50 Books Challenge - 2nd Thread.

66 Entitled Andrew Lownie Audible

OMG! what a pair it seemed to go on forever, I kept having to rewind bits for OH, which made it seem even longer. Kicked off with their childhoods, he, an insufferable prat/brat from early childhood, she lacking a mother, hers having left to take off with her second husband Argentinian polo player. Their growing up years, their careers, his in the navy, brief hero status after the Falklands, her some sort of chalet maid. Then their marriage which was really short lived really, inspite of the longevity of their relationship after, more or less over after Eugenie's birth. His displays of arrogance personified by a gigantic and bombastic sense of himself and the deference he expected, how he spoke to staff, his air miles for frivolities such as wanting to get to golf quickly, his rudeness at corporate events if he became bored, his sometimes dodgy business associations and dubious Middle East connections. Her, at times juvenile and unrequited crushes on all manner of men, her profligacy, her waste in having staff prepare umpteen different meals so she'd have a varied choice, cheaper to go to a restaurant surely? 17 staff to do umpteen menials such as picking up dog's doings. How she got all manner of well known people to invest in her business ventures or as a patron/spokesperson given she was prone to embrace loads of woo woo and meaningless mumbo jumbo, and heaven knows, she was certainly never at home it seemed in spite of proclaiming that the most important facet of her life was being a mother, her enormous debts. The book culminates in his sleazy behaviour towards women and the final nail in the coffin, his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

King Charles can't you banish them somewhere? St Helena's where Napoleon was incarcerated would be my suggestion. Then tell them, "you've burnt your boats" and make that literal, so they just stay there for ever and ever! Good riddance.

Calendargirl

#81. The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith.

I commented on the other HM thread about getting this book, I am devouring it at every opportunity as it cannot be renewed at the library, it’s in high demand, and it’s nearly 900 pages long.

No spoilers, but am finding the Strike/Robin relationship more riveting than the crime!

Picking it up today, we've actually bought it, rather than a long library queue. I shall magnanimously pass it on to my husband to read first, he'll tear through 900 pages, faster reader than me, no doubt he'll keep me informed as to how it's unfolding without spoilers of course. I have to crack on with a book club read after a couple of shorter novels so it'll probably be November before I get started on it. Something to look forward to on those dark afternoons.

Calandargirl, I have pre ordered it from Waterstones, but it hasn’t arrived yet, I’ll be looking forward to it now

Book 52
A Room full of Bones - Elly Griffiths
Enjoyed this, atmospheric, great characters, and a little bit of magic.

I love reading this thread, I don’t have much time for reading as once I get my nose in a book I like to read several chapters.
Getting recommendations this way is just like a real book club so I make notes and add books to my wish list so thanks to everyone.I don’t read certain genres only, I read anything and in fact like reading wildly different things.
At present am reading a non fiction book by Clive James called
Somewhere Becoming Rain which is collected writings on Philip Larkin.It’s not the kind of page turner that you devour but rather dip into and read one chapter at a time.

#81. The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith.

I commented on the other HM thread about getting this book, I am devouring it at every opportunity as it cannot be renewed at the library, it’s in high demand, and it’s nearly 900 pages long.

No spoilers, but am finding the Strike/Robin relationship more riveting than the crime!

65 The Favour Nicci French

Back to Nicci French for one of their stand alones. Jude is a newly qualified doctor based in London who 11 years ago, as a teenager, had an intense relationship with her first love Liam back in their hometown in Shropshire, before going their separate ways after an unfortunate incident to prove a catalyst many years later in Jude accepting Liam's request to do him a favour. Although she has no idea what the actual favour involves, and possibly because, in spite of no contact for 11 years, she has nevertheless held a torch for Liam who gives her his word what he is asking is straightforward and nothing illegal, she acquiesces in taking his word at face value. Only to find her whole world turn upside down, in up ending a relationship with a fiance who she is about to marry whilst immersed in a murder inquiry that temporary halts her career due to the ramifications of what she has unwittingly embroiled herself in. Initially it was a page turner, but one of those books where the getting there is better than the ending, which was pretty weak and let it down somewhat.

#80. The Otley Murders by JR Ellis.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Thank you for that anti-review of a book to avoid sara1954.

Book 51
Capote’s Women - Lawrence Leamer

Thoroughly relieved to get to the end of this ridiculous book.

Truman Capote, celebrated, though far from prolific American novelist, ingratiated himself into the lives is some of the most spoiled, entitled and awful women you could imagine, women for whom their only aim in life was to attract a rich husband, and I mean super rich.

Capote is a nasty, spiteful little man, and I have no idea why these women allowed him to become so important to them, I had a job to tell them apart and had to keep referring back.

In the end he betrayed them, but honestly, I have no sympathy.

