Fifty Books a Year (or fewer)

but haven’t liked them to much since the rift between Kay and Marino. Sara65 that’s when I stopped reading them!

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore (*****5stars)

A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren (*****5stars)

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Blown away by this her first book about a very black period in her and her husband's life. They decide to walk the sw coastal path with little tent and their bagpacks, 600 plus miles. They just lost their house, all their money and their income and he is then diagnosed with a terminal illness. Enormously uplifting and fantastic descriptions of nature in the raw. And on top of all that she manages a sense of humour!

Book 33 You found me Virginia MacGregor - loved this book would recommend

Just finished Book 35; 'Case Histories'-Kate Atkinson. (Much enjoyed and have ordered the others in series)

Book 36 will be 'How to stop time'- Matt Haig

Finished The Psychopath Test by Jon Ron son, a look into the world of madness, interesting read.
Book 31 While You Sleep by Stephanie Merritt.

No 27. The Mottled Lizard by Elspeth Huxley. Her second memoir about growing up in post-WW1 Kenya. It's fascinating to compare how things have changed and indeed how her own attitudes were already changing to be more akin with our modern thoughts.

Books 2 and 3. We made a garden and Cottage Garden Flowers, both by Magery Fish the mother of all British gardening. Definitely recommended. And if you're into gardening...her garden in somerset does still exist and you can visit, my favourite garden!

Book 35 Finding Tipperary Mary by Phyllis Witsell.
If you can get through the unfortunate first half of self pitying whining then the story of how Phyllis found and cared for her birth mother is extraordinary.

Book 36 Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly.
Bosch teams up with a new partner.

July reading:

36 The Disappearance of Emily Marr - Louise Candlish. I discovered I really liked this author having read "The Swimming Pool" and "Our House. Whilst not as good as those two, I nevertheless enjoyed this one too. Twisty psychological stuff.
37 The Good People - Hannah Kent. I read "Burial Rites" a while back, this is the author's second book, again a dark tale, could say quite dreary and depressing, but well written. Like the first one which was set in Iceland in the 1820s, this is the same era, but the setting this time is Ireland. Deals with a rural community's fairly primitive and unscientific beliefs rooted in folklore. Again, as before an unhappy outcome. Interesting!
38 A Room Full of Bones- Elly Griffiths. Working my way through the Ruth Galloways, not in the right order so her personal life is unfolding in rather a haphazard way. Elly Griffiths, like Ann Cleeves is a consistently good crime writer

I love Elly Griffiths and I have read all of her books so far. She came to speak at my book club and she is a very interesting person. Her real name is Dominica da Rosa (I think) and she has written books under her own name.

Book 34 Closer K L Slater - didn't think much of this to be honest

Book 35 Schoolgirl Missing Sue Fortin - all a bit slow to start with and then quite good towards the end

25. The Keeper of Lost Things, Ruth Hogan
An entertaining and well written tale, if a bit twee in parts for my taste.
26. If I Die Before I Wake, Emily Koch
A tense thriller written from the perspective of a hospital patient with locked-in syndrome, who comes to realise that his climbing “accident” perhaps wasn’t what it seemed.
27. Transcription, Kate Atkinson
By one of my favourite authors, so I knew I’d enjoy it. Not as much as her earlier works though.

Maggiemaybe, I enjoy Kate Atkinson books, so naturally thought I would like "Transcription" found it very disappointing, in fact quite boring, that was a surprise given how much I loved "Life after Life" "A God in Ruins" and "Behind the scenes at the Museum" as well as all her Jackson Brodies. Nevertheless looking forward to "Big Sky" it's been a long wait

Me too, TerriBull. Let's hope she's back on form for that one!

Finished While you Sleep by Stephanie Merritt. .. strange book, a mixture of the occult,mental illness with a touch of fifty shades of grey thrown in for good measure. It was quite intriguing, with a twist.
Book 32. The Casual Vacancy by Jk Rowling, I have only read her Harry Potter books, so hoping it's a good read.

I’ve not posted here since May although I’ve done quite a bit of reading so here goes:

24. The Flight of the Maiden. Jane Gardam

25. The House Between Tides. Sarah Main

26. Home Leave. Libby Purves

27. The Price of Paradise. Susana Lopez Rubin

28. The Moon Sister. Lucinda Riley. Maybe not quite as good as others in the Seven Sisters series but I enjoyed it.

29. The Memory Garden. Rachel Hore

30. Regatta. Libby Purves. Not really my thing as I don’t know the first thing about sailing and it got quite technical. Also, it’s an old book and felt quite dated.

31. The Love Letter. Lucinda Riley. I would be interested to know if any other Gnetters have read this and what they thought of it. I thought it was truly awful and not up to her usual standard. It was actually written 20 years ago but it was “pulled” just prior to publication and only actually published last year. Personally, I don’t think they should’ve bothered.

32. Strange Fits of Passion. Anita Sheve. A re-read by a favourite author.

33. The Stranger. Kate Riordan.

34. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. Mitch Albom.
I’d not read anything by him for ages and I’d forgotten just how different and enjoyable his books are. A great read.

35. The Missing Sister. Dinah Jeffries.

36. Wake. Anna Hope. Set after WW1 prior to the first Armistice Remembrance Day and the burial of “The Unknown Soldier”. Well written and moving.

17. The Promise by Teresa Driscoll. Only read it a couple of months ago but forgotten it already.

18. Day of the Dead by Nicki French. The last of the Freda Klein novels. Enjoyed them all.

19. Careless Love by Peter Robinson. Took me ages to plough through this, don’t know if it’s me or the book. Used to devour the Banks books.

20. The Baltimore Boys by Joel Dicker. Held my interest, will look for the one I should have read first.

21. Big Sky by Kate Atkinson. Love the Jackson Brodie series.

Now intend dipping into a bit of nostalgia and reading a book I first read before leaving home in ‘73. The Dreaming Suburb by RF Delderfield.

Book 36 A Thousand Roads Home Carmel Hurrington - loved this book, would recommend

Book 37 Hide by Matthew Griffin
Book 38 Normal People by Sally Rooney
Book 39 Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

28 The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine.

29 The Librarian of Auschwitz trans by Antonio Iturbe. I couldn't finish it, it was too disturbing for me.

Book 37 The Hunting Party Lucy Foley - excellent - feel sure that this will be made into a film

Quite a while since my last post, so apologies for the long list
All my sins remembered - Rosie Thomas
The Anniversary - Hilary Boyd(very moving)
With a friend like you - Fanny Blake
A Family Affair - Judith Sexton
The Californian Wife - Kristen Harnisch(part of a series, Vintners Daughter the first book, new author for me and so glad i tried)
The Lost girls of Paris - Pam Jenoff (she never disappoints)
Hidden Lives - Judith Lennox (another geeat read)
Apart from Kristen Harnisch i can aee I've indulged myself in some of my favourite authors so thought i'd try out a couple of new ones for books 45 and 45
Greyfriars House - Emma Fraser (very good, couldn't put it down, will definitely read more of hers) and
The Winemakers Secret - Cynthia Ellingsen (again a good read but much lighter and would read her again if i wanted something quick to read) So glad i went off my go to author list, good to try something different

30 Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee. I guess I must have read it at school but I have no memory of it all!