I can't quite believe we're halfway through the year already, I swear I only just put the Christmas decorations back in the garage. Looking out the window, the weather isn't exactly screaming summer, it's grey and drizzly and bloody col…
I can't quite believe we're halfway through the year already, I swear I only just put the Christmas decorations back in the garage.
Looking out the window, the weather isn't exactly screaming summer, it's grey and drizzly and bloody cold….your standard June day in the Northwest of England.
My reading is in a bit of a slump at the moment. I've had my current book on the go for three weeks, which is unheard of, I should probably admit defeat and DNF it, but I suspect I'm too stubborn for that.
Despite being in a bit of a reading slump at the moment and not reading as much as I usually would, the books I have picked up this year have been pretty good.
So far, I've managed to get through five of my most anticipated reads of 2024 but have only knocked one off my backlist picks. I haven't made much headway on slimming my ever growing TBR list down…..I've added to it instead (standard). The majority of my reads in the first of 2024 have been new releases and some of them have been excellent.
Here are my highlights so far…
The one that made me uncomfortable….
It has to be The Death of a bookseller by Alice Slater.
I was so on edge reading this dark and twisty tale about Roach and Laura, but I couldn't put it down.
It's a creepy story about obsession. I hated the characters, it made me anxious, it is in no way a relaxing read and yet, I loved it. It isn't a book everyone will enjoy, it does leave you feeling disconcerted and very, very uncomfortable.
It really is a horrible little book but one I enjoyed….albeit in a weird way.
I adored this book about an unlikely friendship between widower Frank and his new next-door neighbour, 6-year-old Red.
It is one for fans of A Man Called Ove. Frank is your archetypal, grumpy old man who just wants to be left alone. Frank is a little boy who will not take no for answer. Both of them are in a bit of mess.
It's a lovely story that will make you cackle and cry in equal measure. I'm so pleased that other readers have been enjoying this one as much as I have.
I picked up The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey after reading another blogger's review of it, if it was yours, thank you.
It's a coming-of-age story set against a dark background; it's gorgeous, gripping, heart-warming, sad and tense all at once.
Set in Yorkshire in 1979, Miv is worried that her father wants to move away…..mainly because of the murders.
For Miv, the thought of leaving Yorkshire and her treasured best friend, Sharon, is unbearable. She thinks that if she can solve the murders and stop the Yorkshire Ripper, then they won't have to move.
Godfrey's giving a different perspective on the Yorkshire Ripper by focussing on how the murders affected communities - it's never sensationalised.
Godfrey tackles social issues of the time while telling a story about friendship.
Miv learns some big lessons about life during her investigations, it's a wonderful story and a fantastic debut.
You're probably thinking this title belongs to a thriller, you'd be wrong.
Mike Gayle's All the Lonely People had a twist in it that was so shocking, I gasped, very loudly on the bus. I'm still not over it to be honest.
It's a book that needs to come with a warning.
80-odd-year-old Hubert Bird paints a picture to his daughter of a life full of friends and adventures, Hubert is lying.
When his daughter announces she's coming home for a visit, Hubert needs to find some friends and fast. But after years of shutting himself off from the world, that's not going to be easy.
This is a story that goes back in time to tell Hubert's story; how he came to England, how he was treated and how he met and fell in love with Joyce.
Gayle tackles the universal topic of loneliness and how easy it is to become isolated. This is a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.
The Stars Will Still Be There by Nicola Nuttall is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.
It is such a difficult read. This is about Nicola's daughter, Laura, who was diagnosed Glioblastoma in 2018, this is about the family's journey through Laura's illness and, crucially, what Laura's diagnosis taught her.
Laura died in 2023. In the years following her diagnosis, she packed in more than what most people do in a lifetime. This book will make you think about life differently, it'll teach you a thing or two about how to live it.
The one and only book I've knocked off my backlist challenge is Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen.
I'm so pleased that I picked this one up when I did because I was completely engrossed. This caper is about Ava and Winnie, two old college friends who bump into each other and become the queens of counterfeit handbags.
I love a book with an unreliable narrator, and I was never sure about who I could and couldn't trust while reading this. The whole tale was executed perfectly, it was superb.
This is tough because I'm making good on this list so far and - for the most part – they've been good.
I'm going to have to choose You Are Here by David Nicholls - I still need to finish my review of this one, it is on its way.
I feel like I've been waiting about 10 years for a new David Nicholls book (it's not quite that long) so when I spotted this, it was the book I was most looking forward to reading.
This is a story about Marnie, who's stuck in a rut, and Michael, who's marriage has fallen apart. Through circumstance and a mutual friend, they find themselves trying to complete Wainwright's coast to coast walk from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay.
I loved the relationship between these two, I could picture some of the fells they were traversing. Perversely, I thought it sounded like a fun trek to complete.
The one that didn't live up to expectations…
This title goes to another that was on my anticipated reads list, Come and Get It by Kylie Reid.
This tale about college campus life and money fell a little flat for me. It lacked some of the with that was brimming in Reid's 2020 debut novel and I found my interest waning the longer it went on.
I had been eager to see how Reid would follow up Such a Fun Age but ended this book feeling disappointed.
So, those are some of my highlights from 2024 so far.
For the second half of the year, I'm just hoping my current reading slump passes sooner rather than later. I don't imagine I'll be tearing through books quickly for another few weeks - being a journalist during a general election doesn't allow for much downtime - but fingers crossed I'll soon have a little more time.
Have you read any of these? If you have, I'd love to hear what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment