Too soon for a novel about the pandemic?
In a word, no! This is a lively and cleverly structured novel that takes us through a lockdown mystery. I raced through it in two sittings because I really needed to know what happened.
Continue reading Book Review: ’56 Days’ by Catherine Ryan HowardI read a lot of non-fiction books this year – regular visitors to the blog will know that I love history, popular culture, books about books, feminism and biography in particular.
So while I cannot possibly say I’ve read a huge variety of the fabulous non-fiction books published this year, I have found some real gems. In true ‘Top of the Pops’ style (yes, I am of that vintage!), here’s my countdown of the best in 2020’s non-fiction books from number 10 to 1…
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10 – ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders’ by Ben Aitken
If someone had told me that one of my favourite books of the year would be about a young man going on Shearings coach tours, I’m not sure I’d have believed you! Still, this is a witty, warm and wise story about Aitken’s travels with the older generation and is more focused on interesting people-watching than any real travel narrative. You can read my full review here.
I also read Aitken’s ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’, an engaging tale of his year in Poland just as Brexit-fever took hold of Britain.
9 – ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand
Having been raised on the glorious 1964 film of ‘Mary Poppins’, this book was a fabulously comfortable and engaging read. Brand is clearly a Poppins-obsessive and it is something I both recognise and respect! This book is packed with nostalgia, interesting facts and witty analysis. You can read my review here.
If this one floats your boat, Brand’s book about Dirty Dancing is also well worth a read (‘I Carried a Watermelon’).
8 – ‘Essex Girls: For Profane and Opinionated Women Everywhere’ by Sarah Perry
This is a brilliant re-evaluation of the stereotype of the Essex girl and a celebration of ‘profane and opinionated women’ through history. As a Southend-born and long-term Chelmsford resident, this one struck a chord with me. You can read my full review here.
7 – ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith
I love a book about Shakespeare and I’ve read a lot! What I loved about this one was the fact that it contained so many new things that I hadn’t really thought about before, even for the plays that I consider that I know really well. You can read my review here.
If this is your thing, I can also recommend Kathryn Harkup’s ‘Death by Shakespeare’, a fascinating look at the deaths in Shakespeare from a scientific perspective. Dark but absolutely engrossing! (review here)
6 – ‘How Love Actually Ruined Christmas (or Colourful Narcotics)’ by Gary Raymond
A late entry into my favourites list but this one is hilarious! I am really not a fan of the film ‘Love Actually’ at all and I really enjoyed Raymond’s scene-by-scene evisceration of it. Thoughtfully-written and genuinely enlightening…and did I mention very, very funny?! You can read my full review here.
5 – ‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen’ by Greg Jenner
This is a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt through the culture of celebrity. Jenner, who was historian for the BBC’s excellent ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series, is an engaging guide and brings together stories that are funny, interesting and also occasionally tragic. You can read my review here.
If you like the look of this, I can also recommend Jenner’s first book, ‘A Million Years in A Day’, a book focusing on the history of the things we do every day.
4 – ‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights’ by Helen Lewis
This is a history of feminism, but with a difference – it focused on the lesser-known figures and events so that it really feels fresh and engaging. You can read my full review here.
3 – ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister
I supported this book on the crowd-funded publishing site, Unbound, after following Dr Kate Lister on Twitter for a while. Her take on social (sexual) history is funny, feminist and always interesting. The book itself is eye-opening and fascinating, plus Lister donated a proportion of her profits to a sex worker charity. You can read my full review here.
2 – ‘More Than A Woman’ by Caitlin Moran
Moran’s books are always worth a read, but this take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman is brilliant. She is funny and confessional, relatable and quick with her razor-sharp observations. My review can be read here.
Moran’s earlier book, ‘How to be a Woman’, about being a younger woman, is also eminently readable:
1 – ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross
OK, so a book ostensibly about graveyards and death might be a bit of an odd choice for my non-fiction book of the year, but hear me out! This is the book that I have talked about to people more than any other this year and it is an absolute treasure.
More than anything, it celebrates life and the people associated with graveyards and burial grounds and ossuaries: the historians, the mourners and the grave-tenders and those who carry out burial rites, as well as the departed. It is strangely comforting and absolutely compelling. Although sometimes sad, it isn’t depressing at all.
This is a brilliant book and one I strongly recommend. You can read my full review here.
Header photo by Rahul Pandit from Burst.
In what might work out to be the geekiest post ever, I thought I’d have a closer look at the 100 books I’ve read this year. I completed my Goodreads challenge this week so it seems a good time to pause and take stock.
