P is for Page (A-Z Challenge 2026) 18/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The P authors I've read are:

• Page Libby
• Page Sally
• Palin Michael
• Paris B A
• Parks Adele
• Parmar Priya
• Parsons Tony
• Pascoe Sara
• Patchett Ann
• Patterson James
• Patterson Richard North
• Peake Mervyn
• Pearse Lesley
• Pearson Allison
• Pelzer Dave
• Penner Sarah
• Perkins Sue
• Perkins-Valdez Dolen
• Perks Heidi
• Perry Philippa
• Perry Sarah
• Phinn Gervase
• Picoult Jodi
• Pine Alex
• Plath Sylvia
• Pooley Clare
• Pratchett Terry
• Pullman Philip

Well a lot more P authors and, given that he has written an enormous amount of books, well over 200 as at 2024, it's not surprising that James Patterson is my most read P author with 37!  Of course lots of those are written with co-authors but still....he puts his name on a lot of books.  But he also gives back - donating to literacy focussed philanthropy, providing scholarships, supporting independent booksellers amongst other things.

I don't think I've read any bad Patterson books.  Yes they can seem a bit formulaic at times, especially the series, but they're often fast moving, action packed page turners.  I'm sure they're are lots of critics out there who will find flaws and faults but sometimes you just need a book that keeps you from thinking about everything else that is going on around you.

Another great author, in my opinion, on this list is Jodi Picoult.  I've read 18 of her novels and, of those I've rated and reviewed only 1 got a 2 star rating (House Rules) - it was written back in 2010 and features Jacob who has been diagnosed with Asperger's.  The book could do with an update.  

Most of her books rate at least 3 if not 4 stars from me with a few getting 5 stars:

Small great things

A Spark of Light &

Mad Honey

Picoult is not afraid to challenge difficult subjects and her research is usually excellent.

Other books I've rated 5 stars from this group of authors include:

The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page

The Stranger in my House by Adele Parks

Take my Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

A couple of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series also made it onto this list from my BBC challenge.  Sadly Pratchett died in 2015 having been diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer's back in 2008, he was only 66.

Have you or your children read anything by Pratchett?

Friday's Fave Five - 17/4/26

Time to look back on the week and find the blessings.  Susanne is our host for this and you can find her blog here.

1)  Thankful for a quiet weekend last week.  It had been quite busy here the week before with family visiting etc so it was nice just to have some down time particularly as I was fighting a cold.

2)  Thankful that the cold has now gone and I'm feeling much more my usual self and less sleep disruptions.

3)  A Knit and Natter session on Tuesday this week.  We've also changed venue to the upstairs room of the local pub.  It means we have more space and can natter over a glass of wine.

4)  A good library book club meet up on Wednesday.  We had a new member and all the regulars were there so 8 of us in total.  

5)  A fun evening last night at the Foodbank - another wine tasting and quiz evening organised by the local wine bar.  It was a sell out with 120 tickets sold.  Hopefully it will have raised a lot of money for the Foodbank.  It was a long day for me though as I was there at 9 am for the usual foodbank session until 1.30 then we had 2 of Hubby's sisters and their husbands for dinner as they joined us to make up a team for the quiz.  We didn't get home until around 11 pm.  Thankfully nothing was planned for today.

And as a bonus it's definitely spring time now - I got washing dry outside during the week!

Have a good weekend all.

O is for O'Brien (A-Z Challenge 2026) 17/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The O authors I've read are:

• O’Brien James
• O’Farrell Maggie
• O’Flanagan Sheila
• O’Leary Beth
• O’Loughlin Ann
• Obama Barak
• Obama Michelle
• Oliver Jenny
• Orwell George
• Osman Richard
• Owens Delia

My lists seem to be shrinking - only 11 "O" authors with 15 books between them.  They are mostly single choices with the exceptions of Sheila O'Flanagan, Ann O'Louglin, Jenny Oliver and George Orwell who have 2 each.

Only 1 5 star book too - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.  I loved it but you can also find 1 star reviews on Goodreads from readers who hated it.

There aren't many stand out books on the list.  Predictably the 2 George Orwell books I've read are Animal Farm and 1984 both of which feature on the BBC list.  Of the Obama books, I found Michelle's autobiography a bit hard going and long.  Barak's book (Dreams from my Father) gave an open and honest insight into his background and how he became the person he is.

The oddball in the list is probably James O'Brien's How not to be Wrong: The art of changing your mind.

O'Brien is a presenter on LBC radio and I find him quite opinionated.  He often starts his show with a long monologue about a particular subject and he can be very unforgiving to people who don't present their arguments very well, especially if there are holes in them.

This book was refreshing as it presented a more balance image of O'Brien and showed that there have indeed been times when he's realised that he needed to look at something differently.

Finally I must mention Richard Osman.  I have actually only read his first book The Thursday Murder Club.  My review was as follows:

"Well I'm a bit torn on this one. It's a nice cosy read - think Midsomer Murders meets Miss Marple except Miss Marple has a gang of residents in a retirement village. The group meet once a meet to discuss cold cases but then they're presented with an actual murder.

It all gets a bit silly at times although in a funny sort of way. I just felt the author was trying to be too clever with the plot lines - there are lots of them to keep track of. And characters. It also switches between 1st and 3rd person POVs which didn't really add to the narrative.

I didn't hate the book - I got through it in two days - but I certainly didn't love it. Unfortunately I think some books by well known celebrities don't always get the rejections an unknown writer does."

Of course lots of people loved it.  He's written 4 more and 2 in a new series (We solve murders) so he's obviously doing something right.

Are you a fan?

N is for Nadal (A-Z Challenge 2026) 16/4/26

The A-Z home page can be found here.

My theme this year is authors that I've read. More about the books I've read than the authors themselves.

I'm an avid reader. I'm a member of 2 in person reading groups through my local library. I'm gradually working my way through an old BBC reading list of 100 books (I'm about half way through) and I'm taking part in the online 52 Book Club Challenge for the third time this year where the challenge is to read 52 books over the year based on 52 different prompts. You can also find me on Goodreads here.

The N authors I've read are:

• Nadal Jay
• Nadin Joanna
• Nally James
• Nesbo Jo
• Ng Celeste
• Nicholls Adam
• Nicholls David
• Niffennegger Audrey
• Noble Elizabeth
• North Freya
• Norton Graham
• Norton Mary
• Nugent Liz

Not as many names on this list and and in terms of most books read Norwegian Jo Nesbo tops the list with 10 books, The Thirst, (Harry Hole #11) earning 5 stars.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger also got 5 stars.  This started off slowly for me then I started to really enjoy it. Not my usual genre and wasn't really sure how to categorise it. It's a love story, a ghost story and it's also about the relationships between twins.  I also learned a lot about Highgate Cemetery.

Many of you may know her for The Time Traveller's Wife which I read a long time ago so I don't have a rating or review for that one but I know I enjoyed it.

I've read a couple of books by Graham Norton better known for being a TV presenter, and was pleasantly surprised by them.  

No real adult classics here but The Borrowers by Mary Norton is definitely a children's classic that I loved.

Do you have a favourite children's classic?

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