11. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
12. The Souls of Black Folk - WEB Du Bois
13. A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World - Mark Williams
14. The Farm - Tom Rob Smith
15. The Stranger - Albert Camus
16. Half Bad - Sally Green
17. Ulysses - James Joyce
18. Bad Signs - RJ Ellory
19. He Knew He Was Right - Anthony Trollope
20. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bill Bryson
16. The Summer Son by Craig Lancaster.
The story of a father and son relationship. In 1979 11 year-old Mitch spends the summer with his father. They subsequently become estranged and spend little time together until 2007, by which time 39 year-old MItch's marriage and career are in danger of failing.
This doesn't have the lightness of touch of the Edward books and wouldn't be my usual choice of subject matter, but a good read all the same.
17. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris. Audiobook version read by Anna Bentinck.
Another novel with a split timeframe. 1930s London, elderly spinster Harriet Baxter is writing her memoirs and recalling her friendship with the artist Ned Gillespie and his family In Glasgow back in 1888.
A bit of a slow starter but I was soon hooked. It's difficult to say much about the story without spoiling the plot but, so far as I'm concerned, this book is up there with The Goldfinch and Maddaddam as one of my favourite reads so far this year.
This was a re-read and I'm not sure why I read it a second really as it isn't that great! The main character is a bit annoying and it is all rather predictable.
28. The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson - Paige Toon
I really enjoy Paige Toon books, although this book is her first YA novel. I really liked it; it was good catching up with Meg and Johnny from her two previous novels and it was interesting to read about their relationship from a different character's perspective.
5. Shades of Grey (Shades of Grey #1) by Jasper Fforde – In a strict world where no one is able to see an entire spectrum of colors, and the colors a person sees determines their social status and everything else about their lives, Eddie Russett is thrown into a tangle of new relationships in the village of East Carmine, where he and his father have just moved. All Eddie wants is to move back home to Jade-Under-Lime, but it could take him a while to earn enough merits to afford to move back and to be allowed to marry Constance Oxblood, his sort-of-sweetheart from home. However, he meets a gray-seeing woman named Jane who challenges Eddie and everything he knows, and Eddie begins to see the world in a different way. I loved this book and can’t wait for the sequel!
6. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #10) by Alexander McCall Smith – Mma Ramotswe struggles with the illness of her tiny white van while investigating the reason a local soccer team is losing every single game. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi’s old nemesis Violet Sephotho has resurfaced and Grace Makutsi is sure that she is trying to steal Mma Makutsi’s fiancé! Very enjoyable. The Violet storyline provided a lot of laughs.
7. Chiliad: A Meditation by Clive Barker – A novella of connected stories, anchored at both ends of a 1000 years (a chiliad) by men mourning the women they love. It was okay.
8. Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund (Dixie Hemingway #2) by Blaize Clement – Dixie is walking one of the dogs in her care when the dog discovers a dead body. The murderer thinks that Dixie can recognize him/her, and Dixie’s life is in danger. It was okay. I think the author might be trying to emulate a little of the Stephanie Plum stuff with the elderly woman friend who talks about sex, and with an impending love triangle for Dixie.
<snip> 70. Spike Milligan, A Celebration - Spike Milligan 2/10
Virgin Books Ltd, 209 pages
<Comedy documentary> Sadly, now Spike's work has began to seem, and feel, dated.
71. Wolverine volume five - Paul Cornell, Alan Davies, Stan Lee, Jason Latour etc. 7/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 472 pages <Graphic Novel> Complete volume five, #1-13, Custom Edition and Season One. Cornell weaves a solid tale culminating… with the end of Wolverine… seriously!
72. New Avengers Bks 1&2 - Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting, Mike Deodato etc. 5/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 279 pages <Graphic Novel> The Hickman Marvel NOW! volume three of the New Avengers focuses on the Illuminati. #1-12, (Books 1. Everything Dies & 2. Infinity Premiere). Although it is a pan-universal style take on the Illuminati, it doesn't near the conspiracy layer-upon-layer genius of Bendis' work, although the Infinity stuff shows improvement. 73. Avengers Infinity (Bks 3&4) and Endless War - Jonathan Hickman, Warren Ellis, Stefano Caselli, Lenil Francis Yu etc. 7/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 364 pages <Graphic Novel 7> Avengers #13-23, and Endless War. Hickman's flagship Avengers book really picks up in Bk 3 - Infinity Prelude and Bk 4 - Infinity, as the Cap America led team finally, truly gets involved in a pan universal war. Meanwhile Warren Ellis' 'Endless War' is a great comic/movie Avengers hybrid with the team out to stop some sentinent Nazi war machine that appears to be owned by SHIELD!
74. Fantastic Four 1977-1980 - Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Keith Pollard, John Byrne etc. 3/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 655 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #182-216… the poor run continues with the only real plus being John Byrne's art. The low mark is the addition of HERBIE the robot to the team for awhile and pretty the banal Skrull-Xandarian space war. This period sees the introduction of Terrax The Tamer, the return of Galactus and a glorious battle against Doc Doom. 75. Fantastic Four 1980-1981 - Doug Moench, Bill Siekienwicz, John Byrne etc. 4/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 407 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #217-231… even Bill Siekienwicz's pencils can't save what appears to be a fading comic book (depaite having over 300,000 in sales monthly!)… the banality continues, with the few Byrne written issues being the best. 76. Fantastic Four 1981-1982 - John Byrne 6/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 437 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #232-249, sees Byrne bring back the FF with a bang… an alliance with Doom, the fate of Franklin, the birth of Luna, meeting Aunt Petunia and more.
77. Michael Turner's Fathom volume three - J T Krull, Vince Hernandez, Ale Garza, Marcus To etc. 6/10
MLT Aspen comics, 467 pages <Graphic Novel> Volume three #0-10, Kiiani #0-4 and four specials… by far the best volume as Aspen comes of age with the world finally finding out about the Blue and the Black, the return of Kinnian, Kiani's new role, Siphon's leadership and much much more. Great read… finally! 78. Michael Turner's Fathom volume four - Steve Lobdell, Vince Hernandez, David Wohl 5/10
MLT Aspen comics, 423 pages <Graphic Novel> Volume four #0-9 Kiani #0-4 and Blue Descent #0-2… nice work… expanded Aspen origin, Lobdell's Aspen only adevnture in the main book and the fall of Kiani. Solid stuff.
79. 12th of Never - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 5/10
Arrow Books (Random House), 487 pages
<Thriller>
The Women's Murder Club series' twelfth outing sees the main two story arc centred around Boxer's pregnancy and childbirth; with strong support from the arcs for the other members of the Club. Good read.
80. The Little Old Lady Who Broke The Rules - Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg 7/10
Pan Books (Pan MacMillan), 454 pages
<Dark Comedy>
World-wide best selling dark comedy about a group of old age pensionioners going on a crime rampage… once they realised that elderly people in a home didn't get treated as well as prisoners in captivity!
27. Mercy, by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Danish detective, Carl Morck, having survived being shot on a previous assignment, teams up with an immigrant civilian partner on cold cases. Bog standard Scandi crime. 2/5.
28. Levels of Life, by Julian Barnes. A memoir of Julian Barnes' marriage to literary agent, Pat Kavanagh. Entwined with the seemingly unrelated topics of ballooning and the early days of photography, this is incredibly moving and a study of bereavement and grief. 4/5.
29. Tess of the D'Urbevilles, by Thomas Hardy. Last read this around 20 years ago but it has not lost the magic. 4/5
This was a re-read and I'm not sure why I read it a second really as it isn't that great! The main character is a bit annoying and it is all rather predictable.
28. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
This is a pretty short read, but I really enjoyed it. I had read it before and I have never seen the film so on the first reading I wasn't sure what to expect. I have read a few novels by Levin and I have liked everyone of them.
This is a pretty short read, but I really enjoyed it. I had read it before and I have never seen the film so on the first reading I wasn't sure what to expect. I have read a few novels by Levin and I have liked everyone of them.
I was impressed by A Kiss Before Dying and keep meaning to read some of his other books.
