Jenny (Socialpages) is back for 2020

I really enjoyed the challenge of reading 75 books in 2019. It came right down to the wire but I managed it! So I'm back for 2020 and looking forward to a wonderful year of reading. Last year I discovered some new authors and re-visited some old favourites. My wish list has grown thanks to recommendations from other members of this group. This year I'd like to concentrate on reading books that are already on my shelves. However, I say this at the start of every year and those books plus many others are still unread on my shelves, next to my bed, under the bed, on the coffee table and on almost every flat surface in my house.

January Reading

1. Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
2. Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
3. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Rady Bradbury reread
5. Blood Work by Mark Pearson
6. The Outsider by Stephen King

Monthly Total: 6 books
Year-to-date total: 6 books

February Reading
1. Golden Boys By Sonya Hartnett
2. The Earthsea Quartet by Ursual Le Guin
3. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
4. Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
5. Third Girl: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
6. Department of Sensitive Crimes: A Detective Varg Novel by Alexander McCall Smith
7. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
8. The Colors of all the Cattle by Alexander McCall Smith

Monthly Total: 8 books
Year-to-date total: 14 books

March Reading
1. Dr Wortle's School by Anthony trollope
2. I Found You by Lisa Jewell
3. Girl by Edna O'Brien
4. Six Years by Harlan Coben
5. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
6. Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola
7. The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates

Monthly Total: 7 books
Year-to-date: 21 books

April Reading
1. The Fireman by Joe Hill
2. Trust by Kate Veitch
3. Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay
4. The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
5. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Month total: 5 books
Year-to-date: 26 books

May Reading
1. Rashomon and 17 Other Stories
2. Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (audio)
3. Ruthless by Jessie Keane (audio)
4. Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears

Month total: 4 books
Year-to-date: 30 books

June Reading
1. Tom Jones History of a Foundling by Henry Fielding
2. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
3. Relentless Tide by Denzil Meyrick
4. Fludd by Hilary Mantel
5. Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
8. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Month Total: 8 books
Year-to-date: 38 books

July Reading
1. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
2. Heroes by Stephen Fry
3. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
4. The Wife and the Widow by Christian White
5. Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman
6. Bibliophile by Jane Mount
7. The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda
8. The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
9. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
10The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
11The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck

Month Total: 11 books
Year-to-Date: 49 books

August Reading
1. Arctic Chill
2. The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly
3. First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
4. The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
5. The Katharina Code by Jorn Lier Horst
6. The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
7. Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
8. Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indridason
9. A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

Month Total: 9 books
Year-to-date: 58 books

September Reading
1. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
2. The Village School by Miss Read
3. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
4. The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter
5. The Crying Place by Lia Hills
6. Walk the Wire by David Baldacci
7. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller

Month Total: 7 books
Year-to-Date: 65 books

October Reading
1. The Sixth Window by Rachel Abbott
2. The Wych Elm by Tana French
3. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
4. The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths
5. The Spy and the Traitor by Ben McIntyre
6. Dark Skies by Arnaldur Indridason
7. What Dark Clouds Hide by Anne Holt
8. The Goodbye Man by Jeffery Deaver
9. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
10. The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

Month Total: 10
Year-to-Date: 75

November Reading

1. An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alamedinne
2. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
3. Talking to Strange Men by Ruth Rendell
4. Villain by Shuichi Yoshida
5. The Sports Gene by David Epstein
6. The Survivors by Jane Harper
7. Minotaur by Peter Goldsworthy
8. The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Month Total: 8 books
Year-to-Date: 83 books

December Reading

1. Passing Strange by Catherine Aird
2. The Fourth Friend by Joy Ellis
3. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
4. Run Forever by Amby Burfoot
5. The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves
6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
7. The Searcher by Tana French
8. Finders Keepers by Belinda Bauer

Month Total: 8 books
Year-to-Date: 91 books

Happy reading in 2020, Jenny!

Welcome back! Looks like a good start.

Have a great year of reading!

>1 socialpages: What did you think of Crampton Hodnet, Jenny? I have not yet read that Pym.

I am Stasia, aka Alcott Acre, BTW. I am not sure we have been formally introduced :)

>5 alcottacre: Hi Stasia. I really enjoyed Crampton Hodnet. It was exactly what I've come to expect from a Barbara Pym novel. Gentle humour and wry observations of human foibles. She transports you to a long vanished era of British academics, students, spinsters and clergymen. It was just the right book for me as I had been reading and listening to a lot of crime novels. I think you would enjoy it. Let me know what you think of it when you get a chance to read it.

