Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t

Published on by Margaret

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.

The topic this week is Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t. I have an enormous pile of books I’d love to read this year.

These are just ten of them, books I was so keen to read when I first got them, but for one reason or another I just never got round to actually reading them. And simply saying that I will read a book this year almost guarantees that I won’t. They’re listed in no particular order, because if I try to prioritise them that would be fatal:

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith – Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno meet on a train. Bruno manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. “Some people are better off dead,” Bruno remarks, “like your wife and my father, for instance.” 

Recalled to Life by Reginald Hill – Set in 1963, Dalziel and Pascoe re-investigate a crime of passion in one of England’s great houses, an open-and-shut case. But thirty years later, when the convicted nanny is freed, then spirited off to America before she can talk, Dalzeil wonders did the wrong aristocrat hang?

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn – a story of life in a mining community in rural South Wales as Huw Morgan is preparing to leave the valley where he had grown up. He tells of life before the First World War.

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman – set in 13th century Wales this is the story of Llewelyn, the Prince of North Wales, and his rise to power and fame and his love for Joanna, the illegitimate daughter of King John.

The Secret of Annexe 3 by Colin Dexter – Much too early on New Year’s Day, a grumpy Inspector Morse is summoned to investigate a murder at the Haworth Hotel. The victim is still wearing the Rastafarian costume that won him first prize at the hotel’s New Year’s Eve party; his female companion and the other guests in the annexe have vanished. It’s a mystery that’s a stretch even for Morse. But with pit-bull fervor he grabs the truth by the throat and shakes loose the bizarre secrets of a cold-blooded crime of passion. . . .

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – on the day of Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true.

 Birthright by Nora Roberts – a novel about an archaeological dig when five-thousand-year-old human bones are found, this has a sense of death and misfortune combined with a mystery about the archaeologist Callie Dunbrook’s past. 

 Earth and Heaven by Sue Gee – In the aftermath of the First World War, a young painter Walter Cox and the wood-engraver Sarah Lewis meet at the Slade, then set up home and a studio together. With their newfound happiness, and the birth of Meredith, then Geoffrey, the grief of war recedes. But children are unpredictable and have their own inner lives: events on a summer afternoon change everything …

 Tangerine by Christine Mangan – Set in Morocco in the 1950s, this is described as a psychological literary thriller and the perfect read for fans of Daphne du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith. The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the horrific accident at Bennington, the two friends – once inseparable roommates – haven’t spoken in over a year. But Lucy is standing there, trying to make things right.

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Penman – the first book in the Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy. Historical fiction about Stephen and his cousin, the Empress Maude, and the long fight to win the English throne.


17 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t”

  3. Planned reading so often doesn’t go, well, as planned, does it, Margaret? I like this meme, as it encourages people to read those books they haven’t gotten to yet. You’ve got some fine ones here, too. I’m especially interested in what you’ll think of the Hill, the Dexter, and the Highsmith.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Ah, interesting bunch! I wasn’t a big fan of How Green Was My Valley; Llewellyn was born in England and never spent much time in Wales, so he misrepresented the nature of the book quite a bit. I’d read a lot of his contemporaries who actually did grow up in Wales by the time I read his book, and it just rang very false beside the way they tackled things — a bit syrupy and shlocky. A lot of people love it though!

    I’ve been meaning to read Sharon Penman’s work for yeaaaaaars, argh. XD Hope you enjoy all of these once you get to them!

    My TTT.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I keep meaning to read Strangers on a Train too and then forget; but last year I did read How Green Was My Valley after several years of thinking about it, may be this year I’ll write a review!

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  7. This is how I find out Inspector Morse is a book series!! Well, that’s exciting!
    I hope you enjoy Gone Girl, too! My husband is a bit scarred from the movie, but I love both the movie and the book.

    My TTT

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I loved Here Be Dragons but am trying to finish that trilogy before starting the Eleanor of Aquitaine one, so I haven’t read When Christ and His Saints Slept yet. I read Strangers on a Train last year – my first Patricia Highsmith book and I’m looking forward to reading more!

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  12. Margaret, I think we all have so many books that we mean to get to, but we don’t. New books will continue to come out, won’t they? Ha! The only one on your list that I’ve read is GONE GIRL and I read it soon after it was published. Our mystery book group had a very interesting discussion of it afterwards. Here’s a hint – almost none of us liked it! Well, at that time, the unreliable narrator thing was new and unlikable characters, etc. We still talk about it in our book discussions. Probably means it might be one of the most memorable that we read.

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  16. Ha ha. Isn’t it weird how that works? It’s almost like planning (even casually) to read a book suddenly makes it seem like homework or something and then we actually avoid it…happens to me, too. Strange. I hope you enjoy all these when you get to them.

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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  17. I read Tangerine a while ago and I think I remember liking it but I can’t find a post about it to refresh my memory. I loved When Christ and His Angels Slept–I am reading the Penman English history novels in order and this was one of my favorites. If I ever finish the series, I’ll be eager to reread it!

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