2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

SueDonim

No 6 Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet. This short novel is set on the island of Benbecula and is a retelling of a real life murderous crime that took place in the 1850’s. I don’t know what make of it, to be honest. The author writes beautifully but the story just seems to hang in the air.

Did you read "His Bloody Project"? by the same author Sue, I found that quite riveting.

No 6 Benbecula by Graeme Macrae Burnet. This short novel is set on the island of Benbecula and is a retelling of a real life murderous crime that took place in the 1850’s. I don’t know what make of it, to be honest. The author writes beautifully but the story just seems to hang in the air.

10 The Last Love Song Lucinda Riley

I was so sorry when the news broke a couple of years ago that Lucinda Riley had died. She was such an engaging story teller. Her narratives rolled along effortlessly and sometimes that's all I want from a book, depending on the mood, just a damn good yarn, this one has all of those qualities. She wrote it back in the 1990s under her then name of Lucinda Edwards. Her son, Harry Whittaker has taken over her back catalogue of the ones, such as this, written before she achieved phenomenal success a few years later with her breakthrough novel.

I picked this up quite randomly at my local library. I loved it It was such an easy but enjoyable read but with the page turning impetus of wanting to find out what happens next.

The year is 1964 when we first meet Sorcha O'Donovan and Con Daly from a small town on the West coast of Ireland. 17 year old, schoolgirl Sorcha, the product of a comfortably off family, her father being a partner in a local firm of solicitors falls in love with Con a 20 something, blessed with good looks, a musical ability and a voice to match, nevertheless living on on the fringes in a ramshackle beach hut overlooking the wild Atlantic, theirs is a covert and forbidden love affair. Their cover is blown by a somewhat envious, questionable as to her intentions, friend Helen, as is their taboo romantic liaison. When her father finds them in flagrante, tipped off by Helen. Absolutely enraged, he is to cast Sorcha out of the family home.

Con's musical aspirations take them both to a London on the cusp of the seismic explosion that took the music world by storm. There they start their gradual ascent from barely getting by, living in a grotty bedsit, Con busking, Sorcha finding work behind the makeup counter in Swan and Edgar, leading to her being scouted for modelling work whilst Con is to join a newly emerging group whose trajectory into eventual international success will be monumental. They marry, but the pressures of stardom will eventually compromise their happiness. From their past, Helen, with a head for numbers also finds her way to London on a trajectory of a different nature she is also to achieve spectacular success in a field that is very intertwined with the star crossed lovers.

Couldn't put it down.

9. A Miscellany of Garden Wisdom by Bernard Schofield

'Presented herein a collection of useful tips & homespun knowledge much of which has been obscured by time and memory'
Old folklore about gardening which was inteersting and quirky

4 Beautful Ugly by Alice Feeney

A psychological thriller with some twists. Grady Green is an author whose wife goes missing on her way home after she sees the body of a woman in the road. She is on the phone to Grady at the time and he warns her not to get out of the car. However, she ignores him, gets out to investigate and vanishes.
A year later his agent suggests he visits a quiet Scottish island where he might be able to find some peace and write again.

Quite a disturbing book. I'm not sure if I will buy any more by this author as I couldn't really get to know any of the characters, they were not drawn in any depth.
I liked the dog best!

#13. The Coast Road by Alan Murrin.

No 5 The Artist by Lucy Seeds. This is set mostly in the beautiful south of France, with glorious descriptions of villages and surrounding countryside. The plot concerns an acclaimed but aging, reclusive artist called Edouard Tartuffe and his young niece/assistant. A third element is added by the arrival of a journalist named Joseph, and thereby hangs the tale. I loved it.

11-Secrets of the Toffee Factory Girls-Glenda Young
I enjoyed the first of this series so much that I ordered this from the library, and have ordered the last in the trilogy as well.
The three main characters come alive on the page and make you want to cry or smile with them. A joy to read.

12-Salem Street-Anna Jacobs
The first of a set of 5 books about the life of Annie Gibson. Born in 1820 to a millworker's family it is an amazingly detailed story of how hard life was in that century.

5. The Hallmarked Man, Robert Galbraith

I’m lagging behind a bit and must make wiser choices if I’m ever to catch up with my target - this one was over 900 pages. Also, I downloaded it onto my Kindle and as an audiobook (yes, both!), so spent lots of time synchronising the two and, because it’s so long and involved, scrolling back to check on who was who and what was what (so much easier with a proper book). I’ve enjoyed the ride though, as I always do with Strike novels. I’m captivated by the relationship between Strike and Robin, and can’t wait for the next one, though if JK’s listening I’d prefer a modest 6 or 700 pages, pretty please?

# 9 The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

I couldn't put this book down and read it in one day, staying up late to finish it.

Two couples - Cynthia and Graham, and Anne and Marco - live next door to each other and regularly socialise, although Cynthia feels that the friendship with Anne has changed since Anne and Marco had their baby.

