Ooshie

And a very late entry ... BOOKS READ IN 2017 A Country Road, A Tree – Jo Baker A Family Romance – Anita Brookner A Private View – Anita Brookner A Spool of Blue Thread – Anne Tyler Autumn: A Folio Anthology – Various Behind Her Eyes - Sarah Pinborough Black Water – Louise Doughty Cast Iron – Peter May Dark Fire – C J Sansom Days Without End – Sebastian Barry Dead Man’s Walk – Larry McMurtry Dissolution – C J Sansom Double Fault – Lionel Shriver Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynne Truss Eileen – Ottessa Moshfegh End of Watch – Stephen King Falling Slowly – Anita Brookner Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain – Barney Norris Fraud – Anita Brookner I See You – Clare Mackintosh Last Seen Alive – Claire Douglas Latecomers – Anita Brookner Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf Ms Derby Requests – Sean Chapman (e-book) My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout Playing with Fire – Tess Gerritsen Rushing Waters – Danielle Steel Slade House – David Mitchell Small Great Things – Jodi Picoult SS-GB – Len Deighton The Blood in the Moon – Sean Chapman (e-book) The Blue Flower – Penelope Fitzgerald The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena The Dandelion Years – Erica James The Drowned Boy – Karin Fossum The Giver – Lois Lowry The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker The Lake House – Kate Morton The Leftovers – Tom Perrotta The Lesser Bohemians – Eimear McBride The Mistletoe Bride – Kate Mosse The Novel Habits of Happiness – Alexander McCall Smith The Shining – Stephen King The Sport of Kings – C E Morgan The Swimming Pool – Louise Candlish The Tobacconist – Robert Seethaler The Waters of Eternal Youth – Donna Leon The Widow – Fiona Barton Uncle Silas – J Sheridan Le Fanu What Belongs to You – Garth Greenwell Most unexpectedly enjoyable - The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride Most disappointing - The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta (a bit unfair, perhaps as my disappointment was mostly due to the book being nothing like the series, which I loved) Disliked most - Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (all I can remember is that I found it a thoroughly unpleasant little book from beginning to end) There was no overall favourite as I thoroughly enjoyed lots of my reading this year If I had to pick just one book to keep and read again... no, can't do it, too hard!

1. Chronicles of Narnia series - C S Lewis 2. My Friend Flicka series - Mary O'Hara 3. The Chalet School series - Elinor Brent-Dyer 4. Nancy Drew series - various writers using the pseudonym Carolyn Keene 5. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Hello, @WormBoy, welcome to the Forum! I hope you enjoy having a look around, and look forward to seeing you in some of the discussions. Ooshie

Just finished A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, and just started Fraud by Anita Brookner :-)

I would definitely have Hilary Mantel in my top five; although I have only read a few of her books, they are all among my favourites. A quote from an article in The Guardian mentions that "each of her novels is a new world, freshly imagined in a special language, but in every one the twists of human desire and fear are exactly charted", and I would say that is a very good description. Her books stay with me long after I have finished reading them, in all sorts of different ways. For me, she does qualify as a 'great' writer rather than just an 'entertaining' one.

FutureLearn (owned by The Open University) are starting a free course which looks interesting on Monday 24th July. It is with The University of Edinburgh, some details below: How to Read A Novel We will be looking at four of the main building blocks in fiction: plot, characterisation, dialogue, and setting. We’ll show you how each of these elements work, exploring different examples from modern and classic texts, and showing you what to look out for when reading novels for yourself. This course will teach you how to be a more incisive reader, giving you skills to apply in all your future reading. We’ll also be looking at examples from some of the very best in contemporary fiction, exploring what makes them work so successfully, and what effect they have on us, the reader. We look forward to you joining us in July on this fascinating journey into the world of fiction. I do love my reading, but don't usually spend much time analysing the books I read, so hope it might give me a deeper understanding and add to my enjoyment in that way!

