Friday open thread: favourite written works of the year

[dolorosa_12]

My out-of-office email autoresponse is set, I'm slowly filling the house with delicious things to eat over the next couple of weeks, and the town is blanketed in crisp ice and frost. In other words, things are very much in holiday mode, and I'm very much in the mood to reflect and wrap up the year.

With that in mind, today's open thread prompt is another one asking for people's best of 2022 media. This time, I'm asking about written work — something you read or listened to this year. Which was your favourite?



I feel as if I might not have read my favourite thing yet, as I have a tendency to store things up for the holiday period if I feel I'm going to especially enjoy them. But I went back to my Goodreads list to remind myself of the books I read this year, and of the listed books, there is a clear winner so far. Excluding rereads, the best book I read in 2022 was The House with the Golden Door by Elodie Harper, the second in her historical fiction trilogy about women working in a brothel in ancient Pompeii. I had intended to write a longer review of this book soon after I read it, but things got away from me and the review remains unwritten. In short, the book is a marvellous recreation of a very specific time and place, and it digs into things that I always enjoy seeing explored in fiction: the injustices of extreme power imbalances, the ways that the powerless (especially groups of women) build connections and community unnoticed in the margins, and the various dystopian compromises and bargains disempowered people have to make to survive a world which denies them their humanity, and the toll these bargains and (on occasion) hypocrises take on them. The book is excellent, and I am very much looking forward to the follow up.

Comments

[blackcatofmisery]

This year I finally read the Agatha Christie novels I've had for years. I've watched the Poirot and Miss Marple shows and movies. (Pretty sure I've seen them all, honestly, until recent releases. I marathoned every version I found.)

I really really enjoyed the stories. Her writing is not fluffy; it's descriptive but more factual than emotional, which works for detective stories. And for being marketed as her token detective characters, the Belgian and old lady really do not have starring roles in the books. They're almost side characters; I thought it was a neat approach. I wasn't used to that.

But I liked what I read from her enough that I've bought more. /w\

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

That's really interesting — I've seen various Christie adaptations but have never read the books, and some of what you suggest is surprising. I guess it's easier to adapt them if you bring the detective characters to the fore and make them the central focus.

[blackcatofmisery]

Yeah! I recall reading some of the stories that didn't even mention Miss Marple or Poirot until maybe halfway through the story. It was odd. These are your title characters! I've never looked it up, but I wonder if the writer thought them up as title characters or if it was a marketing thing. She may have just used them as a way to build up a series of novels; having recurring characters is a way to build familiarity and draw in readers.

It's just a unique way to approach it. Completely unlike their movie and show versions.