Sometimes you read a book simply because the cover draws you to it. I'd never heard of Salvage the Bones or Jesmyn Ward but I saw it on my local library's books for sale shelf. I spent a whole 20 cents and the book sat on my tbr pile for a few months. I finally picked it up as it looked like an easy, short read. And I am so glad I did. It's set in the American south. Hurricane Katrina is fast approaching and a motherless family get ready for it. They're dirt poor but the four children support and protect not only each other but their hard drinking, mostly absent father.
There is also a beautiful bond between one of the brothers and his prized pitbull, China. However, the dog fighting scenes were hard to read.
Hurricane Katrina has destroyed the family home, which wasn't much to begin with, but there is hope at the novel's end that the family will endure.
I will definitely be looking out for more novels by Jesmyn Ward.
4 stars

Another book I bought for 20 cents from my local library. I recognised the author's name as a top fantasy novelist and thought why not? I now realise that whilst I love science fiction, fantasy is not really my thing.

The Earthsea Quartet book 1 follows Sparrowhark, a goat herder with a gift for magic who goes to a wizarding school to learn his craft (sound familiar). Sparrowhawk unleashes an evil spirit whom he battles and defeats. Sparrowhawk becomes the Archmage.
Book 2 was far more interesting as we meet a girl who is taken from her family and "eaten" so she can become a priestess of the darkness. Sparrowhawk and the girl escape with the missing part of a ring that brings peace.
Book 3 Magic is disappearing from the land and Sparrowhawk and a young prince go on a quest to bring magic back. The prince becomes King.
Book 4 The priestess from book 2 has lived a normal life on a farm with a husband and children. She rescues a child who is being burnt to death by her parents.

There is much more to this book than I've covered in the quick plot synopsis above. However, I didn't really enjoy reading this book. I had to force myself to finish it. Books 2 and 4 were better but 1 and 3 really dragged. I expected more from Ursula Le Guin.
2 stars
A disappointing read.

February 29, 2020. The last day of the month and for me it's not been a good month health wise. I came down with a nasty virus (not Corona thankfully) and I've not been able to read anything of substance. However, my overall total this month of 8 books is above average (probably because I was recovering on the lounge for large periods of time). This month I listened to three audio books, revisited a favourite author from my teens, finished my book club selections for February and March and read a Scandi blanc mystery.
Reviews to come now that I'm feeling better. I'm off down the coast for a four day break taking the first book in Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. This may be a little ambitious so I'll pack a "beach" read too.

I've taken advantage of Covid19 and the policy of social isolation to read the large volumes that have been on my bookshelf forever. Plus my local library has shut its door and borrowing/reserves have been suspended.
I read The Luminaries which won the Booker Prize. Great read and well worth the hours devoted to finishing it. I started Tom Jones in May and finished it in June. This book was a bit harder to finish. At over 800 pages it seemed like I'd been reading it forever and I longed for a change. I did, however, stick with Tom Jones and finally finished it. Was it worth it? Overall, yes. It's a funny, indulgent, long winded journey into 18th century morals and attitudes. The author allows himself to preface each of the 18 books that make up the novel. For a diversion I read The Fireman by Joe Hill about a contagion that causes people to burst into flames. This was okay but way too long. A timely read considering the Covid19 situation today.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Beautiful cover design and an intriguing title drew me to this book. Ocean Vuong is a poet and this is evident from the start. His prose reads like poetry but this is a sad, raw novel. I can't say I enjoyed reading this book but I did admire Vuong's writing. The parts I most enjoyed were the mother and grandmother's stories of Vietnam before and during the war. The parts I liked least were the too graphic (for me) gay sex scenes.

I can't decide how to rate this book. Yes it's beautifully written but I don't think this is enough to make a novel successful. If you like literary fiction then you will probably love this book.
2 1/2 stars.

The Wife and the Widow by Christian White

Two murders decades apart. Two husbands with secrets. An island, a lonely out-of-seaon tourist holiday hot spot. Two perspectives: the wife and the widow. It starts as your usual murder mystery. Nothing particular outstanding. Alternating chapters from the perspectives of the wife and the widow. I was listening to this book on audio when I suddenly realised I'd missed something. I checked the disc numbers and no I hadn't skipped a disc. So I kept on listening and the twist of all twists became clear. I pride myself on guessing "who done it" with great accuracy but this time I was completely blind sided. For a top notch twist I didn't see coming I rate the book 4 stars.
A worthy second novel from the author of Nowhere Child.

