Fifty Books a Year (or fewer)

What a wonderful thread. I now have an excuse to buy a new notebook. I have just finished reading 'The Yard' by Alex Grecian. It is set in the year after the Jack the Ripper murders. Now I am reading 'The Devil's Workshop' by the same author - again starring Walter Day and the newly formed Murder Squad. I will count that as two books this year. I do love a good thriller.

I’ve just started Milkman by Anna Burns. I’m also reading Michael Mosley’s The Fast 800.

Finished, The Heart goes Last by Margaret Attwood ..brilliant read if you like, twisted, quirky, dark and hilarious stories, 10/10
Book no.3... Billy Connolly, made in scotland..love billy, so I'm biased already!

Have just finished Dissolution. Heavens, that was a good book. Took a while to get into it, haven’t touched on the Tudors for over 50 years. Then it took off and I couldn’t put it down. Came to really like Matthew Shardlake and look forward to reading more about him. What really struck me were the similarities between then and now. Reformers and Papists. Leavers and Remoaners. We don’t seem to have come very far in 482 years. My third book will be Dark Fire then I must ease off. Read the whole of Ellie Griffith’s last year one after the other then felt stuffed in more ways than one.

I read a lot but have surpassed myself since New Year as I’ve had the cold and cough bug everyone else has had. Enjoyed The Killings at Badger’s Drift, first of the Midsomer Murders by Caroline Graham and Earth to Earth by Ann Cleeves from her Shetland series, Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers, love her Peter Wimsey books. Just finished The Quest for Queen Mary by Hugo Vickers which has a slightly odd premise. In the mid 1950s after the death of Queen Mary, John Pope-Hennessy wrote her biography. The Quest is made up of his visits to and interviews with all his sources, royalty, minor European royalty, courtiers, etc. Part of the fascination for me was what a different world Pope-Hennessy was inhabiting, not unusual then but long-gone now. I enjoyed it but it may appeal more to those interested in history as I am.

2nd book read. Once upon a River by Diane Setterfield. 5 big stars for this. This my book review on NetGalley & Goodreads.

A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child. Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?, Is it magic? Or can it be explained by science?

Who is this little girl? To whom does she belong? Where is she from? How is she connected to the wounded man? No one can find out any answers, especially because the little girl is mute and cannot provide any information. But of course, that doesn't stop those from near and far from inventing stories that explain her situation. And while fictions grow and become more elaborate, there are three families who believe the little girl belongs to them, and each has a complicated story about how they know this to be so, stories as twisted as the Thames itself.

I have read nothing quite like Once Upon a River. A modern fairy tale? Quite a bit of suspense and mystery and wonder. We mix folklore, with storytelling, and a mystery with some magical happenings. We meet some people who have had tragedy in their lives, all with their own stories and how this young girl fit into them. A delicious gothic novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld Punishing for an advance copy in return for a fair and honest review.

On to my second book of the year now: Leo Marks, Between silk and cyanide. On WW2, spying and codebreaking. It's leapfrogged my list as recommended by DD3 who was given it for Christmas by her mil (the 'other granny' to 2 Gds, hence my feeling obliged to keep up). Anyone else read this? Will report back in a fortnight - it's a thick book!

Just finished Carol Donaldson book On the Marshes.
A lovely gentle read, mixing wildlife with local history and personal growth with honest appraisals of the need to protect habitats like the North Kent Marshes.
Highly recommended

50 books for the year - I tend to read at least 4 books a week and sometimes more. No way I could list all the books I read over a 12 month period. Have read around 20 so far this year and just bought further 10 to load onto my kindle. Being retired gives me loads of time. Have also just joined the local library to stop me spending a fortune on books, although I do reread the majority of them.
As I am refreshing my Spanish, so I bought Harry Potter, The Philosophers Stone in Spanish - knowing the plot helps me to understand and read the text.

Book 2 All my Fortunes by Katie Flynn writing as Judith Saxon. I have really enjoyed this book. It is very long, but very good.

I am new to book club and have decided to challenge myself to read as many of the Gransnets 55 book recommendations that I can manage this year. Have just downloaded The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and look forward to being enticed to read a greater variety of genres.

Book 2: Pieces of her by Karin Slaughter.
An ok thriller, but a bit far fetched at times.

Just finished a Thriller "Lights Out" by Donald Bain, had a good twist in the end, the reviewers said " Bain has given us a lovely caper novel".

Also "read" Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs, the Snowman chap. I had watched the cartoon film last week on the tv and sent for the book, because grand daughter has asked things about the war, - Anderson shelters, 5" water allowed in bath etc And this book illustrates these things better than I can explain. Raymond Briggs is a year older than me so it is all him and his parents' life during this time in history.

I finished the Ian McEwan book The Children Act and loved it. It'll be a fine book for my book group, I think.

No 4 will be This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay, which is for next week's book group so I must crack on.

I'm a restless reader, I find it quite difficult to stick with a single book. I used to read avidly everything and anything but over the last few years since leaving work with burnout I seem to struggle to do more than read a little in bed ?
I certainly don't read anymore near 50 a year, probably more like 10?
I'm currently reading This Game of Ghosts by Joe Simpson, the sequel to Touching the Void, but have at least another 15 books I've started so definitely need to get more focussed! I have a huge stash of unread books so really no excuse!
Loving this thread, thank you everyone ? & ?

Fifty in a month, muffin?! Respect!

I've just finished book number 1 , The Road to Little Dribbling. I loved it, and didn't want it to end. I've picked for number 2 a slightly shorter, but darker, one - Anthony Ray Hinton's The Sun Does Shine. It's a true story subtitled How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, which my DD1 gave me (she likes a bit of gritty reality in her reading).

I am determined to do fifty (new to me) books this year. Prior to the birth of child number one I could do that in a month easily

But I will return to my beloved paper-rustling ways this year!!

Just about to start book number 3. Could end up being a late night. 'The Copenhagen Affair' by Amulya Malladi.

Just finished "Necessary Lies" by Diane Chamberlain. A thought provoking book about a young social worker, starting out and having difficult decisions to make in respect of her clients working the tobacco fields in North Carolina. The dedication at the front refers to "For the women and men who had no choice".

I've just finished The Fox by Frederick Forsyth. It's about a young computer hacker with Aspergers, a wonder kid . He manages to hack into systems that no-one else can. I've read most of Frederick Forsyth' s books and enjoyed them all. I'm about to start Anatomy of a Scandel by Sarah Vaughn.

Just about to start Book 4. Thuberon, we can compare notes on 'We were the Mulvaneys'. Purchased purely because there are 'Mulvanys' in my family tree!!

Book 3: The Husband by Deirdre Purcell. A really good read.

2nd book - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
This has been recommended by a friend and I believe it has been made into a tv series that aired in Nov/Dec.
Will let you know what I think.

I lived in Glasgow in the 70s, Alima. Glory days indeed.?

Started with Breaking Cover by Stella Rimington. Not very good.
Have just finished new Rebus-In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin. Very good but then I love all the Rebus books. About to start Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell but I suspect I may have to read it in stages & slot other books in between. It's long book!