I loved Wood's previous novel The Natural Way of Things. This book's subject matter is vastly different from the first. This is about three older woman who are clearing out the house of a friend who has recently passed away. It's told from the perspective of each woman as they remember their friend and friendship and come to turns with their loss.

I did this as an audio which I enjoyed but I don't think for me it was quite as good.

I'm always on the look out for books that my kids will love. (Mr six and miss four). It's even better when they both love the same book and this one hit the mark. A cute, quirky tale wrapped up in a graphic novel. It's all about fighting the stereotype of being a bad guy. A fun read for everyone.

Let me know your suggestions for books for kids. I'm particularly interested in books with female protagonist that boys will enjoy.

I'm on a bit of a cozy crime fiction spree at the moment and thought I should try Agatha Christie. I started with the first Poirot and followed it up with the first Miss Marple. There is a reason her books are so well read.

I really enjoyed reading this. I could picture the village and the characters. I have watched a number of adaptions which possibly coloured my imaginings. However I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

This is the second book in the Wizards of Once series which is children's fantasy series. In this story Xar, Wish and their friends are reunited to find the ingredients needed to break a spell.

I love this series and can't wait for my kids to be old enough so that I can introduce them. The story is full of adventure and friendship, as them overcome obstacles. It is beautifully written and illustrated.

Currently reading the second book in the Wizards of Once series and like the first one I'm loving the illustrations.

I added this my TBR ages ago and I shouldn't have left it for so long.

It is the story of Star as she tries to live her life in two worlds, one the 'hood' where she lives and the other the fancy suburban school she attends. Her life is thrown off balance when she witnesses the death of Khalil at the hands of a policeman.

Descriptive and well told. I did this as an audio book and think the narrator really added to the experience.

I wasn't very successful at keeping up with my reviews last year. Here's hoping I'm more successful this year.

I'm a huge fan of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series so I thought I would give her Corrina Chapman series a go. I wasn't disappointed. Like Phryne it was a good fun read, yet it was different. It's full of quirky characters which I hope a recurring. Really looking forward to the next one.

I'm a huge Jane Harper fan. I love her writing style and the images it invokes. The stories are wonderful mysteries that slowly unravel the truth told by characters that are flawed and dealing with their emotions. The Lost Man did not disappoint.

Cameron is found dead at a gravesite in an isolated corner of the family's outback property. His car is not nearby, what is he doing there? And how did he get there?

I looked at the pile of books on my bedside table and realised they were mostly crime fiction. As much as I enjoy crime I felt the need to break it up with a bit of fantasy. Coraline has been on my TBR for ages.

It's a lovely story of a girl who finds another world behind a locked door in her new home. She must save her parents and the other trapped children. An intriguing and well told story that I found really easy to visualise.

This is my first Poirot. I love a bit of crime fiction and I'm on a real streak with them. I was wondering how accessible this would be given it was written 100 years ago but I found just as compelling as more contemporary mysteries.

I loved that it was told from Hasting's point of view. A great mystery.

Journalist Martin travels to Riversend with the intention of writing an article that tells how the town is coping one year after the shooting. Instead he finds himself with unanswered questions and being the man on the ground when a new incident occurs.

I love reading stories that are set in Australia and this one had echos of my childhood. I really enjoyed this read, the characters and descriptions were fantastic. However it was a bit too long.

A magical shop arrives in Boonah and sets up overnight. Enoch and Ann are both heart broken and trying to deal with their own grief and guilt. Maybe the shop can help.

This is a beautiful, emotive book that talks about grief both spoken and unspoken. I loved the characters, setting and imagination and compassion the author needed to write this book.

This is the story of Sanja who started life in a Korean fishing village in the early 1900s. After finding out she's pregnant by a wealthy but married man, she marries a minister and moves to Japan.

I found the descriptions to be evocative and the setting to be interesting but in the end I found it to be too long. I'm glad that I did this as an audio.

I've been doing some easy reading of late and, this for me often means a bit of a cozy crime. Something that is not to grizzly with lovely characters that returning to is like visiting with old friends. Phryne Fisher is definitely one of those characters for me. How I love her for her intelligence, bravery, wit and strength.

This one didn't disappoint. I'm already looking forward to my next visit.

Tierney lives in an isolated community where every year all the 16 year old girls are banished so that they can rid themselves of their magic. This is the Grace Year.

A riveting read that has wonderful descriptions making it very easy to picture. This book reminded me of A Handmaid's Tale. I'm sure that is something to do with red but also because this book is also about a world where men decide women's fates and the rebellion against it.

I have a couple of mystery series that I'm slowly working my way through. I read one or two each year. The Agatha Raisin series is one of them. I really enjoyed this one and read it in two days, something I haven't done in years.

