2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

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

#33. Need You Dead by Peter James.

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

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.

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. ?

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.

#34. Love You Dead by Peter James.

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!

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

#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.

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!

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

#35. You Are Dead by Peter James.

#49 was Yours Cheerfully by A. J. Pearce, a sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
#50 was Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves. This was a Vera Stanhope mystery and classic Cleeves. Five stars.
#51 was The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, an Icelandic. Very suspenseful and enjoyable.

I enjoyed Only a Mother Knows, it`s part of a series, but Annie Groves died after writing this one, However, her 2 daughters found her notes and ideas for the last 2 books in the series, and have written the last 2 themselves.
Now on book 61, Faceless, by Martina Cole, have never read her before.

21 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. A classic. Nuff said.

Half a year's reading and some great holiday books from the following, a couple are recommendations from other threads. I enjoyed all of these.

29 How to Kill Your Family - Bella Mackie, we've all been there only joking! I loved this book, darkly comic, all wrapped up in a debut novel, the writer has set a very high bar for herself. Grace Bernard is born after a brief fling her mother had with a creep of a lothario. When her French mother living in London dies, estranged from her family in France, Grace has to come to terms with that and the fact that she doesn't figure at all in her paternal side of her filthy rich family either. All the while her and her mother were living in relative poverty her father was making millions from dodgy tax evading enterprises. Whilst still a child and alone in the world she is taken in by the kindly and pretty wealthy North London parents of a school friend who she describes as Guardian reading socialists who shop in exclusive up market delis, never having suffered any depravation in their lives but are nevertheless permanently angry about something or other. When she reaches 18 she leaves their home and sets about her life's ambition of eliminating the paternal side of her family one by one. The head honcho being her unscrupulous and wealthy Philip Greenesque father, who got rich on the back of a chain of boutiques called "Sassy Girl" selling cheap old tat. She gets a job in his flagship boutique and works her way up the corporate ladder to begin her plan of campaign. He is her ultimate target and along the way grandparents, uncle who she manages to bump off in a sado/masochism establishment, one of his guilty secrets a nasty wife who lives in Monaco, a rather nice eco warrior cousin, a horrible half sister addicted to Instagram. All in all the writer manages to take a pot shot at many of the things she finds irksome in life today, such as social media. A real page turner with a great twist at the end. Highly recommended.

30 The Beloved Girls Harriet Evans Described as both Gothic and psychological featuring an eccentric family their old house where every summer they have an opening of the numerous hives of the bees they keep in a honey tasting ritual. Spanning several decades and a host of multi layered relationships of the main characters Too involved to describe. . Bees play a large part in this story, very good again a page turner.

31 The Paper Palace Miranda Cowley Heller, it's the must read book of the summer I gather. Again spans several generations of a family who come together to spend their holidays in the cabins built by their grandfather on Cape Cod and known as The Paper Palace. In particular the main focus is on Elle a 50 year old woman who is struggling to choose between her loving husband and father of her children and her lover and childhood friend.

32 The Black Dress - Deborah Moggach, I read a lot of DM at one time, but haven't read anything by her lately until this was recommended on another thread. Prue abandoned, lonely wife buys black dress in second hand shop to attend a funeral and goes to the wrong one, easily done, crematoriums being the conveyor belts that they are. Prue enjoys the wake which gives her the impetus to embark on slipping, uninvited into others as a way of striking up relationships. Very good I did wonder whether this book gave any readers who identified with the main character the same idea!

33 The Island of Missing Trees Elif Shafak An unusual book partly set against the 1974 Civil War in Cyprus the Turkish writer has told it from both the Greek and Turkish perspective and has woven in a lot of detail about the history and eco systems of Cyprus into the narrative.

16. The Good Sister, Sally Hepworth
I really enjoyed this tale of the complex, close and ultimately dark relationship between two sisters.

17. The Last Thing to Burn, Will Dean Talking of dark - a trafficked woman held hostage on a remote farm plots her escape. It’s a page turner.

