2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

I thoroughly enjoyed Black Hills. Now reading book 60, Only a Mother Knows, by Annie Groves.

20. I did give up on Mrs Rochester’s Ghost by Lindsay Marcott. It felt a bit silly and I couldn’t be bothered with it. I’m still counting it, though!

#39 The Fox's Curse Sarah Painter.
Number 3 in the series, it is about a female P.I who is a member of one of the four once magically powerful London families. I am enjoying these books without being particularly enthused by them.
#40 Cleopatra's Dagger Carole Lawrence.
From my virtual pile of free Kindle titles. It is about a female crime reporter in late 19th century New York investigating a series of murders committed by a murderer who believes himself to be Osiris Egyptian god of the dead. I found it engrossing though the ending was quite weak.

Now on book 59, Black Hills, by Nora Roberts, quite liking it.

26 The Palace Papers - Tina Brown
Covering Diana to Meghan, with everything in between.
As with any Royal biography, you aren’t going to learn much that you didn’t already know, but there are always anecdotes of the Royals which surprise you.
Andrew comes across as vile, while Sarah seems rather ill treated, a lot about Charles and Camilla, it made me admire Camilla even more, how she was treated by press and public was deplorable, and of course The Queen never puts a foot wrong.
Love them or loathe them, the Windsors are undoubtedly one of the country’s most dysfunctional families.

27 Tripwire - Lee Child
Totally different, fast paced thriller, enjoyable.

28 Dear Child - Romy Haussmann
Very reminiscent of ‘Room’ at the beginning, but darker, with more twists in the story.
It’s a story of wickedness and cruelty, and a dad who cannot accept that his daughter has gone.
I enjoyed it.

Book 29 Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
This is my favourite book of the year so far, by a mile.
A normal family leave their New York home to vacation on Long Island.
They are delighted with their holiday home, until unexpectedly, the owners turn up, straight from New York where there is a total blackout.
Our family are suspicious, and reluctant to have their holiday ruined, but with no internet, phones or television, they can’t know what the truth is.
Reluctantly they invite the owners in, and gradually an uneasy truce is formed.
It’s moves slowly, no big drama, but you feel the menace, strange and unexplainable things happen, and gradually they all begin to accept that life as they know it is a thing of the past.
Beautifully written, loved it!

#34. Love You Dead by Peter James.

I loved A Scent of Lavender. Now on book 58, Drama Comes to Priors Ford, by Eve Houston. A little bit chick-littish for me, but it`s not too bad, will finish it.

19. I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell. It’s a memoir of all her near-death experiences. Some of it was heart-stopping and some of it I was ? at.

I’ve started another book, Mrs Rochester’s Ghost but it’s scary so I might have to ditch it. ?

SueDonim ‘Still Life’ was my no.18 too and though I thought it ‘charming and moving’ with its war/art/class mashup, I do think you hit the nail on the head and there’s no depth in the characters.
My #35 Eugenia Fraser ‘The House by the Dvina’ is an autobiography of a middle class childhood in Archangel, Russia, in the years 1914-1920, full of wonder, but then increasing hardship.

18. Still Life by Sarah Winman. It gets a lot of plaudits but it wasn’t for me. I felt the characters were caricatures.

#33. Need You Dead by Peter James.

Have just started book 57, A Scent of Lavender, by Elizabeth Elgin, it`s set during WW2.

Only One Life was okay, but only okay. It wasn`t unputdownable, and I didn`t rush to get back to it.

#46 was Tell No Secret by Julie Corbin. This thriller was unputdownable for me.
#47 was The Steinway That Wouldn’t Budge by Peter Tryon. This was a very enjoyable and comical memoir of the author’s career as a piano tuner and choir master.
#48 was Dear Mrs. Bird by A. J. Pearce. I loved this slightly quirky feel- good book of a young woman in wartime London, who accidentally falls into a position as a typist for a formidable problem page editor on a failing women’s magazine.

The Devil`s Punchbowl was a great read. Now on book 56, Only One Life, by Sara Blaedel.

#37 Cat And Mouse James Patterson.
Number 4 in the Alex Cross series. A nail biting thriller.
#38 an audiobook Heaven's River Dennis E Taylor narrated by Ray Porter.
Number 4 in the Bobiverse sci-fi series.
I know both these books are a bit Marmite but I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. What can I say I'm
not highbrow ?.

#32. Not Dead Enough by Peter James.

17 THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah, a novel set in the Dust Bowl years of America. She made the agonies people went through just to survive seem very vivid.

I enjoyed Don`t Look Now. Now reading book 55, The Devil`s Punchbowl, by Greg Iles.

#33 Maggie O’Farrell ‘Hamnet’ fully imagined and moving. Enjoyed the focus on herbals given my current gardening phase (the sun is shining).
#34 Stephen Greenblatt ‘Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare’ fascinating, lots of context for Shakespeare’s work, and a thud back to earth after the romanticised Shakespeare of ‘Hamnet’.

#43 was Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope, a mildly enjoyable cosy murder mystery.
#44 was An Innocent Baby by Cathy Glass
#45 was Neglected, also by Cathy Glass. These were both interesting and revealing insights into the world of fostering.

#31. Left You Dead by Peter James.

Now reading book 54, Don`t Look Now, by Richard Montenari.

Meet me at the Pier Head turned out to be a very good story.

Now reading book 53, Meet me at the Pier Head, by Ruth Hamilton. I`ve read and liked a few of her books, but this is a bit slow up to now, hope it livens up.