Book read and reviewed (or soon-to-be reviewed) in 2024:
Knitting Pearls – Ann Hood, ed.
Hench – Natalie Zina Walschots
Bookworm – Lucy Mangan – not reviewed (see below)
Legends & Lattes – Travis Baldree
The Knitting Circle – Ann Hood
Meredith, Alone – Claire Alexander
Raceless – Georgina Lawton
The Air Raid Book Club – Annie Lyons
This Much Is True – Miriam Margolyes
My Oxford Year – Julia Whelan – not reviewed (see below)
Happily Ever After & Everything In Between – Debbie Tung (Re-Read)
The Skylark’s War – Hilary McKay
The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright – Clare Swatman
Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt
The Night Agent – Matthew Quirk – not reviewed (see below)
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
Snapdragon – Kat Leyh – not reviewed (see below)
Beyond the Wand – Tom Felton
Between the Stops – Sandi Toksvig
The Great Unexpected – Dan Mooney
Pageboy – Elliot Page
The Fortnight in September – R.C. Sherriff
The Queen and I – Sue Townsend
Hidden Nature – Alys Fowler
Growing Goats and Girls – Rosanne Hodin – not reviewed (see below)
A House in the Country – Jocelyn Playfair – not reviewed (see below)
In A Sunburned Country – Bill Bryson
Locally Laid – Lucie B. Amundsen
Growing Old – Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
The Story of Arthur Truluv – Elizabeth Berg
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things – Bryn Greenwood
The Lonely Hearts Book Club – Lucy Gilmore – not reviewed (see below)
A Vicious Circle – Amanda Craig – review upcoming
Chronic – Rebecca Dimyan
Bomb Shelter – Mary Laura Philpott
I’ll Show Myself Out – Jessi Klein
Wrong Place Wrong Time – Gillian McAllister
Is This Anything? – Jerry Seinfeld
The Lost Bookshop – Evie Woods – not reviewed (see below)
Splinters – Leslie Jamison
Instructions for a Heatwave – Maggie O’Farrell
I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell
Scatter Brain – Shaparak Khorsandi
The Messy Lives of Book People – Phaedra Patrick
Just Another Missing Person – Gillian McAllister
Knife – Salman Rushdie
A Piglet Called Truffle – Helen Peters – not reviewed (see below)
Nothing to Declare – Mary Morris
A Sheepdog Called Sky – Helen Peters – not reviewed (see below)
Finding Hope – Nicole Baker – not reviewed (see below)
The Stranger Diaries – Elly Griffiths – not reviewed (see below)
Bucket List – Russell Jones
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise – Colleen Oakley
Frank and Red – Matt Coyne – review upcoming
Beverly Bonnefinche Is Dead – Kristen Seeley – not reviewed (see below)
Strong Female Character – Fern Brady
Are We Having Fun Yet? – Lucy Mangan – review upcoming
Somewhere Beyond the Sea – T.J. Klune – review upcoming
The Postscript Murders – Elly Griffiths – not reviewed (see below)
Rescuing Ruby – Nicola Baker – not reviewed (see below)
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
How to Be Champion – Sarah Millican
Dilemma: Complete Series 1-4 – Sue Perkins – review upcoming
The Electricity of Every Living Thing – Katherine May (Immersive Audio Drama edition on Audible) – review upcoming
Books read and not reviewed:
Bookworm – Lucy Mangan – I adored this book. I listened to the audiobook which was very enjoyable. But when I started writing a review of it, I realized I needed to re-read it in print so I could make notes of the specific books she mentions. Of course, I didn’t get very far. I’m still hoping that at some point I’ll make it back to it and finish so I can review it, as it certainly deserves a rave! Definitely one I’d recommend to any booklovers – it’s interesting, you’ll recognize some beloved books in it, and she’s a joy to spend time with. 9ish stars.
My Oxford Year – Julia Whelan – This one was just okay. It’s a bit of a confused love story that seems a bit on the shallow side and errs into unbelievable more than once. I finished it just to know what happens, but once it was done I didn’t particularly want to spend any more time on it and didn’t have anything very interesting to say about it. Middling at best. 1.5 stars.
