25 (ish) books in 2019

[Chickoletta]

Inspired by, but also slightly overawed by, the 50 book thread, this is a thread for those who love to log their reading but don't have the time or inclination for such a high target. The aim is to read 25 books but it really doesn't matter if you don't get close to that or far exceed it - the idea is to exchange recommendations and thoughts.

I loved this thread last year and was really inspired by some of the suggestions so have taken the liberty of starting this year's version.

I only managed 19 books last year due partly to being a slow reader (even though I'm an English graduate and teacher) and also it being a rather busy and stressful year. I'm definitely hoping to beat that score in 2019.

Please number your books and give titles in bold to make it easy to follow as well as sharing thoughts about them.

My favourite book of last year was The Heart's Invisible Furies', as recommended here.

Just finished my first book of the year:

1. 'Why Mummy Drinks' by Gill Sims (bought for me by my own mother for Christmas - no offence taken!!)
Light hearted and well-observed, this was very enjoyable. Some laugh out loud moments as well as many wry observations about family life. I think I would have enjoyed it more if her children didn't sound so totally insufferable!

Looking forward to sharing our reading this year.

No 18 A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman - a great read, laughed and cried reading this.
No 19 Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - very interesting so far - I've only read the first chapter. A book men need to read but won't.

Number 9 now finished, Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. A pretty easy read, just a little bit tricky because I'm in a bit of a crappy state of mind anxiety wise so that's made it a strange read. Sad but hopeful, I suspect that's a bit of a theme of hers having read Snap as well.

1. The Only Story by Julian Barnes

I do love Julian Barnes writing, it's so elegant and thoughtful, but I found this story about a love affair with lasting consequences really quite bleak. I wasn't entirely convinced that the relationship described could have had such a long lasting effect over Paul, one half of the couple involved, perhaps because it was coolly appraised from the distance of a lifetime, with little evidence of any passion at its heart. I found it quite a sad, claustrophobic tale of duty. I'd like to read something cheerier next I think.

4. The Tent, the Bucket and Me - Emma Kennedy. Very, very funny indeed, enjoyed this a lot.

5. The '86 Fix - Keith A Pearson. Borrowed from the Kindle library. A time travel tale with an ending that was not the cliche I was expecting. Not sure I'd recommend it though, it passed the time but it was very 'blokey'.

I'm on a really tough spell! Have given up on:

The Taxidermists Daughter, Kate Mosse
Our Kind of Traitor, John Le Carre
Above Suspicion, Linda La Plante

I don't make myself persevere with books I'm not enjoying any more as I find it knocks me out of the reading habit altogether. But three in a row is poor!

I've now picked a safer bet with

A History of Loneliness, John Boyne

Finished book 13 The Mint Julep Murders by Angie Fox. Great paranormal crime series. Usually they're fairly fluffy but this one was actually genuinely creepy in places.
Now on to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.

Book 12 Becoming by Michelle Obama, I enjoyed this, it is worth a read.

Book 13 The Other Woman by Sandie Jones, I think this was a recommendation I got here, but I thought it was just ok. I don't think it is the psychological thriller it claims to be, more chick lit imo. A bit predictable I thought.

Book 14 Child of the Holocaust by Elizabeth Kata. It's about a boy who goes to live with his elderly Aunt after liberation of the concentration camps. I'm about half way through, but finding it so boring that it is taking me an age to read. It's just a long drawn out description of his childhood friendships... maybe I'm just not getting it, but I'm not sure of the point of it or maybe there isn't one....

Book 5 The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante. Like the first one of the quartet Ioved it and am eagerly awaiting starting the third one later today. Life outside of work is on hold while I work my way through these fabulous stories ...

I gave up with *Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. I just couldn't get into it.
I have just started The woman on the orient Express,Lindsey Asford and the The bell jar arrived yesterday

Oh I adored Life after Life @princessspotify be boring if we all liked the same things though!

Finished book 14 the seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle very clever and kept me entertained but I didn't love it.

@princessspotify I found Life After Life hard to get into as well. I did finish it but didn't love it like I wanted to after hearing everyone rave about it. Thought Behind the Scenes at the Museum was great, though.

You are so right *Strawberry, it would be very boring. I'm surprised at myself though because I normally like those sort of books and read so many good reviews on it

I persevered with Life After Life and wished I hadn't bothered. I could see that it was such a clever concept but it was just grindingly miserable, especially towards the end. I was really disappointed as I've loved all of Kate Atkinson's other novels. She's got a new Jackson Brodie one coming out in the next few weeks - looking forward to that.

Read quite a few since I last posted:

6. Rivers of London by Ben Aaranovitch – wanted to love this, but found it just OK. A poor man's Neil Gaiman, IMO. Won't be bothering with the rest of the series.

7. Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan – a decent read, if you suspend your disbelief on a few plot points.

8. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer – with DS. I think I probably enjoyed it more than he did, it was unusual and clever.

9. Factfulness by Hans Rosling – really liked this. I'm not sure how much of the facts are actually just creatively interpreted statistics, but it made me feel a lot better about a few things and also question some of the more doomy world narratives. Recommended.

10. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver Loved this, thought it was a well written, exciting and suitably tense ghost story.

11. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson So lots of us have been at the Atkinsons, it seems! I liked it but was surprised that Jackson didn't actually have to do much detective work in it! It's really more about families and secrets, I guess, so it's a different take on the genre. I really liked Life After Life, too.

12. Thin Air by Michelle Paver She writes well but this was not a patch on Dark Matter.

13. My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite More of a novella than a novel. It wasn't what I was expecting (thought it would be darker and funnier) but it was very readable.

14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling - with DS. Still on it, but my feeling is that is needed a good edit, it has taken AGES to get properly going and has been rather flat after the exciting opening. Hoping it's going crank up soon!

As for my grown-up next read – I'm dallying and reading some of my many saved online articles instead of a proper book!

20. Close to Home by Cara Hunter - started this last night and am loving it so far. Reminds me of Fiona Barton's The Widow/The Child.
Reading alongside no.19 Invisible Women which is v interesting but not as exciting as a crime thriller

@musicmaiden you are so right about Order Of The Phoenix. I loved reading Harry Potter and look forward to doing it again when my children are old enough for it but the first four are the best ones in my view. Too much romance for my liking in OOTP!

@CalamityJune There's not been too much yet but am guessing that is where it is going! It is so long and I'm not sure we need quite so much detail about The Order's/Syrius's house and Umbridge's ongoing tyranny. It's also a bit relentless in its downbeat tone and it is missing some of the best characters during the first half. Except Hermione, who remains ace.

1. Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale

Another brilliant read by Patrick Gale. Reminded me a bit of John Boyne here. This is a really beautiful, reflective novel which deals with big themes in a very gentle way. Recommended.

Finished number 8, The woman in the orient Express. Really enjoyed this.
Started reading Cerce by Madeleine Miller. Somebody at work lent it to me.Not something I'd normally pick but really enjoying it

Oh I’ve started a list and I’ve only managed 5 books ! I’ve had 2 that I didn’t finish as well. I used to be such a bookworm. Now I’m in this challenge I’m determined to read 25!

1. Vox - Christina Dalcher. Dystopian fiction where women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day. Found the concept really chilling and enjoyed the book.

1. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison. I still don’t really know what this book was about, unsure if I just didn’t relate to it, or if it’s because I wasn’t really enjoying it and found it a bit of a slog.

1. The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh. I really disliked this book. Didn’t get the hype.

1. Red Clocks - Leni Zumas. Another dystopian fiction but not outlandish at all. Quite enjoyed it but it didn’t have any real oomph.

1. Before She Sleeps - Bina Shah. Another dystopian fiction... yep I have a taste for this genre . Enjoyed this one but even in rebellion women still serve/service men, which was necessarily an integral part of the story but which I hated as it’s probably pretty accurate.

I read a few books since my last update.
12. The Girl of His Dreams, by Donna Leon - second of the Inspector Brunetti novels for me, not in sequence. This one is about a dead 11yo girl found in a canal, and involves politics and Roma refugees. Still enjoying the beautiful Venetian setting.
13. Candlenight, by Phil Rickman - I've already read a few of his books, but this one seems to be the inspiration for the "local shop for local people" in Royston Vasey. I like his home-grown horror, but the endings of his novels always feel rushed and suggested, rather than written.
14. A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage and My LIfe, by Ayelet Waldman - research for dealing with low-level anxiety and depression. Interesting.
15. Dune, by Frank Herbert - I got the whole series of 6 books on Kindle for £1, and even though I'd read them all as a teen (and watched the Lynch movie many times), I rediscovered many forgotten gems in the original novel.
16. Earthly Remains, by Donna Leon - I decided I really like her style and plan to read all of Comissario Brunetti books I can find. This one has as the theme the human destruction of the environment.

Number 10 for me has been Coffin Road by Peter May. A man has lost his memory on the Isle of Harris. He finds some clues as to who he is in the house he's living in but continues to know nothing about himself. A corpse is discovered, a detective investigates. A teenage girl misses her father who committed suicide.
All three people possibly connected.
Started out interesting enough, drew me in. There's masses of information about bees which lost me a little bit although it was largely relevant to the story.
And the revelations at the end and the denouement were all a little bit...Scooby Doo really. His writing seemed to descend into writing by numbers somehow.
The idea of the storyline had so much potential but kind of disappointing in the end.

Finished book 15. Ash Kickers by Sean Grigsby. Second in the series about a special branch of firefighters who tackle dragons. V good.

No 9 finished. Circe by Madeleine Miller. This book really surprised me. Not something I'd normally pick but really enjoyed it.

No 20. Close to Home - Cara Hunter - I enjoyed this book just enough to read it through. The characters were all very stereotypical which made everything a little predictable. It felt like the author had read some crime thrillers and had then written this book based on other books rather than on real life.
No 21. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes - I liked the author's style of writing, an easy enjoyable read.
No 22. Three Things About Elsie - Joanna Cannon - hopefully starting this today.