2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

42 All Among The Barley by Melissa Harrison. Best book I’ve read for ages. It’s a novel framed round an old lady talking about her teenage self in an English rural farming community and the momentous events that occur. It has strong parallels with today’s changing world. The book cover is beautiful too, taken from a children’s LadyBird book

Hurting Distance was OK, but not riveting.
Book 132 is Dear Amy, by Helen Callaghan.

Book 42
A Little Life-Hanya Yanagihara
Wow! What a book, I didn’t read it when everyone was raving about it, and only after a conversation in a book shop did I decide to buy it, even then it took me over a year to get around to reading it.
Thank goodness I did, I haven’t read a book that has moved me so much for as long as I can remember.
I read an article which said, you have to be depressed to enjoy this book, not true. But it’s not an easy book.
Basically it follows four young men on a journey of about thirty years, from students, to all being highly successful in their careers.
They are all extremely well rounded characters, but it is really Jude’s story, a past so unbearably sad and traumatic, that he simply can’t talk about it. The after affects of his abuse last a lifetime, with him becoming more physically and emotionally damaged as the years go by.
His great love for Willem is his only real pleasure, but although he is surrounded by people who love him, he can never accept that he can be lovable.
Graphic abuse and violence, serious self harming, rape, they are all here, but still it is a stunningly beautiful book.

I have started reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. A true account of how he built a s hook first the Karakoram Mountain area in Parkistan and then went on to build 55 schools in remote villages Parkistan and Afghanistan. I read it many years ago but I am now goi g read it again

#94 was The Crooked Shore by Martin Edwards. This was an enjoyable murder mystery set on the southern edges of the Lake District.
#95 was The Neighbours by Fiona Cummins, a somewhat creepy psychological thriller. I enjoyed it.
#96 was The Lusitania Mystery by Edward Marston. This was my favourite book for weeks.

I really enjoyed The Quiet People. My next book will be Hurting Distance, by Sophie Hannah.

#46 Paul Gallico ‘Mrs Harris Goes to Paris’ sentimental and showing its age. I do wonder it hasn’t been made into a film before now (I haven’t seen the recent film). Lots of colourful cliches around life in London and Paris.

Book 130, The Quiet People, by Paul Cleave.

54#. The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves. The latest ‘Vera’ book.

It will be very different to the one I have finally finished, the biography of the Queen Mother. It was interesting, very long, but covered her long life admirably.

Shelter was OK, despite being written for teenagers. Now on book 129, The Shape of Water, by Andrea Camilleri, an Inspector Montelbano book.

Shelter, by Harlan Coben, book 128.

41 Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd. It’s the memoir of one of the UK’s top forensic pathologists. Gruesome but fascinating.

#71 The Copper Heart Sarah Painter.
Number 5 in the Crow Investigations series. A good read.

40. A book that’s been on my shelf for a long time A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare. The author follows the migration path of swallows from S Africa to Wales. In truth, the book isn’t much about swallows but it is an absorbing read.

I liked Ghost Girl, but it wasn`t a very happy book. Now reading Homeland, by Clare Francis, book 127.

#45 James Shapiro ‘1606 The Year of Lear’ Impressive review of Shakespeare’s likely experiences including resonant themes of plague lockdowns, and government spin against its enemies (the would be terrorists of the gunpowder plot thankfully didn’t succeed but what a powerful and long lived ‘othering’ was invoked against them).

#44 William Boyd ‘Restless’. Seems well-researched and well-plotted though the characters don’t convince me. Still, a good solid read.

#43 Fiona Valparaiso ‘The Storyteller of Casablanca’ read like a Young Adult book - not putting it down just its way of dealing with adult themes (war, holocaust, relationship strain) in a slightly masked way. Interesting on Casablanca in WW2. And it takes quilting seriously.

A Most Wanted Man was OK, but I`m not really into complicated spy plots. Now just starting book 126, Ghost Girl, by Torey Hayden, a true story of a teacher`s experience with children with problems.

I enjoyed Fog Island more than I expected to. Have just started one by John Le Carre, A Most Wanted Man, but not sure about it yet, have never read any Le Carre.

#91 was The Apothecary’s Daughter by Jane Adams. I very much enjoyed this mystery which spanned the seventeenth century and the present day.
#92 was Further Confessions of a GP by Dr. Ben Daniels. A sometimes funny, sometimes shocking look at the life of a modern GP.
#93 was Seven Kinds of People You Meet in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell. I thoroughly enjoyed this acerbic yet kind look at the typical people who are to be found in a second hand bookshop, or at least Shaun Bythell’s second hand bookshop in Wigtown.

#69 Frederica Georgette Heyer.
After the disappointment of Bridgerton, I returned to the wonderful Georgette Heyer. This book is one of her best.
#70 About Time Jodi Taylor.
This is number 4 and latest in the Time Police series. So enjoyable, but unfortunately there will be a wait now for the next book by this author ☹️.

39. Another children’s classic, Minnow On The Say by Philippa Pearce. It was a trip back in time to a simpler world.

53#. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by William Shawcross.

A huge book, but there again, she lived to be over 100.

A lot of life to write about.

Light Seekers was alright, but not riveting reading. Have just started book 124, Fog Island, by Mariette Lindstein.