I find Agatha in the books to be quite different from the TV series but despite her gruff exterior I still find her endearing. A great fun read.

This one has been on my TBR for such a long time. I'm so glad that I took the Litsy recommendation for it.

Noah has written a wonderfully descriptive book about his childhood. I love that he appears to tell his story honestly, the good and the bad and all with humour. His story makes me appreciate how lucky my childhood was.

I think I loved the idea of this book more than the actual book. Arthur is invited to his ex-lovers wedding, rather than go he plans an elaborate excuse involving a round the world trip.

Whilst I enjoyed the descriptions of international travel and experiences I wasn't that engaged by the main character.

I rarely pick pan as my rating but this one really didn't do it for me. I found it long winded, a bit boring and unkind. Not sure if the author was trying to be funny and I didn't get it.

This is a the fourth book in the Millennium series with author David Lagercrantz taking over. I wasn't sure what to expect given how much I had enjoyed the original books but I was thoroughly engrossed.

It's been a while since I read the originals so my memory is fuzzy but it was a thrilling read with great descriptions and the characters carrying on where they left off. Will definitely continue with the series.

Believe it or not this is the first Philippa Gregory book that I've read. She's an author I've been meaning to try and just never gotten there. So glad I've given her a try.

Although I found it a bit long I was really invested in the story, oh I was so angry at one of the characters and such great imagery. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Oh I really enjoyed this one. Cute fairy tales from a magical point of you and I really liked the analysis in after each story.

I listened to this as an audio book and loved all the different narrators.

I'm trying to catch up all the books I've read this year. I read this one quite a while ago but it has stuck with me

Odette' daughter disappeared and has left her daughter, Sissy, for Odette to raise. With a new Policeman in town Odette tries to keep Sissy from being removed from her family. Set in the era of the Stolen Generation this is a beautifully told story a family's struggle against prejudice.

Oh what a gorgeous read. Going into this one I didn't really know what it was about. So I loved the way the story slowly unfolded. It was beautifully descriptive and you couldn't do anything but love and feel for Kya. Definitely going to read more by Delia Owens.

I did this as an audio book and the narrator did a wonderful job.

It's the true story of how a group of cave diver's rescued the Wild Boars soccer team, who were trapped in a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.

I got this book in my books club's Kris Kringle so I don't know that I would have picked for myself. I'm so glad I did get it. It is a fascinating and well written read about a highly complicated rescue. It was improbable that they would succeed and yet against those odds they triumphed.

I don't usually read poetry but I found this verse novel amazing. It is a YA about Xiomara who is struggling to find her place in the world until she discovers slam poetry. She expresses her feelings and fears through her written words and as she gains confidence she shares her writing.

This is the second novel that I've read by Acevedo and I've loved both of them. Looking forward to reading more.

I loved the premise of this book. Get an implant in your head so that you can more easily communicate with your partner only to suddenly have way too much connectivity.

And whilst I enjoyed the book I found it predictable and too long. I'm glad I did this as an audio because of the length and the narrator was great at expressing the different voices.

This is the tale of a hen who dreams of escaping her coop and hatching a baby of her own. Described as a fable this is a charming story. Beautifully descriptive with gorgeous illustrations.

I bought this book after hearing the author speak, so glad I did.

In this book Bill Bryson retraces a trip through Europe that he took as a young man. Whilst I mostly enjoyed this I found it long. I also found some of the depictions of women cringe worthy.

Re-reading the blurb on the back of this book I'm not sure why I bought it. The pretty cover? The really interesting title? To this day I'm not sure but I'm glad I did.

This book is a series of small chapters each of which features a different animal which through evolution has developed a unique talent. I was fascinated. This is a great book to dip in and out of and then annoy your loved ones with amazing, and at times gross, animal facts.

A group of school kids and their teacher get stranded and take shelter in an old house. There they discover an old book that leads them on a magical journey.

I would say that this book is aimed at pre- teens but don't let that stop you. This is a beautiful story which I can't wait to share with my kids when they are older.

This is the story of Rosemary who's brother and sister have vanished from her life years apart. She has spent years coping with their disappearance and the effect this had on her parents and herself.

I really enjoyed this one. I loved that the story started in the middle and then moved backwards and forwards to explain the story. Really well written with very descriptive language.

I seem to do this every year. Start the year with the best of intentions, then go MIA and really behind on my reviews. Let's see if I can catch up.

I'm a huge Backman fan and this one didn't disappoint. Similar to A Man Called Ove in that it full of people with their own quirks brought together through circumstances (a hostage crisis after a failed bank robbery) forming at times unlikely friendships.