Things that don’t surprise me a bit…
I know that I read a lot of female writers, so the gender ratio 60:40 in favour of female writers didn’t surprise me at all. A lot of my favourite detective series are written by women (Rachel Lynch, Carla Kovach, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths…I could go on!)
Also unsurprising was the number of books that I read for free this year – I’ve always read a lot through NetGalley, plus have done some blog tours, so it is to be expected that a huge proportion of my reads (74%) were free in exchange for an honest review. I am eternally grateful to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for keeping me in reading material!
Finally, because of my NetGalley obsession, it makes perfect sense that my most read format this year was on Kindle (71%). I invested in a Kindle Oasis earlier this year because I thought the warm light feature might be kinder on my eyes, especially given how long I stare at it!
Things that did surprise me…
I know I read quite widely, but I thought I’d probably be very heavy on the crime and historical fiction. This did turn out to be true – 44% of my books had some kind of crime element, whether in a contemporary or historical setting. However, only 30% of my chosen reads had a historical setting – something I thought would be higher.
What I was pleasantly surprised by was the fact that 27% of the books were non-fiction. I do love non-fiction but thought it would be more overshadowed than that in the statistics. I was also happy to see that there was a range of genres in the mix too – poetry, humour, romance and ‘other’ (contemporary fiction, play scripts) made up a good chunk.
I seem to be heavily dependent on the 4* rating (71% of my books in 2020) but it was heartening to see that nearly 1/5 of the books I read this year were 5* ones. I wasn’t too surprised to see the small proportion of 3* rating (and nothing below) because I choose my books carefully and DNF any that won’t make 3 stars!
Some lists…
My 5 Star Reads of 2020 (so far) – links to reviews where possible!
Books I Bought With My Own Money and Read This Year:
| ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton |
| ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ by Bill Bryson |
| ‘Practically Perfect’ by Katy Brand |
| ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry |
| ‘The Princess and the Prick’ by Wallaburga Appleseed |
| ‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl |
| ‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran |
| ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross |
| ‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver |
| ‘The Book of Humans’ by Adam Rutherford |
| ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’ by Ben Aitken |
| ‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’ by Florence Given |
| ‘State of the Union’ by Nick Hornby |
| ‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff |
| ‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee |
| ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo |
| ‘Dead Famous’ by Greg Jenner |
| ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith |
| ‘A Murderous Relation’ by Deanna Raybourn |
| ‘You Took the Last Bus Home’ by Brian Bilston |
| ‘When the Dogs Don’t Bark’ by Angela Gallop |
| ‘A Million Years in a Day’ by Greg Jenner |
| ‘The Golden Tresses of the Dead’ by Alan Bradley |
| ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister |
| ’52 Times Britain was a Bellend’ by James Felton |
| ‘Fleabag’by Phoebe Waller-Bridge |
9 Writers I’ve Read More Than One Book By This Year:
Brilliant Debut Novels
5 Surprises This Year
Affiliate links to my books of the year (so far) – I may earn a small commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!
So that’s my Goodreads 100! It’s been an odd year – I don’t usually expect to read 100 books, let alone 100 books by October. I hope you’ve enjoyed my trawl through my reading so far this year and thank you for visiting and supporting my blog.
Header photo with thanks to Floris Andréa for sharing their work on Unsplash.
Another one of the shortlist for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2020, this is a lovely coming-of-age novel.
Lizzie is eighteen, keen to escape her slightly eccentric family and yet nervous about where her life may go. When she gets offered a job as a dentist’s assistant, a job that comes with the flat above the surgery, it seems time to leave the family home and start supporting herself.
It is 1980s Leicester and Lizzie is about to be thrown into a story of love, friendship, growing up, driving lessons and amateur dentistry. This story fits with Nina Stibbe’s other novels about the quirky Vogel family. However, I really don’t think I have read them in the right order, not that this seems to matter too much.
Lizzie is an engaging and naive narrator and her story is funny and charming. I’ve seen comparisons made between Stibbe and the late, great Sue Townsend – I can certainly understand this, as Lizzie has a touch of the innocence and humour that made Adrian Mole so popular, plus a wonderful cast of keenly-observed eccentrics around her.
This novel is at its best when it describes Lizzie navigating her everyday life – her interactions with her cantankerous dentist boss, her rather free-spirited mother, her snoozy driving instructor. I felt it was less successful when it got more serious, but that might be my personal taste – I wanted it to be happy and upbeat throughout.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel to those who enjoy humorous fiction in the vein of Adrian Mole – a naive protagonist adrift in an adult world that is hard to navigate. Lizzie is a sweet and charming narrator and you will want to read more of her story.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Hybrid for sharing their work on Unsplash.
