26-ish books in 2021

[MercedesDeMonteChristo]

Thought I’d kick start the new thread for this year.

I’m starting with Outlander by Diana Gabalon and reading Anna Karenina Tolstoy one chapter a day, so expect to finish September sometime - I’m on chapter 4.

I enjoyed Tin Man as I did the author's first two novels, and will be looking out for what I think is her 4th novel in a few months, in the library catalogue or as a Kindle deal.

Emma Donoghue is one of my favourite writers and I'm currently reading *The Pull of the Stars" - very good so far.

@TheAnswerIsCake I get what you mean about Gentleman in Moscow. It took me an awful long time to get through it, I started by reading a few pages then putting it down for a bit, and repeated that quite a lot. But something kept pulling me back and it wasn't until halfway through that I realised that I was really enjoying it. I could easily have abandoned it early on though, as I'm less patient with books these days when my TBR shelf is packed full!

@MargotMoon I’m with you on being less patient when I have so many more books waiting for me! That’s the thing with it though - I didn’t hate it, it just felt like more of a slog than it should have been!

In contrast, have just read a couple that I raced through.

48. Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie

I really enjoyed this because I was interested in all of the characters! Initially I thought that the “event” was perhaps a bit far fetched, but then I read the author note at the end and remembered what she referred to happening and it changed my perspective, making me like the book perhaps even more.

49. My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal

The story of nine year old Leon and his baby brother who end up in foster care in the 1980s. Once again, knowing the author’s deep personal experience of the topics (she is of Irish and Caribbean heritage and her mother was a foster carer during her childhood, a subject she now has her own expertise in) helps to enforce the realism. I also like books which are well written (emphasis on the well) from a child’s perspective. This is interestingly written in third person but child perspective and works well. Did have me in tears in a couple of places and it’s the kind of book that leaves you feeling mixed at the end (pleased there are no cliches, but....) Would recommend.

TheAnswerisCake I cried so many tears over My Name is Leon.

Book 22 The Bigamist by Mary Turner Thomson. This was a prime reading book and I'm trying to decide what my real feelings where about it. It's a true account of a woman who finds her husband has another wife and 5 children and has been stringing her and their 3 children along with a story that he is CIA... one if the most frustrating reads ever. When reading it I just couldn't comprehend that she believed the stories he fed her and was conflicted as that essentially amounts to victim blaming! She was left with huge debts and discovered he has multiple relationships going on and even more children. Would I recommend it? Honestly I'm not sure...

I’ve done just five books this year, and then nearly finished a re-read. I remember bits of the re-read and not others. I last read it at the beginning of 2018 apparently, I just checked my phone notes where I’ve been listing the books I’ve read, presumably for this thread in previous years.

14. The Woman in the Window - AJ Finn

Having savoured every moment of A Gentleman in Moscow, I felt I needed my next book to be a bit of a page turner that I could rattle through. This pretty much fits that bill and I enjoyed it.

I haven't updated for the best part of a month, so quite a few to add.

25. The Birdwatcher - William Shaw
Detective story set in Kent. The premise is that the police officer investigating the murder is also a murderer himself. I was expecting it to be like Dexter, but it absolutely wasn't! Still a good read though, good characters and an interesting plot.

26. Wolf of Wessex - Matthew Harffy
Loved this. Set in the 10th century. Lots of action and intrigue. Quite gory in places but a brilliant story of sword fights and heroes and villains.

27. Lamentation - CJ Sansom
I love Shardlake and I've been sitting on this one rather than read it as I know there might not be many/any more books to come so I'm saving those I haven't read. Really good, really long, but really good.

28. 61 Hours - Lee Child
Jack Reacher has 61 hours before something terrible happens. Can he figure it all out and see off the bad guys single handed? Spoiler - Yes he can.

29. The Mystery of Mercy Close - Marian Keyes
I never fail to be surprised by how good Keyes books are. This was fabulous and funny. Features a suicidal private detective and a boy band well past their prime. Really insightful writing about depression.

