After such a long time not enjoying any police procedural as I feel like 2022 might be my year. I get this was a bit unusually paced but (horrific content aside) I enjoyed and will be trying the next in the series for sure. Edited - crimes there are 17 of them!

How lucky have I been thank you so much @Cupcake12 this is a perfect package for me! I also wanted to thank and @Avanders for setting this up. It was my first swap in ages.

This is a very special middle school book. The titular October is 11 and has grown up living mainly off the grid in the woods with her father. She is smart and clever but wild. When her father has an accident she has to get used to life in London with her mum. It‘s beautifully written. Through Octobers eyes the usual become poetic and magical and he love of storytelling is just lovely

Really different style of writing with a mix of narrative, tweets and direct transcript style police interviews made this a bit more interesting than your run of the mill police procedural. Read it to get of my TbR (apparently I downloaded on the 2 Jan 2018!) but now I find there are 4 more in the series!!

Struggling a bit with words for this one. A devastating story of a young gay man with AIDS returning to his small home town in Ohio. Told in predominantly three voices it was heartbreaking and difficult to read but also kind of beautiful. I know this will be in my top lists of the year for sure

Final book of the holiday finished on the plane. I thought this was overall really powerful - main storyline sits in 1973 and follows a nurse in a Mississippi family planning clinic and the consequences of the forced sterilisation of young, poor, black girls. Whilst I didn‘t love the main character I think that was kind of the point and she meddled and helped this is everything I love about a good historical fiction novel

I enjoyed this as an easy but thought provoking read. The author reflects on the extent to which gender and perceptions of gedner have impacted innovation. Really liked the chapter on computing and also electric cars which re positioned some of my understanding. Others were more political and less to my taste but still very interesting. The book culminates powerfully in what some do the topics already raised might mean for tackling climate change

Picked this for my book set at a hotel or inn for #booked2022 and I LOVED it. Multi generational family saga set around a holiday resort in the Catskills this was soapy but so much fun…

Did I like this book? No. Did I love this book? Yes I think so. Will it stick with me? 100%. We follow a main character who grapples with / bobs along in her life without really ever connecting. She‘s damaged, causes chaos and hurt along the way and yet to me was extremely relatable and I want her next chapter to be more. The writing is spectacular. Pulling the reader into the narrative. First was in a while that‘s really had impact.

Very predictable somtort of summer love, family secrets and fresh starts. The story is pretty average but the wonderful descriptions of Skopelos the island where the book is set were a joy. That I am reading in the sunshine by the pool helps no end !

So I picked this for my nautical #booked2022 based on the fact it had a ship on the cover - reality which the Titanic is a key part of the story (and I love a Titanic story) this is not a nautical novel! What it is, is a wonderfully researched fictionalisation of a true story. The story of a young woman from Nice and her bad marriage to a bad man. I enjoyed a lot 📸 Nice several years ago

Fun but maybe forgettable. 6 women, one isolated Greek villa and a metric ton of secrets. Fairly predictable but well written with a great sense of the forced fun and discomfort that comes when you being dispersed groups of friends together

Gentle stories of summer - spread over multiple years are my guilty pleasure, and I really enjoyed this one I picked for #booked2022 and the Canada prompt. It‘s sweet with hints of young adult in the story of the early years with a confidence and angst in the 12 years@lter section that I really enjoyed. A perfect affirming palate cleanser after 2 slightly heavy novels

Second - probably a great book, but not for me in a row. This is based on a horrific real life case of a long period of sexual assault against the women of a small community. The fiction here is the conversations between them as they decide whether to stay in the community or leave vs coexist with their attackers. It‘s a powerful story with theology and more but I struggled to engage with it

I found this incredibly hard going. The story is a powerful one; the untold women at war as Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. It‘s incredibly violent and full of fear and hatred and bravery and I can see why it has won awards. The style, lacking in punctuation and with odd interspersed chapters didn‘t quite work for me and it‘s taken me several weeks to slog through it. #readingafrica2022

After finding her first novel not being for me I really enjoyed this one. A multi generational novel of sorts it asks important questions about identify and place as we follow the implications of 16 year old twins running away from home and grappling with race in 20th century America. I📸 Brussels

A weekend at the coast to reset has been lovely. Read this looking for a new series. Overall enjoyed a the setting in Lincoln but found the main character a little annoying. The case itself was interesting enough. Saw enough I liked to try book number 2 but not a solid recommend

Downloaded on a whim as a dog for #booked22 I ended up really enjoying this. Criminal case, psychological thriller with a touch of the paranormal so not my usual thing at all!

