Six in Six: The 2025 Edition

Jo who used to blog The Book Jotter  is not running Six in Six again this year. The idea is to summarise the first six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggested or come up with your own. Or if you want to do a shorter version, then just post something about six books you have read in the first six months of 2025.

Although Jo is no longer blogging I think it’s a good way to look back over the last six months’ reading and so I thought I’d do it again this year.

As I’ve been reading less than usual this year (33 books in the first six months) I’ve had to use some of the books in more than one category. And as I’ve been reviewing less I haven’t written posts about all the books. The links take you to my posts on the books, and some are just short posts, not reviews. Books I haven’t reviewed are linked to Amazon.

Six Crime Fiction

  1. The Likeness by Tana French
  2. The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
  3. Only Murders in the Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine
  4. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd
  5. The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
  6. There’s a Reason For Everything by E R Punshon

Six books set in the past

  1. The Librarian by Salley Vickers – 1950s
  2. Precipice by Robert Harris (linked to Amazon)
  3. Resistance by Owen Sheers
  4. The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer
  5. Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
  6. The House of Seymour by Joanna Hickson

Six Authors New to me

  1. There’s a Reason for Everything by E R Punshon
  2. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd
  3. Resistance by Owen Sheers
  4. My Beautiful Imperial by Rhiannon Lewis
  5. By Your Side by Ruth Jones
  6. Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd

Six Books I Read from My To Be Read List

  1. Signal Moon by Kate Quinn – a short story
  2. Keir Starmer: the Biography by Tom Baldwin
  3. Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn – nonfiction
  4. Wintering by Katherine May – nonfiction (linked to Amazon)
  5. Dead Man’s Time by Peter James
  6. Five Have a Wonderful Time by Enid Blyton

Six books I have read but not reviewed (all linked to Amazon)

  1. Ted: a Pawtography: My Adventures in Gone Fishing by Ted the Dog as told to Lisa Clark 
  2. The One that Got Away by Mike Gayle
  3. The Curious Case of the Village in the Moonlight by Steve Wiley
  4. The Boy With No Shoes: a Memoir by William Horwood
  5. The Neighbour’s Secret by Sharon Bolton
  6. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Six books recently added to my wish list (all linked to Amazon)

  1. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
  2. The Women of Arlington Hall by Jane Healey
  3. The Real Jane Austen by Paula Byrne
  4. God is an Englishman (The Swann family saga Book 1) by R F Delderfield
  5. A Cold Wind from Moscow by Rory Clements
  6. All That Matters by Chris Hoy – his autobigraphy

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too.

Six in Six: The 2024 Edition

I’m pleased to see that Jo at The Book Jotter  is running this meme again this year to summarise the first six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggests or come up with your own. Or if you want to do a shorter version, then just post something about six books you have read in the first six months of 2024.

I think it’s a good way to look back over the last six months’ reading. As I’ve been reading less than usual this year (30 books in the first six months) I’ve had to use some of the books in more than one category. And as I’ve been reviewing less I haven’t written posts about all the books. Where they exist the links take you to my posts on the books, and some are just short posts, not reviews.

Six Crime Fiction

  1. The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts
  2. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
  3. Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes
  4. The Flower Arranger at All Saints by Lis Howell
  5. Indefensible by James Woolf
  6. The Hunter by Tana French

Six Authors New to me

  1. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  2. Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans
  3. Everything is Everything by Clive Myrie
  4. A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
  5. Great Meadow by Dirk Bogarde
  6. Black Roses by Jane Thynne

Six books set in a country other than my own

  1. The Hunter by Tana French
  2. Nero by Conn Iggulden
  3. Black Roses by Jane Thynne
  4. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  5. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
  6. Road Ends by Mary Lawson

Six Books I Read from My To Be Read List

  1. The Invisible Man by H G Wells
  2. The Fledgeling by Frances Faviell
  3. The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
  4. The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe
  5. Shakespeare: The Man who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, Brendan O’Hea
  6. The Innocent by M R Hall

Six books I have read but not reviewed (yet)

  1. You Are Dead by Peter James
  2. Past Lying by Val McDermid
  3. The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware
  4. The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre
  5. Cut and Thirst by Margaret Attwood
  6. In the Springtime of the Year by Susan Hill

Six books recently added to my wish list

  1. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  2. The Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin by Patrick Barkham
  3. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
  4. Troy by Stephen Fry
  5. The Well-Lived Life by Dr. Gladys McGarey 
  6. Trouble in Nuala by Harriet Steel

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too

Six in Six: The 2023 Edition

I’m pleased to see that Jo at The Book Jotter  is running this meme again this year to summarise six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggests or come up with your own. I think it’s a good way at looking back over the last six months’ reading.

