*2021 - 50 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR*

I've moved house
Goodness, that's quite an upheaval, especially at the moment Terribull. I hope you'll be very happy in your new home.

Talking of new homes and relocating - I've just finished reading Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach which I enjoyed very much. Funny, witty and poignant.

Thank you very much Callistemon. Yes the logistics of moving during the lockdown were quite hairy at times. Our removal men assured us that they had all had it back in November and always worked as a team, They did wear masks when they talked to us and were excellent, nevertheless we all did our best to keep our distance, although of course that wasn't always easy.

I haven't seen Rosecarmel post for a while, she was always quite prolific on this thread. If you read this Rosecarmel, I hope you are well and do come and join us when you are ready.

As well as reading my #6 book The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg reported yesterday, I am listening to my #7 The Something Girl Jodi Taylor, the follow up to The Nothing Girl which I read last year and really enjoyed.

I downloaded ^The Quantum Curators and the Faberge
Egg^ just this morning. It will be read number six.

Just finished reading The Girl with All the Gifts as recommended by DS2. Scary, dystopian, not my kind of thing at all. From now on I shan't be taking advice on literature from DS2!

But then, I don't suppose he reads many detective stories or - erm - historical romances...lol!

#8 The Wife who got a Life by Tracy Bloom.
Another ARC via netgalley. I thought this was so funny, it certainly rang a few bells with me. A perimenopausal woman decides to set herself some goals and the story covers a year of the progress she makes. Publication due mid-April.

Finished my #s 6 and 7 books yesterday so #8 will be Agatha Raisin: Pushing Up Daisies M C Beaton. The audiobook as Penelope Keith's narration of these books is a joy.

Oh gosh. Late to the party. I have finished two.
Escape Clause - John Sandford
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman.
Must try harder.

1)
Nalas world by Dean Nicholson.
Lovely story about a guy who is cycling around Europe and finds and adopts a stray kitten, nice easy read.
2)
Summer at Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond.
Easy holiday type read, family drama.
3)
The Secret Hours by Santa Montefiore
Rich girl goes rogue ! Secret pregnancy all revealed in a will, run off the mill...OK.
4)
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty.
A ghost story , telling the life of what happened to her in her life , brilliant novel, quirky.

Book three
The House on Fripp Island-Rebecca Kauffman
Easy read, not very demanding, entertaining, but fairly predictable.
Book Four
The Other People-C J Tudor
This was a strange but compelling novel, so many twists and turns. At the end I wasn’t sure I had tied up all the loose ends. There are elements of the supernatural along side the search for a missing child by a distraught father, as the pieces start to fit together, it’s hard to put it down.
Book Five
The Remains of an Altar- Phil Rickman
I’m a big fan of the
Merrily Watkins books, lady vicar, and deliverance consultant. To be honest, this wasn’t one of my favourites, but still a good read.
Bridie, I read Platform Seven at the end of last year, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but I thought it was really interesting, would recommend.

Because it was an audio book and undemanding I was able to skip through my #8 book Agatha Raisin: Pushing Up Daisies while doing other things. I quite enjoyed it but in my opinion the later Agatha Raisin books are not a patch on the early ones. Book #9 is a Kindle freebie This Time Next Year Sophie Cousens. It is the author's first novel and billed as a "romcom".

Just finished #8 Silent Graves by Sally Rigby. An enjoyable, easy to read police procedural, but fairly predictable. Juno, l agree with you about the Agatha Raisin books.

Finished #9, Circe by Madeline Miller, a retelling of some of the Greek myths and legends, from the point of view of Circe, daughter of Helios the sun god. Really well written, drew me in from the first page. I used to enjoy reading these myths when I was a child - this reminded me of them, but far more graphic than the versions written for children!

If I had had a book of the year last year, jenniewren it would have been that one. Fabulous in every sense.

Book 6
The Binding-Bridget Collins
I’ve had this on my pile for nearly a year, waiting to be read.
I found it to be a beautifully written book, strange and unusual, not really like any book I’ve ever read.
Ultimately a moving love story, that could never really have a happy ending.
Some of the characters were so well written, that you felt you knew them, I loved it.

#6..The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village by Joanne Nell another audible book
Light hearted but the characters you will recognise from people you know...didnt want it to finish! Made excuses to listen during the day along with cross stitch.

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#5. The Pure In Heart.

Will start The Betrayal Of Trust next.

Unfortunately have read the Simon Serailler books by Susan Hill in completely the wrong order. I ordered them from the library after recommendations by GN members, and had to get them when available, so all out of sequence.

#10 Like This, For Ever by S J Bolton, a gripping crime novel, the 3rd (I think) in the DC Lacey Flint series. I’ve read a couple of other books by this author who now writes as Sharon Bolton. All good page turners!

I miscounted. Silent Graves was #9. I have just finished #10, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant. It is set mostly on the Isles of Scilly, with some episodes in Hampstead, partly in 1951 and partly in 2018. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have The Binding on my to be read list- not quite ready for it yet.

Finished my fourth book ‘The Beekeeper of Aleppo’. To say I enjoyed it seems wrong but it is definitely a haunting book that I would fully recommend. Next up is ‘Bel Canto’ by Ann Patchett. I read her’Patron Saint of Liars’ last year which I really enjoyed so great hopes for this one!

#9 - Night and Day by Caron Allan
A quick ‘cosy crime’ - not particularly memorable but an ok read.

A very quick, easy read for #11 - Changing Times by Jack Sheffield. Set in a North Yorkshire village in 1963/4, it was perfect comfort reading at this time. The next book will be meatier.

I’ve just finished West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. It was an Amazon First Read, which I often find are not worth bothering with, but this was wonderful.