50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Six

Thanks @Southeastdweller .
Far From Home by Val Wood.
I like Val Wood because she sets most of her books in and around Hull which I know well.
They are usually historical dramas with strong female characters and I find them very well written. This one was different. It starts in Hull but the bulk of the book is in America in the mid 19th century. I don't require a book to be realistic in order to enjoy it and this one certainly isn't,it's outrageously far fetched, yet entertaining. The protagonist Georgiana, while not exactly a pioneer, manages to travel across the US, meeting native Americans, taking part in the gold rush and confronting a bear
The Killing House by Claire McGowan
A Darker Domain by Val McDermid
I like Val McDermid's writing but most of her books are too dark/graphic for me. The Karen Pirie ones are a bit less violent. I enjoyed the TV series as well.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit have you found a clever way to search for your wish list or are you checking each one individually?
.

@LadybirdDaphne I previously missed your review of Creatures of a Day. I was given Yalom's Staring at the Sun by a psychiatrist friend and loved it, so I'll look this one up as well.

Thanks for the new thread southeast!

1 Psyche - Kate Forsyth
2 The Forgotten Forest - Robert Vennell
3 Did I Ever Tell You This? - Sam Neill
4 Raising the Sen-betweeners - Lisa Lloyd
5 What We Fear Most - Ben Cave
6 A Tale of Two Titties: a writer’s guide to conquering the most sexist tropes in literary history - Meg Vondriska
7 The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
8 Cultish: the language of fanaticism- Amanda Montell
9 William Wordsworth - selected by Seamus Heaney
10 Oaxaca Journal - Oliver Sacks
11 The Greatest Nobodies of History - Adrian Bliss
12 Hunchback - Saou Ichikawa
13 Crypt - Alice Roberts
14 The Lost Rainforests of Britain - Guy Shrubsole
15 The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
16 The Wager - David Grann
17 Hero - Katie Buckley
18 Birds, Sex & Beauty - Matt Ridley
19 Witch Trial - Harriet Tyce
20 Heresy - Catherine Nixey
21 Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss
22 Creatures of a Day - Irvin D. Yalom
23 No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done - Sophie Hannah
24 Embers of the Hands - Eleanor Barraclough
25 Little Face - Sophie Hannah
26 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
27 The Age of Magical Overthinking - Amanda Montell
28 Sedated - James Davies
29 Good Girl - Aria Aber
30 Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits - Emma Wilby
31 The Last Death of the Year - Sophie Hannah
32 Mother Tongue - Jenni Nuttall
33 The Parents’ Guide to Managing Anxiety in Children with Autism - Raelene Dundon
34 Making It So - Patrick Stewart
35 The Starving Saints - Caitlin Starling

36 Hellmouth - Giles Kristian
37 The Opposite of Murder - Sophie Hannah
38 His Only Wife - Peace Adzo Medie
39 A History of Modern Britain in 20 Murders - David Wilson

And the latest:
40 Wolf Worm - T. Kingfisher
It’s 1899, and scientific illustrator Sonia Wilson goes to take up a position in a creepy house deep in the creepy North Carolina woods working for a grumpy entomologist. Semi-cosy horror - it was light-hearted and very funny, but the body horror element was strong (flesh eating fly larvae everyone?) Just the ticket while I was off work with a stinking winter cold - it’s midwinter here but we don’t even get Christmas to make up for it 🙄

Thanks for the new thread @southeastdweller Here’s my list since the last thread, and one review.

62 Beneath Devil’s Bridge by Loreth Anne White
63 The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
64 A Different Dawn by Isabella Maldonado
65 The Falcon by Isabella Maldonado
66 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
67 The Appeal by Janice Hallett
68 The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
69 Kindred by Octavia Butler

69 Kindred by Octavia Butler

The start to this book - an arm in a wall - pulled me straight into the story. Dana is a black woman in the 1970s who is sent back into the early 1800s whenever Rufus’s life is in danger. I found it really interesting that it was always Dana that Rufus called to for help, and the change in the balance of power between the two, as Rufus grew older, was interesting and kind of sad. One of the most compelling parts of the book was watching Rufus change over time, and how completely he was corrupted by the world he grew up in, which was reflected in the way he gradually treated Dana and Alice.