Six Crime Fiction

  1. Underworld by Reginald Hill
  2. The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
  3. The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves
  4. Aftermath by Peter Robinson
  5. Shroud of Darkness by E C F Lorac
  6. A Death in Tuscany by Michele Giuttari

Six Authors New to me

  1. The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel
  2. The Dancing Bear by Francis Faviell
  3. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
  4. How to Save a Life by S D Robertson
  5. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
  6. The Road Towards Home by Corinne Demas

Six books from the past that drew me back there

  1. Lion by Conn Iggulden
  2. The City of Tears by Kate Mosse
  3. Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks
  4. The Light Between the Oceans by M L Stedman
  5. Elizabeth Macarthur: A life at the edge of the world by Michelle Scott Tucker
  6. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Six Books I Read from My To Be Read List

  1. The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson
  2. Ghost Walk by Alanna Knight
  3. This Nowhere Place by Natasha Bell
  4. On the Beach by Nevil Shute
  5. The Summer That Never Was by Peter Robinson
  6. Not Dead Yet by Peter James

Six authors I have read before

  1. Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
  2. Asking for the Moon by Reginald Hill
  3. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
  4. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
  5. The Driftwood Girls by Mark Douglas-Home
  6. The Man With No Face by Peter May

Six books recently added to my wish list

  1. The Birthday Girl: (A Mallory Dawson Crime Thriller Book 1) by Sarah Ward
  2. As the Crow Flies (DI Nick Dixon Crime Book 1) by Damien Boyd
  3. The Last Remains: The 15th in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries by Elly Griffiths
  4. The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley
  5. Weyward by Emilia Hart
  6. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too

Six in Six: The 2022 Edition

I’m pleased to see that Jo at The Book Jotter  is running this meme again this year to summarise six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggests or come up with your own. I think it’s a good way at looking back over the last six months’ reading.

This year, just like last year, I haven’t been reading as much as in previous years and up to the end of June the total was standing at 38 books. Here are my six categories (with links to my reviews in the first 4 categories).

Six Crime Fiction

  1. Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton
  2. The Last Trial by Scott Turow
  3. The Second Cut by Louise Welsh
  4. The Drowned City by K L Maitland
  5. Cécile is Dead by Georges Simenon
  6. The Hiding Place by Simon Lelic

Six Authors New to me

  1. How To Catch a Mole by Marc Hamer (nonfiction)
  2. The Chalet by Catherine Cooper
  3. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  4. Rain: Four Walks in English Weather by Melissa Harrison
  5. The Chapel in the Woods by Dolores Gordon-Smith
  6. A Tapping at My Door by David Jackson

Six books from the past that drew me back there

  1. The Queen’s Lady by Joanne Hickson
  2. The Man in the Bunker by Rory Clements
  3. Ashes by Christopher de Vinck
  4. The Red Monarch by Bella Ellis
  5. The Homecoming by Anna Enquist
  6. Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook

Six Books I Read from My To Be Read List

  1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  2. The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
  3. Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
  4. A Room With a View by E M Forster
  5. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
  6. The Riddle of the Third Mile by Colin Dexter

Six  Books I’ve Read But Not Reviewed

  1. Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
  2. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley
  3. Dead Like You by Peter James
  4. Smiley’s People by John le Carré
  5. Holy Island by L J Ross
  6. The Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkein

Six authors I read last year – but not so far this year and their books I have on my shelves to read

  1. Daphne du Maurier – I’ll Never Be Young Again
  2. Lucinda Riley – The Pearl Sister
  3. Charles Dickens – Nicolas Nickleby
  4. Robert Harris – Nucleus
  5. Beryl Bainbridge – Winter Garden
  6. Steve Cavanagh – Thirteen

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too

Six in Six: 2021

I’m pleased to see that Jo at The Book Jotter  is running this meme again this year to summarise six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggests or come up with your own. I think it’s a good way at looking back over the last six months’ reading.

This year, just like last year, I haven’t been reading as much as in previous years and up to the end of June the total was standing at 38 books. Several books could fit into the same categories, so to avoid duplication, for my last category I’ve chosen Jo’s category of ‘Six authors I read last year – but not so far this year‘ and added the books by those authors that I want to read.