The Night Agent – Matthew Quirk – This was a thriller that is the basis for the TV show of the same name. I had watched the show and was looking for something interesting, fast-paced and easy to read. This fit the bill perfectly, but I don’t really have much to say about it other than that it’s a good thriller, a definite page-turner, and very similar to the show. Probably about 5 stars, maybe 6.
Snapdragon – Kat Leyh – Another book I adored with every fibre of my being. It’s a graphic novel about a young girl who doesn’t fit in, but manages to find exactly the people she needs in her life. It had fantastic imagery, a great story and amazing characters. It’s also big on representation, which I loved. Great messages and a thoroughly enjoyable read. 10 stars.
Growing Goats and Girls – Rosanne Hodin – I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as I hoped. It starts off when Hodin and her husband buy a run-down farm, and follows her and her family through working to restore it, settling into a community, having children, raising them, and eventually coming to the end of their time there. It’s good, but I didn’t really feel that attached to the characters and didn’t have the same sense of wonder I’ve had with some other stories of a similar nature. 6.5 stars.
A House in the Country – Jocelyn Playfair – I read this after I finished The Fortnight In September, because it’s also a Persephone classic and I was curious to see if I’d enjoy another as much as the first. I did. I don’t really know why I didn’t review this one. I still have a strong sense of the feelings the book evoked, even some indelible images from the story in my mind. But the character names have faded enough that I’d have to go back through it to find enough detail to review it properly, and I just didn’t feel like I wanted to make the effort. But it’s a very well written, intensely emotional account of a house that served as a boarding house for people who didn’t have a solid home during WWII, and the lives of the characters who lived there. It has some heartbreak, loss, sad farewells and relieved ones. It has parts of the war experience I hadn’t encountered before, and definitely is worth reading if you’ve any interest. 8.5 stars.
The Lonely Hearts Book Club – Lucy Gilmore – This is another one that I don’t remember clearly enough to review at this point. It’s a story about a disparate group of people, each dealing with their own problems, who stumble into one another’s lives and form an unlikely group. It’s a sweet story, and nice to see the friendships develop – particularly as they are centered around reading. It’s not a book that has made the hugest lasting impression on me, but it’s a fun and heartwarming one if you’re looking for a bookish story of friendship. 6.5 stars.
The Lost Bookshop – Evie Woods – This was a truly epic tale, but I can’t remember much about it! I know I enjoyed it, I know that it was well plotted and had interesting characters, I know I liked the setting and the feel of it while I was reading. But I can’t for the life of me remember exactly what happened or a single character’s name! Grrr my brain! This is one that definitely would have been worth writing a full review of, if only I’d done it sooner! 7.5 stars, I think?
A Piglet Called Truffle and A Sheepdog Called Sky – Helen Peters – These are the first two books in a series I started reading with my kid. They’re about a girl whose mother is a vet and father is a farmer, and she finds animals who need help and tries to figure out how to care for them based on the knowledge she’s gained from her parents. They’re wholesome, interesting, have lovely messages around caring and helping and include information about animals as well. 8 stars.
Finding Hope and Rescuing Ruby – Nicola Baker – Similar to the two above, this is another kids/middle grade series about a young girl who lives in the city with her parents, but goes to spend time on her aunt’s farm when her parents are traveling. In the first book she begins to learn about farm life, the important things you need to know to help out, how to care for a sick animal and that she actually really likes the country. In the second one she’s back and has to navigate school and meeting other kids in the community, along with her further experiences on the farm. The first is a little darker and scarier (there are sheep rustlers in it who come along at night and are a bit threatening), but both are good. My kid, however, didn’t like the first one and refused to read the second one! Ah well, I’ll try again another time. 8 stars.
The Stranger Diaries and The Postscript Murders – Elly Griffiths – These are the first two books in a new detective series by Elly Griffiths. I really enjoyed both of them – though I guessed who did it in the first one, the why was still interesting, and both have great plot pacing, excellent character development and are quick and easy to get into. 7.5 stars.
Beverly Bonnefinche Is Dead – Kristen Seeley – I didn’t enjoy this one very much. I didn’t really like the characters, I couldn’t relate to Beverly, and I honestly didn’t care to. I’ve now forgotten all the details about what happens, and I can’t say I really care much. 2 stars.