Books Read in 2018

Books are listed in the chronological order I read them. The links in this list are to my reviews – some ‘reviews’ are mini reviews/notes or as parts of composite posts (not all books will be reviewed).

Key:

  • F = Fiction
  • K = Kindle
  • CF = Crime Fiction
  • HF = Historical Fiction
  • LB = library book
  • TBR = book acquired before 1 Jan 2018
  • RB = a review book from author/publisher/NetGalley
  • B = book borrowed from family/friends
  • NF = non-fiction

January

  1. Notes From An Exhibition by Patrick Gale 4* TBR
  2. Turning for Home by Barney Norris 4.5* RB, K, TBR
  3. The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin 3* HF, K, RB, TBR
  4. The Confession by Jo Spain 4* K, RB
  5. After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell 5*
  6. Force of Nature by Jane Harper 4* RB
  7. Victoria: A Life by A N Wilson 5* TBR, NF

February

  1. The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale 5* K, RB
  2. The Secret Vanguard by Michael Innes 4* K, RB, CF
  3. Only Child by Rhiannon Navin 5* K, RB
  4. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 5*, K,TBR, HF
  5. The Midnight Line by Lee Child 4*, TBR, CF
  6. The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen 3.5*, K, HF, RB
  7. Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman 4* CF
  8. Bookworm by Lucy Mangan 4*, NF, RB, K

March

  1. The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey 4.5* K, RB, HF
  2. Munich by Robert Harris 5* HF, LB
  3. Bump in the Night by Colin Watson 4* K, CF, RB
  4. Painting as a Pastime by Winston S. Churchill 5*, NF
  5. The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox 5* CF, K, RB
  6. The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie 4* F, K, RB
  7. The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes 3.5 * CF, K, RB
  8. The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor 5 * HF, K, RB

April

  1. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney 2.5* CF, HF, TBR
  2. The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor 5* HF, K, RB
  3. A Dying Note by Ann Parker 4* HF, CF, K, RB
  4. Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith 4* CF, K, RB
  5. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simsonson 3.5* F
  6. Time is a Killer by Michel Bussi 4.5* CF, K, RB

May

  1. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer 5* CF (short review)
  2. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker 4* K, NF, RB
  3. Snap by Belinda Bauer 3.5* CF, K, RB
  4. Her Hidden Life by V S Alexander 3* HF, K, RB
  5. A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman 4* NF, TBR (short review)
  6. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson 4* F, HF, K, TBR
  7. The Hunger by Alma Katsu 5* F, HF, K, RB
  8. Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner 4.5*, F, CF, K, RB
  9. Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer 4.5* F, CF, LB

June

  1. Bats in the Belfry by E C R Lorac 4* F, CF, K, RB
  2. The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton 4.5* F, CF, K, RB
  3. Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott 3* F, CF, K, KLL
  4. Stalker by Lisa Stone 3* F, CF,K, RB
  5. Watching You by Lisa Jewell 5*, F, K, RB
  6. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 5+*, F, TBR
  7. On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill 5* F, CF, TBR
  8. The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat 4* F, HF, K
  9. The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas 4.5* F, CF, LB
  10. Fire in the Thatch by E C R Lorac 4*, F, CF, K, RB

July

  1. Darkside by Belinda Bauer 5* F, CF
  2. The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse 4* F, HF, K, RB
  3. Ruined Stones by Eric Read 3.5* F,CF, RB
  4. Camino Island by John Grisham 3.5*, CF, K
  5. The Tudor Crown by Joanna Hickson 4* F, HF, K, RB
  6. No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister 5* F, CF, K, RB
  7. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware 3* F, CF, TBR
  8. Your Closest Friend by Karen Perry 2* F, K, RB
  9. Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie, writing as Mary Westmacott 5* F, TBR
  10. Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas 4* CF, F, K, RB

August

  1. Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas 4* CF,F, LB
  2. By Sword and Storm by Margaret Skea 4* HF, F, K, RB
  3. The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap 2* F, K, RB
  4. The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola 4* F, HR, RB
  5. He Who Whispers by John Dickson Carr 4* F, CF, TBR
  6. Macbeth by Jo Nesbo 5* F, RB, K
  7. Cécile is Dead by Georges Simenon 4* CF, F, TBR

September

  1. The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry 5* CF, F, K, RB
  2. The Gaslight Stalker by David Field 2* CF, F, HF, K, RB
  3. Appleby’s End by Michael Innes 3* F, K, RB
  4. Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton 5*, CF, F, K
  5. Wedlock:  How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore 4* NF, LB
  6. The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin by Georges Simenon 3.5* CF, F, TBR
  7. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Karen Morton 3* F, HF, K, RB
  8. East of Eden by John Steinbeck 4* F,K
  9. Down to the Woods by M J Arlidge F, CF, K, RB

October

  1. A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale 5* F, LB
  2. In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin 5* F, CF, K
  3. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller 4* F, HF, K, RB
  4. Timekeepers by Simon Garfield 2.5* rounded up to 3* NF, K, RB
  5. The Ghost by Robert Harris 4* F, TBR
  6. The Darkest Place by Jo Spain 4* CF, K, RB
  7. Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton 4* CF, K, TBR

November

  1. I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell 5* NF, K
  2. Jacob’s Room is Full of Books by Susan Hill 5* NF, LB
  3. Absolute Proof by Peter James 3.5* F, K, RB
  4. The Reckoning by John Grisham 5* F, K, CF
  5. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware 2.5* F, CF, LB
  6. The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan 4* F
  7. Tombland by C J Sansom 5* F, HF, CF

December

  1. The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz 5* F, CF, K, RB
  2. Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell 4* F, K, TBR
  3. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome 4* F, K, TBR
  4. Foreign Bodies short stories edited by Martin Edwards 3* F, K, RB