2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

Very remiss of me, as I haven't updated this since January. Where has the last 5 months gone?!!
Book 3, The Accidental Stowaway by Judith Eagle. Aimed at a younger audience but quite a good story.
Book 4 The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary. Enjoyable story.
Book 5 The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver. His usual gruesome stuff!
Book 6 Blood on the Strand by Chris O'Donoghe. Rubbish!
Book 7 Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith. Great book in the No 1 ladies detective series.
Book 8 Entry Island by Peter May. Excellent
Book 9 Killing Floor, Lee Childs first book in Jack Reacher series. Have read many others but missed this one. So good, as always
Book 10 The Noble Path by Peter May.
Book 11 Child's Play by Danielle Steel. Good but predictable!
Book 12 The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley. Have loved this series so good to get this 7th one.
Book 13 Murder at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley. Another good standalone book.
Book 14 The Cruise by Catherine Cooper.
Book 15 Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson
Book 16 Atlas, the story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker (her son). Good to have everything explained at last but such a convoluted story line!
Breaking the Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford. Not enjoying this as much as some of hers but will stick it out !

I loved Natural Causes, would like to read the rest of the series now. I`m jus about to start book 80, Holding the Zero, by Gerald Seymour, set during the Iraqi conflict.

#32 And Now For Something Completely Different Jodi Taylor.
A short story from the Chronicles of St Mary's series. I love everything this author writes.

#? Reading Alexander McCall Smith ATM. “The pavilion in the clouds” and now “The Private Lives of Spies.” Both stand-alone. Utterly charming and, at times, laugh out loud. Strongly recommend them,

TerriBull
Looking forward to hearing what you think.

Oh Sarah! I've just seen your post, Kate Morton's Homecoming and didn't think it was one of her best, I've only read one of hers I didn't absolutely love. I'll have to see whether I agree with you when I get round to this one.

I also liked Circe Juno, not having dipped into any Greek Mythology before.

33 The Birdcage - Eve Chase

Artist in Cornwall annually gathers together his various daughters by different mothers for summer get together, why am I thinking Lucien Freud a bit too cliched. Set in recent times just pre covid, with flashbacks to the year of Total Eclipse 1999 when something bad happened. Told from the various sisters' point of view. This author, I read writes in a similar vein to Kate Morton and Lisa Jewell, I wish! nothing like as good, just too slow with never ending sibling rivalry, even the rugged Cornish coastline couldn't redeem it for me. Glad when I finished I've mentally filed it away under "codswallop!"

34 The Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch

Highly original, loved large parts of this book, particularly all the references to the tributary rivers that feed into The Thames and which I knew very little about plus the various places along that river, in particular Teddington Lock, an important halfway point in the book and which I lived a mere half a mile away from for years! Ben Aaronovitch paints London so vividly conjuring up its grimy, dark, murky past, it's vivid multi cultural present when painting the backdrop of a series of crimes that sees ordinary people turned into vicious killers. The central character is Peter Grant a young officer in the Metropolitan Police who at the outset has an unexpected encounter with a ghost! I knew there was an element of the supernatural and I suppose, for me, that would possibly be the reason why I wouldn't rush to read another, although I may well do at a later stage. Peter Grant's role morphs into that of an apprentice wizard. I never was one of those parents who wanted to read my kids' Harry Potters when they were going through those years and when it seemed so many adults were doing just that. I can see the appeal though and I think the narrative has a filmic quality about it. I love the historical references and the bits and pieces of Latin widely used by our young hero's mentor and wizard, Inspector Nightingale. If I came away with nothing else from this book at least I know that Lux is so much more than a bar of soap, it means light!

I`ve read and enjoyed quite a few of Michael Morpurgo`s "children`s " books, I think they are just as good for adults as well.
The Kind Worth Killing was OK, but I hate not liking the leading characters in a book, as was the case with this one. There was an interesting twist halfway through.
I`ve just started book 79, Natural Causes, by James Oswald. It was published a good few years back, the first in a series featuring Det/Insp Maclean. I`m enjoying it so far.

