#15 Dead Man’s Lane - Kate Ellis
Has anyone got a really good lemon zester?
Good Morning and a Happy New Year to all.
Well here it is on this new year's day, the brand new 50 book challenge and hope that all our regular posters will continue to contribute and anyone new who enjoys their books will consider joining us.
For the benefit of anyone who isn't familiar with this thread, I will run through my introductory spiel. Firstly I would like to point out that if you are someone who thinks that you wouldn't read 50 books in a year but would still be interested in joining in, don't let that number put you off, do come here and join us anyway, particularly if you think you would enjoy ongoing discussions about books which is the essence of this book challenge. This is a thread that I filched from MN, over there they have two threads running concurrently, one for 50 books a year and one for 25. Our reading community here on GN is relatively small so I think it's preferable to keep us as one group allowing for the fact that we all read at different rates, given time constraints or whatever else we have going on in our lives.
The choice of books you opt for is entirely up to you, anything is permissible, fiction, non fiction and I would particularly like to stress your reading material doesn't have to be a novel if you want to opt for something factual, biographies, memoirs, even a children's book if you want to revisit a childhood favourite maybe, audio/Audible. Again how you post is down to you, merely list your books, maybe a brief description, or feel free to waffle on, I do, particularly if I've been enthused about a book I've read. Sometimes we interject and comment on other posters choices, more often than not agreeing with their opinions, and taking up recommendations, occasionally interjecting with our own dislike of maybe one they have favoured, but always with a view of agreeing to disagree. Books as with most other forms of entertainment are subjective and will of course divide opinions as well.
I hope I have outlined all the relevant points for anyone who is contemplating joining us and I would like to wish everyone a happy year's reading and all the best for 2024.
#15 Dead Man’s Lane - Kate Ellis
Book 42 Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent - It reminded me a bit of both Room and Eleanor Oliphant. Sally is a 42 year old recluse who when her father dies is forced to go out into the world and start relating to people. She has no memory of her early life having been adopted at the age of 6 but it’s traumatised her. It’s compulsively readable but a dark tale. Brilliant but avoid it if you’re looking for a conventional story arc.
I finished my book No.6 ‘Getting Better’ by Michael Rosen. He comes over as such a nice man. He is 76 now. I knew nothing of his back story, the loss of his son Eddie, contracting Covid in June 2020. Those early scary times. Apparently he was put into an induced coma for 40 days. I kept thinking of Derek Draper who died in January at 56. The randomness of life. Who survives and who doesn’t.
Right, with a lighter heart I’m off to choose book No.7 which will be fiction. Back later with my choice. I’m tempted by your review of ‘Unsettled Ground’ TerriBull. I’ve not come across it and we do seem to enjoy the same taste in books!
I do love this thread by the way - thank you!
Well I really liked Unsettled Ground Urmstongran, and if you do decide to give it a go, come back here and let us know what you thought of it. Yes I think we've often agreed about our likes of certain books, although I'm not sure, I'd ever want to consider ploughing through Linda Robson's biography
sorry Linda!
Glad you are liking the thread, it's good to read your contributions.
Book 58, Escape to the French Farmhouse, by Jo Thomas, a pleasant feel good story.
Yes I’ve decided book No7 is ‘Unsettled Ground’. I bought it on Kindle an hour ago, dived straight in (isn’t technology wonderful?) and I’m loving it already!
😁
You’re in for a real treat Urmstongran, enjoy.
Book 43 Since we Fell by Dennis Lehane.
I loved this, could have been a Hitchcock thriller. The first half is character driven as we find out about the heroine, what has formed her and leads to her becoming agrophobic. The second half is more of a fast moving conventional thriller. It would make a terrific film.
Book 59, Window on the Bay, by Debbie Macomber. I don`t really do romances, but read the odd one. I quite liked this one.
#25. The Dry by Jane Harper.
Ooh, I loved that book Calendargirl. 😊
No 10. What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama. This is a short novel about five disparate people who live in Tokyo. Each is at something of a crossroads in life and each finds wisdom though a book recommended to them by a librarian in a library none of them knew existed. It’s uplifting without being soppy or twee.
Calendargirl
#25. The Dry by Jane Harper.
I enjoyed all her books except possibly the last one I read, The Survivors, which was ok.
The Lost Man was particularly good.
Just catching up:
#The Waratah Inn series by Lilly Mirren, quite light but I enjoyed them.
#The Silk Merchant's Daughter by Dinah Jeffries, set in French Indo-China in the early 1950s
#The Eve Mallow set of books by Clare Chase
#Grown Ups, Marian Keyes
# Little Girl Lost by Janet Gover
#The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page
#Night Music by Jojo Moyes
Just started reading The Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes but I may have read this years ago.
These are all fairly light but I'm not feeling like reading anything too grim and involved at the moment.
I have renewed ‘The Dry’ several times as I have been reading the ‘Brighton Mysteries’ (Elly Griffiths), but started it last night and agree, it looks good.
Book 15 Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris. I don't usually read historical fiction but he is such a good writer. It is about the hunting down of the regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles the first.
#16 The Upper Hand Johnny Shaw.
One from my pile of Kindle freebies. Three estranged siblings come together on the death of their mother, their father had died some years earlier in murky circumstances. They discover that she has bequeathed their childhood home to a fraudulent televangelist. There follows a wild ride involving long lost family members and elaborate cons. Great fun, I enjoyed it.
Parsley3 I really enjoyed Act of Oblivion especially when I got further into it. It is a part of history I knew little about.
Calendargirl Loved Jane Harper's The Dry. The Exiles is also good.
24-Fine Things-Danielle Steel. Not an author I would usually choose but recommended by a friend so thought I'd give it a try. I can see why DS is so popular as she's a great writer. She draws you into the characters so well that you feel you know them. There's everything in this story, love, death, kidnap, romance, stroppy children. It has it all and I laughed and cried along the way. I've been given another one of hers, so I'm hoping that will be just as good.
Book 60, Home at a Yorkshire Farmhouse, by Jane Lovering. A happy, feelgood little story.
Sparklefizz
Parsley3 I really enjoyed Act of Oblivion especially when I got further into it. It is a part of history I knew little about.
Calendargirl Loved Jane Harper's The Dry. The Exiles is also good.
I can recommend The Lost Man and Force of Nature by Jane Harper too.
I can recommend The Lost Man and Force of Nature by Jane Harper too
I didn't like those as much as The Dry and Exiles, but we're all different.
Yes 🙂 I liked them better than The Exiles!
Sorry, it wasn't The Exiles, it was The Survivors!
Callistemon21
Just finished Book 28 All the Broken Places by John Boyne - wow! What can I say? What a profound and gripping book with a terrible story beautifully told. This will stay with me for a very long time.
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