26-ish books for 2023

[Tinkhasflown]

A shiny new thread for 2023. There didn't appear to be one do hope it's ok that I have created it this year.

All welcome and note 26 is just a number. Everyone can set their own target and you are welcome here even if you only read 3 books a year.

I personally count the larger novel style books I read to my children and audio books I listen to. Others don't and there are no rules.

I look forward to all your suggestions again this year.

17. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
I found the writing very style hard to get into at first and had to keep re-reading bits to work out what was being said. There were lots of components I normally like - black sense of humour, small town life, folklore, unconventional characters, interesting use of language - but it didn't come together for me somehow. I can see how people would love it but I didn't rate it. Maybe at another time I would have had a different response.

I don't think Kevin Spacey popping up in my mind's eye helped though. Not my idea of the main character and I find KS rather creepy. Then DH told me some of the other (mis)cast members and things got worse. Not actually seen the film.

@Wildernesstips I read a crime novel set in Venice while there, and a Lake District one while in Ambleside. My dad will buy a book if it's set somewhere he likes and enjoys crime, which is handy come present ideas.

I’m in the middle of the Stephen King but also have started a much shorter
14.On His Majesty’s Secret Service (A James Bond Adventure ) -Charlie Higson

1. *Lessons in Chemistry
2. *Shrines of Gaiety
3. All the Things we Never Knew
4. *Demon Copperhead
5. David Copperfield (to do a side-by-side with above)

10. House of Correction 11. Trespasses 12. The Dutch House

*loved

I'm now working my way through my Mary Roach books.

54 was Animal, Vegetable, Criminal - when nature breaks the law.

55 - Six Feet Over - Adventures in the afterlife. A study of theories related to what people believe happens after you die.

56 - Gulp. Adventures of the Alimentary Canal. Looking at biology and scientists who have studied eating and food.

The middle one was less engaging than the others, but then I'm a sceptic when it comes to a lot of the stuff discussed in the book that people believe in. Generally I'd recommend her as an author as she's engaging, it's well researched and they have an element of humour included in the writing.

Then I'll likely finish my series of her books that are on my kindle.

Grunt - the curious science of humans at war
Stiff - the curious life of human cadavers (the first and more memorable book I read of hers. Very respectfully written and extremely interesting.

Packing for Mars - Curious science of life in space.

Not sure I'll bring myself to re-read Bonk, though. That's about Sex and science. :)

I finished
-14. On His Majesty’s Secret Service -Charlie Higson , I think I’d rather watch James Bond movies than read about him
I am continuing the Stephen King .
Bough a new book “ Exiting Times “ by Naoise Dolan I spotted in a culture supplement of a newspaper . Also preordered her next one “ The Happy Couple “ . Will have to see if they’re any good …

24 Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert.

11. Ritual Demise Sally Rigby

Struggling to find the time but I'm still trying

7. The Lincoln Highway Amor Towles. Enjoyed. Not as wonderful as gentleman in M, but a good read.

Very much struggling to find the time to read right now.

Next one is a re read Middlesex by Jeffery Eugindes. 20 years since I read it last, loved it then, hope I do again.

I've been lurking on this thread for a while and have finally pulled together my list of reads so far this year...
Those in bold are the ones I enjoyed the most.

1. Call of the Penguins by Hazel Prior
2. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
3. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
4. The Switch by Beth O’Leary
5. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
6. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
7. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
8. The Women Who Ran Away by Sheila O’Flanagan
9. The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury

10. The Secret Life of Bess by Sue Monk Kidd 11. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers 12. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 13. Em & Me by Beth Morrey 14. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

I haven't been writing all mine down. I'm not very good at it !
I read The Girls Who Disappeared - I really enjoyed it.
Room - Emma Donoghue - I loved this. I'm not much of a film watcher, but I'd like to see the film.
The Unheard - Nicci French - slow start but as a pp said, easy read. Quite enjoying it.

I’ve not written on here in so long I forget what I last put! I’m on my 7th book of the year, only started recently. I’ll update once I’ve finished it.

Book 13 The Blood Tide by Neil Lancaster

22: Started Early Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie 4) another great mixture of different plot lines and characters that all fall into place at the end. I like all the 1970s flashbacks too, reminders of when I was young.

25 The Magician's Nephew by C S Lewis.

18. The Feast by Margret Kennedy. I enjoyed this. Takes place in 1947 in a seaside hotel over the course of a week and follows the dramas of the guests who are cooped up together. You know from the prologue that something terrible is going to happen so that's in the back of your mind as you watch it play out.

Not updated in a while but now on book 19 so well on track!

They are:

1. A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon - good read, quite moving
2. Zone of Interest by Martin Amis - fantastic novel but harrowing, set in a concentration camp
3. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters - rubbish, made me sad as I loved these books as a child!
4. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - very good
5. Lolly Willoes or the loving huntsman by Sylvia Sylvia Townsend Warner - loved this, would really recommend
6. Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith - Not for me really, found it a bit sneering
7. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin - clever idea and quite original but dialogue is awful
8. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie - love this book, comfort re-read
9. The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - brilliant novel, absolutely gripping
10. We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - interesting study of a family but not massively enjoyable.
11. The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham - absolutely fantastic novel, really interesting study of art and a proper anti-hero. The character at the centre of this novel is really irredeemable but how far does his genius excuse his behaviour.
12. Being There by Jerzy Kosiński - LOVE THIS. It seems to be what Forrest Gump was based on, deeply strange but uplifting.
13. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - nothing new to say!
14. The Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham - total piece of crap but fairly page turnerish! Read on holiday as the book had been left at our accommodation.
15. Life Sized by Jenifer Shute - harrowing first person novel about a young woman's anorexia and abuse. It was incredibly gripping but pretty bleak.
16. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - actually really enjoyable, ten times more readable than War and Peace which I gave up on last year.
17. Just One Damned Thing after Another by Jodi Taylor - do not understand the love for this, I thought it was dreadful. Unfunny, weirdly gratuitous and nonsensical plot. NOPE

Just started Christine by Stephen King - not sure why really. I loved his novels as a teen but not really since. This is just one of the classics I hadn't read so thought I should. Already finding depictions of women a tough read if I'm honest.

Sorry for the epic catch up!

23: Trespasses by Louise Kennedy (audio) - set in 1970s Northern Ireland, a young Catholic woman falls in love with an older, married, Protestant man, the start of a chain of tragic events involving several families. Very moving, very well written and narrated.

I did this on audio too. Recently finished. The last chapter made me cry.

Davy reminded me a bit of Owen Meaney.

11: The Colony by Audrey Magee
I read this book about living on an island while I was on an island of the same size. Two summer visitors see the islanders in very different ways to each other, and from how the islanders see themselves. Quite good, but not really as I expected.

12: Tastes Like War by Grace M Cho
This had a big push through my library app. A kind of social history including snapshots of Cho’s time with her mother, recounting the Korean food she ate. I thought it was an interesting book but then read the review on Goodreads by her brother which really slates her and questions the reality of a lot of what is included.

I enjoyed The Colony and loved Trespasses, I just finished Last boat to Tangier and while it is very well written and brilliant in parts it was a bit of a chore to read at times.
Just started no. 30, I found you by Lisa Jewell, seems good so far.

26 The Whistling by Rebecca Netley
27 The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Anges by Janice Hallett

13: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Although I enjoyed this one, I felt it was a bit too long. Listened to it on Audible and Carey Mulligan is a great narrator.

I felt exactly the same about it @Wildernesstips a bit long but beautiful narration.

That should say Alperton Angels!