The New Fifty Books A Year Thread 2020

32 In Stitches by Nick Edwards. He’s an A&E doctor and recounts tales from his working life. There are also rants about the terrible state of the NHS which is most interesting as it was written in 2007, when Labour was in power and many of the problems are the same as we still have.

33 The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. This is for my book group this month. I won’t add a spoiler in case anyone is going to read it, but I can say that I wish the denouement had occurred approximately 450 pages earlier! ?

Terribull I loved the Crawdads, too. One of my stand-out books this year.

26 - Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L Trump

Engaging page turner but sad-

25 - City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (eat, pray, love)

On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima I have revisited my copy of The Wives of Los Alamos by Tara Shea Nesbit.
This was a Gransnet bookclub choice in 2014 and you kindly sent it to me. I loved the unique narrative , the wives perspective of a terrible event. Thank you Gransnet Books !

Read three good books in a row in July.

Firstly the "The Long Call" Ann Cleeves A new detective, Matthew Venn and a new setting Barnstaple, North Devon. I like the way Ann Cleeves paints a picture of the landscape when she writes, I find that almost as interesting as the plot sometimes. Having been to that part of Devon a couple of times, memories of that area resonated in the way she described them. As with her previous endeavours Jimmy Perez set in Shetland and Vera in North East England this is a worthy new addition and hopefully as series in the offing.

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens. Absolutely loved this book, almost certainly one of the best I've read this year. I've probably come late to it I think I've seen plenty of reviews so far by other GNs.. Set in North Carolina during the '50 and '60s. Begins in the late 60s with what appears to be a murder of a young man, The story unfolds in retrospect telling the story of young 7 year old Kya and how she ekes out a solitary existence in a deserted shack in the coastal marshlands of that state. The abandonment of her by her immediate family, one by one is an integral part of the narrative, as are vivid descriptions of the coastal waters and wildlife that inhabit them. It's a bleak, moving and ultimately uplifting story. Definitely recommend it.

My third book, the memoirs of Lady Glenconner's "Lady in Waiting" Lots of snippets about Princess Margaret, but the real star of the book is her husband Colin Tennant who whilst amusing at times, as eccentrics often are, was impossibly difficult to live with, umpteen meltdowns and tantrums described, sometimes in hilarious detail. Whilst on the surface it appeared she had it all, her story was unremittingly heart breaking at times, in that she lost two adult sons within a few years of each other, one to HIV and the other a recovering heroin addict contracted Hepatitis which proved to be his death sentence. If that wasn't bad enough her third son came off his motorbike during a gap year, an accident that nearly killed him and from which he wasn't expected to recover from. Happily he did. She has had some spectacular high points but some very low ones too, apart from losing two sons, and nearly losing a third, she also found out that Colin had written all his family out of his will when he died.

Not sure what number I'm at now! Just started "The Flat Share" but haven't really got into it yet.

I've lost count! I'm now reading Half a World Away by Mike Gayle which comes highly recommended by other people. I love his books.

24 - Unsheltered - Barbera Kingsolver

Slightly behind the mid-year mark of 25 ..

I fell in love with Mary Treat .. ?

This book really hit home ..

I wound up rereading the Salt Path between the last book I read and the one above-

O dear! Last posted in February! So - following on..

12. Tread Softly on my Dreams - Gretta Curran Brown

13. Dear Mother - Angela Marsons

14. Give me the Child - Mel McGrath

15. The Hare with the Amber Eyes - Edmund de Wall (I abandoned this, just could not get on with it!)

16. The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall

17. Orphan X - Greg Hurwitz

18. The Nowhere Man - Greg Hurwitz

19. The Dare - John Boyne

20. The hearts Invisible Furies - John Boyne

21. The Dry - Jame Harper

22. A history of Loneliness - John Boyne

23. Protected - Elizabeth Naughton

24. Xennor in Darkness - Helen Dunmore

25. The Loney - Andrew Michael Hurley

26. Paris Echo - Sebastian Faulks

27. The Heat of Betrayal - Douglas Kennedy

29. Do No Harm - Henry Marsh

30. Half Way Gone - Matt Padmore

31. In Shock - Rowan Audish

32. Bring Me Back - B.A. Paris

33. The Body in the Dales - J.R. Ellis (Currently reading)

A real mixture but 99% enjoyable.

