2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

#10. Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena.

stewaris

This one isn't terribly interesting unless your a gardener.

5. Bob Flowerdew's Organic Bible.

Before I saw this thread I had made a New Year's resolution to stop buying books and read the ones I have and those that have overflowed to the floor, the top of the bookcase, the ones piled up at the side of the bed. It's going to be a very mixed bunch, I think.

I remembering going to a Q and A by Bob Flowerdew and others years ago. He was very helpful in answering my question. I hadn't heard much about him for years.

Right, started reading Number 3 which came up as unread on my Kindle, but realised I had read it years ago.
A book set in Australia in the early days of the colony by Patricia Shaw called Mango Hill.

4. Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich, a chaotic mystery set in Trenton, New Jersey. Some light relief with bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and her family and colleagues.

9 The Last Runaway Tracy Chevalier

Honor Bright having been jilted by her fiance leaves Bridport, Dorset of the 1850s to set sail to America with her sister Grace for onward travel to Ohio, where Grace is to be reunited with her fiance. Unfortunately once in the US Grace is to catch Yellow Fever and die. Which leaves Honor to make the journey alone. Eventually arriving at her final destination, a small town in rural Ohio she carves out a life for herself which includes marrying into a local family improbably named The Haystacks. Honor finds it hard to immerse herself fully in her new country where everything is different the landscape, the customs, most of all the newness and temporary feel of the place. Some of these thoughts are relayed through her letters home in which she describes her homesickness. Raised a Quaker and coming from England the issue of slavery is a constant divisive presence between her and the family she has married into and it is one that she cannot reconcile herself to. She covertly finds herself drawn into the Underground Railroad a network helping runaway slaves to escape from the southern states on their journey northwards to Canada. Her involvement finds her in conflict with not only her new family but the Fugitive Slave Laws where aiding runaways can be punished by confiscation of property and imprisonment.

Well written, a good read.

I love Tracy Chevalier books, TerriBull but haven't read that one. Is it a new one?
Am currently reading another Peter James book in the Roy Grace series, One of us is Dead. Another great story.

Started this before Christmas, just been too busy, trying again!

granfromafar

I love Tracy Chevalier books, TerriBull but haven't read that one. Is it a new one?
Am currently reading another Peter James book in the Roy Grace series, One of us is Dead. Another great story.

It doesn't seem to be a new one granfromafar, looking inside the book "first published 2013"

Book 3:The Cygnet Prince byG . J Williams. Set in Elizabeth 1 reign this is a murder and plot to uncover an attempt to replace Elizabeth. Unfortunately I hadn't realised it was the 3rd in a series with the famous John Dee and a female apprentice solving the mystery. I enjoyed it but not enough to go back and read the two previous books in the series!

Terribull and Granfromafar I read The Last Runaway a few years ago and thought it was very good.

My #9 was Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Kate and her 3 siblings are orphaned at a young age, Kate idolised her brother, 10 years older, who fostered her curiosity and love for nature. She is now a researcher in a city university, believing she has left her remote northern Ontario home and her family behind her. But an invitation to return for a family occasion unsettles her and the ordered life she has created for herself. The story is mainly told through the eyes of adult Kate reflecting on the first turbulent year after her parents’ death.
This was a wonderful book, I loved every page. I know it’s only the beginning of February, but I’ll be surprised if I enjoy a book more this year. 10/10

No 4 A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coultard. This was pretty much what it said on the cover! It’s a fairly brief run down of how sheep have lived alongside mankind for much of our history and how they have influenced our world. We have many sayings and rhymes that involve sheep and of course the wool industry was responsible for bringing great wealth to Britain.

I was shocked to learn of the extent of child labour involved in the wool industry. I knew that children had been used as cheap labour in mills but I hadn’t realised that they were the preferred workers, due to their smallness and nimble fingers. Children were pretty much enslaved from work houses and orphanages and even sent overseas to work in mills. In the mills in Bradford at the height of the industry, the average life expectancy was a mere eighteen years of age.

10-F is for Fugitive-Sue Grafton
This story really grabbed me from the start.
Kinsey is hired to investigate a 17year old murder case. She stumbles on the dark secrets of a family's past.

#11. A Place Of Execution by Val McDermid.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

#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

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.

#12. Someone We Know by Shari Lapena.

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.

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

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.

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.