I do love a myth retelling and this one was … fine I guess. The story was well told, characters nicely fleshed out but if felt somehow lacking compared to BArker, Miller etc in some ways it felt a little YA in the thinness of the story. A pick but maybe just about

This is by all measures a great book. Beautifully written, timely in its lockdown context and BLM references with wonderful rich characters. For all that through it took me a while to make it through. It‘s a quiet book, slow without being boring and I kept finding reasons to read other things. Still a recommendation and one I might re read at a different time

This is my #booked2022 total option seeing as I have had it on my kindle for forever. I enjoyed this one but didn‘t love it As much as the first in the series. Elinor of Aquitaine is one my favourite women of British history and I would have liked her to be more in this book

When on a plane I like a rom com film, couldn‘t find one so dived into this on my kindle instead! I really liked it. Some of it felt tongue in cheek - there is an acceptance of the tropes being played with here. The characters are multi dimensional and I loved that whilst there was character growth it didn‘t involve Nora having to give up who she was. Oh and I laughed out loud more than once !

This was a #blameitonlitsy I think @Cinfhen ? Anyway it is just lovely and very much what the doctor would have ordered for a couple of stress work weeks. Conical, honest and life affirming I loved Eudora and that is has a cross generational friendship with the fabulous Rose was icing on the cake

Not as much History as some of the earlier books in the series but a wonderful return to St Mary‘s world - how this author keeps track of her timelines and general shenanigans I do not know but am glad she does! So much fun.

Enjoying this a lot. The author is well informed, articulate and practical.

Apparently 5 years ago I highlighted and photographed this quote! I sill adore this world but have got a little lost. Debating whether to re read or just dive in and try

This is a lovely addition to Childrens WW2 stories I have read and enjoyed over the years. Nisha is a young girl sent to her paternal grandmothers home on an island off the Northumbrian coast after she and her Indian mother evacuate from Malaysia (via Singapore). A simple but compelling story of finding hope in even difficult times 📸 Spittal, Northumbria

A quiet, beautifully written story about very ordinary people tackling life. A long married couple reflect on their life after Maggie (the wife) collapses and is hospitalised. Part her written story and part hai reflections it was really very moving

I enjoyed this more than the first book (which I still found compelling). Hearing the remainder of Lauren and the Acorn community story was still pretty dark but adding an extra narrator‘s voice was a positive and gave a better picture of Lauren who was a tough main character to really know on the first book.

This was going to be my #booked2022 eco feminist book but now might be the about a religion… overall I really liked this despite how dark it is. The world building made a terrible pessimistic sort of sense to me and the migration of people trying to find a better life we‘re powerful. I didn‘t fully get on board with the religious elements but did think it was a powerful read

Pushing aside an occasionally painful amount of colloquial slang and an attempt to replicate northern Irish accents I really liked this young adult novel of a young Irish born woman returning to Ireland to meet her father and the wider family she did not know. Sectarianism is alive and well in this modem story and the impact on all is heartbreaking. An interesting perspective on what comes after peace 📷 giants causeway taken in about 2005!