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

I like to get book recommendations from other LibraryThingers and last year >Susanj67 gave a positive review of Snap by Belinda Bauer. So I read Snap and enjoyed it. Now if I see a Belinda Bauer book on the library shelf I grab it. Blacklands is Bauer's debut novel.
Stephen Lamb is eleven years old and his family has not recovered from the murder of his uncle Billy twenty years earlier. The child serial killer responsible for Billy's murder has been caught and is serving life in prison but he has never told authorities where Billy's body is buried. Stephen spends his spare time digging holes in Exmoor National Park hoping to find the body so he can give his mum and grandmother closure. Stephen then decides a better way to find out where Billy's body is buried is to write to the killer. Thus begins a cryptic correspondence between killer and child.
I like Bauer's descriptions of a family struggling with loss that doesn't ease as the years pass. Stephen Lamb is a well drawn character.
The ending might be a bit unlikely but that doesn't take anything away from my enjoyment of this book. It's not great literature but this book was a perfect foil to some of the more "meatier" books I've read lately.

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda

The Aosawas are a prominent, well-respected local family. On a stormy, summer day in the 1970s the Aosawas are holding a large birthday party which ends in tragedy. Seventeen people die after drinking cyanide. Blind since she was five years old, Hisako Aosawa is the only family member left alive. The prime suspect is a mentally-ill man who commits suicide but his motive remains a mystery. Ten years after the incident, Makiko Saigo who lived in the same town and knew the family, re-interviews the people involved and writes a best selling book about the murders.

The Aosawa Murders is set several decades after the murders themselves and consists of testimony from family members, witnesses, neighbours, police investigators and Hisako herself. Makiko Saigo, Inspector Teru and others wonder if Hisako could be the mastermind behind the poisoning but there is no evidence to support their theory.The blurb says the truth is revealed but I'm still confused. Everything points to Hisako being involved but the last few pages threw in a red herring. I think I read the book too quickly and missed some salient points. I'm used to "who done it" novels that explain everything to the reader in the last chapter.
The book is described as "part Kurosawa's Rashomon, part Capote's In Cold Blood" which I think accurately captures the book. I enjoyed all the different voices especially Inspector Teru "an origami obsessed ex-chain smoker".

Rating 4 stars. An intriguing novel that benefits from close reading.
This is Onda's first crime novel and her first translated into English. I will certainly look for more of her work in English translations.

Bibliophile. An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount

Jane Mount paints ideal bookshelves and says that the goal of this book is to triple the size of your To Be Read Pile. This book is a delight to read. It's like when you visit a friend's house and the first thing you do is check out his/her bookshelf looking for shared titles and an insight into their personal reading taste. I filled several pages of my note book in which I list authors/books I'd like to read. Divided into different genre sections like dystopia, historical fiction etc, there is also book quizes, recommendations, striking libraries and even a chapter on bookstore cats. All the pages have Mount's gorgeous book cover illustrations. I often choose a book because I like the cover or I'm intrigued by the cover so I agree with Mount that book covers should be celebrated as art works themselves.

Rating 4 1/2 stars

For some reason I can't include the book cover itself in this review which is a shame and sort of ironic!

Red At The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

What a fantastic little novel. A delight to read. I'm going to give it 4 stars. I read it over two days and that's only because I wanted it to last longer.

The book starts with sixteen year old Melody's coming of age party. She is wearing a dress that was specially made for her mother, Iris' coming of age party that unfortunately Iris never got to wear.

This is only a slim volume, less than 200 pages, but there is so much in it. Race, class, sexuality but for me the most poignant part is the uninformed decisions young people lacking life experience and still working out who they are make that will affect the rest of their lives.

The title is interesting. A quote from the book: "she felt red at the bone-like there was something inside of her undone and bleeding".

Cover: Doesn't grab me. The red girl in a yellow dress gets lost amongst blocks of colour. I imagine the red colour of the girl is a reference to the title Red at the Bone.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

I devoured this book over 2 days. This novel is a stand alone book not a Dr Ruth Galloway mystery or a Stephens & Mephisto title. Clare Cassidy is a teacher and in her spare time is writing a book about the author of gothic ghost tales, R. M. Holland. The school where Clare teaches used to be Holland's home and his wife's ghost is said to haunt the place.

