50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Eight

I managed 56. I didn't think I would beat 2019 which was 55. Here is my list.

1.The silent patient – Alex Michealaides
2.Across the winding River – Amie K Runyan
3.Where the crawdads sing – Delia Owens
4.Nicholas and Alexandra- Robert Massie
5,Eudora Honeysett is quite well thank you – Annie Lyons
6.Weekend – William Mcilaveney
7.Fifty fifty – Steve Cavanagh
8.The German Nurse- M J Hollows
9.Flawed- Cecelia Aherne
10.Your story, my story – Connie Palmen
11.The family upstairs- Lisa Jewell
12.A single thread – Tracy chevalier
13.After the End- Claire Mcintosh
14.The Winter Ghosts- Kate Mosse
15.Half a world away- Mike Gayle
16.The life and loves of the Mountbattens – Andrew Fownie
17.A song for Issy Bradley – Carys Bray
18.Beneath a Scarlet sky – Mark Sullivan
19,The guest list – Lucy Foley
20.Becoming – Michelle Obama
21.Hadley and Grace- Suzanne Redfern
22.White Teeth- Zadie Smith
23.The Midnight library- Matt Haig
24.The Piano Tuner- Daniel Mason#
25.The peppermint tea chroncicles – Alexander McCall Smith
26.A promise of ankles- Alexander Mcall Smith
27.The husbands Secret- Liane Moriarty
28.Black diamonds – Catherine Bailey
29.I do not sleep - Judy Finnigan
30.To tell you the truth -Gilly MacMillain (library)
31.Under a gilded moon- Joy Jordan Lee (gave up)
32.The patient assassin – Anita Assand
33.Love Frankie – Jacqueline Wilson
34.The Catch – T M Logan
35.Late in the Day – Tessa Hadley
36.The sealed letter – Emma Donoghue
37.Every last secret - A R Torre
38.Shuggie Bain – Douglas stuart
39.The light through the leaves – Glendy Vanderah
Sarum (gave up)
40.Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
41,The Secret Mother – Shalini Boland
42.The Almost Moon – Alice Sebold
43.Haven’t they grown – Sophie Hannah
44.Plainsong – Kent Haruf
45.On Green Dolphin Street – Sebastian Faulks
46.Why mummy doesn’t give a Gill sims
47,Girl woman other - Bernadine Evistro
48.The other passenger – Louise Candlish
49.We were the Mulvaneys – Joyce Carol Oates
50.Then she was gone – Lisa Jewell
51.Aperignon- Colm Mccann
52.The Mother in Law- Sally Hepworth
53.When will there be good news? Kate Atkinson
54.The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
55.Brand new friend – Mike Gayle 55
56. The pain and the privilege (David Lloyd-George

There was a mixture here of fiction non fiction and biographies. My favourite read was probably Where the Crawdads sing and I loved Nicholas and Alexandra as well. The worst was Haven't they grown by Sophie Hannah (so far fetched and unbelievable) and I gave up with Sarum. The most emotional was Shuggie Bain.

Just wanted to add my thanks to Permanent for the amazing lists, Southeast for the threads, and to you all for your company and reading inspiration.

Thanks @highlandcoo. I have seen the various reviews of how disappointing the final Cazalet book is and I’m torn between being disappointed and not finding out what happens next - dilemma!

Happy New Year 50 Bookers 🥳 I'm just about to join the whirlwind that is the first 50 Book thread of the year but first wanted to thank the long serving members for their company, chat and recommendations in 2021, and of course to thank Southeastdweller for keeping us all in line x

@TimeforaGandT, your Cazalet Chronicles reads caught my eye as I'm a big fan.

You've finished the fourth and as you probably know the fifth was written many years later, not long before EJH's death. It's really disappointing; none of the characters behave as they should; I wish I hadn't read it and plan to avoid it pretend it doesn't exist on future rereads. Just to let you know ..

Just popping in to leave my final list and to say thank you to southeast for hosting, to PermanentTemporary for collating the most popular reads and all 50 bookers for their views. See you on the new thread…..

