12 books in 12 months (suggestions please)

[BethanyGilbert]

I’m trying to read 12 books in 2020. Previously I’ve gone months without reading and then will read a book in 2 days. I would like to broaden my experience to include fiction and non fiction and books I maybe wouldn’t choose. Any suggestions please?
I have already read The Five and The Day Olivia Fell since I started on the 1st.

A man called Ove
Tattooist of Auschwitz
The travelling cat chronicles
Becoming Michelle Obama
The familiars

These were some of our Book Club reads last year, and were ones that most of us enjoyed.

Bring Up the Bodies

Another vote for All The Light....and anything by Kate Atkinson. Also the Lindsey Hilsum biog of war correspondent Marie Colvin is very good. I'm actually just reading When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit which is technically for children, I thought I'd screen it for my 9yo to read and am very glad I've read it again.

Where the crawdads sing

Also loved:

Night circus
All the light we cannot see

Moving- Jenni Eclair
The BookThief
253- Geoff Ryman
The Chrysalids- John Wyndham
Shogun- James Clavell

I just finished Sarah Perry's Melmoth, and if you're looking for a spooky October book it'll fit all the parameters.

Before that, I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which was lovely

Depends what you like of course and what you want to get out of the challenge.

You could read The Casual Vacancy and then marvel at how such an incredibly successful author can get one book so utterly, utterly wrong.

If you have a strange sense of humour (like me) then Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.

If you've never read it, To Kill A Mockingbird.

And another (and very genuine) recommendation for The Book Thief.

There's a suggestion going around to try and encourage people to read books that they might not always. I'm doing it as part of an online book club. Here's the screenshot.

My favourite book is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Fascinating insight into the evolution of humans. I love his style of writing, too, so it's very easy to read

Some great suggestions here. I'll add
Leonard and hungry Paul. Ronan Hession.
Convenience store woman. Sayaka Murata
When all is said and done. Anne Griffin

Where the crawdads sing

The blue castle- l m Montgomery

Eleanor & Park

Educated

Why be happy when you could be normal

I could list hundreds-I've managed to have time for audiobooks when I've less time for paper & love it

Asking for it - Louise o’neill

Invisible women

War Doctor - David Nott
All that remains - Sue Black
Both non fiction and utterly gripping.

The Cows - Dawn O Porter
Pretty good fiction and cheap on kindle

I really didn't like I am I am I am by Maggie O Farrell - the first chapter was good. The rest just got worse imo.

Real old classic but absolutely beautiful-
A town like Alice

The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Another vote for The Book Thief
A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared - Jonas Johansson

I would also recommend All the Light We Cannot See and Wolf Hall.

Educated by Tara Westover has been popular with Book Groups recently and is very good.

How about some Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love.

Id also recommend some Edith Wharton - The Buccaneers or any of hers.

Elizabeth Gaskell for a 19th century classic - North and South or Cranford.

And why not a children's classic too - Little Women, or I Capture the Castle.

I'd also recommend Ian McKewan - perhaps Atonement.

Do No Harm - Henry Marsh
The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell
The Ocean at the end of the lane - Neil Gaiman

Some of my favourite reads from 2019 🙂

100 years of solitude,Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Simply enchanting.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have two more on my kindle to read and then I’ll start on some of these.
All the light we don’t see (?) will probably be the next one as so many people suggested it. And Sapiens has piqued my interest. Thanks for all the suggestions. Can’t wait to get started.

Rosamunde pilcher The shell seekers.my favourite book ever. I read it at least twice each year.
The rivers of London series. Harry Potter for grown ups
Clan of the cave bears. Was a book club read, I moaned I didn’t want to read a book about cavemen! I had to eat my words,
It’s one of my favourite series ever.
The house at riverton by Kate Morton
Any book by Marian Keyes, Cathy glass, Diane chamberlain, jodie picolt and penny Vincenzo.
So many great books so little time!!!

Ooh and the snow child, lovely story for this time of the year

Two new novels by wonderful novelists appearing this spring — Actress by Anne Enright and The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel.

Just ordered the Shell Seekers, looking forward to reading it.

My absolute favourite is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. If you haven’t already read Jane Eyre, read that first: WSS tells the story from the mad wife’s POV (and is beautifully written)
Also recommend all the light you cannot see.

I have a non Fiction book that looks promising:
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics by Tim Marshall.

(I haven't read it yet but it is nex on my list after the Saladin Trilogy by Jack High= not everyone's cup of tea!)