2023 - 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

Book 4
This is Gonna end in Tears-Liza Klaussmann
Having enjoyed her previous two novels, I was looking forward to this. But it was a bit disappointing.
A US Quaker town, called, would you believe, Wonderland!
Three children grow up in this delightful community, Olly, Ash and Miller. Fast forwarding they leave to attain fame and fortune by starting a record label.
Both men adore Miller, she starts off with Olly, it starts to fall apart, Ash seizes his opportunity, and a child is born, but who is the father? That won’t be revealed until the last sentence of the book.
Fast forward again, all back in Wonderland, Nate is grown, and still Miller seems to be irresistible to Olly, which annoys me, because she is so self centred and drippy.
To be fair there are a lot of small interesting characters, but for some reason it just doesn’t work for me.

Halfway through my No.8. The third in the trilogy by Margaret Dickinson-'The spitfire girls'. Yet again hugely informative, this time set at the start of WW2. I would recommend these 3 to anyone. Such great characters and I'm learning all the time.

#5 Amongst Our Weapons Ben Aaronovitch.
Number 9 and latest in the Rivers of London series. I really love these books and would recommend them (start with number 1 though). They are police procedurals with a difference. The main character is a constable in the Metropolitan Police in a London where magic is real and the many rivers of London each have their own goddess chief of which is the magnificent Mama Thames (who happens to be Nigerian). He is recruited into a section of the Met dealing with magical crimes ( or "weird boll**ks" as one of his non magical senior officers refers to it) and trains as a wizard alongside complying with the Police And Criminal Evidence Act. Great fun.

Pigma I am not sure about Dawnlands but have had a very busy time so am only on p.86. I'll report back.

Book 4. Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster. I saw the author recommended on another thread so thought I’d give it a try. Enjoyable Scottish police procedural.

Finished #3 today. Emily Noble’s Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis. A tale set in Portobello, Edinburgh, covering a series of events in a boarding house over a period of nearly 100 years, from the present day backwards. An unusual tale and interesting, though the writing style was irritating at times, especially in the first third or so. A 7/10 from me.

Book 1 was Lessons on Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I really enjoyed this and would recommend it. Set in 1950s USA.
Book 2 was My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry. A good psychological thriller with a good twist. Slightly complicated plot but a good read.

Just finished book 8, The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson. Very unmemorable but I’ve had a lot on this week getting my mum’s house sale completed so it was ok as light bedtime reading. Still on with Acts if Desperation which is very well written, but intense, so not ideal for bedtime. Got a new clutch of library books so will find another one to start this afternoon. Had a stressful week so feet up, a cuppa and a book this aft - bliss!

Had a gander through my new library book pile - so many books, so little time! Anyway, finally settled on Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths as book number 10. Feet up, here goes!

I loved King`s Croft. Now coming towards the end of book 9, Hide, by Nell Pattison. A group of so called friends are on a Boxing Day visit to a nature reserve to see the starling murmuration. One of them is murdered, and one of them is the killer. Liking it a lot.

Hide was good. Just started book 10, The Day She Disappeared, by Christobel Kent.

Book 4 was The Dark Remains written by Ian Rankin and William McIlvanney, bought as a gift for me by a friend who knows that I love Rebus. Hmm - not sure how I feel about this one. I didn't warm to the " hero" detective as I do with Rebus. Maybe the time set of the plot didn't help- set in the seventies(?) . Interestingly, as a devoted reader of Val McDiarmud, I didn't like her book set in 1979 as much as her previous work.
No 5 was an unputdownable: Sarah Vaughan 's latest Reputation ( writer of Anatomy of A Scandal). Once more set in Westminster but a completely different slant- albeit with a lie at the centre- by someone who was a former political journalist . Utterly gripping! .

Book 6 is The Porpoise by Mark Haddon. The writing is so beautiful (I had to keep reading sentences to my bemused husband) A strange but compelling book, very different to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time

Starting No.9 Fern Britton's 'The Good Servant'.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Margaret Dickinson war trilogy.

For those of you that have enjoyed a particular author I recommend the Fantastic Fiction website. Very useful if you need to read a series in the right order.

#4 was The Dentist by Tim Sullivan. This was on Amazon Prime free reading on the kindle and the first in a new series about DS George Cross, a methodical detective who is on the autistic spectrum. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more in the series.
#5 was The Hoarder by Jess Kidd. It was ok but nothing special in my opinion.
#6 was Murder Among Friends by Elizabeth Ferrars; a classic murder mystery first published in 1946 and set in the middle of the Second World War. I really enjoyed the puzzle and found the wartime details fascinating as they were central to the story.

#4 was Still Life by Sarah Winman. I really enjoyed the stories surrounding Ulysses and all his extended group of family and friends, but I found Evelyn’s story tedious at times. 7/10

Alibee
Pleased to hear you enjoyed Still Life.
I had only really seen negative comments about it before I read it, but I really loved it, would rate it higher than 7/10

I read "Still Life" last year but would only give it 5/10 - didn't enjoy it much.

Chocolatelovinggran Thanks for the recommendation of Sarah Vaughan's "Reputation". I enjoyed "Anatomy".

Still ploughing through "Dawnlands" by Philippa Gregory - I've had such a busy time at home that it has gone on the back burner (possibly because it's not that gripping It's the 3rd in the trilogy and I think I have really read enough about the characters and am losing interest). Another 100 odd pages to read before I finish it.

I wasn’t overly thrilled with Still Life, didn’t live up to the hype. Reputation was a good read. Might not rush to read that trilogy, Sparklefizz, think it might be a bit too much Philippa Gregory in one go for me, quite like her in very small doses now and then.

Another thumbs up for Reputation, although not quite as good as Anatomy of a Scandal, nevertheless still a page turner.

Sara1954

Keeleklogger
I loved Karen Roses early books, I was a real fan, but I gradually got fed up with basically the same format in every book.
Damaged girl meets cool and aloof FBI Agent/ fire fighter/attorney who is built like a Greek God. They dislike each other on site, but of course, gradually become attracted to one another.
This always leads to a rather boring and predictable sex scene, which varies little from book to book.
Apologies, if this book was different.
She tells a good tale, but always in the same mould.

Sara1954

Thanks for the comment. This is the first book that I have read by Karen Rose. It sounds like they are all. variations on a theme.

Might give the others a miss then

#6 Three Hours Rosamund Lupton.
Because of comments up thread I decided to read this. I'm so glad I did, thank you. Powerful, heart breaking and even this early in the year I know it will be in my top five books read in 2023.

Some books stay with you for a long time, and although I read "Three Hours" a few years ago, it's still with me.

Her book "Afterwards" (not a sequel) is also brilliant in a different way.

No 4 The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny. An account of how infectious disease has shaped our world since man first gave up a nomadic existence and began farming. Climate change is going to be a picnic in the park compared to a world in which we are once again assailed by antibiotic-resistant infections and germ warfare.

Finished two books. The Bookshop On The Shore by Jenny Colgan was a pleasant enough chick lit type read, but it was spoilt by inconsistencies in the narrative, and in the edition I read, a glaring error where the wrong character's name was used.
Richard Osman's The Bullet That Missed was as enjoyable as his other books. I sometimes can't keep up with the number of characters, but it doesn't really matter does it?
Next book is A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, I ordered it from the library as it had been recommended on this forum.