26-ish books 2024

No 11 Lucia in London by EF Benson. I've read some of these before but didn't enjoy this as much though it is funny. It was my March/1930s Decades book.

*10. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

Wow, what a debut this is.
The writing is just beautiful, the characters' complex human emotions expressed so well.
I loved it.

10 - The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. I was hoping for some motivation to de-clutter but it failed to appear.

1. Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
2. Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent
3. Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson
4. The Drowning Girls - Veronica Lando
5. Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
6. Limberlost - Robbie Arnott
7. Back to Bangka - Georgina Banks
8. Zeus is a Dick - Susie Donkin
9. Water - John Boyne
10. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning - Margareta Magnusson

10 Holly - Stephen King.

He is just SO reliable. Easy as ever to read, but just draws you in from the get go. Not his best, but Holly Gibney is a great character and it's a good yarn

About to start either The Women by Kristin Hannah or 'Study for Obedience' by Sarah Bernstein - any votes for which one first?

I love this thread to expand the books I add to my list :)

10 The bullet that missed. Fine for an easy read. Gentle.

12) Songbirds by Christie Lefteri.
About domestic migrant workers in Cyprus, a fictional story about missing domestic workers that the authorities were not bothered about investigating. Based on real events so in many way very somber reading that exposes both racism and misogyny. Also some quite disturbing parts about bird poaching that are not for the faint hearted. But beautifully written and lovely but sad to read. Would recommend.

9. The Librarian by Salley Vickers
This book was a a delight. Set in 1958, it follows the life of Children's Librarian Sylvia Blackwell and the effect she makes on a small rural community.
Will definitely be reading some more Salley Vickers.

1. Weyward - Emilia Hart - a Holiday read - not a very good one!!

11. The Plot Jean Hanff korelitz A lot of brackets which was quite off putting to read. Plot sounded interesting but I found the story boring and there was a twist but by the time I got to it I'd lost interest . Back to the charity shop! Now reading American Tabloid by James Ellory fingers crossed this is better!

11) Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
Like any book that is so eagerly recommended to you by so many people, you have high hopes. This was a nice enough read, but I don't think I appreciated it as much as others have done. But a good enough story, easy read but lacked something extra for me.

Yuga
I loved Great Circle too and agree re the modern narrative.
Will definitely seek out some more Maggie Shipstead novels.

Taken me till April to get to book 4! But just finished Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead enjoyed it enough to power through 660 pages and largely thought it was good. Had 2 narratives in different timelines though and I felt the modern timeline added very little.

Bullet should be a number six

1. None of this true. Lisa Jewell

9 the god of small things. Very good, very sad

#9 Water. John Boyne. I picked this up at the library yesterday and have finished it this morning. I enjoyed it very much, I like his writing style. It looks like there will be a book for each element with, Earth, being published next month so I will definitely look out for that.

1. Stone Yard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
2. Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent
3. Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Kate Atkinson
4. The Drowning Girls - Veronica Lando
5. Lessons In Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
6. Limberlost - Robbie Arnott
7. Back to Bangka - Georgina Banks
8. Zeus is a Dick - Susie Donkin
9. Water - John Boyne

15 And Furthermore - Judi Dench

I chose this as I wanted something a bit lighter after my last few books.

It is a good representative of the wonderful Judi Dench's career with lovely snippets of her sense of humour as well as her absolute dedication to her work and she is an inspiration on how to live a full life doing something you love.

But, I found it a bit dry with many lists of names of those she has worked with and productions in theatre, television and film. I got the impression the lists of names are more about honouring those she has worked with rather than name dropping for name dropping's sake but it didn't make it such an enjoyable read for me.

I like the look of The Mercies too. Thanks!

Looking forward to reading The Mercies when I get hold of a copy.

10) The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stigg Larson. Very late to the party with this one. I do recall hearing about it and I think it was a movie too. Enjoyed it. Not my normal genre at all. I really struggle with very plot driven books, especially crime/ thrillers as I literally stop doing anything else as I have to know!! Now for a more leisurely read.

OMG the mercies is one of my favourite books of the last 10years!

#12 the other side of the bridge - Mary lawson

really wonderful read, character development was strong and the build was slow and subtle but huge crescendo at the end. If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing you’ll like this

@DiggoryVenn I found Rivers of London very odd too, I did try and stick with it but got bored and gave up. Life’s too short to read books I’m not interested in.

I've only just started my 6th book. so got some catching up to do.

4: Yellowface by R.F Kuang- ok but felt a bit too long and slow by the end.

5: Strong Female Character by Fern Brady - really interesting and honest perspective on female autism.

6: Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson - just started

(I also DNF the Lucy Worsley book on Agatha Christie last year)

I've added The Mercies to my list too, as I loved Burial Rites.

9: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Not keen on this one, however I was invested enough to want to finish it. It was just a bit bizarre.

Finally got round to reading..

14 The Prophet Song - Paul Lynch

Bloody hell, that was a hard hitting read. I can see why it won the Booker Prize.

Definitely due that easy light hearted read I promised myself. Any suggestions?