2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

#11 Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. Fern Brady is a Scottish comedian and journalist who suffered from mental illness in her teens and was diagnosed with autism two years ago, in her mid-thirties. This is a memoir of her life up until and since her diagnosis. It is a very frank and, I found, fascinating, account of the challenges and pain of feeling like an outsider and with little or misdirected support in dealing with powerful emotions.

#12 I started Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan on the train to London and am finding it an easy, enjoyable read so far. It is set in Brighton where I lived and worked for a few years, and love for its colour and life.

I loved A Killer in Winter, am just about to start book 61, another by Susanna Gregory, set in the 1350s, The Killer of Pilgrims. These books are slightly reminiscent of C .J.Sansom`s Matthew Shardlake books, but 300 years earlier. This investigator is called Matthew as well.

39. Fiona Barton- Local gone missing. A man disappears from a music festival and the local detective discovers that he was involved in some shady money scams. Keeps you guessing right to the last page.

40.Lynda la Plante-The Legacy. Saga about a gypsy boxer and a Welsh girl. Seemed a bit over long, especially the boxing bits.

Liking The Killer of Pilgrims so far.

#23. Splinter The Silence by Val McDermid.

I’m lagging behind massively but here goes ….
# 7 Where the Crawdads Sing. I must confess that I’m a bit of a book snob (🫣 judging myself) - if a book is really popular I don’t always go for it, but so glad I did. Beautifully written.
# 8 The Maid by Nita Prose. Echos of Eleanor Oliphant - it’s a murder mystery seen through the eyes of a maid on the autistic spectrum. I found the first half charming, but as the book went on it was full of stock characters with nothing new and childish dialogue. I won’t be seeking out this author again.
I’m now back to my original #7 A Little Life by Hanya Yanagitara. It’s such a well written book but very bleak. I got half way through but put it on hold for my holiday reads! So it’s now # 9. Wish me luck!

I have just finished The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller and thoroughly enjoyed it, and now feel bereft as I always do after a wonderful read.

It's a deeply emotional love story revealing family secrets and lies .... I won't say too much more about it, just that I looked forward to picking it up to read a bit more each day, but also wanted to slow down and put off finishing it. Do you ever feel that way about a good book?

It's her debut novel and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

That was my Book No. 33. Not sure what I'll read next but I have a pile on the coffee table to choose from.

Ps. If anyone else has read The Paper Palace I'd very much like to discuss the ending in a private message so as not to spoil it for anyone else. Thanks in advance.

#22 I'll Stop The World Lauren Thoman.
This is one from my virtual pile of free Kindle books. It is about a boy who travels back in time 38 years to the week before his grandparents are due to die in a fire. At first I wasn't impressed but I became quite engrossed. I enjoyed it

I liked The Killer of Pilgrims. Not started yet, but book 62 will be another by Susanna Gregory, A Conspiracy of Violence, but this is 300 years further on.

#35 was The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey. This was written about twenty years ago but was classic Lovesey. A twisty police procedural featuring DI Peter Diamond and, as usual, lots of humour to leaven the mood. Peter Lovesey is one of my favourite authors.

Thank you to the person who mentioned the author Mark Billingham as a good writer of crime novels. I'm enjoying his book Their Little Secret (My no. 34)

Sparklefizz

Ps. If anyone else has read The Paper Palace I'd very much like to discuss the ending in a private message so as not to spoil it for anyone else. Thanks in advance.

Sparklefizz I have just seen this, I did read The Paper Palace last summer I thought it was very good too, but oh dear! I have forgotten the ending, not a lot of help I'm afraid. One of three books I took away on holiday. The Beloved Girls, How to Kill Your Family and that one, I remember thinking three really good books in a row

Thanks anyway TerriBull

41. Lynda la Plante- The Talisman. This is the sequel to the Legacy. At 917 pages it was a struggle to get through. It seems as if the story was stretched out with lots of unnecessary characters, and I was almost tempted to just turn to the end, but I persevered. Not up to LLP's usual standard, though I'm sure some readers would disagree.

Book 18
Something to Hide - Elizabeth George
I love these Lynley and Havers books , love the characters, love the way she manages to have so many stories weaving through her books.
To be honest, they’re totally unrealistic on so many levels, but they’re so readable.
I was thinking, I’ve probably been reading these books for thirty years or more, and no one has seemed to have aged at all.
By rights they would all have retired.

Book 19
One by One - Ruth Ware
A group of the most horrible pretentious idiots rent a chalet in the French Alps, for a business trip.
There is an avalanche of course, they are cut off with no services, of course, and of course they start getting murdered.
Despite the inevitability of it all, I enjoyed it.

Book 20
Exiles - Jane Harper
I absolutely love Jane Harpers books, and this one was no exception.
A woman vanishes at a food festival, leaving her new baby in her pram.
She’s back visiting her old home, and her teenage daughter with her new husband.
Her friends and family struggle to understand what happened, unable to believe she’s left her baby.
A year on, at a gathering for a christening, the pieces are gradually put together.
So atmospheric, loved it.

Book 29. Free Love by Tessa Hadley. Set in the 60s, I found this novel about the counterculture engrossing and nostalgic.

teabagwoman

Book 29. Free Love by Tessa Hadley. Set in the 60s, I found this novel about the counterculture engrossing and nostalgic.

Yes me too teabagwoman, Read it last year, I liked it a lot.

Teabagwoman/TerriBull
I agree, such sharp contrast between respectable suburbia and swinging London.

A Conspiracy of Violence was very good. Next book, number 63, will be another Susanna Gregory, Blood on the Strand.

Sara1954 Yes, I loved Exiles by Jane Harper too, and couldn't put it down. I've enjoyed all her books, but I think this one is the best.

TerriBull/ Sara I was living in Broadstairs at the time, definitely not ‘swinging’. Remember the older locals being very shocked when groups of hippies with flower power signs camped out on the seafront. The local cafes did a roaring trade with older people meeting up to grouse about them.

No 15. Akenfield by Ronald Blythe, who died recently at the grand age of 100yo. It’s his account of a Suffolk village, written in 1969 and with testaments from the villagers, from the magistrate to the man who buries the bodies.

Many of their memories go back to the late 19th/early 20th century and my goodness, the poverty and the way people were treated was heartbreaking.

#23 Flip Back Andrew Cartmel.
The 4th in the very entertaining Vinyl Detective series about a man who is commissioned to track down rare records. This always results in nefarious doings and danger to life. Well: "man goes to charity shop and pays peanuts for rare record" The End, wouldn't be very exciting would it? Easy to read and very enjoyable.

Book 30. The Judas Horse by Lynda La Plante. A well read audiobook that distracted me from my painful joints.