50 Book Challenge 2020 Part Eleven

[southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eleventh (and final!) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2020, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and it's still not too late to delurk and tell us your reading highlights and lowlights of the year.

Posted too soon. Thank you highlandcoo for the information about the release date for the next in the series. I actually loved the look and feel of the first paperback so will order this one too, rather than kindling it. I am more inclined to order paperbacks at the moment as I'm trying to support my local bookshops.

WillYou Stop, I knew that ages ago but had completely forgotten! Thanks for the reminder. I might just squeeze in a reread before the new one appears in a week.

In more CB gossip, did you know he plays in a band, The Fun Lovin' Crimewriters, along with Mark Billingham, Val McDermid and not sure who else. I saw them at the Glasgow book festival Aye Write a couple of years ago. Val being the singer. They only sing crime related songs; I Shot the Sheriff and similar. They were having a great time.

Remus so is it a book? I'd only heard of it as a TV series. Was hoping for some nice fluffy escapism among all the depressing stuff.

That's awesome! It's amazing to think that they all know each other. I've just brought out my copy of TWOAF and I'm going to start it this afternoon.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Bridgerton - The Duke and I I have only two words - fucking awful. Read it for the wedding night sex scene. And then burn it. Jesus wept.

I did wonder.

The series is sublime though.

@highlandcoo the Bridgerton series is based on a series of books by Julia Quinn.

I read them years and years ago, but I can’t remember all that much about them.

Remus - I have to say I'm not surprised! I stand by my recommendation of KJ Charles as absolutely the best 21stC equivalent to Heyer - but you do have to not mind a fair amount of explicit (usually gay) sex. Personally I'd specifically avoid any US authors writing British histrom unless they came with a 100% copper bottomed guarantee that they've got the language & research spot on.

Also, can I just signpost this thread to anyone who might be able to help the OP with book suggestions. I came up with some but all SF.

Posting my last list and reviews of the year, I have a kindle book that I'm over 70% through and an audible book I'm over 50% through but lots of cooking to do today so think they'll be pushed into next year.

1.	The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen 
2.	<strong>Holes</strong> by Louis Sachar
3.	The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 
4.	The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
5.	<strong>The Green Mile</strong> by Stephen King
6.	<strong>Sweet Sorrow</strong> by David Nichols
7.	Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
8.	The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
9.	<strong>Bring Up The Bodies</strong> 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.	<strong>Alias Grace</strong> 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.	<strong>Love After Love</strong> by Ingrid Persaud
31.	The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow
32.	<strong>American Dirt</strong> by Jeanine Cummins
33.	Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 
34.	Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
35.	<strong>The Silence Of The Girls</strong> 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
40.	The Foundling by Stacey Halls
41.	Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
42.	Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
43.	Malorie by Josh Malerman 
44.	<strong>A Fine Balance</strong> by Rohinton Mistry
 45. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaimen

My last three books were chosen mainly for their brevity, to try and get me over the line to 50, never mind there's always next year. I'm totally in awe of the people who have read 100+ books, that would certainly make a dent in my TBR pile
46. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

47.	The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

This was free on Audible last year but I didn't get round to listening. Quite a slight tale and the 'twist', such as it is, is very obvious from early on.

48.	A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 

A kindle 99p daily deal recently that, being a play script, I knew would be short! I've heard a lot about this play, mainly about Blanche DuBois and Stanley, but never actually seen it performed or watched the movie.
Williams gives us intricate character studies and back stories as well as dialogue, so for example when Stanley is first introduced Williams stage directions are:
STANLEY throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.
It would take some actor to suggest all that in one entrance, but it certainly gives method actors something to get their teeth into, and for a reader like me fleshes out the characters. My daughter said she studied it for A Level and I can see that it would offer a lot of material for study.
I'm glad I've read it and the film or play is now on my TBW list, although I think it may be a bit over wrought and claustrophobic.

Back soon with highlights.

Thanks Stitches for the Bridgerton info.

And Eine good to hear you loved the TV series. I've been immersed in Scandi crime lately - just finished DNA and Valhalla - and ready for something completely different.

@Sadik

Remus - I have to say I'm not surprised! I stand by my recommendation of KJ Charles as absolutely the best 21stC equivalent to Heyer - but you do have to not mind a fair amount of explicit (usually gay) sex. Personally I'd specifically avoid any US authors writing British histrom unless they came with a 100% copper bottomed guarantee that they've got the language & research spot on.

One of the characters falls over on his fanny at one point.

@DesdamonasHandkerchief

Posting my last list and reviews of the year, I have a kindle book that I'm over 70% through and an audible book I'm over 50% through but lots of cooking to do today so think they'll be pushed into next year.

1.	The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimen 
2.	<strong>Holes</strong> by Louis Sachar
3.	The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 
4.	The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
5.	<strong>The Green Mile</strong> by Stephen King
6.	<strong>Sweet Sorrow</strong> by David Nichols
7.	Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
8.	The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell
9.	<strong>Bring Up The Bodies</strong> 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.	<strong>Alias Grace</strong> 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.	<strong>Love After Love</strong> by Ingrid Persaud
31.	The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow
32.	<strong>American Dirt</strong> by Jeanine Cummins
33.	Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 
34.	Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
35.	<strong>The Silence Of The Girls</strong> 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
40.	The Foundling by Stacey Halls
41.	Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
42.	Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
43.	Malorie by Josh Malerman 
44.	<strong>A Fine Balance</strong> by Rohinton Mistry
 45. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaimen

My last three books were chosen mainly for their brevity, to try and get me over the line to 50, never mind there's always next year. I'm totally in awe of the people who have read 100+ books, that would certainly make a dent in my TBR pile
46. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

47.	The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

This was free on Audible last year but I didn't get round to listening. Quite a slight tale and the 'twist', such as it is, is very obvious from early on.

48.	A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 

A kindle 99p daily deal recently that, being a play script, I knew would be short! I've heard a lot about this play, mainly about Blanche DuBois and Stanley, but never actually seen it performed or watched the movie.
Williams gives us intricate character studies and back stories as well as dialogue, so for example when Stanley is first introduced Williams stage directions are:
STANLEY throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.
It would take some actor to suggest all that in one entrance, but it certainly gives method actors something to get their teeth into, and for a reader like me fleshes out the characters. My daughter said she studied it for A Level and I can see that it would offer a lot of material for study.
I'm glad I've read it and the film or play is now on my TBW list, although I think it may be a bit over wrought and claustrophobic.

Back soon with highlights.

Try to watch Gillian Anderson as Blanche. Stunning performance. But nobody comes close to Marlon as Stanley.

Thanks, southeast , for the new thread and to everyone for making this such a lovely corner of the internet.

A quick update of my last few books:

201. Little Voices- Vanessa Lillie I got this free on Kindle First and it was worth what I paid for it.

202. Where the Dead Go- Sarah Bailey The latest in the Gemma Woodstock series and, I thought, the least successful.

203. A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens The free Audible version read by Hugh Grant. Enjoyable.

204. Come Again- Robert Webb Webb’s first novel, in which a middle-aged widow wakes up one day as her eighteen year-old self, meets her husband for the first time all over again and tries to stop him dying of a brain tumour. I felt it was nowhere near as good as Webb’s memoir How Not to Be a Boy. However, the Audible version was beautifully read by Olivia Colman, which mostly made up for it.

205. What a Carve Up!- Jonathan Coe Having really enjoyed Middle England, I decided to go back to What a Carve Up! , which I had loved when it first came out. I had forgotten most of it and, strangely, didn’t enjoy it as much this time.

206. List of the Lost- Morrissey This was my second attempt to read Morrissey’s debut novel, which I DNFd when it first came out. Even with very low expectations this time around, it was incredibly disappointing. Morrissey- probably the most literary pop star in history, with his beautifully crafted lyrics and love of Shelagh Delaney- should be able to write a good, short novel with relative ease, but this is appalling. Its long, rambling sentences reminded me of To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and not in a good way.

207. The Communist Manifesto- Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels Free on the Kindle, it was fun to revisit my loony lefty youth.

Here is my full list- I didn’t manage quite as many as last year (260) but, considering the year we’ve had, I’m pleased with my total:

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 154. Heroes- Stephen Fry 155. Not Dead Yet- Phil Collins 156. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 157. Amo, Amas, Amat... and All That: How to Become a Latin Lover- Harry Mount 158. The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way- Bill Bryson 159. Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies- Nick Frost 160. Sing, Unburied, Sing- Jesmyn Ward 161. No One is Too Small to Make a Difference- Greta Thunberg 162. Still Waters- Viveca Sten 163. A Greater Freedom- Alya Mooro 164. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J. K. Rowling 165. Britten’s Children- John Bridcut 166. Quidditch Through the Ages- J. K. Rowling 167. King George VI: A Life from Beginning to End- Hourly History 168. High Fidelity- Nick Hornby 169. Because Internet- Gretchen McCulloch 170. Black, Listed- Jeffrey Boakye 171. On the Beach- Nevil Shute 172. House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons- Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason 173. David Copperfield- Charles Dickens 174. The Diary of a Bookseller- Shaun Bythell 175. The Little Prince- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 176. Empty Cradles- Margaret Humphreys 177. Bel Canto- Ann Patchett 178. A Monster Calls- Patrick Ness 179. The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How it’s Broken- The Secret Barrister 180. The Stand- Stephen King 181. My Own Story- Emmeline Pankhurst 182. The Trauma Cleaner- Sarah Krasnostein 183. Different Seasons- Stephen King 184. Finding Jasper- Lynne Leonhardt 185. The Hangman’s Daughter- Oliver Pötzsch 186. Eleanor and Park- Rainbow Rowell 187. The Leather Boys- Gillian Freeman 188. The Vinyl Detective: Victory Disc- Andrew Cartmel 189. The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky 190. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops- Shaun Bythell 191. Egyptian Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Ancient Gods and Beliefs of Egyptian Mythology- Hourly History 192. The Art of Resilience: Strategies for an Unbreakable Mind and Body- Ross Edgley 193. Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide- John Cleese 194. The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother- Amy Chua 195. The Cockroach- Ian McEwan 196. Ready Player Two- Ernest Cline 197. The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman- Denis Thériault 198. Decline and Fail: Read in Case of Political Apocalypse- John Crace 199. The Thief of Time- John Boyne 200. The Zombie Survival Guide- Max Brooks 201. Little Voices- Vanessa Lillie 202. Where the Dead Go- Sarah Bailey 203. A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens 204. Come Again- Robert Webb 205. What a Carve Up!- Jonathan Coe 206. List of the Lost- Morrissey 207. The Communist Manifesto- Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

