Reading Heart Liberals

[sally maclennane]

I finished the Lisa Jewell book the other night, it was good but not great if that makes sense. Now I'm reading Love Untold by Ruth Jones (Nessa from Gavin & Stacey) It's quite good but a bit formulaic.

[Cerise]

I finish Again, Rachel this morning. I enjoyed how the story unravelled.

[Dutchie]

Finished Lessons in Chemistry yesterday and absolutely loved it. I really warmed to Elizabeth Zott. Have now started Beach Read by Emily Henry because I had saved it as a...beach read.

[Duophonic]

I haven't updated this since May :eek:

I'm approx 5 books behind my schedule and I'm now tracking my books on StoryGraph.

Jane Harper - Force of Nature: It was good but didn't grab me as her first so I've put off reading the third in the series
Grady Hendrix - My Best Friend's Exorcism: Another fun read from him, every 80s US cultural reference is in this.
Grady Hendrix - We sold our Souls: Heavy metal band sells their souls is another fun horror read.
Clay McLeod Chapman - Ghost Eaters: This is a weird one, beautifully written, and about a girl who hasn't set boundaries with an on again off again boyfriend who dies, her world falls apart and another friend tells her about Ghost a new drug that allows users to see ghosts. It's more about loss and addiction than a traditional horror story.
CJ Carver - Scare Me to Death: Generic thriller but easy page turner
Grady Hendrix - Paperbacks from Hell (History of 70s and 80s horror fiction): fascinating from a US point of view.
Kate Lister - Curious HIstory of Sex: Interesting read, tons of nuggets of info
Lucy Foley - The Paris Apartment: It was ok, it did drag a bit in parts and agreed with other comments that it wasn't as good as the Guest List and Hunting Party.
RF Kuang - Yellowface: this wasn't what I expected. Beautifully written (Mr D loved Babel) but it didn't grab me.
Alasdair Gray - Poor Things: I loved this, his take on Frankenstein.
Robyn Harding - The Perfect Family: load of nonsense but easy-to-get-through thriller
James Brogdan - The Plague Stones: Good folk horror, won't win any prizes.
James Brogdan - Hekla's children: again a solid easy folk horror read
Laura Shepherd-Robinson - Blood and Sugar: Set in Deptford in the 1700s, it's an historical thriller which has been thoroughly researched. Really interesting read for the historical points alone.
Ian McEwan - The Cockroach: In your face Kafka'esque rendition of Brexit.
Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis: Interesting read but wouldn't say I enjoyed it
Jeff Cohen - The Question of the Missing Head: Autistic investigator, don't know why I read it as it was a bit patronising.
Ambrose Parry - Voices of the Dead: I love anything Chris Brookmyre does and love the historical aspects of these books. Couldn't wait to get to the big reveal but didn't want it to end.
Kim Newman - Something More Than Night: Raymond Chandler meets Boris Karloff, something dark is happening in Hollywood, totally daft thriller.
Shelagh Delaney - A Taste of Honey: Totally depressing but so interesting
Laura Thomas - Just eat it: self help on intuitive eating
Sarah Rozenthuler - How to have meaningful conversations: another self help - I'll let you all know how these are when I've lost two stone and get promoted multiple times at work :lol:
Claudia Winkleman - Quite: I really like Claude, even the fringe and this was a lovely listen
Jenni Murray - A history of Britain in 21 Women: interesting read starting with Boudicca and finishing with Nicola Sturgeon.


I'll not leave the thread so long this time :promise:



All the Hendrix books were audible freebies

[Ismee]

I recently read Beartown and then Us Against You by Fredrick Backman who wrote Anxious People. There is a 3rd one but I am waiting for a bit. I really like his books.

I'm now reading The Possible World by Liese O'Halloran Shwarz which I picked up from the library and I'm really enjoying.

[Chicky]

The Idea of You - Robinne Lee

I enjoyed this, I think it tried to be a bit Taylor Jenkins Reid and didn’t quite manage it but it was good. It’s being made into a film with Anne Hathaway apparently.

[Ismee]

I'm now reading The Possible World by Liese O'Halloran Shwarz which I picked up from the library and I'm really enjoying.

I've just finished this and I absolutely loved it.

[Bat Macdui]

That's a sizeable list, our Duo. :)) I have heard good things about Yellowface, and stuck it on my To Read list previously.

I finished my GB Shaw and Garry Disher thrillers and started The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I am enjoying so far. Very good at gently identifying the slow sadness of people's lives. But, sort of, in a nice way.

[Lily]

I finished The Startup Wife. It was immensely believable, indeed, and I really enjoyed it. I'm now on Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.

