50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Nine

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the ninth thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2020, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it's still not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

The previous threads of 2020:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Sniff your bolds

Oh my! We've never been formally introduced!

I feel there should be a part bold option as there are many I think are very very good, but not quite exceptional. I'm very judgemental and perhaps a little too hard.

Same !

I've removed bolds off a couple deliberately since the beginning, not the Reni Eddo Lodge book though, that was a mistake, something goes wrong on my list every thread.

The majority of my year has been "solid middle" - with about 20 ish standouts and 5 stinkers.

Thank you for the new thread @southeastdweller - although I think I only managed about 30 seconds on the last one!

57. Charming as a Verb by Ben Phillipe. Teen novel about 17yr old son of Haitian immigrants navigating college applications and first love- this didn't quite catch fire for me, and it is certainly no The Hate U Give; but better than many teen romances. I quite liked that it was a male character written by a man, as lots of this genre seem to be written by women (unless maybe I have been subconsciously selectively picking, I haven't done a scientific survey!)

Thanks for the new thread, southeast. Here's my list:

1. My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
2. Damaged- Cathy Glass
3. Wonder- R.J. Palacio
4. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
5. Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries- John Ronson
6. Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television- Louis Theroux
7. Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks
8. Lord of the Flies- William Golding
9. The Beatrix Potter Collection- Beatrix Potter

10. The Cold War: a History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 11. The Subtle Knife- Philip Pullman 12. The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman 13. Nine Perfect Strangers- Liane Moriarty 14. Brazil- Michael Palin 15. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald 16. The Collector- John Fowles 17. Ready Player One- Ernest Cline 18. Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life- Peter Godfrey-Smith 19. Engleby- Sebastian Faulks 20. Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure- John Cleland 21. The Boy at the Back of the Class- Onjali Q. Rauf 22. Prison: A Survival Guide- Carl Cattermole 23. The Children- Alice Meynell 24. The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller 25. This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay 26. Mummy Told Me Not to Tell- Cathy Glass 27. The Aerodynamics of Pork- Patrick Gale 28. Aztec Civilisation: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 29. Cannery Row- John Steinbeck 30. La Belle Sauvage- Philip Pullman 31. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line- David Nott 32. The Bookshop that Floated Away- Sarah Henshaw 33. The Imperial Phase: The Rise & Fall of British Indie Music 1986-1997- Ray Dexter 34. Lunch with the Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and Excess in 13½ Chapters- Phill Savidge 35. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer 36. Frost in May- Antonia White 37. Lyra’s Oxford- Philip Pullman 38. Scrublands- Chris Hammer 39. A History of Loneliness- John Boyne 40. Here Comes the Clown: A Stumble Through Showbusiness- Dom Joly 41. Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich 42. Inside Broadmoor- Jonathan Levi & Emma French 43. The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath 44. Doctor Sleep- Stephen King 45. The Lost World- Michael Crichton 46. The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger 47. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?- Jeanette Winterson 48. The Perfect Child- Lucinda Berry 49. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- J.K. Rowling 50. To Siri with Love- Judith Newman 51. Prognosis- Sarah Vallance 52. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit- Judith Kerr 53. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- J.K. Rowling 54. Another Forgotten Child- Cathy Glass 55. The Children Act- Ian McEwan 56. And the Ocean Was Our Sky- Patrick Ness 57. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne 58. In the City, by the Sea- Kamila Shamsie 59. Fleabag: The Special Edition- Phoebe Waller-Bridge 60. Winston Churchill: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 61. The Rehearsal- Eleanor Catton 62. The Saddest Girl in the World- Cathy Glass 63. Sal- Mick Kitson 64. It’s Not About You- Tom Rath 65. The Nanny State Made Me- Stuart Maconie 66. Sonic Youth Slept on My Floor- Dave Haslam 67. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time- Mark Haddon 68. I Was Britpopped- Jenny Natasha & Tom Boniface-Webb 69. A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner- Chris Atkins 70. My Brother’s Name is Jessica- John Boyne 71. Unnatural Causes- Dr Richard Shepherd 72. Bookworm- Lucy Mangan 73. Innocent- Cathy Glass 74. Eye Can Write- Jonathan Bryan 75. The Covid Companion: 52 Ways to Be Happy in Isolation- Muzzammil Ali 76. Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division- Peter Hook 77. Strangeways: A Prison Officer’s Story- Neil Samworth 78. Finding Stevie- Cathy Glass 79. Horn Life, or What’s Your Proper Job?- John Pigneguy 80. Keeping On Keeping On- Alan Bennett 81. Julius Caesar: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 82. Fun Home- Alison Bechdel 83. Swallowdale- Arthur Ransome 84. Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory- Lucy Mangan 85. The Scream: The Music, Myths and Misbehaviour of Primal Scream- Kris Needs 86. The Men Who Stare at Goats- Jon Ronson 87. 84 Charing Cross Road/The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street- Helene Hanff 88. Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel 89. I Capture the Castle- Dodie Smith 90. Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East- Benjamin Law 91. The Spanish Flu: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 92. Do it Like a Woman… and Change the World- Caroline Criado Perez 93. Broken Greek: A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs- Pete Paphides 94. The Chilbury Ladies Choir- Jennifer Ryan 95. Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island- Ben Aitken 96. Happier at Home- Gretchen Rubin 97. The Boy on the Bridge- M. R. Carey 98. Infection: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Novel- M. P. McDonald 99. Isolation- M. P. McDonald 100. Invasion- M.P. McDonald 101. Titanic: the Story of the Unsinkable Ship- Hourly History 102. Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution- Selina Todd 103. Nerd Do Well- Simon Pegg 104. Alone at the End of the World- M. P. McDonald 105. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- J. K. Rowling 106. Where Has Mummy Gone?- Cathy Glass 107. A Long Way from Home- Cathy Glass 108. How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You- Leil Lowndes 109. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce 110. All the Rage- Cara Hunter 111. Pandemic 1918- Catharine Arnold 112. John F. Kennedy: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 113. The Star Outside My Window- Onjali Q. Rauf 114. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- J. K. Rowling 115. The Five- Hallie Rubenhold 116. Magpie Lane- Lucy Atkins 117. Charlotte’s Web- E. B. White 118. Forever- Judy Blume 119. The Body: A Guide for Occupants- Bill Bryson 120. Hired- James Bloodworth 121. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- J.K. Rowling 122. Troublesome Words- Bill Bryson 123. The Wombles- Elisabeth Beresford 124. All Points North- Simon Armitage 125. Confessions of a Bookseller- Shaun Bythell 126. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid- Bill Bryson 127. Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs- Hourly History 128. Pollen- Jeff Noon 129. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers 130. How to Deal with Stress- Stephan Palmer 131. Too Scared to Tell- Cathy Glass 132. Into the Night- Sarah Bailey 133. Days of the Bagnold Summer- Joff Winterhart 134. Sweet Sorrow- David Nicholls 135. Revolution in the Head- Ian MacDonald 136. The Wall- John Lanchester 137. Coping with Coronavirus: How to Stay Calm and Protect Your Mental Health- Dr Brendan Kelly 138. A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson 139. Holes- Louis Sachar 140. Wuthering Heights- Emily Brontë 141. Middle England- Jonathan Coe 142. The Coronavirus Preparedness Handbook- Tess Pennington 143. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece- Annabel Pitcher 144. To the Lighthouse- Virginia Woolf 145. The New Jim Crow- Michelle Alexander 146. The Mayflower: a History from Beginning to End- Hourly History 147. Eat that Frog!- Brian Tracy 148. The Secret Commonwealth- Philip Pullman 149. Tess of the d’Urbervilles- Thomas Hardy 150. Around the World in 80 Days- Michael Palin 151. Ramble Book- Adam Buxton 152. Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me- Kate Clanchy 153. The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

