Best book you read this year?

For me it was "It's a (wo)man's world. by Stella Beake. A different take on inequality, where women are in charge. I found it really made me think!

Just finished reading The Women by Kristin Hannah. An amazing story about the American Army nurses who cared for the Soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Part fiction but the author did a lot of research to get her facts right.
Since I finished it I have been looking at articles on line about how the American public shunned the veterans when they returned to the states.

asdds

A series of books by Lucinda Reilly called 'The seven sisters'
I have been hospital then bed/sofa bound.
Helped pass the time.

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Just About Coping by Natalie Cawley.. written by a Clinical Psychologist Doctor which includes very candid insights into her own life...

for me, it has to be the "Stop! It's Not Too Late: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years Using the BMS Model" which offers practical advice for a healthier and more fulfilling life through the BMS Model. It is an essential read for anyone seeking to improve their well-being.

jameskhowlett1

for me, it has to be the "Stop! It's Not Too Late: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years Using the BMS Model" which offers practical advice for a healthier and more fulfilling life through the BMS Model. It is an essential read for anyone seeking to improve their well-being.

for me, it has to be the "Stop! It's Not Too Late: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years Using the BMS ecosystem which offers practical advice for a healthier and more fulfilling life through the BMS Model. It is an essential read for anyone seeking to improve their well-being.

Satsuma Complex. Bob Mortimer. Honestly one of my favourite reads...I was sad when I came to the last page

My choices are not highbrow, so the Demon Copperhead (meh) and Hamnett (horrible) lovers should look away now...

Billy Summers by Stephen King - he is such a wonderful writer, marvellous use of language and deep appreciation of other writers (he is on record as saying the best opening line of all time is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again", how could I not love him). You wouldn't think a hired assassin could be heroic, but Billy is.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio - totally off the wall, but I loved it.

Oh, and my bit of highbrow is my yearly re-read of The Forsyte Saga, my absolute favourite.

I've read Kate Atkinson's short stories books, "Not the end of the world" and "Normal rules don't apply". Both were excellent and I love to read a short story before going to sleep.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara was a tough read and probably a bit longer than needed but I really wanted to know what happened and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin also kept me reading.

Just read Precipice by Robert Harris. Fascinating mix of fact and fiction. Read lots this year but so far believe this to be the best.

'Should we stay or should we go?' by Lionel Shriver. She is not everybody's cup of tea and all her books are quite a hard read but worth it. This particular book resonates with me particularly as Im getting on in years.

I listened to Salman Rushdie narrate his book Knife last week. This is about the attempt on his life in 2022, and his recovery. I enjoyed it very much, and I am so glad that he survived.

I am listening to The Skripal Files; the life and near death of a Russian spy by Mark Urban. Fascinating account. both of these audiobooks are from my local library

I mostly read non-fiction, as I have an ongoing project based on a diary I discovered (on Ebay's Ephemera Section) written by a young German woman living in Hamburg in the 1930s. It covers the Nazi years.

For the wider context, I have read 'Gone to Ground' by Marie Jalowicz Simon, a Jewish woman who lost both parents by the age of 19, but managed to survive by hiding in Berlin. It is harrowing, exciting, and very percipient. She leaves out nothing about the darker side of human nature, but also about the side that (just about) makes life worth living. She is very intelligent and judgmental, though her memoir, written in later years, mellows somewhat her memory of her earlier judgmentalism. She survived to become a university lecturer in Classics. It is a book I plan to re-read, as she was aware of many complexities, compromises and nuances even at age 19.

PS In brief, she found a few people willing to help her, but they mostly wanted something in return.

Death on a Gravestone by John F Wake and M K Jones

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller is a very pertinent story in today’s world.
It’s set in an American town in a southern state, each chapter stands on its own while also being entwined with the others.
Humour, sadness and all human conditions are within the tale.

Started early took my dog. And all the other Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson. (I’ll look for Shrines on your recommendation Clawdy)

Another vote for Demon Copperhead.Actually made me cry at the end.I must read more of her books.Always seeing The Poosonwood Bible recommended.

I don't seem to have read much new this year but, as I have sadly finished all Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway books, I read and
enjoyed her "The Postscript Murders", partly because one of the characters is even older than me!

I've read a few really good books this year. It seems the current one is usually my favourite!

A few of the outstanding ones:

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue - follows a nurse in maternity ward of a hospital during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge relives the voyage in the 30's of two giraffes that travel by road from New York harbour to a zoo in California, and the young driver and zoo-keeper that organize the journey.

Finding Flora by Elinor Florence - a tale of grit and survival of a single woman homesteader in 1910's Canadian prairies. What a tough row to plough, pun intended.

Currently re-reading Past Caring by Robert Goddard. Been on my shelf (read) for over 30 years. Knew I would read and enjoy it again and how right I was.

‘A rip through time’ by Kelley Armstrong. Fabulous series set initially in modern times then moves swiftly into Victorian Edinburgh. I am a slow reader but this series has changed everything and I find any excuse to sit and read these books.