1. A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
2. Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor

1. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
2. Banker - Dick Francis
3. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans

6. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans

1. The Guest List - Lucy Foley

8. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

1. A Symphony of Echoes - Jodi Taylor

10. A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor 11. The Spy and the Traitor - Ben MacIntyre 12. The Danger - Dick Francis 13. A Song for Summer - Eva Ibbotson 14. Alternative Li(v)es - Arnie Arnstein 15. The Offing - Benjamin Myers 16. A Trail Through Time - Jodi Taylor 17. No Time Like The Past - Jodi Taylor 18. Confusion - Elizabeth Jane Howard 19. Thirteen - Steve Cavanagh 20. Proof - Dick Francis 21. The Warden - Anthony Trollope 22. A Month in the Country - JL Carr 23. My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell 24. What Could Possibly Go Wrong - Jodi Taylor 25. American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins 26. Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers 27. Three Act Tragedy - Agatha Christie 28. Break In - Dick Francis 29. Bolt - Dick Francis 30. Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin 31. Regeneration - Pat Barker 32. The Eye in the Door - Pat Barker 33. The Ghost Road - Pat Barker 34. Lies, Damned Lies and History - Jodi Taylor 35. Acts and Omissions - Catherine Fox 36. The Girl with the Louding Voice - Abi Dare 37. The Defence - Steve Cavanagh 38. Hot Money - Dick Francis 39. The Plea - Steve Cavanagh 40. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 41. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford 42. A Rose Petal Summer - Katie Fforde 43. Unseen Things Above - Catherine Fox 44. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart 45. Realms of Glory - Catherine Fox 46. The Unknown Ajax - Georgette Heyer 47. To Calais in Ordinary Time - James Meek 48. Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel 49. And the Rest is History - Jodi Taylor 50. An Argumentation of Historians - Jodi Taylor 51. Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym 52. Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie 53. Hungry - Grace Dent 54. The Widow - Fiona Barton 55. Casting Off - Elizabeth Jane Howard 56. V for Victory - Lissa Evans 57. The Edge - Dick Francis 58. Straight - Dick Francis 59. The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel 60. Box 88 - Charles Cummings 61. Longshot - Dick Francis 62. The Party - Elizabeth Day 63. Maurice - E M Forster 64. Driving Force - Dick Francis 65. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid 66. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam 67. A Year at the Circus - Jon Sopel 68. Hope for the Best - Jodi Taylor 69. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett 70. Jews Don’t Count - David Baddiel 71. Munich - Robert Harris 72. Tales from Lindford - Catherine Fox 73. The Liar - Steve Cavanagh 74. Virgin Earth - Philippa Gregory 75. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 76. Decider - Dick Francis 77. In the House of Brede - Rumer Godden 78. Arabella - Georgette Heyer 79. The Only Plane in the Sky - Garrett M Graff 80. Plan for the Worst - Jodi Taylor 81. A Bit of a Stretch - Chris Atkins 82. The Red Prince: John of Gaunt - Helen Carr 83. House of Trelawney - Hannah Rothschild 84. Wild Horses - Dick Francis 85. Next of Kin - John Boyne 86. Doing Time - Jodi Taylor 87. Hard Time - Jodi Taylor 88. Twisted - Steve Cavanagh

Oops, just realised I missed my last read of the year and made it to a round 70:

70. Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

A mystery about a disappearing girl, set in Oxford. I did enjoy the Oxford setting, and the central character of Dee, but this didn't quite live up to the hype for me. The writing was rather repetitive in places and the build-up a bit slow (I do sometimes wonder if Agatha Christie has spoiled me for other crime novels, but that said, I'm perfectly fine with the interminable Strike and Robin). I also guessed the ending and felt it was quite similar to another Oxford-set crime novel which I know a number of you have read, so I won't give the name in case of spoilers. Reasonably enjoyable but a bit of a disappointment.

Thanks for the stats @PermanentTemporary! I failed to do my list in any sort of good time, but it hasn't changed very much from the one you will have seen. I've failed to do much reading over the holiday period as it was a busy one, but despite the vagaries of this year have still managed a reasonable total - 3 less than last year, 5 more than 2019. There's a fair amount of comfort reading in there, but some great discoveries too - in particular Penelope Fitzgerald, who I think might actually have been a genius.