A teacher friend of Clare's is found murdered and a line "Hell is empty" from Holland's most known story,The Stranger, found next to her. The full quote is "Hell is empty and all the devils are here". It is also found in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Then Clare finds that someone has been writing in her diary. This person knows her innermost secrets.

The case is investigated by DS Kaur herself an ex pupil of the school. The novel is told from several view points: Clare, her daughter Georgie and DS Harbinder Kaur and at the end of each part is the next excerpt from The Stranger. The whole uninterrupted tale of The Stranger can be found at the end of the book.

Great book. 4 stars
Harbinder Kaur is an interesting character. Thirty-five years old, Indian, gay and lives at home with her parents but a smart, intelligent detective. I would like to see more stories from Elly Griffiths with DS Kaur as lead investigator.
I realised when I was reading this book that I mainly read the Dr Ruth Galloway series to see what's happening with Ruth and Nelson. The plot is incidental. With this book I was totally immersed in finding out who done it and I can honestly say that I didn't pick the culprit until the very end. The gothic atmosphere gave me goosebumps.
Cover art: Not sure what flowers have to do with the novel. However, anything written by Elly Griffiths will be eagerly picked up by her legion of fans.

The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck

Rating 4 stars
Cover: I really like this cover. The colours, the drawing, it's simple yet effective. Straight away you know that the book is set in China.

This was a re-read for me. I can remember being moved by the Hollywood movie version of the book starring Katherine Hepburn as O-Lan.
The book is the story of Wang Lung a poor farmer in remote regional China. He works hard on his land and looks after his old father. He is certain that land will be his ticket to prosperity so he purchases more land when he can. A slave bride, O-Lan, is purchased from the 'great house' for him and together they work the land and raise a family facing famine, drought and hardship. As time goes by, Wang becomes rich and purchases a second wife. He sons are sent to school to be educated. He now lives in the 'great house'. But as so often happens, his sons do not share his love of the land.

I really hated the way Wang Lung treated his first wife O-Lan. She was hard working, practical and played a major part in the family's prosperity yet Wang Lung took a second wife who was little more than a decorative, lazy child. O-Lan suffered neglect because she was large and unattractive. This was typical of this time in China when girls were sold as slaves to rich families as the parents could not afford to keep them.

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

Loung is five years old and lives a privileged life with her family in Phnom Penh. Her father is a high ranking government official. Her world is turned upside down in April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge army enters the city and all the residents must flee. The family must hide their identity from Khmer Rouge soldiers or risk death. At first the family live with some country based relatives but are soon forced to move on and settle in a remote village where they work as field labourers to help grow rice for the soldiers. Here they are met with long hours of back breaking work with very little to eat. Eventually the family is split up with Loung sent to a training camp for child soldiers and the other siblings to labour camps.

Cover: It suits the memoir. Black and white photo similar to a police mug shot and white on red title banner works well.

Rating: Harrowing tale of survival in Cambodia. 4 stars

The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly

Audio book read by Sean Mangan

Our hero, Jack West Jr, is kidnapped and forced to take part in the Great Games in order to save the earth from destruction. Warriors have been picked to represent the four legendary kingdoms: water, sky, land and the underworld. Jack must compete against fifteen other elite soldiers in a series of deadly challenges to stay alive. The challenges are based on the labours of Heracles so Jack must use his knowledge of the ancient world to triumph.

Rating 3 stars.
I love the escapism provided by Reilly's books. It's a bit of fun and nothing to take seriously. A roller coaster action ride where you know that gentleman Jack West will prevail and beat the baddies.

Nice to see you posting, Jenny

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

A ten year old boy is found murdered. He is half Icelandic and half Thai. The police suspect the attack may be racially motivated. Police inspector Erlendur and his team investigate. Erlendur is haunted by the death of his younger brother when the two boys got caught in a snow storm. They both dug snow caves but only Erlendur survived. The body of his brother has never been found.

My first Icelandic crime novel. I liked the police investigators. They were all well drawn interesting characters who have their own biases and individual personalities.

>22 socialpages: Arnaldur Indridason is the doyen of Icelandic crime writers but both Ragnar Jonasson and Yrsa Sigurdardottir are also well worth seeking out.

The Katharina Code by Jorn Lier Horst
Great cover and title. It really draws the reader in. 4 stars
This is my first foray into Norweigan crime writer Jorn Lier Horst's work and it won't be the last. There are eight earlier books I need to chase down featuring police inspector, William Wisting.

