This was a tough one. It is very literary, I had to really pay attention. It covers a complex period in Palestinian history which I knew little about and rightly the author doesn‘t hand this to you on a plate. It is also a touching love story and family saga and I was really absorbed by those elements. It had the odd effect of being both hard work and relaxing. I persevered and I‘m glad I did as I feel a sense of achievement and I‘ve learned a lot

So this was making me eye roll a little (still being book-grumpy) and I was on the verge of putting it aside. Then it turned somewhat ridiculous, but actually that snapped me back into it and I ended up being quite moved by it. Still a bit ambivalent about it in parts, but also moved. Ambivalently moved? 😆 A light pick for me.

This is solid historical fiction and I particularly enjoyed the first half; watching young Marta emerge from poverty to become Peter the Great‘s wife Catherine, the Empress of Russia. The story would be unbelievable were it not true. I admit however that I did tire of the second half; there‘s only so much constant war, mistresses, brutal murders and doomed pregnancies I felt able to take!

I don‘t read a lot of Jodi Picoult these days, I feel like I‘ve grown out of her writing style. However this was just what I needed right now - easy, gripping, a great twist, treated with an overall sensitivity. Can‘t say much more without spoiling! I also very much liked the background to the two authors co-writing this book, and feel that was very much the right decision for this particular book too.

An immediately absorbing story, but in the large part it was unremittingly bleak. I like bleak, but this was very bleak. With echoes of Where the Crawdads Sing, Victoria is left unmoored by the death of her mother aged 12, left in a household of men who expect her to assume her mother‘s role. When she falls in love with Wilson Moon things unravel. My book group loved this. I enjoyed it but also had some niggles, not sure if I‘m being overly picky…

The first half I loved. A dystopian future; the world building was great, I loved the characters. And then it swerved and I start thinking WHAT am I reading? I can‘t say more without spoiling, but all eventually becomes clear. Well, kind of. The problem was by then it‘d lost me somewhat and I feel like I just drifted to the end. I confess some of my struggle was that I just didn‘t really get the twist 👇

Oh no, am I headed for a book slump? Reading this I liked the writing, appreciated the story, yet remained on the surface, not that interested, skim reading parts, although loving the cover. With this one, I‘m not sure whether it‘s me or the book 🤷‍♀️. After deliberating I‘m giving it a light pick, as I suspect it‘s me!

Love the title, love the cover, love the premise. Elements of this I really liked, but something was holding me back. I think sadly it suffered from being read straight after my last read which I loved and couldn‘t stop thinking about, yet at the same time it‘s a lovely, bittersweet story of love, yearning and the passage of time.

In the most part I loved this. Such a sad, messy, heartbreaking story of a family unravelling, and why. Told from 4 different perspectives in turn, you don‘t always get the full story, the closure you want, but I loved the twists and turns on the previous perspectives. Both very easy to read, yet one where you need to keep your wits about you! The final 100 pages or so where the pace really ramps up were brilliant and I really loved the ending.

Investing fully in Bridgerton fever and bridging (ha!) the gap between the new season with this…(Confession, my enthusiasm for the books is waning. Book five was dreadful, and I had issues with some of this one too. Maybe time to leave it to the TV show, which does it so much better?)

If you feel like the current spate of romance novels give you all the cheesy eye-rolls, my prescription…this book. It really is quite lovely and is as much about the love of friends as romantic love, the friends who hold you close and keep you safe.

Just a few pages in that magic book-chemistry was there and I was instantly absorbed into this epic family saga centred around the family estate of Parambil in Kerala, India. The story spans 1900 - 1977, across three generations, many of whom suffer the mysterious “Condition” which makes them avoid water, at risk of drowning. There are so many threads and strands here, such a sad but beautiful story, I loved it.

The first half felt like I was in the bar on Tatooine in Star Wars, with the crazy music and different species, and that was NOT the book I wanted to read! I stuck with it and ultimately became quite fond of the characters of the Wayfarer tunnelling ship as they made their way through space. It was actually quite a gentle, sensitive read, once I got past the beginning. That said it felt quite simplistic, perhaps YA, and overall I didn‘t love it

So good, I loved every bit of this despite the toe-curling, car-crash in slow motion. You will love to hate June and her petulant indignation at what befalls her. The author wrote June so well, and forces discomfort in the reader. Funny, gossipy, snarky and very knowing; great fun yet dealing with serious and very current issues including cultural appropriation, own voices and who gets to tell a story.

