50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Nine

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth (and definitely final) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2018, though reading fifty wasn't mandatory. The lurkers among you are also very welcome to come out of the woodwork and share with us what you've read!

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here, the seventh one here and the eighth one here.

How have you got on this year? Feel free to list your stats, full lists, favourites and disappointments!

Delurking - I started following the threads in January but got out the habit of posting, but as a result of these threads I have read more books - and more importantly - much better books than I have done in years I also have a sizeable "want to read" goodreads list which is great when browsing the library shelves.

My total is 59 books, I think over 90% of those were recommended on here. My highlights were

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Sugar Money by Jane Harris
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Beartown was brilliant and is being made into a TV series - I urge you to read the book first as the TV series is unlikely to be able to capture the pressure-cooker tension of the novel and the triumphs and pitfalls of loyalty and belonging in a small hockey town. Loved it.

Biggest disappointments were Cartes Postales by Victoria Hislop which felt like she was scraping the barrel to meet a publishing deadline, and XX by Angela Chadwick which had a great concept but was much too superficial to fulfil it's potential, along with some classic cliches and unrealistic plot lines.

Really looking forward to continuing with these threads into 2019

Thanks for the thread, southeast, much appreciated. My list:

1. Van Gogh's Ear - Bernadette Murphy
2. Sleeping in the Ground - Peter Robinson
3. No Fond Return of Love - Barbara Pym
4. What She Ate - Laura Shapiro
5. The Home-Maker - Dorothy Canfield Fisher
6. The Blackest Streets - Sarah Wise
7. Searching for Caleb - Anne Tyler
8. Two Kinds of Truth - Michael Connolly
9. The Party - Elizabeth Day

10. Sunday Morning Coming Down - Nicci French 11. A Very English Scandal - John Preston 12. The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain - Ian Mortimer 13. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson 14. What Dark Clouds Hide - Anne Holt 15. Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer 16: A Life of my Own - Claire Tomalin 17: The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst - Nicholas Tomalin & Ron Hall 18: A Life in the Day - Hunter Davies 19: Adult Onset - Ann-Marie MacDonald 20: Doctor's Children - Josephine Elder 21: A Life in Questions - Jeremy Paxman 22: An Academic Question - Barbara Pym 23: Still Waters - Viveca Sten 24: A Talent for Murder - Andrew Wilson 25: The Pedant in the Kitchen - Julian Barnes 26: Mother Country - Jeremy Harding 27: The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau - Graeme Macrae Burnet 28: The Fact of a Body - Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich 29: Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard - Sara Wheeler 30: Closed Circles - Viveca Sten 31: A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym 32: The Small Back Room - Nigel Balchin 33: All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers - Larry McMurtry 34: Force of Nature - Jane Harper 35. Scissors, Paper, Stone - Elizabeth Day 36. The Story of Alice - Robert Douglas-Fairhurst 37. Jane and Prudence - Barbara Pym 38. Darkness Falls from the Air - Nigel Balchin 39: Serious Sweet - A. L. Kennedy 40: Less Than Angels - Barbara Pym 41: Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 42: The Expendable Man - Dorothy B. Hughes 43: Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret - Craig Brown 44: The Fields Beneath - Gillian Tindall 45: The Green Road - Anne Enright 46: Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - Julia Strachey 47: I'm Travelling Alone - Samuel Björk 48: Canal Dreams - Iain Banks 49: Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiney 50: The Italian Boy - Sarah Wise 51: Love Like Blood - Mark Billingham 52: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman 53: Daddy's Gone A-Hunting - Penelope Mortimer 54: The Gastronomical Me - M. F. K. Fisher 55: The Pumpkin Eater - Penelope Mortimer 56: The Western Wind - Samantha Harvey 57: Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney 58: Victorians Undone - Kathryn Hughes 59: The Slaves of Solitude - Patrick Hamilton 60: Doreen - Barbara Noble 61: My Friend Says It's Bullet-Proof - Penelope Mortimer 62: Whiteout - Ragnar Jónasson 63: Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng 64: Day of the Dead - Nicki French 65: Time of Death - Mark Billingham 66: West of Eden - Jean Stein 67: The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje 68: How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian - Stewart Lee 69: Insidious Intent - Val McDermid 70: The Waters of Eternal Youth - Donna Leon 71: Dadland - Keggie Carew 72: No Name - Wilkie Collins 73: Snap - Belinda Bauer 74: The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe 75: The Whites - Richard Price 76: The Accident on the A35 - Graeme Macrae Burnet 77: Heartburn - Nora Ephron 78: The Shepherd's Life - James Rebanks 79: The Outsider - Stephen King 80: Deep Sea and Foreign Going - Rose George 81: In A House of Lies - Ian Rankin 82: Crampton Hodnet - Barbara Pym

Favourites in bold. Biggest highlights - all the Pyms, which I fell in love with. The Expendable Man, a terrific vintage thriller with a twist I can't even start to explain, but I really recommend. The Stewart Lee book because it was so interesting about the craft of comedy (and was funny).

I failed to read many of the non-fiction books I own (history, biography) and really want to read, opting instead for easier choices, so that's a bit of a goal for 2019.

I'm still intending to get one more crossed off before midnight on Monday

Thankyou, southeast. I’ve been lurking for months and not posting because I’ve not been finding time in between millions of Uni assignments to write reviews of my reads, but I’m still enjoying everybody else’s and adding to my huge to read list every time!
I managed 83 this year:

1. *Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars

Mytting*

1. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
2. He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly
3. River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
4. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
5. The Girls by Lisa Jewell