That my first encounter with Mitko B. ended in a betrayal, even a minor one, should have given me greater warning at the time, which should in turn have made my desire for him less, if not done away with it completely. What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell (which I have just finished) From the doorway I can already smell the scent of old books, a perfume of crumbling pages and time-worn leather. Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen (which I have just started)

I have just finished What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell; I found the writing very similar to that of Alan Hollinghurst, so anyone who has enjoyed AH's books might enjoy it. I found the ending of the book very moving. A couple more for the list are The Spell and The Stranger's Child. I found them both good reads, but didn't enjoy them quite as much as The Line of Beauty.

I'm so glad you found it so quickly, @frankie, I really hope you enjoy it - hopefully you will as chaliepud liked it so much too! Thanks for the extra suggestions; the title of The Bookshop on the Corner is ringing a bell with me, although the storyline isn't. I have had a good search and can't find it on any of my TBR piles, though. I wonder whether I have seen it at my Mum's house? I will need to look next time I am there! I haven't heard of the other two so they can go straight on my wish list

Good to know I still have a quite a lot to go! Those I have read so far are marked in green:# A Start in Life (1981) Providence (1982) Look At Me (1983) Hotel Du Lac (1984) Family and Friends (1985) A Misalliance (1986) A Friend From England (1987) Latecomers (1988) Lewis Percy (1989) Brief Lives (1990) A Closed Eye (1991) Fraud (1992) A Family Romance (1993) A Private View (1994) Incidents in the Rue Laugier (1995) Altered States (1996) Visitors (1997) Falling Slowly (1998) Undue Influence (1999) The Bay of Angels (2001) The Next Big Thing (2002) The Rules of Engagement (2003) Leaving Home (2005) Strangers (2009) and I still have The Next Big Thing on my TBR pile. I agree with you about the quality of the paper and the typeface, though I have checked the older editions I have (with the coloured covers) and they don't seem to be of better quality; hopefully you will manage to track down some nicer ones. Like you, I do prefer the covers of the reissues but, much as I would like to, I don't think I will replace those I have with the coloured covers unless the price drops very significantly!

Looks like your reading is going really well this year! I had read a few Brookner novels in years gone by and enjoyed them, so when they started to be reissued (after her death?) I began to read them in order, too. I think I have missed a couple, though, as they weren't available when I was ready to buy a couple more, so I will need to check whether I can get hold of those yet. I have fourteen of them altogether, with one still to read; I really like to have one or two waiting now, so I can start right away if I am in the mood for her writing. I remember getting through The Go-Between fairly quickly, but I think that was because I left it in the office as my 'lunch hour' book, so there was nothing else to distract me from it!

Your reviews of the 'Dark Tower' books are really useful, @ian. I have read most of Stephen King's other fiction (and have just finished 'End of Watch') but for some reason have never picked up the DT series - it was good to be reminded they are there waiting for me! I'm glad you enjoyed the Desmond Bagley; I read all his books in the 70s/early 80s, and liked them a lot.

I think I had read another two books by her quite a few years ago and enjoyed those two, so as well as the bookshop/books/library theme appealing to me very much I did think I should enjoy it. It was nice to be proved right!

Hi Frankie, just a heads-up about another book you might enjoy - The Dandelion Years by Erica James. The main character restores antique books, her father runs a second-hand bookshop, and there are quite a few mentions of a large house with a big library... my mother passed it on to me just the other day, and it is quite a light, easy read for when you are in the mood for that. The blurb on the back is: 'Someone had made a perfect job of creating a place in which to hide a notebook... there was no address, only a date: September 1932...' Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl. A rambling cottage on the edge of a Suffolk village, it provided a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood. Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days to tending to broken and battered books, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a hidden notebook and realises someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own - Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love.

I am currently only reading one book, but if I am reading a hardback then I will often start a paperback too so I have something lighter and more portable on the go as well.