*2021 - 50 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR*

#7 Still Life by Val McDermid.
#8 Last Bus To Woodstock by Colin Dexter.
#9 Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter.

Not too impressed by the Morse books, Morse comes across as a bit of a pervy type of detective, although the stories are ok. The tv series obviously altered the storylines somewhat also.
The lovely John Thaw is clearly too well embedded on my mind in the main role, and of course the novels were written 40 odd years ago, so times have changed,

Oh no I didnt Sarahmob thank you for that. I'll certainly look out for it.
It was upsetting to read but it will make a good film. remember to take tissues

#9 Fat Cow Fat Chance...Jenni Murray Jenni talks about her constant battle with her weight... and Jenni's voice is so soothing

#10 The Doctor will See You Now..Amir Khan... The life of a GP.. good to have a look into how a GP works ...another voice that is calming.

Both easy listening, for me anyway, feel that I have been walking in their shoes for a while.

Both audible books.

As a teenager I 'discovered' Georgette Heyer. In the succeeding 50 years I have periodically revisited her books. So #13 has been Devil's Cub.

#13 was Open Grave by Kjell Eriksson. In spite of all the praise that was heaped upon it in the blurb, l found it long minded with no sympathetic characters and far too many of them. I was in Mastermind mode in the end - I've started so I'll finish!

#15 The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. A real page turner, I couldn’t put it down! Some good twists.

Latest book The Spitfire Girls by Jenny Holmes. I love fiction books about the 2nd world war so this was an enjoyable, easy read. The first in a series so I will try to read those to follow. Living in Suffolk where Covid cases seem fairly low libraries are now open again. Not for general browsing but you can reserve books and request a batch of books that the librarian will chose for you on a given theme or author so really good news, especially for DH who only reads expensive non fiction books which our tiny library manages to get for him.

Currently reading Just my Luck by Adele Parks
Just finished Tidelands by Phillipa Gregory
The Rumour by Lesley Kara
The Volunteer by Jack Fairwater
The Woods by Vanessa Savage
Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd
Never Greener by Ruth Jones
Mary Queen of Scots
At this rate I should do the fifty books, obviously I have no life ?

Really enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing. So many unexpected twists in the plot.
Started A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin.

Just about to start #14 The Invisible Library Genevieve Cogman. It looks entertaining.

No 7. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

This book features the topic of racial identity, as twins girls grow up in the southern states of the US.

I really recommend it.

I’ve not gotten off to a good start. Too much reading & posting here.

Anyway, I’ve read 2 books since the first week in January.

1. The Thursday Murder Club - pretty dire
2. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert which I loved. A book set in New York from 40’s. Nora Ephron’s humour meets The Great Gatsby. I would highly recommend. Tears at the end just now for me. This was our book club read & I don’t think I’d have chosen to read it otherwise. Yay! I ❤️ book club for that alone.

Now for the lovely frisson of choosing my next book!
?

I’m still working on books 3 and 4 and 5. I am really enjoying Execution by S J Parris.

Yes I enjoy S J Parris. Am a big CJ Samson fan love his books about Adam Shardlake. Just finished The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor and have moved on to Angel's Mark by S W Perry. but new author's for me.

#10. The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter.

Just finished #14, Motherwell by Deborah Orr. It is a memoir of growing up in Motherwell in the sixties and seventies with a Scottish father and an English mother - I was interested because the author (who has sadly died since writing the book) was only a couple of years older than me. However, I found it very rambling and navel-gazing and grew fed up with the use of the word narcissistic to describe people.

I now have an app on my iPad where I can record all the books l have read and give a brief review and rating Amazon style. It is fun to do and also means that l can refer back to it when I am tempted to buy a book (usually from The Works or a charity shop) because it looks interesting, only to find l have a copy on the shelf or Kindle or have read it already.

I enjoyed “The Angel’s Mark”, Skallarigg and the one that followed it in the series, “The Serpent’s Mark”. Have yet to read number three but I’m sure it will be just as engaging. I am battling my way through “Thief Taker” - it’s getting sillier by the minute, so I may not stay the course.

I also enjoyed the Shardlake books.

#16 The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. Very good. Raises questions about guilt, redemption and forgiveness.

Really falling behind!

#6. Shadow Dancer by Tom Bradby - a gripping book set in Northern Ireland in the 70's.

#7. The Beekeeper of Aleppo - I found this very moving and a must read really!

#11. The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie.

Just finished reading The Forty Rules of Love. By Elif Shafak. I found it very thought provoking and the descriptions of life in 13 century Turkey were wonderful

Against my better judgement I carried on and finished “Thief Taker”. Overlong, unnecessarily gruesome, and more ridiculous as it went along.
Now reading “The Night Crossing” by Robert Masello. A promising start.

This was book number 14, it was a brilliant read (99p cheapie on my Kindle). I was hooked and intend to download more of the series. Police procedural thriller by genre.

I'm currently reading through Val McDermid, Karen Pirie stories atm. I'll progress to the others in due course. Over the moon to have discovered VMcD, so many books, so little time. I know I'm a bit late to this particular party.