Cynthia and Graham are having a small party to celebrate
Graham's birthday and invite Anne and Marco, but make it clear that this is an adults-only party and a crying baby is not welcome. The babysitter can't come at the last minute and Marco persuades his wife that the baby will be ok on her own if they take the baby alarm with them, and check on her every half an hour. After all, he says, we will only be next door.

The baby was sleeping well when she was last checked, but when the couple go home, they find her crib empty.

They've never had to call the police before but now they are under suspicion themselves.

I thought the "read a book in one sitting" was a cliche. Not any more! 10/10

I was quite surprised granfromafar because I'm not a big fan of Bob Mortimer but I was pleasantly surprised.

I read all the time ,too. 50 books would be less than a quarter of the ones I read. I read very quickly ( studied eng. lit once, you had to ). I would probably get through a couple of books most weeks but I only read late at night before I go to sleep. If the book is really good I have been known to read until 3 am but then it is hard to sleep because the brain is ticking too fast. I don’t learn, though. Habits die hard.

stewaris

8 The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed this.

I also enjoyed this book. I like his style of writing and sense of humour.

8 The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed this.

Sparklefizz I’ve now read all 4 of the Mary Lawson books that I’m aware of and loved them all. I requested Crow Lake for Christmas months in advance so that I had to wait to read it.

#12. Someone We Know by Shari Lapena.

AliBeeee As you loved Crow Lake so much, I recommend other books by Mary Lawson. They are all good.

TerriBull Re Barbara Pym, I know some readers rave about her books, and they're a pleasant gentle read, but I agree with what you've said, and other writers such as Clare Chambers and Penelope Lively, or Sue Gee bring personalities and characters to life much better in my humble opinion.

I have just finished Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory and this is a must for fans of the Tudors (Sara1954 )

Philippa Gregory captures the relentless fear surrounding the treacherous court of Henry VIII. Jane Boleyn (Lady Rochford) a senior courtier, survives 4 of Henry's queens, and spies for Cromwell. As the Boleyns rise in power, so Jane rises with them but the king's love is a fickle thing and when he has one of his frequent changes of heart, Jane battles to survive.

#10 One True Thing by Anna Quindlen
Ellen is a successful young New York journalist, but she is compelled to give up her life to move back to her small town home to look after her mother Kate, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. In the time they have left together, they get to know each other in ways they never did before and Ellen learns some uncomfortable truths about her beloved father.
Shortly after Kate’s death, life takes a shocking turn when Ellen finds herself accused of the mercy killing of her mother.
This was absorbing and gripping, Ellen and Kate’s relationship made me reflect on my relationship with my own mother, particularly during the period surrounding her death from cancer when I was in my 30s. 10/10

JamesandJon33

Just bought Bob Flowerdew’s Organic Gardening from Oxfan books £3:99

I found it really useful and is one of the books I'm definitely keeping.
Same with my number 7 which I found concise, informative and has really good advice on organic ways to manage the garden. I really like Bob Flowerdew.

Just bought Bob Flowerdew’s Organic Gardening from Oxfan books £3:99

7 Simple, Green Pest and Disease Control by Bob Flowerdew. Really good if you're looking to eradicate pests outdoors or in your greenhouse.

Hello everyone. I cannot promise that I will manage all 50 but here goes. I have just read #1The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, the whole book is a series of letters, emails etc between the main character and friends, relatives and various other people who she comes across in her daily life. I enjoyed it, very different.
#2 I have just started, The echo of old books by Barbara Davis. Rare book collector Ashlyn Greers actually feels a book, literally by placing her hand on the cover. Two old books are come into her life but neither have any information, no authors name, no publisher info nothing but the books pull her to them. It seems that the two books are linked both half of the same romance one from the perspective of Belle and the other by Hemi.

6 Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey who also wrote Lucinda and Oliver. This is a non fiction account of travelling to Japan with his 12year old son who was mad about Manga and Anime. My OH gave me it and I was surprised about how interesting it was and how much I enjoyed it despite not being into either Manga or Anime but

10 Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym

Apropos of a thread about the author, never having read any of her books, I opted for this one as one of the contributors to that mooted it as one of her best. Published in 1977 the story is set around four 60 somethings, two men and two women who share an office somewhere in London. The two women of the piece are on the cusp of retirement. Whilst I quite liked the story, I can't say the characters altogether resonated with me. I was working in offices in the '70s, I'd never encountered anyone of that age still living in a bedsit, as two of the characters were, I guess I wasn't mixing in the right circles. Generally the older people in the offices where I worked would have been well established one way or another. So in that respect it felt further back in time.

This was a tale of quiet desperation, 4 disparate, single rather directionless individuals, whose only mutual history was that of sharing an office, but somehow they felt they should be a mutual support group for each other underpinned more by loneliness than feelings of affection.

Not very long, worth a read, I might delve into some of her others. Can't help comparing it with Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers who excelled in describing her main character's life on the sidelines, but possibly with more direction than this one.

4 Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich, a Stephanie Plum book. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey.
I read some of the early ones years ago but hadn't read one for years. Bonkers, predictable, a light relief but I think I preferred the earlier books.