2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

I've ordered London Falling from my library Magenta . On a waiting list but sounds an interesting read.

London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe

I am just over half way through this long detailed description of the events surrounding the death of teenager Zac Brettler in 2019.

This is a detailed account of an actual event which happened against a background of the underworld of large scale crime and corruption, centred in London.

I have been drawn more and more to non-fiction over the years but I am well aware that this book would not appeal to everyone.

30-The Summer of Serendipity-Ali McNamara
This is an unusual storyline set in the west coast of Ireland. When a property hunter goes to Ballykiltara, she falls in love with the area and learns about the history and legend of the town. But that is not all she discovers. A mystical, magical story!

#25 The Darkness and the Deep by Aline Templeton
The wreck of the Knockhaven lifeboat with the loss of all 3 crew is a hard blow for the small Scottish town. It’s harder still when police realise it wasn’t simply a tragic accident. Was it the act of vandals, or linked to the drugs trade which has been affecting the town, or maybe someone was so determined to kill one person that they were prepared to kill another 2? If so, who was the intended victim? DI Marjory Fleming and her team are under pressure from their bosses and the entire community to find out who the killer is.
This book didn’t start well, the first 70 or so pages were so full of unnecessary descriptions of each character and their lives as they were introduced that I had to make myself keep going. It was worth it though. Once the lifeboat went down, the book improved significantly and I was gripped. I was reading it on a train and it was lucky I was going to the terminus as I didn’t notice we had arrived in Edinburgh Waverley and everyone was getting off! 7/10

10 The Last Page Café by Kate Storey

Enjoyable book, easy reading but a fairly predictable ending.

So many books seem to be centred around cafés or bookshops at the moment!

Book 13: Report for Murder by Val McDermid- The first in her Lindsay Gordon series. Enjoyable but a bit dated.

29-The Various Haunts of Men-Susan Hill
I've had this book on my shelf for ages and was put off starting it as it's well over 500 pages long. But I'm so pleased I started it and shall be looking for more of her books.

When a woman vanishes in the fog, the police are not alarmed as people usually disappear for their own reasons, but when others go missing in the same area they realise they have a big problem.

#32. Cry Baby by Mark Billingham.

J52 I don't know if I would read anymore of her books as this one was seriously disturbing. Part of it was a father who was probably/possibly a psychopath and didn't make it in the underworld due to his tendencies. Had a son who was a sociopath who killed his rabbit by tying a plastic bag about his neck, then his younger cousin by the same method and then his mother (family assumed it was suicide) the same way and slitting her wrists into the bargain. He then went out and killed a young lad witnessed and reported to the police. A bit too dark for me!

stewaris

#24 The Take Martina Cole

This is the first Martina Cole book I've read. I found it a bit hard to get into but once I'd got into it it was really good. It's a gangster book set in London and not something I usually read.

I’ve read a few Martina Cole books, they are mostly about East London gangland. Some are quite disturbing.

I know what you mean Sparklefizz. I thought the bit where Laila persuaded her daughter to go to an orphanage to reduce the mouths to fed really distressing. It was really sad and makes you appreciate the life we have.

Book 25 The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.

Ok, but nothing special in my view.

I found A Thousand Splendid Suns so upsetting and depressing to read, and cried several times over it. It's a great book, as you say, stewaris but incredibly sad and moving.

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

This is a great read. I started yesterday afternoon and I've just finished it. Fabulous book. I just couldn't put it down. It covers the modern Afghan wars including the Mujahadeen, the Taliban and the West but not focussing on the wars themselves but more on the impact of one family.

28-The Old Ducks Club-Maddie Please
I read this some years ago, but as I'd recently picked up 2 more of this series from a charity shop I thought I'd give this another look to refresh my memory of the characters. Lots of laughs, perfect holiday read.

25. From Russia with Love Ian Fleming

This is the first Bond book I've read. Started it yesterday afternoon at 4 and delayed dinner tonight to finish it. My turn to cook so other half not very happy but loved the book and couldn't put it down.

14. The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson

This is a memoir by a working class boy who grew up in poverty in East London and how he landed a job in banking and became a millionaire. I first heard of Gary through his Youtube channel, Gary's economics, where he advocates for a wealth tax to tackle inequality. His channel is very accessible, he explains complex economics in simple terms. This book was harder to digest when it came to details of trading, although that was just a small part of the story. It provided more insight into the huge gap between the reality of a young working class man and those born into and accustomed to money. The book depicted a pretty bleak environment where everybody seemed miserable, whether for lack of success or the price they had to pay for it.

I love Anne Tyler's books, will try to get hold of Three Days in June, not read that one.
I've started to read Broken Light but can't seem to warm to it.
It would be my 13th book of this year. Not sure if it's worth persevering with or to try a different one, has anyone read it.

9 Six Little Words by Sally Page

Six little words - To be or not to be? Pinned on the notice board in a local café, it attracts a disparate group of people who form a group to try to find or rediscover their creativity and enter a competition. Friendships are formed, secrets discovered and people find things out about themselves which help them to move on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

#31. The End Of Her by Shari Lapena.

#24 The Take Martina Cole

This is the first Martina Cole book I've read. I found it a bit hard to get into but once I'd got into it it was really good. It's a gangster book set in London and not something I usually read.

I shall get round to reading that latest Anne Tyler book, her novels are so insightful about small town America and family relationships.

#24 Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
I love Anne Tyler’s books, the only problem is that they are so short. This one is only 165 pages, but it’s a pretty perfect 165 pages.
It’s the day before Gail’s daughter’s wedding and things are not going well. She’s just quit her job, or been fired, she’s not sure which. Then her ex-husband Max turns up on her doorstep looking for somewhere to stay. He doesn’t even have a suit, but he does have a rescue cat with him that’s looking for a new home. Next her daughter Debbie discovers a secret that throws the whole wedding into question.
Lovely and so full of perfectly believable characters and social mores. 9/10

23 The Intruder Freida McFadden

Freida McFadden is another one of the literary runaway successes of late, with 5 of her books currently in the fiction paperback top 10.

Fast paced crime fiction the sort of book that could be started and finished waiting in the airport lounge. Very much a definition of pulp fiction, read and dispose. Personally, I'd much prefer just the one a year from say Lisa Jewell, Ellie Griffith's or Robert Galbraith's carefully crafted crime novels, generally worth the wait, as opposed to one off the ever increasing FM production line. I just picked this up at the library, one of their promoted crime books. Something I must stop doing because I have better books waiting on my shelves at home.

Casey lives alone in a cabin in the wood, on the eve of a hurricane she takes in a young girl with a knife. Both the woman and the girl harbour dark secrets. A tale of an abusive childhood at the hands of a crazed, neglectful, hoarder of a mother. Killer twist delivered towards the end. Okish.

I loved Buckeye AliBeeee, when you get round to reading it, come back and tells us what you thought.

Youngerthanspringtime That Lucinda Riley book, The Last Love Song, was one of her earlier works when she published under the name of Lucinda Edwards before she became really successful. After her death her son reworked some of her earlier books including that one.