2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

22 Buckeye Patrick Ryan

My last book should have been 21 so I haven't jumped a book.

This is one of those small town America books at it's very best. A two generational saga of the tale of two intertwined couples. A time span, starting at the outset of WW2 to post Vietnam. Set in a fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio.

Cal is a young man struggling with his self worth, due to being born with a disability relating to one leg shorter than the other and therefore unable to serve during the war. Son of a veteran, Everett, traumatised by his own wartime experiences often found writing vitriolic letters to the President of the day having consumed a fair amount of alcohol. Cal shortly into the story is to marry Becky, daughter of of the owner of the hardware store where he works the odd shift, when not working in his main place of tedious employment, the local concrete factory. It's in the store, that he first cross paths with redheaded Margaret Salt at a captured moment in time, whilst they are both listening to President Truman's announcement of victory in Europe. Margaret's own husband, Felix is away in the Pacific on a ship that is to be torpedoed as the conflict in the Far East is drawing to an end. Felix, initially thought to be missing, then dead eventually returns home both mentally and physically scarred from his experiences. The two couples lives are to become intertwined as they emerge into a post war America going forward in the post war boom years in the pursuit of the American Dream. Felix and Margaret both carry their demons, he struggling with his sexuality, and it is to Becky's counselling as a psychic medium he at times turn to reconnect with the soul of a departed serviceman who was close to his heart. Meanwhile, Margaret has never really overcome her abandonment as a baby and as a child growing up in care something that is to impact all her relationships. Both couples are to go on to have a son each, who despite a couple of year age gap connect as friends in childhood.

A family saga unfolding through the long term consequences of secrets, infidelity, the impact of war and ultimately forgiveness. A slow burn at first. Top marks from me. I'd certainly recommend it to those who enjoy the works of Ann Tyler and Ann Patchett.

27- Lily's War-Shirley Mann
A heartwarming story of Lily's experiences when she becomes a WAAF wireless operator.

I’ve got a bit behind with posting again, here are my latest ones.

#18 Ahead of the Game by J Kirk. One of the DCI Logan books set in the Scottish Highlands. I’m really enjoying this series, the characters are great and developing further as the series progresses. 8/10

#19 An Isolated Incidents by JD Kirk. Next in the series. These were a great easy read on a long travelling day. 8/10

#20 The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline
Tells the story of 2 women who were transported to Van Diemen’s Land and an aboriginal girl who was removed from her family as a social experiment. It was excellent and I recommend it. I won’t go into details in case anyone decides to read it as there was a very unexpected twist half way through. 9/10

#21 Prey by Vanda Symon
The latest Detective Sam Shephard story, set in Dunedin. Sam has just returned to work from maternity leave and is give the job of investigating a cold case, the 25 year old murder of a priest on the steps of the cathedral. Great sense of Dunedin for anyone who has visited. 8/10

#22 Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Annie is a 32 year old realtor on Vancouver Island who is abducted and held captive for almost a year before she manages to escape. The story is told through Annie’s sessions with her psychiatrist. The story of her year in captivity, her escape, her struggles to put her shattered life back together and the feeling that she’s still in danger is disturbing but very compelling. I couldn’t put it down. 9/10

#29. To Catch A Killer by Julie Mackay.

20 Secret Smile - Nicci French

I'm reading a couple of escapist crime books at the moment, this one followed by Freida McFadden. The Nicci French collaborations can be very good or not so good. This, an earlier one, veers more towards the latter, too implausible. Obsessive boyfriend, who after being dumped by main character, Miranda, turns up dating her sister. Being an arch manipulator he ingratiates himself to her entire family and turns them against her. Revenge,deception, coercive control and stalking escalate the tension as Miranda and later her sister are to discover, the boyfriend Brendan is not the person he pretends to be, which was probably quite clear from the outset.

Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie
We visited the Gutenberg Museum and I downloaded it to read as we travelled. It’s a gripping historical novel about how Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press and the opposition he faced.

#24 It Ends at Midnight by Harriet Tyce.

I didn't like this for several reasons and didn't finish it. Harriet Tyce was on the "civilian" Traitors UK and displayed a formidable and (to me) quite frightening temper when she verbally attacked a young woman contestant, so I took a dislike to her. She also admitted that she is a recovering alcoholic and was a barrister before turning to writing. Naturally enough her books use this knowledge.

However, I didn't enjoy reading about a young barrister drinking herself to oblivion, and descriptions of vomiting and being hungover.

Book 11: The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie The story of a Singer Sewing Machine through three different eras and the tribulations of the machines owners with a lot of period details. The end left no loose ends, but stretched credulity a bit far!

26-Katie and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop-Ali McNamara
Delightful story in the St. Felix series. A magical read.

#23 Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

I first read this years ago and decided it was time for a re-read but didn't enjoy it as much as I'd expected.

My favourite Daphne du Maurier books are "Rebecca" and "The Scapegoat".

#28. The Move by JP Delaney.

Just started this, the latest by JPD, looks brand new from the library.

Looks promising.

Sparklefizz

#22 The Lies you Told by Harriet Tyce.

This book was ok, implausible in places. Not as good as Shari Lapena books. 7/10

Wasn't she the author who was a contestant in Traitors?

Book 10: 25 Library Terrace by Natalie Fergie. A light read set over several generations by the author of The Sewing Machine. An enjoyable read if a little contrived.

#22 The Lies you Told by Harriet Tyce.

This book was ok, implausible in places. Not as good as Shari Lapena books. 7/10

Addendum re the book in my above:
The book, The Love Letter, had in fact been published previously in 2000, under a different title, Seeing Double and the author had a different name, Lucinda Edmonds.