30. The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan
I read Sally Red Shoes earlier this year and loved it. This was as good, if not better. I'm struggling to think of anything I disliked about it. I believe Hogan has a third book, which I will look forward to.
**

@HoundOfTheBasketballs Ruth Hogan's new book is 99p in this month's Kindle deals.

@livingonpurpose Bought it! 🙈

Just placemarking as I fell off.

I finished 2 books in June:

13. Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog - Emily Dean
    I heard Emily talking to Adam Buxton on his podcast and was interested to read this. It's pretty raw in places as you can imagine, but also funny (mostly the stuff about her childhood and very eccentric parents, not the bit where everybody dies)

14. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
    Bit of a cheat, this one, as I listened to the audiobook of a book I read about 25 years ago, mostly when I was falling asleep at night so missed chunks of it. But I know the story so it didn't matter. I hadn't realised how badly edited it is! The audiobook was 30 hours long but I remember racing through the print version at least twice. It's set in Oxford about a history student who gets sent back to the Middle Ages, and seems very dated now as it is set in the not-very-distant future when time travel has been invented (but it's restricted for research purposes only) but they are all using landlines!

1. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
2. Diary of a Provincial Lady, E M Delafield
3. The Duke & I, Julia Quinn
4. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
5. Us, David Nicholls
6. The Autumn of the Ace, Louis de Bernieres
7. Migrant City: A New History of London, Panikos Panayi
8. Frenchman’s Creek, Daphne du Maurier
9. The Outsider, Albert Camus

10. The Battle of Green Lanes, Cosh Omar 11. Malamander, Thomas Taylor 12. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens 13. The Interest, Michael Taylor 14. Twenty Years After, Alexandre Dumas 15. The Disappearance of Emile Zola: Love, Literature and the Dreyfus Case, Michael Rosen 16. Gargantis, Thomas Taylor 17. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka 18. The Uses and Abuses of History, Margaret Macmillan 19. The Wrong Side of the Table, Ayser Salman 20. Stoner, John Williams 21. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room, Lemony Snicket 22. The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey, Julia Laite 23. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Wide Window, Lemony Snicket 24. The Alienist, Caleb Carr 25. Mixed/Other, Natalie Morris 26. The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn 27. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Miserable Mill, Lemony Snicket 28. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 29. The Holiday, Guy Bellamy 30. The Austere Academy, Lemony Snicket 31. Mr Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo 32. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

As many of you know, I have been reading Anna Karenina one chapter a day since just after Christmas. I was due to finish around September but have finished today. I really enjoyed it and it worked really well to read it this way as Tolstoy (and translators) was wordy.

I’m sure most have some idea of the story but I’ll give a quick overview.

The story revolves around Anna, married to a bureaucrat who does care for Anna but not in a passionate, desirable way. Anna gets swept up in the attentions of a dashing officer, Count Vronsky and leaves her husband and young son to be with him. Vronsky gives up his career and suffers difficult relations with this mother. Anna’s story is one that is complex, and 19th c Russian society ultimately shuns her whilst Vronsky is permitted to continue on with life. There is a counter narrative with another love story between Levin and Kitty, which is thwarted at the beginning because Kitty loves Vronsky. Levin is a landowner and philosopher constantly wondering what the point of life is, can anyone ever be happy.

I’ve attempted to read this a few times before as the various book marks and train tickets I found throughout the book attested. My translation was beautiful, poetic and just lovely and kept me engaged, hence I finished early. I found a lot of it very powerful and had changed my perceptions of lots of the characters, particularly Karenin, Anna’s husband. I didn’t even mind Levin’s (lengthy) musings on agricultural policy and the meaning of life.

@livingonpurpose jonathan strange is in my top three favourite books ever. Masterpiece.

17. Kings witch - can’t remember who wrote it. Quite good historical fiction in court of james 1. Not the best dialogue.

18. MOlesworth- fifties satire on public school with fun illustrations by Searle. Gets a bit tired though. I loved first 100 pages then got bored.

1. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
2. Diary of a Provincial Lady, E M Delafield
3. The Duke & I, Julia Quinn
4. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
5. Us, David Nicholls
6. The Autumn of the Ace, Louis de Bernieres
7. Migrant City: A New History of London, Panikos Panayi
8. Frenchman’s Creek, Daphne du Maurier
9. The Outsider, Albert Camus

10. The Battle of Green Lanes, Cosh Omar 11. Malamander, Thomas Taylor 12. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens 13. The Interest, Michael Taylor 14. Twenty Years After, Alexandre Dumas 15. The Disappearance of Emile Zola: Love, Literature and the Dreyfus Case, Michael Rosen 16. Gargantis, Thomas Taylor 17. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka 18. The Uses and Abuses of History, Margaret Macmillan 19. The Wrong Side of the Table, Ayser Salman 20. Stoner, John Williams 21. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room, Lemony Snicket 22. The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey, Julia Laite 23. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Wide Window, Lemony Snicket 24. The Alienist, Caleb Carr 25. Mixed/Other, Natalie Morris 26. The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn 27. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Miserable Mill, Lemony Snicket 28. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 29. The Holiday, Guy Bellamy 30. The Austere Academy, Lemony Snicket 31. Mr Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo 32. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 33. The Ersatz Elevator, Lemony Snicket

Book the Sixth in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

More calamities befall the Baudelaire orphans, a work which here means ‘a whole load of inept and incapable adult fail them again’.

I’m keen to take a break and read something else before Book the Seventh but DS3 is adamant we carry on and since it has taken years to get him interested in book and reading we’ll carry on.

The best thing about this one for me was the word ‘ersatz’ which I had never come across before but now keeps appearing in all my academic reading. I love it.

24. The Alice Network - I think I first heard about this book on this thread for 2029, glad to have finally read it and loved some parts but others bits felt a little trite. Am def going to buy La Guerre des Femmes though

Book 23 The Text by Claire Douglas. I shouldn't actually include this book here as it actually turned out to be a short story and I didn't realise that when I opened it on my kindle! I'm adding it though as it was automatically counted on goodreads, so I'm aligning my count with there. It was crap and I gave it 2 stars which says everything I really need to say about it....

Book 24 The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare. I loved this book, although it is a sad read. I read it after reading other favourable reviews on here. It's definitely worth a read.

Book 25 was inspired by @HoundOfTheBasketballs The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. I've had this on my kindle for so long. I really enjoyed reading it. I should say it all tied together a bit too neatly at the end and it irked me that a character was described as being a down syndrome rather than someone who has Downs Syndrome, but a really nice read. I purchased her new book and will definitely give it a read at some point.

After all the love shown on this thread I'm thinking my next book will be A Gentleman in Moscow. Another book that has been waiting on my Kindle for an age....

I haven't updated in a while...

46. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
Listened to this on audiobook through my library's app and I think this helped as I've seen reviews that say the Scottish vernacular can make a it a little difficult to read. Being Scottish himself, the narrator helped to give the audiobook the right feel/tone. Overall I enjoyed this book, although the story is very bleak and a little depressing. I struggled to feel sympathy for Shuggie's mother and her inability to deal with her alcoholism, neglecting her kids and leaving them exposed to risks.

47. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
Although I have read this book previously, I never made it far through Bring Up the Bodies, and now I would like to finish the trilogy with The Mirror and the Light, so I decided to listen to Wolf Hall on audiobook, through my library app. I do love historical fiction and enjoyed this book as much as I remember doing the first time. Looking forward to tackling the next two soon.

48. A Gentleman In Moscow - Amor Towles
Bought this on a 99p deal after the many good reviews on here. I enjoyed the slow pace of this story, and also learning about a Russian history - something I don't think I've ever read about before. Many interesting characters and a satisfying ending.

