Monday, 27 April 2026

W is for Waal - (A-Z Challenge 2026) 27/4/26

#AtoZChallenge 2026 letter W
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 W authors I've read are:

  • Waal Kit de
  • Wake Jules
  • Ward Sarah
  • Ware Ruth
  • Watson S J
  • Weaver Tim
  • Webb Debra
  • Weiner Jennifer
  • Weisberger Lauren
  • Wetmore Elizabeth
  • Wiggs Susan
  • Wilde Oscar
  • Williams Julia
  • Wilson Jacqueline
  • Wilson Mairi
  • Winman Sarah
  • Wood Simon
  • Wood Val
  • Woodman Cathy
  • Worth Jennifer
  • Wyndham John

 Well quite a few W authors.  The prize for most read author goes to Cathy Woodman with 6 books.  I read a whole series by her all relating to a veterinary practice in the English countryside.  The Goodreads blurb is "Cathy Woodman, a fresh new voice in women's fiction, has written a warm, breezy romantic comedy that makes for the perfect relaxing cozy read".  The books definitely fit that description and I must have been in the mood for that type of book at the time which was back in 2018.

Jacqueline Wilson makes the list as the two I've read by her (The Story of Tracy Beaker and Double Act) were on the BBC list.  As was Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray which also ticks a classic box. I didn't enjoy it though, only giving it 2 stars.

Funny how some books stay with you and others don't, even by the same author.  I have reasonably clear memories of The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham but I just had to look up The Chrysalids to see what it was about.  Both dystopian of course.  It probably helped that I've seen a film version of the Day of the Triffids.

I read all the books in Jennifer Worth's trilogy on which the excellent series "Call the Midwife" is based.  But of course there are my usual choice of thrillers on there as well.  Ruth Ware for one and Tim Weaver for another.  Weaver's The Missing Family was a 5 star read for me.  

Another piece of trivia for you.  I really enjoyed Kit de Waal's book My name is Leon.  Set in the 1980s it tells the story of 9 year old Leon who has a difficult start in life. The book follows Leon's struggle with being in foster care and losing his brother. I concluded my review of that by saying, "The ending is quite open ended.  It will be interesting to see if the author writes a sequel."  I just googled this and apparently the author has expressed plans to write a sequel based on when Leon is 43.  I also discovered the original book had been televised.  Another one to add to the watchlist!

Do you have a watchlist of books you've read that have either been made into a film or televised?

1 comment:

  1. Very often I skip the tv or movie version if it was a book I truly loved and don't want tarnished in some way. We're almost there!! Yay!

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