50 Books Challenge - 2nd Thread.

Sara1954

Probably not Sparklefizz, I found my mind wandering a lot
Hope all goes well for you

Thank you Sara1954
Your latest review sounds nicely distracting so I'll reserve that.

Book 66 What have you done by Shari Lapena. I enjoyed this.

Nothing ever happens in sleepy Fairhill. Everyone knows everyone. Doors are left unlocked.

But then 18 year old Diana Brewer is found lying in a farmer's field, naked and being circled by vultures, and suddenly this small friendly town becomes a place of suspects. Someone in Fairhill did this and everyone wants answers.

I'd give it 10/10

123-Alone on a Wide Wide Sea-Michael Morpurgo
A very moving story based on some of the stories of orphan children who were shipped across the world to Australia by the British Government. I was aware that this had happened, but had no idea of the scale of this scheme, or that it went on between 1860-1970.
Well worth a read.

124-Decent Exposure-Phillipa Ashley
Amusing rom-com set in the Lake District.

#67 Consequences by Penelope Lively

Set in 1935 onwards, Lorna meets the love of her life. She comes from a very privileged background but has never felt she fitted in - he (Matt) is a bohemian artist. They marry and she abandons her wealthy lifestyle for a rustic cottage in Somerset. Their daughter, Molly, is born, but then WW2 arrives.

So far, so corny and "rom-com", I thought.

But then Matt is killed in the war and Lorna's subsequent decisions and unforeseen consequences come to shape the lives of her daughter, Molly, and then of her granddaughter, Ruth.

This book tells the story of three generations of women, spanning the 20th century, united by their shared experience of love, pain and happiness.

The latter half of the book is much better in my opinion, and I enjoyed it. 9/10

#89. Meghan and Harry: The Real Story. Persecutors or Victims by Lady Colin Campbell.

#71 Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
Twins Kate and Violet are very different, Kate is a happily married mother of two young children, Violet leads a less conservative life, earning her living as a psychic and medium. Although they both grew up with “senses”, Kate has suppressed hers after some bad experiences in high school, but Violet has nurtured hers. When Violet publicly predicts a large earthquake in the St Louis area where they live, it ignites a media storm, brings the challenges of their past back into their lives and creates challenges for their futures.
I really enjoyed this well written story, the characters were well developed and the story became engrossing as the date predicted for the earthquake approaches. 9/10

66. I Follow You, Peter James

A departure from his Grace series, this is a standalone novel about a Jersey surgeon who becomes obsessed with a young woman he meets socially. Not bad, but for my taste a bit too heavy on medical detail.

67. West Goes East, Lily West

A first hand account of the early travels on a shoestring of a young British graduate who decides to see the world, and who subsequently goes on to visit every single country. Engaging and entertaining.

125-You Are Dead-Peter James
Another unputdownable thriller in the Grace series. More exciting than the tv adaption. Looking forward to the next one but need a different genre to clear my head of some of the gruesome pictures in my mind.

#90. The Windsor Legacy by Robert Jobson.

Book 60
Marble House Murders - Anthony Horowitz

This is the third novel in the Susan Ryland/Atticus Pund series.

They are extremely cleverly written, a book within a book, switching effortlessly between the two.

I have to say though that this was my least favourite of the three, partly because there were two sets of characters mirroring each other, and I kept getting confused between the Marble Hall characters, and those in the south of France.

But I also found it a bit too predictable, I’m not usually good at guessing what’s going to happen next, but I decided Susan must be losing her wits a bit, if she couldn’t see what was happening at times.

Atticus Pund is a most endearing character, but this particular book has a whole cast of really awful characters, even Susan I found irritating.

I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first ones.

68. The Running Grave, Robert Galbraith

One of the best of the Strike series, imho, with Robin going undercover to find out what goes on at the headquarters of a sinister cult. I’ve just got The Hallmarked Man to read now, but first I’ve a couple of books to finish then I’m going to enjoy a few shorter, lightweight Christmas ones.

#91. See No Evil by DS Butler.

78 The Wedding People Alison Espach

A runaway New York Times bestseller so the blurb told me about this book and it had a very prominent place in my local Waterstones, so when I saw it in the library, I picked it up. I really shouldn't include it in my tally, cos I've only read half. Put it down with every intention of going back to it. Now I'm half way through the latest Strike, still with another 450 pages to go and very good it is too, and with two books I really want to read before I have any intention of going back to this one, which I thought I'll only skim read the rest because I found it boring so I'm shelving it. The premise is this: Phoebe's marriage has broken down, her husband having had an affair with her best mate who is now expecting, conceiving a baby something that had eluded her, worse still her much loved cat has just died . In her grief she has gone to a luxury hotel on Rhode Island, one that she has often fantasized about, to kill herself in style. There she gets drawn into a wedding party and soon discovers she's the only guest who isn't part of this circus. The bride to be takes Phoebe under her wing. Phoebe then makes a faux pas when she unwittingly propositions the bride to be's fiance in the Jacuzzi before she realises who he actually is. That's as far as I got. Some more twists and turns but I gather it all ends happily ever after 200 or so pages down the line. Not my cup of tea

79 The Henna Artist Alka Joshi

Book club choice, first part of a trilogy, set in India of the 1950s soon after partition and Independence. In this we meet young Lakshmi escaping an abusive marriage, she makes her way to the city of Jaipur where she flourishes as a much requested henna artist a skill she learnt from her mother in law. She treads a fine line as a confidante to the wealthy women of the upper class to whom she brings her skills. Into her life, upon the death of her parents, comes a much younger sister, one she didn't even know she had, which adds an extra layer of difficulty into the balance of the newly independent life she is seeking to create. Interesting and quite readable, not a standout for me, nevertheless it evoked the vibrancy of India but also the confines of the class/caste system. I may get around to reading the other two in the trilogy at a later stage.

