*2021 - 50 BOOKS FOR THE YEAR*

I've just finished Night Trains by Andrew Martin, my seventh book of the year. It is a travel book following in the footsteps of his real and literary heroes on the sleeper trains across Europe, although they are a shadow of their former selves and appear to be in their dying throes. In particular it is a paean of praise to the Wagons Lits company. The only thing that l was not as keen on were the annotations of train and carriage numbers.

A while ago I discovered an internet website www.archive.org. It is an online lending library with thousands of books and other media which you can lend for a given period. You have to register first then you can do a search for what you are interested in borrowing, sometimes there is a waiting list but not usually for long.

Just finished The Foundling by Stacey Halls which was very good. I'm about to start The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary.

I'm new to this thread but like others on here, have been reading much more during lockdown. I've discovered and read all of Ann Cleeves' Vera books including The Darkest Hour. Now watching all we can get our hands on on catch up tv and itv3. Plus I've read her Shetland books and the one introducing Mathew Venn, set in Devon. OH bought me the full dvd series of Shetland for Christmas so we're watching those when there's nowt else on of an evening.

I've just finished reading Where The Crawdads Sing. It took some getting in to but my word, what a story! Fully deserving of its first place on the best sellers lists. I'm hoping Delia Owens writes more fiction. Up to now, she's majored on non fiction which I'll take a look at too.

Loved Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. I heard it was to be made into a film. Hope he writes some more too.

So pleased I ventured into this thread. Lots more lovely reading to catch up on, by the looks of things... Thank you, everyone!

Just finished book 7, Tidelands by Philippa Gregory. I really enjoyed it! Set in 1648 at the end of the English Civil Wars and a story about ordinary people rather than queens and princesses like so many of her other novels. Not a quick easy read but very good. Now to decide what to read next!

Buddie
Same as you , I read the new Ann Cleese’s novel set in Devon, it’s an area we’ve stayed in many times, so I could place the locations.
Also a big Scarpetta fan.

Finished my third book ‘Thirteen’ by Steve Cavanagh, really enjoyed this. What a thriller, had me gripped to the end. Never saw the twists at the end coming. Next up is ‘The Beekeeper of Aleppo’, I need something to calm me down a little after Thirteen!

I see there are a lot of Ann Cleeves fans on here. Before Christmas I read The Long Call, the first in a new series set in North Devon around Barnstaple. Having spent several holidays in the area I could visualise the landscape, something this writer is great at reproducing in other locations, and the new set of characters and the story itself did not disappoint either. Look forward to more.

I have finished my first two books - Under Orders by Dick Francis and Phil Tufnell's Cricket Tales and have now moved on to a Patricia Cornwell Scapetta novel, The Body Farm and Julie Sumners Jambusters, the book about the WI in the Second World War which inspired the Home Fires TV series. The Cornwell novel is one of the early ones in the series but it had somehow been missed when when I first started reading them. I like to have some non-fiction on the go, too. Usually history or biography.

Finished Ann Cleeves “The Darkest Evening” - her latest Vera novel and a real page turner. I bought it for DH for Christmas and he galloped through it too. I’m now reading “Kill Our Sins” by J.M. Dalgleish, one of his Norfolk Murders series. I like these books because being very familiar with the North Norfolk coast, it’s easy to visualise the storylines as they go along.

Nice Work (If You Can Get It) by Celia Imrie
Okish, predictable but improbable too.
Thank goodness it wasn't too long as I rarely abandon a book.

#6 Haven’t they Grown by Sophie Hannah
I really enjoy her writing and this book was no exception. Great story and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller.

Book 5! Audio.. The Secret Midwife..Katy Weitz...excellent factual account of being a midwife...but I lost sleep as I wanted to hear more!

The Heathrow Doctor - Dr Stephanie Green - not my usual 'doctor' book which so often seem to be amusing.
I got this from the supermarket it was in their Best Sellers in the summer - as part of DM s birthday present ? Very factual - too 'day in the life of'
DM didn't say a word - bless her.
Can't wait for the library to open again.

Just done #5 which I’m almost embarrassed to admit was Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I have read it before (many moons ago) and although his writing isn’t the best, I think he tells a good story. I will admit to being annoyed when I spotted his errors but it was an ok book to while away some lockdown hours with.

So far this year I’ve read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a story about parallel lives. There were times I felt like putting it down but glad I finished it, quite enjoyed it. Thursday Murder Club was a fun, clever read, Snuggie Bain as others have said was hard hitting and quite brutal about poverty and alcoholism and as someone said stays with you. Can anyone recommend a gripping murder mystery novel?

No 4 The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare.

Set in Nigeria, it’s about a 14yo girl’s forced marriage and her plans for her life. Much of it is set in Lagos, where I lived for five years, and it was odd reading about places I’d been to and the hotels and so on. It’s written in pigeon English but you soon get used to it.

On book number 4. Have read The Darker Domain and The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid, now well into Troubled Blood, Robert Galbraith.

Since Christmas I have read: “Warlord” by Bernard Cornwell; “Pandora’s Jar” by Natalie Haynes; and “Shuggie Bain” a brilliant but bleak first novel by Douglas Stuart, which I nearly gave up on a couple of times, but it sucks you in and then you can’t let go of it. I felt totally wiped out when I’d finished it and it’s haunted me since. Now I’m reading “The Darkest Evening” by Ann Cleeves - a Vera book - interspersed with “The National Trust Book of Scones” (which isn’t all about scones!), and Kathleen Jaimie’s “Sightlines”.

Yes Skallagrig I read The Binding, .it is my sort of thing and I enjoyed it too. My fourth this year has been The Thursday Murder Club - a gift from daughter. Light, easy and put a smile on my face.

Ready to start Billy Connelly’s Tall Tales and Wee Stories.

Anyone else read The Binding by Bridget Collins. Think it was her first novel and not usually my sort of thing but I did enjoy it.

Book No 3 was Just My Luck by Adele Parks about a family who win the lottery. I struggled with it as I didn't find much to like about most of the characters.

Book No 4 was The Other Passenger by Louise Candish. This one I really enjoyed, about a couple of men who make friends on the trip to work then one goes missing. Can't say much more as it would spoil the story but I found it intriguing and couldn't put it down till I had finished.

I’ve finished book 6, The Last of Us by Harriet Cummings. Very good, about an elderly lady who invites a young man to stay who turns up on her doorstep and it becomes obvious that they both have secrets from their past. Quite a few twists and turns. My sister bought me a subscription to the Willoughby Book Club for my birthday - you get a book a month through the post and this was my third one. It’s lovely, like getting a birthday present every month! I’ve enjoyed all three so far ?

Bakingmad I re read Asta's Book last year, it's a wonderful book, I read it first years ago. All I remembered was that Asta and her husband were Danish emigres to London, but little else about the story so it was really good to pick it up again. I think I read somewhere that Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine had Danish Grandparents and her background inspired her to write the book. It was definitely one of her best.

I'm reading The Foundling by Stacey Halls. I don't usually like books set that far in the past but I can't put it down.