My daughter passed a book on to me at the weekend called “Sightlines” by Kathleen Jamie. A collection of her experiences, recollections, essays, if you like, about the natural world, our connection to it, and our place in it. She is a poet, but her prose is mesmerising, intimate and thought provoking. Can’t put it down.

I have just finished 'The Secrets of Strangers' by Charity Norman and loved it. Unusual plot and theme but the characters were so beautifully drawn, I didn't want it to end. (99p on Kindle at the moment)

I meant to address my first comment to Lemongrove.

I think these Covid times have sent me to books that embrace how wonderful the natural world is, even when it’s trying to kill us! JLS’s prose is so beautiful, poetic, even. He quotes liberally from other writers, which enhances it all.

I’ve read more non-fiction than fiction, I think, during lockdown. Following a plot has been beyond me.

Rosecarmel He’s maybe a niche writer for the UK market, which is why he’s not in US libraries. This website ships to the US and his books are also available on Kindle, if finances run to buying his books.
wordery.com/search?term=Lewis+Stempel

John Lewis-Stempel

I just checked my libraries and not one has any books by that author! Arg! They sound beautiful!

23 - A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression - by Andrew Coe and Jane Ziegelman

How strange SueD as I bought and have just read a book by the same author The Secret Life Of The Owl.He’s an excellent nature writer and I shall buy others ...The Running Hare and Where Poppies Blow ( as well as Meadowland.) ?

Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel. The author is a farmer in Herefordshire and this is his account of a year in the life of a field. If you thought of a field of grass as boring, you’d be very much mistaken! All life is contained in this beautifully written book.

She writes most vividly, doesn’t she? I could see the pub and the river and the farm in my mind’s eye.

SueDonim

24. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield.

It’s set on the upper reaches of the Thames, in late Victorian times, and concerns an unknown child found in the river. It’s kind of magical realism, but also believable, a modern fairy tale, I suppose. I enjoyed it, great escapism.

Enjoyed this book very much, especially as I live near the places in the book.Her other novels are good too, The Thirteenth Tale and Bellman and Black.?
I find I want to linger over the words, rather than read quickly, as she almost paints pictures with her words.

I don’t feel as if I have read as much as usual but mid June finished my 50th book.
Since I last posted I have read
41- The best exotic marigold hotel - Deborah Moggach
42- Born in fire - Nora Roberts
43- Born in ice- Nora Roberts
44- Born in shame - Nora Roberts enjoyed this trilogy even though have read it before.
45- Mourning Ruby - Helen Dunmore
46 - Suite Francaise- Irene Nemirovsky
47- The Gathering- Anne Enright
48- Educated- Tara Westover
49 - Silent Boy- Torey Hayden
50 - Don’t lets go to the dogs tonight- Alexandra Fuller
51- sickened- Julie Gregory
52- Someone else’s Kids- Torey Hayden
53- sing you home- Jodi Picoult
54- Pigeon English- Stephen Kerman
55- Beautiful Child- Torey Hayden.

I have now started to reread books that I read many years ago before sending them to the charity shop hence few by the same authors.

30 The Horseman by Tim Pears. It’s part one of a trilogy. It’s a quiet, slow mover until almost the end, when it suddenly changes speed.

I’ve got Lady Glenconner’s book on my Kindle, Terribull. It sounds a good read!

Greyduster - very good description re. "The Hunting Party" I agree, very overrated it was just meh! imo.

Don't worry nothing will happen to you if you don't reach the target 50 that figure is a mere aspiration!

Just worked out that with the last two books that makes just twelve! I had better get my backside in gear to try and even come close to fifty!

It was March when I last posted on this thread and then I was just embarking on ‘The Mirror and the Light’, which was so good I started to eke it out because I couldn’t bear the thought of finishing it, but all good things must come to an end.
I then started reading ‘The Hunting Party’ by Lucy Foley which was a Christmas present. Full of shallow, irritating, badly drawn characters and with more holes in the “plot” than a Swiss cheese.
I’m now alternating between ‘Sharpe’s Tiger’ by Bernard Cornwell and ‘Kingdom of the Golden Dragon’ by Isabel Allende which I may pass on to GS as I think it is a book aimed at younger teenagers.