*2021 - 50 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR*

I`ve just started The Empty Cradle, by Rosie Goodwin, book 37.

I have just finished Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough.
A creepy psychological thriller, not my usual genre at all. I understand it is on Netflix now but I may not watch it as it was cleverly written but unnerving.

# 19. A Month in the Country by JL Carr. I must find the film somewhere and rewatch it.

Enjoyed The Empty Cradle, but I`m still pondering over whether I`ve read it before. Parts were familiar, but others weren`t. I`ve just started The Lonely Wife, by Val Wood, it looks promising, book 38.

#Book 8 - Witness by Caroline Mitchell - Abandoned this as I found it very upsetting
#Book 9 - Sleeping in the Ground - Peter Robinson 5*
#10 - Many Rivers to Cross - Peter Robinson 5*
#11 - When the Music's Over - Peter Robinson 5*
#12 - Necessary Lies - Diane Chamberlain (2nd reading!!) 4*
#13 - The Liar - Norah Roberts 4*
#14 - Just started - The Obsession by Norah Roberts

Flicking through this thread - I really need to get a move on!!

Since the beginning of March I've read:
A Silent Death and The Black House, both excellent thrillers by Peter May.
Book 9 was Seven Days of us by Francesca Hornak. A lockdown type of scenario but not Covid- related. Quite enjoyable.
Book 10 was A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks.
Book 11 was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Loved this and was so impressed by the author that I asked for 2 more of her books for my birthday and can't wait to read them.
Book 12 was The Safe House by Nikki French
Book 13 was The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. This was an intriguing book, part fantasy, so not my usual genre.

The Lonely Wife was a good read. My next book, book 39, is going to be Cry Baby, by Mark Billingham, reverting back to crime.

I’ve just finished #32 - Lockdown by Peter May. This was originally written during the bird flu scare of 2005, imagining London brought to a standstill by a deadly virus but was rejected by publishers at the time as being too incredible to happen .... Peter May revived the book last year and it is a fast-paced thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although there was too much bad language for my liking.

Currently reading my way through books on loan from friends and relatives to ensure they are ready to return when next we meet face to face. Two recently finished titles I enjoyed a lot were Three Sisters Three Queens by Philippa Gregory and Corsets to Camouflage by Kate Adie which looks at the role of women in war. Now reading J K Rowling's A Casual Vacancy which has been on the tbr pile for far too long. Something a little lighter for a change.

Just finished Shuggie Bain, it was a difficult read at times but very moving and thoroughly recommend provided you can cope with sadness. I'm losing count!

Cry Baby was very good. Now reading The Biscuit Factory Girls, by Elsie Mason, set during WW2, enjoying it, a lighter bit of reading, book 40.

That was OK for a change. Will soon be starting book 41, Liars and Thieves, book 6 in the Scott Cullen series by Ed James.

Just finished The Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler which was recommended by someone on here. I thoroughly enjoyed it and having done a quick check it was my 11th book as I failed to mention "Men without Women" Murakami. I've read several of his books and this book of short stories did not disappoint. I also found "Norwegian Wood" intriguing when I read it last year. Just about to start The Midnight Library. I had my 2nd vaccination on Thursday and it seems to have zapped my energy so I'm spending time reading when I should be gardening.

Finished Liars and Thieves, very good. Have just read the first few pages of Blood Orange, by Harriet Tyce, book 42. It`s slow up to now, but haven`t read enough to really form an opinion yet.

#23. The Daughters Of Cain by Colin Dexter.

Blood Orange is still a bit slow. It`s supposed to be a thriller, but more like chick-lit at the moment, and I don`t really like the main characters. But I will persist.

I think I need to catch up a bit! I read every day but obviously quite slowly as I've only read 12 books so far this year. I logged the first 3 books some time ago so ...
#4 A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling - a bit heavy going.
#5 The Carer by Deborah Moggach
#6 Bone China by Laura Purcell
#7 Crow Lake by Mary Lawson - really enjoyed this.
#8 Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne - not my usual type of reading but he's a good writer and I found his spin on the Bounty story very interesting.
#9 The Beauty of Broken Things by Victoria Connelly - not one of her best.
#10 Your Neighbour's Wife by Tony Parsons.- it started well but then it all got a bit silly.
#11 Wakenhurst by Michelle Paver.
#12 Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer. I've never read anything of his before and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. As soon as I finished it I downloaded The Sins of the Father which is the next book in the series (The Clifton Chronicles). There are 7 altogether! It will be interesting to see if I read them all.
I'm going to give Jeffrey a bit of a break while I read my next book
#13 The Dig by John Preston. The film was good so I hope the book is too.

Blood Orange did get better, but not really the thriller that I was expecting.
Last night I started book 43, one that I was given, and didn`t really expect to read much of it, but I finished it today, just before dinner time, and LOVED it! It`s called Singing for Mrs. Pettigrew-A Storymaker`s Journey, by Michael Morpurgo, a collection of short stories, one of which, The Silver Swan, had me in tears. I`ve previously only read War Horse by him, but this book is great.
Book 44 not christened yet.

#33 The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal. A historical novel, set in London in the 1850s at the time of the Great Exhibition. I really enjoyed it, lots of period detail and also quite sinister at times!
#34 A Springtime Affair by Milly Johnson. Some chick lit for a change, an enjoyable read.
#35 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Our latest book club choice, it was really thought-provoking, I loved it.

Book 44 turned out to be another by Michael Morpurgo, called Shadow. I started it just after dinner, and finished it before tea, just didn`t want to put it down, it`s a lovely story.

I seem to have lost my way with reading recently, but am still ploughing through The Co-op’s got Bananas - bedtime reading - as well as “Written in History: Letters that changed the world”, which contains the famous Tide Letter from the then Princess Elizabeth to her sister Queen Mary, a long rambling (engineered to take so long to write it would missed the tide which would have taken her to the tower) plea with her not to condemn her to death. Mary probably read about half of it and said “Oh FGS, I can’t be a***d to read anymore of this - just tear up the bloody arrest warrant”. I read another of Elizabeth’s missives to one of her counsellors, in the British Library once. She wasn’t given to excessive punctuation or brevity, but oh, it was so heavy with veiled threat and “don’t think We don’t know what you have been up to, my Lord, We are watching you.”
Sorry, bit of a ramble. Anyway that is book 19.

Book 45, just started, is Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow.

12th book was the Midnight Library. It was OK, an easy read but annoyingly superficial at times although I think the author thought he'd written a rather more meaningful book than he actually had! I'm going to read another Ann Tyler book next, probably "Redhead at the side of the road"

#24. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

#27 The Burning Page Genevieve Cogman. #28 Bath Tangle Georgette Heyer. #29 A Bachelor Establishment Jodi Taylor writing as Isabella Barclay. #30 Castle of Wizardry David Eddings. #31 The Library of Lost and Found Phaedra Patrick.