1. In the Shadow of Power – Viveca Sten
2. Our Endless Numbered Days - Claire Fuller
3. The Truants - Kate Weinberg
4. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
5. Olive, Again – Elizabeth Strout
6. The Winter Book – Tove Jansson
7. Waiting for Sunrise – William Boyd
8. The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art – Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney
9. Lanny – Max Porter
10. Murder on Safari – Elspeth Huxley
11. The Magpie Murders – Anthony Horowitz
12. In Black and White: A Young Barrister’s Story of Race and Class in a Broken Justice System – Alexandra Wilson
13. Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of Isis - Azadeh Moaveni
14. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – John Carreyrou
15. Rules of Civility – Amor Towles
16. In Your Defence – Sarah Langford
17. Reflections in a Golden Eye - Carson McCullers
18. Platform Seven – Louise Doughty
19. If Morning Ever Comes – Anne Tyler
20. Rubyfruit Jungle – Rita Mae Brown
21. The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History - Kassia St Clair
22. The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
23. The Dutch House – Ann Patchett
24. Sudden Death – Rita Mae Brown
25. Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce
26. In Bad Company – Viveca Sten
27. Regeneration - Pat Barker
28. Olivia – Dorothy Strachey
29. The Eye in the Door – Pat Barker
30. The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
31. Red at the Bone – Jacqueline Woodson
32. My Name is Leon – Kit de Waal
33. Troubled Blood – Robert Galbraith
34. The Darkest Evening – Ann Cleeves
35. When I Hit You – Meena Kandasamy
36. The Falconer – Dana Czapnik
37. The Reckoning – Yrsa Sigurdardottir
38. My Former Heart – Cressida Connolly
39. The World I Fell Out Of - Melanie Reid
40. Blind Goddess – Anne Holt
41. The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
42. Cotillion – Georgette Heyer
43. Stay With Me – Ayobami Adebayo
44. Van Gogh: A Power Seething – Julian Bell
45. The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson – Steve Richards
46. Report for Murder – Val McDermid
47. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
48. The Honjin Murders – Seishi Yokomizo
49. Grown Ups – Marian Keyes
50. My Brilliant Friend – Elena Ferrante
51. You Left Early – Louisa Young
52. The Appeal – Janice Hallett
53. The Shadows in the Street – Susan Hill
54. Perfect – Rachel Joyce
55. Hold – Michael Donkor
56. Brixton Hill – Lottie Moggach
57. Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Perez
58. Fleishman is in Trouble – Taffy Brodesser-Akner
59. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill – Sophie Hannah
60. Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
61. The Untouchable - John Banville (re-read)
62. The Beginning of Spring - Penelope Fitzgerald
63. Everywoman – Jess Phillips
64. Unnatural Death – Dorothy L. Sayers
65. Little Red Chairs – Edna O’Brien
66. How Hard Can It Be – Allison Pearson
67. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper (re-read)
68. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld
69. Conviction – Denise Mina

@PermanentTemporary what a superstar statistician! Thank you. DH and I both pored over the lists and made notes for the coming year's reading. See you all over on the 2022 thread.

Very psychologically satisfying total, Chessie - and it's pleasing to make inroads into the tbr pile.

Thanks as always, southeast, heading over to the new thread now.

Like I said, I’ve had quantity but not quality this year. There’s a lot of rubbish there and some of them I wouldn’t now be able to tell you anything about without looking them up. There were a few gems though! And lockdown definitely helped, won’t be able to do that again in future (well, until I retire anyway!)

Chessie that's amazing! If reading had Olympians, you'd be the gold medallist. I'm well impressed.

Wow Chessie - 365 books!! Amazing!

Thanks southeastdweller for running the threads. Very much appreciated.