and here are some figures:

Non fiction 52%
Fiction 48%
(last year it was 52% fiction, 48% non fiction)

Kindle books 48% (up from 35% last year)
Audible 16% (same as last year)
Borrowbox audiobooks 16% (up from 9% last year)
Borrowbox ebooks 13% (same as last year)
Own books 4% (down from 10% last year)
Library books 2% (down from 16% last year. I do feel bad about not having visited the library since March- I haven’t been anywhere indoors except for work).

I've just noticed that several of the ones I've bolded this year were re-reads (or re-listens)- I think I took some comfort in these old favourites. NB no.168, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, is one of my all-time favourite contemporary novels. The only reason I didn't bold it was because this time I listened to the audiobook, read by Russell Tovey, and I wasn't keen on it.

See you on the other side!

STANLEY throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.

Where do I meet a man who opens doors like this?

@DesdamonasHandkerchief. Brando is perfect. Plus there’s an excellent Simpson’s version where one of the characters gives Brando a run for his money.

This is my 3rd year as a 50-booker but now I can genuinely claim to be one After 2 years of reading 44 books I have just finished my 50th book of 2020!!

Here's my list, loved in bold, loathed in italics:

1. The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
2. The Unexpected Joy of being Sober – Catherine Gray
3. Ta deuxième vie commence quand tu comprends que tu n’en as qu’une – Raphaëlle Giordano
4. L’élégance du hérisson – Muriel Barbery
5. Three things about Elsie – Joanna Cannon
6. Restoration – Rose Tremain
7. The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth – William Boyd
8. The girl you left behind – Jojo Moyes
9. Antigone – Jean Anouilh
10. The Light Years – Elizabeth Jane Howard
11. Scissors, Paper, Stone – Elizabeth Day
12. Standard Deviation – Katherine Heiny
13. Behind the scenes at the museum – Kate Atkinson
14. The Well-Kept Kitchen – Gervase Markham
15. The Passion of Artemisia – Susan Vreeland
16. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
17. Marking Time – Elizabeth Jane Howard
18. Smoke gets in your eyes – Caitlin Doughty
19. American Heart – Laura Moriarty
20. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward
21. An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
22. Beloved – Toni Morrison
23. Ultimate Care – J M Farmer
24. Still Alice – Lisa Genova
25. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
26. Transcription – Kate Atkinson
27. 84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
28. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street – Helene Hanff
29. The Buddha in the Attic – Julie Otsuka
30. The Bookshop on the Shore – Jenny Colgan
31. Run – Ann Patchett
32. I am, I am, I am – Maggie Farrell
33. Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain – Sarah Jayne Blakemore
34. The Sealwoman’s Gift – Sally Magnusson
35. By the light of my Father’s Smile – Alice Walker
36. Where the crawdads sing – Delia Owens
37. Charlotte – David Foenkinos
38. Girl – Edna O’Brien
39. Silver Bay – Jojo Moyes
40. The travelling cat chronicles – Hiro Arikawa
41. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
42. Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
43. Confusion – Elizabeth Jane Howard
44. Get out of my life… but first take me and Alex into town – Tony Wolf and Suzanne Franks
45. Beartown – Fredrik Backman
46. Boule de Suif – Guy de Maupassant
47. Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid
48. Us against you – Fredrik Backman
49. Some kids I taught and what they taught me - Kate Clanchy
50. Christmas at the Island Hotel – Jenny Colgan

Top 10 in no particular order:
The Passion of Artemisia – Susan Vreeland
The Sealwoman’s Gift – Sally Magnusson
Where the crawdads sing – Delia Owens
Beloved – Toni Morrison
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
Cazalet Chronicles - Elizabeth Jane Howard
Smoke gets in your eyes – Caitlin Doughty
L’élégance du hérisson – Muriel Barbery
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi

Stats:
Female authors 74% (I was aiming to even this out a bit this year - oops)
Physical books – 50% (most of which were from the library)
Kindle – 50% but I think I still bought more new books than I've read - bad nowanearly!!
Fiction / Non-fiction split was 78% / 22% - more non-fiction than previous years.
10% were in French, 12% were inspired by my kids' school reading lists and 74% were by authors I'd never read before.

