Simply Seaside Life

When I started the year I set my reading goal to 36 which was 12 more than the 24 I read in 2018. I was sure I would be able to do this in time. In fact I hit that target in August and therefore I took the ambition choice to increase my target to 52 knowing that I had 4 months left of the year.

Well I was delighted that I exceeded my second target and finished the year having read 54 books. My reading was a combination of paperback, hardback, kindle books and audiobooks – they all count.

There were some brilliant books and some not so good books.

Highlights of the year include:

• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• The Familiars by Stacey Halls
• The Year of Less by Cait Flanders (non-fiction)
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls – this had me bawling my eyes out
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – incredible debut novel
• The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary – genius idea, excellent execution
• Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinsborough – a twist i never in a million years expected
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Lies, Lies, Lies by Adele Parks
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Not all of the above were 5 star books but these were the most memorable.

I’m not going to detail my worst books of the year as what I like will be different to someone else and I don’t want to put someone off reading a book. However my most disappointing book of 2019 was The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. I listened to the audiobook which I thought was done brilliantly and overall the story and the progress were really good until it got to the last 5% of the book and the ending was revealed. Had I been reading a physical book, I would have likely thrown it across the room. Very frustrating and disappointing.

There were of course a good few that i didn’t finish (DNF’d) and these were:

• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett (loved the TV show though)
• The Little Book of Big Change by Amy Johnson (non-fiction)
• The Anxiety Solution by Chloe Brotheridge (non-fiction)
• The Reunion by Guillaume Musso
• The Self Love Experiment by Shannon Kaiser (non-fiction)
• The Beast Within by Serena Valentino
• My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal
• Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo

Mostly non-fiction, self help type books but i guess  you’ve got to be open to those books and in the right frame of mind and they just weren’t for me.