2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

Just read THE PERFECT MARRIAGE by Jeneva Rose.
I couldn't put it down, the ending blew my mind!

14 The Nowhere Girls Carmel Harrington Audible

I think this was reviewed in the ST a while ago and I put it on my to read list, often mooted as "unputdownable" Maybe because I was listening rather than reading, I know sometimes I miss pivotal points whilst drifting off to sleep, I'll go back if I find what I'm listening to sufficiently engaging. I just found this disappointing early on to make me want to do that, so maybe I didn't give it a fair enough crack of the whip. A convoluted tale of two very young sisters found abandoned at Pearse Station Dublin. 30 years later an investigative journalist, Vega, is trying to piece together what happened to the "Nowhere Girls" whose only recorded memories at the time were of previously living somewhere in a forest. Her investigations lead to a journey that takes her to rural New England where she makes the crucial familial connection as to where the girls emanated from before returning to her native Ireland. Lots of twists and turns in her quest to get to the bottom of the mystery.

A bit lukewarm for me.

18 What's That Weed by Guy Barter

17-A Line to Kill-Anthony Horowitz
This compelling whodunnit is set in the Channel Isle of Alderney. AH is invited to a literary festival, and takes private investigator Daniel Hawthorne with him. The visiting authors all seem to be harbouring unpleasant secrets.

Diggingdoris

I love the Hawthorne series. It's brilliant how there's a twist to the already unique setup in each new book.

Hello FGT and welcome back. I haven't read your book club read. I find book club choices are good for making me read books I might not have chosen myself, although sometimes I confess it's just a "skim read" if I'm really not enjoying it at all, just enough to enable me to join in any discussion.

stewaris I see you've moved on to the next Du Maurier book in your collection. What did you think of "Rebecca"?

I think many posters here love Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne books, particularly in the clever way AH inserts himself into the plot. I would also recommend his Atticus Pund books to anyone who hasn't discovered those, they're very much a pastiche of the Agatha Christie's Poirot.

#15 The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan
Detective Cormac Reilly’s girlfriend Emma is first on the scene of a terrible hit and run and, after she calls him, he is first on the scene. It’s a murder that would never have been assigned to him, but which he’s determined to solve. It’s a high profile case, involving a powerful local family and their pharmaceutical company, in whose research labs Emma works. As he investigates, it increasingly becomes clear that the murder is linked to the labs, and potentially to Emma herself.
Set in Galway, this is the second Cormac Reilly volume, the first was The Ruin, both were excellent. 9/10

19 My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

I felt this was a bit slow to start but really enjoyed it as I got into it.

#20. A Stranger In The House by Shari Lapena.

18-The Honeymoon Affair-Sheila O'Flanagan
Steve has dumped Izzy just before their wedding, so she decides to use the Caribbean honeymoon booking as a holiday with her cousin. While there she meets famous author Charles Miller and has a holiday romance, but is she on the rebound or can it last.

No 7. When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen. This has been translated from its original Swedish and follows the life of an elderly man in a rural area who lives alone apart from his beloved dog, and the carers who attend him daily. He reflects on his life and the characters who populated it.

I have to say, it didn’t grab me in the same way as a lot of people say it grabbed them but it was well-written.

I've been waiting for a library copy of When the Cranes Fly South to be available for months. I hope it won't be a disappointment. Did you find it slow SueDonim ?

10. The Whole Truth by Cara Hunter - I like the Fowley series, but this particular book was underwhelming.

It is slow, Apple3pie but I guess a tale where the main protagonist is an old man is never going to be all flash, bang, whizz!

Book 16 Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland

Steph makes tough decisions every day, committed to her job as an internal investigator for the FBI. But, as a single mother, the most important thing in her life is her teenage son, Zach.

So when she comes across something shocking whilst tidying Zach's room, she's forced to consider her son in a different light.

She loves him. She thinks she trusts him ... but could he be dangerous?

The storyline of this book was a bit complicated and maybe my concentration wasn't up to scratch as I'm under a lot of stress at the moment. 7/10

20. Humble Pie and Cold Turkey by Caroline Taggart

This book is about the origin(s) of some of our sayings, hence the title. I've always been interested in where they come from and how they evolved. This book tells you a lot about it. It doesn't cover all of them as it's only 183 pages and is part of a best selling series. If you're a word/sayings nerd then you'll enjoy this.

Book 17 Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

I really loved this book. It's a tender and heart-wrenching story of a Chinese-American family. The father is an American, born of first generation Chinese immigrants, who marries Marilyn, a blonde, blue-eyed "all American" girl, which makes them a conspicuous couple in the 1970s in a small town in Ohio. Their 3 children struggle, with tragic consequences.

10/10

I am not sure if someone in this Group recommended this book. If they did, thank you very much. I shall look out for more by Celeste Ng.

I did enjoy Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, I read it before the series was made.

15 Anatomy of an Alibi - Ashley Elston

I didn't really like this one that much, it has had some good write ups and was one of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club choices. I found the plot really confusing at first, it's quite convoluted I just about worked out who, why and when towards the end. The premise, two women hatch a plan to swap identities for 12 hours to get answers as to a crime with a backstory, except the next morning the one of the women's husband who was loosely connected to that crime is found murdered. Both women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it.

21. Permaculture in a Nutshell By Patrick Whitefield

Yet another gardening book I've been promising myself to read. Slowly getting through them!

Book 6: Silent Bones by Val McaDermid. Another Karen Pirie book. It was an excellent read which kept me guessing to the end. I really enjoyed this.

SueDonim

It is slow, Apple3pie but I guess a tale where the main protagonist is an old man is never going to be all flash, bang, whizz!

I was hoping for at least a car chase scene SueDonim

#16 Smile by Roddy Doyle
Middle aged Victor has moved into a new apartment and is alone for the first time in years. He starts going regularly to his local pub for a slow pint, just killing time. One evening a man joins him, saying they were at school together, but Victor doesn’t remember him at all. Victor dislikes the man and the memories he stirs up of his 5 years being taught by the Christian Brothers.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all and if it had been longer than its 212 pages I would have abandoned it. Very disappointed to find a Roddy Doyle book that I really didn’t like. 5/10

9. Then She Vanishes, Claire Douglas

Disgraced journalist Jess is sent to report on the breaking story of a double murder in her old home town. She is shocked to find that the suspect is her childhood best friend, Heather, who also shot herself and is in a coma. Heather’s sister, Flora, disappeared when the girls were teenagers, and this is another blow for their mother, Margot. Can Jess use her old ties to the family to help her get to the true story of what has gone on?

I actually thought the plot was good, and really enjoyed the first couple of hundred pages. It then seemed to get very slow and repetitive, and I didn’t really care about any of the main characters. By the end I was skim reading just to find out what had happened. Most other reviewers seemed to like it better - I sometimes think I’m getting too critical in my old age!

10. My Lover’s Lover, Maggie O’Farrell

I was disappointed in this one, too. Jess moves in as Marcus’s flatmate after his girlfriend Sinead leaves in mysterious circumstances. I usually love Maggie O’Farrell books, and this is beautifully written, but the storyline just seemed so limp. It starts off as a supernatural mystery and fizzles out. Again, I didn’t care about any of the characters and was glad when I got to the end.

I’m just starting The Names now for my reading group next week, and am hoping it lives up to its reviews.