I've had a difficult time recently and haven't managed to update for a while, so here's a quick attempt:

154. Heroes- Stephen Fry I listened to the audiobook, but probably should have read it (as I did Mythos) as I tended to lose track of some of the characters.

155. Not Dead Yet- Phil Collins I've never been a fan of Phil Collins' music, but I heard one of his songs on the The Voice Kids and suddenly got the urge to read about his colourful private life. This was quite fun and I raced through it.

156. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History Similar to all the other Hourly Histories, but reasonably informative.

157. Amo, Amas, Amat... and All That: How to Become a Latin Lover- Harry Mount This was a reread: I've been revising my Latin knowledge in recent months. It attempts to teach Latin in a fun way and is quite enjoyable.

158. The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way- Bill Bryson This is inferior to Troublesome Words (which I really enjoyed) and is intended for American readers but is still informative.

159. Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies- Nick Frost I have read Frost's memoir before, but this time listened to the audiobook. Predictably, the sections about Spaced were my favourites, but the parts about Frost's time on a kibbutz are also entertaining. The many mentions of his close friendship with Simon Pegg are sweet.

160. Sing, Unburied, Sing- Jesmyn Ward I think one or more 50 Bookers read this recently and found it odd: I did too. As an emetophobe, I didn't enjoy reading (many times) about a small child vomiting in a car: unfortunately, that is what sticks in my mind the most about this book!

161. No One is Too Small to Make a Difference- Greta Thunberg A quick but reasonably inspiring audiobook. I plan to read more about climate change, as it's a subject I really need to know more about.

162. Still Waters- Viveca Sten Swedish murder novel which was free on the Kindle a while ago. It had its moments and the ending was fairly satisfying.

163. A Greater Freedom- Alya Mooro Also previously free on the Kindle, this book discusses the author's experiences of being a modern, non-religious Arab woman living (mostly) in the U.K. The subjects she discusses are fairly predictable (sex, family relationships, feminism etc.) but I enjoyed her writing style and found it very readable.

164. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J. K. Rowling My last Harry Potter on Audible, I'd forgotten how long and boring this book is. I'm probably missing the point, but I really prefer it when the characters are at Hogwart's, not off on a tedious quest. The last two or three hours are reasonably interesting and wrap the series up pretty well.

I currently have several books on the go including The Stand and (still!) David Copperfield.

Evening all.

Eine I also hated One Day but enjoyed reading Us , and thought the adaptation was decent.

I've barely read at all in the last couple of weeks. It's not helping that I'm reading something (The Murder of Harriet Monckton by Elizabeth Haynes) that's not so good I'm looking forward to picking it up, but not so bad I'm ready to cast it aside.

My list:

1. March Violets by Philip Kerr
2. Ring The Hill by Tom Cox
3. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
4. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
5. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.
6. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

7. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

1. The Secret Barrister - Stories of the Law and How It's Broken
2. Enigma by Robert Harris

10.Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata 11. Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 12. The Citadel by AJ Cronin 13. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel 14. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid 15. Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner 16. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe 17. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams 18. Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman 19. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold 20. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 21. In the Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott 22. Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins 23. Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris 24. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins 25. Bone China by Laura Purcell 26. Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge 27. The Familiars by Stacy Hall 28. The Benefit of Hindsight by Susan Hill

Here is my list.

1. Tall Tales and Wee Stories by Billy Connelly
2. It's Your Time You're Wasting by Frank Chalk
3. The Familiars by Stacy Halls
4. Hidden Figures by Margaret Lee Shetterly
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
6. Cyffession Seasnes Yng Nghymru by Sarah Reynolds
7. The Secret River by Kate Grenville
8. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
9. My Sister the Serial Killer by by Oyinkan Braithwaite
10. Born Lippy by Jo Brand
11. Down Under by Bill Bryson
12. Prisoners by Geography by Tim Marshall
13. The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burke
14. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
15. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
16. The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy
17. Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
18. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
19. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
20. The Celts by Alice Roberts
21. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
22. Teithio drwy Hanes by Jon Gower
23. Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine
24. The Life and Time of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
25. Saint Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters
26. Before Wallis by Rachel Trethewey
27. Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell
28. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
29. A Place called Freedom by Ken Follett
30. Normal People by Sally Rooney
31. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
32. Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
33. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
34. The Penelopiad by Margaret Attwood
35. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
36. Arwyr Cymru by Jon Gower
37. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
38. Anna of Kleve (Six Tudor Queens series) by Alison Weir
39. Note from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
40. Dark Age by James Wilde
41. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Settlefield
42. Rise Up Women: The Extraordinary Lives of the Suffragettes by Diana Atkinson
43. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
44. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
45. 1927 One Summer in America by Bill Bryson
46. The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick
47. A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell
48. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
49. Heroes by Stephen Fry
50. *The Foundling by Stacey Halls
51. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
52. Tombland by C.J. Samson
53. The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
54. The King's War by Mark Logue
55. The Lovesong of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce.