Despite the time travel, this isn’t really a time travel novel. Butler just uses it as a way to immerse both Dana and us in the reality of slavery. The brutality is unflinching, from families being torn apart and children sold, to the physical violence and the routine sexual exploitation of enslaved women. It’s horrifying, but one of the things that struck me most was how slavery corrupted the slave owners. It normalised cruelty, entitlement and the abuse of power until even people who might once have seemed capable of kindness became part of the system. A powerful, thought-provoking novel that has stayed with me, and a definite bold.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

My list so far:

1. The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
2. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
3. Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by John Sutherland
4. Can Jane Eyre be Happy? by John Sutherland
5. The Island by C L Taylor
6. Escape Room by Christopher Edge
7. Zero Days by Ruth Ware
8. The Last Odyssey by James Rollins
9. My Hero Academia Vol 5 by Kohei Horikoshi
10. The Chase by Ava Glass
11. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
12. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
13. How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin
14. The Fast Diet by Dr Michael Mosley & Mimi Spencer
15. No One Would Do What The Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah
16. Menopausing by Davina McCall with Dr Naomi Potter
17. My Hero Academia Vol 6 by Kohei Horikoshi
18. How Not To Be Wrong by James O’Brien
19. The Doctor Will See You Now by Amir Khan
20. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
21. Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu
22. The Promised Neverland Vol 6 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
23. Young Knights of the Round Table by Julia Golding
24. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
25. The Nobody People by Bob Proehl
26. The Every Other Day Diet by Dr Krista Varady & Bill Gottlieb
27. The Promised Neverland Vol 7 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
28. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
29. Wolverine: Origins Vol 4: Our War by Daniel Way, Steve Dillon & Kaare Andrews
30. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Vol 1 by singNsong
31. Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
32. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
33. Our Bodies Their Battlefield by Christina Lamb
34. The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence
35. The Promised Neverland Vol 8 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
36. Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes
37. The Promised Neverland Vol 9 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
38. Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki
39. The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht edited by Susan Dalgety and Lucy Hunter Blackburn
40. That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally
41. Death’s End by Cixin Liu
42. The Future by Naomi Alderman
43. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Vol 2 by singNsong
44. Talk With Your Kids by Michael Parker
45. A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
46. The Promised Neverland Vol 10 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
47. My Hero Academia Vol 7 by Kohei Horikoshi
48. The Castaways by Lucy Clarke
49. The Promised Neverland Vol 11 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
50. First Class Murder by Robin Stevens
51. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
52. The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce
53. The Promised Neverland Vol 12 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu
54. The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence
55. Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet? By John Sutherland

Thank you for the new thread!
I finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I read it in two days, in pretty much two sittings (a speed quite unheard of by me). I have to digest it for a bit. It was certainly magnificent but it made me feel uneasy and sad and longing all at once. I can't stop thinking about.

I also need to write a list of all my books this year while I might still remember them all

Thanks for the new thread. Here's my list carried over, I'm terrible at keeping it up to date so have about 10 more to add later.

1. Tears of Autumn. David Wiltshire.
2. Dead On. Bryan J Mason
3. She Took My Baby. Steena Holmes
4. When The Light Is Mine. Chaz Holesworth
5. The Island King. Gina Giordano
6. The Eagles Shadow. Michael Reit
7. Phoenix Rising. Michael Reit
8. Two Wives. Helen Durrant
9. The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found. Jordan Lees

