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

Book 23 The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain. Set in 1944, Tess abruptly ends her engagement, marries a mysterious stranger and finds herself trapped in a strange and loveless marriage.
A complete change from my usual crime novels but what a well written story.

#46. Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas.

#18. Sarah Turner: Stepping Up.
Book club/librarian choice.
Debut novel. Flows well/easy read. Satisfying if predictable ending. Characters well drawn, relatable. Teenagers especially well portrayed.

#19. Patrick Worrall: The Partisan.
Another book club/librarian choice.
And another debut. Fast paced Cold War spy novel. Timescale from the Spanish Civil War to the 2020s. Huge cast of characters. Plot moves rapidly between different locations and time periods. At times a bit confusing. Very well researched. But could have done with a good editor.

Re. John Boyne
He was the guest on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 last Friday. Did anyone else tune into this?
I listened on catch up.
Well interviewed by Lauren Laverne. Fascinating insights into the man and the influences on his writing.
Like quite a few others on this forum, I've read quite a few of his books and would thoroughly recommend.
E.g. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas;
The Heart's Invisible Furies;
A Ladder to the Sky;
A History of Loneliness...
All thoroughly enjoyed.
Just about to start on All the Broken Places.

“Stone Blind” - brilliant book. Natalie Haynes at her best.
Just finished “A Court of Betrayal” by Anne O’Brien. A historical novel set in the time of Edward II. Wasn’t sure it was my thing, but I couldn’t put it down.

25. Cut and Thirst, Hilary Mantel

Well this was a Prime First Reads offer so I’m counting it, but it’s actually just a short story and I read it in half an hour. It was, literally, short and sweet.

Book 100, The Girls Who Disappeared, by Claire Douglas. A very good read, I quite like Claire Douglas.

It's quite a while since I've added books so the list is quite long!!

Under a Skelligs Sky - Breda Joy
Holding her Breath - Eimear Ryan
The Balkan Trilogy - Olivia Manning (had to abandon this!)
Bones of the Lost - Kathy Reichs
April in Spain - John Banville
Christine Falls - Benjamin Black
The Silver Swan - Benjamin Black
The |People on Platform 5 - Clare Pooley
Elegy for April - Benjamin Black
A Death in Summer - Benjamin Black
Vengeance - Benjamin Black
Even the Dead - Benjamin Black
Holy Orders - Benjamin Black
The Lock Up - Benjamin Black
Where my Heart used to Beat - Sebastian Faulkes
All the Lonely People - Mike Gayle
The Echo Chamber - John Boyne (just started)
Whew!
I'll try and update more regularly!!

I'm lagging a bit behind - only 18 to date!!
I will try to do better but I fall asleep ..............................

41-Death of a Cad-M C Beaton-Another Hamish Macbeth murder mystery. These are amusing easy to read little stories that break up the list of serious crime novels.

Book 30: Murder at Redmire Hall by J.R. Ellis

30 Close To Death - Anthony Horowitz

The title is a play on words, the death occurs in a riverside close. This is another of Anthony Horowitz's books featuring his irascible Private Investigator Hawthorne and also where he features himself in a writing partnership with Hawthorne. . This book is set in Richmond, in a gated close. Very unpopular new resident Giles Kenworthy is found dead shot through the chest with a bolt from a crossbow. Since his arrival he has managed to clash with all his neighbours due to his various noisy gas guzzling cars, carelessly parked and boisterous, destructive children. The residents are further disturbed by his plans to build a new swimming pool in the garden. So it's into the setting of parking wars and the general discontent in a previous harmonious setting that the victim is found dead with all of the neighbours having a possible motive and umpteen skeletons in their cupboards that gradually come to light. Very Christiesque, I think it would come under the description of cosy crime.

Thanks for the heads up on John Boyne's appearance on Desert Island Discs Gemini Jen I must try and make some time to catch up with that.

I’m struggling with ‘Dissoltion’. I may ditch it yet. Well researched on Tudor times true enough but written without the flair that Hilary Mantel demonstrated. Maybe the novel is just not for me - a thriller. At the moment I don’t much care who murdered Thomas Cromwell’s emissary. Mrs Peacock? In the study? With the candlestick? Hmm. I’m 25% in of 500 pages so that’s a quarter of the book, it’s not grabbing me. If tomorrow I feel the same I’m gonna ditch it…

#47. In Dead Water by Jack Cartwright.

Book 29
Depraved Heart - Patricia Cornwell
I always enjoy the Scarpetta books, some are better than others, and this was a good one.
Tense and atmospheric, Kay and Marino at their best as they try to save Lucy from the long arm of the FBI

Book 30 - The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker.
I had really enjoyed the Iliad and Odyssey at school, and suspected that I would enjoy this.
It’s the Trojan war from the viewpoint of the captured Trojan women, mainly through the eyes of one girl, Achilles prize for great bravery in battle, Briseis, a Trojan queen.
It’s largely about fighting, it’s bloodthirsty, horrendous atrocities are committed in the name of war. and yet there’s something powerfully attractive about these beautiful young men charging into battle.
It’s a story about strength and bravery, but mostly about adaptation, the women must adapt to survive.

