26-ish books for 2023

Oh thanks for the recommendation baconandavocado.
I flitted sometimes between getting in to one of the stories more than the other but yes, was drawn to Mayken's. Although Gil's at the end was intriguing

I first found it a bit jarring to go from one to the other so quickly but saw them as more and more entangled as it went on.

I fell down a wiki hole about the Batavia last night. My dh is from Western Australia and if we ever get to visit there then I'd love to go visit the museums thay have bits about it.
There is also a replica of the Batavia in the Netherlands which would be amazing to go and visit. I'd like to walk the boat and imagine Mayken. I couldn't find anything about whether she was based on someone or completely fictional.

Breathmiller it might have been me that recommended The Night Ship. I loved it, though I preferred Mayken’s story to the modern day one.
Yes, I too would like to find out more about the Batavia

1. The Night Ship - Jess Kidd - thank you to whoever suggested this. I really enjoyed it. Quite a dark story but has made me want to learn more about The Batavia.

7: Deep Sea and Foreign Going by Rose George
Really interesting non-fiction book about container ships. Her passion for the sea really shines through.

Books 30-33. Playing Doctor 1,2 and 3. V similar to lots of other autobiographies but I like the humour that is there.

I finished
5.The Boys From Biloxy- John Grisham
I quite liked it but found it a bit long towards the end .
Just started
6.The Fairytale-Stephen King which is over 500 pages so will take me a while ,I’m not reading as much atm . Only 2 more books left in my to read pile after it . I’ve been reading and decluttering what I’ve read in the last year , DH has some books I might read I’m pretty sure so I won’t run out . Oh and I’ve got more on kindle …

Book number 7 is The Stalker by Alex Gray

Number 8 - The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

Pretty impressive for a debut novel. Well written, good story, nice twist at the end, although I enjoyed the first 3 quarters more than the final one

My update, I'm not getting through them at my usual pace, but am trying to read genres that are slightly out of my usual comfort zone.

1. The Devil You Know
2. I don't take requests
3. The Herd
4. Still Life
5. The 100 Years of Lenni & Margo
6. Phrophecy

1 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
2 The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
3 lessons in Chemistry
4 touch of love by Jonathan Coe
5 The bird in the bamboo cage by Heather Webb
6 The man who died twice by Richard Osman
7 The Glass Blowers by Daphne du Maurier
8 The travelling cat chronicles by Hiro Arkawa. Started this one today. It was a random charity shop pick but I'm enjoying it so far.

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1. Windswept and Interesting by Billy Connolly. To be honest the first few chapters I struggled to keep up with his brain pace. He writes as he speaks, and like my youngest child does. Every thought that comes through his head comes straight out his mouth and it's hard to keep up with the constant change of direction. But then i settled into it, like when you read a book that is written in a different way to the way you think, it takes a bit of time to adjust. Once I did, then I so enjoyed this. Laughed out loud many a time and it was indeed like Billy was in the room ranting away in his own windswept and interesting manner. Well worth a read.

2023 Books:

Twelve Secrets
People of Abandoned Character
The Herd
Last One at The Party
The Last Thing to Burn
Moon Over Soho

The Girls Who Disappeared - OK, not amazing. A bit far fetched

29 I Dont Talk to Dead People. Ok biography but not as interesting as others I've read.

30 Tomorrowland. Our journey from science fiction to science fact.

10 - Windswept and Interesting by Billy Connolly (audio). I knew a fair amount about the Big Yin already but this was a really interesting listen, what a life he has had, from a childhood with abusive family members through a rise to fame to slowing things down in later life living in Florida.

11. The Millstone by Margaret Drabble - Story about single-motherhood, written in 1965. Interesting story, enjoyable and thought provoking.

1. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Thank you to PP who had this on their list. I really enjoyed it. These books that tell the human stories, bringing to life parts of history that make it so much more real than a history book can. It is the story of Biafra really, which i had heard about when I was younger but didn't really understand in the wider context.

28. Sorry For Your Loss.

Good grief, but Terry Prachett's biography made me cry. What a man!

Onto book 27: A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions.

I just finished Mayflies which I thought was very good, and am starting no. 18 Nora, a historical fiction story about Nora Barnacle's and her life with James Joyce. Not sure yet if I am going to like it or not.

9: In The Wars by Waheed Arian (audio). A memoir. Waheed, the oldest son of his family was brought up in war torn Afghanistan, spending much of his early life in refugee camps. When he contracted TB aged 5 the care that he received from a doctor made him determined to become one himself. He sought asylum in the UK aged 15 with no formal education, but through hard work at college and low paid jobs made it to medical school where he became a doctor and went on to set up a charity allowing British doctors to support local doctors in war-torn countries via video calls and messages. This is an amazing story, truly inspirational.

Just realised I’ve not updated my last couple of books..

1. The Catch by T.M Logan
2. Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell
3. Is This Love by C.E Riley - It follows the events leading up to and following the breakup of a marriage, told through a combination of narration, and solicitors letters/diary entries. I throughly enjoyed it.
4. War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy - been on my tbr pile for years, and I finally did it. Once I got ‘into it’, it was an easier read than I expected. There are a lot of characters, but I found myself fully invested in them. I enjoyed the historical commentary and am a little bit sad that I’m finished.
5. You And Me On Vacation by Emily Henry - I read this on borrowbox. It’s a light, easy to read romance. Not a lot to it, but exactly what I needed to get me through my teething 14 month olds middle of the night wake-ups!

4. The funny thing about Norman Foreman.

12 yr old Norman's best friend dies, they were inseparable and loved comedy, so had put together a double act. After he dies Norman decides he wants to go to the fringe and perform as a tribute to his best mate. His mum and an elderly friend head on this road trip with another aim as well, to see if they can find Norman's dad, one of 4 possibilities.

So it's all about this journey. Started off well, I got very into it quickly and loved the character and plot. But it became very slow and dragged out a little bit too much for my liking! The end was good, lots of predictable curve balls though a little bit of a Hollywood ending. But I have to say by the middle to end of the book I had totally gone off the mum! She was just far too stupid and dim that she became quite irritating!

Not sure what to pick up next.

I read this last year and also loved it.

I've downloaded Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for my next one.