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?

Start here

M is for Mackie (A-Z Challenge 2026) 15/4/26

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 M authors I've read are:

• Mackie Bella
• Mackintosh Clare
• MacMillan Gilly
• Magnanti Brooke
• Mallery Susan
• Mankell Henning
• Mansell Jill
• Margolyes Miriam
• Marks Rachel
• Marsh Henry
• Marsh Katie
• Martel Yann
• Martin Madeline
• Marwood Alex
• Mason Richard
• Matthews Carole
• May Peter
• McAllister Gillian
• McBeth Collette
• McCullough Colleen
• McDermid Val
• McEwan Ian
• McGregor Jon
• McInerney Monica
• McNish Hollie
• Michaelides Alex
• Milne A A
• Money-Coutts Sophia
• Montgomery L M
• Moorcroft Sue
• Morgan Ann
• Morgan Sarah
• Morgenstern Erin
• Moriarty Liane
• Moriarty Sinead
• Morrey Beth
• Morris Heather
• Morrison Toni
• Morton Kate
• Moyes Jojo
• Murakami Haruki

Another mixed bunch of authors here with Carole Matthews being the most read with 8 titles.  A quick scan of the titles would show them to be chick lit but with a bit of depth.  I gave many of them 4 stars.

A few classics on there - who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh?  Plus some titles many of you will recognise:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery

The Tattooist of Auschwitz & the sequel Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris (Both 5 * in my opinion.)

All of the Me Before You series by Jojo Moyes although the first one is definitely the best.

A couple of books fell outside my usual remit:

Do No Harm by Henry Marsh who worked as a neurosurgeon, this book outlines case studies and shows how difficult it can be when one mistake can change a patient's life in a devastating way or even result in death.

Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood by Hollie McNish 

Loved this book. Hollie kept a diary from the start of her pregnancy until her "Little One" reached the age of 3. But more than just a diary, it's also full of poems. She really captures the ups and downs of parenthood and manages to convey in words so many of the trials and tribulations and the joys of becoming a Mother. Great poems but her prose is beautiful too.

I also enjoyed Miriam Margolyes' autobiography "This much is true" but it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.  Miriam is a bit like Marmite, you either love her or hate her. For me she is ok in small doses. As your friend, she would always have your back but you'd never want her as your enemy. She's also very crude.

A few other 5 star books on this list:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Great twist in this one.) and

Saving Missy by  Beth Morrey.

Are you good at spotting the twists before they come?

PS Toni Morrison appears on the above list and I did start "Beloved" by her but I could not get into it.  I hate giving up on books but it really wasn't doing it for me so I passed.