The Not So New 2024 50 Books a Year - Thread 2

SueDonim

Book 25. Rosie by Rose Tremain. It’s a memoir of her childhood, before she became Rose.

Sparklefizz that sounds like something that happened in RT’s life - not to her but to a friend. She comments in her memoir about life events that she’s used in various books.

That's interesting. Thanks SueDonim

#72. Playing Nice by JP Delaney.

Was it Rose Tremain who said ‘Better a house unkept than a life unlived’?

Always think of that when I don’t feel like tackling a particular household task!

Book 25. Rosie by Rose Tremain. It’s a memoir of her childhood, before she became Rose.

Sparklefizz that sounds like something that happened in RT’s life - not to her but to a friend. She comments in her memoir about life events that she’s used in various books.

Book 150, The Stranger in the Seine, by Guillaume Musso. OK, but I wasn`t wildly enthusiastic over it.

82-The Boys of Biloxi-John Grisham-I only got 100 pages into this one as the violence and corrupt policing put me off the story. I don't think I have ever not enjoyed one of JG's books, and I've read all his others. Maybe if I'd gone further in I would have warmed to it, but other books on my shelves were calling. Apologies to Grisham fans.

#43 Hunt The Moon Karen Chance.
Number 5 in the Cassie Palmer series. A supernatural fantasy series full of vampires, mages, ghosts and vengeful gods. Great fun.

Just finished Book 61 Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain.

Marianne, the 15 year old daughter with low self-esteem of a fiery army colonel and his vain wife, falls head over heels in love with 18 year old Simon, and they have a relationship for a few months.

Simon takes her virginity and she imagines they will have a life together and has no other ambition but this. However, he lets her down and goes off to Paris.

I found her rather annoying when years later she met a lovely young man who was very patient with her while she was still hankering after her teenage love.

This is a short book (only 180 pages) and I chose it because I've enjoyed other books by Rose Tremain (particularly *The Colour*), but I didn't feel this was one of her best.

Book 50
Snap - Belinda Bauer
Really enjoyed this book, I haven’t read any of Belinda Beaurs books before, but will definitely read some more.

A pregnant woman is on her way to Exeter with her three children, shopping for school shoes. The car breaks down on the motorway, and leaving the children in the car, she sets out to the emergency phone, but is gone for hours, eventually the children decide to follow, it’s a scorching hot day, but no one stops to see if they are alright, and when they get to the phone there is no sign of her.

I won’t spoil it, but this leads to years of barely existing for the little family, jack, the eldest tries to hold things together in a rather unorthodox way, but he’s seriously out of his depth.

There are some delightful characters, and along side the horrors, there is quite a lot of humour.

This book reminded me very much of early Ruth Randell.

Calendargirl, I enjoyed No One Saw a Thing, I hope you do.

81-A Wedding in the Country-Katie Fforde-1963 and Lizzie has arrived in London to start a cookery course. Her parents want her to meet a 'suitable man' but Lizzie wants to have some fun first.
This romance took me back to the days of the miniskirt, when sex before marriage was frowned upon, and homosexuality was illegal. A fun story.

Book 46: The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G Maclean.
The Bookseller of Inverness is Iain MacGillivray. Six years ago he fought at Culloden for the Jacobite cause. Left for dead on the battlefield he sustained serious facial injuries and is now trying to live a quiet life, trading in his small bookshop in Inverness.
Following their victory the British exacted their revenge on the Jacobites with unspeakable acts of retribution. Despite the brutality visited upon them however, under the surface the spirit of rebellion is very much alive in Inverness. Then one day, Iain finds a dead man in his bookshop. The murder weapon is left on his desk, a knife with a white cockade, the most recognisable of all Jacobite symbols, tied to its hilt.
It's a compelling historical drama that merges fact with fiction. The mystery of the murders is an interesting way to explore the Jacobite sympathies and their stubborn loyalty to the man they believe should be king. Great characters such as the Grand Dames, Iain's grandmother and her friends, bring the whole thing to life.

I have just finished ‘The Country Girls’ trilogy.

Enjoyed the first book, TCG, the second one ‘The Lonely Girl’ not as much, and the last ‘Girls In Their Married Bliss’ not at all really.

A depressing end to Kate and Baba’s lives.

Now on book #71, No One Saw A Thing’ by Andrea Mara.

Thanks, Sarah, I think I will go back - after a bit of a break! I could see even from the one book that there was a community building up there that looks to be worth following.

Maggiemaybe, worth persevering with Karin Slaughter, the stories are good, but you also have continuity with Sarah, Jeffrey, and Lena, and more characters emerging.
I’m on book twenty or so, and although some characters have gone and others have arrived, you still have a sense of community.

42 Blindsighted, Karin Slaughter

This is the first one in the Sarah Linton series, and I’ve been given the full set by my dear sister, who loved it. A book that starts with the brutal rape and murder of a blind woman is never going to be an easy read, but I found it way too graphic for my sensibilities. I liked the relationships between Sarah and her family, and Sarah and her ex-husband though, so I may venture on to book 2 after a couple of easier reads to calm my shattered nerves!

43. When We Were Friends, Jane Green

Offered as a Prime First Read, this is just a short story, which I chose as I read that the author is a New York Times best-seller. It promised much more than it delivered. Lucy and Elle meet, become best friends to the point of obsession, then just as you’re starting to think you’re going to find out what’s motivating Elle and what dramatic event’s going to happen, it fizzles out for a pretty mundane reason. I’m not sure I’ll be searching out the books if the plots are as flat as this one.

Book 60 - A reread of Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale.

It's a long time since I first read this and I wish I hadn't bothered again. It's ok, but not particularly cheerful with characters I found it hard to warm to.

Book 149, Red Queen, by Juan Gomez -Jurado. Unusually, it took me 5 days to read this one, didn`t really enjoy it, and wouldn`t recommend it, although it would probably suit some people.

80-I Follow You-Peter James-An absolute unputdownable thriller. And thrill me it certainly did. I was on the edge of my seat at times.
A well respected Dr. sees a woman in the street and thinks it is the girlfriend he had at school. This is when he starts searching for her and eventually stalking her. I won't say any more as it may spoil the plot for any of you that fancy reading it.

No I haven’t. Thanks for the info, next one on the list.

JamesandJon33, have you read James Michenor`s Alaska? I bought it over 40 years ago, when it came out, loved it, and re-read it about once a year.

That’s so true SueDonim. It’s unusual to find such variety in a single writer.

Yes it certainly was Sara a couple of Christmasses ago I think, Ann Taylor Joy starred as the main character, can't remember her name now. It was very good, true to the book.

Forgotten I'd read The Muse too since you mentioned it SueDonim, I remember part of it was set in Spain during the Civil War.

It was very well done Sara1954

SueDonim, I didn’t know The Miniaturist had been televised, I’ll have to see if I can find it.