2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

Does anyone else find it difficult to remember the plot a year or so later of books especially when you read a lot?

Definitely.
Yes, Liane Moriarty is great at characterisation... they all seem so real. "Apples" is turning out to be a book I don't want to finish!

Book 2 Bury Them Deep by James Oswald. Crime with a dash of the supernatural.

1st book of the year, re-reading Mum and Dad by Joanna Trollope.
I finished Apples never Fall, by Lianne Moriarty, but wasn't really hooked in, so would be interested to hear how you get on Sparklefizz

Sorry Spatklefizz, posted before I saw you post.

Yes, I find that I know I’ve read a book but then can’t remember much about it at a later date! Some stick in my mind but others tend to merge together.
For instance, I know I’ve read ‘Apples’, Sparklefizz, and I know I enjoyed it but beyond that I couldn’t tell you anything about it!
Just finished book 2 - Elizabeth, an intimate Portrait by Gyles Brandreth. A weight tome and I learnt nothing I didn’t already know fact-wise. Found it very irritating how he constantly made a point of how much he was in their confidence - ‘the Queen confided in me that….’, At lunch with Philip he told me….’ and so on. To me it should have been about the Queen not about how well in with them he was, got quite frustrated with it in the end as he quoted a lot of his diary entries so it became even more about him! Anyway, it’s done. On with number 3, The Prisoner, which is shaping up quite nicely. My house is filthy and I’ve got a pile of ironing - oh dear, just another chapter or three!

Auntieflo

1st book of the year, re-reading Mum and Dad by Joanna Trollope.
I finished Apples never Fall, by Lianne Moriarty, but wasn't really hooked in, so would be interested to hear how you get on Sparklefizz

I find Auntieflo that sometimes we just need to be in the right frame of mind for a book. Sometimes I've dismissed a book when I couldn't get into it only to find that some time later I enjoy it.

If I've got a lot going on in my life, I tend to want lighter reading.

No.1 finished. Harlan Coben 'Win'. Really enjoyed finding all about Myron's best friend after so many years of him appearing in other stories. 10/10.
No.2 starting today. Liz Lawler 'I'll find you'.

Just finished first book of 2023, There’ll Be Blue Skies by Ellie Dean. An ‘easy comfortable and non-demanding’ read which I really enjoyed. Set at the time of World War Two which is an era I like reading about. This is the first book of a very large series but not sure I will read them all as with there being so many could get boring.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sparkle, maybe you are right. I just didn't find that it caught my imagination as most books do, although I did read it to the end, as I wanted to find out the truth. Perhaps I should hang onto it and give it another go in a few months time.

Now, Joanna Trollope, I find very hard to put down.

Finished number 1 yesterday, Pine by Francine Toon.
I don’t normally read ghost story type books, but I did enjoy this, it was well written and the characters were well developed.
So I do agree with you Sara1954, I would give it 8/10.

Next up is Skinner’s Mission by Quintin Jardine. I only discovered this series last year and have only read one of them so far, so I am looking forward to the rest as I live in Edinburgh, where they are set.

Hello, another newbie here. My first book of 2023 was A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, a lovely gentle book which taught me a little about needlepoint and bell ringing and made me want to visit Winchester Cathedral again soon.
Have just started Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.
I love this thread, I had to get pencil and paper out to make a note of some of the recommendations, it is already a long list and it is only day 6.
Best wishes and happy reading

No 1 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I’m not sure what I feel about this. It all seemed a long-winded way of saying what is summed up in the final couple of chapters.

All Fall Down was really quite good, written several years before covid, but strikingly similar. Have just started book 3, Dead Souls, by Ian Rankin, a Rebus book.

Streaky - A Single Thread was my book of the year for 2021, I absolutely loved it.

SueDonim - I felt the same way about The Midnight Library, you could tell how it was all going to end. I also read The Possession of Mr Cave by the same author but didn’t enjoy it.

No 1 Verity: promoted as the thriller that will capture your heart and blow your mind. I found it disappointing and the twists in the plot were fairly obvious. It was also padded out with far too many sex scenes. The same sex act was rewritten so many times it just got boring.

I am another one who loved The Appeal but couldn't get on with The Twyford Code. Hopefully her next book due out soon, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, will be better.

Finished book no 3, The Prisoner by B A Paris. Started well but didn’t live up to the hype and I was so bored by the end I skimmed through it and was decidedly underwhelmed. Oh dear, I seem to be being a bit picky this year so far! Anyway, on we go and now starting People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd, a husband and wife partnership. It’s about Instagram and influencers, areas I know very little about and is described as ‘a slick thriller about the perils of the social spotlight’ so we shall see.

Hi Streaky I loved "A Single Thread" and, like you, learnt a lot about needlework.

I finished "Apples Never Fall" several days ago (by Liane Moriarty). Thought it was a terrific book about families and sibling rivalry. Perhaps "he who should not be named on this thread" should read it to note how brothers argue.

My daughter gave me "To Paradise" by Hanya Yanagihara for Xmas. She likes to give me "worthy" books. It's a huge doorstep of a book and I can't really get into it, so I've shelved it for the moment and am reading "The Ink Black Heart", also a whopper of a book so not ideal for trying to read in bed but I love Cormoran and Robin.

I agree about being in the right frame of mind to tackle certain books, which I sometimes put off for various reasons. I've got Robert Harris' Act of Oblivion on my shelves waiting to be read, I know it's supposed to be really good my husband's read it and thought so, and all the reviews are very much 5 star, but there's a barbaric execution in it which I know I won't like. I'm definitely someone who will settle for an easy read sometimes, particularly a bedtime book, that often turns out to be mediocre, the one I'm reading at the moment would fit that description.

I'm another who didn't think much of The Midnight Library, I believe M&H promoted it on one of their numerous websites as a must read, a while back therein lies the clue perhaps.

No.2 finished. Liz Lawler's I'll find you. Absolutely brilliant! Unputdownable! Thrilling from start to finish.

No.3 starting James Patterson-'Murder beyond the grave'-two real crime cases.

#2 The Shadow Wing Sarah Painter.
Number 6 in the Crow Investigations series. It is an urban fantasy mystery and very entertaining.

Hello! Bit late to the party but may I join you? Book 1 is a bit of a cheat as I finished it just into the new year - How We Live Now by Antony Trollope. It was a BYOB on Between the Covers. A proper Victorian tome but I loved it and would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys the classics.
Just finished book 2 - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I found the first third or so a bit twee, but once I got past this I couldn’t put it down. It’s a simple book with a profound message. Just ordered the sequel.
My next is The Divide by Nicholas Evans - author of the Horse Whisperer. I’ll keep you posted.
Happy reading

P.S I agree with the thoughts on the Midnight Library, very predictable plot. I also agree with the consensus on The Cazalet series. One of my fave sagas.

Anything by Katherine Weir is brilliant

LadyGaGa - the third book in the ‘Harold Fry’ trilogy is also worth a read when you’ve read the second one. I thought it was the best if all and pulled the previous two together. Light, easy reading but certainly packs a punch. Lovely! I think it’s called Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North.