Really enjoying everyone else's lists. Roll on 2021!

Thanks @southeastdweller, really enjoying this end of the year wrap up thread.
I've got into a habit of posting monthly, December reads were...
42. The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird
Children's book about a boy from a village in Ethiopia who admires his nation's champion long distance runners. He goes to the city with his grandfather, but when things start to go wrong it is up to the boy to save the day. I was reading this to see if I thought it would be a good read for my son. I enjoyed it, hope he will too.
43. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
A man is found dead in the Australian outback. It may be suicide, but his brother isn't so sure. As the family spend time together for the funeral and Cristmas, stories come to light from both the recent and more distant past which start to make sense of what has happened. It took me a bit of time to get into this but became absorbed just as I did with The Dry earlier in the year. A good read.
44. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Listened to this as an audiobook having never read it before. I can see why some people read it every year. Short, enjoyable and definitely gave me a Christmassy feeling.
45. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
I listened to this on BBC Sounds, having seen lots of quotes and illustrations from this book on social media throughout the year. On one hand, I would say the quotes and illustrations doing the rounds are the best bits - listening on audio mean you don't see the illustrations and there is little in the way of plot, more a series of those wise words that lend themselves to an image to share online linked together with some "the friends walked up a hill" etc. On the other hand, I do really like some of the messages and it was a brilliantly calming 50 mins of listening in the run up to Christmas.
46. The Little Antique Shop Under the Eiffel Tower by Rebecca Raisin
If you think you know what type of book this is from the title, you're correct! Lent to me by my Mum, not really my cup of tea but after a slow start I was able to rattle through it quite quickly. Not really ending the year on a high note with this as the last of my list, but started a historical crime novel as a total change of mood after this and I am really enjoying it so it will likely be book 1 of 2021.

46 just beats my previous highest totals, but looked back and I only read 36 in 2019 so well up from there.
I'm not good at picking favourites, but glancing through my list, I thought Holes and Little Fires Everywhere were excellent. I became totally engrossed in Troubled Blood in October. The Sealwoman's Gift, March and If Beale Street Could Talk are all books that I read earlier in the year that have really stayed with me. I think Lockdown was the biggest stinker - Peter May has written some good books but this isn't one of them!
As many others have found, concentration and brain space for reading has been a real challenge at times this year, particularly when there's been a lot going on in the news (yesterday afternoon being a good example!). What I've found has worked for me is following a series (really enjoyed the four Little Women books then going straight into March), nature writing (found Kathleen Jamie's essays calming and with no plot to follow I could dip into these when my head couldn't cope with much else) and what I would describe as non-gruesome-crime/thriller-with-great-setting (Will Dean, Jane Harper and the first Chris Hammer all fit the bill here with settings that drew me in and plots that made me keen to keep reading). Having learnt what works for me, I may well turn to similar styles if/when things are tough in the coming months.
I echo everyone who has said that this is their internet happy place - thank you all for your reading suggestions and your company. Look forward to joining you again in 2021.

STANLEY throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them

One feels this is just crying out for that Twitter meme of ‘MEN - what is stopping you being like this?’

Thank you for setting up a final thread. Here is my list:

