Sugar

Rain

😘

Dock

The Best of me - Nicholas Sparks

Lorry

Thank you, All! It’s so good to be back here!

Thanks for highlighting this. I’ve added it to my wishlist.

December has been a mixed bag of books for me. I started with the Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, a teenage novel based on Dracula (tying neatly to Onion Budgie’s opening post). Part of a series telling the stories of girls/women inspired by classic novels. I followed this with Simon Mayo’s Mad Blood Stirring, which was to fulfil part of a reading challenge for 2019 on a Facebook group I belong to. This was the book for “read a book by an author better known for something else”. I’m so glad I read it - it’s set in 1814 in Dartmoor (my favourite part of the UK) around a little known part of the prison’s history. Mayo successfully crafted great characters, in a well drawn setting, and wrote it in a compulsive reading way. From this to a crime thriller (also for the above challenge, this time about the authors initials), Now You See Her by Heidi Perks. A lightweight read but with some interesting psychological analyses. I’m very close to finishing George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. (“A book published before I was born” for the Challenge). Not sure what to say about this. I didn’t know it was autobiographical until I was over 50 pages in, and I decided I didn’t like the main character so did some googling... I also finished The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult yesterday that I’d been listening to on Audible while driving. I read the last 20% on my Kindle though as I couldn’t sleep in the night and didn’t want to miss any of it/spoil the twist/disturb my other half. Aiming for a lighter, seasonal read in James Bowen’s A Gift from Bob next. Hoping that everyone’s favourite Streetcat will help me with some festive spirit for this week...

The TBR shelf 2019 Physical Shelf 1) Tender Morsals - Margot Lanagan 2) A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 3) You are Not like Other Mothers - Angelika Schrobsdorff 4) Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 5) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See 6) The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy 7) Sushi for Beginners - Marianne Keyes 8) The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry 9) The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue 10) Under the Paw - Tom Cox 11) Monsters - Sharon Dogar 12) The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz 13) The Family Fang - Kevin Wilson 14) Shopaholic to the Rescue - Sophie Kinsella 15) I let you go - Claire Mackintosh 16) The Behaviour of Moths - Poppy Adams 17) Bel Canto - Ann Patchett 18) The Uninvited Guests - Sadie Jones 19) Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale 20) Three Things about Elsie - Joanna Cannon 21) A Place in the Country - Rob Stuart 22) Girl, Stop Apologizing - Rachel Hollis 23) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick 24) The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins 25) The Pilates Body - Brooke Siler 26) After You - Jojo Moyes 27) Life to the Limit - Jenson Button 28) The Olive Readers - Christine Aziz 29) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith 30) The Return - Victoria Hislop Kindle 1) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 2) Sea - Sarah Driver 3) The House with Chicken Legs - Sophie Anderson 4) The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern 5) Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healsy 6) Long time no see - Hannah Lowe 7) The Zookeeper’s Wife - Diane Ackerman 8) Night Train to Lisbon - Pascal Mercier 9) The French Lieutenant’s Woman - John Fowles 10) Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham 11) The Ragged Troysered Philanthropists - Robert Tressell 12) The Vine Witch - Luanne G Smith 13) Caribbee - Thomas Hoover 14) Testament ifYouth - Vera Brittain I’m thrilled to learn that all the books that were on my 2006 list have all gone! Although we moved house in 2009 and I am fairly sure some of these have been on the shelf since we unpacked... 🤦‍♀️

Endorphin

Quick skim through and I think I’ve read 101. Sadly though I am much more than 10% of the way through my life 😂. Will edit this post at some point with which I’ve read. Loved reading all the discussion so far.

57. A Gift from Bob by James Bowen 56. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell ** 55. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult (A) **** 54. Now You See Her by Heidi Perks **** 53. Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo **** 52. The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave **** 51. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes **** 50. The Secret Language of Cats by Susanne Schötz ** 49. The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys **** 48. Toffee by Sarah Crossan ***** 47. The Fallout by Sadie Jones *** 46. Cloud Boy by Marcia Williams **** 45. Life: an exploded diagram by Mal Peet *** 44. H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald **** 43. A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan *** 42. The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell **** 41. The Mortal Coil by Emily Suveda **** 40. The Island by Victoria Hislop **** 39. Becoming Dinah by Kit de Waal *** 38. The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Fleming **** 37. Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane (A) *** 36. Where the River Runs Gold by Sita Brahmachari *** 35. The Lido Guide by Janet Wilkinson ***** 34. Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich *** 33. Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella *** 32. Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter **** 31. The Lido by Libby Page **** 30. Dangerous Water by Anne Allen ** 29. The World According to Bob by James Bowen **** 28. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebald ** 27. The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde (A) *** 26. The Boy who Flew by Fleur Hancock **** 25. Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich *** 24. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (A) *** 23. My Brother’s Name is Jessica by John Boyne *** 22. A Song for the Dying by Stuart MacBride **** 21. The Middler by Kirsty Applebaum ***** 20. Boy meets Hamster by Birdie Milano ***** 19. Rosie Loves Jack by Mel Darbon ***** 18. You against Me by Jenny Downham **** 17. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella *** 16. The Woman who Died a lot by Jasper Fforde (A) **** 15. Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor *** 14. Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich **** 13. The Terrible Thing that happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne ** 12. The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling (A) *** 11. A Street cat named Bob by James Bowen *** 10. The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud by Ben Sherwood **** 9. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich *** 8. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz **** 7. Eleanor Olliphant is Absolutely Fine by Gail Honeyman (A) ***** 6. A Whisper of Horses by Zillah Bethell **** 5. Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich *** 4. Antigona and Me by Kate Claunchy **** 3. Once in a Lifetime by Cathy Kelly *** 2. The Girl who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig (A) *** 1. Angel Fever by LA Weatherly **** (A) = Audiobook

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My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante