26-ish books in 2020

35. Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari
Bloody loved this. Might be my book of the year. It's pitched just right. It's intelligent enough that you feel like you're really covering the subject in some detail, yet the language is accessible enough that you never feel out of your depth.
The story of humanity, all 70,000 years of it, in a shade over 400 pages. From humans as small tribes of Hunter gatherers to today's huge cities and the potential future for humanity to stretch beyond evolution. Fascinating. Highly recommended.

Love Ibsen too

Oh, I like Ibsen, though I’ve only seen his work performed and not read it. It’s bleak though isn’t it.

After all the Rebecca chat I decided to re1read Jamaica Inn, haven’t read it years, ugh she’s so good!

I add them as I go along because the geek in me loves seeing the percentage move and being told how on schedule I am. And don’t get me started on the end of year email that tells you how many pages you have read.

Does Goodreads tell you which books you have read?

33 The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Much reviewed. After the fast paced and focused Bring Up the Bodies this was more similar to Wolf Hall with a longer timeframe and multiple complex matters for Cromwell to deal with. I loved the psychological complexity of it and the writing is gorgeous and rich which meant it took a long time to read (started this in early September). Plus I kept googling various characters to find out more. Cromwell is considered such a bruiser by history whereas Mantel presents him as more decent and principled character (with a lot more respect for women than the odious Norfolk who used the young women of his family to gain power). He feels modern against many of the aristocrats he's dealing with, an intelligent and self made man.

This came through on my BookBub email this week.

31. Pine by Francine Toon

This was ok. Quite eerie and chilling in places and nicely written but didn't quite have me keen to pick it up all the time. But it's a good story. I liked the ending.

21. Marrying the Mistress, Joanna Trollope

Does what it says on the tin really, tells a story about a 60 something man leaving his marriage to marry his 30 something mistress. Honestly, I thought it was drivel but I gave it one star on Goodreads solely for the fact that I finished it and it wasn’t a chore. I just read it.

I've only got about 200 pages of TMATL to read (loving it) but went to the bookshop to get some lockdown reading because apparently my TBR pile isn't high enough and am now desperate to read those books but I need to resist and finish TMATL.

I'm not quite sure what the fashion for no punctuation is suppose to convey. It doesn't bother me but I don't really see the point.

I have completely dropped off this thread for a while since I went back to work. I've been so busy I haven't has the energy for reading.

I delighted to hear of all the love for Rebecca, I really loved it. The end of the Netflix film annoyed me, but I thought overall it was an ok watch.

Book 32 for me was Girl, Woman, Other. I really enjoyed it, but agree with Mercedes that the lack of punctuation was really irritating at the beginning. I did eventually get used to it.

Book 33 was The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. I absolutely adored this book! I read it very quickly and feel sad that I have finished it. I highly recommend this one.

Not sure what will be next, considering Dear Leader that I bought as a kindle offer a few weeks ago.

20. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Lisa See

I thought that this was absolutely brilliant. It’s meticulously researched and about an ethnic minority group in China and tea cultivation. It’s a real family saga. I adored every minute of it. I’ll definitely be seeking out other books by this author.

My target for this year was only 12 so I’m really pleased to get to 20. I had a look at what I have read on Goodreads this year and I’ve read some great stuff.

@HoundOfTheBasketballs def sometimes need something that’s just easy to read!!

Just finished listening to Kindred by Octavia Butler which I loved but I’ve done a few back to back slave historical stories and I think I need a change of pace

Hi everyone. I've been struggling a bit to get into anything over the last few weeks. I started ready Three Men In A Boat but I only managed about thirty pages and then gave up.
Then I tried Happy by Derren Brown which I thought would be right up my street but I got bored after 100 pages.

So I turned to Jack Reacher for comfort and I've now finished

34. Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
Sometimes I guess you just need something low-brow and easy to get your mojo back!

30: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

I loved loved loved this. Absolutely beautiful and such a fantastic story. Definitely highly recommend it. I read it in about 5 days. It's just lovely.

When I Ran Away by Ilona Bannister. This isn’t published yet, I had to read it for work but I was gripped every second, deals with post natal depression in a brutal, realistic and eloquent way - look out for it at the beginning of next year!

ALso

19. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo I liked this a lot. I thought it was quite clever the way the stories intersected and was interested in the way that each character explored their identity. I did get used to the no punctuation thing - but I still don’t really understand what that added to the narrative. Would I not have read it the same way with full stops and capital letters?

I liked the film,but you have to watch it as a stand-alone really.