1. Wakenhyrst - Michelle Paver

1. Country Life - Paul O'Grady
2. I've Got Your Number - Sophie Kinsella
3. Hard Pushed - Leah Hazard

5. Faces: Profiles of Dogs - Vita Sackville-West

1. French Exit - Patrick DeWitt
2. Trigger Mortis - Anthony Horowitz

8. The Man Who Died - Antti Tuomainen

1. How To Break Up With Your Phone - Catherine Price

10. Burmese Days - George Orwell 11. The Ravenmaster - Christopher Skaife 12. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans 13. Around The World In 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh 14. The Moomins and The Great Flood - Tove Jansson 15. Size Zero - Victoire Dauxerre 16. Shopaholic Ties The Knot - Sophie Kinsella 17. The Turn of The Key - Ruth Ware 18. My Friend Anna - Rachel DeLoache Williams 19. A Shropshire Lad - A E Housman 20. Get Me The Urgent Biscuits - Sweetpea Slight 21. Up - Ben Fogle 22. The Truth About These Strange Times - Adam Foulds 23. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez 24. Shopaholic and Sister - Sophie Kinsella 25. Rupture - Ragnar Jonasson 26. A House of Ghosts - W C Ryan 27. The Book of Forgotten Authors - Christopher Fowler 28. Sushi & Beyond - Michael Booth 29. Metropolitan Stories - Christine Coulson 30. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier 31. The Thunder Girls - Melanie Blake 32. Watling Street - John Higgs 33. Shopaholic and Baby - Sophie Kinsella 34. Brer Rabbit Stories - Enid Blyton 35. Unfree Speech - Joshua Wong & Jason Ng 36. The Deep - Alma Katsu 37. The Guest List - Lucy Foley 38. Travels in a Dervish Cloak - Isambard Wilkinson 39. Is There Still Sex in the City? - Candace Bushnell 40. The Cat and The City - Nick Bradley 41. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote 42. Rough Magic - Lara Prior-Palmer 43. Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys 44. Maigret Takes a Room - Georges Simenon 45. Adults - Emma Jane Unsworth 46. I Carried a Watermelon - Katy Brand 47. Dead Famous - Greg Jenner 48. The Safe Place - Anna Downes 49. The Accidental Dictionary - Paul Anthony Jones 50. Lockdown - Peter May 51. Party Girls Die In Pearls - Plum Sykes 52. Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains - Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent 53. Miss Iceland - Audur Ava Olafsdottir 54. The Other Side of the Coin - Angela Kelly 55. The Little Teashop in Tokyo - Julie Caplin 56. Brixton Hill - Lottie Moggach 57. A Very Expensive Poison - Luke Harding 58. Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster 59. My Dining Hell - Jay Rayner 60. Eligible - Curtis Sittenfeld 61. Clothes ... and Other Things That Matter - Alexandra Shulman 62. Trains and Lovers - Alexander McCall Smith 63. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens 64. Mini Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella 65. Victoria Line - Maeve Binchy 66. The Mist in the Mirror - Susan Hill 67. Tell Me How It Ends - Valeria Luiselli 68. Sunny Side Up - Holly Smale 69. Enter The Aardvark - Jessica Anthony 70. Knife Edge - Simon Mayo 71. Post-Truth - Matthew D'Ancona 72. Dear Mrs Bird - A J Pearce 73. Whiteout - Ragnar Jonasson 74. Upstairs at the White House - J B West 75. Three Hours - Rosamund Lupton 76. Bethlehem - Nicholas Blincoe 77. Dregs - Jorn Lier Horst 78. Desert Air - ed Barnaby Rogerson & Alexander Monro 79. Wild Strawberries - Angela Thirkel 80. Letters of a Woman Homesteader - Elinore Pruitt Stewart 81. The River - Peter Heller 82. Klopp Actually - Laura Lexx 83. The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper 84. Small Town DA - Robert Traver

The River - Peter Heller
This is marketed as a thriller but is more an examination of grief and self-recrimination. The nature writing is beautiful. Two young men set out on a fishing trip and are almost caught out by a forest fire. Along the way they encounter a woman who seems to have been attacked and left for dead, and they take it upon themselves to rescue her while also trying to outrun the fire. We learn early on that one of the men lost his mother and blames himself for her death, and this event plays into his relationship with nature and his reactions to the events of the book as they unfold. It is a slow burn rather than an out and out page turner, but beautifully done.

Klopp Actually - Laura Lexx
Stocking-filler. This grew out of a Twitter thread in which Laura Lexx imagines life with sensible but shaggable football manager Jurgen Klopp. It's funny for the first five minutes but it's essentially a one-joke book and should probably have stayed on Twitter.

The Dark is Rising has been much discussed in the previous thread and I will just say thank you for the tip, as I absolutely loved this book. As a bonus, it started snowing heavily while I was reading this.

Small Town DA - Robert Traver is the 1954 memoir of the man who went on to write Anatomy of a Murder, which was then made into a film. It's very atmospheric, written in laconic, noirish prose. Most of the anecdotes are about "less serious" crimes (drunk driving incidents where no-one was hurt, bar fights, cheque fraud), because these were prosecuted by the county prosecutor whereas anything more serious was usually dealt with in federal courts. Most fascinating are the laws in place at the time. For example, adultery was a criminal offence in its own right, but juries were reluctant to convict. The threat of prosecution was, however, often wheeled out in divorce cases in order to get a better settlement. Interesting stuff for lawyers and fans of noir (film and fiction) and courtroom drama.

And that's me done for the year. Thanks to all on the thread for the chat, the tips and the camaraderie. See you on the 2021 thread!

Love this thread, can anyone join the 2021 one cause id love to.

The list in full. Favourites and stats to follow.

1. Asymmetry - Lisa Halliday
2. The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
3. Woke – Titania McGrath
4. My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
5. The Familiars – Stacey Halls
6. The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
7. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
8. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
9. The Sanctuary Murders – Susanna Gregory

10. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell 11. Villette – Charlotte Brontë 12. Night Boat to Tangiers – Kevin Barry 13. Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 14. Homesick for Another World - Ottessa Moshfegh 15. Middlemarch – George Eliot 16. Galatea – Madeline Miller 17. The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien 18. The Running Hare – John Lewis Stempel 19. The Hidden World of the Fox – Adele Brand 20. The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway #2) – Elly Griffiths 21. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman 22. And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie 23. The Witches Are Coming – Lindy West 24. Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli 25. The Confession – Jessie Burton 26. The Wall – John Lanchester 27. The Man Who Saw Everything – Deborah Levy 28. Bone China - Laura Purcell 29. I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell 30. Call the Midwife – Jennifer Worth 31. Candide - Voltaire 32. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain 33. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave 34. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel 35. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco 36. Such A Fun Age- Kiley Reid 37. Bring Up the Bodies – Hilary Mantel 38. Conviction – Denise Mina 39. Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips 40. The Illness Lesson – Clare Beams 41. A History of Britain in 21 Women – Jenni Murray 42. Three Things About Elsie – Joanna Cannon 43. Dear Edward – Ann Napolitano 44. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line – Deepa Anappara 45. The Outsiders – SE H-nton 46. Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi 47. The Mars Room – Rachel Kushner 48. Red at the Bone – Jacqueline Woodson 49. Nightingale Point – Luan Goldie 50. The Most Fun We Ever Had – Claire Lombardo 51. Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane 52. The Death of Mrs Westaway – Ruth Ware 53. The Mirror and the Light – Hilary Mantel 54. Sometimes I Lie – Alice Feeney 55. The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins 56. Long Bright River – Liz Moore 57. Silas Marner – George Eliot 58. Persona Non Grata (Ruso #3) - Ruth Downie 59. Heroes – Stephen Fry 60. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (POirot #4) – Agatha Christie 61. Lark Rise to Candleford – Flora Thompson 62. The Spire – William Golding 63. The Furies – Natalie Haynes 64. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid 65. The House at Sea’s End (Ruth Galloway #3) – Elly Griffiths 66. If You Want to Make God Laugh – Bianca Marais 67. A Woman of No Importance – Sonia Purnell 68. A Good Neighbourhood – Therese Anne Fowler 69. The Absolutist – John Boyne 70. Daisy Jones and the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid 71. My Dark Vanessa – Kate Elizabeth Russell 72. Actress – Anne Enright 73. Dominicana – Angie Cruz 74. Fleishman is in Trouble – Tiffany Brodesser-Akner 75. Weather – Jenny Offill 76. Saltwater – Jessica Andrews 77. How We Disappeared – Jing-Jing Lee 78. Guest House for Young Widows – Azadeh Moaveni 79. Unsheltered – Barbara Kingsolver 80. A Thousand Ships – Natalie Haynes 81. When Will There Be Good News (Jackson Brodie #3) – Kate Atkinson 82. Supper Club – Lara Williams 83. Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell 84. He Said/She Said – Erin Kelly 85. Surfacing – Kathleen James 86. The Other Bennet Sister – Janice Hadlow 87. Our Women on the Ground – Zahra Hankir 88. The Five - Hallie Rubenhold 89. Dear Mrs Bird –AJ Pearce 90. The Reservoir Tapes – Jon McGregor 91. The Story of My Teeth – Valeria Luiselli 92. Topics of Conversation – Miranda Popkey 93. A Single Thread – Tracy Chevalier 94. The Opposite of Fate – Alison McGhee 95. The Girl With the Louding Voice - Abi Daré 96. Miss Austen – Gill Hornby 97. Redhead By the Side of the Road – Anne Tyler 98. I Know Who You Are – Alice Feeney 99. The Book of Longings – Sue Monk Kidd 100. Akin – Emma Donaghue 101. Out of Darkness, Shining Light – Pettina Gappah 102. The Sealwoman’s Gift – Sally Magnusson 103. Jonathan Pie Off the Record – Jonathan Pie 104. Dept of Speculation – Jenny Offill 105. The Lesser Bohemians – Eimer McBride 106. We must Be Brave – Frances Liardet 107. All the Birds Singing – Evie Wyld 108. Know My Name – Chanel Miller 109. The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters 110. Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keith 111. Absolution By Murder ( Sister Fidelma #1) – Peter Tremayne 112. The Rise of Darkness (Serailler #3) – Susan Hill 113. The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places – Neil Oliver 114. The Secretary – Zoe Lea 115. Everyday Sexism – Laura Bates 116. A Bit of a Stretch – Chris Atkins 117. Pamela – Samuel Richardson 118. Three Women – Lisa Taddeo 119. The Yellow Bird Sings – Jennifer Rosner 120. The Uncoupling – Meg Wolitzer 121. Strange Hotel – Eimear McBride 122. If Beale Street Could Talk – James Baldwin 123. A Different Class of Murder: The Story of Lord Lucan – Laura Thompson 124. The Foundling – Stacey Halls 125. St Clare’s #1 – Enid Blyton 126. Days Without End – Sebastian Barry 127. A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry 128. The Grove of the Caesars (Flavia Albia #8) – Lindsey Davis 129. The Bookseller’s Tale (Oxford Medieval #1) - Ann Swinfen 130. Clock Dance – Anne Tyler 131. If I Had Your Face – Frances Cha 132. These Women – Amy Pochoda 133. Brit(ish):On Race, Identity and Belonging – Afua Hirsch 134. The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship and Liberation in the 1960s – Maggie Doherty 135. The Inimitable Jeeves – PG Wodehouse 136. A Far Cry from Kensington – Muriel Spark 137. One, Two, Buckle my Shoe – Agatha Christie 138. Invitation to Die – Lyndsey Davis 139. Mouthful of Birds - Samata Schweblin 140. McGlue – Ottessa Moshfegh 141. David Copperfield – Charles DIckens 142. Disgrace - JM Coetzee 143. A Room Full of Bones (Ruth Galloway #4) – Elly Griffiths 144. Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain 145. Crooked Heart – Lissa Evans 146. Ithaca – Patrick Dillon 147. The Mothers – Brit Bennett 148. Red Dress in Black and White – Elliot Ackerman 149. All My Mother’s Lovers – Ilana Masad 150. Pericles: Prince of Tyre – William Shakespeare 151. The Porpoise – Mark Haddon 152. The Other Americans – Leila Slimani 153. What We Lose – Zinzi Clemmons 154. Home Remedies – Xuan Juliana Wang 155. The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett 156. Caveat Emptor – Ruth Downie 157. The Gathering – Anne Enright 158. The Truants – Kate Weinberg 159. Watching You – Lisa Jewell 160. What’s Left of Me Is Yours – Stephanie Scott 161. Little Eyes – Samanta Schweblin 162. My Mother’s House – Francesca Monplaisir 163. Drifts – Kate Zambreno 164. A Burning - Megha Majumdar 165. The Book of Rosy - Rosayra Pablo Cruz 166. The Gustav Sonata – Rose Tremain 167. American Spy – Lauren Willkinson 168. Human Acts – Han Kang 169. Intimations – Zadie Smith 170. The Novice’s Tale (Oxford Medieval #2) – Ann Swinfen 171. Winter (Seasonal Quartet #2) – Ali Smith 172. Dear Ijeawele – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 173. The Huntsman’s Tale Oxford Medieval #3) – Ann Swinfen 174. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway 175. Hidden Valley Road – Robert Kolker 176. After Leaving Mr MacKenzie - Jean Rhys 177. Where the Crawdad’s Sing – Delia Owens 178. Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche 179. Night, Sleep, Death, the Stars – Joyce Carol Oates 180. The Pull of the Stars – Emma Donoghue 181. Remain Silent (DI Bradshaw #3) – Susie Steiner 182. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern 183. Sisters – Daisy Johnson 184. Mother Land – Leah Franqui 185. Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild 186. Burning Bright – Tracy Chevalier 187. The Royal Governess – Wendy Holden 188. A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab 189. Betty – Tiffany McDaniel 190. The Imperfects – Amy Meyerson 191. The Living Mountain – Nan Shepherd 192. Migrations – Charlotte McConaghy 193. The Boy in the Field – Margot Livesey 194. The Less Dead – Denise Mina 195. The Stars Are Fire – Anita Shreve 196. The Exiles – Christina Baker Kline 197. A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom – John Boyne 198. Daddy – Emma Cline 199. Transcendent Kingdom – Yaa Gyasi 200. What Are You Going Through – Sigrid Nunez 201. Little Scratch – Rebecca Watson 202. True Story – Kate Reed Petty 203. The Shadows – Alex North 204. Spring - Ali Smith 205. Summer – Ali Smith 206. The Margot Affair – Sanaë Lemoine 207. The Unravelling of Cassidy Holmes – Elissa Sloane 208. The Flat Share – Beth O’Leary 209. Finn Family Moomintroll – Tove Jansson 210. The Midnight Library – Matt Haig 211. Difficult Women: A History of Feminism – Helen Lewis 212. The Bass Rock – Evie Wyld 213. Sad Janet - Lucie Britsch 214. America for Beginners – Leah Franqui 215. Manhattan Beach – Jennifer Egan 216. The Last Story of Mina Lee – Nancy Jooyoun Kim 217. Our Bodies, Their Battlefield – Christina Lamb 218. Vesper Flights – Helen MacDonald 219. The Once and Future Witches – Alix Harrow 220. Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart 221. Greysands – Mark Edmondson 222. Conditional Citizens – Laila Lalami 223. The New Wilderness – Diane Cook 224. Nora Webster – Colm Toibin 225. Beowulf: A New Translation – Maria Dahvana Headley 226. The Searcher – Tana French 227. Apeirogon – Colum McCann 228. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld 229. Bestiary – K-Ming Chang 230. Sleep Deprivation – Karen Russell 231. Small Island - Andrea Levy 232. Monogamy – Sue Miller 233. Ties That Tether – Jane Igharo 234. Homeland Elegies – Ayad Akhtar 235. Old Baggage – Lissa Evans 236. Troy – Stephen Fry 237. White Ivy – Susie Yang 238. Against the Loveless World – Susan Abulhawa 239. Agent Sonya - Ben Macintyre 240. Piranesi – Susanna Clarke 241. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam 242. The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman 243. Fifty Words for Rain – Asha Lemmie 244. Plain Bad Heroines – Emily M Danforth 245. Good Morning, Midnight –Jean Rhys 246. The Mere Wife – Maria Dahvana Headley 247. Stories from Suffragette City – MJ Rose 248. Frankenstein in Baghdad 249. This Mournable Body – Tsitsi Dangarembga 250. The Street – Ann Petry 251. A Dying Fall (Ruth Galloway #4) – Elly Griffiths 252. Lolly Willowes – Sylvia Townsend Warner 253. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue 254. The Devil and the Dark Water – Stuart Turton 255. All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot 256. There Was Still Love – Favel Parrett 257. Lullabies for Little Criminals – Heather O’Neill 258. Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal – Jeanette Winterson 259. I’m Fine and Neither Are You – Camille Pagan 260. Perfect – Rachel Joyce 261. The Merchant’s Tale (Oxford Medieval #4) - Ann Swinfen 262. The Weekend – Charlotte Wood 263. Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie #4) – Kate Atkinson 264. Excellent Women – Barbara Pym 265. In Five Years – Rebecca Searle 266. The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams 267. A Book for Her – Bridget Christie 268. Luster – Raven Leilani 269. The Island of Sea Women – Lisa See 270. Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell 271. Girl, Serpent, Thorn – Melissa Bashardoust 272. The Wonder – Emma Donoghue 273. The Office of Historical Corrections – Danielle Evans 274. A Poem for Every Day of the Year – Allie Esiri 275. Vesuvius By Night – Lindsey Davis 276. An Almond for a Parrot - Wray Delaney 277. Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno Garcia 278. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops – Shaun Bythell 279.Yuletide (Austen Inspired Stories) – Christina Boyd 280. Oona Out of Order – Margarita Montimore 281. Cunk on Everything – Philomena Cunk 282. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky 283. Testimony – Anita Shreve 284. The Spook Who Spoke Again – Lindsey Davis 285. The Light Between Oceans – ML Stedman 286. Their Finest – Lissa Evans 287.The Girl Who Fell from the Sky – Heidi W Durrow 288. Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi 289. All You Can Ever Know – Nicole Chung 290. Cheer Up Love – Susan Calman 291. One by One – Ruth Ware 292. Sex, Power, Money – Sara Pascoe 293. A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik 294. The Way of All Flesh – Ambrose Parry 295. A Journal of the Plague Year – Daniel Defoe 296. (St Clare’s #2) – Enid Blyton 297. (St Clare’s #3) – Enid Blyton 298. (St Clare’s #4) – Enid Blyton 299. (St Clare’s #5) – Enid Blyton 300. (St Clare’s #6) – Enid Blyton

