I haven't written any book reviews in yonks and I'm just looking back on my list of the fifty-five books I read in 2016. Yes, on average that's one a week. People ask me how I find time. I make time! Like I make time to write.
In the latter part of 2015 I read two books by Rachel Joyce. She is fast becoming my favourite author and I was lucky to find her Christmas collection of short stories in the library (A Snow Garden). Each story is loosely linked and I enjoyed each one of them. I love Joyce's characters and in the front introduction she talks about using these characters who never made it into any of her other books. They were either cut or needed more space for themselves. They have ended up in this collection. I love that idea. I have written spin-offs from novels where I saw potential in unused characters, characters who needed a story of their own. So I fully understand this. I can't wait to see what Rachel Joyce writes next.
I adore Elly Griffith's books. She writes two series, one set in the present (Ruth Galloway) and one set in the fifties (Stephens and Mephisto). I love them both but the Ruth Galloway ones tick all my boxes because they cover a lot of my interests. The Woman In Blue is set in Walsingham, a place of pilgrimage. I was once asked if I would like to go there for a weekend to experience the parade (probably not called that) and outdoor service. I looked it up online and decided no way was that for me. It was too Catholic, too over the top. So this book was an interesting read and confirmed my fears whilst giving me an insight to the place where a murder takes place. Elly Griffiths has a new book due out, The Chalk Pit. it's on my list!
The Blackhouse had been recommended by someone from my book group. It was a good read. Set on Lewis a detective is sent back to his homeland to investigate a possible link with a murder there to one in Edinburgh. Returning home the detective's past comes back at him and begins to unravel. Chapters alternate between the past and the present and there is one chapter where a group go to an island for the guga kill, a yearly killing of gannets. I once saw old footage of this tradition and had to switch the channel over because I found it repulsive. So this chapter was a read at break-neck speed and job and I tried not to take in too much information! It was essential to the story but I'd rather it hadn't been. There are another two books in this series set on Lewis (by Peter May). I would like to read them sometime.
The Lie by C L Taylor was a weird one but good. I read it in three days while I sniffing through a cold on the sofa! Four friends go on the holiday of a lifetime ending up in a retreat in Nepal. But all is not well there and the friends begin to turn against one another as they are manipulated by those who run the centre. The only way to leave now is to escape. Of the four only two return but now it seems one other did survive. Tense and clever.
nellie & Tabs by Andrew Shephard is set in the 70's - think commune, peace protests, sex and drugs. It's all there with a great dollop of humour. The plot is based on true events, though not the characters. I liked the main character and wanted him to get his woman, but he gets himself tied up in all sorts weird and funny situations. I nice read. Very enjoyable.
If I had to pick one book from my year of reading I guess it would have to be To Kill a Mockingbird because it surprised me so much. A book I had avoided for so long turned out to be a fantastic read. Other surprises were books by author's I didn't know like Belinda Bauer (Blacklands) and Simon Sylvester (The Visitors) and coming home to my favourites - Elly Griffiths, Matt Haig, Andrea Camilleri, Rachel Joyce and Rose Tremain. I wonder what 2017 will bring me in books.
What was you favourite read of 2016?
In the latter part of 2015 I read two books by Rachel Joyce. She is fast becoming my favourite author and I was lucky to find her Christmas collection of short stories in the library (A Snow Garden). Each story is loosely linked and I enjoyed each one of them. I love Joyce's characters and in the front introduction she talks about using these characters who never made it into any of her other books. They were either cut or needed more space for themselves. They have ended up in this collection. I love that idea. I have written spin-offs from novels where I saw potential in unused characters, characters who needed a story of their own. So I fully understand this. I can't wait to see what Rachel Joyce writes next.
I adore Elly Griffith's books. She writes two series, one set in the present (Ruth Galloway) and one set in the fifties (Stephens and Mephisto). I love them both but the Ruth Galloway ones tick all my boxes because they cover a lot of my interests. The Woman In Blue is set in Walsingham, a place of pilgrimage. I was once asked if I would like to go there for a weekend to experience the parade (probably not called that) and outdoor service. I looked it up online and decided no way was that for me. It was too Catholic, too over the top. So this book was an interesting read and confirmed my fears whilst giving me an insight to the place where a murder takes place. Elly Griffiths has a new book due out, The Chalk Pit. it's on my list!
The Blackhouse had been recommended by someone from my book group. It was a good read. Set on Lewis a detective is sent back to his homeland to investigate a possible link with a murder there to one in Edinburgh. Returning home the detective's past comes back at him and begins to unravel. Chapters alternate between the past and the present and there is one chapter where a group go to an island for the guga kill, a yearly killing of gannets. I once saw old footage of this tradition and had to switch the channel over because I found it repulsive. So this chapter was a read at break-neck speed and job and I tried not to take in too much information! It was essential to the story but I'd rather it hadn't been. There are another two books in this series set on Lewis (by Peter May). I would like to read them sometime.
The Lie by C L Taylor was a weird one but good. I read it in three days while I sniffing through a cold on the sofa! Four friends go on the holiday of a lifetime ending up in a retreat in Nepal. But all is not well there and the friends begin to turn against one another as they are manipulated by those who run the centre. The only way to leave now is to escape. Of the four only two return but now it seems one other did survive. Tense and clever.
nellie & Tabs by Andrew Shephard is set in the 70's - think commune, peace protests, sex and drugs. It's all there with a great dollop of humour. The plot is based on true events, though not the characters. I liked the main character and wanted him to get his woman, but he gets himself tied up in all sorts weird and funny situations. I nice read. Very enjoyable.
If I had to pick one book from my year of reading I guess it would have to be To Kill a Mockingbird because it surprised me so much. A book I had avoided for so long turned out to be a fantastic read. Other surprises were books by author's I didn't know like Belinda Bauer (Blacklands) and Simon Sylvester (The Visitors) and coming home to my favourites - Elly Griffiths, Matt Haig, Andrea Camilleri, Rachel Joyce and Rose Tremain. I wonder what 2017 will bring me in books.
What was you favourite read of 2016?
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