At the moment, I am reading Sweetpea by CJ Skuse - easy read, very dark though, and suits my mood at the moment, and I have also got All Quiet on the Western Front on the go. Most of my reading time is being taken up by Troubled Blood on Audible - really enjoying it, possibly beginning to drag a bit now I am about 2/3 through, but I enjoy the writing and the dynamics between Robin and Strike so I'm happy for it to trundle on.

Shiny new thread! Thank you southeast.

My list and a backlog of recent reads that I'm really behind on posting. I didn't think I was going to make 50 this year but now I think I might be in with a chance.

1. Me, by Elton John
2. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, by Mike Isaac

3. Conviction, by Denise Mina

1. The Sober Diaries, by Claire Pooley
2. Nine Elms, by Robert Bryndza

6. Fleishman is in Trouble, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

1. The Vagina Bible, by Jen Gunter, MD

8. Long Bright River, by Liz Moore 9. The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo 10. Flash Count Diary, by Darcey Steinke 11. Class, by Jenny Colgan 12. Underland, by Robert McFarlane 13. Uncanny Valley, by Anna Weiner 14. Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Memoir, by Tyler Feder 15. Rachel's Holiday, by Marian Keyes 16. The Night Fire, by Michael Connolly 17. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, by Sara Gran 18. Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid 19. The Third Rainbow Girl, by Emma Copley Eisenberg 20. Three Hours, by Rosamund Lupton 21. His and Hers, by Alice Feeney

22. Broken Places, by Tracy Clark. I really enjoyed this. Cass Raines is a Black former Chicago police officer turned PI. This is the first in the series and I found it a refreshing change from the usual middle-aged white male PI with a dark past/drinking problem/haunted by his demons (delete as applicable). There are two more in the series so far and I'm really looking forward to them.

23. Adults, by Emma Jane Unsworth. Mid-thirties creative in London has mid-life crisis and grapples with her fear of abandonment. This has been much praised and while I found it diverting enough, I often wanted to give Jenny a shake. Unsworth does have some brilliant one-liners though - I kindle highlighted quite a few quotes. I think I might just be a bit old for this, I would have probably loved it in my late twenties or early thirties.

24. I'll be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara. Gripping and completely terrifying, this is a true crime story tracking the history of the man McNamara named the Golden State Killer. An enormous amount of work went into this and I imagine she must have been instrumental in him being eventually brought to justice. Unfortunately Michelle died before he was caught, and this book was completed by her husband (actor Patton Oswalt) and two of her fellow 'Citizen Detectives'. I thought this was excellent but don't read it at home alone! There is also a documentary series made about the book and the case which was harrowing but also excellent.

25. Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. This book marks the return of my reading mojo. It's been described as 'lesbian necromancers in space' and while SF is not at all normally my cup of tea, I loved it. Representatives of the Nine Houses each send their necromancer and cavalier to perform in a series of trials. Sad, funny, clever, shocking - I still don't know quite how to describe this but I tore through it and was gripped by almost the whole thing, apart from a battle scene that went on far too long. Can't wait to read the sequel.

26. Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs. YA story of the CIA's spy school for kids. Suggested by a friend as something to read with my nieces - I don't think it's for them but I certainly enjoyed it! Fast paced and entertaining for YA readers.

27. Keeper, by Jessica Moor. Thriller based around a women's shelter. Excellent writing (particularly as it's a debut novel) and well told through different perspectives - it's quite upsetting but I found it very well done.

28. Spy Camp, by Stuart Gibbs. Next in the spy series - this time it's basically CIA spy school summer camp. I actually enjoyed this more than the previous one but I'm not sure I'll read any more, unless I do end up reading them with my nieces.

29. Murder on the Oxford Canal, by Faith Martin. Not sure how I ended up with this, must have been a daily deal. Police procedural with a DI who is being investigated by internal affairs as her former (deceased) husband was a corrupt officer. She's a likeable protagonist and it was enjoyable enough but probably not going to prompt me to invest in the rest of the series.

30. In Your Defence, by Sarah Langford. Much reviewed already on here, a fascinating insight into the law told through some of Barrister Sarah Langford's cases. Excellent.

31. The High House, by Honor Arundel. Childhood favourite, a comfort re-read. When Emma and her brother Richard lose their parents in a car accident, each goes to live with a different aunt. Emma finds herself living in Edinburgh with her artist aunt. Published in the 70s, I was relieved to find it has aged well. Will now have to revisit the next in the series!

32. Over The Moon, by Elissa Haden Guest. YA. 16 year old Kate travels from Massachusetts to visit her estranged older sister in Nova Scotia. Simply and beautifully written, this was a favourite in my early teens and was every bit as good as I remembered.

Drops list and runs away from eine like Clarice Starling.

I don’t get through the same numbers as either of you though.

I can’t remember what I bolded previously so have just gone again on instinct and marked what I particularly remember enjoying. Haven’t reviewed the last few yet. That last one! I don’t reach for the Italics often, but I was putting them round it as I was reading it this time. I won’t be able to do justice to how bonkers I thought it was without blowing the plot though. And someone might like it. It felt to me like a pretend book inside of a book of Ian McEwan’s.

1. Black Hammer Vol 1

2. Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson 3. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson 4. Jim Henson The Biography by Brian Jay Jones 5. Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow 6. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

1. Thin Air by Michelle Paver

8. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson 9. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt 10. The Pied Piper by Neville Shute 11. The Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard 12. The 101 Dalamatians by Dodie Smith 13. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 14. My Wild and Sleepless Nights by Clover Stroud 15. Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen 16. The Topeka School by Ben Lerner 17. Trustee from the Toolroom by Neville Shute 18. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks 19. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 20. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami 21. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid 22. Persuasion by Jane Austen 23. The Island 24. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss 25. Stasiland by Anna Funder 26. Ice Cold in Alex 27. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld 28. Matilda by Roald Dahl 29. The Railway Children by E Nesbit 30. The Mothers by Britt Bennett 31. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 32. Millions by Frank Cottrell-Boyce 33. Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls 34. The Redhead at the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler 35. Back When We Were Grown-Ups by Anne Tyler 36. The Second Sleep by Robert Harris 37. Little Women by Louisa M Alcott 38. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger 39. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel 40. For Esme with Love and Squalor by Jd Salinger 41. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith 42. Emma by Jane Austen 43. One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown 44. Mary Oliver Selected Poems 45. Intimations by Zadie Smith 46. Therese Raquin by Emil Zola 47. Heidi by Johanna Spyri 48. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank 49. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 50. A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson 51. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead 52. Silence by Shūsaku Endō 53. Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward

I have a good hit ratio though! I wonder if it’s just because I have a shorter list than some and don’t really push out of my comfort zone too much because of that.