Backman has become an auto buy author.

I'm not a huge fan of short stories and whilst I enjoyed these ones I didn't love them. I like that all seemed to have a slightly dark quirky twist to them. The descriptions were beautiful.

This one has been on my TBR for a while. I'm not even sure why I bought it. I decided to start it for my Reading Widely Challenge and one chapter in I'm fascinated.

Esme grows in the Sciptorium where Oxford's first English Dictionary is compiled by her father one of a number of lexicographers. This story follows both her life as she grows into a woman and the life of the dictionary as it nears completion.

I thought this a beautifully told (if a little long in the middle) story of a piece of history I had very little knowledge about. The pieces about the words and suffragettes were particularly interesting.

As a lover of Matt Haig I was really looking to this and to be honest it fell a little flat for me. I'm chosing pick, but its a soft pick. Some of the lives felt too short, others a little repetitive.

I'm not sure about the end either. On one hand I think its good that Nora finds contentment but the other has anything really changed.

I love a good mystery. This is Richard Osman's first venture in this genre and it doesn't disappoint. It was a well written mystery with plenty of red herrings and full of quirky characters. The Thursday Murder Club is made up of four unlikely friends who you can't help but to like, who each bring a different skill set to the task.

Osman is apparently currently working on a second book in the series and am looking forward to it.

This had been on my TBR so long I'd forgotten what it was about. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a Western, something outside my norm. This reminded me so much of an old movie I remember watching. It's the story of Captain Kidd returning Johanna to her family after she is released by Kiowa raiders.

This was a really gentle tale despite being a Western. The characters were well rounded and the scenery was described beautifully.

I love a bit of Phryne and I haven't read one for ages. She is a great antidote for me. In this one Phryne and Dot travelled to Sydney to investigate a robbery at a university and they end up investigating two other mysterious.

As always a good fun read.

My five-year old and I actually read Animal Tales which is a collection of five stories about different animals by Dick King-Smith, including Guard Dog. We really liked a couple of the stories but the others took us a while to get through. And one of them was a pretty weird concept for a five-year old.

Not giving up on the author yet. Going to put Pig Dog on our list.

Astrid returns home to Tasmania from her work at the UN in conflict resolution to help her brother resolve the conflict between the government and protesters over a new bridge.

I love the way Heather Rose writes, the way she describes people, landscapes, relationships. To begin with I was captivated by the story and characters but it took a turn that was too far for me. Despite that this is still a great read and I was invested in the characters.

My reading stats from last year.

Happy New Year everyone. Let's hope for better things and great books.

I listened to the BBC adaptation of War and Peace as my last book of the year. I really enjoyed it and now really want to read the original. The voice cast were fabulous though I did get a couple of the names confused. And I think I'll miss the sound effects when I read it as they really added to the atmosphere.

A great listen.

My five year old picked this off the bookshelf to read. He is the third generation to read this as it belonged to my husband and my husband's Aunt previously. I love that the book has been passed down and enjoyed by multiple generations.

A cute story and the language had me smiling at its politeness.

Marjorie's family return to her father's family farm in the Mallee. Her mother who is a city person struggles to find her place and fit in which has serious repercussions.

I grew up just South of the Mallee and the descriptions of the landscape, the weather and the community so reminded me of my childhood. It was a great read which I felt dealt with some hard facts with great sympathy.

Genevieve is the toast of Nazi Paris. This allows her to go undetected as she helps the Allies. When her mother is arrested by the SS she reunites with her estranged sister to break her out.

I'm finishing the year with some great reading, this one had me on the edge of my seat. A little bit predictable but a really well told story. Very suspenseful, had me thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading it.

I found this to be a really powerful book. Gillian Trigg is an inspirational woman, who not only overcame her own gender discrimination but in her role as the President of the Human Rights Commission fought to eliminate discrimination.

She explains legal specifics in relatable terms. And reminds me that we still have a work to do in terms of discrimination.

I did this as an audiobook and loved that it was read by the author.

I haven't read a Jasper Fforde novel for ages. I love how he takes an out there idea (like human-sized, walking, talking rabbits) and grounds it by using perfectly relatable characters. I find myself suspending all reason and just going with the flow. So much do I found myself worrying about what was going to happen to my favourite characters, which included rabbits.

Well written and very descriptive. A great read.

Alice grows up in rural Australia with her mother teaching her piano. She is sent to school in England where she continues her musical education eventually studying at the Royal College of Music. She meets Edward after a concert and so begins the next stage.

This is Alice's story of her past and her present. I really enjoyed the way this was written with the two time lines weaving together. A little long in the middle but overall a great read.