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.

21: Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn by Brett Anderson.

Loved Suede, so bought this the day it came out. I loved his first one, he writes beautifully. Prosaic, beautifully descriptive... and yet... this second volume was obviously difficult to write. He skirts around the issues that brought the band to a standstill while at the same time talking at length about them but not really saying much. But he repeats himself a lot I think, says the exact same thing in a slightly different way. And while I know he is regretful about various things that happened (Bernard, drugs, Neil) he still sounds slightly bitter, like it was all out of his control. But in the next paragraph admitting at the same time that it wasn't out of his control. So having discovered a new found respect for him after reading Coal Black Mornings, in this one...I don't think he comes off brilliantly. Which is the point I guess. But at the same time I don't think it is!

(sorry! Literally just finished it and needed to write down my thoughts and I'm not in any other book groups!)

If you're interested in Suede it's obviously a must but I don't think it's for anyone who wasn't/isn't into them. Looooooads of it is about how he wrote various songs which, sorry Brett, that's just a bit tedious really...

I've got Coal Black Mornings on my Xmas reading list. Will look forward to that and probably still read the second one (which I hadn't realised he'd published) although with lower expectations!

27: Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig was a good read. I'd recommend this to anyone who knows someone with depression/anxiety but doesn't understand MH issues themselves. It's obviously just one person's experience and we're all different; it doesn't take long to read.
Had a bit of a break from my books and actually watched some TV for a change but now reading 28: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.

Found by Erin Kinsley - I thought this had been recommended on here but I can't find mention of it. About a 12yo boy who is taken but then found again, what his family go through, and the police investigation to what happended. Not at all what I'd usually read, but would really recommend it.
No Man's Nightingale by Ruth Rendell - no idea how this ended up on my To Read list but anyway, I read it. It was awful.
Transcription by Kate Atkinson - put this off for a while but actually loved it. Not her very best, it had a bit of a dip in the middle where I lost interest for a while, but then picked up again and was brilliant at the end imo.

About halfway through Big Little Lies by Liane Moriaty - I've not seen the series so had no idea what it was about, but have read a number of books by her before. Really enjoying it so far!

I've been so inspired to read more I've completed by 24 Books Challenge and changed it to 36!

18. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie. I listened to this on Audible and thought it was very well done although I found it difficult to skip back and refer to earlier parts when I was trying to work out the plot. For that reason will stick to hard copy whodunnits one future!

19. Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg. This was funny and informative. I love his stand up and Netflix series and the book was part humour part research about modern courtship. It also validated my decision to stop online dating...and explained why that probably means I'll stay single for the rest of my life! Never mind, more time for books...

20. Coal Black Mornings - Brett Anderson. Found a copy in my local library after posting on here that I wanted to read it. He takes himself so, so seriously. Which is fine, but I felt his reflections on people and situations mostly lacked warmth and so he came across as cold and complaining.

Book 28 The Flower Girls by Alice Clark-Platts this was good up until the end which I found pretty disappointing and predictable..

Book 29 is Akin by Emma Donoghue , I really enjoyed wonder but am finding this book a big of a slog, it's just ok.

22. The Holiday by T M Logan

I really liked the storyline and it kept me guessing all the way through. I just don't think he is brilliant at characters and dialogue though. The book is told from a female perspective mainly and it does have the classic "Male author describes woman" elements to it. I don't think he's ever heard a child speak to its mum either because the precocious Odette was bloody awful. A few bits remained unresolved as well. But I still couldn't put it down oddly.

23: Our House by Louise Candlish

Fairly ok story about a woman whose house is sold without her knowledge. Bit twisty with some interesting turns of event. But again, a very unlikeable main character. I ended up feeling more for the husband and feeling weirdly satisfied by how it ended.

Me again! I'm having a bit of a quiet spell

24. The Accident by C L Taylor. I loved this. The "baddie" (for want of a better word) was so cold, really really chilling, I was actually quite scared of him. I think that's possibly because the main character was so scared of him. It was really good and I flew through it.

17. Normal People by Sally Rooney - really disliked this. It was one of those books that you know so much heartache would have been saved if the protagonists just actually bloody talked to each other. I know that's partly the point, but still infuriating. I think she's talented but I can't read more of hers.

18. The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller - absolutely brilliant read, beautifully written and thrilling. Must read Circe soon.

19. Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman et al – The first Sandman. I don't find graphic novels easy to read and I found the imagery difficult in places, but the (episodic) story line was gripping, if violent, and I hear it just gets better.

20. Transcription by Kate Atkinson – I know a lot of people found this disappointing but I actually quite liked it. The main character is very annoying, but the plot worked pretty well for me. Not her best by some stretch, though.

21. The Northern Lights: A Graphic Novel by Phillip Pullman – DS got this from the library so I read it after him. Very faithful to the story (which I love) but the graphics were generally pretty disappointing.

22/23. The Graveyard Book + the graphic novel version by Neil Gaiman – read the novel with DS and then, again, he got the graphic one from the library so nicked it after him. This book is just brilliant, I loved it and would recommend it to anyone, and the graphic novel was also faithful and well rendered.

25. Dissolution by CJ Sansom – my first-ever Shardlake. Just a bit late to the party! Thought this was atmospheric and brilliant fun. Love Shardlake, and Cromwell is truly sinister. Real comfort reading.

26.The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood – A re-read before I tackle The Testaments. Last read this when I was 15 and it is still brilliant and has lost none of its power, but it felt a depressing read on top of the real world going to hell in a handcart.

27. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling – First read, and reading aloud to DS. Much better than the bloated Order of the Phoenix, and the romance bits are quite lovely rather than irritating. Very exciting (and tragic) ending indeed.

28. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak – Almost as depressing than The Handmaid's Tale, this prizewinner is set in Istanbul and about the people in the margins. Again, beautifully written and engaging, but unbearably sad, so...

29. Back to Shardlake – reading Dark Fire now.

Not sure what happened to 24! Not cheating, honest

25. The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland. I really enjoyed this, although I did guess what had happened about halfway through. It was still engaging though. Good for a quick throwaway read.

Have fallen off the thread but I have a few to update. I'll try and remember now I've bumped it for myself!

Ok!
29 Remarkable Creatures
30 The Huntsman's Tale
31 Flight Behaviour
32 Jog On
33 Ketchup is my favourite vegetable
34 Back in the Frame
35 The Crossing Places
36 Miss Manners Guide to Rearing Perfect Children
37 Behold the Dreamers (loved this)

Phew! I have two on the go at the moment and one more out of the library so I will probably read all these before the end of Dec.

Having only got my reading mojo back during the summer, I've had a couple of hectic months which meant I fell off the wagon again (plus persevering with a book I wasn't feeling at all - I gave up eventually but far later than I should). Anyway, I've got back into the swing of things over the last week or so and have two more books finished:

The Forgotton Garden by Kate Morton

I think this book could have been about 100 pages shorter, there were parts in the middle where I was beginning to lose interest, but once Eliza's story started to pick up it improved a lot. By the end I was really enjoying it and it did stay with me for a few days afterwards.

Apple of my Eye by Claire Allan

This was fantastic, couldn't put it down. I worked out who the baddie was relatively early on but I think that must have been the writer's intention. It didn't take away from the suspense as you know it's building towards a dramatic finish.

I thought I’d post so some of you will feel better if you feel you’ve been a tad slow ...... I’m about to start book #10. It’s crime fiction so it should be a quicker read - Lin Anderson’s Sins of the Dead. I seem to have been reading book 9 off and on for most of the year. I have been reading non-fiction too, mostly history, but I only include n/f if I’ve read from cover to cover and I rarely do that with history - prefer to dip in, look at several books on a particular topic. Something new I achieved this year was to read a 500-pager novel to a timetable and then participate in an online discussion. It was good but none of the other choices appeal so I’m back to solo reading and MN which in many ways is preferable. This tally is better than the last couple of years so I’m quite content though I’m going to try to read at least 2 more before 2020.

No. 30 was An Anonymous Girl by Greer Gendricks this was a good read and I finished it fairly quickly.

31 is Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty I've been really busy so not really getting the time to read this, so after 2 weeks I'm only about a quarter of the way in. It's starting to get interesting though.

I definitely won't be reaching the 40 books I read last year, but have reached the 30 book target I set myself, so delighted about that.
I might squeeze in one or two before the end of the year.

Thanks so much all for the book recommendations, I really hope we get this thread going for a third year

I really liked the 26 book challenge last year from Hannah Braime, but she didn't do one this year. Any ideas for something similar for next year - I'm definitely up for it.

I've just found this one, obviously I haven't read them all but I have read a few that fall in the category of "phew, I had to read that at school so I never have to look at it again".

Oops link would help

www.listchallenges.com/rory-gilmore-reading-challenge/list/9

Oh I love the idea of a book challenge! I had a look at Hannah Braimes list which looks good.

I've read very few of that Rory Gilmore list, only 33 of the 339 books . It's quite the eclectic list. A few on it I'd rather avoid too lol.

I was shocked by Michelle Obama's book

In what way?

Haven't posted for a while as book 21 was almost 700 pages long:

21. Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

A meandering tale of a painter holed up in a secluded mountain hideaway after his marriage has ended. It has the usual Murakami ingredients; there is a well (or, in this case, a well-like pit), a teenage girl, music, food, supernatural visitors, although regrettably, very few mentions of cats.

I enjoyed spending time in Murakami's surreal world as always. I don't think this is one of his best, but there's lots in it to love if you're a fan of his writing.

22. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith. I see this mentioned so often on books threads I thought I'd try it but it didn't capture my heart at all and I thought it was a bit of a slog to get through at times.

Determined to get 3 more books under my belt next month!