Haven't posted for a month or so, and in that time I've finished...
32. Force of Nature by Jane Harper
and 33. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
both of which I enjoyed.
Halfway through Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie on Kindle and, as I have this coming week off work, I started Troubled Blood on Audible yesterday. Hoping to have lots of listening time when walking/gardening/cleaning...it's drawn me in happily so far but 27+ hours to go!

I think the reason my "hit rate" is low is because I've been clearing a lot of "long term TBR" and discovering why I was less than enthused to read them in the first place.

I also need to think that something that is 99p is always a bargain 😂

1. One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
2. Bookwormby Lucy Mangan.
3. Educated by Tara Westover.
4. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
5. Finding Jenifer Jones by Anne Cassidy

6. The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer. 7. Me by Elton John.

1. Black Car Burning by Helen Mort.
2. The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein.

10. Conviction by Denise Mina. 11. In The Woods by Tana French. 12. when the wind Blows by Raymond Briggs. 13. Girl, women, other by Bernadine Evaristo. 14. Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg. 15. Dominicana by Angie Cruz. 16. Wolf hall by Hillary Mantel 17. Blue Monday by Nicci French 18. Its not ok to feel blue (and other lies) by Scarlett Curtis. 19. Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth. 20. Bridget Jones’ Diary Helen Fielding. 21. Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel. 22. A thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. 23. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanan. 24. The Stand by Stephen King. 25 Vox by Christina Dalcher. 26. Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. 27. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargreaves. 28. The Only Plane In The Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. By Garrett Graff. 29. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld. 30. Mallory Towers 1 by Enid Blyton 31. Mallory Towers 2 by Enid Blyton 32. Mallory Towers 3 by Enid Blyton 33. Mallory Towers 4 by Enid Blyton 34. Mallory Towers 5 by Enid Blyton 35. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Voung. 36. Such a fun age by Kiley Reid. 37. Afropean by Johny Pitts. 38. To Love and Let Go by Rachel Brathean. 39. Ramble Chat by Adam Buxton. 40. In this Country We Love by Diane Guerrero. 41. The Party by Elizabeth Day. 42. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes 43. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 44. Homecoming by Luan Goldie 45. Alex Ryder: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz 46. Small Great Things by Jodie Picoult. I haven’t read Picoult in a long time and had gotten sick of her ‘issues’ writing. This year I’ve done a lot of comfort reading though and thought I’d try this story about a black nurse on trial for a crime against a White supremacist family. It was definitely a little dated, but I was gripped from start to finish.

Still reading TMATL. Thanks again @southeast.

I've been a slave to online library availability this year and have read a lot of books I don't think I'd have considered or been aware of otherwise, which has made my year a bit hit and miss. I've also then been tied to return deadlines as a result.

I had a list of 50 books I wanted to read at the start of the year, mostly catching up from recommendations in last year's thread. I've managed 30 so far. I haven't had the reading year I was expecting, but that's just 2020 all over.

I won't have the same free time soon, so I think I'll have to be more discerning in my choices next year. At lot of my forward planning comes from the bolds in the final roundup lists in the thread. I really rate the opinions here and know I can trust the recommendations and get a good idea of what to avoid too.

Thanks for the new thread southeast

My list so far:

1. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
2. Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh
3. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
4. Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan
5. Calmer, Easier, Happier Homework by Noel Janis-Norton
6. Skeletons by Jane Fallon
7. The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
8. Red: A Natural History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey *
9. The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F Hamilton

10. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 11. 99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter 12. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini 13. Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy 14. The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson 15. The Silver Dream story by Neil Gaiman & Micheal Reaves, written by Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves 16. By Light Alone by Adam Roberts 17. The Treatment by C L Taylor 18. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 19. The Escape by C L Taylor 20. The Chalk Man by C J Tudor 21. No Dominion by Louise Welsh 22. How to Lose Weight Without Being Miserable by Richard Templar 23. The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig 24. Chimera by Mira Grant 25. God Bless the NHS by Roger Taylor 26. Bring Me Back by B A Paris 27. The Shape We’re In by Sarah Boseley 28. The Understudy by B A Paris, Clare Mackintosh, Holly Brown and Sophie Hannah 29. Someone Like Me by M R Carey 30. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 31. Calmer Easier Happier Screen Time by Noel Janis-Norton 32. The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley 33. Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott 34. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 35. First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 36. Night Film by Marisha Pessl 37. Second Form at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 38. Third Year at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton 39. Believe Me by J P Delaney 40. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 41. The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion 42. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer 43. The Demon Code by Adam Blake 44. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey 45. Everything Begins With Asking For Help by Kevin Braddock 46. Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz 47. Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig 48. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson 49. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman L 50. Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones 51. The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin 52. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker 53. Early Riser by Jasper Fforde 54. Friend Request by Laura Marshall 55. A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena 56. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge 57. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan 58. The Naked God by Peter F Hamilton 59. Big Fat Lies by Hannah Sutter 60. The Migration by Helen Marshall 61. Circe by Madeline Miller 62. Sleep by C L Taylor 63. The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed 64. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor 65. Gone by Leona Deakin 66. White Cat by Holly Black 67. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena 68. White Silence by Jodi Taylor 69. The Institute by Stephen King 70. All New Wolverine Volume 1: The Four Sisters 71. Dracula by Bram Stoker 72. Roman Quests: The Archers of Isca by Caroline Lawrence 73. Malory Towers Upper Fourth by Enid Blyton 74. Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan 75. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly 76. The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike 77. Autism: How to Raise a Happy Autistic Child by Jessie Hewitson 78. Nod by Adrian Barnes 79. The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones 80. Touch by Claire North 81. What’s in a Surname? by David McKie 82. Dark Light by Jodi Taylor 83. The Sweet Poison Quit Plan by David Gillespie 84. Fellside by M R Carey 85. Roman Quests: Return to Rome by Caroline Lawrence 86. Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

I’ve finished a few more books since then, but I’ll add those to my list properly when it’s not the middle of the night.

