A freelance writer reading list
A voracious reader, I can’t stand being without reading material. As long as I have something to read I am never bored. If I accidentally leave the house without a book… nightmare! I turn back and fetch one.
I read New Scientist magazine every week. It’s an entertaining source of the real truth about all sorts of cool things, from economics, space travel and robotics to conservation, politics, climate change, AI, human intelligence, the brain, quantum physics, computing, cyber-security, engineering, medicine, genomics… you name it.
Now and again I delve into my husband’s copy of Private Eye. And to keep things real, to keep myself sane in this mental-crazy world, I read Viz.
2021 reading list
In 2020 I re-read 127 books. I’m still at it, locked down and enjoying more old favourites from the bookshelf.
- Notes From an Exhibition by Patrick Gale
- Grace After Henry by Eithne Shortall
- State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy
- Relentless by Simon Kernick
- Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
- Blind Faith by Ben Elton
- The Balloonist by James Long
- The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
2020 reading list
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
- Secret Smile by Nicci French
- Let Me Go – My Mother and the SS by Helga Schneider
- Gentleman’s Relish by Patrick Gale
- Blue Monday by Nicci French
- Tuesday’s Gone by Nicci French
- Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French
- Thursday’s Children by Nicci French
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Faking Friends by Jane Fallon
- Sister by Rosamund Lupton
- Ox-Tales – Water – By various authors
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
- A Sense of Guilt by Andrea Newman
- The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones
- While Someone’s Watching You Sleep by Stephanie Merritt
- The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
- A Place to Come To by Robert Penn Warren
- An Imaginative Experience by Mary Wesley
- A Dubious Legacy by Mary Wesley
- Having it and Eating it by Sabine Durrant
- The Husband’s Secret by Laine Moriarty
- After You Left by Carol Mason
- Things We Knew Were True by Nicci Gerrard
- The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
- One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner
- Saving Grace by Jane Green
- Brother and Sister by Joanna Trollope
- She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick
- Beside Myself by Ann Morgan
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- Falling by Julie Cohen
- Complicit by Nicci French
- Land of the Living by Nicci French
- Crazy Paving by Louise Doughty
- I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
- Turning Thirty by Mike Gayle
- The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim by Jonathan Coe
- The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent
- A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel
- My Lover’s Lover by Maggie O’Farrell
- Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
- The Old Neighbourhood by Avery Corman
- The Making Of Us by Lisa Jewell
- Goodbye Johnny Thunders by Tania Kindersley
- Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French
- After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
- What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn
- October Sky by Homer H. Hickam Jnr
- The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
- The Blue Bedroom by Rosamunde Pilcher
- Against Her Nature by Elizabeth Buchan
- Consider Her Ways and Others by John Wyndham
- A Simple Life by Rosie Thomas
- The Petting Zoo by Brett Singer
- Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes
- So Disdained by Nevil Shute
- The Little House by Phillipa Gregory
- The Stand In by Deborah Moggach
- Deceit by Clare Francis
- Remember Me This Way by Sabine Durrant
- King Solomon’s Carpet by Barbara Vine
- Gallowglass by Barbara Vine
- Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope
- What To Do When Someone Dies by Nicci French
- Family Pictures by Jane Green
- Seesaw by Deborah Moggach
- The Book of Summer by Emylia Hall
- The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe
- Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope
- Little Girl Gone by Alexandra Burt
- So Much For That by Lionel Shriver
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- A Village Affair by Joanna Trollope
- The Information Officer by Mark Mills
- Quake by Rudolph Wutlitzer
- The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
- Cinderella Girl by Carin Gerhardsen
- I Am Watching You by Tesera Driscoll
- Bread Alone by Judi Hendricks
- Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
- Stonemouth by Iain Banks
- Falling Away by Candida Crewe
- The Nick of Time by Francis King
- The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy
- All the Hopeful Lovers by William Nicholson
- She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
- With My Little Eye by Francis King
- These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach
- A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
- Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
- The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins
- Necessary Rites by Janice Elliott
- Trick of the Light by Jill Dawson
- Killing the Dead by Marcus Sedgewick
- Final Demand by Deborah Moggach
- My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain
- While I was Gone by Sue Miller
- Where or When by Anita Shreve
- Smile by Deborah Moggach
- Final Venture by Michael Ridpath
- Mr Wrong by Elizabeth Jane Howard
- Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
- Summer’s Child by Diane Chamberlain
- The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyles
- Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses by Carole Matthews (awful! 😉
- The Lake House by Kate Morton
- The Soldier’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
- The Well by Catherine Chanter
- The Needle by Francis King
- The Water’s Lovely by Ruth Rendell
- A Demon in my View by Ruth Rendell
- A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell
- The New Girlfriend by Ruth Rendell
- A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
- Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
- The Far Country by Nevil Shute
- The Chequerboard by Nevil Shute
- No Highway by Nevil Shute
- Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman
- Plenty by Andrew Osmond
- Fox Evil by Minette Walters
- The Rest of Their Lives by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
- Johnny Cakes by Paisley Ray
- The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre
2019 reading list
- Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes
- Daughters in Law by Joanna Trollope
- Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O’Brien
- Paperback Raita by William Rhode
- Sister Sister by Sue Fortin
- A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
- The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall
- Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
- The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
- Voices in Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
- Catch Me When I Fall by Nicci French
- The Kissing Garden by Charlotte Bingham
- Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes
- Daddy’s Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark
- The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan
- Other People’s Children by Joanna Trollope
- Puff Ball by Fay Weldon
- Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
- Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
- On The Edge by Michael Ridpath
- Going Out by Scarlett Thomas
- Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington
- Hitman Anders and the Meaning Of It All by Jonas Johansson
- Between You and Me by Lisa Hall
- Black Water by Louise Doughty
- Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
- The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
- Grace After Henry by Eithne Shortall
- The Songs of Us by Emma Cooper
- Before I Die by Jenny Downham
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- Swimming Pool Sunday by Madeleine Wickham
- Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble
- Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean
- The Way We Were by Elizabeth Noble
- Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
- A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
- Blood Sisters by Julie Shaw
- The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- Deep Freeze by John Sandford
- I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll
- Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido
- The Water’s Lovely by Ruth Rendell
- Harbour Hill by Katie Flynn
- My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella
- Strictly Between Us by Jane Fallon
- The Girl Before by JP Delayney
- Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
- Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey
- The Heartbreaker by Susan Howatch
- Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson
- My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain
- Fox Evil by Minette Walters
- Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
- Balancing Act by Joanna Trollope
- A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale
- Under Your Skin by Sabine Durrant
- The Great Indoors by Sabine Durrant
- Having It and Eating It by Sabine Durrant
- Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope
- Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope
- Take Me In by Sabine Durrant
- Remember Me This Way by Sabine Durrant
- Privileges by Jonathan Dee
- Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- The Outrun by Amy Liptrot
- Breaking the Trust by Lucy Clare
- Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach
- Redemption Road by Lisa Ballantyne
- Smile by Deborah Moggach
- Disclaimer by Renee Knight
- Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley
- Brighton & Hove on This Day by Dan Tester
- Twenty One Stories by Graham Greene
- Between You and Me by Lisa Hall
- Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon
- Do No Harm by L V Hay
- He’s After Me by Chris Higgins
- The Golden Hour by William Nicholson
- Dance With Me by Louise Doughty
- Fatal Error by Michael Ridpath
- May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes
- Cuckoo by Sophie Draper
- Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley
- Homeland by Clare Francis
- The Potter’s House by Rosie Thomas
- Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
2018 reading list
- Things We Knew Were True by Nicci Gerrard
- The Winter House by Nicci Gerrard
- A Simple Life by Rosie Thomas
- The Predator by Michael Ridpath
- The Nut Hut by Kathleen Taylor
- The Abortionist’s Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
