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.

You are flying through the books DrSpouse. I have slowed down quite a bit, partly because of the summer holidays and I have been so busy with the kids and travelling quite a bit and also the fact I have fallen down a Handmaids Tale rabbit hole as the series is playing out. I'm currently rereading the Epilogue of the book!

Book 21 turned out to be The Light Between Oceans, M L Stedman I'm pretty late to the party on this one, but I so enjoyed this book. I could hardly put it down. I read it on holiday and couldn't wait to make time to read it in the evenings!

Book 22 was If they Knew, Joanne Sefton. I enjoyed reading this, but really think I'm starting to get a bit bored of the whole psychological thriller genre - they are all a bit samey, at least the ones I have been reading are!

I think I will look to some of the recommendations here to find my next read. CharliesMouse I like the sound of that MA novel. Have only read three of hers but have loved all of them....

I'm another late joiner, I used to read quite a lot but lost my mojo over the last few years. Renewed my library membership last week and dug out some old books I had been given but never read.

I only have two so far:

1. Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon - it was quite an easy read and very engaging. I will probably try to get my hands on her other books.

1. The Silk Merchant's Daughter by Dinah Jefferies - I liked this for the setting and the way the writer brings the locations in Vietnam to life. The story was interesting but some parts were a bit predictable. Overall I'd recommend it.

Next up are Eleanor Oliphant, How to Stop Time and Girl on the Train. I'm a few years behind the curve here!

11. Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore

This is a fictional imagining of D.H Lawrence's life in rural Cornwall during WW1 which is interwoven with the story of a local girl, Clare Coyne, and her love for her cousin who is suffering from shell shock. This is a very beautiful book which I really enjoyed and thoroughly recommend.

12 will be Big Sky for me - looking forward to it as I've enjoyed all of the other Jackson Brodie novels.

Nice to have some new joiners to the group.

10. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
    Very glad I finally got round to this - whizzed through it on holiday and definitely had a tear in my eye at the end.

11. The Kings Justice by EM Powell
    Picked this up on a Kindle deal - a Medieval whodunnit set in Yorkshire. Enjoyed it but towards the end thought the narrative lost its way a bit. Might try another of hers though - The Fifth Knight, about Thomas Beckett's murder in Canterbury cathedral.

12. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
    All the recommendations on here are not wrong. Love her writing, will try more Jackson Brodie after reading @CharliesMouse's post

Good to see lots of people enjoying the Jackson Brodie books!

17. A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

I didn't get on with this at all. Maurice Swift is a writer who steals other people's ideas, unpublished novels and even their own life stories. He's such a one dimensional villain that I hated spending any time in his company. I found I didn't even really care whether he got his comeuppance at the end or not.

This was my first John Boyne novel and I know lots of people have raved about The Heart's Invisible Furies but I'm unlikely to read it on the back of A Ladder to the Sky.

Disappointing.

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I found it hard to get into at the start but so glad I stuck with it, by the end I was hooked. Very sad in parts but also hopeful, I loved it.

1. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield. I LOVED this. Set in the late 1800s, the book opens with a man bursting into a riverside inn with the body of a little girl pulled from the river, who appears to be dead but miraculously revives some hours later. Her identity is unknown, although there are a number of competing claims on her, and the book painstakingly weaves together the stories of lots of different characters who seem, initially, to be entirely unconnected.

Again, I listened to it, and the narration was beautiful, but apart from that it was just a very good story. I love books with lots of different narrative threads that eventually converge, and this one had lots of that. The characters were for the most part well-rounded (though the villains were perhaps a bit straightforwardly villainous), and I quite liked the small gestures towards the supernatural. There was a strong investment in the mechanics of storytelling in the book and it was quite self-reflexive, which again I quite liked. It reminded me a little of both The Essex Serpent and The Mermaid and Mr Hancock, but I thought better and more gentle than both of them.

Currently reading My Sister, the Serial Killer, and I am only finding it so-so.