My list part 2 (it wouldn't let me post it as one post!)
201. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
202. The Silent Ones - K L Slater
203. When I Was You - Minka Kent
204. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths
205. Restaurant Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones
206. To Tell You The Truth - Gilly Macmillan
207. Did Not Finish - George Mahood
208. I Followed The Rules: Dating By The Book - Joanna Bolouri
209. A Trail Through Time - Jodi Taylor
210. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
211. Dishonesty Is The Second Best Policy: And Other Rules To Live By - David Mitchell
212. The Whole Truth - Cara Hunter
213. Rapid Falls - Amber Cowie
214. Summerwater - Sarah Moss
215. Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books - Cathy Rentzenbrink
216. The Wrong Knickers: A Decade Of Chaos - Bryony Gordon
217. Did Not Try - George Mahood
218. Did Not Start - George Mahood
219. Zelda's Cut - Philippa Gregory
220. Unspeakable Things - Jess Lourey
221. Down Among The Dead - Damien Boyd
222. The Book Of Seconds: The Incredible Stories of the Ones That Didn't (Quite) Win - Mark Mason
223. And What Do You Do? What The Royal Family Don't Want You To Know - Norman Baker
224. Counting My Chickens… And Other Home Thoughts - Deborah Mitford
225. The Plot - Jean Hanff Korelitz
226. Did Not Sink - George Mahood
227. The Caretakers - Eliza Maxwell
228. The Truants - Kate Weinberg
229. The Visitor - K L Slater
230. Magic Mobile: 35 pre-loaded new text files - Michael Frayn
231. Should We Stay Or Should We Go - Lionel Shriver
232. No Time Like The Past - Jodi Taylor
233. The Night She Disappeared - Lisa Jewell
234. Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford
235. Did Not Enter - George Mahood
236. Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
237. The Heights - Louise Candlish
238. Mother Of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored In An Economy Built For Men - Katrine Marcal
239. Did Not Happen - George Mahood
240. Warlight - Michael Ondaatje
241. How To Be A Woman - Caitlin Moran
242. Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney
243. We Just Clicked - Anna Bell
244. If We're Not Married By Thirty - Anna Bell
245. The Pearl - John Steinbeck
246. The Rebecca Notebook And Other Memories - Daphne du Maurier
247. Love In A Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford
248. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
249. The Next Girl - Carla Kovach
250. Confessions of a Sociopath - M E Thomas
251. What You Did - Claire McGowan
252. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - Kazuo Ishiguro
253. Off Menu: The Secret Science of Food & Dining - Nell McShane Wulfhart
254. Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We've Been Told About Food Is Wrong - Tim Spector
255. Summer Switch - Mary Rodgers
256. Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty
257. An Artist Of The Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro
258. The Child In The Photo - Kerry Wilkinson
259. The Anniversary - Laura Marshall
260. The Rosie Result - Graeme Simsion
261. Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
262. The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman
263. The Puzzle Of You - Leah Mercer
264. Forgotten Bones - Vivian Barz
265. A Slow Fire Burning - Paula Hawkins
266. Liar - K L Slater
267. History - Miles Jupp
268. Where The Memories Lie - Sibel Hodge
269. Emily Noble's Disgrace - Mary Paulson-Ellis
270. False Step - Victoria Helen Stone
271. The Unheard - Nicci French
272. Swan Song - Edmund Crispin
273. Bitter Orange - Claire Fuller
274. Tall Oaks - Chris Whitaker
275. Oats In The North, Wheat From The South - Regula Ysewijn
276. The Good Thief's Guide To Murder - Chris Ewan
277. The Unravelling - Thorne Moore
278. Coots In The North and other stories - Arthur Ransome
279. A Day Like This - Kelley McNeil
280. Wait For Me - Deborah Devonshire
281. Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty
282. Travels With Charley: In Search Of America - John Steinbeck
283. Lights Out In Lincolnwood - Geoff Rodkey
284. Orphans Of The Storm - Celia Imrie
285. Two Steps Forward - Graeme Simsion
286. Looking For The Durrells - Melanie Hewitt
287. Bad Move - Linwood Barclay
288. The Secret Passage - Nina Bawden
289. Deliver Her - Patricia Perry Donovan
290. Bad Guys - Linwood Barclay
291. Preparing For The Perimenopause and Menopause - Louise Newson
292. Death and Croissants - Ian Moore
293. Home - Harlan Coben
294. Havisham - Ronald Frame
295. The Librarian: A Memoir - Allie Morgan
296. Atlas Of The Invisible: Maps and Graphics That Will Change How You See the World - James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti
297. Something To Live For - Richard Roper
298. Kiss Me First - Lottie Moggach
299. Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively
300. Bad Luck - Linwood Barclay
301. Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead - Sheryl Sandberg
302. Bad News - Linwood Barclay
303. Heidi - Johanna Spyri
304. Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret - Craig Brown
305. The Good Girl - Mary Kubica
306. The Turn Of The Key - Ruth Ware
307. The Book Club - C J Cooper
308. 1979 - Val McDermid
309. Home to Roost and Other Peckings - Deborah Devonshire
310. The Exclusives - Rebecca Thornton
311. Take Six Girls: The Lives Of The Mitford Sisters - Laura Thompson
312. The Vanished Bride - Bella Ellis
313. Timeslip - N M Kirby
314. Safe And Sound - Philippa East
315. Fringed With Mud And Pearls - Ian Crofton
316. Victoria Line, Central Line - Maeve Binchy
317. Mrs March - Virginia Feito
318. The Evidence - K L Slater
319. The Party Crasher - Sophie Kinsella
320. The Diabolical Bones - Bella Ellis
321. I Can't Remember The Title But The Cover Is Blue - Elias Greig
322. Kindred - Octavia E Butler
323. The Immortals - S E Lister
324. Who Is Maud Dixon? - Alexandra Andrews
325. The Authority Gap - Mary Ann Sieghart
326. The Holdout - Graham Moore
327. Spies - Michael Frayn
328. How To Survive Christmas - Jilly Cooper
329. The Good Thief's Guide To Christmas - Chris Ewan
330. Neighborly - Ellie Monago
331. The Dare - Lesley Kara
332. Charlotte - Helen Moffett
333. Mr Brightly's Evening Off - Kathleen Rowntree
334. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - Jodi Taylor
335. Hitler's Canary - Sandi Toksvig
336. Outskirts: Living Life On The Edge Of The Green Belt - John Grindrod
337. The Paid Bridesmaid - Sariah Wilson
338. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
339. The Good Thief's Guide To Venice - Chris Ewan
340. Daphne du Maurier: A Daughter's Memoir - Flavia Leng
341. The Secret By The Lake - Louise Douglas
342. Klara And The Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
343. Emma - Alexander McCall Smith
344. Strangers - C L Taylor
345. Beyond Recall - Robert Goddard
346. The Bennet Women - Eden Appiah-Kubi
347. Murder Under The Christmas Tree - Various
348. Festive Spirits: Three Christmas Stories - Kate Atkinson
349. The Book Of Christmas - Jane Struthers
350. The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Joanna Bolouri
351. The Thirteen Days of Christmas - Jenny Overton
352. All I Want For Christmas - Joanna Bolouri
353. A Snow Garden And Other Stories - Rachel Joyce
354. Miss Marley: The Untold Story Of Jacob Marley's Sister - Vanessa Lafaye
355. The Children of Green Knowe - Lucy M Boston
356. Christmas Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella
357. Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days - Jeanette Winterson
358. Mr Dickens And His Carol - Samantha Silva
359. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
360. The Toast of Time - Jodi Taylor
361. The Marriage - K L Slater
362. Celebrating \the Seasons With The Yorkshire Shepherdess - Amanda Owen
363. The Good Thief's Guide To Berlin - Chris Ewan
364. Are We Having Fun Yet? - Lucy Mangan
365. Don't Close Your Eyes - Holly Seddon