52- Michael Morpurgo's Listen to the Moon. A heartwarming story about a girl found on an uninhabited island in the Scillies during WW1. Although this is listed as children's fiction it is a good read for adults too. It is ideal if you want to know more about life in the Scilly Isles at that time and is based on the sinking of the Lusitania. An easy read.

Book 25
The Janus Stone - Ely Griffiths
It was okay, but not one of her best

Book 25
Homecoming - Kate Morton
I was looking forward to this, but somehow it didn’t live up to expectations.
The plot was good, the setting was very atmospheric, but for me it fell down on the characters, it wasn’t until the last fifty or so pages, that I was in any urgency to read it.
Don’t want to spoil it, I know many of you are planning on reading it, so I’ll try not to be specific, but the two main characters in the book, Nora and Jess, I disliked from the beginning, and more and more as the book continued.
There is an unexpected twist at the end, as I said, the last fifty pages pull it all together.
Not saying I didn’t enjoy it, but definitely not one of my favourite Kate Morton novels.

Yes, that could be it, Sparkle! The crimes don’t interest me that much but the characters do.

22. Mrs Harris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico. A sequel to his Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, this has some words and situations that wouldn’t be tolerated today. Whilst shocking to read, it is also a sign that society has moved forward since then.

#32. Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid.

SueDonim ^ JH’s books are the only crime books I read. It’s not a genre I like but her books draw me in somehow.^

I like them because the crime is incidental to the characters' relationships.(Jane Harper's books)

The Secret Friend wasn`t bad, I liked it. Have just started book 78, The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson.

21 Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo. Five disparate characters leave the Niger Delta for Lagos, all hoping to realise their dreams. I lived in Lagos for five years and really enjoyed this take on life in the ‘Centre of Excellence’.

Sparklefizz JH’s books are the only crime books I read. It’s not a genre I like but her books draw me in somehow.

#31 Circe Madeline Miller.
I have always enjoyed myths and legends and loved this book which is a retelling of the story of the witch Circe. From her relationship with her family and other gods, her banishment and particularly her encounter with Odysseus and it's aftermath the author really brings the characters to vivid life.

Latest book - Death Under A Little Sky by Stig Abell. Not my usual type of book but really enjoyed reading it. Described as a Crime novel but to me the crime is not the main theme of the book. Debut novel by this author who is well known as a journalist. The book is well written and the author seems to be sympathetic to the characters’ feelings with good descriptions. Would recommend it.

51- House of Correction by Nicci French. I have always been a fan of these authors.(Sean French and Nicci Gerrard) but this was unputdownable!! Tabitha has suffered from depression all her life and suddenly is arrested for murder. She decides to sack her lawyer and fight her own court case, making lots of mistakes along the way. Highly recommended.

25. Persecution, R C Bridgestock
Because the writers are retired detectives, there was a lot of police procedural detail in this, which I can see could be interesting or boring, depending on your tastes. For me it was interesting, and kept the plot grounded and realistic. I’ll read the previous two in the Charley Mann series some time, but first I’ll have to forget the details about them that came out (unwisely) in this one!

The Medici Secret was very good, despite all the time switching. Just starting book 77, The Secret Friend, by Chris Mooney.

#31. The Holiday by TM Logan.

Dirty Little Lies was OK, but not outstanding. Now reading book 76, The Medici Secret, by Michael White. It`s alright, but a lot of time zone switching, between 1966, 1410, 2003 and 2008.

#43 was A Musician’s Alphabet by Susan Tomes. There is a short essay for every letter of the alphabet about different aspects of a professional musician’s life. I found it very interesting.

Sorry, forgot to say, that was book 40.

I gave up on One Last Secret by Adele Parks because I was bored with it and moved on to Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood. It’s a spin off from Death in Paradise and whilst it was a lot of nonsense it was very entertaining.