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!

Book 37 The Fourth Shore by Virginia Baily. Fascinating and atmospheric novel set mainly in Libya in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was under Italian occupation.

25. The Affair, Santa Montefiore
Her books are my guilty pleasure. This one was about a bunch of Chelsea women lunching and wearing stilettos on the school run and one has an affair. The motivations and way it happened were plausible but the rest was even more guilty pleasure reading than usual.

@IJumpedAboardAPirateShip Jasper Fforde is a bit weird. His books are sort of comedy, surrealist crime fiction. So the one I read is part of his Nursery Crime series where a lot of the characters are from nursery rhymes. But some of them aren't. And the settings are actually real places. It's funny and cleverly done though.

38. Runner - Lizzy Hawker
Memoir by an ultra marathon runner. Probably not worth reading unless you are interested in the subject. It's very inward looking. But perhaps you need that sort of mentality to run 150+ miles in one go!

39. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
This always pops up on "100 books to read before you die" lists. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was easy to read and managed to strike the balance of being funny/heartbreaking all at once.

I've got behind with updating my list again. I think these are all of my most recent ones:

24. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
    Quirky little book about a café that serves coffee and the opportunity for a bit of time travel. Intriguing idea and very moving in places.

25. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
    A whodunnit that was okay but didn't really draw me in. I didn't find myself caring much about any of the characters. It rattled along nicely enough though I suppose.

26. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
    I was aware of this from the Netflix adaptation which I hadn't watched because I'm such a wuss about anything scary these days. I do most of my reading in bed just before going to sleep but this haunted house story wasn't so scary that it gave me nightmares. There was a lot to digest in it though and I enjoyed it very much.

I'm very pleased I've made it to 26 books. I had no real expectation that I would, although I don't think I was far off last year. I've worked all the way through the pandemic with no extra time at home to fill with reading so this is probably a good record of an average year's reading. I might finish book 27 by the end of the year too. I've enjoyed keeping a record on here. I might have a look at Goodreads. I like the idea of keeping track on there too.

40. Dead Centre - Andy McNab
My dad lends me these when he's finished them. They're definitely books written by a man for other men, but I don't mind them. They're very easy to read and good fun as long as you don't mind lots of explosions and swearing.

26. 1984, George Orwell
I suspect this needs no introduction. Beautifully written, but so very bleak and I just felt all the way through that their would be no happy ending. Some parts were really distressing. I’m glad I’ve read it though - but looking forward to a lighter classic for next book club read.

33. The Nesting by C.J. Cooke

Took me ages to get into this. The main character is young and troubled and dishonest and I took ages to warm up to her. But I liked the premise, was intrigued and eventually was keen to get back to it. Quite a good twist, and the setting is beautifully described.

27. Gentlemen and Players, Joanna Harris

A solid 4 stars. I really enjoyed the mystery and some bits I had suspicions and some I was totally surprised by. I don’t really want to say too much about the story but overall a great read and I will seek out more by Harris. I have tried to start Chocolat a few times but not got into it but will give it another try at some point.

28. Once by Morris Gleitzman
A book about the Holocaust told from the perspective of a child. I’ve read a lot of Holocaust based fiction, non-fiction and memoir and this is one of the rawest, devastating things ever. I can’t quite believe it’s written for children though because of the narrator and as adults our knowledge of the events simple things that a child might not read into are felt viscerally.

Five stars. Not many people can articulate a child’s voice like Gleitzman has.

Can’t remember how many this is not including work books but including them:
50. My Year Abroad by Chang-Rae Lee completely weird, goes to a dark place but beautifully written
51. The Long Song by Andrea Levy took me ages to finish this, because I had a lot of work but still surprising because I usually wolf down her work. This just didn’t grab me in the same way as her other books

37 The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif

An young American woman meets an older Egyptian and falls in love with him. She shows him an old chest of her mothers full of letters written by her great grandmother and other documents written in Arabic. He sends her to his sister in Egypt to help translate the documents. Two love stories at either end of the 20th century unfold, with lots of Egyptian history and politics included.

I really enjoyed this and happily got immersed in the historic love story. The modern love story was less satisfying but the modern politics were interesting. I visited Egypt in the early 90s and it was interesting to read an almost contemporary novel.

Tempted to try and to get a round number but unless I read some very short children's I think that's an impossible quest.

That sounds like a good one @CountFosco. I also thought I’d try for a round 30 but this Georgette Heyer (new for me) is taking longer than anticipated so I’ll prob end on 29.

34. The Searcher by Tana French

Probably my last one of 2020. Pretty good this one. I like her writing, and the characters were good too. Set in rural west Ireland and it sounds beautiful but sometimes bleak. It's pretty slow burn but still readable.

38 Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

YA novel about first love in the 1980s. Very nostalgic, both for the music and the feelings of falling in love for the first time.

Last couple of books for 2020:

27. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
    I vaguely remembered the story from the TV adaptation and got a bit lost with who was who in the literary world but enjoyed this all the same. Strike and Robin are very well drawn I thought.

28. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
    Non-fiction account of Murakami's love for running and his training for marathons. I am most definitely not a fan of running but I loved this insight into the enigmatic, modest author's dogged and determined approach to training, writing and life itself.

29. The Unknown Ajax Georgette Heyer

Heyer has been recommended to me many times but I wasn’t that keen on this. Unknown heir comes to learn about estate and meet estranged family in Regency England.

30. The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman

A lovely cosy whodunnit to end the year bought with some vouchers I received for Christmas.

Do we have a 2021 thread yet?

New thread here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/4120543-26-ish-books-in-2021?watched=1

35: Here is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan

Managed to squeeze another one in as it's pretty brief. Really interesting. About a woman who was having an affair and the man suddenly dies. She's pretty awful and it's a horrible situation but it was an interesting and sad story.

34. Ramble Book - Adam Buxton
Like a warm hug from an old friend (that I've never met). A wonderful book to finish this shitty year on.

I appear to have fallen off my own thread! Last few:
38 The Golden Thread by Kassia St Clair
39 Christmas - A Biography by Judith Flanders
40 Ask Me Anything by PZ Reizen.
First two quite similar - well written but light social history. Last one very funny - a smart fridge takes over its owner's life.
Happy New Year to all!

39 The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E. M. Delafield

Second book of the Provincial Lady in which I becoming increasingly jealous of her lifestyle and annoy DH with random laughter.

@CountFosco it was 77p on Kindle so I’ve bought the first one!

I read the first one in the summer. Enjoyed it very much!

My kids are watching The Empire Strikes Back and I've finished my final book of the year:

40 Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson

Beautiful collection of 12 short stories set around Christmas. Perfect end to the year and highly recommend.

Thankyou all for a wonderful year of reading. Best bit of 2020!