[Little My]

I'm struggling to get into The House On The Strand, but I'm persevering a bit longer.

[Little My]

Started on something fluffy. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune. Bit of romance and local flair. It seemed like a good summer read.

It was a good summer read. But now Harry & Meghan have bought the rights to it for a Netflix movie. I feel sullied.

[Turtle Bean]

Recently I have read Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood, Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie and have stayed up till this time finishing The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. I liked all of them. The latter was loads better than I thought it was going to be.

I now need to finish A Woman's Game: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Women's Football by Suzanne Wrack, which is good but enraging then I have How to Stop Time by Matt Haig and The Long Call by Ann Sleeves both pinched from the village hall tonight after WI. I feel like I might have already read the Matt Haig.

[Bat Macdui]

I shall bookmark the women's football book, thanks Bean. My eldest niece got me a Waterstones voucher for my birthday, so that might be a good choice (I got a card and voucher through the post, from E & her boyfriend, it's the first time they've not just been on my sister's card. She's all grown up!!)

I have finished Harold FRy, which was very dark in places. I don't think I was expecting quite so dark. Are the others good, if anyone's read them? Maureen and Queenie's stories?

I don't know what to read next. I want sort of light and easy but still well written. *picky*

[Lily]

I feel like I might have already read the Matt Haig.

I think that's the feeling you get with Matt Haig in general.

Trespasses, set in 1980s N Ireland, was very good. I am now on Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan. From my library: In Venice, Frances Croy is working to leave the previous year behind: another novel published to little success, a scathing review she can't forget, and, most of all, the real reason behind her self-imposed exile from London: the incident at the Savoy. Sequestered within an aging palazzo, Frankie finds comfort in the emptiness of Venice in winter, in the absence of others. Desperate to rediscover the success of her first novel, the one by which all her other work has been judged, she attempts to return to the page - ignoring the strained relationship with her best friend, the increasing phone calls from her editor, demanding the final book of her contract, and the growing fear that the end of her career is imminent. And then Gilly appears. A young woman claiming a connection from back home, one that Frankie can't quite seem to recall, Gilly seems determined for the two women to become fast friends.

[wendy james]

I have finished Harold Fry, which was very dark in places. I don't think I was expecting quite so dark. Are the others good, if anyone's read them? Maureen and Queenie's stories?

I am also interested to know this as I haven't got round to them yet.

Recently I've read
* The Detective - the third from the Kamil Rahman series (having not read the first two). It's cold case element was mildly interesting and the main murder was ok, but an annoying love triangle thing means I wouldn't recommend.
* Broadway Butterfly - I thought this was a standard murder mystery and felt it dragged a bit towards the end, before realising it was a fictionalised account of a real life unsolved case. So I forgave the author a little. :lol:
* The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - a different approach to a murder mystery, as the first person narrator inhabits different characters each day to discover who killed the titular character.
* The Lido - Brixton-set story about the impending closure of The Lido, which I think some Turtles have also read. A bit predictable but a pleasant enough read.

I too am not sure where I'm going next. I haven't started this month's book club books yet - I need to re-read Unsettled Ground as I'm leading the conversation on that one as I suggested it but I'll need to do that nearer the time!

[Duophonic]

Recent reads for me both freebie Audible listens

The Raven's Mark - Police thriller from Christie J Newport it's the first in a series with a female detective Beth Fellows. A bit formulaic but pacy enough to keep me interested.

How It Ends - A novella from Rachel Howzell Hall with a nice twist at the end.

I'm currently reading

The Ferryman - Justin Cronin. Dystopian fiction about a hidden island utopia. This is taking me a while to get through as like all Justin Cronin books it's got tons in it. There's so much going on.

Grady Hendrix - How to sell a haunted house. I've just started this and like all his books it's going to be a fun read.

[Little My]

Grady Hendrix - How to sell a haunted house. I've just started this and like all his books it's going to be a fun read.

That's one of my favourite reads this year. Loved it!

[Bat Macdui]

I have started Barbara Pym's A Quartet in Autumn, which I'd seen fit to put on my Goodreads To Read list at some point, and it is nice, and gentle, and well written. Which is what I wanted. I'm setting up my new tablet at weekend, so then hopefully I will be able to enter a new world of library audio books as well (I know I could do this from my phone, but I overcomplicate things, unnecessarily a lot of the time).

[wendy james]

The Maureen fry book is 99p atm Bats if you think you might read it at some point.

[sally maclennane]

I finished Love Untold yesterday, I enjoyed it and might read her other books.

I'm now reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, the two main characters are gamers so I don't fully understand a lot of the references but I'm still enjoying it.