2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

31. We Are All Adults Here, Emma Straub
This was my reading group book. It caused quite a stir when one member recommended it at our meeting but got the name wrong and we all immediately googled For Adults Only, with predictable results. I enjoyed it, but was in the minority, though we all agreed that it’s well written. It’s the story of a family living in small town America, with lots of different strands. It reminded me a bit of Anne Tyler, possibly on speed.

32. The Serial Killer’s Sister, Alice Hunter
A woman gets an unexpected visit from the police - the brother she hasn’t seen since she was a teenager is now a wanted serial killer and there’s a race against time to find him before he strikes again, following the clues he leaves for her. It kept me entertained, though the plot has holes if you think about it too deeply.

I didn`t really like Bone Man`s Daughters, found it unpleasant in parts. Just starting book 95, The Dead Room, by Chris Mooney.

29. Is This Real? by Cameron & Tara Leiper. Cameron has schizophrenia and this is jointly written by he and his wife. It was an eye-opening view into the world of severe MH illness. It is shot through with humour so isn’t all gloom and doom.

Book 55 The Whispers by Heidi Perks. I finished this book but only because I had nothing else to read.

It's an implausible storyline, advertised as "The gripping page- turner rater 5 stars by readers". It isn't. I wouldn't recommend it.

I’m only on 17. London Bridge is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler.

Book 45. The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves. A good read.

musicgirl your book about Broadmoor sounds interesting. I grew up near there and remember us all being taken home from school in police cars because someone had escaped.

#49 was Inside Broadmoor by Jonathan Levi and Emma French. It was an interesting insight into the history and ethos of the (in)famous psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.

Loved Core of Evil. Made a start on The Shining Girls, can`t remember the author, but gave up, just couldn`t get into it. So now on book 94, Bone Man`s Daughters, by Ted Dekker.

Coming towards the end of Core of Evil, it`s been really good. An old lady is murdering other old ladies, then taking on their identities and property until the next one, and so on.

Book 44. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey was one of the Golden Era crime writers. Not heard of so much now but very good. The Franchise Affair is based on a real life case of trial by media so still resonates today. Likeable characters, a great sense of place and period and Tew manages to maintain tension even though you have a pretty good idea of how it will work out.

Core of Evil seems promising.

#40 The Dragon River Adventure T B Carter.
This is the third in the Adventures of the Interesting Times Club series. It is a riotous mix of time and space travel, magic, myth and James Bond! A Young Adult series but hugely entertaining.

Two very different books for 32 and 33

The Ballroom - Anna Hope
Set in an asylum in Yorkshire, back in the days when you could be sent there for all manner of trivial reasons.
Men and women are segregated, coming together on Friday nights in the ballroom.
The story is a boy meets girl love story, throw in a voluntary patient, there because she refuses to marry her father’s choice of husband, and a mad doctor determined the asylum will lead the way in eugenics.
It’s a depressing book, no happy ending for anyone.
I enjoyed it, but found it very sad.

The Chestnut Man - Soren Sveistrup
Scandinavian thriller, very much like Jo Nesbo in style.
Women are being brutally tortured and murdered.
Don’t want to spoil it by giving too much away, but if you enjoy Jo Nesbo and David Hewson, you’ll enjoy this.

28. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. I don’t think there’s anything left to to say about it, is there?

Alarm Call was another OK but not brilliant book. Just about to begin book 93, Core of Evil, by Nigel McCrery.

Just finished Book 54 The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve and I enjoyed it. Her books are an easy read.

Must go to the library over the weekend as I'm running low on reading material

#40. A Taste For Death by PD James.

Sara1954, I must keep a lookout for 2 and 3. You`re not alone, I haven`t seen the TV series either.
Have finished Power, it was OK, but not outstanding. Have just started book 92, Alarm Call, by Quintin Jardine. It`s not doing much for me up to now.

I’m on a good run at the moment, and have enjoyed all of these very different books.

26. Two Brothers, Ben Elton
I was surprised to learn that the background is based on the author’s own family history, as the premise that a non-Jewish child would be adopted by German Jews and that two brothers would therefore end up with very different experiences on opposite sides in 1930s Germany seemed a bit of a stretch. I learned a lot about the period and the story is gripping.

27. The Vintage Shop of Second Chances, Libby Page
Not quite as good as The Lido, imo, but still an uplifting easy read with likeable if saccharine characters. Even if some of the family dynamics are a bit too daft to be believable. For example, adoptions and births kept secret for no apparent reason, the total lack of effort on both sides to trace a supposedly much loved sister, one character not knowing her mother’s maiden name because “my grandparents died before I was born”. Really? It’s worth glossing over these issues though if you’re in the mood for a comfort blanket read.

28. Undoctored, Adam Kay
Very good - like This Is Going To Hurt, it’s thought-provoking as well as witty. It’s more about the author’s life after leaving medicine, but there are plenty of flashbacks to his time on the NHS front line.

29. Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson
One of my favourite authors, and this one didn’t disappoint. It’s very evocative of the period it’s set in - 1920s London - and there are plenty of different threads running through the book to keep the reader interested.

30. Don’t Close Your Eyes, P S Cunliffe
A tale of duplicity, missing people and murder. It’s a good mystery, but none of the characters are very likeable. One, who refuses to go to sleep until her missing husband is found, and bumbles around as she becomes more and more sleep-deprived, forgetting basic words, hallucinating, falling over and basically just getting in everybody’s way, is one of the most irritating I’ve ever come across. It’s well worth a read though, for the twists and turns. The true story of the London Bridge jogger who pushed a woman under a bus is cleverly interwoven into the plot.

Hellogirl
I really loved The Killing, and The Killing 2 and 3
Really liked the characters.
I think I’m the only person who hasn’t watched the TV series though.

#39. Miss Marple’s Final Cases by Agatha Christie.

Have just started book 91, Power, by Debra Webb.

Finally finished The Killing, all 708 pages of it. I didn`t see, at the halfway point, how the author could spin it out for so many pages, but he did, and it worked. I enjoyed it.

Just finished No. 53 The Midnight News by Jo Baker and thought it was brilliant.

It's set in 1940 during the London Blitz WW2, which meant a great deal to me because my parents were bombed in London during the Blitz. The main character is Charlotte, and this is both a love story and a darkly atmospheric page-turner.

I agree about The Island of Missing Trees Sue Donim, it didn't live up to my expectations.