Mackerelfa I love Grimble and remember Clement Freud reading it on Jackanory. For some reason, I have 2 copies.

Just finished my 71st book , a disappointing 20 fewer than 2019 but not surprising.

This was I Never Knew That About Scotland by Christopher Winn which indeed contains many things I never knew. It really does emphasise Scotland's huge contributions to industry and innovation. I am ashamed to say I didn't know Thomas Telford was a Scot! There is also a diverting tale of why the Japanese think the tune of Auld Lang Syne is a Japanese folk tune,

A whimsical book to end the year.

My standouts this year have been few but I would say Hamnet, The Mirror and the Light and The Five stick with me. And finishing War and Peace!

Oh, and I did love David Copperfield but I started that last year, of course.

Kindle Daily Deals today include:
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada which is a superb book.

Also Homecoming by Ysa sthg - can't remember the name but have seen it in people's lists on here.

I'm reading Shuggie Bain and will finish it in 2021 so will be my first review of the New Year - it is wonderful so far.

My favourite reads this year are:
Lady in Waiting
The Sealwoman's Gift
The Tsar of love and techno - Antony Marra
Life: an exploded diagram - Mal Peet
This Thing of Darkness
The Time in Between María Dueñas
Olive, again
Simon Scarrow's Generals quartet about Napoleon and Duke of Wellington
Christmas Days Jeannette Winterson

I haven't put down books like Apeirogon - this was a great read but I found it harder going therefore less 'pleasurable' if you know what I mean. The above lists were books which I couldn't put down!!