61) M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and The Love from Hell
62) Robert Goddard - Intersection: Paris, 1919
63) James Cracknell and Ben Fogle - The Crossing
64) Mark Billingham - Rush of Blood
65) Kazuo Ishiguro - When We Were Orphans
66) Jenny Lawson - Lets Pretend This Never Happened
67) Dorothy Koomson - The Flavours of Love
19. Call of the Undertow by Linda Cracknell.
Set on the north coast of Scotland, a tale of isolation and coming to terms with tragedy. Very atmospheric, a good read.
10/10 - loved it! I have enjoyed all of the books by Diane Chamberlain's that I have read and this is one of the best. I had not heard of the eugenics programme in USA which ran from the 1920s - 1950s and it was an interesting idea for a book.
Comments
1. Eye Contact- Fergus McNeill
2. Death Notice- Todd Ritter
3. The Night Stalker- Chris Carter
4. Never Go Back- Lee Child
16. Half Bad - Sally Green
17. Ulysses - James Joyce
18. Bad Signs - RJ Ellory
19. He Knew He Was Right - Anthony Trollope
20. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - Bill Bryson
The story of a father and son relationship. In 1979 11 year-old Mitch spends the summer with his father. They subsequently become estranged and spend little time together until 2007, by which time 39 year-old MItch's marriage and career are in danger of failing.
This doesn't have the lightness of touch of the Edward books and wouldn't be my usual choice of subject matter, but a good read all the same.
17. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris. Audiobook version read by Anna Bentinck.
Another novel with a split timeframe. 1930s London, elderly spinster Harriet Baxter is writing her memoirs and recalling her friendship with the artist Ned Gillespie and his family In Glasgow back in 1888.
A bit of a slow starter but I was soon hooked. It's difficult to say much about the story without spoiling the plot but, so far as I'm concerned, this book is up there with The Goldfinch and Maddaddam as one of my favourite reads so far this year.
28. The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson - Paige Toon
I really enjoy Paige Toon books, although this book is her first YA novel. I really liked it; it was good catching up with Meg and Johnny from her two previous novels and it was interesting to read about their relationship from a different character's perspective.
6. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #10) by Alexander McCall Smith – Mma Ramotswe struggles with the illness of her tiny white van while investigating the reason a local soccer team is losing every single game. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi’s old nemesis Violet Sephotho has resurfaced and Grace Makutsi is sure that she is trying to steal Mma Makutsi’s fiancé! Very enjoyable. The Violet storyline provided a lot of laughs.
7. Chiliad: A Meditation by Clive Barker – A novella of connected stories, anchored at both ends of a 1000 years (a chiliad) by men mourning the women they love. It was okay.
8. Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund (Dixie Hemingway #2) by Blaize Clement – Dixie is walking one of the dogs in her care when the dog discovers a dead body. The murderer thinks that Dixie can recognize him/her, and Dixie’s life is in danger. It was okay. I think the author might be trying to emulate a little of the Stephanie Plum stuff with the elderly woman friend who talks about sex, and with an impending love triangle for Dixie.
71. Wolverine volume five - Paul Cornell, Alan Davies, Stan Lee, Jason Latour etc. 7/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 472 pages <Graphic Novel> Complete volume five, #1-13, Custom Edition and Season One. Cornell weaves a solid tale culminating… with the end of Wolverine… seriously!
72. New Avengers Bks 1&2 - Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting, Mike Deodato etc. 5/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 279 pages <Graphic Novel> The Hickman Marvel NOW! volume three of the New Avengers focuses on the Illuminati. #1-12, (Books 1. Everything Dies & 2. Infinity Premiere). Although it is a pan-universal style take on the Illuminati, it doesn't near the conspiracy layer-upon-layer genius of Bendis' work, although the Infinity stuff shows improvement.
73. Avengers Infinity (Bks 3&4) and Endless War - Jonathan Hickman, Warren Ellis, Stefano Caselli, Lenil Francis Yu etc. 7/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 364 pages <Graphic Novel 7> Avengers #13-23, and Endless War. Hickman's flagship Avengers book really picks up in Bk 3 - Infinity Prelude and Bk 4 - Infinity, as the Cap America led team finally, truly gets involved in a pan universal war. Meanwhile Warren Ellis' 'Endless War' is a great comic/movie Avengers hybrid with the team out to stop some sentinent Nazi war machine that appears to be owned by SHIELD!