Urmstongran I struggled with Dissolution too and gave up. For me, nothing beats Hilary Mantel's writing, and I've read her Wolf Hall Trilogy twice.

I work on the principle that if the first 50 pages of a book don't grab me, then life's too short and with too many books still to be read, to plough on with something I'm not enjoying.

Oh, I might have found my tribe!

I struggled with Dissolution too, and really had to persevere to finish it. But the other six members of my reading group are massive C J Sansom fans, even though their views differ wildly on other authors. I was feeling a bit like the odd woman out.

Hello and welcome Maggiemaybe

I've thoughily enjoyed reading through your posts and added many books to my list to try.
I'm currently rereading an Alan Bennett book - Writing home. I reread quite a bit and I find his books very comforting.
The last thing I read for the first time was the Tattooist of Auchwitz.

Could I recommend Jon McGregor's books . All of them, as he hasn't written many . Short stories, too. He doesn't churn them out either.

" Reservoir 13" will take you through a missing girl themed tale via a different path. It weaves the lives of ordinary people, contemporary village life, loving and failing, accepting change though the seasons and years, as we ,the readers, try to solve the possible outcome .

"Lean, Fall, Stand" also another original brilliant novel that you won't struggle to read.

Theia26
I really loved Reservoir 13, but not so much Lean, Fall, Stand.

Just finished Book 44 A Complicated Matter by Anne Youngson which I really loved.

It's set in London in 1940 just after the start of World War II but starts in Gibraltar which I found very interesting as I'd never given any thought to Gibraltar during the War, or knew what an important part it played strategically.

The women and children are evacuated from Gib to Morocco and then to London. The main character is Rose Dunbar and the book tells her story of her wartime experiences and the people she meets, and the yearning to return to her home in Gibraltar while trying to adjust and adapt to her ever-changing circumstances.

I would recommend this book. I have also read another of Anne Youngson's books Meet me at the Museum which was lovely and I think I might re-read it.

Sparklefizz

Urmstongran I struggled with Dissolution too and gave up. For me, nothing beats Hilary Mantel's writing, and I've read her Wolf Hall Trilogy twice.

I work on the principle that if the first 50 pages of a book don't grab me, then life's too short and with too many books still to be read, to plough on with something I'm not enjoying.

I’m sure that’s what I said to YOU years ago Sparklefizz and you thanked me for it! 🤣

So - Why am I not taking my own advice?

I think it’s because (a) of the recent death of the historian and writer of these books on Tudor England - C J Sansom - and felt it might be satisfying to read one, especially as (b) my late mum and my sister loved his books and often urged me to read them.

I might continue tonight, see how I go. I actually enjoy his knowledge of the Tudor times. It’s the ‘thriller’ bit I’m finding boring. Too much attention to detail - “was that door kept locked at all times/who had keys”

Am I bovvered??

Maggiemaybe

Oh, I might have found my tribe!

I struggled with Dissolution too, and really had to persevere to finish it. But the other six members of my reading group are massive C J Sansom fans, even though their views differ wildly on other authors. I was feeling a bit like the odd woman out.

Come and sit beside me MaggieMaybe. I’ll budge up.

Sparklefizz

Just finished Book 44 A Complicated Matter by Anne Youngson which I really loved.

It's set in London in 1940 just after the start of World War II but starts in Gibraltar which I found very interesting as I'd never given any thought to Gibraltar during the War, or knew what an important part it played strategically.

The women and children are evacuated from Gib to Morocco and then to London. The main character is Rose Dunbar and the book tells her story of her wartime experiences and the people she meets, and the yearning to return to her home in Gibraltar while trying to adjust and adapt to her ever-changing circumstances.

I would recommend this book. I have also read another of Anne Youngson's books Meet me at the Museum which was lovely and I think I might re-read it.

Sparklefizz I don't know whether you're a fan of Who Do You Think You Are, Michelle Keegan's maternal family come from Gibraltar and I remember her finding out that they had been evacuated to London during the war.

Urmston - my husband loves the Shardlake books and has often suggested to me that I might like to read one, but me and Tudors are so over I love history but that period has been done to death imo. The preceding era of Wars of The Roses and what followed on The Stuarts, I'm eager to read about, in fact any period that doesn't include the well nourished, gout ridden wife killer, even if his reign is merely a backdrop it's still a NO! . personal prejudice so many history lessons from school were all about the Tudors and then all the films and books as well