8 The Love Letter by Lucinda Riley

I'm not sure what to make of this book. The foreword from the author claims that pressure was put on her when she first wrote it in 1998 and she found that it could not be published. She substantially rewrote it, apparently.
Even so, although she claimed it was written about a fictional Royal family, it quite clearly is about the British Royal family and the story is still controversial although quite ridiculous. It is convoluted, confusing and, although rewritten, was not updated so seems very dated, especially in the obvious lack of technology. Royal bodyguards are not members of MI5 or MI6 nor are they assassins either, they are police officers.
Not really one I'd recommend, unfortunately.

#27. What The Night Brings by Mark Billingham.

#21 Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
It was ok but nothing special.

25-Drama comes to Priors Ford-Eve Houston
I gave up on this one as in the first 40 pages I was confused by the numerous new characters on almost every page. Then I had to keep turning to the front of the book where they were all listed to see what relation each had to the others. Sorry any Eve Houston fans!

23. The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald

Loved this book the first time I read and still do. Very interesting read.

12. The Keeper of Lost Things, Ruth Hogan

A cosy read, and ultimately feel-good, though there were some surprisingly dark episodes amongst the sweetness. The main plot is that of a rather lovely man who develops an obsession with taking home and cataloguing any lost items he comes across. When he dies he leaves everything to his assistant, on condition that she agrees to try to reunite his precious items with their owners. There are various sub-plots woven round the stories of the various items. I enjoyed the book, but did feel that the characters were a bit one-dimensional, either living saints or all out sinners, and some parts were just too daft, eg the would-be author who plagiarises famous books in the most obvious way. I’d still recommend it as an easy read though.

13. There Are Rivers in the Sky, Elif Shafak

This was anything but an easy read, weaving different times and characters into a wider plot loosely connected by a drop of water. We went from ancient Nineveh to Victorian London to modern day London and Turkey, from King Ashurbanipal to Thames toshers, a modern day soon to be divorcee, the plight of the Yazidis. Reading it was quite a commitment, but one that was well worth the effort.

13. Animal Farm by George Orwell - A reread. I forgot how utterly brilliant this book was. Not only depicting how the Russian revolution turned into a dictatorship and cult of personality, but the comparisons we can draw with more recent events, political actors, social classes etc. The different sides of human nature are so vividly represented by the pigs, the sheep and the rest of the animals. You watch a press conference by Trump or Farage stating "I've never said that" when there is clear evidence that they did indeed say that, and it's frighteningly like the pigs in the book rewriting history while their vicious dogs intimidate everyone into silence. Beautiful writing too, subtle humour throughout and not a sentence wasted.

I was listening to the audiobook version performed by Stephen Fry. I was so engrossed in it that I accidentally put the oven on microwave setting, igniting fireworks inside. It gave me a proper fright, but it looks like the oven has survived.

Diggingdoris I've just watched the new Grace episode that has come out. A good one. Have you tried audiobooks? I get them from the library through their app for free. I can get through a whole book in a day or two while doing housework.

24-Love You Dead-Peter James
With the new series coming on TV, I thought I'd read one of PJ's earlier books. I have never been disappointed with any of his works. The only problem is that once I've started one, I can't put it down, so the housework/gardening comes second best! As always a fast moving thriller, with some changes to the TV adaption.

20 Flashlight Susan Choi Audible

I massively wished I'd read this account rather than listen to it, because sometimes I think I missed relevant facts relating to a subject I knew nothing about. Both disturbing and riveting, but on Googling one of the main facets of the book, notably the unexplained disappearances of both Japanese and Korean individuals, some selected for specialist skills but also ordinary fishermen who operated around the Japanese archipelago, predominantly during the '70s and '80s and spirited away to North Korea. It does seem that Susan Choi a Korean/American herself had done her research as she weaved some of these incidents into her book.

Serk Kang is of Japanese/Korean ancestry born in Japan at the end of the 2nd WW at a time when like many of his fellow countrymen didn't have Japanese citizenship. There was a wave of Koreans encouraged to go back to the newly found communist state of North Korea, when the country is divided to reflect the power shifts in the region and some are duped into thinking their loyalties will lie with the communist regime. Most of his family are part of those who will return, just leaving him and one sister behind in Japan. Where being of Korean ethnicity they are treated as 2nd class citizens. However, he is given an opportunity to study in the US with the hope, in due course, of becoming a permanent resident there. Meanwhile, his yet to be encountered, American wife- to -be, Anne, has her own struggles, when she gives birth out of wedlock to her first child who she gives up to be raised by the father. At a later stage she will reconnect with him and he becomes a pivotal person in assisting his half sister in her quest to find her missing father but that is years down the line. Before that Anne and Serk are to meet and marry and they have that daughter Louisa. Towards the end of the '70s, Serk is to take up a secondment in Japan as an electrical engineering professor and the family leave the US to live there for a year, where Louisa, a precocious clever nine year old is to become reasonably proficient in the language. Meanwhile, Anne is unfortunately experiencing the early onset of Multiple Sclerosis and seldom leaves the house. One evening father and daughter take a walk on a nearby beach, where Serk disappears and Louisa is found barely alive on the shore, it is assumed that Serk has drowned although there is no evidence of this. Mother and daughter return to the US. Louisa is to suffer memory loss as to what happened that fateful night. It is revealed that Serk is still alive, abducted by North Korean government agents with a view to imbuing prospective undercover spies on how to blend in in Japanese society. All the while labours in dire conditions under the false belief that his daughter is also being held in North Korea and in that his co-operation is vital to her safety.

There are umpteen facets to the book, most notably North Korean re-education camps, lost memory and trauma, identity and exile, family separation, and survival. I can see why it was short listed for the Booker Prize last year, quite a standout.