10. The Hidden Storyteller. Mandy Robotham

11. Lie Quietly. Alice Wright

12. The Seamstress of Auschwitz. C.K McAdam

13. The Angel of Warsaw. Rebecca Scott

14. Crowning the Snow Queen. Michelle Moras

15. The Vicar’s Daughter at the Lodging House. Natalie Meg Evans

16. Finding Ida. Marya Burgess.

17. The Orphan at the Irish Adoption House. Michelle Vernal

18. Braving the Dawn. Peggy Joque Williams

19. Between A Roc and a Hard Place. E.J Tanda

20. Once We Were Sisters. Ann Bennett

21. To His New Wife. Willow Rose

22. The Son of Osivirious. Cathryn Devries

23. A Bedtime Story (Beauty Meets,The Beast.) L.C Moon

24. The Tuscan Sisters Promise. Daniela Sacerdoti

25. A Stranger in the Family. Diane Saxon

26. Small Acts of Mercy. Emma Salisbury

27. The Planter's Daughter. Susan Lanigan

28. Woven In Time. Jessica Ann

29. The Girl With The List. Shari J Ryan

30. The Other Moctezuma Girls. Sofia Robleda

31. The Sister Behind The Berlin Wall. Cynthia Anderson

32. The War Orphans Courage. Jenna Ness

33. The Last Train Home. Marion Kummerow

34. The Children of Hamelin. Janine Ireland

35. Gathering Storm. Maggie Craig

36. What Fools We Have Been. Hank Williams

37. The Last Baby In Auschwitz. Anna Stuart

38. The Diva's Daughter. Heather Walrath

39. Hotel Mirabelle. Valerie Sinason

40. Color of Fire. Gina Giordano

41. The Resident Murder. Jessi Kroft

42. Chameleon. Pip Landers-Lett

43. First of December. Karen Jennings

44. Murder Under Redwood Moon. Sherri L Dodd

45. Tracks in Time. Steve McCarthy

46. Blood Feud. Maya Ross

47. Icarus Plummeting. David Zigmond

48. The Heroine of Auschwitz. Mark Demeza

49. A Long Way Home. Mark Demeza

50. Illegitimate. Maddie Lock

51. Wind Flowers. Lina C. Amarego

52. Where It All Began. Debbie Howells

53. Chosen. Allison Wells

54. The Secrets of Silver Edge. Shirsten Shirts

55. Martin's Eyes. Iain Ballantyn

56. The Sanctuary. Danielle Bannister

57. The Secret House In Orchid Bay. Ann O'Loughlin

58. Death In Valetta. Lynne Marie Taylor

59. Blade of a Witch. Fiona Fairhurst

60. Let's Play a Game

61. Death On the Island. Lynne Marie Taylor

62. The Irish Cottage by the Sea. Clodagh Murphy

63. The Darkening Sky. Hugh Greene

64. The Lemon House Murders. Tucker May

65. Fablenoir. Vic Sinclair

66. A Quantum of Thought. A.D Quinton

67. The Last Daughter of Highdown Hall. Kathy Hayward

68. A World of One's Own. Susan Winterberg

69. Wishes On The Waves. Catherine Michaels

70. Bright Midnights. L.S Delorme

71. The Bone Garden. Tess Burnett

72. The Lady At The Lodging House. Natalie Meg Evans

73. The Flight. Heather J. Fitt (8/5-10/5)

74. Hijab and Red Lipstick. Yousra Imran

75. The Puppet Master. Abigail Osborne

76. How To Bury A Secret. Ainsley Reid

77. The Galway Girl. Steve McCarthy

78. Of Sisters and Spitfires. Frank Francis

79. The Malfunction. Orval Wax

80. A is for Amy. Stevenson Crandell

81. Wednesday Night Whites. Marci Lin Melvin

82. The Nowhere Sisters. Jan Casey

83. Blood Will Be Born. Gary Donnelly

84. A Warriors Vow. Morgan McLaren

85. Temporary Fix. Colleen McNamara

86. Mrs. Benedict. Emma Parry

87. Hope Begins. Rebecca Griffiths

88. A Wartime Promise For The East End Girls. Jean Fullerton

89. The Romance Loop

90. Survivors. Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun

91. Hunted. Abir Mukherjee

92. Case Files Vol 1. Rachel Amphlett

93. Auschwitz: My First Train Journey. Conrad Jones

94. A Fatal Austen Affair. Anna A.Armstrong

95. The People Next Door. Carla Kovach

96. 6 Rocabarra Terrace. CC Gilmartin

97. The Vellum Morta. Myrddin Young

98. The Vineyard Secret. Gosia Nealon

99. The Boy With The Heart of Seaglass. Laura Livingstone

100. Rübezahl. M Laslo

101. The Orange Man and Me. Lord Hugo Dastardly

102. Case Files Vol 2. Rachel Amphlett

103. Three Days Grace. Jeremy Bradley-Silverio Donato

104. Watching Them Humans In The AI Age. Will & Alice Shin

105. The French Vendetta. Simon Michael

106. More Than This. Layla Emmerson

107. Point Blank. Tana Collins

108. Lisa Doyle Is Absolutely Fine. Mo Fanning

109. A Million Miracles. Roberta Kagan

110. Perilous Journey to Freedom. Marion Kummerow.

111. Tam's Tale. Michael Findlay

112. Fanning Fireflies. L.S Delorme

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller. Here is everything I've read since the last thread.

51. Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman – funny and inventive, with enough heart beneath the absurdity to make up for the bouts of toilet humour