7.Dead Sky by Tami Hoag

1. Fever by Megan Abbot
2. Court of Lions by Jane Johnson

10. The Son by Jo Nesbo 11. Nothing On Earth by Conor O'Callaghan 12. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh 13. Fukushima Dreams by Zelda Rhiando 14. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee 15. The Wrong 'Un by Catherine Evans 16. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 17. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 18. Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood 19. I See You by Clare Mackintosh 20. Monsters by Raphaela Weissman 21. Reader, I Married Him edited by Tracy Chevalier 22. The Seagull by Ann Cleeves 23. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jessmyn Ward 24. Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon 25. Cousins by Salley Vickers 26. When I Hit You by Meera Kandasamy 27. The Pumilio Child by Judy McInerney 28. I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell 29. Love Bites by Elena Kaufman 30. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier 31. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell 32. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty 33. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt 34. A Boy In Winter by Rachel Seiffert 35. The Moor by Sam Haysom 36. The Hunger by Alma Katsu 37. White Rabbit, Red Wolf by Tom Pollock 38. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 39. The Breakthrough by Daphne du Maurier 40. The Burning Hill by A.D.Flint 41.Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig 42.The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle 43.It’s All In Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan 44. Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves 45. Force of Nature by Jane Harper 46. The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware 47. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears 48. The Cartography of Others by Catherine McNamara 49. The Woman in the Window by A.J.Finn 50. The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal 51. Watching You by Lisa Jewell 52. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 53. Blue Dog by Louis de Bernieres 54. The Scent of Almonds by Camilla Lackberg 55. The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase 56. The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdottir 57. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje 58. The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve 59. Dead Water by Anne Cleeves 60. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 61. Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World by Caitlin Davies 62. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan 63. Snap by Belinda Bauer 64. Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer 65. The Corset by Laura Purcell 66. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer 67. The Lives of Stella Bain by Anita Shreve 68. Naive.Super by Erlend Loe 69. Milkman by Anna Burns 70. The Water Cure by Sophie Macintosh 71. Normal People by Sally Rooney 72. All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve 73. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith 74. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 75. 24 Stories edited by Kathy Burke 76. The Facts of Life and Death by Belinda Bauer 77. Talking To my Daughter about the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis 78. Head of State by Andrew Marr 79. Ayiti by Roxane Gay 80. The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben 81. The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer 82. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 83. An Almond for a Parrot by Wray Delaney

This year’s favourite five:
An Instance of the Fingerpost Iain Pears
My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier
Washington Black Esi Edugyan
The English Patient Michael Ondaatje
Sing, Unburied Sing Jessmyn Ward

Lurker coming out! I did start the year with good intentions about keeping up with this thread but failed miserably. I intend to be much better in 2019.

I have really enjoyed reading the threads & many of the books I've read this year have been recommendations from here.

My three stand out reads of the year have been:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Much recommended on here.

The Unseen World by Liz Moore. I read it early this year & my review of it is here

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. My book of the year. Totally believable & Part 3 was very thought provoking especially with all the news about genetic engineering.

Hi, another one delurking! I've been following this all year and want to say thank you for all the great recommendations and reviews, my reading wish list is enormous now .

I have just completed book 50, which I would not have believed back in January. My top 5 of the year:

The Woman in White - Willie Collins
Heart's Invisible Furies- John Boyne
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Mermaid and Mrs Hancock- Imogen Hermes Gower
Witchfinder's Sister- Beth Underdown.

Just to let you know that there are 6 Agatha Christie novels for 99p on Kindle's Big Deal of the Day, today.

Thanks for the bonus thread southeast.

Here’s my 2018 list:

1. Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh
2. The Sixth Extinction by James Rollins
3. Sky Key by James Frey
4. Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
5. The Reproductive System by John Sladek
6. Malice by Keigo Higashino
7. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
8. Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
9. The Atlantis Plague by A. G. Riddle

10. Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino 11. Disclaimer by Renee Knight 12. Walk by Shoto Radford 13. Accidents Happen by Louise Millar 14. Departure by A.G.Riddle 15. Angel of Storms by Trudi Canavan 16. Anxiety for Beginners by Eleanor Morgan 17. Exposure by Aga Lesiewicz 18. The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman 19. The Power by Naomi Alderman 20. Haunting Christmas Tales 21. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken 22. Uniquely Human by Dr Barry M. Prizant with Tom Fields-Meyer 23. Impact by Adam Baker 24. The Very First Damned Thing / When A Child Is Born / Roman Holiday / Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings / The Great St. Mary’s Day Out / My Name is Markham by Jodi Taylor 25. Lies, Damned Lies and History by Jodi Taylor 26. The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah 27. Starlight by Melissa Landers 28. The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen 29. Autism and the Stress Effect by Theresa Hamlin 30. Zero Day by Jan Gangsei 31. Empire Games by Charles Stross 32. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness 33. The Spark by Kristine Barnett 34. The Girl Before by JP Delaney 35. Lily Alone by Vivien Brown 36. The Expats by Chris Pavone 37. My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon 38. Rules of the Game by James Frey 39. My Not so Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella 40. The Apartment by S.L. Grey 41. Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb 42. The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly 43. Firefight by Brandon Sanderson 44. Did You See Melody by Sophie Hannah 45. Touched by Joanna Briscoe 46. Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly 47. Zoo by James Patterson 48. And The Rest is History by Jodi Taylor 49. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 50. The Six Sacred Stones by Matthew Reilly 51. Perception by Terri Fleming 52. Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes 53. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick 54. The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly 55. The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson 56. The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar 57. The Silence by Tim Lebbon 58. End of Watch by Stephen King 59. Firestorm by Lucy Hounsom 60. The Clever Guts Diet by Dr Michael Mosley 61. The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard 62. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 63. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins 64. Faking Friends by Jane Fallon 65. Reamde by Neal Stephenson 66. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll 67. The Ocean at the Bottom of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 68. Pied Piper by Nevil Shute 69. Calamity by Brandon Sanderson 70. Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry 71. A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin 72. The New Hunger by Isaac Marion 73. Unfed by Kirsty McKay 74. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight 75. Successor’s Promise by Trudi Canavan 76. Do No Harm by Henry Marsh 77. Never Saw It Coming by Linwood Barclay 78. The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald 79. Warcross by Marie Lu 80. Parasite by Mira Grant 81. The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North 82. Savage Island by Bryony Pearce 83. Four Past Midnight by Stephen King 84. Sand by Hugh Howey 85. The Trophy Child by Paula Daly 86. Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson 87. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan 88. My American Duchess by Eloisa James

51% women
7% ebooks
69% library books
9% non-fiction

Top 5:

Uniquely Human by Dr Barry M. Prizant with Tom Fields-Meyer;
Red Sister by Mark Lawrence;
Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb;
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler;
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

Happy Christmas!

