75 Books...More or Less! discussion

I read 65 books last year and hoping to make it to 75 in 2018 :)

January = 8 books



I particularly enjoyed The House on the Strand; I love Daphne du Maurier and I can't resist a good time travel story. How to be a Heroine was great too. The illustrated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them is a lot of fun.

February = 7 books



I loved Charlotte Perkins Gilman's collected short stories, especially the Yellow Wallpaper. Such a creepy and fascinating depiction of the descent into madness. I found A Discovery of Witches increasingly irritating. The Nothing Girl was a re-read (or re-listen, since I have the audiobook)... one of my favourite books, so quirky and sweet.

March = 7



Particularly enjoyed My Cousin Rachel (another Daphne du Maurier) and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. The Silver Bough was great - Lisa Tuttle's books have a slow pace but I enjoy them so much I don't mind.

April = 7



Reread of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ahead of seeing the film - I love this book. Also enjoyed Magpie Murders and the Fantastic Beasts screenplay.

May (so far)



I was disappointed by The Invisible Guardian but really enjoyed The Universe Versus Alex Woods. Byron's Women was a fascinating (and infuriating) account of Byron's relationships with the many women in his life, including his mother and daughters.

Joanne wrote: "OMG Amy ! Women after my own heart. Love Daphne Du Maurier I just recently finished Hungry Hill

Also just read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Wh..."

Oh I haven't read that one, must add it to my list! I loved Rebecca and Jamaica Inn too.

I just saw the movie on the weekend and really liked it, actually! It would have been impossible to stay completely true to the book, but I thought they captured the spirit of it pretty well.

It was pretty good! I'm a big fan of Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway series (beginning with The Crossing Places) and it's given me a taste for crime books where specialists in other fields (Ruth is an archaeologist) work with the police.

Amy wrote: "I read 65 books last year and hoping to make it to 75 in 2018 :)

January = 8 books..."

I LOVE The Yellow Wallpaper!! And I feel the same way about A Discovery of Witches! I don't get the hype! lol.

Amy wrote: "March = 7..."

A lot of Guernsey fans here! :)

Would be interested to hear what you think if you read it Joanne!

Elyse wrote: "Amy wrote: "I read 65 books last year and hoping to make it to 75 in 2018 :)

January = 8 books..."

I LOVE The Yellow Wallpaper!! And I feel the same way about A Discovery of Witches! I don't get..."

I got so sick of reading about what she was wearing or drinking, and of Matthew carrying her around and putting her to bed as if she was a child, lol.

36. Persuasion by Jane Austen - a reread, always enjoy reading this.

37. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson - I wanted more detail but this was a fun and very readable biography.

38. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - found this quite interesting and insightful in places, but also hard to relate to.

39. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King - I must admit I haven't read much Conan Doyle, but I really enjoyed this story of a retired Sherlock taking a precocious teenage girl under his wing. Looking forward to continuing with this series.

I read like the 12th book in that Sherlock series and really liked it so someday I have to start at the beginning. lol.

It focuses a lot on Mary growing up and the development of their relationship so good for the back story if nothing else :)

Yeah, I'm finding my local libraries don't have all of them, so I'll probably get them on my Kindle.

40. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - enjoyed this, good page-turner.

41. The Dry by Jane Harper - this was fantastic, looking forward to the next in the series.

42. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild - mostly liked this but about halfway through I found it was starting to drag. Some of the characters and the details of their lives just felt unnecessary.

43. The Woman Who Walked into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home - was disappointed with this after enjoying the first in the series so much. The main character was barely part of the story.

44. Insidious Intent by Val McDermid - enjoyed this. The ending was a bit hard to believe, but this is book 10 in a series and I haven't read the first 9, so I don't know the characters very well.

45. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope - My first Trollope and I'll be reading more. A long story but very charming.

46. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - this was fine, but I agree with others that it feels like fanfiction. Some of the characters weren't really recognizable. I did really enjoy the play when I saw it, so I think it works better in that way than as a script.

Amy wrote: "Joanne wrote: "OMG Amy ! Women after my own heart. Love Daphne Du Maurier I just recently finished Hungry Hill
..."

Rebecca used to be my favorite, but now I think My Cousin Rachel has taken its place. Frenchman's Creek was pretty awesome, too.

Amy wrote: "40. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - enjoyed this, good page-turner.

41. The Dry by Jane Harper - this was fantastic, l..."

Looks like The Dry is on the list for one of my book clubs later this year.