CharliesMouse, Ladder to the Sky is next on my bedside locker book pile. I generally don't mind an unlikeable protagnonist, but I really didn't like the main character in The Heart's Invisible Furies, and I think he was actually supposed to be likeable so I dread to think how awful I'm going to find Maurice. I think Boyne is overrated, tbh, and he really can't write women.

Finished number 18. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
I normally love her books and devour them, and I did like this one but the characters were a bit meh, and the twists, whilst I didn't predict them particularly, were also a bit unsurprising. There have been one other of her books that have been like this for me, that just fell a bit flat and it certaily wasn't badly written or anything, it's just that the characters were not easy to relate to. I think as she's one of my favourite authors and I can re-read the books and still love them I suppose I have high expectations.

Sorry @badb. Hope I haven't ruined A Ladder to the Sky for you! I hadn't thought about how Boyne writes women but I completely agree with you based on this book. (Although based on this book, I don't think he writes men very well either )

18. La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

I read all three books in the His Dark Materials trilogy out loud to each of my children separately, a couple of years apart and we loved them. Ahead of the the new TV series and also the publication of the second Book of Dust novel I thought I would reacquaint myself with Lyra's Oxford in this, the first Book of Dust novel.

It's set in Lyra's world when she was a baby and there are some familiar characters like Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel but also lots of new ones to get to know. I became very attached to Malcolm, the main character who finds himself drawn into an epic, exhausting rescue adventure.

It's another great read from a brilliant storyteller. Even the lesser characters, like Malcolm's parents and the nuns at the priory caring for baby Lyra were well done. Great stuff. Look forward to the next one now.

19: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. It was ok. Didn't grab me but it was sweet in a way.

20: Rubber Necker by Belinda Bauer. I really enjoyed this, I like her stuff so far. I chose this because the protagonist has Aspergers and my son has undiagnosed Aspergers (he doesn't want a formal diagnosis) and I tend to pick up books where the character has Aspergers as I'm interested in how they are portrayed. This was quite a sympathetic portrayal for most of the storyline. The story was intriguing and I really enjoyed it.

Just back from a few days in France. Enjoyed both of these very different novels from my sun lounger! Still also listening to Big Sky as an audiobook but managed to leave my phone behind in a restaurant with no time to go back before the ferry left, so enjoyed a week's digital detox but have got behind with Audible.

12. Different Class by Joanne Harris
    A stand-out read of the year for me. This is the sequel to Gentlemen and Players which I read years ago and loved. It's a very dark and twisty novel set in a private school over 30 years. The characters are brilliantly drawn, it's darkly humorous and really keeps you guessing. Fabulous.

13. Home From Home by Victoria Henry. Perfect light summer reading . This is a family saga set in the Somerset countryside. Reminded me of Kate Morton or Lucinda Riley. Slightly predictable but still very enjoyable.

Well that’s book 8 done (Lethal White). Quite enjoyed it! I’ve never been one to properly review a book like some do on here, I mostly just say whether I liked or disliked it. I end up liking most books.
Book 9 is something called The Returning Tide, by Liz Fenwick. I still have seven books in my to-read pile, which will take me to 16 total books for the year, which is 2 more than last year. I want to get to maybe 20 so I’ll need to up my speed a lot

I have seven books on my to-read pile but have gone and bought myself three more. oh well, at least I’m not going to run out any time soon

13. Home by Bill Bryson
    Listened to the audiobook and found it completely absorbing, just chock full of interesting snippets told with Bryson's trademark warmth and gentle wit.

14. Over and Out by Henry Blofeld
    Worth reading if you're a fan of TMS and Blowers

26. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - loved reading this in the end. A lovely book to snuggle up with. I'm sure I'll read it again one day. I will hopefully get around to reading more by Forster.
Have recently started 27. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig.

I remember loving A Room with a View when I read it many years ago too totorosfluffytummy. (And I so love your username.)

19. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

The second in the Jackson Brodie series and another re-read. It's set in Edinburgh during the festival and features an enormous cast of interwoven characters. I think we're still being introduced to new ones almost a third of the way in. We have disappearing dead bodies, a savvy Russian call-girl, corrupt business men, a mysterious man with a gun, a thug with a baseball bat, a crime novelist with a dreadful secret, a police woman with a dying cat and a difficult teenage son and also a woman on the brink of escaping the clutches of her old life - oh and Julia is back from the first book too.

I loved this. It was a joy to read and Jackson is such great company all the way through. I am enjoying reconnecting with him. I look forward to reading the rest of the series soon.

14. Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
The latest Jackson Brodie novel. I've read all of the others, but there's been such a gap that I couldn't remember much about the plots and characters of the previous novels, which was a pity as there are lots of references to previous storylines. As charliesmouse says above of an earlier JB novel, there are just so many characters and plot lines running simultaneously here that it took me a while to get into this and to see how everyone connected up. The second half was totally gripping though, so I'm very glad I stuck with it.
This was an Audible ebook for me - read brilliantly by Jason Isaacs.
Not sure what's next.

I haven't updated for a while, so here goes:

Book 23 - Diana - Her True Story by Andrew Morton - I'm getting ready for the next season of The Crown, however, I didn't rate this book at all. He kept repeating the same stuff, which I found irritating....

Book 24 - In Order to Live - a North Korea Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park It was an ok read, it seemed a bit far fetched in places. Since reading the book I have learned that her story has been widely disputed because of various versions she has told, however, much of that could be trauma related and how she remembers it.....

Book 25 - Spark Joy by Marie Kondo - does this book count? I'm not sure but I'm working my way through it- I haven't put it into practice at home mind!

Book 26 Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez it's pretty heavy going and I'm not sure if I will actually finish it, but as a result I am also reading...

Book 27 The Wonder by Emma Donoghue - just started this, but enjoying it so far.

Hi. I've been a bit AWOL with school holidays and starting a new job.
I'm up to book 17 which is Jodi Picoult's a spark of light. So far it's good. a little hard going as it's about an emotive subject.

I've been absent from the thread for a while but reading loads - I've reached my goal of 24 books and am up to 27 now! Yay for reading!

Just started Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale based on so many recomendations. Not very far into it yet, but having a hard time getting into the style, it's feeling a bit stilted so far. Hope that changes!

Have found this thread invaluable for suggestions, by the way. I've downloaded loads of samples for my (virtual) To Read pile!

14. Bookworm by Lucy Mangan. Listened to the audiobook and want to read it again in print just so I can note all the books I need to re-read from childhood. This was just lovely

15. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. Was recommended this author by a friend, really enjoyed the way this built up towards the significant event and how the tale and emotional backstory unfolded in such detail from each character's point of view. Will definitely read more of hers

Finally finished my number 20 after trying Vox by Christina Dalcher (wasn't sure whether to bold that as I didn't finish it) which I hated. I love dystopian fiction but I guess lately it's a little too close to the bone with society lately. But also the main character was the least sympathetic main character I've ever read I think. There was nothing about her other than negativity and a kind of defeatist resentment. Which I know I would probably be similar in a dystopian society, but I couldn't be bothered to root for her because she couldn't be bothered to root for herself. Got halfway through and gave up. So my actual number 20 is: The Taking of Annie Thorne by C J Tudor which I really enjoyed much more so than her first book actually, the story was spookier, the plot better thought out and more memorable and definitely more of a "just one more chapter" feel to it.

20. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

I probably wouldn't have read this if I'd had to buy it but I won it so gave it a go. It rattled along plot-wise and had short chapters which is great for when you think "one more chapter & I'll go to sleep". There were some completely implausible bits that that I found hard to forgive (one character needs 3 fake human passports and one fake dog passport which she is able to conjure up and use successfully within a week, hmmmm). It wasn't brilliant but it was mildly diverting nonsense.

I've got 5 other books on the go at the moment, but just whizzed through this short one, which I haven't read since I was little.

17. The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah