Thanks for the new thread. Bringing my list over, like others, standouts in bold, disappointments in italics
1)This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
2)Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter
3)The Glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams
4)Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
5) Endurance by Alfred Lancing
6) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
7)Animal Farm by George Orwell
8) Hagseed by Margaret Attwood
9) Tin Man by Sarah Winman
10) Heartstone by CJ Sansom
11) The Light Between Oceans by ML Steadman
12)Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
13)Weird Thing People say in Bookshops
14) Educated by Tara Westover
15)Llywbrau Cul by Mared Lewis
16) Lamentation by CJ Sansom
17) Jane Seymour -The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir
18) The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
19) 12 babies on a bike by Dot May Dunn
20)Everything I Never told you by Celeste Ng
21) Becoming Michelle Obama
22)Elizabeth II – The Life of a Monarch
23) A Month in the Country by JL Carr
24)The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
25)Eighty Days around the World by Michael Palin
26) The Librarian Salley Vickers
27)Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve
28) Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
29)Artemis by Andy Weir
30)Just William by Richmal Crompton
31) Small Island by Andrea Levy
32) Take Six Girls by Laura Thompson
33) Mythos by Stephen Fry
34) Ffenestri (Short Stories in Welsh)
35) Monarchy by David Starkey
36) Hywel Dda by Catrin Stevens
37) LLywelyn the last Prince by Aeres Twigg
38) The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullogh
39) The Queen and Lord M by Jean Plaidy
40) Trwy'r Ffenestri (Short Stories in Welsh)
41) Owain Glyndwr by Aeres Twigg
42) The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
43) The Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
44) In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott
45) The Island by Victoria Hislop
46) Blott on the Landscape by Tom Sharpe
47) Fatherland by Robert Harris
48) Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
49) Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
50) A Wounded Realm by KM Ashman
51) A History of Ancient Britain by Neil Oliver
Very well written and readable account of the ancient history of the British isles starting with the melting of the glaciers, through the migration of the first hunter-gatherers from Europe before Britain was an island, the first farmers, the building of stone circles including Stonehenge, the first copper mines, the technological advances of the Bronze and Iron Ages and, finally the Roman Invasion.
Enjoyed it a lot
52) A Column of Fire by Ken Follet
I had really enjoyed the first two books from this series (Pillars of the Earth and World Without End) and had heard mixed reviews about this one, but I really enjoyed it.
I know Ken Follet can be a bit formulaic, and this book is no exception, but it was a great read.
Like the earlier books, the story centres around the fictional cathedral town of Kingsbridge, though this naturally branches out to Spain, Paris and London as the characters intertwine with each other. It is now the 16th Century and bloody Mary Tudor is on the throne.
The principal players are young lovers Ned Willard (protestant) and Marjory (Catholic). They are not allowed to marry, and Ned becomes a secretary for William Cecil, joins the Princess Elizabeth's household and eventually becomes one of her closest advisers and intelligence agents. Marjory obeys her family and marries the obnoxious Earl of Shiring. The action also follows Marjory's unpleasant older brother Rollo, and Ned's brother Barney who is in Spain and becomes a captain of a ship trading in the New World.
The narrative covers Ned and Marjory's lives and their respective marriages to others, and through Ned's work as an agent for the Crown of England, is witness to all the major historical events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries - the religious struggle across Europe between Protestants and Catholics, the imprisonment and eventual execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the Spanish Armada, the succession of James I and the Gunpowder Plot.
Really enjoyable.
I think on balance, I prefered his Century series based in the 20th Century (Same formula), but one of my top reads so far this year.
53) The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
This had been sat on my Kindle for a while and I really knew nothing about this story.
It is the story of Christopher Knight, also known as the North Pond Hermit, who lived in the woods of Maine without any human contact for 27 years.
The book opens with his arrest, when he has broken into a property to steal food and other living necessities, the final break-in of hundreds he has done over his time in seclusion. He is sent to jail to await trial.
The background of the story then develops, revealing some of his unremarkable early life, and his apparent sudden decision to withdraw from his family and society and literally walking into the woods, never planning to return. He is never that far from civilisation though, and steals everything he needs from local summer cabins - gas stoves, clothing, food, sleeping bags.
Knight is a divisive character, some people view him as a true hermit, setting himself apart from society and its ills to exist at a higher level, some see him as someone to be pitied, probably autistic and unable to deal with living with people, and others see him as a common thief.
A very interesting read, very readable.