Here are my six categories (with links to my reviews, except for the categories of Six Books I’ve Not Reviewed and Six Authors I Read Last Year, which I’ve linked to Goodreads):

Six Crime Fiction

  1. Cruel Acts by Jane Casey
  2. Exit by Belinda Bauer
  3. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
  4. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
  5. The Mirror Dance by Catriona McPherson
  6. Murder in the Mill Race by E C R Lorac

Six Authors New to me

  1. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thoroughgood
  2. The Thursday Murder Club  by Richard Osman
  3. Girl in the Walls by A L Gnuse
  4. We Are Not in the World by Conor O’Callaghan
  5. Inland by Téa Obreht 
  6. The Railway Children by E Nesbit

Six books from the past that drew me back there

  1. The One I Was by Eliza Graham
  2. Orlando by Virginia Wood
  3. A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
  4. The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
  5. Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Mcneal
  6. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

 Six Books I Read from My To Be Read List

  1. Measure of Malice edited by Martin Edwards
  2. Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
  3. The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley
  4. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
  5. English Pastoral by James Rebanks
  6. Ice Bound by Jerri Nelson

Six  Books I’ve Read But Not Reviewed

  1. For the Record by David Cameron
  2. Not Dark Yet by Peter Robinson
  3. A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough
  4. The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville
  5. Prophecy by S J Parris
  6. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

Six authors I read last year – but not so far this year and their books I have on my shelves to read

  1. Reginald Hill – Child’s Play
  2. Georges Simenon – Night at the Crossroads
  3. Joseph Knox – True Crime Story
  4. Anthony Horowitz – A Line to Kill
  5. Ragnar Jonasson – The Girl Who Died
  6. William Shaw – Deadland

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too.

Six in Six: 2020

I’m pleased to see that Jo at The Book Jotter  is running this meme again this year to summarise six months of reading, sorting the books into six categories – you can choose from the ones Jo suggests or come up with your own. I think it’s a good way at looking back over the last six months’ reading.

This year I haven’t been reading as much as in previous years and up to the end of June the total was standing at 36 books. Several books could fit into the same categories, so to avoid duplication, for my last category I’ve chosen Jo’s category of ‘Six authors I read last year – but not so far this year‘ and added the books by those authors that I want to read.

Here are my six categories (with links to my reviews, except for the category of Six Authors I Read Last Year, which I’ve linked to Amazon UK):

Six Crime Fiction

  1. Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert
  2. Remain Silent by Susie Steiner
  3. The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox
  4. Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear
  5. An Air That Kills by Andrew Taylor
  6. The Guardians by John Grisham

Six Authors New to me

  1. Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu
  2. The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford
  3. Queen Lucia by E F Benson
  4. Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin
  5. Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
  6. Saving Missy by Beth Morrey

Six books from the past that drew me back there

  1. The Lady of the Ravens by Joan Hickson
  2. Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements
  3. The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey
  4. The Deep by Alma Katsu
  5. Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan
  6. The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd

Six  Books I Read on Kindle

  1. The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray
  2. Writing Wild by Kathryn Aalto
  3. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
  4. Looking Good Dead by Peter James
  5. The Mist by Ragnar Jonasson
  6. The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor

Six Physical Books I Read

  1. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  2. Happy Old Me by Hunter Davies
  3. A Killing Kindness by Reginald Hill
  4. The Mystery of Princess Louise by Lucinda Hawksley
  5. Yesterday’s Papers by Martin Edwards
  6. Deadheads by Reginald Hill

Six authors I read last year – but not so far this year and their books I want to read

  1. Jo Spain – With Our Blessing – the 1st Inspector Tom Reynolds mystery, because I’ve read the 4th book, but not the first three.
  2. Jane Harper – The Dry – the 1st Aaron Falk novel. I’ve already read the 2nd, Force of Nature.
  3. Lisa Jewell – Invisible Girl – her new novel to be published 6 August.
  4. S G Maclean – The House of Lamentations – the final Damian Seeker novel – I’ve read the first four.
  5. Lucinda Riley – The Storm SisterThe Seven Sisters Book 2. I’ve read the first one.
  6. Claire Douglas – Just Like the Other Girls – her new thriller to be published 6 August.

How is your reading going this year? Do let me know if you take part in Six in Six too.