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

Book 56
The Memory of Animals - Claire Fuller
Love Claire Fullers writing, but this one wasn’t really for me.
A pandemic sweeps the world, far more devastating than Covid, and a unit is opened to test an experimental vaccine.
The Guinea pigs become seriously ill, and the unit is abandoned.
Our main character Neffy, tells her story through an experimental machine brought into the unit by one of the other volunteers, which takes her back to different times in her life.
She also writes letters to a octopus, it just didn’t do it for me, disappointing.

Lying in wait...by Liz Nugent, disappointing, I love her novel Strange Sally Diamond, this was just run of the mill with a few twists, I picked up Unravelling Oliver also by her at the charity shop... hoping that's a better read.

Thanks for the feedback Bridie, Since reading Strange Sally Diamond, which was outstanding, I've thought, I must read another of hers. However, possibly that one received the accolades and acclaim it did because of how good it was. I'd never heard of her before, I'll give her another go though but with the thought that previous books may not be as engaging, she set a high bar with that one.

Will let you know if Unravelling Oliver is worth a read, I had never come across her until your review of Strange Sally Diamond, which as you state was a brilliant novel.

95-Memory Man-David Baldacci. This is the first of the Amos Decker series, and I can't wait to read the next one.
Amos has hyperthymesia which means he never forgets anything, so when he's told that someone has admitted they killed his family 16 months ago, he is desperate to meet this man.
What a great story this is, unputdownable!

#48 Unruly David Mitchell.
I 'read' this as an audiobook narrated by the author. Much as I enjoy David Mitchell as a comedian I don't enjoy his voice for extended periods. However, the book about England's kings and queens from Arthur (he didn't exist) to Elizabeth I is very good. Funny, irreverent and educational, I enjoyed it.

Book 166, The Tudor Deception, by Scott Mariani, a bloomin` good read!
Diggingdoris, I love the Amos Decker series, but I also love everything I`ve read by David Baldacci.

#80. The Man In Black & Other Stories by Elly Griffiths.

No. 66 The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
No. 67 Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths

These 2 books are from EG's other series about the detective Harpinder Kaur. They are a good read and full of the humour she showed in her much-loved Ruth Galloway/Nelson series.

Book 167, The White Knight, by Scott Mariani. Another in the Ben Hope series. I liked it, but not as much as the last one.

51. An Extra Pair of Hands, Kate Mosse

The respected author wrote this account of her own experience of caring for her parents and her mother-in-law, much of which took place during the pandemic lockdowns. Often moving, sometimes amusing, above all thought-provoking, this book makes for an interesting read for those of us (the majority) who’ve ever been involved in any way with caring, particularly for the older generation.

63 The Woman on the Ledge - Ruth Mancini

I'd recommend this to readers who enjoy a good revenge thriller, this has all the ingredients of a first class multi layered crime classic. The book open in part 1, on the twenty fifth floor roof terrace of a bank, it's the Christmas party and the main character, improbably named temp, Tate Kinsella (female) has come up there for a smoke and a breath of fresh air. There she meets, teetering on the edge, the woman of the title, about to fling herself off. Tate manages to talk her down. Only to find at a later stage a woman's body is found on the pavement below and Tate is the main suspect for her murder, murder of a woman she has only just met! As her lawyer tries to build her defence case, it becomes apparent her story is shot full of holes and nothing is quite what it seems. I'd say there is an element of suspending belief to get to grips with the back story, which is multi layered and goes back quite a while into Tate's formative years, but the plot, that is certainly complex drives the book along at a rapid pace and I was hooked as to where it was going in the subsequent parts of the book. Without giving too much away, definitely a page turner.

96-Under a Greek Moon-Carol Kirkwood. I didn't know our favourite weather lady had written books, so was curious when I found this one in the swap kiosk. A very nice romance story with a bit of glamour thrown in.

#81. Believe Me by JP Delaney.

#49 Not Till We Are Lost Dennis E Taylor.
Number 5 in the Bobiverse series. I still enjoy this unusual sci-fi series but it has gone a bit downhill. I hope the next installment will be better.

97-2 Sisters Detective Agency-James Patterson and Candice Fox. When attorney Rhonda Bird's father dies, she discovers she has a 13 year old half-sister and he had accumulated an enormous stash of money. As she hadn't heard from him in over 20 years this was all a big surprise.

No 29. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I gave up a third of the way through this and just read the last chapter. I’m not very good with magical realism!

Oh yes, I gave up on this one as well, SueDonim. It just wasn’t my sort of thing at all. If I remember correctly, it went down well with the other members of my reading group though.

Book 50: Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him by Tracy Borman. This is a book less about Henry's wives . It looks at the manipulative men who often pulled his strings. I really enjoyed it!

Taking note of opinions from Sue Donin and Maggiemaybe re. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, it's off my "to be read pile" I trust your judgements and thanks. I don't want to waste the time, I don't think it will be one for me.

I have been out of the loop with this thread for a while and have lost count of the number of books I have read. At present, I am reading the fourth out of a set of six Inspector Ramsay books, an early series by Ann Cleeves, which I am very much enjoying. I think this will be book number forty.

#82. The New Wife by JP Delaney.

SueDonim

No 29. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I gave up a third of the way through this and just read the last chapter. I’m not very good with magical realism!

I gave up on this too.

I think ‘Seven Deaths’ would make a better TV series than it is a book! I’m surprised no one has done it - business opportunity for us ladies?

My #70 was Golden Age by Jane Smiley. It’s the 3rd in her trilogy about the Langdon family. The trilogy spans a century, ending in 2019 and each volume is around 700 pages, each chapter covers a year. The family were originally farmers in the American mid-west and as the years pass the family spreads across the US over the generations. This book covers the years 1987 to 2019 and touches on much that was going on in the world in how family members are affected.
Jane Smiley’s writing is wonderful, but by the time we got to this 3rd big volume I had to keep referring to the family tree in the book to remember who everyone was and who was/wasn’t speaking to each other. I think it was a great idea, but it went on a bit too long. 7/10

#71 was Dead Beat by Doug Johnstone. Set in Edinburgh in the offices of the fictional The Standard newspaper (but obviously based on The Scotsman). Martha is an intern at The Standard who’s put straight to work on the obituaries page. She takes a call from another employee who appears to take his life while on the phone. Martha’s own background is difficult and her life rapidly gets worse as she searches for answers about her parents’ past.
It’s got all Doug Johnstone’s usual wonderfully dark humour and fast pace as they race around the city looking for answers. Not as good as some of his others though. 7/10