Thank you southeast

1.The xenophobes guide to the English, Anthony Miall

1. Between the stops, Sandi Toksvig

3.Once gone, Blake Pierce 4.The Guilty Mother, Diane Jeffrey 5.The little book of hygge, Meik Wiking 6.It’s too late now, A.A. Milne 7.The world I fell out of, Melanie Reid 8.The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley 9.Christmas at Rachel’s pudding pantry, Caroline Roberts 10.The Patron saint of lost souls, Menna van Praag 11.The octopus nest, Sophie Hannah 12.The 50 list, Nigel Holland 13.The power trip, Jackie Collins 14.The lost child, Patricia Gibney 15.Heads you win, Jeffrey Archer 16.Titanic survivor: Life boat number 6, Pierre Beaumont 17.Sunny Side Up, Susan Calman 18.Honeysuckle House, Christina Jones 19.Double take tales, Donna Brown 20.The deal of a lifetime, Frederick Backman 21.My life in comedy, Nicholas Parsons 22.Seahouses, Richard Barnett 23.Little fires everywhere, Celeste Ng 24.A crime short story collection, Bloomsbury 25.Little girl missing, J.G. Roberts 26.The second book of general ignorance, John Lloyd (QI) 27.New Zealand calling, Alex Richards 28.Swimming with orca, Ingrid Visser 29.The sealand incident, Brent Saltzman 30.Ka Mate, Dan Coxon 31.Fresh of the boat, Simon Collins 32.New Zealand, James Boyle 33.The british colonisation of New Zealand, Charles River 34.The laughing policeman, Glenn Wood 35.Trustee from the toolroom,Nevil Shute Norway 36.The very picture of you, Isabel Wolff 37.Cop Out, Glenn Wood 38.The divine storyteller, William McCandless 39.Swell: a water biography, Jenny Landreth 40.If clouds were sheep, Sue Andrews 41.The telephone box library, Rachael Lucas 42.Two old fools down under, Victoria Twead 43.You’ll never see me again, Lesley Pearce 44.Keep calm and swim to France, Mark Ransom 45.Step by step, my life in journeys, Simon Reeve 46.Christmas at the lucky parrot garden centre, Beth Good 47.Hourly Histories American Revolution 48.Squashed possums: off the beaten track in NZ Jonathan Tindale 49.All balls and glitter, Craig Revel Horwood 50. The Photographer's Saga, Petra Durst-Benning 51. Pulse, Felix Francis 52. The Sealwoman's Gift, Sally Magnussen 53. QI Book of general ignorance 54. The pants of perspective, Anna McNuff 55. Pied Piper, Nevil Shute 56. Round the bend, Nevil Shute 57. The Flower Shop, Petra Durst-Benning 58. Breaking Borders, James Asquith 59. The corner shop in Cockleberry Bay, Nicola May 60. If street lights could glow ultraviolet, Katherine Highland 61. The Seedwoman, Petra Durst-Benning 62. Secrets at At Bride's, Debbie Young Returned for refund* 63. New Zealand: 36 days in wonderland, Mark Wallace 64. Mythos,Stephen Fry 65. Hope Close, Tina Seskis 66. Walking Shorts, Mark Richards 67. Father, Son and the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 68. A wedding at the beach hut, Veronica Henry 69. The complete Uxbridge English dictionary 70. Father and son return to the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 71. Father, son and the Kerry Way, Mark Richards 72. All that she can see, Kerry Hope Fletcher 73. Travelling in a box, Mike Wood 74. Two in a box, Mike Wood 75. While the world is still asleep, Petra Durst-Benning 76. Family life on a narrowboat, Richard MacKenzie 77. Unsinkable, Jane MacDonald 78. The Champagne Queen, Petra Durst-Benning 79. Fierce Bad Rabbits, Clare Polland 80. Stories from the heart, Amanda Prowse 81. Mr Portobellos morning paper, Amanda Prowse 82. The queen of beauty, Petra Durst-Benning 83. A short history of nearly everything, Bill Bryson 84. Expedition, Steve Backshall 85. The girl from the sea, Shalini Boland 86. The perfect family, Shalini Boland 87. The bookshop on the shore, Jenny Colgan 88. Rough Magic, Lara Prior-Palmer 89. 100 things you will never find, Daniel Smith 90. Dumped actually, Nick Spalding 91. The Space Race, Hourly History 92. Guilty, not guilty, Felix Francis 93. Closer, KL Slater 94. Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland 95. The Night you Left, Emma Curtis 96. The Ravenmaster, Christopher Skaife 97. Charlee and the chocolate shop, Jessica Redland 98. Beyond the Lens, Robert Rodriguez 99. A short history of (my town) 100. KIdnapping my daughter, Rachel Jensen 101.Beowulf, Seamus Heaney 102. Forest Therapy,Sarah Ivens 103 This thing of darkness, Harry Thompson 104. Queens of the Kingdom, Nicola Sutcliff 105. Wham, George and Me, Andrew Ridgley 106. Confessions of a Police Constable, Matt Delito 107. Pad's Army, Paul Addy 108. Nothing Ventured, Jeffrey Archer 109. Iceburg, Paul Kavanaugh 110. Further confessions of a GP, Benjamin Daniels 111. Crazy Street,Archie McFee. 112. The Girlfriend, Michelle Francis. 113. A prison diary, Jeffrey archer 114. The other side of the coin, Angela Kelly 115. The woman upstairs, Ruth heard 116. In your defence, Sarah Langford 117. Some kids I taught and what they taught me,Kate Clanchy 118. Lessons, Jenny colgan 119. 34 years in hell, Jamie Morgan Kane 120. The swimming pool years, mark richards 121. Master of his fate, Barbara Taylor Bradford 122. The secret mother, shalini bolland 123. Rapid fire Europe, Jason smart 124. Britain by the book, Oliver tearle 125. The January man, Christopher Somerville 126. Anti-social, nick pettigrew 127. Tea by the nursery fire, Noel streatfield 128. Lost child, d.s. Butler

Hope everyone is staying safe and is doing well. Here’s my updated list:

1. Giver of Stars – Jojo Moyes
2. Vinegar Girl – Ann Tyler

3. Me – Elton John

1. First Lady – James Patterson
2. Wakenhyrst – Michelle Paver
3. Bad Spell For The Worst Witch – Jill Murphy
4. Run Away – Harlan Coben
5. Funhouse – Diane Hoh