LOVED it. By the time Violet‘s dragon bonded her, I was IN. Dragons, magic, numerous gruesome deaths, a bit of daft “sizzling” tension, great fun. I‘m all for the easy reads right now.

A great read that I gulped down in two days (in the garden in the sunshine, what a treat). Three stories about three women across three very different times, with the thread of witchcraft running through each. I enjoyed each story, more so as the connections slowly emerged. I don‘t always enjoy the back and forth style of a dual/multiple timeline, but here it worked perfectly 🐦‍⬛

Oh I‘m really not sure about this one. A murder mystery amongst the wealthy elite of London, with a working class detective tasked to solve it. The blurb says it‘s a satire, but…I found it a little obvious, and more caricature than satire. And the daft character names drove me insane. I did finish it, and I did get drawn into the story, but overall there were too many loose ends and it‘s one I won‘t remember.

This is a fictional take on the three Brontë sisters‘ upbringing in Haworth, told from Emily‘s perspective. This really does have the bleakness of her novel; the illnesses that plagued the family, their inability to hold down suitable work. At times this was quite hard to read; I didn‘t particularly like Emily, nor Charlotte, yet it left me incredibly moved and by the ending I was almost distraught 👇

I said I wasn‘t doing this, yet here I am. As always, late to the popularity party 😆. And do you know what, I enjoyed it. Book snobbery aside (there was eye rolling, of course) it‘s a page turner, very quick and easy reading, with a nicely creepy dark side. Yes it‘s daft, but you‘re not going into it looking for a Booker finalist. It was just what I wanted to read right now. I might even go for another, who‘d have thought.

Gaunt and Elwood meet at boarding school. Gaunt taciturn, a boxer. Elwood beautiful, a poet. They adore each other but will not say it. Then the First World War happens and their lives split and collide. Did I need another book about WWI? I did not. Do I like First World War poetry? I do not. Did I love this book anyway? I did indeed. The most beautiful story of hidden love, friendship, privilege and class.

A sinister murder mystery in the Adelaide hills in 1959 combines with modern day Jess dashing back to Sydney from London to be with her ailing grandmother, whilst slowly trying to unravel the decades old mystery. As much about family, homesickness and belonging as the mystery at its heart; perfect, compulsive easy reading. I‘d steered away from this author for a while as I tired of her dual-timeline style, but very much enjoyed coming back.

An explanation to the backdrop of my last post; we just got back from New York! New York Littens, we fell hard for your city ❤️. It was a jam-packed trip - the first visit for our two teenagers - but I managed a *little* book shopping. I was disappointed with Barnes and Noble, but the lovely Books are Magic in Brooklyn made up for that; I spent a wonderful hour or two browsing and buying, so absorbed I missed the earthquake!

A perfect holiday book; sharp, snappy, instantly absorbing yet easy to dip in and out of. This had all the elements I might have disliked in a romance; it‘s super cheesy, somewhat unbelievable, eye-rolling dialogue at times. Yet at the same time it just worked and I loved all those things too. I love Curtis Sittenfeld and kind of think she‘s a smarter, more knowing Anne Tyler. Her writing has that simplicity, yet she gets right to the crux of it.

Written in the 1940s about the lives of the 4 well to-do Makioka sisters this had all the elements of translated Japanese fiction I enjoy; the gentle style, the formality with which people address each other, the need for rules, politeness and order. And yet, this was just so incredibly slow. Even the drama unfolds painfully slowly. At first I settled into the pace, but around 300 pages in I was getting impatient and it was a struggle to finish.

Marion is born a conjoined twin in Addis Ababa. Family life gets off to a very rough start and from there we follow his life, to adulthood and onwards to New York. The joy of this book is the family love and complexities, against the background of troubled Ethiopia, its own complexities, and its medical world. In summary, I loved this when I first read it 10 years ago, and I then loved it again. Be warned, it will break your heart.