The only problem with these threads (when I don’t fall off them!) is all the lovely recs that then either the library doesn’t have or the wait list is so long I read them 6 months after everyone else has discussed them!

Remus, did you get a fire so you could use Overdrive? That’s why I have one, and it’s fab. Also how did I not know Joan Aiken wrote regency romps- I love Heyer, and loved Aiken’s short stories, especially the ones about the two children when weird things happened on Mondays (so sorry don’t have the book to give a better title, but one was called “yes, but today is Tuesday”).

Too much, I have only been to Berlin for a day, but an unexpected pleasure was the Reichstag (the government building); you have to book but it is free, it has a Norman Foster designed roof and great views.

74. Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh. A great one to come to at Christmas, although annoyingly I can’t find a copy of the next one! It is clearly harder for Marsh to do the classic murder mystery now I think we are in the 70s, but this is a nice go at the country house murder and pleasingly festive. I will be sad when I am done with these- and if I count it must make a good % of my total female crime writer!

1. I Love Dick by Chris Kraus
2. The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy

3.Game of Thrones 1 by George R R Martin

1. The Nix by Nathan Hill

5. This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson 6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 7. Mariana by Monica Dickens

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

9. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 10. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 11. You Play The Girl by Carina Chocano 12. Heartstone by CJ Sansom 13. Life Moves Pretty Fast by Hadley Freeman 14. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson 15. The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens 16. The Wild Other by Clover Stroud 17. My Favourite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris 18. Enigma by Robert Harris 19. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron 20. The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie 21. Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood 22. You Think It I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld 23. The Only Story by Julian Barnes 24. The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacClean 25. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert 26. Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans 27. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng 28. The Soul of an Octopus by Anne Someone 29. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham 30. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry 31. The Rotter’s Club by Jonathan Coe 32. The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe 33. The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney 34. Circe by Madeleine Miller 35. The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller 36. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata 37. Things I don’t Want to Know by Deborah Levy 38. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling 39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling (rereads with ds) 40. How to Break Up With Your Phone 41. The Mother of All Jobs by Christine Armstrong 42. I’m Absolutely Fine 43. The Prisoner of Azkaban (reread with ds) 44. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng 45. Milkman by Anna Burns 46. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner 47. Melmoth by Sarah Perry 48. Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans 49. A Month in the Country by JL Carr 50. How Not to Be a Boy by Robert Webb 51. How to Be Right by James O’Brien

I’ve bolded all the ones I particularly enjoyed, those I didn’t in italics.

Top 5:
This Thing of Darkness
Milkman
Circe
The Rotter’s Club
Mariana

My Favourite Thing is Monsters and A Month in the Country if I could have a top 7.

Just realised A Day in the Life of Ivan Denysovich isn’t there. Top 8? Realising I had quite a good year!

Thanks for the thread southeast, really enjoying all the end of year posts. I always read the threads but don't post as often as I should, think since I last posted I have finished...
38. The Break by Marianne Keyes
39. Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
40. A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson
41. Entry Island by Peter May
42. Becoming by Michelle Obama

Looking over my list now I think the highlights from the year have been Becoming, the Robert Galbraith books, The Hate U Give, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Days Without End, The Four Pillar Plan and Eat, Drink, Run.

My 'reading' this year has been 50% books and 50% audiobooks. Was feeling virtuous for only buying 4 physical books this year, but I've just realised that only 6 of the books I've read were from my mighty TBR pile, which explains why it hasn't gone down much!

Next year I plan to try reading some poetry, and I just might make an effort to reach 50 books for the first time. I've flittered about between four books over the last couple of weeks, don't think I'll finish any in 2018 but my 2019 list might get off to a flying start.

how did I not know Joan Aiken wrote regency romps

I don't know but however it was I didn't know either. I'm really surprised as they are very different to her style of children's books.

Some stats:

Longest book - London by Edward Rutherford

shortest book - Deferred sunlight by Katherine Highland (the author is a friend of mine and this is an excellent book about autism which raises funds for the UK autism charity she works for - shameless plug!)

oldest book - Sense and Sensibility
newest book - My name is Anna
most read author - Jeffrey Archer because I read his free series of a year of short stories so 12 books just from him.

53% female
47% male
1% unknown

27% non fiction
73% fiction

My final list (I am not optimistic that I will finish Dark Tower IV aka Wizard and Glass by the end of the year!):

1. Fall Out - Tim Shipman
2. All Out War - Tim Shipman
3. In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl - Rachel Tresize
4. Amy & Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
5. You think it, I'll say it - Curtis Sittenfeld
6. Last Rituals - Yrsa Sigurdardottir (hereafter YS)
7. My Soul to Take - YS
8. Ashes to Dust - YS
9. The Day is Dark - YS

10. The Silence of the Sea - YS 11. Someone to Watch Over Me - YS 12. Blacklands - Belinda Bauer (hereafter BB) 13. Dark Side - BB 14. Finders Keepers - BB 15. Rubbernecker - BB 16. The Facts of Life and Death - BB 17. Shut Eye - BB 18. The Beautiful Dead - BB 19. Snap - BB 21. Close to Home - Cara Hunter 22. The Party - Elizabeth Day 23. Scissors, Paper, Stone - Elizabeth Day 24. The End of Everything - Megan Abbott 25. Dare Me - Megan Abbott 26. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney 27. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng 28. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge 29. Resin - Ane Riel 30. Hunger - Roxane Gay 31. Women & Power - Mary Beard 32. Broken Ground - Val McDermid 33. Lullaby - Leila Slimani 34. This is Going to Hurt - Adam Kay 35. Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale 36. Who Killed Roger Ackroyd - Pierre Bayard 37. High Rollers - Jack Bowman 38. The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken 39. Transcription - Kate Atkinson 40. Asymmetry - Lisa Halliday 41. The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne 42. You Let Me In - Lucy Clarke 43. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind 44. Milkman - Anna Burns 45. The Gunslinger: Dark Tower I - Stephen King. 46. The Legacy - YS 47. Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King 48. The Cry - Helen Fitzgerald 49. If they Knew - Joanne Sefton 50. Ancient Light - John Banville 51. The Girl in the Spider's Web - David Lagercrantz 52. Dark Tower III: The Wastelands - Stephen King 53. Anatomy of a Scandal - Sarah Vaughan 54. Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty 55. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty 56. The 'Adults' - Caroline Hulse 57. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett 58. I am, I am, I am - Maggie O'Farrell 59. Codename Villanelle - Luke Jennings 60. No Tomorrow - Luke Jennings 61. A History of Loneliness - John Boyne

