I‘ve spent my summer this year in Naples. ❤️ I bailed on My Brilliant Friend when it first came out, it wasn‘t the right time. I am so glad I gave it another chance. I‘ve not been this absorbed in a book series for years. I devoured it book after book and now I‘m walking around in a daze. Absolutely brilliant.

A modern retelling of The Graduate but written by Patricia Highsmith. This is a dark thriller that keeps you guessing and I loved it! Hope he writes a sequel….

Oh I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. It might be my favourite Moriarty yet. (It‘s certainly up there with Big Little Lies and What Alice Forgot). The audio is great with fab Australian narrators.

I bailed on this book 9 years ago! (It just wasn‘t the right time and I didn‘t have the patience) but I heard a podcast about it last week and thought it was time to give it another go. Boy am I glad I did! I absolutely loved it. One of the best books I‘ve read in a long time. Now to get the next three books…

It‘s weird, short and raw and I loved it. This one will definitely stay with me.

Great fun. Think ‘Motherhood‘ meets ‘Am I being unreasonable?‘ with a solid whodunit at its core. 👍

This was a solid read for #authoramonth. A bit overally long and melodramatic at times but still enjoyed it. 👍

I absolutely loved this. I can‘t stop thinking about it. A dad drops his kid off at college then just carries on driving, visiting old friends from his youth on the way. I do love a road trip story and this fits that bill but it is also so much more. It‘s heartfelt and poignant and I now want to read everything this guy has ever written! (This would have made a great #camplitsy pick! 🤦‍♀️)

Here are my nominations for #camplitsy25 so exciting!! 👏 😃 🥳

My son is autistic so I nervous going into this but I loved it.
Yes, it‘s heartbreaking and difficult at times (the history of how autistic children were treated is brutal) but it is full of history, science and hope. It is well written, well researched and it genuinely changed my perspective on autism in the best possible way. Important and thought provoking, everyone needs to read this book.

The first read of the year was an absolute corker! I loved the 90s setting; its v Scottish, v dark and kept me up way past my bedtime. And only Q9.99 on kindle at the moment.

Pic collage will only let me add 20 pics. But here‘s my #Top24of24
The other four are:
You could make this place beautiful by Maggie Smith
Britney‘s memoir
All the colours of the dark
And The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

Thank you so much for my lovely books ladies! Such a treat to receive book mail on your birthday! 😊 cheered me up no end! 🥂 😘 @quietlycuriouskate @squirrelbrain @TrishB

Oh! This is on 99p kindle deal today in the UK! 😃 👍

Who hasn‘t dreamed of walking out on their life and leaving all their responsibilities behind to go and join a nunnery….! I really enjoyed this quiet, thoughtful novel. But it does follow the current trend of stopping rather than ending. #nunlit

Soft pick. This was more of a police procedural than I was expecting and I think the hype monster might have got to me. Serious Jane Harper vibes with this one.

I was going to say that I devoured this book but I think it actually devoured me! It‘s been a long time since I‘ve been this immersed in a story. The characters and setting were so real. Lots of trigger warnings but I loved it.

So disappointing. The blurb promised Lord of the flies and cults in this book about a women‘s commune. There‘s sooo much foreboding but it basically goes nowhere and the big reveal at the end is so anticlimactic. It‘s more allotment gone wrong. 🙄

If Fleabag and Joe Goldberg had a baby! This is dark, witty and fully immersive. It pulled me right in from the beginning and I just couldn‘t put it down. It‘s a literary thriller about obsession and losing yourself, like if Meg Mason wrote Fatal Attraction!
It is full of razor sharp writing but it‘s perfectly balanced with compelling characters and a propulsive plot that keeps you guessing right up to the end.

Heartfelt and uplifting. This was just what I needed. ❤️ 😊

Ha!!! This Bridgerton AI picture generator is so much fun!!!! 😂

I love books about mediaeval life and nunneries so this was right up my alley. I listened to the audiobook (read by the wonderful Adjoa Andoh) and she does a stellar job. She creates so much atmosphere and brings each nun‘s voice alive. (Bit late for #authoramonth) #nunlit

Jake Gyllenhaal does a fantastic job. Loved every minute of it and I didn‘t speed it up once! (Always a good sign 😂)

This ticks all the literary boxes:
beautiful writing ✅
Not much happens/“quiet” ✅
political ✅
Format change halfway through/“experimental” ✅
It stops rather than ends. ✅
I loved it at first then I got restless. Overall I really liked it but I‘m always left a bit unsatisfied by these types of novels?! 🤷‍♀️ maybe it‘s just me. (Audio version was brilliant tho!) #camplitsy24

My #CampLitsy24 nominations! 😃 @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain @Megabooks

At 48hrs this is a longgg audiobook. I loved the first half; her childhood in Brooklyn in the 1950s, trying to make it on Broadway then working with Gene Kelly in big MGM musicals in the 60s. The second half was more of a slog. It‘s exhaustive and exhausting at times. Still… it‘s Barbra Streisand so what did I expect?! 😂

I started this late last night and ended up reading wayyyy past my bedtime! 😂 I thought this was a riveting and gripping read and it really kept me guessing! Loved it. Thank you for getting this for me @squirrelbrain

@Birdsong28 Reminded me of your earlier post. 😂

Cor, I‘m kinda addicted to memoir audios at the moment! 😂 (This is my 7th so far this year!!) But this was utterly fascinating. A real fly on the wall look into life in parliament.

48hrs?! Ok Barb, let‘s do this! 😉

There‘s currently a kindle deal on this book (set in Naples during WWII) if anyone is interested? It‘s on the International Booker Prize longlist even though I said I wasn‘t going to look at any more longlists and I certainly wasn‘t going to buy any more. 🤦‍♀️ 😂 #internationalbooker

A soft pick. Loved the first half then it switched to 2nd person perspective and all the you youing did my head in! 🙄 but a really good ending (for a change!!) and I loved all the Mohawk stories and history. #womensprize

A true crime story of the penultimate woman hanged in Britain in the 1950s. It kept me guessing right up to the end. Fascinating and gripping. Thanks for getting this for me Helen @squirrelbrain

Ohhh 😮 👏 “She gets it from me!” 😉 💃🏻 🍉

It feels awful to say I loved this because it‘s so heartbreaking. Michelle Williams does a hell of a job! I knew it was going to be sad but Britney does not hold back. It is a crime what her family and the paparazzi put her through. I can‘t stop thinking about it. As soon as I finished, I wanted to go right back to beginning and read it all over again!

I really don‘t like it in books when we, the readers, find out information before the characters. We‘re then left reading pages and pages waiting for the characters to catch up!! Plus way too predictable. (The octopus didn‘t add much to the story, even though I loved him, it felt like a trend ticking exercise. He was not in the story nearly enough!!)

I sobbed my heart out finishing this last night. It‘s a fictional story of the Brontë sisters, told from Emily‘s perspective. I knew it was going to be sad but it was so much more than I expected. The writing is so beautiful and their lives were so hard. Thank you for getting this for me Trish. Absolutely loved it! Best book I‘ve read so far this year.

This was just the right side of charming for my frazzled brain. I love this author‘s style (she‘s Ann Patchett‘s mother and it shows in her insightful descriptions). It is fun and easy to read but never so sweet it made me roll my eyes. A dance teacher, looking forward to retirement, has her sister move in and her grown up children getting up to mischief. A comforting, easy read.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery. Lots of likeable characters to root for and baddies to boo with plenty of twists to keep ya guessing.

Don‘t you just love it when a book lives up to the hype!! I absolutely loved this. The audio was seriously addictive.

I was nervous going into this as I love Little Women but it did not disappoint! It‘s a retelling from Marmee‘s PoV but it‘s also so much more than that. There‘s lots of history and the family‘s backstory (which is largely based on Louisa May Alcott‘s real life family history). It is fascinating and beautifully written. Defo one of my fav books of the year. ❄️ ❤️ 🌲

These are my 5 star reads for the year! 🌟 #top23of23

Don‘t you just love it when you completely forget you preordered a book then it suddenly appears on your doorstep like a gift from the book fairies! 🧚‍♀️ 🪄 💫

I loved this! If Dickens and Sarah Waters had a child… it would be this book! It had Bleak House/Fingersmith vibes with a twisty, turning plot and fiendish characters galore! I would recommend binge reading tho as there‘s lots to keep track of. (I‘ve had a busy week so I‘ve only been reading a little bit each night and it was hardwork to remember everyone and their connections etc) Defo one of my top reads of the year. 👍

Thank you so much ladies for my birthday books! They sound so good! I can‘t wait to read them all! 😃 📚 @TrishB @squirrelbrain @quietlycuriouskate

Not quite 99p kindle deal but almost! 👍

When your TBR stack accidentally colour coordinates itself!! 😀 ❤️ 🤍

99p on kindle at the mo. This is a good collection of short spooky stories. 👍

Here‘s my #top10summer2023reads. I‘ve had a lot of bails but some really good books too. 👍

I loved this. Set during a heatwave in 1970s rural Italy, a young lad stumbles across a boy trapped in a hole. I don‘t normally like books from kids points of view but this was done so well (like Lord of the Flies or Mockingbird). This will stay with me a long time.