2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

I enjoyed Jane Harper's The Lost Man, TerriBull, but perhaps I'm just a Jane Harper fan! I thought Exiles was great and have bought it for my son's birthday so I hope he agrees with me.

Good thing we're all different.

I read A Single Thread a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. She has written some good books Terri, all very different.

30 Exiles - Jane Harper. Everyone seems to have loved it, my husband kept telling me how good it was when he was reading it, all bar me it seems, but then I thought The Dry was over hyped. I did like her second book Force of Nature though. Synopsis of Exiles, which many have read, baby found abandoned in pram at small town festival, mother nowhere to be seen. The plot meandered so much, going over old relationships that I guess were pivotal to the plot but at times retracing past events seemed interminable I felt it rendered the plot almost pedestrian. My step daughter called in at the week-end saw what I was reading and said "good isn't it?" "Nah" was my response! her "well maybe read The Lost Man, that's really good" Quite honestly, don't feel inclined to spend any more eye time on Jane Harper's books, apart from evoking small town, sun baked Australia well, I find them all too ponderous.

31 A Single Thread - Tracy Chevalier I enjoyed this book in the same way I liked Claire Chambers Small Pleasures, different decades but somewhat reminiscent in many respects. This one is set in the early 30s, the story centres on Violet Speedwell one of the many, many single women of that era who lost her fiance to the Great War. Living a life of quiet desperation with her over bearing and selfish mother in Southampton, she opts for a life of independence when taking a room in nearby Winchester, close to her place of work, means she is financially constrained but at least free, or as free as one could be as a woman living back then. This is a time of limitations for women in the working world, never to rise to managerial positions, expected to leave upon marriage. In her loneliness she seeks company amongst the broderers of Winchester Cathedral an army of women dedicated to embroidering cushions and kneelers in the cathedral and there meets an older, kindly sympathetic, married man Arthur one of the bell ringers, I've never read any Tracy Chevalier books before but will look out for them in future.

Now reading two books, My dipping in non fiction Stolen Focus (Why You Can't Pay Attention) - Johann Hari, Just started his introduction, quite riveted already, if ever there was a book for the times we live in, I am sure this is it.

My fiction book is, How To Measure A Cow - Margaret Forster, I thought I'd read all of her pretty splendid books but spied this at the library the other day, obviously one I hadn't heard about.

#41 was Death and the Decorator by Simon Brett. This is from the Fethering series of cosy murder mysteries, which are as much a comedy of human manners as they are a murder mystery. An easy read and thoroughly entertaining as usual.

No 18. This is a re-read but I’m including it because I read it more carefully this time. O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker. It’s a coming-of-age tale but much darker and much funnier than I Captured the Castle.

No 19. A children’s book I found when de-cluttering. The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden. It has some dated attitudes such as smacking children but it also deals with discrimination and bullying. And a happy ending, of course.

Absolutely loved You Are Next. Started Night Train to Lisbon, by Pascal Mercier, but after a few pages decided it wasn`t for me, so discarded it. Now on book 73, A Line in the Sand, by Gerald Seymour (remember him when he was an ITN newsreader?) The Powers that be are trying to persuade a former government agent/spy who worked in Iran years before, to go into hiding yet again, as the Iranians are coming after him.

47- No Cure for Love by Peter Robinson. This is not one of the Inspector Banks series, but is still a good read . An English actress in Hollywood is a target for a murderer.

Book 38 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.

Read it after seeing Terribul’s comments upthread. A beautifully written but painful read.

Sparklefizz

Book No. 42 - Longbourn by Jo Baker - a re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants. I loved it, It was a fascinating insight into the harsh working conditions of life in a grand house 200+ years ago.

I read Longbourn a few years ago now Sparklefizz, but do remember thinking how good it was. Also enjoyed your other recent, Reputation by Sarah Vaughan, I think I've read all of hers now.

Currently ploughing through Exiles by Jane Harper, not enjoying it as much as Juno did in her mention up thread will report back when I finish it.

Book No. 42 - Longbourn by Jo Baker - a re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants. I loved it, It was a fascinating insight into the harsh working conditions of life in a grand house 200+ years ago.

Enjoying You Are Next

#53 War Doctor by David Nott. He is a surgeon who goes to bayous stead if conflict, though he did go to Haiti after the earthquake. His most harrowing posting had been many visits to Syria, in Aleppo mostly. His pioneering procedures for performing under the most difficult circumstances are mid being used to train local doctors. A very interesting book, if a very emotionally charged read.

#40 was Class Murder by Leigh Russell. I found this one a moderately engaging, three star police procedural.

#28 Exiles Jane Harper.
This slow burning mystery centres around a small town in the wine growing region of South Australia. A mother leaves her 6 week old daughter in her pram during a town festival and disappears. There is also a parallel story about an unsolved hit and run in the same place six years earlier.
I enjoyed this book but I did not realise when I chose it that it was third (last?) in a three book series about a federal investigator who happens to be visiting the town (in a private capacity). I do not usually read series out of order and I think the earlier books would have given an insight into his motivations and relationship with the friend he is visiting in this book. However, it does work as a standalone and I would recommend.

Beneath the Skin bored me a little for the first 100 pages, then it got really good and I enjoyed it. Book 72 is You Are Next, by Katia Lief.

Book 37 - Hope to Die by Cara Hunter. A D. I. Fawley novel and thoroughly enjoyed. Good plot and well drawn characters.

Book 36 - Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch.