49. All The Young Men - Ruth Coker Burks
A memoir/non-fiction about a wonderful woman who was brave and compassionate enough to advocate for young gay men in the midst of the fear and hysteria of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s/90s. A tough read - I struggled with the many, many stories of parents/families putting religion above their sons. Maybe it's just hard to comprehend how mothers can disown their sons in this way, as I can't imagine any action my son could take that would make me do this, let alone leaving them to die alone. Heartbreaking.

14. Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard The third book in the Cazalet series. A slice of life about an upper middle class family in the post war years. Adore the Cazalets and there's only one novel left in the series!

Next stop The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
A book group choice. I've never read any AP but the reviews have been good.
The cover is beautiful!

Fell off the thread.

I’ve had an appalling week so am going to spend the weekend reading The Pursuit of Love. Literally just do nothing else except keep DC alive and washing in between.

25. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Enjoyed it but as with all her books I didn’t get totally hooked, could easily put it down but also just as easily picked it up and engaged enough to finish. Loved Agnes and Bartholomew the most and the woo factor - I don’t know what it is about Maggie O’Farrell, maybe her work just feels to me not quite deep or far enough? I like pretty bleak and brutal literature though

Bit behind!
16: The Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo - loved this though one of the gay couple was a total misogynist and the other not very believably woke for his age.
17: Between the Lines, Freya Wolf: very well written thriller about a forensic linguist, recommended by a friend of the author.
18: Last Tang Standing, Lauren Ho, funny chicklit set in Singapore. Library book.
19: Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Love love this book, I'm familiar with very similar settings and it took me right back but also gave me a good sense of the pride the characters had in being Nigerian which has always been a bit of a puzzle to me (from working with people who are African but not Nigerian!); but it was a bit disturbing to read the blurbs/reviews which all mentioned "religious father" "family secret" "oppressive regime" but the domestic violence didn't get a look in. Not important because it's women and children I bet. Library book I've had out for ages.
20: In Five Years, Rebecca Serle. Moving chicklit, rather like Marian Keyes or Jennifer Weiner. Also a library book.

I really though Mr Loverman was significantly better than Girl, Woman, Other which I liked but could take or leave @drspouse.

OK, I won't bother reading that one then!

Hahah. Though the Booker judges and others clearly disagreed with me.

1. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
2. Diary of a Provincial Lady, E M Delafield
3. The Duke & I, Julia Quinn
4. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
5. Us, David Nicholls
6. The Autumn of the Ace, Louis de Bernieres
7. Migrant City: A New History of London, Panikos Panayi
8. Frenchman’s Creek, Daphne du Maurier
9. The Outsider, Albert Camus

10. The Battle of Green Lanes, Cosh Omar 11. Malamander, Thomas Taylor 12. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens 13. The Interest, Michael Taylor 14. Twenty Years After, Alexandre Dumas 15. The Disappearance of Emile Zola: Love, Literature and the Dreyfus Case, Michael Rosen 16. Gargantis, Thomas Taylor 17. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka 18. The Uses and Abuses of History, Margaret Macmillan 19. The Wrong Side of the Table, Ayser Salman 20. Stoner, John Williams 21. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room, Lemony Snicket 22. The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey, Julia Laite 23. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Wide Window, Lemony Snicket 24. The Alienist, Caleb Carr 25. Mixed/Other, Natalie Morris 26. The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn 27. A Series of Unfortunate Events #4: The Miserable Mill, Lemony Snicket 28. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 29. The Holiday, Guy Bellamy 30. The Austere Academy, Lemony Snicket 31. Mr Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo 32. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 33. The Ersatz Elevator, Lemony Snicket 34. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

I decided to reread this last week after the series and a particularly rubbish week. It’s total fluff and nonsense but I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time back in 2013 (according to GoodReads).

The story centres of a bonkers English aristocratic family, Linda in particular who is in love with the idea of being in love. It’s narrated by her rather more sensible friend and cousin Fanny. It’s eccentric fun, but also entitled, snobby and contains more than it’s fair share of jingoistic language.