I don’t have a problem with being rich, but I found their lives to be completely pointless, they brought nothing to the world, except possibly beauty, and squandered unbelievable fortunes.

105-The Blood of an Englishman-M C Beaton
A lighthearted interlude with this Agatha Raisin murder mystery.

106-The Christmas Crumble-M C Beaton
A short story about Agatha's disastrous Christmas dinner party.

55. Go As A River, Shelley Read

Yet again, I’ve my reading group to thank for a book I wouldn’t normally have considered, but have thoroughly enjoyed. In late 1940s small town Colorado, 17 year old Victoria is running the household on her family's peach farm. She’s the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. She encounters Wilson Moon, a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land, and her life is turned upside down. When tragedy strikes, she flees the only life she has ever known, and struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. The writing is just beautiful and the characters so well drawn. Anyone who enjoyed the Crawdads and The North Woods will love this.

56. The Blood Promise, Liz Mistry

I had this writer highly recommended to me by a couple of friends, but this one wasn’t for me. I found the crimes overly gratuitous and gory and characters who are obviously supposed to be amusing just daft and vulgar. I gave up on it less than halfway through.

#57 The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman.

This is his latest book in the Thursday Murder Club series and an easy read but I think the novelty has worn off for me, and although I enjoyed it, it's just more of the same. 7/10

104-Trial & Retribution VI-Lynda la Plante
An unputdownable murder mystery. A woman is kidnapped from a walk in the woods with her daughter. A local man confesses to her murder, but did he do it?
Meanwhile the Detective running the case gets involved in a murder involving the man she loves.

# 39.
V2- Robert Harris. A thrilling story of the scientists making and launching a supersonic bomb; the Nazis, the launches, the British trying to calculate the launch sites - the bombs were never launched from the same place.

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard.
A Japanese woman finds herself trying to solve a series of crimes. Set in Japan, England and Iceland.

35.
The Life & Times of Prince Albert by Patrick Allitt
An Audible Original

Very interesting on the personal lives of Albert and Victoria as well as the political situation relating to the UK and other countries at the time.
It astonished me to hear how inadequate and disorganised so much of our great British society seemed to be eg almost total absence of planning and organisation of the army and its equipment and supplies, both before and during wars.
It seems that Albert was a great force for good in many areas, including the royal family itself which had become very dissolute before Victoria's reign.

34. Thicker than Water - J D Kirk

Detective Jack Logan leads a police team investigating the gruesome murder of a young mum whose body is found in Loch Ness.
A twisting story with an ending very unexpected to me, even after getting a huge clue!
I'll read more of this author.

#57 was The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley. It has taken a while to read because it has so much in it. It is mostly set in the Soviet Russia of 1963. We first meet Dr. Valery Kolkhanov, a nuclear specialist, in a Siberian gulag. He is sent to City 40, a mysterious town in eastern Russia, where experiments in radiation are being carried out. We soon find out that it is not only mice that are being experimented on. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Sara1954

Book 50
You are Here - David Nicholls

A book about walking, bad weather, loneliness, sadness and hope.

The story, a gruelling walk across the fells and dales, Cleo, her son, and three friends, previously unknown to each other.

Gradually they fall by the wayside, leaving two sad and damaged divorcees, Marnie and Michael.

At first I thought this book was nothing like as good as his previous novels, I found Marnie a bit cringy, but it grew on me as I read on, and eventually I loved it, here I sit, crying at the ending, and never knowing what happened next.

I am also a little bit in love with Michael, Nicholls has created a new kind of hero.

I grew to love this book too, Sara1954

#61 In Another Life by Imogen Clark
When Loretta dies suddenly a stranger turns up at her funeral and claims to be her sister. The only problem is that Loretta was an only child. Most of the family dismiss the woman as a fraud, by daughter Brontë decides to investigate further. Is this woman really her sister and if so, why did did Loretta lie about her past? A rather sad story then unfolds about the two sisters and how Loretta came to change her identity neatly 40 years ago. This was quite a good story and I raced through it on a train journey. 7/10

103-Frederica in Fashion-M C Beaton
A short period romance with amusing bits of nonsense, as expected from MB. This makes a change from her Agatha and Hamish stories.

102-Trial & Retribution-Lynda la Plante
As always a well written murder mystery. Every parents nightmare when a five year old disappears from a children's playground and a body is found hidden on a building site.

33. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
BBC Sounds in 10 episodes. 1st episode available for 19 days from today.

Maybe I'm cheating with this one as it's a dramatised version of the novel.

There is a mysterious lady tenant at Wildfell Hall, and a local man who finds her very interesting.
Can he take their friendship further?
What is the lady's secret?

I found the story gripping and did not foresee the ending.
I recommend listening to this version of the book while it's on BBC Sounds.