9. The Five – Hallie Rubenhold 10. Melmoth – Sarah Perry 11. Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman 12. The Dutch House – Ann Patchett 13. The Dilemma – B A Paris 14. The Girlfriend – R L Stine 15. The Foundling – Stacey Halls 16. The Guest List – Lucy Foley 17. Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel 18. The Widow’s House – Carol Goodman 19. Cat Among the Pigeons – Agatha Christie 20. Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris 21. When Will There Be Good News? – Kate Atkinson 22. The Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay 23. The Guest House – Abbie Frost 24. The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewell 25 Wolfheart – Richard A Knaak 26. Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham 27. Morgan’s Passing – Ann Tyler 28.Nevertheless – Alec Baldwin 29. The Kennedy Curse – James Patterson 30. 11.22.63 – Stephen King 31. The Nine of Us – Jean Kennedy Smith 32. Searching for Caleb – Ann Tyler 33. The Sunwell Trilogy – Richard A Knaak 34. House of Hell – Steve Jackson 35. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward 36. Moving – Jenny Éclair 37. The Doll Factory – Elizabeth McNeal 38. Exit West – Moshin Hamid 39. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave 40. I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith 41. Ash Mountain – Helen Fitzgerald 42. A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler 43. The Clocks – Agatha Christie 44. My Coney Island Baby – Billy O’Callaghan 45. My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout 46. The Baby-sitters Club – Ann M Martin

Currently listening to 47. The Glass Woman – Caroline Lea which is similar in tone to The Mercies – both set in a Scandinavian country in the 1600s, protagonist marries a man she hardly knows and moves away to a remote area where things aren’t quite as they seem. So far I’m enjoying The Glass Woman more, it has a bit of spooky vibe to it which is ideal for this time of year. Am also reading 48. Educated – Tara Westover, which is one I’ve been dipping in an out of for a while. I would say I’ve started to really get into it more now the author has left home for university, it’s amazing to see how her eyes are slowly being opened to the life her parents created for her and what is actually out there beyond the mountain.

FranKatzenjammer I am also still ploughing through David Copperfield! Completely fell off the readalong thread and haven't even bothered with OMF as feel it's a lost cause. I still haven't finished Bleak House from last year as my DF passed away during that time but I will finish them at some point I'm sure!

Also, does anyone else really hate it when you reserve a book from the library only to find you have already read it but not realised until you have the book at home? I only found this out when I looked at a 'read list' from a previous year but have no recollection of finishing this book at all.

Thanks southeast.

I know what you mean, Cludgie, I don't mind a re-read of a great book, but resent a re-read of an entirely unmemorable one.

First an update, then I'll see if I can do my list. This was a random read. I was trying to locate another book by the same author about Jane Austen but could only find this one instead.

107. Excellent Sheep: the Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
An odd mixture. I agree with some parts - how education is rigged to perpetuate social elites, and the value is a broad-ranging education. It makes sense that if you make young people jump through hoops to meet admission requirements, you end up with conventional hoop- jumpers who are not renegade thinkers and not very happy. But his defence of the humanities makes him unnecessarily dismissive of technical, vocational and scientific education. I disagree that these are inferior wats to develop a "soul", as he puts it.

It was written in 2014 and he sneers at Obama for being "a centrist, a pragmatist, a seeker of consensus" and for chasing technocratic solutions. Were those really sick terrible faults, looking from our current vantage point?

Looking at the lists, I wonder if there is a book that we have all read?

1. Writer's Block. Judith Flanders
2. The Warm South, Robert Holland
3. A Bed of Scorpions, Judith Flanders
4. The Second Sleep, Robert Harris
5. Confessions of a Bad Mother: the Teenage Years, Stephanie Calman
6. How Not To Diet, Michael Greger
7. The Body, Bill Bryson
8. Homesick: Why I Love in a Shed, Catrina Davies
9. The Benefit of Hindsight, Susan Hill

10. Under the Tump, Oliver Balch 11. The Lives and Loves of Edith Nesbit, Eleanor Fitzsimons 12. Salt on your Tongue, Charlotte Runcie 13. Haven't They Grown, Sophie Hannah 14. Britain by the Book, Oliver Tearle 15. Nine Lessons, Nicola Upson 16. Notes to Self, Emilie Pine 17. Surfacing, Kathleen Jamie 18. Plastic, Christopher Fowler 19. Big Sky, Kate Atkinson 20. Skint Estate, Cash Carroway 21. Reasons to be Cheerful, Nina Stibbe 22. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield 23. Long Bright River, Liz Moore 24. A Rum Affair, Karl Sabbagh 25. Dreadful Company, Vivian Shaw 26. Dark Water, Parker Bilal 27. Around the World in Eighty Trains, Manisha Rajesh 28. The Lantern Men, Elly Griffith 29. An English Murder, Cyril Hare 30. Too Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis 31. High and Low: How I Hiked across Scotland Away from Depression, Keith Foskett 32. The Written Word: How Literature Shaped History, Martin Puchner 33. A Murder is Announced, Agatha Christie 34. Walk, Sleep, Repeat, Stephen Reynolds 35. The Chalk Man, CJ Tudor 36. The Wrong Way: How Not to Walk the West Highlands Way,. Bart Stevens 37. I am Number Five, Pittacus Lore 38. The Book of Humans, Adam Rutherford 39. Walking the Thames River, Joyce Mackie 40. Droid, by Dan Simmons 41. Plan for the Worst, Jodi Taylor 42. False Value, Ben Aaronovitch 43. Dear Bill Bryson, Ben Aitken 44. Father, Son and the Kerry Way, Mark Richards 45. Father, Son and the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 46. Lincoln in the Bar do, George Saunders 47. Seven Days off Us, Francesca Hornak 48. The Power of Six, Pittacus Lore 49. Father, Son and a Return to the Pennine Way, Mark Richards 50. Diary of a Somebody, Bill Bilston 51. The Last Policeman, Ben H Winters 52. Breaking and Mending, Joanna Cannon 53. The Rise of Nine, Pittacus Lore 54. The Fall of Five, Pittacus Lore 55. Countdown City, Ben H Winters 56. The Revenge of Seven, Pittacus Lore 57. A World of Trouble, Ben H Winters 58. Negative Capability, Michele Roberts 59. Quit like a Woman, Holly Glen Whittaker 60. Lady in Waiting, Anne Glennconner 61. Untangled, Lisa Damour 62. Requiem for a Wren, Nevil Shure 63. When I Walk, I Bounce: Walking from Land's End to John O'Groats, Mark Moxon 64. Death at the Opera, Gladys Mitchell 65. Miss Austen, Hill Hornby 66.; Is There Still Sex in the City? Candace Bushnell 67. The Guest List, Lucy Foley 68. A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson 69. Nine Perfect Strangers, Liane Moriarty 70. The Woman in the Window, AJ Finn 71. Reading the Decades, John Sutherland 72. Spam Tomorrow, Verily Andrr Anderson 73. Magpie Lane, Lucy Atkins 74. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens 75. Haunts of the Black Masseur, Charles Swanson 76. Murder at the Vicarage, Agatha Christie 77. The Spring Girls, Karen Kutchner 78. My Name Escapes Me: the Diary of a Retiring Actor, Alec Guinness 79. The Fate of Ten, Pittacus Lore 80. The Mystery of Charles Dickens, AN Wilson 81. Mrs Tim Carries On, DE Stevenson 82. One More Croissant for the Road, Felicity Cloake 83. Finders Keepers, Sabine Durrant 84. United as One, Pittacus Lore 85. Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker 86. The Five, Halle Rubenfeld 87. After the Funeral, Agatha Christie 88. Secret Gardens: the Golden Age of Children's Literature, Humphrey Carpenter 89. Pale Rider, Laura Spinney 90. Sleeping Murder, Agatha Christie 91. Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther 92. Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L Sayers 93. Bad Mother's Diary, Suzy K Quinn 94. Too Close to Breathe, Olivia Kiernan 95. Miss Bunting, Angela Thirkell 96. Dopesick, Beth Macy 97. Blood Business, Barbara Nadel 98. Henrietta's War. Joyce Dennis 99. One on One, Craig Brown 100. The Killer in Me, Olivia Kiernan 101. Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life, Rose Tremain 102. Dear Reader: the Comfort and Joy of Books, Cathy Rentzenbrink 103. What Blest Genius, Andre McConnell 104. Little Disasters, Sarah Vaughan 105. The Other Child, Lucy Atkins 106. The Courage to Care, Christie Watson 107. Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz

Thanks for the new thread Southeast

MegBusset I read lots of Dumas as a teen - Montecristo, but also all the D'artagnan romances (back in the days when getting hold of all three parts of the then-out-of-print Ten Years Later involved long waits and inter-county library loan requests). I loved them then, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience now! Maybe I'll re-read them when I'm retired :)

Totally lost the plot on reading here in the last week - I'm part way through One More Croissant for the Road on library audio and If Then on audible, but neither have gripped me to the point of making time to listen. I was reading Spook Country ,the second Blue Ant thriller by William Gibson but just didn't care enough to keep track of the characters or GAF about what was really going on.

Just had Amnesty come up on the library loan system, recommended on a previous thread, so maybe I'll sit down with that and try to get into it properly. DD is reading Oranges for A level lit, so I might re-read that, and have another go at Why Be Happy when you could be Normal (abandoned on audio previously). I think what I really need though is a properly engaging non-fiction book, definitely more in that headspace at the moment.

As a side note, my colleague who is going to lend me Why be Happy studied Mansfield Park for A level back in the day, and I felt strangely justified by her total agreement that Fanny is delightful, and Mary Crawford a Mean Girls style queen bee type .

1 Adrian Tchaikovsky Cage of Souls
2 Lynsey Hanley Respectable
3 Olivia Waites The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics
4 Gill Sims Why Mummy Doesn't Give a Fuck
5 Rainbow Rowell Wayward Son
6 Kai Strittmatter We Have Been Harmonised
7 Ben Hartman The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables
8 Ben Aaronovitch Moon over Soho
9 Mark Dunn Ella Minnow Pea
10 Esther Perel Mating in Captivity
11 Andrew Whitley Do Sourdough
12 Ben Aaronovitch Whispers Underground
13 Ben Aaronovitch Broken Homes
14 Ben Aaronovitch Foxglove Summer
15 Nessa Carey The Epigenetics Revolution
16 Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu The Red Scrolls of Magic
17 Dorian Lynskey The Ministry of Truth
18 Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon
19 Susan Coolidge Clover
20 Susan Coolidge In the High Valley
21 Ben Aaronovitch The Hanging Tree
22 Richard Davies Extreme Economies
23 Taylor Jenkins Reid Daisy Jones and the Six
24 Ben Aaronovitch The Furthest Station
25 Annalee Newitz Autonomous
25 Elton John Me
26 David Niven The Moon's a Balloon
27 Albert Costa The Bilingual Brain
28 BS Johnson Christy Malry's Own Double-entry
29 Melanie Reid The World I Fell Out Of
30 Olivia Waites A Thief in the Nude
31 Mark E Thomas 99% Mass Impoverishment
32 Rhik Samadder I never said I loved you
33 KJ Charles The Magpie Lord
34 KJ Charles A Case of Posession
35 KJ Charles Flight of Magpies
36 Nicola Sutcliff Queens of the Kingdom
37 KJ Charles Band Sinister
38 Georgette Heyer Cotillion
39 Gail Carriger Romancing the Inventor
40 Gail Carriger Romancing the Werewolf
41 Ben Aaronovitch Lies Sleeping
42 Maggie Stiefvater Call Down The Hawk
43 Katharine Addison The Goblin Emperor
44 Hannu Rajaiemi Summerland
45 Kerry Daines The Dark Side of the Mind
46 Huw Richards Grow Food for Free
47 Gretchen Rubin Happier at Home
48 Anya von Bremzen Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
49 Diana Wynne Jones Howls Moving Castle
50 Robert Webb How Not to Be a Boy
51 Kevin Barry Night Boat to Tangiers
52 Mervyn King & John Kay Radical Uncertainty
53 Dick Francis Dead Cert
54 Gail Carriger Defy and Defend
55 KJ Charles Slippery Creatures
56 Dick Francis Odds Against
57 Becky Chambers To be Taught if Fortunate
58 Hallie Rubenhold The Five
59 Robert Kolker Hidden Valley Road
60 Nathan Filer The Heartland
61 Anna Wiener Uncanny Valley
62 Amanda Ripley The Unthinkable
63 Mick Herron Slow Horses
64 Janice Hadlow The Other Bennet Sister
65 Joan Aiken Mansfield Revisited
66 Mary Robinette Kowal The Calculating Stars
67 Margaret Heffernan Beyond Measure
68 Adam Kucharski The Rules of Contagion
69 Rachel Ferguson A Footman for the Peacock
70 Christopher Wylie Mindf#ck
71 Byron Rogers The Man Who Went Into the West
72 Jack Harlan The Living Fields
73 Kerry Hudson Tony Hogan bought me an icecream float before he stole my ma
74 Hank Green A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour
75 David Olusoga Black and British
76 Emily Tesh Silver in the Wood
77 Kristin Kimball Good Husbandry
78 Kate Saunders Beswitched
79 Christie Watson The Language of Kindness
80 Kristin Kimball The Dirty Life
81 Neal Stephenson Anathem
82 KJ Charles The Sugared Game
83 Bernadine Evaristo Girl Woman Other
84 James Bloodworth Hired
85 Afua Hirsch Brit(ish)
86 Kate Clanchy Some Kids I taught and What They Taught Me
87 Marc-Uwe Kling Qualityland
88 Neal Stephenson The Diamond Age
89 Cassandra Clare Ghosts of the Shadow Market