It's the 24th anniversary of the disappearance of Katharina Haugen. This unsolved case haunts Wisting and every year on the date of her disappearance he spends time with Katharina's husband, Martin Haugen. Katharina left a mysterious, string of numbers on a piece of paper: a code which no-one has been able to crack.

Then Haugen is linked to another cold case in which a teenage girl disappeared. It's up to Wisting to draw Haugen out and confirm his involvement in the two missing persons cases.

Jorn Lier Horst was a police investigator and it shows. Wisting builds his case piece by piece, gathering and examining the available evidence until the suspensful ending. Wisting is a wonderful and very believable character. He's not depressed, alcoholic loner thank goodness.

I believe Wisting will be hitting our tv screens soon. I can't wait.

>23 PaulCranswick: Both the authors you mention are on my list of Icelandic authors to read. The books recommended are Jonasson's Snowblind and Sigurdardottir's The Day is Dark. Have you read either of these? Iceland is such a different country to Australia. Even our winters are quite mild so I find Scandinavia fascinating.

The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey

A man waiting in a theatre queue to buy a ticket is murdered with a small knife. Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard investigates. His search for the murderer initially leads him to the "dago". I was a bit astounded at Tey's totally inappropriate language but the book was written in the 1930s so I guess this word was okay in that era. With no modern day forensic science help, Grant apprehends the murderer. It's almost impossible for the reader to work out who done it, why they did it and how but it's the journey that matters. It's a step back in time and I'm looking forward to reading the second Inspector Grant book.

Rating 3 stars

The Cornish Coastal Murder by John Bude

3 stars

I loved the cover of this audio book which continues my journey into 1930s British crime novelists.

The local magistrate is shot dead during a storm. His neice and her boyfriend are immediately suspected but the local vicar, an avid detective novel reader, believes they are innocent. He uses his intuition to solve the murder. He sits and smokes a cigar thinking about the case and amazingly solves the mystery.
The book is an easy listen but I'm not sure if I'll search for more of John Bude's work or not.

A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
#2 Inspector Grant series

Currently reading
Great cover. The white sea cliffs in the south of England are amazing.

A woman's body is discovered dead on the beach. Initially, suicide is suspected. This book was written many years after Tey's first Inspector Grant novel and is a much better read.
Rating: 3 stars

The Crying Place by Lia Hills

My book club's September read. Not my type of book. Not bad but just not for me. Lia Hills is a poet and it shows. Her writing is beautiful though I found her metaphors laboured at the start of the novel.
Jed and Saul are best friends who grew up in Tasmania. When Saul finds out that Jed has committed suicide he starts on a journey to the interior of Australia where Jed was living with an aboriginal girl named Nara. Saul stays with Nara in the isolated aboriginal community and learns things about Jed and himself. One of the disappointing things about this novel is that the reader never finds out why Jed commits suicide.
This is a novel about grief and how different people and even different communities deal with it.
Rating: 3 stars

Village School by Miss Read

A charming novel about a small, 1950s rural school in England told from the viewpoint of Miss Read the school headmistress. It feels like an autobiography more than a novel. I really enjoyed it.
Great cover
Rating: 3 1/2 stars

2020 was not the year we expected. On the one hand I had more time to read during the covid lockdown period and with my local library closed I was forced to read from my tbr bookcase. I decided to tackle some of the more lengthy books including Tom Jones, The Luminaries, Wych Elm and Pachinko. I went on a crime reading spree and binged on Scandi Noir books. I also dallied with novels by Japanese authors.

In all I read 91 books of which 46 were written by female authors and 44 by male authors (one book was a short story anthology) from 11 different countries. I listened to 29 audio books. My most popular rating was 4 stars (26 books) with 8 books receiving my highest rating of 4.5 stars. Unfortunately, no 5 star reads this year.

Some of my favourite books included
* Heroes
* Salvage the Bones
* Bibliophile
* The Good Earth
* Pachinko
* Little Fires Everywhere
* Golden Boys

There were three books that I didn't finish reading in 2020 and they will be carried over to 2021.
* Puzzled a how to on solving cryptic crosswords
* The Drinking Den I'm still reading my way through Zola's Rouge-Macquart series of novels.
* A Malgudi Omnibus I'm not sure I will bother to finish this one. Book one in the omnibus is very dated and quite frankly boring. Life is too short to finish novels that you just don't enjoy.

I'm looking forward to continuing my 75 book challenge in 2021.