50 Books Challenge - 2nd Thread.

#70 A Whisper of Sorrows by J.D.Kirk
This is 6th book in the DCI Jack Logan series, set in the Scottish Highlands. I won’t say anything about the plot as there’s a thread runs through the series and I would hate to spoil it for anyone else. It was very good, I raced through it. 8/10

It probably would be Magenta, thank you. I imagine that too would be interesting, although I always thought Princess Margaret came across as somewhat haughty and attitudes have changed, haughty doesn't go down well now. At times, the Voyage book didn't always do the Queen a lot of favours. However, lots of entertaining stories, too many to mention. Other than the corgis I quite liked the recounting of Lord Lichfield, Queen's cousin and celebrated photographer passing out at a party, not unexpected from how it was related, everyone blithely just carried on around him whilst flunkies were summoned to carry him out. Craig Brown's opening with descriptions of his own family was also interesting and quite funny.

TerriBull

76 A Voyage Around The Queen Craig Brown Audible

I absolutely loved Craig Brown's biography of The Beatles, One, Two, Three, Four which gave me the impetus to listen to this one. Less of a biography, more a collection of anecdotes right from the early stiff formal days when the Queen ascended the throne until her demise a couple of years ago, when she had softened into a more relatable human being. Possibly helped along by Paddington Bear The description of her final hours had me shedding a tear all over again. She was there in many of our lives as a permanent backdrop and as the book progressed, and the years rolled on she was often the unconscious lynch pin as to whatever was unfolding personally, insomuch as triggering awakenings in a "ah yes, I remember that now" way to happenings that sometimes get buried in the recesses of the brain. Although for much of my life I completely ignored the royal family they were just there! It was only when she reached the final stages of her life I felt appreciation for her sense of duty, a life preordained, not of her choosing with umpteen restraints which many would not want. So this book is a cornucopia of testaments, diary entries and cultural history, the latter very much an integral part of the Beatles biography but from the point of view of their upward trajectory from a polar opposite starting point. Some of it is uproariously funny, some very sad, the ups, the downs many of which came right towards the end of her life are catalogued. Of course she, was one of the most written about people in her own lifetime so most would rightly assume that there isn't anything more to know, but anecdotes possibly give an insight into some of the minutiae that wouldn't be available to the public. I enjoyed it, easy listening.

I read the book and like a lot of his writing I found it gently subversive and very entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the story behind the Queen's corgis.

He also wrote a book about Princess Margaret entitled
'Ma-am Darling' which is very amusing. I don't know if it is available in Audio.

TerriBull, like you, I really enjoyed the Craig Brown biography of the Beatles. I did wonder if a big fat book about Queen Elizabeth the 2nd might be rather dull, given her exemplary life, but it was anything but.
A scene with the late Baroness Thatcher had me in tears, and it brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

Sparklefizz

#65 Death at The White Hart by Chris Chibnall
I was looking forward to reading this as I know the author is an award-winning screenwriter with connections to "Broadchurch", the gripping tv drama. This is his first book, and I have to say that I was disappointed despite its good reviews.

The characters didn't ring true, it wasn't particularly well-written and in my view the storyline was completely implausible.

The author seems to be better at screenwriting than crime novels. 5/10

I think it’s going to be televised, by which time I shall have forgotten ‘who dunnit!’

76 A Voyage Around The Queen Craig Brown Audible

I absolutely loved Craig Brown's biography of The Beatles, One, Two, Three, Four which gave me the impetus to listen to this one. Less of a biography, more a collection of anecdotes right from the early stiff formal days when the Queen ascended the throne until her demise a couple of years ago, when she had softened into a more relatable human being. Possibly helped along by Paddington Bear The description of her final hours had me shedding a tear all over again. She was there in many of our lives as a permanent backdrop and as the book progressed, and the years rolled on she was often the unconscious lynch pin as to whatever was unfolding personally, insomuch as triggering awakenings in a "ah yes, I remember that now" way to happenings that sometimes get buried in the recesses of the brain. Although for much of my life I completely ignored the royal family they were just there! It was only when she reached the final stages of her life I felt appreciation for her sense of duty, a life preordained, not of her choosing with umpteen restraints which many would not want. So this book is a cornucopia of testaments, diary entries and cultural history, the latter very much an integral part of the Beatles biography but from the point of view of their upward trajectory from a polar opposite starting point. Some of it is uproariously funny, some very sad, the ups, the downs many of which came right towards the end of her life are catalogued. Of course she, was one of the most written about people in her own lifetime so most would rightly assume that there isn't anything more to know, but anecdotes possibly give an insight into some of the minutiae that wouldn't be available to the public. I enjoyed it, easy listening.

#65 Death at The White Hart by Chris Chibnall
I was looking forward to reading this as I know the author is an award-winning screenwriter with connections to "Broadchurch", the gripping tv drama. This is his first book, and I have to say that I was disappointed despite its good reviews.

The characters didn't ring true, it wasn't particularly well-written and in my view the storyline was completely implausible.