My list:

1. The Gran Tour: Travels With My Elders - Ben Aitken
2. The Corner Shop: Shopkeepers, the Sharmas and The Making of Modern Britain - Babita Sharma
3. Ex Libris: 100 Books To Read and Reread - Michiko Kakutani
4. Llama Drama: A two-woman, 5500 mile cycling adventure through South America - Anna McNuff
5. Our Little Cruelties - Liz Nugent
6. The Push - Claire McGowan
7. Playdate - Alex Dahl
8. Sorry I Missed You - Suzy Krause
9. In The Crypt With A Candlestick - Daisy Waugh

10. For Emily - Katherine Slee 11. The Return Of The Railway Children - Lou Kuenzler 12. The Big Six - Arthur Ransome 13. Sunburnt Penguins Tour The USA: America's East Coast and Midwest Through An Englishman's Eyes - Jim Stanson 14. White Silence - Jodi Taylor 15. Dark Light - Jodi Taylor 16. Single Mother - Samantha Hayes 17. From Devon With Death - Stephanie Austin 18. The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Curiosities From History - Edward Brooks-Hitching 19. Apple Of My Eye - Helene Hanff 20. A Little Love Song - Michelle Magorian 21. Just My Luck - Adele Parks 22. Hadley and Grace - Suzanne Redfearn 23. The Summer Book - Tove Jansson 24. Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories - Nigella Lawson 25. Missee Lee - Arthur Ransome 26. Sweet Sorrow - David Nicholls 27. A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle 28. West With Giraffes - Lynda Rutledge 29. Final Cut - S J Watson 30. The Country Life - Rachel Cusk 31. Seven Days Of Us - Francesca Hornak 32. Cannery Row - John Steinbeck 33. Josephine: Singer Dancer Soldier Spy - Eilidh McGinness 34. Confessions Of A Curious Bookseller - Elizabeth Green 35. The Picts And The Martyrs - Arthur Ransome 36. Hard Time - Jodi Taylor 37. The Deadly Mystery Of The Missing Diamonds - T E Kinsey 38. The Boy With The Topknot: A Memoir Of Love, Secrets And Lies In Wolverhampton - Sathnam Sanghera 39. The Marlow Murder Club - Robert Thorogood 40. Between The Covers: Sex, Socialising And Survival - Jilly Cooper 41. A Traveller In Time - Alison Uttley 42. Great Northern? - Arthur Ransome 43. Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell 44. The Mitford Girls: The Biography Of An Extraordinary Family - Mary S Lovell 45. Just Like The Other Girls - Claire Douglas 46. Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen - Alison Weir 47. A Week In December - Sebastian Faulks 48. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ - Sue Townsend 49. The Last Resort - Susi Holliday 50. Frozen Assets - P G Wodehouse 51. The Glass House - Eve Chase 52. Spanish Steps - Tim Moore 53. Bodie On The Road - Belinda Jones 54. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 55. The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend 56. The Girl I Used To Be - Mary Torjussen 57. Miss Benson's Beetle - Rachel Joyce 58. Exit - Belinda Bauer 59. Gold - Dan Rhodes 60. The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole - Sue Townsend 61. The Remains Of The Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 62. A Brief Guide To The Sound Of Music - Paul Simpson 63. Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney 64. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years - Sue Townsend 65. Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiny 66. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens 67. The Man I Didn't Marry - Anna Bell 68. Hungry - Grace Dent 69. Falling - Elizabeth Jane Howard 70. Lies We Bury - Elle Marr 71. The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing - Sonia Faleiro 72. The Survivors - Jane Harper 73. Scoff: A History of Food and Class In Britain - Pen Vogler 74. How To Build A Girl - Caitlin Moran 75. Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend 76. Ghosts - Dolly Alderton 77. Written In Bone: Hidden Stories In What We Leave Behind - Sue Black 78. The Facts Of Life And Death - Belinda Bauer 79. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 80. Nick - Michael Farris Smith 81. More Than A Woman - Caitlin Moran 82. The Village News - Tom Fort 83. A Chip Shop In Poznan: My Unlikely Year In Poland - Ben Aitken 84. Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers 85. Girl A - Abigail Dean 86. Who Did You Tell? - Lesley Kara 87. An Unwanted Guest - Shari Lapena 88. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 89. Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction - Sue Townsend 90. Just Henry - Michelle Magorian 91. Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table - Nigel Slater 92. Perfectly Impossible - Elizabeth Topp 93. The Recovery of Rose Gold - Stephanie Wrobel 94. Atonement - Ian McEwan 95. The Watcher Girl - Minka Kent 96. The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001 - Sue Townsend 97. Behind Closed Doors - Catherine Alliott 98. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower - A J Pollard 99. Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music - Stephen Fry 100. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford 101. Tell me A Secret - Samantha Hayes 102. Titanic Survivor - Violet Jessop 103. Beach Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones 104. Unnatural Causes: The Life and Many Deaths of Britain's Top Forensic Pathologist - Richard Shepherd 105. The Quest for Queen Mary - James Pope-Hennessy 106. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon 107. Girls of Brackenhill - Kate Moretti 108. Tales From The Farm By The Yorkshire Shepherdess - Amanda Owen 109. A Bit Of A Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner - Chris Atkins 110. Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years - Sue Townsend 111. The Fine Art of Invisible Detection - Robert Goddard 112. The World I Fell Out Of - Melanie Reid 113. The Heatwave - Kate Riordan 114. The Burning Girls - C J Tudor 115. Toksvig's Almanac 2021: An Eclectic Meander Through The Historical Year - Sandi Toksvig 116. Little Disasters - Sarah Vaughan 117. Come Again - Robert Webb 118. Nella Last's War - Nella Last 119. Blackwood - Michael Farris Smith 120. The Other Girl - C D Major 121. Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries of Housewife,49 - Nella Last 122. Oh, I Do Like To Be - Marie Phillips 123. Catherine House - Elisabeth Thomas 124. The Secrets of Us - Lucinda Berry 125. Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller 126. Sight Unseen - Robert Goddard 127. The Wild Silence - Raynor Winn 128. Her Last Holiday - C L Taylor 129. Watch Her Fall - Erin Kelly 130. The Governor: My Life Inside Britain's Most Notorious Prisons - Vanessa Frake 131. Missing Pieces - Tim Weaver 132. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse 133. The House Party: A Short History of Leisure, Pleasure and the Country House Weekend - Adrian Tinniswood 134. The Imposter - Anna Wharton 135. Women and Super Women - Jilly Cooper 136. Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor 137. Hidden Valley Road - Robert Kolker 138. Nella Last In The 1950s: The Further Diaries of Housewife, 49 - Nella Last 139. Find You First - Linwood Barclay 140. The Pact - Sharon Bolton 141. Frozen Summer - Crysse Morrison 142. What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty 143. Secrets at St Bride's - Debbie Young 144. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters 145. Half A World Away - Mike Gayle 146. Darkside - Belinda Bauer 147. The Shut Eye - Belinda Bauer 148. Have You Seen Me? - Kate White 149. Before The Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi 150. Hotel Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones 151. The Secret - K L Slater 152. The Little Women Letters - Gabrielle Donnelly 153. The Therapist - B A Paris 154. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From The Making Of The Princess Bride - Cary Elwes 155. Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife - Alison Weir 156. Shatter - Michael Robotham 157. Reasons To Be Cheerful - Nina Stibbe 158. Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain - Sathnam Sanghera 159. Sisters - Michelle Frances 160. The Official History Of Britain: Our Story In Numbers As Told By The Office For National Statistics - Boris Starling 161. The Rosary Garden - Nicola White 162. The Seven Day Switch - Kelly Harms 163. A Symphony Of Echoes - Jodi Taylor 164. China Room - Sunjeev Sahota 165. Do They Know It's Christmas Yet? - James Crookes 166. Nancy And Plum - Betty MacDonald 167. British Summer Time Begins: The School Summer Holidays 1930-1980 - Ysenda Maxtone Graham 168. Funny You Should Ask…: Your Questions Answered By The QI Elves - John Lloyd 169. The Shape Of Darkness - Laura Purcell 170. The Frequency Of Us - Keith Stuart 171. Call Me Mummy - Tina Baker 172. Mermaid Singing - Charmian Clift 173. Curiosities of Literature - John Sutherland 174. An Everywhere: A Little Book About Reading - Heather Reyes 175. Found - Erin Kinsley 176. The Animals of Farthing Wood - Colin Dann 177. Dog Days - Tales From An American Road Trip - Andrew Thompson 178. Anne Frank's Tales From The Secret Annexe - Anne Frank 179. The Appeal - Janice Hallett 180. Greenwich Park - Katherine Faulkner 181. Novel Houses: Twenty Famous Fictional Dwellings - Christina Hardyment 182. The Windsor Knot - S J Bennett 183. The Mothers - Sarah J Naughton 184. The Castaways - Lucy Clarke 185. The Titanic Murders - Max Allan Collins 186. Everything Is Beautiful - Eleanor Ray 187. Two Degrees West - Nicholas Crane 188. Mrs England - Stacey Halls 189. Girl In The Walls - A J Gnuse 190. A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor 191. The Best Things - Mel Giedroyc 192. Hostage - Clare Mackintosh 193. The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton - Anstey Harris 194. Meadowlark - Melanie Abrams 195. Phone For The Fish Knives - Daisy Waugh 196. The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides 197. A Very Nice Rejection Letter: Diary of a Novelist - Chris Paling 198. Problem Child - Victoria Helen Stone 199. A Room Made Of Leaves - Kate Grenville 200. A Theatre For Dreamers - Polly Samson