- An English Murder by Louise Docherty
- Mother Country by Jeremy Harding
- Fire and Fury – Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff
- Unforgotten by Clare Francis
- The House of the Hanged by Mark Mills
- The Moortown Diary by Ted Hughes
- Red Crystal by Clare Francis
- Homeland by Clare Francis
- Crazy Paving by Louise Doughty
- Redemption Road by Lisa Ballantyne
- Find Her by Lisa Gardner
- Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope
- Heaven’s on Hold by Sarah Harrison
- Daughters in Law by Joanna Trollope
- City of Friends by Joanna Trollope
- A Spell of Swallows by Sarah Harrison
- English Place Names by Edward Harrington
- A Quartet of Cornish Cats by A. L Rowse
- The Hidden Landscape by Richard Fortey
- The Soldier’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
- The Fall of Light by Niall Williams
- The Whaleboat House by Mark Mills
- My Lover’s Lover by Maggie O’Farrell
- Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
- The Rector’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
- Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
- Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
- Sister by Rosamund Lupton
- Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
- The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies
- Swimsuit by James Patterson
- While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
- Falling by Julie Cohen
- The Stranger by Camilla Lackberg
- All The Hopeful Lovers by William Nicholoson
- Second Chance by Jane Green
- When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
- The Missing One by Lucy Atkins
- Odd Girl Out by Elizabeth Jane Howard
- Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean
- The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins
- The Other Child by Lucy Atkins
- The Language of Others by Clare Morall
- The Privileges by Jonathan Dee
- Notes From an Exhibition by Patrick Gale
- I Found You by Lisa Jewell
- A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
- Solace by Nicci Gerrard
- Little Girl Gone by Alexandra Burt
- Gentlemen’s Relish by Patrick Gale
- A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale
- Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
- The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve
- The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes
- Dreamer by Peter James
- The New House by Lettice Cooper
- The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden
- Relentless by Simon Kernick
- The Crooked House by Christobel Kent
- The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
- Afterwards by Rosamund Lipton
- Adventures in Modern Marriage by William Nicholson
- The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
- A Trick of the Light by Jill Dawson
- The Visible World by Mark Slouka
- The Best of Friends by Joanna Trollope
- Solace by Nicci Gerrard
- Girl From the South by Joanna Trollope
- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
- Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
- Twins by Bart Wood and Jack Geasland
- A Perfectly Good Family by Lionel Shriver
- The List by Siobhan Vivian
- One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner
- Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
- You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan
- A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel
- Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach
- Diving Into Light by Natasha Farrant
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Love, Always by Sally Brampton
- Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
- Shift by Em Bailey
- The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent
- Cinderella Girl by Carin Gerhardsen
- Grave Concerns by Rebecca Tope
- The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart
- The Girls by Lisa Jewell
- The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
- House of Ashes by Monique Roffey
2017 reading list
- The Golden Hour by William Nicholson
- Frailty by Betsy Rawley
- War, Spies and Bobby Sox – A WW2 trilogy by Libby Hellmann
- All The Hopeful Lovers by William Nicholson
- Mad and Rich by William Nicholson
- The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life by William Nicholson
- Every Woman Knows a Secret by Rosie Thomas
- The Moment You Were Gone by Nicci Gerrard
- The Heat of Betrayal by Dougles Kennedy
- Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
- The Fifth Summer by Titia Sutherland
- This Much I Know Is True by Wally Lamb
- Breaking the Trust by Lucy Clare
- Everything You Know by Zoe Heller
- The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle
- Porky by Deborah Moggach
- These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach
- The Truth About Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell
- The Girls by Lisa Jewell
- The Making of Us by Lisa Jewell
- I Found You by Lisa Jewell
- The Summer of Secrets by Martina Reilly
- The Nick of Time by Francis King
- Mirage by Andrea Newman
- Summer Secrets by Jane Green
- Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
- Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant
- May We Be Forgiven by A. M Homes
- Turning Thirty by Mike Gayle
- Disclaimer by Renee Knight
- The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
- Under the Lake by Stuart Woods
- My Lover’s Lover by Maggie O’Farrell
- After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
