THE BRAND NEW 2024 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

12-The Cornish House-Liz Fenwick. This is her first novel written in 2012 and I enjoyed it immensely. I have read some of her later books, and as I'm a fan of Cornwall, this caught my eye in our village book swap phone box.
Maddie is a young widow who has adopted the stroppy teenage daughter of her husband after his death. Having had to give up her career as an artist to nurse him through cancer, she finds herself almost penniless. Then she inherits an ancient house in Cornwall from a lady she has never met. So she sells their London home and pays off her debts and moves in. A difficult time follows as both the step-daughter and Maddie are grieving and trying to make a new life, with many battles along the way. When they both make new friends things get easier, and they both discover the history of the house.
I loved the realistic way the relationship goes from bad to worse before things improve. I could relate to the difficult teenager years. Well worth a read.

Book 22 Holly by Stephen King
Private Investigator, Holly Gibney has featured in some earlier books which I have never read but this did not detract from my reading pleasure. Unlike most Stephen King book this is not dealing with the supernatural but is the story of an investigation. No mystery here either as we know the serial killers are a pair of octogenarian academics. I loved it but avoid if you don’t have a strong stomach.

Book 7: The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor- The fourth book in the James Marwood series. I really enjoyed this book and am trying to slow down on this series.There are two more books in the series!
Book 8: A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

Me too.

I'm sure I will Sparklefizz, I always find Ann Tyler reliably good in her own quietly unique style.

I enjoyed it TerriBull. Hope you will too.

Sparklefizz I also have The Amateur Marriage on my "to read" pile.

9 The Whole Truth Cara Hunter

Pretty good police procedural book, this is the 4th or maybe 5th in the writer's, Oxford based, DI Adam Fawley series. Not having read the others, bar the first one, which I didn't care for much, like the Ruth Galloways, there is probably an order in which they should be read given there is a personal history of the main character, which does pertain in some ways to the story. That aside it was a good read. In this Adam Fawley is implicated in a roadside rape case, which was ongoing from a previous book. The other main strand and the main thrust of the narrative, is a case of sexual misconduct brought against an Oxford Professor, the twist being the reversal of roles in what would be common in such cases, The Professor being female and the accusing student being male. A good crime read.

Just finished Book 16 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler.

Michael and Pauline fall for each other in a whirlwind romance before he quickly enlists in WW11 at her instigation. He is wounded during training and when he comes home, they marry without really knowing each other. This is the story of their marriage and family.

I`m going to be on pins now Valdavi, hoping that you like it!

#5 The Duchess Wendy Holden - very sympathetic portrait of Duchess of Windsor (Wallis) it's a novel & I love anything 20th C.. I wasn't convinced but she probably wasn't the baddie the (male dominated) media back then made her out to be.
#6 Watersong Clarissa Goenawan - love story from contemporary Japan. Interesting & never heavy going
#7 Book of science and antiquities Thomas Keneally - set in australia, very cleverly done but not the most engaging of his novels for me.
#8 The outcast Dead, Elly Griffiths - well I love the series so I enjoyed this, good plot, bit careless on some details compared to earlier ones perhaps?

I'll try Stasi Child as I've never read fiction set in E Germany & Hellogirl enjoyed it.

Book 26, Stasi Child, by David Young. Set in E.Germany in 1975, I didn`t think I was going to like it, but it turned out to be a very good read, especially for a first book by the author.

I didn't think much of The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The writing was fine but I didn't like the characters.

AliBeeee

SeaWoozle I totally agree about the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! I thought it was excellent and better than Lessons in Chemistry .

Right! recommendation enough, it'll be going on my to read list.

SeaWoozle I totally agree about the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! I thought it was excellent and better than Lessons in Chemistry .

Since my past post where I finished The Mirror and the Light, I have finished Kathleen Jamie’s “Surfacing”; two books of poetry by Wendy Cope - “Serious Concerns” and “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amiss” - and am now reading one of my Christmas books “A Year Unfolding” by the printmaker Angela Harding. I am revelling in this book, for its sumptuous linocut illustrations of birds and animals and for the attendant thoughts and observations of the author. Wonderful.

This years reads so far....

The Haunting - Margaret Mahy (Been sitting on the shelf for ages!)

This Is Going To Hurt - Adam Kay

The Perfect Family Man - MM Deluca

Now reading

Even Silence Has An End - Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle - Ingrid Bettancourt

Forgive Me - Susan Lewis

dogsmother

Just on lessons in chemistry and thoroughly enjoying it. It’s not a literary masterpiece however it’s got the makings of a wonderful tv series or movie even.
I’m intrigued and wish I had time to sit and finish it quickly as it’s very, very readable.

I read it last year. Thought it was amazing.

BUT

I then read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Now there's a book. Incredible. I sobbed! Not many books have that effect on me.

Book 25, The Night Book, by Richard Madeley. A bit amateurish at the start, but it got quite good later on, and I enjoyed it. I knew about the Richard and Judy book club, but didn`t realise he wrote as well.

No. 9 - Shakespeare, The Man who Pays the Rent by
Judi Dench (with Brendan O’Hea). I really enjoyed this book, even though I haven’t studied Shakespeare or been to a Shakespeare play since leaving school many, many years ago. It is Judi Dench in conversation with Brendan O’Hea about the roles she has played. Her love of theatre and sense of humour shine through.

I’ve finished the latest Ellie Griffith, “The Last Word” and I was quite disappointed with it as it seemed like a first novel to me. I’ve enjoyed her Ruth Galloway and the magicians series so expected better.

Just on lessons in chemistry and thoroughly enjoying it. It’s not a literary masterpiece however it’s got the makings of a wonderful tv series or movie even.
I’m intrigued and wish I had time to sit and finish it quickly as it’s very, very readable.

I have finished The Running Grave and it is the best Strike novel yet.
I have two on the go now. the Assault on the Truth by Peter Osborne about the scale of lying by the Johnson government. It is one to dip into but my bedtime read is The Last Dance by Mark Billingham.

Book 21 The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda - Two vans filled with high school teenagers crash. Nine students escape. A year later one of them kills herself. The rest make a pact to spend a week together every year at an isolated beach house on an island. 10 years later there’s been another death and one disappearance… It’s the same idea as Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians (And then there were None). Not brilliant but it kept me reading .

11-James Patterson-3 days to live. This is 3 short stories, all very 'Bondish', ie.lots of violence and fantastical storylines. I don't think I like the stories written by other authors, with very little input from JP I'm guessing. Think I'll just stick to the ones he's penned alone in future.
What do other JP fans think?