THE BRAND NEW 2024 50 BOOK CHALLENGE

One moment in time by Shari Low
Rather frivolous, predictable but I needed some frivolity!

Book 35 Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan. I loved this book.

It tells the story of a crime, and a pushy young reporter desperate for a scoop who keeps the family involved "contained" in a hotel away from the media with "ill intentions" towards them to get the inside story.

The author then explores the stories of each family member which led to what happened, and it's very well written.

This is the author's 2nd book and now I'm going to look for her 1st novel.

I read it earlier this year Sparklefizz, and also thought it was very good.

The non fiction book I chose isn’t out yet. Delivery will be to my Kindle in June. So my book number 8 is fiction. I need escapism at present. My mind is in overdrive lately.

I’ve chosen a book by the Australian writer who wrote ‘The Dry’ which I thoroughly enjoyed a couple of years back. This one is called ‘The Lost Man’.

I’ve only just started it and it’s gripping. I had to get my head around the sheer size of the Australian outback. It’s set west of Brisbane. I Googled the size of Britain compared to Australia. Wowzer! Apparently Britain would fit into Australia 32 times.

I bet you'll enjoy it Urmstongran. I have read all of her books.

She’s a great writer (Jane Harper) isn’t she? I think I’m going to enjoy losing myself in this novel. Where would I be without books right now? I need them to take my mind off things.

‘Exiles’ by Jane Harper, another good one.

#35. The Eternal City by Dominica De Rosa,

Loved "Exiles" Calendargirl

Urmstongran - for you 🙂

I think a new Jane Harper book is out soon.
Force of Nature is very good too.

Callistemon, love Jane Harper, hadn’t realised a new book was coming out, I shall look into into it right away.

Oops, just checked, I might be wrong, it could be another author, Sara1954

A completely different genre but Joanna Nell books are good too Sara1954

No 14 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. I really enjoyed this tale, based on a true story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Callistemon, no I couldn’t find anything new from Jane Harper, but will definitely look into Joanna Nell, I’ve not heard of her before.

Sara1954

Callistemon, no I couldn’t find anything new from Jane Harper, but will definitely look into Joanna Nell, I’ve not heard of her before.

Apologies, I must be getting forgetful!

Just bumping this up amongst the sea of scam threads, good grief they're taking over

I’m loving ‘The Lost Man’ by Jane Harper. It’s building up nicely and certainly keeping me occupied and curious. The characters are so believable. I’m hooked!

Book 80, Nemesis, by Jo Nesbo. Almost 700 pages of a cracking good read. I like Harry Hole.

24 The Stargazers - Harriet Evans

This is the third book I have read by this author, she writes in a vein slightly reminiscent of Kate Morton. Several time frames and usually a big old house features.

The big old pile, pivotal to the plot in this instance is Fane Hall, somewhere in the Sussex countryside, where Sarah Fox and her sister Victoria spend much of their childhood years with a mad and pretty horrible mother. Iris, their mother also has a back story much of it centred around her conviction that Great Uncle Clive, who also resides with them has stolen her inheritance of the Georgian pile at the midst of the tale. As well as a horrible home life, unfortunately Sarah is packed off to boarding school which isn't much better. Her growing up years are pretty much rooted in the post war years of the 1950s but the second time frame sees her married to the love of her life, Daniel and living in Hampstead in the late sixties and seventies. Sarah escapes some of the unhappier times in her life throughout childhood in rescuing and nurturing a baby owl with a childhood friend she names as "bird boy" In observing the owl's nocturnal habits, he also awakens her to the night time sky and the constellations of stars, hence the title of the book. Her other great love is the cello for which she has a real talent and that drives her towards a career as a musician as she matures to adulthood albeit hampered by a troubled and traumatic childhood that she finds hard to throw off.

Pretty good read, I enjoyed it, not quite as much as the first book of hers I read, "The Beloved Girls"

Book 24: The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

Book 81, Tooth and Nail, one of the Rebus books by Ian Rankin, loved it.

#30 was non fiction No More Secrets by Betty Webb. The author is a 100 year old veteran, MBE and Legion d’honneur, who worked in Bletchley Park and then at the Pentagon during the war. It was an interesting read for me as my entire career was in IT and I have visited Bletchley Park, though the writing style is a bit dry in places. The final few chapters about her recent life were quite different, I think she perhaps focused heavily on factual accuracy for the war years. A good read though.

I also loved The Dictionary of Lost Words, I read it a few weeks ago. One of my top books of the year so far.

Book 36 was a random pick in the library but I actually enjoyed it. Twelve Months and a Day by Louisa young.

It's a romantic story of 2 couples whose love stories are cut short by tragedy. Rasmus and Jay, Roisin and Nico. Jay and Nico both die young and even though they don't believe in ghosts, somehow they still seem to be ..... here. They are still in love with their partners and maddenly powerless to help them. Neither is capable of leaving the living alone.

Meanwhile Rasmus and Roisin are trying to cope with their grief.

But all four of them are thinking the same thing - what is love after death? What are we to do with it?

It's lovely, moving and ultimately hopeful .....

31-Death of the Black Widow-James Patterson/J D Barker. This wouldn't be a book I would usually choose as I've found that although I love JP's novels, I've been disappointed with those he 'supposedly' has written with someone else. But I was intrigued by the title, so this was next on my list. This could best be described as one cop's mission to catch a woman who escaped arrest. Over the years he keeps seeing her in various places but she leaves a trail of dead bodies behind her wherever she goes. Mysteriously she doesn't seem to age over the 20 year search. I won't give any more of the plot away as it would spoil it for any of you fancying a read. Well worth it's 517 pages as there's lots of short chapters.