The only one I haven't yet reviewed is A History of Loneliness - my second John Boyne of the year. I preferred The Heart's Invisible Furies , which was one of my books of the year (see further below) but this was very good too - a thought-provoking story of child abuse within the Catholic church through the eyes of a priest who is not as innocent as he seems. If anyone is interested in a similar book from a more US/political thriller angle, I can thoroughly recommend my friend C. S. Farrelly's The Shepherd's Calculus. Very excitingly, I had a message from her yesterday in which she told me she had a call from Bill Clinton after they were both on the same Amazon bestseller list!

Anyway, I haven't bolded the titles because I'm in a bit of a rush, but I think my top 5 fiction were (in no particular order):

The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty
State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
Milkman - Anna Burns
Transcription - Kate Atkinson

At the time, I wasn't sure about Transcription but it has stayed with me in a way some of the other books haven't. I also really enjoyed Blacklands by Belinda Bauer and Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, and the Dark Tower series has been a great discovery (thanks to this thread!).

I'm not a big non-fiction reader, as you can see, but I thought Hunger by Roxane Gay was a tour de force, and I would like everyone to read the Secret Barrister* book, as our legal aid system really is broken and more people should know about it.

Stats-wise, I've just done the male/female split:

25% male
3% unknown
72% female

That's pretty usual for me, I think. I mainly read female writers.

My complete 2018 list with highlights in bold and the rubbish and average in italics:

1. Sirens - Joseph Knox
2. Winter - Ali Smith
3. Diary of an Ordinary Housewife - Margaret Forster
4. But You Did Not Come Back - Marceline Loridan-Ivens
5. The Dry - Jane Harper
6. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
8. How to Be Champion - Sarah Millican
9. A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House - Shoukei Matsumoto

10. Inside the Wave - Helen Dunmore 11. Postcards From the Edge - Carrie Fisher 12. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 13. Exit West - Mohsin Hamid 14. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge 15. Women & Power - Mary Beard 16. First Love - Gwendoline Riley 17. The Gender Games - Juno Dawson 18. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro 19. The Good Immigrant - Various 20. Simon vs. The Homesapiens Agenda - Becky Albaertalli 21. Straight Jacket - Matthew Todd 22. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders 23. Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor 24. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real…- Johann Hari 25. Bookworm - Lucy Mangan 26. When Will There Be Bad News? - Kate Atkinson 27. In Therapy - Susie Orbach 28. Black Dogs - Ian McEwan 29. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson 30. Tin Man - Sarah Winman 31. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng 32. Notes on a Nervous Planet - Matt Haig 33. Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret - Craig Brown 34. The Pedant in the Kitchen - Julian Barnes 35. The Blue Touch Paper - David Hare 36. The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne 37. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden 38. Calypso - David Sedaris 39. Nevertheless: A Memoir - Alec Baldwin 40. Normal People - Sally Rooney 41. Transcription - Kate Atkinson 42. One of Your Own: The Life and Death of Myra Hindley - Carol Ann Lee 43. Sabrina - Nick Drnaso 44. Brighton Rock - Graham Green 45. The Red House Mystery - A.A Milne 46. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn 47. The Art of Not Falling Apart - Christina Patterson 48. The Visitor's Book - Sophie Hannah 49. How to Break Up With Your Phone - Catherine Price 50. The Girls of Slender Means - Muriel Spark 51. Blowing the Bloody Doors Off - Michael Caine 52. The Hours Before Dawn - Celia Fremlin 53. Reunion - Fred Uhlman 54. The Descent of Man - Grayson Perry 55. Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata 56. Twisting My Melon - Shaun Ryder 57. How to Be Right - James O'Brien 58. Fox 8 - George Saunders 59. Work Like a Woman - Mary Portas 60. Christmas Days - Jeanette Winterson 61. Coal Black Mornings - Brett Anderson 62. Person-Centred Counselling in Action - Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne

51% women / 49% male
41% non-fiction / 59% fiction
8% ebooks / 92% physical books
Average rating: A mediocre 2.8 (according to Goodreads). I say this every year but next year I need to be more discerning when choosing books. I'm setting my Goodreads 2019 goal to 50 instead of 60 as I want to read more big-ish books that are hopefully engrossing as I've realised looking at this list that generally I don't find short books at all satisfying to read.

Top five fiction:

1. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (also my book of the year)
2. Normal People - Sally Rooney
3. The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
4. Reunion - Fred Uhlman
5. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Top five non-fiction:

1. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
2. In Therapy - Susie Orbach
3. The Blue Touch Paper - David Hare
4. Coal Black Mornings - Brett Anderson
5. Calypso - David Sedaris

Biggest disappointments were the utterly crap but thankfully short The Visitor's Book and First Love.

