub. 2013) £
52. Elizabeth Bishop (USA) Poems (first pub. 1980) £
53. Elizabeth Bishop (USA) Prose (first pub. 2011) £
54. Robert Pogue Harrison (USA) The Dominion of the Dead (Uni of Chicago Press/first pub. 2003) £
55. Kim Mahood (Australia) Craft for a Dry Lake (first pub. 2000) K £
56. Torbjørn Ekeland In Praise of Paths: Walking through Time and Nature (Greystone Books/first pub. 2020) £
57. Josie George A Still Life: A Memoir (Bloomsbury Publishing/first pub. 2021) £
58. Tanya Shadrick The Cure for Sleep: Memoir of a Late Waking Life (Weidenfield and Nicolson/first pub. 2022) &
59.
60.

(Also pre-ordered 2023 Victoria Smith (UK) Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women)
(Also set aside as future gifts:
1. Koran Millwood Hargrave (UK) illustrated by Tom de Freston (UK) Julia and the Shark (first pub. 2021)
2. Rebecca Elizegi (Spain) Collage by Women: 50 Essential Contemporary Artists (Promopress/first pub. 2019)

Love the variety of the choices Annie! Many are new to me, lots to discover!

Thanks Greg. I’m something of an eclectic when it comes to books.