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.

Pourmeanotherwine · 26/09/2023 22:52

1 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
2 The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
3 lessons in Chemistry
4 touch of love by Jonathan Coe
5 The bird in the bamboo cage by Heather Webb
6 The man who died twice by Richard Osman
7 The Glass Blowers by Daphne du Maurier
8 The travelling cat chronicles by Hiro Arkawa. Lovely but sad.
9 Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif. Enjoyed I think. Darkly funny.
10 Everyone in this room will someday be dead by Emily Austin.
11 The Helingor Sewing Club by Ella Gyland. Really enjoyed this one, about the evacuation of Danish Jews to Sweden in the second world war by local fishermen with the help of the whole community.
12 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
13 Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier.
14 The scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
15 The bullet that missed by Richard Osman
16 Murder before evensong by Richard Coles
17 Back when we were grownups By Anne Tyler
18 Now reading Circe by Madeleine Miller
19 Dinner at the homesick restaurant by Anne Tyler
20 Still Life by Sarah Winman
21 We will never be young again by Daphne du Maurier
22 People person by Candice Carty- William's
23 Suzy Suzy by William Wall.
24 Trio by William Boyd
25 the prophet and the idiot by jonas jonasson
26 to fill a yellow house by Sussie Anie
27 ( still reading )house of orphans by Helen Dunmore

33. A Fortnight In September by R.C.Sherriff. First off, if anyone in Manchester has been waiting for this from the library I'm so sorry to have hogged it. It took me soooo long to read. Not in a bad way.
Follows a family of 5 from the night before their holiday to Bognor through to the last day.
I did enjoy it while reading it but until over halfway I wasn't eager to get back to it just to find out what happened next, if that makes sense. It's deceptively dense in detail for a book where not a great deal happens. That's not a criticism as I like character based books rather than twisty plots.

Thanks wildernesstips
This thread really did help me to get there.

Well done to everyone whether you read 1 book or 26 or more. I hope it inspired you to get stuck in to a good story.

27. American Dirt - Jeanine Cummings

I really enjoyed this book, I felt it was well written and really believed in all the characters. I have watched quite a few things over the last decade on drug cartels and got a bit fed up of watching it from the drug cartels' (mainly men's) point of view. There seems a strange theme of glamourising these stories whilst also showing how violent they were. This was refreshing, whilst also horrific, to hear the story from the other side, the ordinary people caught up in it and trying to find a way out.

I am under the weather at the moment so going to look for another recommendation on these threads.

28. Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

One of my favourites of the year. I felt transported to 19th Century Iceland.

30 - The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
This was ok, but you know there is going to be some sadness involved when you are reading about people with terminal illness.

16 Elly Griffiths The Crossing Places. Really enjoyed this.

Not going to make it to 26 but better than my 1 of last year

I read this last year. Such an unusual and chilling book. I would highly recommend also.

29. How to Kill your Family - Bella Mackie

Great book. Fun for what is ultimately a gruesome murder story.

@Breathmiller I loved this book. Probably my best all year. I loved the balance of one minute being horrified, then laughing out loud. It's her first book, too.

@Breathmiller I lived Burial Rites too, I've loved all her books.

Hopefully you are better by now and might have seen it already but there's a great thread of book recommendations for intelligent women with the flu
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4881216-books-for-the-intelligent-woman-with-the-flu-please

Having not finished two of my books so far earlier I did finally read the rest of my no
16.Billy Summers - Stephen King which I thought was quite good but a bit long in the end , I liked his new one Holly more maybe having read others with the same character in them.
Then read the next one DH just gave me in 2 days and really liked it
22.Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
Just found out I’ve got Covid again and am stuck in my bedroom for the time being trying not to infect the others so I think I have a change of getting my 26 this year after all since there’s nothing but time now …
I need to next finish my no
19.Fourth Wing -Rebecca Yarros
or to pick a new one , 4 1/2 books to go !

Finally finished the
19.Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
I liked it but at 500 pages nearly I thought it was too long . I have the next book too but probably want to read something else . I’m 4 books short of this year’s target and still pretty sick with Covid 8 days after the positive test . Now just trying to get better a bit for Christmas with our own family but have time to read when I can keep my eyes open . Won’t get 4 books though . I’m too tired for that !