- This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
- Into The Water by Paula Hawkins
- The Twilight Hour by Nicci Gerrard
- A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
- I Let You Go by Clare Macintosh
- Where They Found Her by Kimberley McCreight
- Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
- The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie
- The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
- The Sundowners by Jon Cleary
- Family Pictures by Jane Green
- Fatal Error by Michael Ridpath
- The Red Dress by Sarah Harrison
- The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
- Kiss and Kin by Angela Lambert
- Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy
- The Job by Douglas Kennedy
- Incendiary by Chris Cleave
- The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy
- South of the Lights by Angela Huth
- The State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy
- Against Her Nature by Elizabeth Buchan
- The Muse by Jessie Burton
- Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French
- Daughters-in-Law by Joanna Trollope
- Notes From an Exhibition by Patrick Gale
2016 reading list
- Beneath the Skin by Nicci French
- The Unadulterated Cat by Terry Pratchett and Gray Joliffe
- The Book Club by Elizabeth Noble
- So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
- Missing Persons by Nicci Gerrard
- Solace by Nicci Gerrard
- The Winter House by Nicci Gerrard
- The Moment You Were Gone by Nicci Gerrard
- The Twilight Hour by Nicci Gerrard
- Things We Knew Were True by Nicci Gerrard
- Saving Grace by Jane Green
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Second Chance by Jane Green
- Family Pictures by Jane green
- Summer Secrets by Jane Green
- The Second Wife by Elizabeth Buchan
- Incendiary by Chris Cleve
- The Other Hand by Chris Cleve
- One Day by David Nicholls
- Natural Flights of the Human Mind by Clare Morrall
- The Language of Others by Clare Morrall
- Blue Eyed Boy by Joanne Harris
- Paperback Raita by William Rhode
- Tuesday’s Gone by Nicci French
- Thursday’s Children by Nicci French
- Runaway by Lucy Irvine
- Eden Close by Anita Shreve
- Seesaw by Deborah Moggach
- Catch Me When I Fall by Nicci French
- Asking for Trouble by Ann Granger
- Keeping Bad Company by Ann Granger
- Running Scared by Ann Granger
- A Spanish Lover by Joanna Trollope
- Improvising Carla by Joanna Hines
- Seduction Theory by Thomas Beller
- Visitors by Anita Brookner
- Silence and Shadows by James Long
- The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
- Knowing Max by James Long
- The Balloonist by James Long
- Flowers Won’t Fax by Sarah Harrison
- The Lives She Left Behind by James Long
- The Sunlit Garden by Francis King
- Heart of the River by Carolyn Slaughter
- Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
- The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn
- A Perfectly Good Family by Lionel Shriver
- Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- K-Pax by Gene Brewer
- Involved by Kate O’Riordan
- The Other Family by Joanna Trollope
- Lovely by Frank Ronan
- Where They Found Her by Kimberley McCreight
- Hit and Run by Doug Johnstone
- A Novel on the Edge of the World by Tom Davis
- Crime novellas: And Then She Was Gone by J Daniel Sawyer, Code Blues by Melissa Yuan-Innes and Cold Call by Dean Wesley Smith
- Fatal Destiny by David DeLee
- A Fatal Twist of Lemon by Patrice Greenwood
- Playing with Matches by Julie Hyzy
- The Night and the Music by Lawrence Block
- The Job by Douglas Kennedy
- The Moment by Douglas Kennedy
- The Heat of Betrayal by Douglas Kennedy
- The Overlook by Michael Connelly
- Till We Meet Again by Lesley Pearce
- Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
- You Against Me by Jenny Downham
- In the Dark by Mark Billingham
- Buried by Mark Billingham
- Dreamer by Peter James
- Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
- The Chosen One by Sam Bourne
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
- The Confession by John Grisham
- The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop
- Garnethill by Denise Mina
- The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Callisto by Torsten Krol
- Wish I Was Here by Jackie Kay
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- Disclaimer by Renee Knight
- The Ghost by Robert Harris
- The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
- The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson
- The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt
- The Great Indoors by Sabine Durrant
- The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
- Privileges by Jonathan Dee
- Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
- One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
- Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean
- Twenty One Locks by Laura Barton
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- The Long Firm by Jake Arnott
- Things we Knew Were true by Nicci Gerrard
- Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
- Little Girl Gone by Alexandra Burt
- Long Time Coming by Edie Claire
- The Day You Saved my Life by Louise Candlish
- Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes
- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
- Confessions of a Fallen Angel by Ronan O’Brien
- The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
- The House of Elliott by Jean Marsh