52. The Names by Florence Knapp – an intriguing exploration of how domestic abuse echoes across generations, let down by an ending that ties its threads together a little too neatly

53. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – a rich Victorian novel that combines social commentary, memorable characters and one of literature's most satisfying romances

54. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis – a sharp satire of aid politics and identity whose ideas outshine its emotional impact

55. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree – a warm, cosy fantasy about friendship and second chances that succeeds completely on its own modest ambitions

56. Pages to Fill by Travis Baldree – a return to Viv's world that captures the same cosy atmosphere in miniature

57. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson – a beautifully observed family novel where quiet moments carry extraordinary emotional weight

58. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson – a fascinating history of the summer that shaped modern America, full of vivid personalities and Bryson's trademark storytelling

59. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – an entertaining YA puzzle-box that rattles along on clever twists, even if the characters never quite escape their archetypes

60. Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree – another delightful slice of cosy fantasy

61. The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – another fast-paced instalment that doubles down on the twists, though the romantic leads feel more like teen fantasies than real people

62. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty – a joyous Sinbad-inspired pirate adventure with a memorable middle-aged heroine and enough magic and monsters to keep the pages flying

63. Red Shore by William Shaw – a solid, grounded mystery whose understated prose kept me at a distance from characters I wanted to know better

34 Universality by Natasha Brown

Long listed for last year's Booker, it's the kind of book that people in the literary/media/political world love, because it's about people like them.

It is like a few short stories put together with a flimsy connection to each other to pull the whole together as a novel.

We start with a near murder at a rave at a run down old farm during covid. A banker has bought the farm and has let the son of a woman he is sleeping with stay there. He has left a gold ingot there (!) and this is the object used in the attack.

We then follow up on some of the main characters, such as the journalist who broke the story who is now hosting a dinner party for her old uni friends who had dropped her until she became current with the story, but by this point the plot has somewhat been dropped in favour of an exploration of politics, culture wars etc and by the end I felt it was like reading posts on X.

I wasn't keen but it has great reviews.

Thanks for the new thread. My list so far

1 The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas
2 Hitler's People by Richard Evans
3 Malice by Keigo Higashino
4 The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
5 Never A Dull Moment 1971 by David Hepworth
6 Murder at Mount Fuji by Shizuko Natsuki
7 A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray
8 The Party by Tessa Hadley
9 Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd
10 Place Brugman by Alice Austen
11 A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto
12 Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto
13 Murder on Line One by Jeremy Vine
14 The Names by Florence Knapp
15 Point Zero by Seicho Matsumoto
16 Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
17 Imperium by Robert Harris
18 A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor
19 Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
20 Wise by Frank Tallis
21 The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski
22 Geneva by Richard Armitage
23 The Vipers by Katy Hay
24 The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke
25 The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer
26 The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
27 By Your Side by Ruth Jones
28 Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
29 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
30 Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
31 The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
32 YesterYear by Caro Claire Burke
33) Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomiso

I enjoyed your review @TimeforaGandT
I thought it was a fascinating read too.