The author seems to be better at screenwriting than crime novels. 5/10

#69 The Unreliable Death of Lady Grange by Sue Lawrence
Rachel, Lady Grange, was a real person who was exiled to St Kilda by her husband (who faked her death) in 1732. This is a fictional account of her life, using the facts that are known. She had a tempestuous relationship with her husband, to whom she bore 9 children. He had a long term mistress and was a Jacobite supporter in the run up to the 1745 rebellion. It’s believed he wanted her out the way either because he wanted to marry his mistress, or because she was going to expose him as a Jacobite, or a mix of both. Whatever the reason, she was kidnapped and spent the rest of her life locked away on extremely remote Scottish islands. It was a good read, it must have been a terrible life for a well bred lady, living amongst Gaelic speakers with minimal education and a diet of seabirds. 8/10

121-Funny Thing Getting Older-Michael Morpurgo
I've always been a fan of his stories for children, so when I saw him interviewed on tv discussing his new book, I put an order in at the library. I was surprised when it was available within a few days, quite expecting to be on a long waiting list.
This book is a compilation of 40 essays and reflections written over recent decades, and gives an insight of his life and wishes for the future.

#85. Love Like Blood

#86. The Killing Habit.

Both by Mark Billingham.

#68 Ordinary Time by Cathy Rentzenbrink
Ann is a vicar’s wife, having stumbled into the role without any real belief in God or what she was getting herself into. Her life, and that of her 10 year old son, is stifled by the need to be well thought of by the parishioners and her husband Tim, though he has no time for anything other than God and his congregation.
When Ann answers a call for help from her brother, it brings her into contact with Jamie, who is everything her husband is not. The temptation to lead a different type of life becomes irresistible and leads to difficult decisions for Ann and Tim and a reevaluation of the life they have made together.
I enjoyed it, the characters were well written and very believable. 8/10

120-Yew Tree Gardens-Anna Jacobs
The last book of the trilogy where the youngest sister has worked her way up in the hotel business, but her life is about to change when she meets a disabled gentleman.
Another emotional read from AJ.

Ooh, keep me posted Sara1954. I'd like to read that.

Book 64 Everyone here is Lying by Shari Lapena
I couldn't put this down yesterday and read 75% of it during the afternoon.

Stanhope, New York, is known as a safe area for families. Dr William Wooler is a family man but he's also been having an affair and meeting up with Nora on regular afternoons at a motel. This afternoon Nora decides to end the affair because both of them are married with children.

It is mid afternoon and William goes home feeling absolutely devastated and angry to find his difficult 9 year old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school. She is argumentative and rude and William loses his temper.

Hours later she goes missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. Witnesses come forward with information that may ... or may not ... be true. The neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Where is Avery and who has taken her?

I give this 10/10

Sparklefizz, good choice if you’re going to read a book twice.
I too am a little bit in love with Thomas Cromwell, and by coincidence I am currently reading a biography of him, I will report back in due course

#63 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

I have read this several times but had run out of books and haven't been well enough to go to the library to collect my batch of reservations, so decided to re-read Wolf Hall. Hilary Mantel's writing is just exquisite and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this again.

Reviewers have said that HM was a little bit in love with Thomas Cromwell, and I have to confess that I am a little bit, too. She paints him as a rounded character - with flaws obviously - but he has a good side, not least his loyalty to Cardinal Wolsey. I admire his high intelligence and thoroughly enjoyed the Wolf Hall series starring Sir Mark Rylance as TC. No one else could play that part as far as I am concerned.

119-Elm Tree Road-Anna Jacobs
The second on the 'Wiltshire Girls' trilogy. Nell fled to Lancashire with her new husband and younger sister Renie to start a new life, but her happiness is short lived. How can she ever recover from losing her daughter in a fire.

75 The Dutch House Ann Patchett

Having been underwhelmed by the few novels I'd read by this author, particularly Tom Lake, a very over-hyped book imo, I was pleased to find this one I really enjoyed.

The story of brother and sister, Maeve and Danny Conroy who grew up in the Dutch House of the title situated in up market area of Pennsylvania The children have been abandoned at a very early age by their mother for reasons that have never been made clear. Danny so young at the time, he has no memory of her, is raised by a combination of his wealthy, but emotionally remote father, his much loved older sister and a handful of good and kind women employed in the household. Into their lives comes Andrea a young widow, who Cyril their father has formed an attachment to. In due course he marries her. She brings with her two younger daughters who get on well with the Conroy children. When Danny is mid teens, their father without any forewarning dies suddenly of a heart attack, and thereafter Andrea is to become the embodiment of the classic wicked stepmother when she kicks her step children out of the house, she having inherited their father's entire estate. Maeve early 20s, has already graduated, is to become her brother's guardian. The one thing their father did leave them was a trust fund for their ongoing education which enables Danny to pursue his chosen path of becoming a doctor. The second half of the book deals with their abandonment and how their life unfolds as adults in the ensuing decades, which sometimes finds the siblings driving past the Dutch House to just stop and gaze at it, on one of these occasions way into the future when the siblings are middle aged, Andrea spots them and mistakes Danny for his father, and it soon becomes apparent that she is suffering from dementia, so a poetic justice of sorts. Along with the fact that she has become estranged from one of her daughters when she learned how her step siblings had been treated. The other daughter was forced along the path of also becoming a doctor to compete with her step brother. An unexpected twist brings their mother, who they thought had died back into their lives when Maeve suffered a heart attack. The absent mother had devoted her life to caring for others and in spite of the unforgivable of abandoning her own children the unanticipated conclusion sees her becoming the carer to her successor, Andrea. Overall a winding up of acceptance, regrets and reconciliation. Definitely the best book of hers I've read, very good.

