26-ish books 2024

So true!

All the Broken Places by John Boyne is a brilliant read, one of his very best, though it can be a tough read and is heartbreaking. IMO it just slightly beat the above one of his.

Asiatoyork
The Heart's Invisible Furies is a very tough act to follow.
I'm reluctant to read any of Boyne's other books!

11 The echo chamber by John Boyne. The point he was making was a bit obvious, but it was very funny in places. Nowhere near as good as the heart’s invisible furies though.

7 - Ordinary Human Failings - Megan Nolan
Got this yesterday on a kindle daily deal and devoured it in just over 24 hours. It was absolutely brilliant.

10-15 - Books 1-6 (so far) of the Marnie Baranuik series by A J Aalto. And there are another 3 plus 5 short stories that I'll work my way through. All on my kindle.

Plus, in my car is a tree book for when I'm out and about but haven't taken my kindle with me. Scythe. Interesting so far and part of a trilogy.

Oh, I’ve messed up my counting, those should have been 14/15/16

15/16: Notes from a Small Island and Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson. Both on audible, easy listening and entertaining, with a little bit of education thrown in.

17: The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid - I’ve never read any of Val’s books before but I like a crime novel so decided to start with this as it’s first in a series. A bit gruesome but very well told, I will read some more. As with the Bill Bryson books this date back to the 90s and seems dated in the sense that they are solving crimes with no internet! It didn’t spoil it though.

That was number 8

1. The Stonehenge Legacy, Sam Christer

A random borrow from a friend in holiday as had finished my book. Really enjoyed.

11.. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Fantastic book! Didn't want to put it down! 4 out of 5

6. Tom Lake - Ann Patchett
I adore Ann Patchett so was pleased to love this too. Beautiful read.

15. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. I really enjoyed this, quite thought provoking; 4 children go to a fortune teller who tells them the date they will die. The rest follows their lives as adults.

18. The Household - Stacey Halls 9/10 This was a joy to read. I highly recommend this.

16 Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

i really enjoyed this. Quite a slow read which I liked though.

I actually started a book called The Whalebone Theatre and for the first time had to stop. Just wasn't feeling it.

Going to look through for my next read

14. Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë. Overall enjoyed but I have never read a book completely filled with such vile characters!! There was only one that was not vile and that was the narrator, however she was a bit of a wet fish!! But regardless I am glad I finally got around to reading it.

14. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters 8/10
    A great read, I really enjoyed this book.

15. Slipstream: A Memoir - Elizabeth Jane Howard 6/10
    An "interesting" insight into EJH's extraordinary life.

16. The List of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey 5/10
    This is written partly from a child's perspective, but the writing style of the entire book seems to be aimed at children or people unable to make inferences.

17. Every Eye - Isobel English 8/10
    I really enjoyed this, it is beautifully written. I reread it as soon as I finished. I think most who enjoy it will reread it; fortunately it is short enough to easily do so.

Next up: The Household.

Book 7
Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey
Very funny, laughed out loud several times. Felt a bit exhausted by the end, having lived through her angst at getting a divorce but I enjoyed alot.

11/12/13 Slough House 5-7, London Rules, Joe Country and Slough House by Mick Herron. All excellent.

14: Neither Her Nor There by Bill Bryson. While waiting for my next audible credit to drop I found lots of Bill's older books on there for free, they are a bit dated (and non PC) now but still acutely observant, witty and entertaining.

10 . Star of the North by D B John

Thriller set in North Korea. Not my usual sort of read but it was given to me by a friend. I did enjoy it though some of it seemed a little far-fetched / James Bond-y!
A fascinating (& scary / depressing) insight into life in that country though and I learned a lot.

3 out of 5.

No 12, The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. Absolutely perfect book to me, my April/1940s decades book. I love the whole Golden Era detective novel (and in contrast to Mapp and Lucia that just dragged a bit).

I loved that too @Orangebadger !

13. How not to be a boy by Robert Webb. Aka Mitchel and Webb, Peep show etc. I don't often read memoirs and I have no idea how I ended up with this one! It was a memoir fused with examples and arguments of gender conditioning for men. It was well written and funny. Overall I enjoyed it.

I finished my no
6.Come and get it -Kiley Reid
after reading my no
7.Troubled -Rob Henderson
Then started on a Sophie Hannah Poirot book “Monogram Murders “ but I just couldn’t get into it and wondered why I had bought it and 2 others after the first of hers I read earlier had been a bit of a slog so off they went to the charity shop after the first 50 pages as did a John Grisham book I didn’t even try when I noticed it was about basketball since I knew I’d be bored . Now reading
8.Recursion -Blake Crouch
I really liked his Dark Matter earlier that’s soon coming out as a series on Apple TV . I’ve given it to lots of people .