26-ish books in 2020

[drspouse]

A thread for those too busy or otherwise not able to aim for 50 books in a year!
I'm aiming for 12 from my shelves and 12 from a reading challenge

thebrokenspinedotnet.wordpress.com/2019/12/14/reading-classic-books-challenge/

There are loads of reading challenges here too

www.girlxoxo.com/the-master-list-of-2020-reading-challenges/

We are very laid back here, join any time, I imagine this thread will be open till Dec as it doesn't move too fast!

I watched the Hitchcock film today and it annoyed me a bit! I think it played down the feminist context too much. I'll say no more as I know this isn't a film thread and don't want to do any spoilers for people reading it

Yeah I hate the Hitchcock version but I hate most of his films.

@MercedesDeMonteChristo I found I got used to the lack of punctuation pretty quickly, stick with it!

Just finished Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

I really enjoyed this immigration story about mothers and daughters and coming to terms with your sexuality when it’s not accepted, the frustration and poverty illegal immigrants to the US get stuck in UNTIL the end when everything got all neatly tied up with a pretty bow. Hate it when books do that

Ffs, do NOT watch the Netflix version! I'm spitting feathers

32 The Cost of Sugar by Cynthia McLeod. Translated by Gerald R. Mettam

The biggest selling book in Suriname and a best seller in the Netherlands, this novel about two stepsisters is set at the time of the legendary Boni slave rebellions in the 1770s. It jumps between perspectives of the colonialists, the slaves and those newly arrived from Holland. The book is plainly written but the story draws you in. I knew nothing about Suriname before reading this book but found it fascinating. The realities of the inequalities between whites and blacks, men and women, christians and jews are all highlighted but the gripping story between the step sisters drives you on as well. Highly recommended.

I liked the film,but you have to watch it as a stand-alone really.

ALso

19. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo I liked this a lot. I thought it was quite clever the way the stories intersected and was interested in the way that each character explored their identity. I did get used to the no punctuation thing - but I still don’t really understand what that added to the narrative. Would I not have read it the same way with full stops and capital letters?

When I Ran Away by Ilona Bannister. This isn’t published yet, I had to read it for work but I was gripped every second, deals with post natal depression in a brutal, realistic and eloquent way - look out for it at the beginning of next year!

30: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

I loved loved loved this. Absolutely beautiful and such a fantastic story. Definitely highly recommend it. I read it in about 5 days. It's just lovely.

@SubtleInnuendo

30: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

I loved loved loved this. Absolutely beautiful and such a fantastic story. Definitely highly recommend it. I read it in about 5 days. It's just lovely.

I’m glad to hear that because I heard a few bad reviews!

Hi everyone. I've been struggling a bit to get into anything over the last few weeks. I started ready Three Men In A Boat but I only managed about thirty pages and then gave up.
Then I tried Happy by Derren Brown which I thought would be right up my street but I got bored after 100 pages.

So I turned to Jack Reacher for comfort and I've now finished

34. Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
Sometimes I guess you just need something low-brow and easy to get your mojo back!

@HoundOfTheBasketballs def sometimes need something that’s just easy to read!!

Just finished listening to Kindred by Octavia Butler which I loved but I’ve done a few back to back slave historical stories and I think I need a change of pace

20. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Lisa See

I thought that this was absolutely brilliant. It’s meticulously researched and about an ethnic minority group in China and tea cultivation. It’s a real family saga. I adored every minute of it. I’ll definitely be seeking out other books by this author.

My target for this year was only 12 so I’m really pleased to get to 20. I had a look at what I have read on Goodreads this year and I’ve read some great stuff.

I have completely dropped off this thread for a while since I went back to work. I've been so busy I haven't has the energy for reading.

I delighted to hear of all the love for Rebecca, I really loved it. The end of the Netflix film annoyed me, but I thought overall it was an ok watch.

Book 32 for me was Girl, Woman, Other. I really enjoyed it, but agree with Mercedes that the lack of punctuation was really irritating at the beginning. I did eventually get used to it.

Book 33 was The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. I absolutely adored this book! I read it very quickly and feel sad that I have finished it. I highly recommend this one.

Not sure what will be next, considering Dear Leader that I bought as a kindle offer a few weeks ago.

I've only got about 200 pages of TMATL to read (loving it) but went to the bookshop to get some lockdown reading because apparently my TBR pile isn't high enough and am now desperate to read those books but I need to resist and finish TMATL.

I'm not quite sure what the fashion for no punctuation is suppose to convey. It doesn't bother me but I don't really see the point.

21. Marrying the Mistress, Joanna Trollope

Does what it says on the tin really, tells a story about a 60 something man leaving his marriage to marry his 30 something mistress. Honestly, I thought it was drivel but I gave it one star on Goodreads solely for the fact that I finished it and it wasn’t a chore. I just read it.

31. Pine by Francine Toon

This was ok. Quite eerie and chilling in places and nicely written but didn't quite have me keen to pick it up all the time. But it's a good story. I liked the ending.

This came through on my BookBub email this week.

33 The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Much reviewed. After the fast paced and focused Bring Up the Bodies this was more similar to Wolf Hall with a longer timeframe and multiple complex matters for Cromwell to deal with. I loved the psychological complexity of it and the writing is gorgeous and rich which meant it took a long time to read (started this in early September). Plus I kept googling various characters to find out more. Cromwell is considered such a bruiser by history whereas Mantel presents him as more decent and principled character (with a lot more respect for women than the odious Norfolk who used the young women of his family to gain power). He feels modern against many of the aristocrats he's dealing with, an intelligent and self made man.

Finished Old Black Magic by Ace Atkins which is a Spenser novel (Boston PI, original series by Robert B Parker). I do think the author has captured the spirit of the old series but Spenser and Susan Silverman appear not to have aged at all since the 1970s. At least they have a new dog. I think this is 32 overall but Goodreads is telling me I've read 33 this year so who knows.

Does Goodreads tell you which books you have read?

It does, yes. I will eventually get round to tallying that with this list!

I add them as I go along because the geek in me loves seeing the percentage move and being told how on schedule I am. And don’t get me started on the end of year email that tells you how many pages you have read.

I add them to here and there as I go along which is why I'm confused, somewhere I'm counting wrong!

After all the Rebecca chat I decided to re1read Jamaica Inn, haven’t read it years, ugh she’s so good!

Finished A Doll's House by Ibsen which is my final Classic book and no 33 overall I think. Or 34.
I've got one more "book I own" to read and a few fairly easy reads on my Kindle that have been there for ages but I'm reading another Strike book next to keep up with the TV series!