Wealthy New Yorkers faffing around and complaining? Yes please! I kind of enjoyed this at surface level; it‘s easy reading, it‘s knowing of its characters privilege, although at the same time it was mildly…disappointing? It didn‘t really go anywhere, the snarkiness wasn‘t snarky enough, the dramas not dramatic enough and it didn‘t hit the heights of Fleishman is in Trouble/Succession as I‘d hoped. A pick, but a low-ish one…

Patsy is desperate to leave Jamaica. Leaving her daughter behind, she heads to New York. It isn‘t the utopia she hopes and she enters an undocumented life barely scraping by doing menial work. As the story progresses you learn more of Patsy‘s motivations and demons. The story explores race, sex, class, gender, immigration and the life of an undocumented migrant in a hostile country. A great, thoughtful and thought-provoking read 👇

This is beautiful historical fiction; Lewis loses his beloved mother at 10 years old, not long after he had to get to know his father who had been away fighting in WWII for four years, during which time it was just him and Lizzie. As I‘ve said before a mother/son story is going to get me every time! This then takes a turn towards the dark, then gets darker, and you hate it yet can‘t look away at the same time. As good as I remembered 👇

A quiet story, the sort that makes me a bit fidgety at the start, but still it drew me in and was really quite lovely. Ruth is reeling from IVF and the possible end of her marriage. Pen is coming of age against the painful backdrop of first love, learning how to manage her autism as she emerges into adulthood. I loved how their stories spanned only one day and gently crossed yet never got tangled.

A lovely little book. The story itself I‘ve more or less read before - a quiet Irish girl sent to make a living in America, leaving the life she‘s known behind - but it was told in a gentle and sparing way that I really liked. Loved the conflicted ending, and now looking forward to the upcoming sequel (although maybe that ending should be left as is).

I love Jane Harper, and this book is her third with character Aaron Falk. A mysterious disappearance of a new mother is unsettling the small town where Falk is visiting friends and slowly, slowly he gets drawn in. This was veeeery slow, yet when I stopped being impatient I quite liked that; the fact the story slowly plays out over only a few days. And guess what? It got me. I did not guess the mystery/ending which I am VERY pleased about.

We follow Hugo, August and Thora during their studies in Stockholm. It‘s a love story, a friendship story, yet there‘s a distance throughout, which could be because this is translated from Swedish. An intense story with no real plot, slow and at times frustrating, but I also liked it. Imagine the relationships in Conversations with Friends crossed with Elena Ferrante‘s writing maybe? It also left me hanging, and I kind of liked that too.

Went in thinking standard psychological thriller. I got a time travel adventure/mystery/thriller that really did keep even eye-rolling old me guessing, baffled and puzzling. I then also got the most heart-achingly tender portrayal of mothering a teenage boy who is emerging into adulthood, revisiting the guilt and good bits of the growing up years. As I‘ve said before, a mother/teenage son narrative is going to get me every time right now 👇

Mixed feelings about this one. I much preferred it to some of the contemporary/millennial books on similar topics. It felt both of its time and also very much not; there were times the writing put me in mind of Ottessa Moshfegh. Yet I didn‘t love it. There remains the obsessive self-centredness of the main character that I disliked here and have done in other books and I struggled with the second half. Still, I‘m glad I read it.

This was a great palate cleanser. A police-procedural, and book two in the DCI Ryan series, this kept me reading and guessing all the way. Loved the Northumberland setting. I‘ll confess to being a little confused with the way the ending turned out and disappointed that one major plot development wasn‘t wrapped up. I guess in that respect the trick to get me reading the next one worked! 👇

We meet Theo on a normal day, just before his life falls apart. Onwards through his life in New York, Vegas, New York again, then Europe. The writing is so compelling, the car-crash of Theo‘s life so heartbreaking and awful, everything about it I loved. One of those books where this character is constantly inside your head and for the duration of the book you‘re living his life with him. I read this years ago and loved it even more on rereading.

Patrick Gale excels in beautifully understated writing with such kindness and gentleness. My heart broke for Charles through his unpopularity at school and awkwardness in life, whilst still being able to dislike his at times acerbic sharpness and intellectual superiority as he tries to find himself. My heart broke again for his mother as he pushes her away then yearns for her when sent to war. Despite some brutal elements this was a lovely read.

We follow the Islam family from their restaurant in Wales as a tragedy slowly unveils a secret. This is a story about family and grief, and also the push and pull of different cultures, of modernity and traditions, of who is family and who isn‘t. It wasn‘t perfect, the changing use of given names and nicknames/family names confused me at times, and there were some narrative inconsistencies that were jarring, but those aside overall a great read.