- Adam and Eve & Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell
- The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru
2015 reading list
- The Little Book of Gemstones by Steve Bennett
- Walking in England – by the AA
- Landfall by Nevil Shute
- Marrying the Mistress by Joanna Trollope
- Confessions of a Psychopath by M E Thomas
- Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope
- Incendiary by Chris Cleve
- Night Train by Pascal Mercier
- Gold by Chris Cleve
- A Spanish Lover by Joanna Trollope
- Complicit by Nicci French
- What I loved by Siri Hustvedt
- Missing Persons by Nicci Gerrard
- Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
- The Petting Zoo by Brett Singer
- The Vacillations of Poppy Carew by Mary Wesley
- The Abortionist’s Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde
- Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute
- Free to Trade by Michael Ridpath
- Dad by William Wharton – for the Nth time, better every time
- Final Venture by Michael Ridpath
- Fatal Error by Michael Ridpath
- The Predator by Michael Ridpath
- On the Edge by Michael Ridpath
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru
- The Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card – Better every time, a masterpiece
- Toxicity by Libby Hellmann
- Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French
- I Let You Go by Claire Mackintosh
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
- Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card
- Homebody by Orson Scott Card
- The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
- The Doves of Venus by Olivia Manning
- The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
- Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
- Behind the scenes at the museum by Kate Atkinson
- Killing the Dead by Marcus Sedgwick
- The Nut Hut by Kathleen Taylor
- She is not invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins – Probably the best thriller I have ever read
- A Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
- The Whaleboat House by Mark Mills
- No Safe House by Linwood Barclay
- Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes
- What I loved by Siri Hustvedt – for the second time this year!
- Bread Alone by Judi Hendricks
- Stone Cradle by Louise Doughty
- The Testament by John Grisham
- Rooms by Lauren Oliver
- A Risk Worth Taking by Robin Pilcher
- The Stand-in by Deborah Moggach
- One Day by David Nicholls – Fantastic. I adored it
- The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
- The Incidental Spy by Libby Hellmann
- An Imaginative Experience by Mary Wesley
- Swimming Pool Sunday by Madeleine Wickham
- The Well by Catherine Chanter
- Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk
- Jules and Jim by Henri-Pierre Roche – Couldn’t bear the character Kate, what a silly woman
- A Dubious Legacy by Mary Wesley
- Charlotte’s Friends by Sarah Kennedy
- The Bhagavad Gita – Picked it up out of curiosity:fascinating yet frilly, far too dense and complex to get to grips with unless you’re into serious studying
- The Tesseract by Alex Garland
- An English Murder by Louise Doughty
- Until it’s Over by Nicci French
- Jump Cut by my lovely client Libby Hellmann
- A Passionate Man by Joanna Trollope
- Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- The Wild by Esther Freud
- Deceit by Clare Francis
- A Dead Language by Peter Rushforth – gave up at page 40, far too heavy-going for me
- Intimate Friends by Charlotte Vale Allen
- Unforgotten by Clare Francis
- Red Crystal by Clare Francis
- Betrayal by Clare Francis
- Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French
- Gifted by Patrick Evans
- Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
2014 reading list
- Requiem to a Wren by Neville Shute – the very best in vintage British storytelling, splendid stuff, a fascinating tale of what ordinary people do when faced with personal and circumstantial adversity. Anachronistic, but charmingly so and the plot’s so good you forgive it. Still my favourite writer
- The Crocodile Bird by Ruth Rendell – eerie, atmospheric, delicate and brutal, dreamlike and intriguing. And you won’t believe the ending… what a shock. A sure sign of a brilliant book
- The Shadow Man by John Katzenbach – a page-turning crime thriller with a sinister Nazi twist
- The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
- The Never List by Koethi Zan – just heavenly
- From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koonz – I love the author’s enthusiasm and bone-deep need to write, a blazing love of it, a beacon. Epic storytelling, huge fun
- My favourite Nevil Shute anthology, 924 pages of complete reading pleasure, for the tenth time. How I wish he hadn’t died so young. I would have loved to thank him
- Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives – edited by Sarah Weinman. Some excellent, others weak, but all entertaining. An insight into the dark side of the US’s shining, perfect-seeming, Doris Day-perky 1950s
- Land of the Living by Nicci French – the best crime writing team on the planet. I adore their books. My second favourite authors of all time
- The Potter’s House by Rosie Thomas – So good I’ve read it five times so far. I adore the spookiness, the dips in and out of time, the incredibly subtle hints that something’s badly wrong – so subtle it took me five goes before I fully understood. I’d been so busy racing through, enjoying the broader plot. Read it slowly!