126-Jessie-Anna Jacobs
What a hard life Jessie has, from being a maid in a stately home, to becoming the wife of a ganger in charge of a team of navvies laying the first railway lines. This book showed me how hard life was in the 1800's, unless you were super rich. A well written account with great characters.

69. The Secret Christmas Library, Jenny Colgan

I probably shouldn’t be counting this audiobook, as I barely got a third of the way through it before returning it to the library. It’s not a bad book, just not to my taste (too cutesy).

127-The Man With No Face-Peter May
Probably shouldn't count this one in my list as I gave up after 60 pages. Set in Belgium during a political debate about Britain's membership of the European Union, I just couldn't warm to it. So I'll try another one of PM's books as my friend tells me they're great.

Book 68 The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Did someone here recommend this book? If so, many thanks. It's something a bit different and really enjoyable for those of us who are art lovers.

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow has an ordered life, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned artist Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient.

Marlow is desperate to help his patient who refuses to speak but who is clearly a tormented genius, and begins to delve into his background - the women in his life, his art. There are love stories running through the book.

If you love the Impressionists, then this is the book for you. I worked in an art gallery selling fine art prints decades ago, and have also visited the Musee D'Orsay in Paris and other locations mentioned in the book, plus I paint, so this book appealed to me on many levels.

I would give it 10/10.

70. A Christmas Feast, Katie Fforde

Romantic short stories set at Christmas.

I’m already getting fed up of my festive reads and am going back to finish

71. Unruly by David Mitchell

I love David Mitchell and this is a very entertaining romp through 1,000 years of our rulers from Arthur to Elizabeth I. Described in one review as Horrible Histories for grown ups, which sums it up really. I’ve had to read it in chunks to have any chance of taking it in, but it’s been very entertaining and I do feel that I’ve learnt a lot. I’m up to Agincourt, so getting into more familiar territory now.

After that I think I’ll go for a Christmas murder mystery.

80 Ripley Under Water Patricia Highsmith (Audible)

I've been following Ripley's murderous career path ever since I watched it on Netflix. Andrew Scott who played him brilliantly with just the right amount of menace in that, has forever in my mind's eye been my Ripley, rather than Matt Damon's portrayal in the film, which I also enjoyed. In this, her final novel in the series, he continues to live a life of calm indulgence with his wife Heloise at their French country estate near Fontainebleau. Into his idyllic existence, the antithesis of the fraught preceding years, where most of his efforts went into covering his trail, Tom merely pootles about his garden tending to his Dahlias. The couple's much loved housekeeper Madame Annette takes good care of any domestic requirements. However, his peace is to be broken by new neighbours, the Pritchards. Pretty soon Tom is to discover these new loud and boorish fellow Americans, are the latest antagonists and are on his case. Intent on finding where the bodies, or at least one of them are buried. Their digging around into his past is about to blight his comfortable life leaving Tom temporarily on edge, but well concealed beneath his usual unruffled, urbane exterior, the side he presents to the world. Highsmith has the unique quality of presenting her protagonist as a deeply flawed and amoral character but somehow effectively getting her readers to root for him. His anxieties, conveyed in his thoughts only as to the multi layered web of murder, appropriation and deceit he has woven over the course of the series. She winds the book up neatly. The fate of his new found nemesis, The Pritchards unwittingly seal their own fate, unusually not by Tom's hand, this book is murder free, although he somewhat manipulates that scenario. So he continues to evade justice. I'm rather sorry that's it! I've enjoyed the journey and the descriptive travelogues of Tom's life through parts of Europe, not only via the programme and film but subsequently in the books.

128-A Winter Grave-Peter May
I'm glad I gave PM another try as this book gripped me from the start. I do not usually like science fiction but this was set in 2051 in Scotland. This is set in the Highlands village of Ballachulish ( an area I have explored on several holidays) so I could picture the scene clearly. Having said that , global warming and Scotland's independence have changed the village and the landscape, not for the better.

#92. One Last Breath by Stephen Booth.

Book 47: The Winter List by S. G.McLean
Book 48: University Secrets By Jack Sheffield
Book 49: Matilda by Tracy Borman
Book 50:The Cardinal by Alison Weir
Book 51: The Otley Murders by J R Ellis
Book 52: Killer in the New Forest by Carol Cole
Book 53 :The Sun Ascendant by C. F Dunn
Book 54: Degrees of Affinity by C.F. Dunn
Book 55 Anne Bolyn and Elizabeth 1 by Tracey Borman
These books were all good reads but I have only just realised that I hadn't added them to the forum.

#69 No One Home by Tim Weaver
This book sounded good - on Halloween 9 neighbours gather for a dinner party. They live in an isolated group of houses.
By the next morning they have all disappeared without trace - no bodies, no evidence and no clues.

How could they all just vanish overnight? What secrets were the neighbours keeping from each other?

Two years later, the mystery remains and the families of the missing turn to investigator, David Raker, in the hope of getting answers.

This book was ok, well-written, but the storyline was a bit silly in places (in my opinion). I did finish it but by the end I had lost interest in how/why they had all disappeared. The book was described as "a dark thrilling rollercoaster, unputdownable" ..... for me, it was not. 7/10

129-A Wedding in the Olive Garden-Leah Fleming
Sara Loveday changes her life by moving to a Greek island to set up a wedding planning business.