18. The Sight of You, Holly Miller
A young man who can see the future of those close to him falls in love, but dare he get too involved? Another great read.

19. The Family Holiday, Elizabeth Noble
I really enjoyed this one, a feel-good read that I saved for a family holiday.

20. Right Behind Her, Melinda Leigh
After a good run, I downloaded this. Apparently it was the fourth in a series, which might explain why I was baffled by the hundreds of good reviews. A standard and predictable tale of a US police officer with a complex home life, not playing by the rules.

21. Like Me, Hayley Phelan
Another cheapie download - will I never learn? The cautionary and depressing tale of a modern girl addicted to drink, drugs and her phone. This started off very well, ended badly.

22. The Couple at the Next Table, Sophie Hannah
Oh dear. Unlikeable characters, unbelievable storylines and a perpetrator and motive seemingly picked at random in the last couple of chapters.

23. The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman
I know it’s over-hyped and not to everyone’s taste, but I took it at face value and enjoyed it.

24. A Life Lost, Cathy Glass
The tale of a foster parent and child, simplistic, over-long and in the end, a bit pointless.

25. Life Without Children, Roddy Doyle
A collection of short stories set in the pandemic. I found the quality variable, but they were all poignant and two of them outstanding.

26. Copycat, Diane Saxon
A murder mystery with a predictable twist. And pages of unnecessary detail about what the detective team ate, drank and chose to wear. A bit of serious editing wouldn’t have come amiss!

27. Charlie Savage, Roddy Doyle (again!)
This one was a tonic. An ordinary man of a certain age trying to come to terms with the modern world. Some of the characteristics of his family were a bit overblown, but the rest of the book made up for it.

Halfway through the year, so it looks like I’m on track for the fifty.

Maggie
So glad I wasn’t the only one to find ‘the couple at the Next Table’ dreadful.
As you say, absolutely awful characters, a ridiculous plot, and a week ending

I don’t think I’ll be choosing a Sophie Hannah again, Sara, or not a recent one anyway. I used to enjoy Agatha Christies, so thought I’d like The Killings of Kingfisher Hill, which is written as a Poirot mystery, but it was one of the few books I just gave up on.

I try to read a book a week and have just finished Still Dark by Alex Gray enjoyed it. New author for me, also read The Riverman by the same author.
Our local bus shelter was used as a library during Covid and contines to be so I'm able to try new authors.
Am about to start When Shadows Fall by Alex Gray. Crime series set in Scotland, easy read,apparently there's a series,would recommend this author.

My latest batch

22. The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson. Based on a real event where several hundred Icelanders who were kidnapped and taken into slavery in Algiers in the 17th century. Really enjoyed it, very visual descriptions.
23. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. Enjoyable fluff.
24. The Prison of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Another excellent instalment in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series.
25. Plainsong by Kent Hafur. This was a reread before reading the sequel, but it was every bit as wonderful as on the first reading.
26. Eventide by Kent Haruf. A fitting sequel to Plainsong, very poignant.
27. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. Excellent, and should be a must read for all politicians involved in healthcare.
28. The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak. Given to me by a friend who had read it for her book club, but I kept thinking “what is the point of this story”. My first read of this author, I don’t think I will bother with any more.
29. Some luck by Jane Smiley. Excellent, don’t be put off by its 600 pages!

With those, I am on track for my 50 for the year.

I enjoyed Faceless, but it wasn`t a happy story, quite violent in places. Just starting book 62, The Empty Hearth, by Kitty Neale.

Hellogirl
My mother, many years ago, bought me a Martina Cole book, I cannot imagine what made her think I might enjoy it, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was my first and last.
We were on holiday, and I kept reading bits out to my husband, we were in fits of laughter, I’m sure she imagined it was a nice cosy romance.

This was anything but cosy Sara1954, it`s peopled by violent and nasty folk.