74. Fantastic Four 1977-1980 - Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Keith Pollard, John Byrne etc. 3/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 655 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #182-216… the poor run continues with the only real plus being John Byrne's art. The low mark is the addition of HERBIE the robot to the team for awhile and pretty the banal Skrull-Xandarian space war. This period sees the introduction of Terrax The Tamer, the return of Galactus and a glorious battle against Doc Doom.
75. Fantastic Four 1980-1981 - Doug Moench, Bill Siekienwicz, John Byrne etc. 4/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 407 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #217-231… even Bill Siekienwicz's pencils can't save what appears to be a fading comic book (depaite having over 300,000 in sales monthly!)… the banality continues, with the few Byrne written issues being the best.
76. Fantastic Four 1981-1982 - John Byrne 6/10
Marvel Entertainment Group, 437 pages <Graphic Novel> Fantastic Four #232-249, sees Byrne bring back the FF with a bang… an alliance with Doom, the fate of Franklin, the birth of Luna, meeting Aunt Petunia and more.
77. Michael Turner's Fathom volume three - J T Krull, Vince Hernandez, Ale Garza, Marcus To etc. 6/10
MLT Aspen comics, 467 pages <Graphic Novel> Volume three #0-10, Kiiani #0-4 and four specials… by far the best volume as Aspen comes of age with the world finally finding out about the Blue and the Black, the return of Kinnian, Kiani's new role, Siphon's leadership and much much more. Great read… finally!
78. Michael Turner's Fathom volume four - Steve Lobdell, Vince Hernandez, David Wohl 5/10
MLT Aspen comics, 423 pages <Graphic Novel> Volume four #0-9 Kiani #0-4 and Blue Descent #0-2… nice work… expanded Aspen origin, Lobdell's Aspen only adevnture in the main book and the fall of Kiani. Solid stuff.
79. 12th of Never - James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 5/10
Arrow Books (Random House), 487 pages
<Thriller>
The Women's Murder Club series' twelfth outing sees the main two story arc centred around Boxer's pregnancy and childbirth; with strong support from the arcs for the other members of the Club. Good read.
80. The Little Old Lady Who Broke The Rules - Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg 7/10
Pan Books (Pan MacMillan), 454 pages
<Dark Comedy>
World-wide best selling dark comedy about a group of old age pensionioners going on a crime rampage… once they realised that elderly people in a home didn't get treated as well as prisoners in captivity!
10/10 - Robert Goddard is my favourite author and his earlier books are the best so this was a (rare for me) re-read of one of my favourites by him.
28. Levels of Life, by Julian Barnes. A memoir of Julian Barnes' marriage to literary agent, Pat Kavanagh. Entwined with the seemingly unrelated topics of ballooning and the early days of photography, this is incredibly moving and a study of bereavement and grief. 4/5.
29. Tess of the D'Urbevilles, by Thomas Hardy. Last read this around 20 years ago but it has not lost the magic. 4/5
28. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
This is a pretty short read, but I really enjoyed it. I had read it before and I have never seen the film so on the first reading I wasn't sure what to expect. I have read a few novels by Levin and I have liked everyone of them.
I was impressed by A Kiss Before Dying and keep meaning to read some of his other books.
7/10 - quite a good quick, easy read
62) Robert Goddard - Intersection: Paris, 1919
63) James Cracknell and Ben Fogle - The Crossing
64) Mark Billingham - Rush of Blood
65) Kazuo Ishiguro - When We Were Orphans
66) Jenny Lawson - Lets Pretend This Never Happened
67) Dorothy Koomson - The Flavours of Love
69) Paula Daly - No remorse
Set on the north coast of Scotland, a tale of isolation and coming to terms with tragedy. Very atmospheric, a good read.
10/10 - loved it! I have enjoyed all of the books by Diane Chamberlain's that I have read and this is one of the best. I had not heard of the eugenics programme in USA which ran from the 1920s - 1950s and it was an interesting idea for a book.
10. Wicked beauty by susan lewis