Whilst at times anecdotal vs deeply scientific there is much in this to inform and educate. The author speaks to approx 70 young American men and uses their quotes and stories as the framework for an exploration of perceptions of sex, pleasure, respect, consent and more. The benefit of this being a less scientific tome is that it also has some valuable recommendations for parents of boys. A final take away from me ⬇️

This was going to be my #booked2022 for set in China but am now not quite sure. This is a split timeline 1940s and 1950s and I am not quite sure what the -950s added overall. For me this book was spoiled by reading so soon after the significantly better Gift of Rain as there are some similarities re settings in British colonial Asia and covering the challenges of WW2 and survival 📷 the Hong Kong Commonwealth War Cemetary taken in 2909

You always know you‘ll get a good yarn with a Clare Mackintosh and this was no exception. Well paced it was an interesting and slightly creepy story about the hijacking of an airlines first none stop London —> Sydney. Skip the super over the top ending and I really enjoyed.

Yea I am on holiday (I‘m only ever this prolific on Litsy when I am not working!) picked this for my IWD poolside read. Hadn‘t quite realised it was meant for a younger audience but the bit of me that remembers my history degree approves of the topic and the tone so far …

I enjoyed this I just didn‘t love it. Female friendship and glorious descriptions of the Kentucky hills were great but over all perhaps a tad melodramatic for my tastes.

Can a book be an epic but also without a particularly strong plot? There was lots I really enjoyed about this book - the Ugandan origin stories, the family relationships the feminism and the smattering of historical backdrop but I also find myself a little disappointed by the lack of meaty story and how little change happens. It‘s a pick as it‘s also beautifully richly written but maybe could have been more? #reafingafrica #uganda

I have spent every one of my very few spare minutes this week in this series of books. Guernsey is now on my go to list! Loving this little 1955 typesetting error (less love for whoever owned this book in the last 67 years decided to underline EVERY name in pencil

I have a goal to collect all of Elinor M Brent Dyers non Chalet school books (I still have my full armada set of those!) … I just treated myself to the last of the La Rochelle books so now planning on reading the series…

This is a book that is going to find a place in my list of favourites. The story is one of family, war, fate and regret and is set predominantly on the island of Penang which is a character in its own right. Multi faceted and moving I feel so silly it‘s been on my kindle for so long … loved it (and I am off and running for my #booked2022

First time on a train in nearly two years after flying visit to my parents … hoping to get into this one which is my #booked2022 weather choice. Enjoying so far

Started this for #readingafrica22, considered cooking an Egyptian lunch to go with it for #foodandlit2022 but copped out with pitta crisp and hummus !

This was the book I was just starting as I joined Litsy … then life got in the way, a job change, cancer and during one of the post treatment steroid cleaning frenzies I tidied it away! In a we might be moving cleaning gig this Christmas I found it and today I finally finished. Ultimately a story of regret this was an interesting take on post war Germany. I appreciated the reference to the Resistance but found it to be a bit too neat a tale

I have been wondering why I fell out of reading and how to get back to it. Tonight my husband is rewatching Band of Brothers and instead of playing on my phone, peeved about it I have poured a small Rioja, tempted the dog to my side and started a new book. Feel like me again.

This was beautiful and is my #12booksin2021 for December. It‘s got a wonderful lyrical feel, fable like but powerfully feminist story. Would@recommend for anyone looking for a weather book for booked22
@Andrew65 thank you for this challenge I realise I had a much better reading year than I thought!!

#12booksin2021 this is my November pick. A young adult novel based in Hindu myth it was rich in imagery and made me want to know more

#12booksin2021 this was my October read. Took 4 days away and got out of the country to Malta. It was so lovely to be somewhere else and reading about where I was staying felt like a sliver of normality

Picked a tough but important read to start my year. Powerful and eloquent writing doesn‘t soften an incredibly harrowing experience. A book to make you angry about how we treat victims and how the law responds to sexual assault

#12booksin2021 I adored this. The power in this feminist retelling is that it doesn‘t rewrite history so much as change the focus of what we think we already know and so reframes. V powerful and briefly had me looking up classics courses! (The dog knocked over a pint of water in my cover - not impressed!)

Despite being a middle grade book this might be up there for my read of the year and I would recommend for anyone #readjngafrica2022 rich in imagery and such a strong sense of place this story of city girl sent to her grandmothers remote village for the summer is one that will stay with me. Also the cover is everything. #12booksin2021