My list, highlights in bold:

1. Jacob’s Room Is Full Of Books by Susan Hill
2. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
3. The Dry by Jane Harper
4. Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson
5. Oh My God What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysart
6. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
8. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
9. Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill

10. The Rebecca Notebook And Other Memories by Daphne du Maurier 11. Wuthering Heights According To Spike Milligan 12. The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend 13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 14. All She Wants by Jonathan Harvey 15. Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott 16. The Trouble With Goats And Sheep by Joanna Cannon 17. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett 18. Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard 19. The Outcasts Of Time by Ian Mortimer 20. The Power by Naomi Alderman 21. How To Stop Time by Matt Haig 22. The Secret Library by Oliver Tearle 23. Close To Home by Cara Hunter 24. Arrowood by Laura McHugh 26. Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years by Sue Townsend 27. Pemberley by Emma Tennant 28. When She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell 29. The Child by Fiona Barton 30. The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence 31. Burnt Paper Sky by Gilly Macmillan 32. Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson 33. Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard 34. Timekeepers: How The World Became Obsessed With Time by Simon Garfield 35. The Hiding Places by Katherine Webb 36. Dangerous Days In Elizabethan England by Terry Deary 37. Nelly Dean by Alison Case 38. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 39. The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory 40. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen by Leanda de Lisle 41. All Change by Elizabeth Jane Howard 42. Britain By The Book: A Curious Tour Of Our Literary Landscape by Oliver Tearle 43. Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes 44. Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory. 45. The Runaways by Ruth Thomas 46. Under The Duvet by Marian Keyes 47. The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw 48. Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain by James Bloodworth 49. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Tales From The Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty 50. The Vanishing Of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase 51. Animal Farm by George Orwell 52. Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan 53. Relight My Fire by Joanna Bolouri 54. Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure by John Cleland 55. Before You Die by Samantha Hayes 56. In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume 57. Turn Right At The Spotted Dog: And Other Diversions by Jilly Cooper 58. The RMS Titanic Miscellany by John D T White 59. Quiet Power by Susan Cain 60. The Reunion by Samantha Hayes 61. Quiet by Susan Cain 62. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald 63. America’s Back Porch by Daniel Jeffreys 64. Notes From The Sofa by Raymond Briggs 65. Saturday Requiem by Nicci French 66. Never Greener by Ruth Jones 67. Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh 68. This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay 69. A Wild Life by Martin Hughes-Games 70. Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister 71. The Years She Stole by Jonathan Harvey 72. Posing for Picasso by Sam Stone 73. Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge 74. Five Children On The Western Front by Kate Saunders 75. The Corpse Bridge by Stephen Booth 76. Bookworm: A Memoir Of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan 77. The Time Traveller’s Guide To Restoration Britain by Ian Mortimer 78. Sunday Morning Coming Down by Nicci French 79. Victoria Wood: Comedy Genius - Her Life And Work by Chris Foote Wood 80. A Piano In The Pyrenees by Tony Hawk 81. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella 82. The Lido by Libby Page 83. Our House by Louise Candlish 84. The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower 85. The Greedy Queen: Eating With Victoria by Annie Gray 86. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell 87. The Betrayals by Fiona Neill 88. Need You Dead by Peter James 89. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty 90. Blood Sugar by Suzanna Dunn 91. Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris 92. Dead If You Don’t by Peter James 93. All That Remains: A Life In Death by Professor Sue Black 94. The Secret Barrister: Stories Of The Law And How It's Broken by The Secret Barrister 95. The Woman In The Window by A J Finn 96. The List by Joanna Bolouri 97. Force of Nature by Jane Harper 98. An Almond For A Parrot by Wray Delaney 99. When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman 100. Thanks For The Memories by Cecelia Ahern 101. Islander: A Journey Round Our Archipelago by Patrick Barkham 102. Are You Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace 103. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 104. Emily by Jilly Cooper 105. Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure by Dave Gorman 106. The Secret History Of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Bronte Wrote Her Masterpiece by John Pfordresher 107. G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton 108. And The Rest Is History by Jodi Taylor 109. An Argumentation Of Historians by Jodi Taylor 110: The Long And Short Of It by Jodi Taylor 111. The Trouble With Henry And Zoe by Andy Jones 113. Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone 114. The Long Weekend: Life In The English Country House Between The Wars by Adrian Tinniswood 115. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 116. Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl 117. Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance 118. My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry 119. How We Eat With Our Eyes And Think With Our Stomachs by Melanie Muhl 120. In The Dark by Cara Hunter 121. How It All Began by Penelope Lively 122. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 123. Bad Twins by Rebecca Chance 124. Autumn by Ali Smith 125. My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal 126. The Other Us by Fiona Harper 127. The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana 128. My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 129. Good Morning Corfu: A Year On A Greek Island by Maddie Grigg 130. Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon 131. Corfu - A Notebook by Richard Clark 132. Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough 133. The Death Of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware 134. Reading Allowed: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library by Chris Paling 134. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin 136. Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory by Lucy Mangan 137. Tiny Britain by Dixe Wills 138. Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learnt From Eighties Movies by Hadley Freeman 139. A House In Corfu by Emma Tennant 140. Why Mummy Swears by Gill Sims 141. Everything About You by Heather Child 142. Truly, Madly, Greekly by Mandy Baggot 143. Those Summer Nights by Mandy Baggot 144. The Durrells Of Corfu by Michael Haag 145. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart 146. The Party by Lisa Hall 147. Prospero’s Cell by Lawrence Durrell 148. The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet 149. Skin Deep by Liz Nugent 150. At The Wedding by Matt Dunn 151. My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell 152. Now You See Her by Heidi Perks 153. Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent 154. Sister by Rosamund Lupton 155. The Summer Of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman 156. The Very Bloody History Of Britain Part 2 by John Farman 157. A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Bronte by Katherine Frank 158. Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale 159. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous by Jilly Cooper 160. From Here To Anywhere: 16 days, 16 countries, 16 budget flights by Jason Smart 161. The Rise And Fall Of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning 162. No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister 163. Caught In The Light by Robert Goddard 164. Panic Room by Robert Goddard 165. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn 166. The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas 167. Something In The Water by Catherine Steadman 168. The Diary Of A Bookseller by Shaun Bythell 169. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 170. Unexpected Twist! by Michael Rosen 171. The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe 172. Dissolution by C J Sansom 173. Ring for Jeeves by PG Wodehouse 174. The Midden by Tom Sharpe 175. Appassionata by Jilly Cooper 176. I’ll Keep You Safe by Peter May 177. I Found My Horn by Jasper Rees 178. Last Letter Home by Rachel Hore 179. Tilly And The Bookwanderers by Anna James 180. The Readers Of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald 181. Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas 182. I Am Missing by Tim Weaver 183. Origin by Dan Brown 184. Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones 185. Past Caring by Robert Goddard 186. The Trebizon series by Anne Digby 187. The Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton 188. The St Clare’s series by Enid Blyton 189. Dying to Tell by Robert Goddard 190. The Time Traveller’s Guide To Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer 191. Have You Eaten Grandma? by Gyles Brandreth 192. Melmoth by Sarah Perry 193. Notes From A Big Country by Bill Bryson 194. One Day In December by Jodie Silver 195. The Temp by Michelle Francis 196. Hot Mess by Lucy Vine 197. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh 198. The Midnight Folk by John Masefield 199. The Box Of Delights by John Masefield 200. Mr Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva 201. The Children Of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston 202. A Literary Christmas 203. Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford 203. Noel Streatfeild’s Christmas Stories 204. The Girl I Used To Be by Mary Torjussen 205. Whiskey In a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon 206. The One by John Marrs