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – Epic, beautiful, a masterpiece. I really didn’t want it to end. Thinking about it makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. I typed up a bunch of paragraphs about the painting in the title and sent them to my mum, who’s an artist. Tartt expressed a lot of the things she and I have talked about, art stuff, perfectly and eloquently. She summed up my thoughts, feelings and theories to a tee. Thank you
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – thanks to lovely Jackie in Weymouth for the recommendation. What a delight, pure fantasy grown-up style, and reminiscent of Ray Bradbury in its delight in the strange. A deliciously rich imagination at work, and a quaint steampunk love story I’ll treasure
- The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer – Jackie, you’ll love this one. I really did cry. Touching, sweet, horrific. Like a fragrant boiled sweet with a something awful and unexpected in the middle, all maggoty. Brilliant
- Trick of the Light – by Jill Dawson
- The Other Hand by Chris Cleave – Heartbreaking
- A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel – it gets better each time
- What a Carve Up! By Jonathan Coe
- Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller – just as good the second time around
- And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – my third favourite author. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Another sign of a very special book: I’m still thinking about the fates of the characters, the shimmering strings that connect them, the pain, the sorrow, the joy, the loss, the waste of it, the missed opportunities. Shot through with painful, beautiful humanity in all its guises, from saintly to evil. Poignant, lovely, lovely, lovely… I’ll shut up now!
- Unexploded by Alison Macleod – Disliked the main female character so much I had to chuck it in the recycling. Then fished it out again and fell completely head over heels on page 114. Fantastic
- Thursdays Children by Nicci French
- The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams – which I first read when it was published in 1980. It’s just as delightfully spooky and fey now
- The King of Torts by John Grisham – not his best, far from it. The main character is a thoroughly unpleasant, selfish, greedy, thoughtless bugger and doesn’t redeem himself. His girlfriend is equally horrible. I wished them the worst and sadly it didn’t happen. The US legal system really is vile
- Paperback Raita by William Rhode – Totally brilliant
- I Have Waited and You Have Come by Martine McDonagh – Better every time I read it
- Love All by Elizabeth Jane Howard – Rather like Mary Wesley but nowhere near as good. Plus, one of the characters were so self-sacrificing I wanted to slap her, the other was selfish beyond belief.
- A Simple Life by Rosie Thomas
- The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
- Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier – beautiful and utterly brilliant, although I wish it had a happier ending!
- Blind Faith by Ben Elton – hilarious and profoundly disturbing at the same time. A wonderful horror of a book set in a dystopia I hope I never live to see.
- City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende – read a few pages, was confused by the lack of emotional depth then realised it’s a book for older children. Aha… that explains it! Fooled by the cover. Couldn’t finish it.
- Sycamore Row by John Grisham – I used to rip through Grisham novels, thrilled by the high octane plots. These days I find them hard work, more unpleasant than entertaining. His books highlight the USA’ so-called ‘justice’ system, which is a dysfunctional disgrace: greedy, immoral, amoral, and the ‘heroes’ tend to be downright unpleasant. It looks like I’ve outgrown Grisham, and I won’t be reading him again.
