26ish books 2026

21 Maggie, or A Man and a Woman walk into a Bar by Katie Yee. Short and poignant memoir.
22 The Propaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak. Similar in theme to Sisters in Science but a much more engaging read and less preachy.

Book 6 I will find you by Harlan Coben. This is the first book I have read by Coben, but I have loved the Netflix adaptations of his work. This didn't disappoint. It was fast paced with a good plot twist.

I'm going for something different for my next read: Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller...it's been on my tbr shelf for years so I hope it's good.

11 - The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley
I loved this ❤️ Spans many genres and touches on so many themes, but it kept me reading compulsively from picking it up yesterday in a charity shop to finishing it just now. Just what I needed!*

I love Barbara Kingsolver too and keep meaning to read some of her older books.

7: In Shock by Rana Awdish
(Non-fiction). This is an account of an intensive care doctor who ends up in ICU herself and how that experience causes her to really look at the relationship between patients and medics. Her story is pretty extraordinary and she really picks up on the throwaway comments that medical professionals make which dehumanise the patients.

A Barbara Kingsolver theme for my recent reading.

I read her early books decades ago and then the Lacuna and The Posionwood Bible 15 years ago. I was so blown away by the Lacuna I immediately started on the Poisonwood Bible, a book I had previously looked at every so often but declined to read as nothing about it interested me. Despite this remaining true, I was even more blown away by the Posionwood Bible. I recommend them both.

Book 10 Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver - I have had Unsheltered sitting on my shelf for a few years because when I first started to read it, it read like it could have been written by Anne Tyler who I dislike and I couldn't continue. I picked it up again and pushed on. It links the present protagonists to the past protagonists which includes Mary Treat (a real person who corresponded with Charles Dickens) by the house and location of the house. I much preferred the historic parts as, at times, some of the modern parts had an Anne Tyler flavour. Kingsolver also lays her politics on quite thick in this book and about climate change. Some of that was interesting but it was a bit too much for me and I think other readers have found the same. It had strange character names for the characters which is a pet annoyance of mine - Zeke, Willa, Anitgone, Aldus, etc. I was also not sure that the somewhat unusual circumstances of a middle aged American professor losing tenure because the Uni he worked at went bust could really be used as a wider comment on the state of the USA but Kingsolver certainly tried! I read the most fun we ever had a year or two ago and I felt that the mother and father character had similarities to those in this book but maybe they are quite typical US characters as I think Anne Tyler uses them too (I have read a couple of her books and not enjoyed them at all so I have tried to block them out). Worth a read but not her best imo.

Book 11 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - I am sure many of you have read this. Having read Unsheltered and moving straight on (ie the next day) to this book, I was utterly amazed at the completely different writing style, language, etc. she used between the two books. I am still amazed. The skill she has as a writer is something to behold. I had put off reading this as I do not enjoy reading in detail about drugs use, and I didn't enjoy those parts much. I had read David Copperfield last year so I could remember and predict sort of what would happen to some characters. David Copperfield has a much more positive outcome though! I felt Ms Betsy as a character was short changed in Demon Copperfield. I was not entirely sure about all of the messages of the book, particularly the not moving from deadend places. The reality is people throughout history have had to move because where they lived had little to offer them, that is why so many people emigrated to the USA in the first place! I thought the Angus character was weakly done too, to say more would be spoilers. The book's success is well deserved. You can't really go wrong with any of her books because she is a phenomenal writer. I hear she has a new one coming out this year...

Evening 👋
(1) The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy
(2) The Outside Boy by Jeannie Cummins
(3) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
(4) All the Broken Places by John Boyne
(5) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
(6) Crooked Branch by Jeannie Cummins
(7) Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
(8) Never Lie by Frieda McFadden
(9) All Her Fault by Andrea Mara (Audio book)

Latest book....

(10) The Locked Door by Frieda McFadden

Book overview
Some doors are locked for a reason…

While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.
Until the day the police arrived at their front door.
Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.
Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.
Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.
As long as they don’t look in her basement.

Another enjoyable, easy read - what you expect from Frieda McFadden - think I am going to try a different author for my next read!

