Fifty Books a Year (or fewer)

#11 If Beale Street Could Talk: James Baldwin.
Enjoyable, apart from the rather abrupt ending. The film was out recently which I’d quite like to see now I’ve read the book. The book was actually written in 1973.

#12 438 Days : Jonathan Franklin.
The true story of a fisherman adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 438 days. I read it in 2 days - quite a page turner!

The woman in the wood-Leslie Pearse
16 Marrying Miss Martha-Anna Jacobs
17 Grafton Girls-Annie Groves
18Half a yellow sun -Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi couldn’t put this down. A story about the Biafra war, fascinating story.
19 Myname is Lucy Burton by ElizabethStrout.A page turner

Book 13 Trunk Music by Michael Connelly.
Typical Harry Bosch entertainment.

Book 17 The last thing she told me Linda Green - what a good read, sad though

Given up on “The Godless” - so ridiculously boring I ceased to care ‘whodunnit’. Am now embarking on “Human Croquet” by Kate Atkinson, while also dipping in and out of Stephen Fry’s “Heroes”.

My March reading included :

14 Educated - Tara Westover Memoir of her childhood and growing up years. Brought up in a pretty bonkers Mormon household, home schooled albeit in a haphazard way, overcoming all odds, such as a very violent brother, to gain a place at Cambridge. Quite an amazing woman, a very good read.

15 Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd. Again loved this book, fast paced multi stranded thriller where a chance encounter leaves the protagonist of the plot a suspect of a murder. As a consequence he is on the run and living rough in the dark underbelly of London streets, whilst simultaneously trying to expose those who want him out of the way. At the heart of the plot is the unethical trials of a new drug for asthma being run by a multinational pharmaceutical company. This is a definite cut above the average thriller, laced with a good dose of humour I could see it transferring very well to the small screen, it has all the ingredients to make an excellent cliff hanging tv drama with half a dozen episodes. IMO.

16 Killing me Softly - Nicci French (audio) Ok

17 Transcription - Kate Atkinson, I've loved so many of her books, but in particular "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", "Life After Life" and "A God in Ruins", I was really looking forward to this one, but unfortunately I hated it, finding it tedious and boring, it shouldn't have been. The story revolves around a young woman of 18, Juliet, who is recruited by MI5 to transcribe the conversations of a group of fascists at the beginning of the 1940s. I'm so glad this wasn't the first Kate Atkinson book I'd read it might have put me off reading any more of hers and that would have been an immense shame, she is so good and in spite of this offering she's still one of my favourite authors. I'd be interested to know what other KA fans make of this book as and when they read it.

18 My Not So Perfect Life Sophie Kinsella (audio) frivolous but entertaining chick lit. Did the job and got me off to sleep.

19 Your Were Gone - Tim Weaver, fast paced, implausible thriller. I really loved his last two, this wasn't up to the standard of those, but not his worst either Fairly good.

20 A Sleeping Life - Ruth Rendell (audio) I love Ruth Rendell. At her best, she wrote fantastic twisty psychological crime, like no other writer imo. This one was ok , one of her earlier ones I believe.

Bit of a catch up here.
In a House of Lies, Ian Rankin, enjoyed.
Still Me Jo Jo Moyes. Found it a bit of a slog compared to the first two.
The Summer That Never Was,Peter Robinson. (Halfway through re reading about Alan Banks)
The Friend,Theresa Driscoll, psycho book, not very gripping.
Girl on Fire by Tony Parsons, not as good as his earlier ones.
A Song From Dead Lips, William Shaw. First one of his I have read, will read more.
Before It’s Too Late, Jane Isaac. Found it a boring tale that never seemed to end, only 286 pages!
I have Transcription on my shelf yet to read. I remember someone on here, GD?, didn’t like A God in Ruins which I loved. Be interesting to see what it is like.

TerriBull, Kate Atkinson is one of my favourite authors and I was lucky enough to see her at the Cheltenham Lit fest last October reading excerpts from Transcription. She seemed terribly nice and quite amusing but I just knew the book wasn’t for me - which is a great shame.
We also saw William Boyd at the same festival I’ve never read anything of his although I intend to one of these days! He’s my DH’s favourite author.

I liked ‘A God in Ruins’ until the last few chapters and then it seemed to lose its momentum, which rather spoiled it for me, Alima. Hoping ‘Human Croquet’ will be a good one. As for ‘Heroes’ - a typically self indulgent Stephen Fry take on Greek mythology. Yawn!

Book 14. The Stranger Diaries by Ellie Griffiths.
A ghost story by one of my favourite authors.

mrs woo - How nice to see Kate Atkinson at the Cheltenham Lit Festival. "Transcription" has been the only book of hers I haven't enjoyed, she is definitely one of my favourite authors.

I've only read two of William Boyd's books "Waiting for Sunrise" and "Ordinary Thunderstorms" I enjoyed both, but would particularly recommend the latter.

TerriBull. DH recommends you read Any Human Heart by William Boyd.
We are lucky and have family living in the Cheltenham area so get an invite to stay during the Lit Fest about once every 5 years.
I have to admit that I loved the ending of A God in Ruins.

I'll try that one mrswoo, thank you it's always good to have a recommendation. Yes I liked the ending of "A God in Ruins" but actually loved "Life after Life" more, a favourite for me, though I know it divided opinions.

Book 25 The Stone Circle by Ellie Griffiths. A Dr Ruth Galloway mystery.

Finished Falling a love story by Jane Green, and that's what it was a pleasant easy read love story.
Book no 17. Vox by Christina Dalcher.

Bool 18 Three Things about Elsie Joanna Cannon - excellent read

14. An Experiment in Love, Hilary Mantel.

I'd recommend this to anyone, particularly those like me who are of Hilary's age, in their mid 60s. So well written, and so evocative of the era we grew up in. It's not autobiographical, as far as I know, but is about girls of that time growing up together - it takes us to their first year at university. The only downside is that it ended rather abruptly, and I wanted to know what happened next! I've only read her Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies before this. I loved them but wasn't sure I'd like her non-historical work. Well, I do, and I'll be looking for more now.

Kate Atkinson's another of my favourite authors, and I've just bought Transcription, so it was interesting to read the views above. I've enjoyed all of hers except Emotionally Weird, which left me cold.

Book 16 A Better Me by Gary Barlow.
I listened to him on Desert Island Discs recently and I want to know more about his life.

Book 19 Everything I never Told You Celeste Ng - another excellent read if you enjoy stories of dysfunctional American families

At long last I've finished book no 13, The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore. It's taken me five weeks!

I did also reread another book for my bookgroup, too.

I'm now reading no 14, The Girl in the Letter by Emily Gunnis, also for book group. It's one of those time-hop novels and I'm confused already.

keep reading is a good habit

Alex Gray " The Stalker "
She writes crime novels based in Glasgow not too bloody or graphic . If you can do start at the beginning of the Lorimer books. This latest one was written while she was ill and I think it shows . It was not as good as the others but still OK. Do give her a try.

Pretty sure this is #12 for me

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (5 stars)

I love Southern fiction ..

A while since I last updated but as I’m now back home after visiting son and his family in NZ for 10 weeks my reading will slow down.
26) light on snow- Anita Shreveport
27)One summer in Italy- Sue Moorcroft
28)Change of heart- Jodi Picoult
29) Bound for Eden-TessLesue
30) Rotoroa - Amy Head
31) A vintage wedding- Katie afforded
32)A walk to remember-Nicholas Sparks
33) Under the mountain-Sophie Cooke
34) Me before you-Jojo Moines’s
35) The beachside guest house-Vanessa Green.

Becoming by Michelle Obama. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this.