I‘ve finished the reading year with this, only because I promised my 16-year old I‘d read it before the end of the year and he wouldn‘t let it go. Just made it! This is his favourite book series of all time, and it is really very good. Recommend if you enjoy dystopian fiction/fantasy/sci-fi, this book is a spin-off of the trilogy itself in which other authors give their take on the backstories of various scythes. Interestingly well done.

#best of 2023 Lots of “just ok” reads this year - and the first time I‘ve struggled for ten to put on this list - but despite that these are the ten books which stood out a mile and are the ones I couldn‘t put down, couldn‘t stop thinking about, still think about. The type of books I crave and keep reading to find. The Maggie O‘Farrell was absolutely stunning. Demon Copperhead, Amy & Lan and The Romantic very, very nearly made it into the list!

Well, what a lovely little surprise. I went into this a bit resistant. Felt it might be a bit twee. But it was actually sweet and lovely, a perfect read for the end of one year and the start of the next 💙

Edward is a leading scientist in the eugenics movement and believes many should be sterilised to stop them breeding. When his young daughter is diagnosed with epilepsy he immediately blames his wife‘s “bad genes.” This could have been an incredibly interesting fictionalised take of this time but I didn‘t feel it was quite well handled enough to really explore the nuances and take it out of being routine family-saga historical fiction 👇

Another one that hadn‘t been tempting me to pick it up (can you tell I‘m having an end of year clear out?!) As it turns out this was an amusing and also sad coming of age story; as Debbie tries to find her place at Trinity College Dublin, commuting from her family dairy farm, and figuring out who she is. It gently explores mental health issues experienced by her and her mam. Will watch out for more by this author.

I nearly didn‘t see if this had a tidy ending or not, as I wasn‘t really enjoying it. It felt overly long which was a problem as I really did not enjoy being inside main character Linda‘s head, and we get no other perspectives! I guessed one twist then the other came very quickly at the end, then it was over (leaving me unclear as to quite what had just happened). I‘m not sure this kind of cosy/quirky/darkly funny crime caper is for me.

“‘You and your books,‘ they say, shaking their heads, squeezing the good out of the teabags.” My first book by this author, and her first book; a collection of short stories. I‘m now desperate to read her novels, the writing was perfection. I don‘t normally enjoy short stories but these were perfect to dip into. That said I get invested, then they end, and it always leaves me feeling a little muddled.

“The fifth and final volume”. And with that, this epic series has finished. I‘ve adored each of these books and the sprawling, privileged, sad, funny and messy family they introduced me to. I‘m so sad it‘s ended. I‘ve been saving this last one up all year, then when I finally started it I read it too fast in big greedy gulps. Very tempted to go right back to the beginning and start again.

I‘ve been intrigued by this author for a while but something was stopping me. I should have listened to the stop sign 😆. I‘ve read the reviews, I kind of get the idea; the loneliness, transience and potential beauty of it. For me though, I didn‘t understand it one bit! I read a review that said “this is literature so high you‘ll get a crick in your neck…” which made me both laugh and rub my sore neck. I‘ll leave it at that…

So, here we go with a cheesy Christmas romance. Setting myself up for my usual romance-disappointment perhaps? Actually, no! Yes, I did some eye rolling. Yes, there was a part of the storyline I just couldn‘t buy into. But - and maybe it‘s the Christmas spirit, or maybe I‘ve not got a heart of stone after all - it got me in the end, I embraced it for what it was, I loved it and I cried FOUR times. Excellent (DO NOT READ ON THE TRAM THO😆😭)

You know this isn‘t going to be an easy read from the start. But it is also sweet, funny, snarky, and really quite lovely. There‘s a lot more about life in this little book than you‘d perhaps expect. There‘s also the privileged-New-Yorker-self-absorption which should be annoying yet I always fall for. But, your heart will break; proceed with caution if you need to be gentle with yourself regarding grief. And do not read on the train 😳

I do love some dystopian fiction, and this was v good. Sweet and lyrical; I really enjoyed the writing. The portrayal of a near future in the US feels timely and prescient, with a frightening risk of it being a reality. I loved the librarians quietly and steadfastly searching, and I fell for sweet Bird and his own search for his mother.