Happy reading everyone :)

8: My Family by David Baddiel. Memoir, audio version narrated by the author. VERY frank story of David's dysfunctional upbringing, he pulls no punches when describing the extraordinary behaviour of his parents through his early life. It's definitely not misery-lit, no self-pity here just a frank and funny look back with a strong theme of "I cannot believe they did this" running through it.

Book 14 Middle England by Jonathan Coe

Well. This has been on my shelf since brexit times and as I'm finally reading through my piles of books, I thought I'd tackle it.

It seemed oddly historic now, in the post-pandemic world. A bit on the nose, underlining, unnecessarily, its themes of Englishness vs otherness and city vs rural cultural divison; but overall an ok read, though several characters felt a bit clumsy and I wasn't at all invested in⁷

Book 12 was Life Lessons from Historical Women by Eleanor Morton. Really enjoyed this, it was a fun canter through an anthology of the stories of lots of women of importance, including some people I'd not heard of. Thought it was really well written and quite funny.

Bury Our Bodies in the Midnight Soil.

I wanted to love it, but I just didn't care for the characters enough.

Book 9 - One of us is lying. Karen.M. Mcmanus. As is often the way with these sorts of books, I enjoyed it right up until the end. Its as if the author comes up with a good idea without thinking through how to finish it up

Book 10 will be The Housemaids secret. Not my choice to read it now but a friend insisted I borrow it!

Finished book 6 - Things we do not tell the people we love. 3.5/5. Some nice short stories but I didn't feel particularly captivated by any of them. Would be interested to read a longer novel and see how she develops her characters.

Book 7 will be The Names by Florence Knapp.

1. Silence of the girls 5/10
2. By Any Other Name - Jodi Picoult. Good tale about feminism 6/10
3. We live here now - Sarah Pinborough. Great horror story with some good twists and turns. 7/10
4. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult.
5. We begin at the end - Chris Whittaker
6. Things we do not tell the people we love - Huma Qureshi

Book 6 - "Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of Isis" by Azadeh Moaveni
This was interesting but as it was published in 2019 already felt dated. Inevitably, things move on fast.

6 The Portrait by Antoine Laurain

I hadn't heard of the book or the author but I picked this up in the library and thought I'd give it a go - especially as it's only 128 pages long!

A French mystery with romance and history, not my usual sort of book but I sped through it in no time and quite enjoyed the ride.

3 stars out of 5

Finally finished book number 5 The Night Circus by Erin Mirgenstein. I bought this book years ago and had never picked it up to read. It was absolutely captivating. Completely different to my usual reads but I loved it.

10. A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas

I really didn’t want to be sucked into this series but I’ve fallen hard!!! It’s like a grown up version of Twilight crossed with Hunger Games. I’m all over it and all in!

1. What a Way to Go - Bella Mackie
2. All the Colours of the Dark - Christopher Whittaker
3. The Briar Club - Kate Quinn
4. The Names - Florence Knapp
5. None of this is True - Lisa Jewell (audio)
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
7. James - Percival Everett
8. Daisy Darker - Alice Feeney
9. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

@Twinsybalinsy ive had Butter on my shelf for nearly a year and have been put off picking it up by other responses so it’s good to hear your take especially as I also adored and devoured Orbital!

@greencrab it was my favourite Kristin Hannah too and one of my favourite books ever. I also really liked The Nightingale and The Four Winds but have been steadily disappointed by every subsequent book!

@Twinsybalinsy with Orbital, I posted last year that I enjoyed it in the moment, while I was actually reading it, but found once I put it down I had no desire to pick it up again. It really slowed my reading progress last year.

I didn't really like the characters - I just found them false and hard to get excited about. Also I find some translations a bit stilted.

@drspouse really?! What turned you off it? It was weirdly graphic in some places with the food descriptions but I do love food so I got past that.

I find it so interesting to hear from people who didn't like books I loved - e.g. I read Orbital last year and thought it was wonderful so very interesting to hear there are others who DNF!

On the flip side I have never once finished a Dickens novel....

I couldn't finish Butter @Twinsybalinsy!

Book 11 was Butter by Asako Yuzuki (tr Polly Barton). Really loved this book, thought it was a great exploration of food and the transgression of being a bit greedy!

@icedpuddles adding The Road to Station X to my tbr. Sounds very interesting and right up my street

Excellent news, the library has it on audio! I'm hoping the music will be on there too!