OVERVIEW: 2022 highlights

[feather_ghyll]

Happy new year! Here's my 2022 in books, tennis and some other things.

I read 37 books in 2022 – it’s an increase on 2021. The vast majority were by women and new to me. If you include Young Adult fiction, most of the children’s books I read weren’t Girls Own books, and I read none by the Big Four. The best Girls Own book was ‘Barbara at School’ by Josephine Elder, a boarding school story about credible characters doing credible things. We follow Barbara as she makes friends with Judith, has to deal with a bully in her dorm and a poor form mistress, and watch as the two friends’ personalities develop over their two years in Prep House, Most of the other Girls Own books I read were a bit disappointing, not terrible, but had I posted reviews about them, they’d have been very whingey. The worst was 'Mystery at Gull’s Nest' by Roberta Moss.

I also liked ‘Perfect Scoundels’ by Ally Carter, which seems to be the final adventure of Kat Bishop teenage thief extraordinaire and her crew (the Heist Society series). In this adventure, Kat learns more about now boyfriend Hale’s family, and realises that, as she’s growing into her potential, the uncles who raised her are mortal and getting older.

It was a year of reading books by familiar authors. Perhaps the best new discovery was Diana Tutton and ‘Guard Yur Daughters’, a fun story about sisters living very eccentric, reclusive lives, with a darker undercurrent. (It was written and published in the middle of the twentieth century.) Also fun, because it’s about teenage girls training as spies in a steampunk universe, was ‘Waistcoats and Weaponry’ by Gail Carriger. It too had darker undertones as the ever spiffing Sophronia Temminick had to face what she would do after leaving school. I haven’t posted about all of them, but I was reading a lot of books in fantasy series over the year.

The book with the best title was probably ‘The Day the Ceiling Fell In’. I reread ‘Catherine. Called Birdy’ because the chatter around the film adaptation (which I haven’t seen, but it’s meant to be good) reminded me I owned a copy. I also reread ‘A Town Like Alice’ by Nevil Shute just because towards the end of the year and enjoyed it.

‘Cream Buns and Crime’ by Robin Stephens was a departure for the Murder Most Unladylike series, featuring a collection of short stories and all sorts of non-fiction features, including recipes and quizzes, with Robin Stephens writing as herself along with usual narrator Hazel, the ever modest Daisy, and others of their friends.

In tennis, Djokovic got deported from Australia, and then Nadal improbably, wonderfully won the final, as did Ash Barty, who then stunned the world by retiring. The women’s no. 2 Iga Swiatek then stepped up, starting an increasingly impressive run of victories, until the grass at Wimbledon and wily veteran Alize Cornet did for her. I had to follow the French Open too via radio and news reports, as Nadal reigned supreme again, and Swiatek won her second slam.

I watched most of the English grass season, where Kvitova won Eastbourne and Berretini returned triumphant at Queen’s, only to have to pull out of Wimbledon, where he was a real contender, because he caught COVID. Russians and Belarussians weren’t allowed to play there either, which meant there were no points. Given that the women’s champion lives in Russia, it was a little weird. Alcaraz and Sinner suggested that there was a future after the greats (as had Ruud on clay), and there was plenty of drama after the quarter finals, with Cameron Norrie having made it there -to get despatched by Djokovic, while Nadal’s brilliant run at slams was stopped by his ailing body, giving Nick Kyrigos of all people (oh, he has the talent, but…) a bye to face Djokovic, in the final, but after the first set, the Serb finally got a Grand Slam in2022. And Sue Barker retired!

There was a lot more fuss about Serena Williams in New York, but it was Swiatek who underlined her dominance by winning her first slam off the clay. (She’s so impressive!) Alcaraz, the young man who had been threatening all year, became the men’s champion. Not long after, the oldest of the Big Three, the great Roger Federer, announced his retirement, making us all pause and begin to consider the grandeur of his achievements (in a year when Nadal sneaked ahead on the number of Slams won.)

For British athletes, gymnasts and swimmers, it was a busy summer, with all sorts of stories of success and failure, of peaking at different times. And for about a fortnight I had to be enthusiastic about football as Wales made it through to the World Cup and ‘Yma O Hyd’ (a song I grew up with) rang out. And then we weren’t good enough and I could go back to my habitual state of ignoring soccer.

I visited charity shops and bookshops a bit more than in 2021, but at the moment, I can’t browse, so the charity shop visits haven’t been successful, and the bookshop visits have been to collect books that I had ‘clicked’. Most of my book buying is happening online, although I was still mainly reading books I’d bought pre-pandemic in 2022. At the start of the year, I watched the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation of Emma on iPlayer, and at the end of the year. I watched the most recent one, where Anya Taylor-Joy did what Paltrow was aiming to do without having to concentrate on getting the accent right. (Sophie Thompson is a better Miss Bates than Miranda Hart, though.) As ever, I enjoyed The Great British Sewing Bee, although my favourite didn’t win in the end.