64. Festive Spirits, Kate Atkinson

It took me just over an hour today to read these three very short stories set at Christmas. I don’t normally start getting into the festive season so early, but my reading group has a tradition of exchanging pre-loved books at our December meeting, and I wanted to check that this would fit the bill. It will.

63. Raising Hare, Chloe Dalton

A reading group choice, and despite 5 star reviews here and elsewhere, one I didn’t expect to take to. I couldn’t imagine how it would take a whole book just to document a wild hare being taken in and, well, raised. But it does work, and it’s beautiful.

Book 58
So thrilled for you - Holly Bourne

Basically the story all takes place at a baby shower, four friends, best friends, come together to celebrate Nikki’s imminent birth.

Nikki doesn’t want it, she feels enormous, and they are in the middle of a heatwave, Lauren has Woody who is nine months, she is still recovering from a traumatic birth, is sleep deprived, and only just holding it together. Steffi, who never wants children is dreading the day, she’s on the brink of making her fortune, and Charlotte, really hard to like, or even to believe in, manic ridiculous Charlotte who has masterminded the whole day, desperate to have her own baby, and unbeknown to her friends, in the early stages of pregnancy.
But they are all holding grudges, keeping secrets, and their group is barely holding together, then a fire, destroying Nikki’s parent dream home suddenly puts them all in danger.

I thought the women were generally quite unlikeable, and I thank Goodness that I had my children at a time when having children was free from all these ridiculous events, and also from the terrible pressure to get everything right.

I enjoyed it, some of it I related to, I felt for Lauren, but maybe it’s not aimed at my age group, for the most part I found them all massively irritating.

118-Cherry Tree Lane-Anna Jacobs
One of my favourite authors again, with a heartwarming story set in 1910 Wiltshire; the first of a trilogy.
When Mattie's step-father arranges a marriage for her to one of his drinking pals, she sees no way out other than running away. If she refuses his plan she knows she be beaten, which he has done before when they have argued. Feeling ill with pneumonia, she gets as far away as possible, then collapses in a village lane.
AJ has a way of writing, that warms you to the characters.

#67 My Father’s House by Joseph O’Conner
Set during the Nazi occupation of Rome. An Irish priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, creates an escape route via the officially neutral Vatican City for escaped allied prisoners of war and others at risk. It’s inspired by a true story and real characters, but is a work of fiction. There’s a brooding sense of claustrophobia and impending terror of capture and torture by the SS, incredible bravery by everyone involved and the constant fear of exposure or discovery. A very engrossing book, very well written.10/10
It has inspired me to investigate the circumstances of the Vatican escape route, apparently there is a movie from 1983 called The Scarlet and the Black starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer (available on YouTube), I am going to have a look at it.

117-The Wild Silence-Raynor Winn
The sequel to The Salt Path, this time documenting the challenge of taking on a run-down cider farm, and a walking holiday in Iceland. Despite all the adverse press around Ray and Moth's previous travels, I must say RW does have a way with words. I enjoyed this.

116-Elderwoman-Marian Van Eyk McCain
A very informative non-fiction book this time. A source of inspiration for women in or about to enter their 'Third Age'. This book made me think about events from childhood through to retirement that have shaped me into the person I am today.

74 One of Us Elizabeth Day

This was mooted as a state of the nation book in one review I read. It appears to be set in the present, only it now all smacks of yesterday given this is Britain with a Tory government at the helm.

The main protagonist is Ben Fitzmaurice, from a background of privilege and old money, the anointed successor to take over the helm as party leader from the current PM who is standing down. Ben has skeletons in his cupboard which would prove hugely damaging to his future ambitions. In that he needs to keep on side his old school friend Martin, a scholarship boy and social misfit at their public school. As a teenager Martin, whose crush on Ben was unrequited, was persuaded to be paid off by the Fitzmaurice family to take the blame for a terrible event that Ben was responsible for. The story expands to encompass supporting family members, Ben's wife Serena suffering from a gamut of afflictions, menopausal symptoms, neurosis and general dissatisfaction with the state of her marriage. Eldest of their 4 children, daughter, Cosima, still at school but nevertheless covertly immersed as an activist for a Just Stop Oil type organisation. The book commences with the funeral of Ben's sister Fliss and there are retrospective chapters as to the demons that brought her to take her own life, and the role Ben's former amoral, sleazy school friend, Jarvis and latter day bank roller to Ben's political ambitions who figures as a destructive force within the Fitzmaurice family dynamics. Reminiscent of Anatomy of a Scandal. I quite enjoyed it although the theme was somewhat passe now given the Tory ship has sailed off and is well and truly over the horizon.