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – Phew, that’s better… a beautiful book, beautifully written, populated by people of integrity and emotional depth whose lives are worth reading about. It puts John Grisham to shame.
- An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas – Started it but had to stop at page ten, didn’t like the style and language, too flippant and frilly.
- The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo.
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes – fabulous.
- The Troubles by J. G Farrell.
- The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova – lost interest 3/4 of the way through because everything went far too Mills and Boon.
- The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson – that’s more like it!
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson.
- Nobody’s Child by Libby Fischer Hellmann – Very hard to put down, another excellent Georgia Davis adventure from Libby.
- Everything You Know by Zoe Heller – even better the second time around.
- The General by C S Forester – meticulous and dull, but I guess it would have been incendiary when first released in 1936, with WW1 a powerful memory and WW2 on the horizon.
- Franny and Zooey by J D Salinger – hateful characters, extreme pretentiousness, nothing happens, a million miles from Catcher in the Rye.
- This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff – brilliant.
- A Short History of Tractors in Ukrianian – By Marina Lewycka. As the Telegraph says, “mad and hilarious”. And as The Times says, “extremely funny”.
- The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck – It’s far too long since I read Steinbeck’s work. Note to self: re-acquire the entire collection.
- The Believers by Zoe Heller – for the second time. Deliciously irreverent and rude.
- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson – The best crime novel I’ve read for ages. Real problems putting it down!
- Sea Glass by Anita Shreve – Even better the second time around.
- These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach.
- Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson – breathtakingly good and highly complex. I’ll be reading it again next year to pin down the plot to perfection.
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.
- A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve.
- The Next Room by Sarah Harrison.
- Meditation for Busy People by Dawn Groves – just to brush up my skills!
- In Between the Sheets by Ian McEwan
- The New House by Lettice Cooper – A fascinating glimpse into the 1930s when the old order was on the way out but the old one wasn’t quite dead.
- Falling by Elizabeth Jane Howard – For the umpteenth time, always an excellent read.
- The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
- Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom
- Secret Smile by Nicci French – for the nth time!
- What to do When Someone Dies by Nicci French
- Under the Lake by Stuart Woods
- Voices of a Summer Day by Irwin Shaw
- The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy
2013 reading list
- The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
- Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
- Dirt Music by Tim Winton
- The Far Country by Nevil Shute
- Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
- The Wild by Esther Freud
- The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville
- The Client by John Grisham
- Cold Snap by Francis King
- The Colour by Rose Tremain
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- The Brief by John Grisham
- The Rain Maker by John Grisham
- The Information Officer by Mark Mills
- Final Demand by Deborah Moggach
- Missing Persons by Nicci Gerrard
- The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
- The Whaleboat House by Mark Mills
- Pronto by Elmore Leonard
- House of the Hanged by Mark Mills
- Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard
- The Beach by Alex Garland
- Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman
- Fractured by Karin Slaughter
- A Bitter Veil by Libby Fischer Hellmann
- Toxicity by Libby Fischer Hellmann
- Joby by Stan Barstow
- The Moronic Inferno (and other visits to America) by Martin Amis
- Necessary Rites by Janice Elliott
- The Woman Who Walked Into Walls by Roddy Doyle
- Disclosure by Michael Crighton
- A greyhound of a girl by Roddy Doyle
- Part of the furniture by Mary Wesley
- South of the Lights by Angela Huth
- Brother and Sister by Joanna Trollope
- The Rector’s Wife by Joanna Trollope
- Eureka Street by Robert Mcliam Wilson
- The Burden of Proof – by Scott Turow
- Ripley Bogle by Robert McLiam Wilson
- Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
- In Darkness by Nick Lake
- A Shot to Die For by Libby Hellmann
- Killing Me Softly by Nicci French
- Tuesday’s Gone by Nicci French
- Stonemouth by Iain Banks
- Havana Lost by Libby Hellmann
- Plus thirty or so more that fell off the bottom of this list for some unknown reason during 2014!