I’m so glad this thread introduced me to these books. Reliable light reads for days when my joints are bad. I like the little bits of history that are included.

I`ve finished The Hidden Child, and whilst I enjoyed it, I didn`t find it quite as riveting as expected. Am just starting book 71, Beneath the Skin, by Nicci French.

I have just finished The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell and it's a delightful book telling Tom's true story of when he wanted to travel as a young man and took a teaching post in South America. Purely by chance he came across dozens of dead penguins on the beach in Uruguay who were covered in oil and tar. One penguin was alive and he nurtured it and they formed a close bond.

I would recommend this lovely book to anyone who is fond of animals. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's definitely a heart-warming story.

TerriBull Like you, I enjoyed Small Things like These even though it tells a shocking and sad tale. Perhaps it should be followed by The Penguin Lessons to cheer up the reader?

#27. Sidney Chambers and The Problem Of Evil.

#27 The Singularity Trap Dennis E Taylor.
An enjoyable and thought provoking stand alone sci-fi story by the author of the 'Bobiverse' series.

Music Girl, good to know you obviously enjoyed Val McDermid's "Place of Execution" as much as I did.

27 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan A superb novella of a book, set in small town, mid eighties Ireland on the lead up to Christmas, where Bill Furlong a coal merchant faces his busiest season. Whilst our central character mulls over the circumstances of his birth to a single mother, he simultaneously, during the course of one of his deliveries to a convent, quite by chance uncovers the covert goings on in something akin to the Magdalen Laundries. Brief and nuanced in the unfolding narrative, it nevertheless is a powerful account of how the Catholic church and particular orders of nuns incarcerated young unmarried mothers in almost slave like conditions. In their wilful neglect of both mother and child, nearly 800 babies died in the Tuam Home in Galway between the mid 1920s and the mid 1960s, this the author states in her notes at the end of this book. How many more in other places heaven knows. Having attended a day convent, I think I got a brief insight into the behaviour some nuns displayed, deranged would be one way I'd describe the worst of them, these were people who really shouldn't have been around children, at least we got to go home though, which is more than can be said for many of the young women who suffered at their hands. I also pondered about their own back stories, insomuch as wondering if they were also at some stage coerced into the life they led, I can't believe anyone would willingly want to go down such a path of harsh judgements and a complete lack of compassion towards their fellow women and certainly not to babies.

28 One, Two, Three Four, The Beatles In Time - Craig Brown

Satirist Craig Brown's epic cataloguing of the Beatles rise from the slow burn of the fairly shambolic performances of their early youth to the altogether more polished finished product that set the world alight under the auspices of their manager, Brian Epstein. Much delving into their backgrounds, encompassing, hardship, heartbreaking personal losses, as well as some aching funny moments. A great insight into the social structure of Britain and shifting attitudes towards class in the 1960s. The book is littered with mentions of well known faces who orbited the fab four in their ascendancy, as well as the charlatans, the hangers on who led to some of the bad business decisions practically bankrupting them at one time, once they lost the guidance of their lynch pin Svengali, Brian Epstein after his untimely death. Their creativity towards the end of the 60s was light years ahead in sophistication from the embryonic Love Me Do of their early years, but it also saw them pulling apart as the egos clashed leading to the inevitable break up as the new decade began. If you were a big Beatles fan like me, you will probably love this book, I did!

29 Someone Else's Shoes- JoJo Moyes

I've never read any of her books before, although I've probably read fairly similar in Jane Fallon and Adele Parks. It started off fairly well, two women with lockers side by side at the gym, one picks up the other one's gym bag and so the story unfolds. One of the women has got everything, but she hasn't really, it's really a very thin veneer. The other one has masses of trials and tribulations in the form of a tight budget, a horrible boss, a husband laid low with depression. To cut a long story short and needless to say, rich woman wants her bag back and in particular contained in that bag a pair of Christian Louboutins and therein hangs the crux of the tale, the coveted shoes. Much of the narrative is devoted to the getting of those back the narrative at times descends into an almost Brian Rix farce in that, but by that time I didn't really care about either of the women or the red soled vertiginous over priced shoes. It was ok, it passed the time, but not really my thing, but as JoJo is a best selling author, I wanted to try one of her books out. Job done! Moving on number 30 Exiles - Jane Harper a few chapters in.

46- John Grisham's 'Sooley'. A story for basketball fans really. A young boy in Sudan is brought to USA to become a star. Very sad bits in it about his family's plight in the war at home.
Must admit I scan read over the technical game bits, but well written as always.

I've just finished book no. 40 Reputation by Sarah Vaughan and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, have not been able to put it down!

It's a legal drama and I don't want to say much more in case it spoils it. On the cover it says "Reputation: The story you tell about yourself, and the lies others choose to believe ..."

I can highly recommend it.

Book 28
The Silent Wife - Karin Slaughter
It’s a while since I read one of her novels, used to really love them, but then she killed off her main character, and I lost interest, even though the new character’s she created were very good.
This one was most enjoyable, she writes crime fiction like no one else, leaves nothing to the imagination, quite graphic.
This one was a serious of the most awful rapes and murders. But they go back many years, so she keeeps going back and forth, from Jeffrey and Lena, to the present, Will and Faith, with Sarah spanning the two.
It’s a real page turner, and I don’t think you would guess the ending.
I’m going back to read the ones I’ve missed now.

It is a few years old Musicgirl, it was amongst a few books I was lent. I`m enjoying it so far.