My stats:
29.5% male, 69% female, 1.5% both (Nicci French), various or don't know (The Secret Barrister)! Not really a surprise that I read more by women but I will try and read more male writers next year. I have the complete works of Dickens which I want to tackle so that should help!!
8% audible, 20.5% kindle, 15.5% library physical, 56% physical. I'm a bit surprised I haven't read more on my kindle given the amount of travelling I do.
16.5% children's, 59% fiction, 24.5% non fiction. The children's books were mainly the Enid Blyton/Trebizon boarding school books binge I had a month or so ago. Plus some books of DDs she likes me to read so we can talk about them. I want to try and read more non-fiction next year though (if I have time in between Dickens!).

Rather depressingly, most of my highlights this year are books I have read before. Hopefully next year will have some standout new books. Of the new books I have read the standout for me was Bookworm - it is literally the stories of my childhood!

Thanks Southeast for the final thread of the year.

My list for 2019. Highlights in bold.

1. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
2. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
3. See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
4. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
5. Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward
6. Holding by Graham Norton
7. Restoration by Rose Tremain
8. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
9. Dave Gorman vs The Rest of the World by Dave Gorman

10. Over the Moon by Imtiaz Dharker 11. Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar 12. Educating Rita by Willy Russell 13. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar 14. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell 15. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer 16. The Prince's Chambermaid by Sharon Kendrick 17. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb 18. Under the Skin by Michel Faber 19. Sugar Money by Jane Harris 20. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier 21. True Grit by Charles Portis 22. Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor 23. When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy 24. Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon 25. A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert 26. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu 27. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy 28. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 29. He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly 30. Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig 31. H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker 32. An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales by Theresa Breslin 33. The Encyclopaedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg 34. Electra by Sophocles 35. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 36. And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou 37. The Guns of Navarone by Alistair Maclean 38. The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal 39. Sight by Jessie Greengrass 40. The Idiot by Elif Batuman 41. Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl 42. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge 43. The Last Days of Troy by Simon Armitage 44. Tangerine by Christine Mangan 45. A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre 46. A Very English Scandal by John Preston 47. A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab 48. The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer 49. Circe by Madeline Miller 50. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson 51. Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton 52. The Unseen World by Liz Moore 53. The Secret Barrister by The Secret Barrister 54. The Reindeer People by Megan Lindholm 55. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively 56. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney 57. Dracula by Bram Stoker 58. The Fellowship of the Ring by J R Tolkien 59. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 60. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 61. Lamentation by C J Sansom 62. The Dry by Jane Harper 63. Less by Andrew Sean Greer 64. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover 65. The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers 66. The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor 67. The Three Body Problem by Lui Cixin 68. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 69. Happiness by Aminatta Forna 70. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 71. Nausicaä of The Valley of the Wind:The Complete Series by Hayao Miyazaki 72. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 73. The Night Manager by John Le Carré 74. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien 75. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 76. White Teeth by Zadie Smith 77. The Warmth of Other Suns:The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson 78. Crow Country by Mark Cocker 79. Bluebird Bluebird by Attica Locke 80. How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price 81. Night Waking by Sarah Moss 82. Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton 83. Tombland by C J Sansom 84. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig 85. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 86. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig 87. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas 88. Red Notice: How I Became Putin's No.1 Enemy by Bill Browder 89. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne 90. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith 91. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith 92. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter 93. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss 94. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith 95. The Box of Delights by John Masefield 96. Armistice: A Laureate's Choice of Poems by Carol Ann Duffy 97. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith 98. Walking with Cattle: In Search of the Last Drivers of Uist by Terry Williams 99. The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 100. A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

Fiction - 87 / Non Fiction - 13
Physical Books - 51 / ebooks - 16 / Audiobooks - 33
Female Authors - 61 / Male Authors - 39

Top Five Fiction

1. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
2. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
3. Circe by Madeline Miller
4. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke
5. True Grit by Charles Portis

Top Three Non Fiction

1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
2. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
3. Crow Country by Mark Cocker

Worst book of the year award goes to Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

Reading goals for 2019 are to finally finish the biography of Florence Nightingale which is taking me forever, read all the books I was given last Christmas AND this Christmas before next Christmas and to continue ever onwards with reading more classics. Am thinking about trying to read the long list for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction next year, instead of the Women’s Prize.

Posting my list here, although I am hoping to finish my last 2018 read tomorrow. Will mark the really good ones in bold - many of the others were good and would recommend but the bolded ones were my favourites:

1. A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax
2. The Power by Naomi Alderman
3. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
4. The Dark Circle, Linda Grant
5. Good Me, Bad Me, Ali Land
6. My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout
7. Exit West, Mohson Hamid
8. We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
9. The Dry, Jane Harper