15. I Love This Game - Patrice Evra
    Great book if you love Patrice, but TW re abuse. The bits about the French internationals dragged a bit compared to his club chapters.

16. An Almost Perfect Christmas - Nina Stibbe.
    Very funny.

I won't get to 25 now as I've just started the new Zadie Smith. I definitely won't be able to finish that in 2023.
I haven't been counting books that I've been re-reading, or listening to again as audiobooks, just new reads. So I'm happy with 16 for this year, but my pile of TBR doesn't seem to be diminishing!

I have started book no
23.The Guest- Emma Cline
I’m only in the first 50 pages but so far so good and it’s half the length of the last giant tome so I’m happy with that .
I have earmarked two books I bought myself for Christmas as my 24 and 25 then choosing 26 from a few options in my small to read pile . My goal originally was to read through the stacks in my bedroom drawer that languished there for years , to watch less screens and to read instead so I’m happy to have done that in the last few years despite not quite getting my 26 this year. I will keep up the good new habit .

I’m slightly over halfway through book #13, Northanger Abbey. It’s fairly short so hopefully I will finish it soon. Maybe I can squeeze in a 14th before the end of the year. It’s not much, but it’s way better than last year when I managed 4

I reached 26 fairly easily (up to 40 now I think) but have not been on the thread.
Thinking about next year. I really like doing a reading challenge with themes but I haven't found one that fits me yet.

31: The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
I had not heard of this one until this thread, but I love du Maurier. I was a bit disappointed by this though as it seemed to lack the theatricality of some of her others. Or maybe it was because I didn't like any of the characters, but I suppose that was the point.

Just wanted to say that whether you achieved 26 books or only a few, that reading should be a pleasure and well done to everyone on this thread.

77 The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallet
78 Almost Love by Louise O'Neill
79 Penance by Eliza Clarke
80 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickins
81 How To Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent

Only just found this thread! I’ve kept a list of all books I’ve read this year, and I’m on number 25. Hoping to beat that, if only by a couple, in 2024 😁

Never Lie
The Most Bizarre True Crime Stories
The Talented Mr Ripley
The One
Interesting Stories for Curious People
Contacts
The Dark Side of the Mind
The Burning Girls
The Wasp Factory
The Taking of Annie Thorne
The Haunting of Hill House
Of Mice and Men
Wilderness
Pure Evil
1984
The Chalk Man
Hippo Eats Dwarf
Electrified Sheep
The Theory of Everything Else
No One Saw A Thing
Thinner
Lord of the Flies
Elephants on Acid
The Green Mile
Needful Things

13. The Children's Act By Ian McEwan

14. I know this much is true by Wally Lamb. Not very well know but a very intense but fantastic read. Heavy going though and left me really struggling with a book to read after, so didn't read a thing for a couple of months.

15. The Seven husband of Evelyn Hugo. Not my normal kind of book, but liked it.

About to start on My family and other animals. An oldie but one I have never read. Looking forward to it.

Obviously not going to make 26 this year which is usual for me but it's been a busy '23!

32: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
At 100 pages, it is really only a novella. I didn't know this was set at Christmas when I started reading it on Christmas Eve, but although the story is quite dark, there is also something quite uplifting about it too.

After a 3 month pause from reading - lots going on - I finally managed to read book: 17 - Alone with you in the Ether - Olivie Blake

A bit strange but also very readable. I've just started book 18 and hope to finish this week so that'll be my total this year I think.

34: The House by The Lake by Thomas Harding. Thomas tells of life in a village close to Berlin from the early 20th century to date by researching the history of his former family holiday home there, with two world wars and the Cold war it is a fascinating read.

35: Marching to a Different Beat by Sarah Ziegel. Sarah is the mother to four autistic sons, this is the story of their family, the therapy that transformed their lives and the fight for support from the health and education systems. A really uplifting book.

36: Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner. Another memoir (my favourite genre), the extraordinary life of the daughter of an earl who married a Lord and became a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret. Jaw dropping in places and also deeply moving.

37: I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith. Fiction for a change, an enchanting tale of a teenager from a once wealthy family living in poverty amongst wealthy neighbours, just lovely.

I’ve finished the year with 20 books which ain’t bad taking into account I read 2 last year and 0 for years

The vast majority of mine this year have been audio, that really has made a difference to me.