2022 50 BOOKS - OR AS MANY AS YOU CAN MANAGE

I'm currently revisting The Rainbow by DH Lawrence, which I haven't read since I was a teenager. I'd forgotten how good it is.

Have just finished ‘The Ink Black Heart’.

Yes, the online conversations are very boring, not keen on them at all. Found myself confused about all the different characters and usernames.

As ever, it’s the Strike/Robin ‘relationship’ that has me hooked, far more than the actual crime.

#51. Picture You Dead by Peter James, the latest Roy Grace book.

#42 Claire Keegan ‘Small things like these’ a novella reflecting on the now-shocking Magdalen laundries in Ireland, and how they relied on having a stranglehold on the communities around them. Such a cruel time but the story has a modest, inspiring hero.

#65 False Value Ben Aaronovitch.
Number 9 in the very entertaining Rivers of London series about an apprentice wizard who is also a serving DC in the Metropolitan Police. Really enjoyed it.

The King of Lies was a good psychological thriller. Book 115 will be Fox Evil, by Minette Walters.

Manhattan is my Beat was OK, but not a great book. Just starting book 114, The King of Lies, by John Hart.

Book 39
Mistress of the art of Death - Ariana Franklin. Something new for me, medieval crime.

Children are disappearing in Cambridge, the Jews are being blamed, and have to be locked up in the castle for their own protection.

An investigator, and a doctor who speaks to the dead are sent for from Naples, to solve the murders, and exonerate the Jews.

I wasn’t grabbed from the start, but I gradually got drawn in, and really enjoyed it. Some lovely characterisations, and some fond friendships formed.

The killer is eventually unmasked, but not before a lot more tragedy. If you like this type of book, it was a good read.

Book 40
Still Life - Sarah Winman
Several contributors have disliked this book, so I was a bit hesitant about starting it.

But I really enjoyed it, a book full of lovely generous characters, a mismatch of people thrown together, some by war, others by location, all of them good people.

Definitely a little over sentimental at times, and the most extraordinary coincidences running through the book.

But I really enjoyed it, a feel good book

#41 Joanna Cannon ‘A Tidy Ending’. First person viewpoint of a woman’s experience of having a humdrum life after childhood trauma, then being at the centre of serial killings in the neighbourhood. Ingenious writing by the psychiatrist author.

Book 113, Manhattan is my Beat, by Jeffrey Weaver.

Speaking in Tongues was OK, but not up to the standard of Jeffrey Deaver`s later books.

#64 Outland Dennis E Taylor. An audiobook narrated by Ray Porter.
Six college students create a gate to another dimension as a result of a physics project that goes awry. Soon after there is a catastrophic eruption of the super volcano at Yellowstone Park which will destroy civilization across most of the planet. They must get as many people as possible through the portal. A really entertaining listen.

Just starting book 112, Speaking in Tongues, by Jeffrey Deaver

Lots of writers do it Calendargirl, maybe it`s for tax reasons?
The Murder Game was really good, I enjoyed it.

#50. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith.

(Why does JKR need to write under a pseudonym when we all know it’s her?)

Have just collected this from the library, surprised as it must have a huge waiting list, didn’t realise I was so near the top!

Have read the first hundred or so pages, only 900 to go! So far, the Strike/Robin detective/personal relationship is spot on, have got into the swing of the book straightaway, feels a seamless catch up from Troubled Blood. As others have said, not so keen on the online conversations which form part of the plot, can’t wait to return to the ‘proper’ storyline, but so far, so good.

#63 The Good Knight Sarah Woodbury.
A mystery set in Medieval Wales. It is apparently the first in a long series featuring a couple called Gareth and Gwen. The two protagonists are fictional but the novel is based on real events and people. I quite enjoyed it but probably won't rush to investigate the rest of the series.

Loved Mary, Mary, and I hadn`t read it before. Just started book 111, The Murder Game, by Beverly Barton.

Now reading book 110, Mary, Mary, by James Patterson, one of the older Alex Cross books, I actually think that I`ve read it before, a long time ago, but will finish it.

Black Water was very good.

IrishDancing
I’m sure it will be here next year, in the meantime, keep practicing

Just what I was thinking Sara! Mind you I’m not really entitled to be here as I’m only intending to start my 50 books in 2023! Please keep this thread going!

I don’t get what all these deleted messages are about, this is hardly a controversial thread.

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I wouldn`t say that Storm Prey was a brilliant book, but it was OK, and I enjoyed it. Now reading book 109, Black Water, by Jefferson Parker, liking it this far.

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*Scandi-noir - silly auto-text.