10. Them: Adventures with Extremists: Secret Rulers of the World by Jon Ronson 11. Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard 12. Listening to Brahms, Rosemary Allen 13. The Observations, Jane Harris 14. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 15. Night Waking, Sarah Moss 16. The Girl on the Landing, Paul Torday 17. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas 18. My Antonia, Willa Cather 19. The Pure In Heart, Susan Hill 20. The State of Grace, Rachael Lucas 21. Hush, Eishes Chayil 22. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness 23. A Question of Upbringing, Anthony Powell 24. Mindful Running: How Meditative Running can Improve Performance and Make You a Happier, More Fulfilled Person, Mackenzie L Harvey 25. Cheer Up Love, Susan Calman 26. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes 27. Unf*ck Your Habitat: You're Better Than Your Mess, Rachel Hoffman 28. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline 29. Everywoman: One Woman's Truth About Speaking the Truth, Jess Phillips 30. The Risk of Darkness, Susan Hill 31. My Name is Leon, Kit de Waal 33. George's Secret Key to the Universe, Lucy and Stephen Hawking 34. The Lie of the Land, Amanda Craig 35. Release, Patrick Ness 36. The Missing, CL Taylor 37. Passenger to Frankfurt, Agatha Christie 38. History of Wolves, Emily Fridlund 39. Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge 40. Run for Your Life: Mindful Running for a Happy Life, William Pullen 41. An Almond for a Parrot, Wray Delaney 41. Beyond the Bright Sea, Lauren Wolk 42. The Children Act, Ian McEwan 43. Born a Crime, Trevor Noah 44. City of Bones, Cassandra Clare 45. Behold the Dreamers, Imbolo Mbue 46. Untitled 47. Reservoir 13, Jon McGregor 48. Swimming Lessons, Claire Fuller 49. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante 50. Rook, Anthony McGowan 51. The Swimming Pool, Louise Candlish 52. Stay With Me, Ayobami Adebayo 53. Dark Side, Belinda Bauer 54. Opening NIght, Ngaio Marsh 55. Another Day in the Death of America, Gary Younge 56. Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice, Helena Kennedy 57. Good Morning Midnight, Jean Rhys 58. The Party, Elizabeth Day 59. The Terranauts, TC Boyle 60. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstein 61. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman 62. In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, A Father, A Cult, Rebecca Stott 63. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng 64. Standard Deviation, Katherine Heiny 65. You Don't Know Me, Imran Mahmood 66. If Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes from Trump's America, Jon Sopel 67. Purple Hibiscus, Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie 68. Our House, Louise Candlish 69. Different Class, Joanne Harris 70. Life, Death and Vanilla Slices, Jenny Eclair 71. Songs of the Brokenhearted, Sheila Walsh and Cindy Coloma 72. Bookworm, Lucy Mangan 73. Trio, Sue Gee 74. Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh 75. Signs for Lost Children, Sarah Moss 76. This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay 77. Lord of the Flies, William Golding 78. When I Lived in Modern Times, Linda Grant 79. The Nest, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney 80. All Passion Spent, Vita Sackville-West 81. The Keeper of Lost Things, Ruth Hogan 82. The Bones of You, Debbie Howells 83. Troubles, JG Farrell 84. I See You, Clare Mackintosh 85. The Girls, Lisa Jewell 86. The Outsiders, SE Hinton 87. The Travelling Horn Player, Barbara Trapido 88. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua 89. The Sparsholt Affair, Alan Hollinghurst 90. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi 91. Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng 92. After the Bloom, Leslie Shimotakahara 93. The Secret Barrister: stories of the law and how it's broken 94. The Statement, Brian Moore 95. Past Imperfect, Julian Fellowes 96. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver Burkeman 97. Autumn, Ali Smith 98. Inside the O'Briens, Lisa Genova 99. Votes For Women!: The Pioneers and Heroines of Female Suffrage (from the pages of A History of Britain in 21 Women), Jenni Murray 100. A Week in December, Sebastian Faulks 101. Christmas with the Savages, Mary Clive 102. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin 103. The Box of Delights, John Masefield 104. Moon Tiger, Penelope Lively 105. Christmas Pudding, Nancy Mitford

106. We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

Wow, what a cracker to finish the year This is brilliant. I had avoided it because I associate Jackson with ghost stories (and I am easily scared) but there's no gore and no supernatural beings in this book. It's scary, but in a strange, unnerving and bizarrely cosy kind of way.... The writing is extremely clever, I will be thinking about this book for months to come.

I haven't said much about the plot as (a) I know many of you have already read it and (b) I enjoyed it so much as I didn't really know what it was about, so don't want to spoil that possibility for someone else. I am envious of anyone who hasn't read this yet and has it to discover - thank you to everyone here who has recommended it in the various threads.

Stand-out fiction for me: the Shirley Jackson without a doubt, both the Sarah Mosses, My Name is Leon (currently in the Kindle sale BTW), and Lord of the Flies, which I am so glad (like a PP) that I re-read.

Stand-out non-fiction would have to be the Gary Younge book about US gun deaths which is probably the best book I have read this year.

PS Thank you south for this last thread :)

Thanks for the bonus thread, southeast and happy new year to all you lovely 50 bookers.
I have made it to 40, which I am very pleased with, and I think I could have easily made time to read more.

My reads are 36% female authors, 30% non-fiction and a whopping 70% from the library. I'm mad-keen everyone should support their local library so I'm really pleased I'm practicing what I'm preaching. Although it means I've made no inroads into the masses of books I've bought or had lent to me by friends and family this year!

I'm currently reading an absolute doorstop by Kate Mosse so I will see you all on the flip-side.

Here's the list in full:

1. King and Maxwell - David Baldacci
2. How to stop time - Matt Haig
3. My Name is Leon - Kit de Waal
4. The man who mistook his wife for a hat- Oliver Sacks
5. The Map - TS Learner
6. Saving Agnes - Rachel Cusk
7. The Day Before Forever - Anna Cantalbiano
8. I Feel bad about my neck - Norah Ephron
9. Second Life - SJ Watson