43. House of Glass - Hadley Freeman

The journalist, Hadley Freeman's book about her Jewish grandmother's family. Her grandmother, Sala, and her brothers grew up in Poland and survived WW1 before fleeing Poland because of anti-Semitic persecution by the Poles. They moved to France where some of them assimilated more than others although they all adopted French/Western names. Two of Sala's/Sara's brothers became very successful - Henri in tech (microfiche photography) and Alex in fashion. But WW2 saw the family being persecuted again but this time by the French. Sara ended up in the US and although she survived the war, she never got over leaving France and her family.

The Glahs/Glass family history is fascinating and it's astonishing, given everything they endured, that two of them were so successful. It's a moving book which focuses on family relationships as much as the historical/political aspects. I know a reasonable amount about WW2 but learnt more.

I think lots of you read it several years ago but I am pleased that I have now done so too (as part of RWYO).

Still Liverpool 50 Booker Squad Unite @Iamnotaloggrip!!

No list from me but a couple more reads.
44 Faking friends Jane Fallon I had said I would not read anything by this author again as I didn't enjoy ‘Worst Idea Ever’ but this one seemed much fresher. It's a revenge plot, a bit formulaic but filled a quiet weekend in an amusing way.
45 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. It became background music for me and I was definitely expecting more as I know it is a classic. I will likely read the next two though. Also re no 44… I have already forgotten what it was about so I think I over reviewed it above!

Checking in - and here's my list so far:

1 - So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
2 - Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
3 - Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
4 - The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
5 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
6 - Take Your Breath Away - Linwood Barclay.
7 - All the Lives We Never Lived - Anuradha Roy
8 - The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffernegger.
9 - The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad
10 - Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout
11 - Revelation - CJ Sampson
12 - Olive, again - Elizabeth Strout
13 - The Storm Sister - Lucinda Riley
14 - The Shadow Sister - Lucinda Riley
15 - 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
16 - Lord of the Flies - William Golding
17 - I'm the King of the Castle - Susan Hill
18 - Wobegon Boy - Garrison Keillor
19 - Death at the Sign of the Rook - Kate Atkinson
20 - Paris Echo - Sebastian Faulks
21 - Three wishes - Lianne Moriarty
22 - Piranesi - Susannah Clarke
23 - My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout
24 - Anything is Possible - Elizabeth Strout
25 - The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
26 - Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
27 - Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O'Farrell
28 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
29 - The Boy who Followed his Father into Auschwitz - Jeremy Dronfield

Finished the last one on a train last night. It's the true story of a father and son in various concentration camps during WW2. Their story is extraordinary but I didn't always like the way it was written - there was a lot of sensationalising where it just wasn't necessary. The number of times he must have said 'and worse was still to come...' - their whole experience was, as you'd expect, horrific and that cliffhanger style at the end of chapters just didn't sit right with me. Still, it's important these stories are told and I'm glad I read it.

Harking back to the Dickensian footballers, can I chuck Leighton Baines in the mix? Not even so much for his name, but the fact he just looks like he's stepped out of the Victorian era! Stick some breeches on him and he'd fit right into a period drama. (Fellow Evertonian here @Tarragon123 - sorry @EineReiseDurchDieZeit!)

Thank you @Southeastdweller . I am glad to hear you are managing to carve out a little time for reading.

Thanks @Southeastdweller !

1. I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
2. North Wood by Daniel Mason
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
4. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
5. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
6. A Village in the Third Reich: How ordinary lives were transformed by Fascism by Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel
7. If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
8. Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
9. The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani
10. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
11. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
12. Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
13. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
14. The Names by Florence Knapp
15. Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
16. I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel
17. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
18. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
19. Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang
20. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
21. Hail Project Mary by Andy Weir
22. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
23. Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
24. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
25. Hermit by Chris McQueer
26. Notes on an Execution By Danya Kukafka
27. The Story of a Nobody by Anton Chekhov
28. The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver
29. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
30. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit (and @ChessieFL for the original mention). I've bought Muv too.

Thanks for the new thread southeast!

My list since the last thread:

31 Cold Earth - Ann Cleeves
32 Joe Country - Mick Herron
33 Slough House - Mick Herron
34 Entitled: the Rise and Fall of the House of York - Andrew Lownie
35 Wild Fire - Ann Cleeves
36 Bad Actors - Mick Herron
37 Standing by the Wall - Mick Herron
38 The Sea Sisters - Louise Douglas

Thanks for the new thread, @Southeastdweller.

My list since the last thread:

41.The Loved and Envied - Enid Bagnold
42. Dear Reader - Cathy Rentzenbrink
43. Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshizaku Kawaguchi
44. Black Sunset - Clancy Sigal
45. Another World - Melvyn Bragg
46. Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers
47. Answer in the Negative - Henrietta Hamilton
48. Craftland - James Fox
49. How To End A Story - Helen Garner
50. Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice - Helen Garner
51. Through A Glass, Darkly - Helen McCloy

And I've just finished 52. Enough Said - Alan Bennett
I suppose it’s not surprising that a beloved writer in his late 80's (he turns 90 during the course of these diaries) should be increasingly focused on the past, on family and friends he's lost, and on his own achievements of years ago. I'm a big Bennett fan but I did find this volume deeply sad - despite some guffaws - as he chronicles his infirmity and the indignities of age. His frailness when he was interviewed on the radio about the book told its own story and I don’t think there'll be another volume, sadly.

Thanks, have bought that one!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit- thanks for the tip-off!

Thank you as always for keeping us organised @Southeastdweller - much appreciated!

@DesdamonasHandkerchief I've recently started Thirst too but am listening to it, narrated by the author. I understand your disappointment if you were looking for a liquid version of Hungry by Grace Dent (which would be an excellent idea for a book!!). Personally, I'm always questioning my relationship with alcohol so it's a good listen so far for me.

Like several PP I'm also packing but as I'm heading to Blighty I'm only taking one physical book with me and my kindle. An emergency visit to a charity shop could be justified if necessary but frustratingly, I need to travel very light on the way home. I have selected My brilliant friend - Elena Ferrante from my bookcase as I've been looking forward to it for ages. What do you think my chances are of finding the next instalments in aforementioned charity shops??

Just finished
30 - We solve murders - Richard Osman which I have thoroughly enjoyed. An easy read, and good fun.

And because I'm doing everything topsy turvy in today's post here's my list ;)

• Lethal White – Robert Galbraith
• Revenge wears Prada – Laura Weisberger
• Bookish: How reading shapes our lives – Lucy Mangan
• Maurice & Maralyn – Sophie Elmhirst
• Menopausing – Davina McCall + Dr Naomi Potter
• Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan
• Troubled Blood – Robert Galbraith
• There are rivers in the sky – Elif Shafak
• East of Croydon – Sue Perkins
• Notes on a nervous planet – Matt Haig
• Learn Italian – Paul Noble

• The Ink Black Heart – Robert Galbraith
• The Light between Oceans – M L Stedman
• Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
• Went to London, took the dog – Nina Stibbe
• The Wedding People – Alison Espach
• Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
• Fallout – Eleanor Anstruther (ARC)
• Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
• Eat Bitter – Lydia Pang (ARC)
• Death at the sign of the rook – Kate Atkinson
• An unlikely visitor – Joanna Cannon (ARC)
• Summer at the French bakery – Jo Thomas (ARC)
• Rewilding – Jane Green (ARC)
• Hungry Eyes – Dawn O’Porter (ARC)
• Ducks, Newburyport – Lucy Ellmann
• Yellowface – R F Kuang
• How not to be a boy – Robert Webb
• When the cranes fly south – Lisa Ridzén
• We solve murders - Richard Osman

Thanks for new thread. Have a few things on the go.
Hell Bay and the Mary Portas, both recs from the last thread.

Also a re-listen to John and Paul.

For those interested, I did a Wish List search today and the book Muv about the Mitford Sisters Mum mentioned by @ChessieFL has dropped massively in price on Kindle to £1.99