Fifty Books a Year (or fewer)

32 Those People-Louise Candlish
Not as good as her previous books, characters a bit stereotyped, but kept you guessing.

33 A far Cry From Kensington-Muriel Spark
Loved the boarding house atmosphere, thought how lovely it would have been to live there, not my favourite Murie Spark though

34 The Snakes-Sadie Jones
I love Sadie Jones, and within a couple of pages, I knew I was going to love this book, shocking ending.

35 A Spark of Light-Jodie Picoult
A hostage situation in an American abortion clinic, a couple of surprises towards the end.

36 Born Lippy- Jo Brand
Only read this because my husband heard her talking in the radio, and he thought I’d like it. I did, she talks a lot of common sense, she seems one of those rare women, completely comfortable with themselves.
Bit too much bad language for my taste though.

37 Big Sky- Kate Atkinson
Really looking forward to this one, it was good, but unless I missed something (possible) there seemed a lot of loose ends. Liked Chrystal, but the four men I found a bit dull. Probably expecting too much from it, Jackson Brodie still immensely likeable.

Hardly dare say I was only up to 9 last time having started in January, and only excuse being that I re-read a lot of old stuff when I'm reminded of it.

10 & 11 William Trevor re-reads of The Old Boys and The Children of Dymouth.
12 - came across a Jeeves & Wooster volume I hadn't read at a village fete (v appropriate combination)
13 & 14 those Tory elections prompted me to read Rory Stewart. Much enjoyed the Afghanistan one, but found that the Border country one had altogether too much about his father
15 - The Silence of the girls (recommended on here)
16 - Hiding the Mona Lisa. A (long and detailed) a/c of the hiding of the treasures of the Louvre during World War II. Fascinating, but not a quick read.
17 - Laurie Graham, The Early Birds (sequel to The Future Homemakers of America) This prompted - 18, 19, 20 - rereads of not only The F H of A but also Gone with the Windsors and The Importance of being Kennedy.
21 - Naomi Mitchison, Among you taking notes. More Mass Observation war diaries - Greyduster I enjoyed the collection you mentioned. But find this slow going because such an intricate community it's hard to remember who was who every time you pick it up again.
23 - Middle England. Afraid I was disappointed in this and didn't finish it. Supposed to be funny but just seemed rather blokeish to me.
24. Margery Fish, We made a garden. Seized on at a second hand bookshop on holiday. Pleasure to reread
25. Now embarking on Stephen Booth, Fall down dead, passed on my DH who picked it up somewhere and thought I might like it - usu damning something with great praise. Any one tried him?

Half way through... This is such a good thread!

Finished Beautiful Liars by Isobel Ashdown. ... crime/thriller with a twist, kept me entertained over the bank holiday.
Book 34. The Lies We Told by Camilla Way.

Finished The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, disappointed, found it a very boring read.
Book 33 Beautiful Liars by Isobel Ashdown

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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