I can't quite believe I managed it, but I have read (or listened to) 365 books this year, so one for each day. I wasn't sure if I would manage that. Part of me is pleased, but equally I have read a lot of crap this year so that shows it's really not the numbers that are important. At the begionning of this year I had 219 unread books on my kindle and one of my goals was to clear a lot of them. That's one reason I have read a lot of crappy psycholigical thrillers this year as I am a bit of a sucker for the 99p deals. I have ended the year with 132 unread books on my kindle. I haven't cleared as many as I hoped, but at least it hasn't gone up. I aim to clear more of them in 2022 (and I must stop getting caught up in 99p deals and not buy more rubbish!)

My stats:
68% female, 30% male, 2% both or unknown.
50% kindle, 27% physical, 17% library, 6% audible.
71% fiction, 24% non fiction, 6% children's fiction.
88% were new, 12% were rereads (mainly audible or Christmas books).

Thank you all for this thread.
Completed 55 books this year. I lost my reading concentration 8 years ago with a nightmare house move and I'm so pleased to be back into regular reading
Happy 2022 to all

Snuck my 50th in under the wire! (It's still 2021 where I am).

50. Sex And The City And Us, by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Sex and the City is one of my guilty pleasures so this was a fast, easy read with some interesting behind the scenes information. However, I think I'd have enjoyed it more as an essay as there was just SO much extraneous detail. A nice gentle way to end this year's reading though.

Thank you all 50 Bookers for your companionship, recommendations, and occasional very polite arguments

We know of this other place, yet none of us go there.

I suspect there may be a fair bit of crossover. No rules round here, other than read and tell us about it. Nobody really cares about the numbers.

Just realised I never spoke about my last two books.

Underland - Robert Macfarlane
Macfarlane adventures underground and long may he stay there.

I found some parts of this incredibly interesting, but he does harp on and I found myself getting bored. I feel his work might be better suited to dipping in and out of rather than the full onslaught all at once.

Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation - Julie Bindel
Julie discusses the state of modern feminism, the issues with it and the direction it needs to take to achieve anything. She discusses Equality Vs Liberation, Liberal vs Radical feminism and the goals of feminism for women as opposed to the type of feminism men will gain from and approve of.

As Julie herself is fond of saying, there are many ways to be a feminist and most of them are wrong. 20% in and I was ready to set the world on fire. This is a call to arms.

Happy New Year folks.

Just nipping in at the end of 2021 to thank all the 50 bookers for the best threads on Mums-net. See you all in 2022. May all our books be good ones .

I hope it’s ok to sort of straddle the 26 and 50 thread. I enjoy both in different ways.

My main goals are to read more of what I already own, in particular hard copy books on my shelves. I’ve got two book subscriptions that I received as gifts for my birthday so I want to read those books - one is diverse writers and the other plays.