*2021 - 50 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR*

No 11
So Much Time Left Over- Louis De Bernieres

I thought I was going to love this book about First World War fighter pilots trying to come to terms with a quieter life. The first chapter featuring Daniel and Rosie living an idyllic life in Ceylon, with their charming little daughter seemed very promising.

But disaster strikes, and we return to England to Rosies eccentric family, and suddenly everything seems a bit ridiculous.

My main problem with the book was that I just couldn’t really take to any of the characters, they all seemed completely unrealistic, and Rosie turned out to be the bitch from hell!

I quite enjoyed it, but it didn’t live up to its early promise.

Book 12
Sunday Morning Coming Down-Nicci French

I thought this was to be the last book in this series, but clearly there’s at least one more to go.

I really enjoy the Freida Klein novels, but I feel now that maybe enough is enough, the same group of people in every one, and Freida always one step ahead of the police.

It’s a fast paced novel, one which is hard to put down, but I feel it was a bit claustrophobic, would have benefited from some new characters, or a bit less of the old ones.

#18 was The Masked City Genevieve Cogman- I'm really enjoying this series.
#19 Black Sheep and #20 Cotillion both Georgette Heyer - I have enjoyed her books for 50 years. I'm not sure what I shall read next.

#22 was Bear Town by Frederik Backman. It is about ice hockey and how obsessions and misogyny can become terrifying when coupled with fanaticism. I enjoyed it but there was a bit too much bad language for my liking.

Urmston, I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns. I liked The Kite Runner as well, but it didn`t grab me quite so much as "Suns".

5th only (too much time on GN)
The President Is Missing - Bill Clinton & James Patterson
- And we think we've got problems! Good read with twists & turns.

Qwerty

I also really enjoyed The Grandmothers, but I preferred The Librarian, I thought that was a really lovely book.

I've just finished reading Salley Vickers "Grandmothers" which I enjoyed and thought I'd mention it as it might be of interest to others on GN. It's about three women and their relationships with their grandchildren. Previously I read "The Librarian" by Vickers and I intend to read some of her other books. She has a very readable style. I'd be interested to read what others think who've read any of her books.

Well book No. 5 was ‘The Silent History’ by Donna Tartt but 80 pages in I’ve ditched it Terribull.

I’ve decided this one will be my No. 5 book. I read it many years ago, saw it on my bookcase last month when I was having a declutter and as I can only remember a little of it, I’d like to re-read it.

#13 The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. A Booker prize contender in the 70’s, this was beautifully written, the tale of a middle-aged woman attempting to start a bookshop in a 1950’s small town.

Three Hours was a brilliant, if sad, read. I can recommend it.

Where There`s a Will, was OK-ish, but I wasn`t that thrilled with it. Now halfway through book 25, Three Hours, by Rosamund Lupton, 2 gunmen have gone into a school and shot the headmaster and are now hunting the pupils and teachers, who are in hiding. Slightly reminiscent of Dunblane, but different. The book was given to me, so really coincidental that I`m reading it this week.

#16. The Riddle Of The Third Mile by Colin Dexter.

Yes, I’m doing the challenge 50 books in a year, I’m currently on book number 11, I will do it easily my books are generally I think around 420 pages, per book or similar,

#23 The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. I’ve read all the Dr Ruth Galloway series but this is a stand alone Gothic-style novel, I enjoyed it and hadn’t worked out who the murderer was, which is always a bonus!

#12 The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christie Lefteri. A fictional account of a couple’s attempts to get out of war-torn Syria.

#20 was The Prison Doctor, Women’s Prison by Doctor Amanda Brown; an interesting and often moving account. #21 was Little One by Sarah A Denzil. This was another five star thriller with an ending that l certainly could not predict.

Anyone else got vouchers for mother's day and treating themselves, I am going for The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse which as been recommended.

I'm really enjoying The Giver of Stars, @annidomini, read 100 pages already!

I have just finished Joe Moyes' 'Night Music' which isn't, in my opinion, her best in terms of characterisation and the plot is rather trite. However, 'The Giver of Stars' is in a different class.

Finished Agatha Raisin, my first time of reading MC Beaton. Quickly read but won't continue with the sequels at present.
Ready to start JoJo Moyes' The Giver of Stars. I've enjoyed reading her books in the past with our reading group.

After my 'fantasy fest' a change of genre was called for. #17 was Stillhouse Lake Rachel Caine. A nail biting psychological thriller that I can highly recommend about a mother who reinvents herself to protect her children. I am currently reading #18 The Masked City Genevieve Cogman. The second in the Invisible Library series and a return to the Fantasy genre.

Just finished ‘Holy Island’ by L.J. Ross. A detective story and not a very good one. Badly drawn characters and very predictable. Won’t be reading any more in this series. If you like that genre, J.M. Dalgleish’s ‘Norfolk Mysteries’ are better.
Moving on to ‘The Three Body Problem’ by Cixin Liu. Not sure whether I’ll stick with it (or even understand it!). Anyone else read it? This is book fourteen.

Jenniwren, I`m pleased that I wasn`t the only one not to be too thrilled with The Other Passenger.
I loved Better Days Ahead, my 23rd book, have just started Where There`s a Will, by June Francis, a Liverpool family saga set in the 1930s. That will make it book 24.

#19 was The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse. It is the best book I have read this year so far. It is a gripping thriller set in a five star hotel on the top of a Swiss mountain, which had originally been a sanatorium for patients with TB. I can thoroughly recommend it.

#21 The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish -atmospheric setting on the River Thames but I didn’t enjoy it as much as previous books of hers.
#22 Us by David Nicholls - I watched the BBC drama based on this book last year which I enjoyed and which stayed very close to the book, but I loved the book more.