Thanks Southeast, my short list:
1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen
2. Holes by Louis Sachar
3. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
4. The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
5. The Green Mile by Stephen King
6. Sweet Sorrow by David Nichols
7. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
8. The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
9. Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
10. Himself by Jess Kidd
11. The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
12. The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
13. The Dutch House by Anne Pratchet
14. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

15. My Antonia by Willa Carter
16. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
17. 11.22.63 by Stephen King
18. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
19. Abomination by Robert Swindells
20. Me by Elton John
21. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
22. Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin
23. Carry On Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
24. The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary
25. At Lady Molly’s by Anthony Powell
26. Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell
27. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
28. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell
29. Girl, Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo
30. Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
31. The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow
32. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
33. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
34. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
35. The Silence Of The Girls by Pat Barker
36. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield
37. A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
38. The Institute by Stephen King
39. A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

I've hit a bit of a wall on the reading front, I've done my October chapters of the Our Mutual Friend read along already, I have The Foundling downloaded from BorrowBox, but don't know if I really fancy it, and I'm reading a library copy of One,Two,Three, Four The Beatles In Time, which I'm really enjoying but being episodic it's too easy to put down and forget about for a bit and I can't listen whilst I'm doing other stuff, maybe I should download it on Audible and be done with it!

Hello everyone! Thanks for the new thread @southeastdweller. I have had a slow few reading weeks, because work has been extremely busy and also because I'm still bashing away at my "lockdown project" to read all of Vasari's Lives. I'm now up to p. 585 of the second book, which is not to be confused with the original second part - I finished that ages ago, but the third and final part is humungous and goes on for about 1500 pages. The Lives have become much longer and more involved as we get up to people Vasari actually knew, and are a minimum of 30 pages long, which has put paid to my plan to tweet one a night. One every three nights is about my average at the moment and I am eyeing Michelangelo (over 100 pages!) with a certain amount of dread. However, I'm more than 3/4 of the way through and am determined to get to the end.

Anyway, on to my list:

1. Autumn Term – Antonia Forest
2. Mutual Admiration Society – Mo Moulton
3. Swan Song – Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
4. This Must be the Place – Maggie O’Farrell
5. The Bookshop – Penelope Fitzgerald
6. A Place Called Winter – Patrick Gale
7. The Reunion – Guillaume Musso
8. Black Water Lilies – Michel Bussi
9. Wilful Blindness – Margaret Heffernan
10. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos – Dominic Smith
11. The Farm – Joanne Ramos
12. The High Window – Raymond Chandler
13. The Lady in the Lake – Raymond Chandler
14. The Little Sister – Raymond Chandler
15. She Lies in Wait – Gytha Lodge
16. The Last Anniversary – Liane Moriarty
17. Bitter Orange – Claire Fuller
18. The Lost Man – Jane Harper
19. What Red Was – Rosie Price
20. Keeping an Eye Open – Julian Barnes
21. Heartburn – Nora Ephron
22. Crooked Heart – Lissa Evans
23. Old Baggage – Lissa Evans
24. A View of the Harbour – Elizabeth Taylor
25. The Crow Trap – Ann Cleeves
26. Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects: Part 1 – Giorgio Vasari
27. Telling Tales – Ann Cleeves
28. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion
29. Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
30. How the Dead Speak – Val McDermid
31. Idaho – Emily Ruskovich
32. After the Party – Cressida Connolly
33. Miss Happiness and Miss Flower – Rumer Godden
34. Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects: Part 2 – Giorgio Vasari
35. French Exit - Patrick DeWitt
36. Hidden Depths – Ann Cleeves
37. Expectation – Anna Hope
38. Silent Voices – Ann Cleeves
39. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
40. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont - Elizabeth Taylor
41. Warlight - Michael Ondaatje
42. Closed Circles – Viveca Sten
43. Things Can Only Get Worse – John O’Farrell
44. Guiltless – Viveca Sten
45. Cassandra at the Wedding – Dorothy Baker
46. The Glass Room – Ann Cleeves
47. The Loney – Andrew Michael Hurley
48. The Colour of Murder – Julian Symons
49. My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout
50. Tonight You’re Dead – Viveca Sten
51. Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
52. The Lonely Girl – Edna O’Brien
53. Girls In Their Married Bliss - Edna O’Brien
54. The Crossing Places – Elly Griffiths
55. Tell It To the Bees – Fiona Shaw
56. Harbour Street – Ann Cleeves

And my most recent read:

57. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

This was an odd one. I didn't enjoy reading it much, as I read before bed usually, and I had a constant feeling something horrible was going to happen which would give me nightmares. I know that's kind of the point of ghost/horror stories, and explains why I don't generally read them! For some reason murder mysteries don't have the same effect. Anyway, this has been described as the definitive haunted house novel; certainly the characterisation of Hill House itself as a sort of malevolent, brooding beast was very effective and the painting of its psychological effects on the protagonists was well done. There was a clever uncertainty about whether one of the central characters, Eleanor, was being haunted; whether it was all in her head, or whether in fact she was doing the haunting. It's generally very well-written but for all that I couldn't warm to it. I found some of the repeated tropes annoying, and I suspect I wasn't pre-disposed to like it given the subject matter. Stepping back I can see why it's so lauded, but it wasn't for me.