10. The Four Pillar Plan - Dr Rangan Chaterjee 11. Loitering with intent - Muriel Spark 12. Into Thin Air - John Krakaeur 13. The Tyrant's Shadow - Antonia Senior 14. Running up that hill - Vassos Alexander 15. Carnival of Shadows - RJ Ellory 16. 401 - Ben Smith 17. The Girl from Venice - Martin Cruz Smith 18. A Berlin Love Song - Sarah Matthias 19. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? - Horace McCoy 20. Fat Gay Vegan - Sean O'Callaghan 21. From Here to Eternity - Caitlin Doughty 22. Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiny 23. The Reapers are the Angels - Aiden Bell 24. Never Coming Back - Tim Weaver 25. The Tudor Crown - Joanna Hickson 26. The Big Ones - Dr Lucy Jones 27. The Alchemist's Secret - Scott Mariani 28. Atlas of Irish History - Sean Duffy 29. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins 30. Ask an Astronaut - Tim Peake 31. California - Eden Lepucki 32. The Reason You're Alive - Matthew Quick 33. Eve of Man - Tom and Giovanna Fletcher 34. Dunstan - Conn Iggulden 35. View from a Shed - Michael Wale 36. Auntie Poldi and the Fruits of the Lord - Mario Giordano 37. Up - Ben Fogle 38. Lost Cause - Ken McClure 39. The Crystal Skull - Manda Scott 40. A Highland Christmas - MC Beaton

My complete list for 2018, great reads in bold, rubbish ones in italics. Message to self for 2019 stop picking up books in Sainsburys when I do a food shop because they are £3.99, most of those constitute the worst books I have read this years.

1 How Hard Can It Be - Alison Pearson
2 Close to Home - Cara Hunter
3 Before the War - Fay Weldon
4 Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
5 Anatomy of A Scandal - Sarah Vaughan
6 I'll Keep you Safe- Peter May
7 The Woman in the Window - A J Finn
8 A Vicious Circle - Amanda Craig
9 The New Mrs Clifton - Elizabeth Buchan
10 Faking Friends - Jane Fallon
11 The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
12 Sirens Joseph Knox
13 The Seagull - Ann Cleeves
14 Let me Lie Claire Mackintosh
15 The Child - Fiona Barton
16 Bring me Back - B A Paris
17 Remember me this Way - Sabine Durrant
18 A Rising Man - Abir Mukherjee
19 The Perfect Girlfriend - Karen Hamilton
20 The Pearl Sister - Lucinda Riley
21 Persons Unknown Susie Steiner
22 Never Greener - Ruth Jones
23 The Lido - Libby Page
24 Dead if you Don't - Peter James
25 The Break - Marian Keyes
26 Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
27 The Legacy - Yrsa Sigurdottir
28 Sarum - Edward Rutherford
29 Why Mummy Swears - Gill Sims
30 Watching You - Lisa Jewell
31 The Party - Lisa Hall
32 Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney
33 The Crow Trap - Ann Cleeves
34 Funny Girl - Nick Hornby
35 White Nights - Ann Cleeves
36 The Escape - C L Taylor
37 Our House - Louise Candlish
38 Take me In - Sabine Durrant
39 Snap - Belinda Bauer
40 The Dark Angel - Ellie Griffiths
41 The Temp Michelle Francis
42 The Love Letter - Lucinda Riley
43 The Clockmaker's Daughter - Kate Morton
44 A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
45 Other People's Secrets - Louise Candlish
46 Lethal White - Robert Galbraith
47 Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage - M C Beaton
48 Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes
49 City of Friends - Joanna Trollope
50 Upstairs at the Party- Linda Grant
51 Force of Nature - Jane Harper

This is a great bonus thread. Am just gingerly sitting up after a day laid low with an inner ear infection - I've managed to read a bit more of Seven Surrenders (sequel to Too Like The Lightening) but doubt I'll finish it this year. My full list is:
1 This is Going to Hurt
2 How to Survive a Plague
3 Think of England
4 The Fifth Season
5 Into Thin Air
6 The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking.
7 The End of Alchemy
8 Good Cop, Bad War
9 Arcadia
10 Sorcery and Cecelia (or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot)
11 The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal
12 The Science of Sleep
13 Significant Others (Tales of the City)
14 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
15 Life Moves Pretty Fast
16 Star Guard
17 A History of Britain in 21 Women
18 An Instance of the Fingerpost
19 Educated
20 Star Rangers
21 Dark Money
22 The Prisoner of Zenda
23 Watching the English
24 An Unseen Attraction
25 An Unnatural Vice
26 An Unsuitable Heir
27 We are Legion, We are Bob
28 The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair
29 H(A)PPY
30 The Night Circus
31 Bookworm
32 A Very English Scandal
33 Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race
34 Radicals
35 Poison or Protect
36 Balanced on the Blade's Edge
37 The Secret Barrister
38 Deathmaker
39 The Henchmen of Zenda
40 Blood Charged
41 Patterns in the Dark
42 Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
43 In Therapy
44 A Spy Among Friends
45 Making Sense of the Troubles
46 Wanted, a Gentleman
47 Michael Tolliver Lives
48 Changing Places
49 Logical Family
50 England Half English
51 How Much is Enough?
52 Unfit to Print
53 Record of a Spaceborn Few
54 Lingo
55 Ma'am Darling
56 Through the Language Glass
57 Dogs of War
58 Competence
59 How to Marry a Werewolf
60 LiGa
61 The Husband Hunters
62 Wigan Pier Revisited
63 The Happiness Project
64 The Unfolding of Language
65 Crazy Rich Asians
66 Social Engineering
67 Heartburn
68 The Warmth of Other Suns
69 Sprig Muslin
70 Outliers
71 The Lies of Locke Lamora
72 China Rich Girlfriend
73 Band Sinister
74 The Fishing Fleet
75 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
76 Salt magic Skin magic
77 If only they didn't speak English
78 Too Like the Lightning
79 The Left Case Against the EU
80 Stalin's Englishman
81 Dark
82 National Populism
83 The Road to Somewhere
84 Disobedience
85 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
86 Sharp
87 Dark Matter
88 The European Union: A Citizen's Guide
89 The Happiness Hypothesis

I've copied from Excel so I've lost the bolding, but my top fiction reads were Too Like The Lightening by Ada Palmer , and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Top non-fiction reads were The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman, Educated by Tara Westover and Watching the English by Kate Fox

Oops - lost the spaces after the numbers too...

Can anyone work out , if we did a giant Venn diagram, what the one book nearly all of us read this year? I reckon I know!

Just finished my 50 today - go me! Not able to post all the books here (as I'd have to type them all from Good reads on an ipad!).

Last book was Becoming by Michelle Obama which I loved. Got Billy Connolly's book as a Christmas present so guess that's no 1 for the 2019 challenge.