Book 31: Two strong characters, one horrifying moment is history. Yet this book manages to find flickers of compassion within the horror. A moving read based on true accounts and an important author's note that we must not forget the stories of these women that were silenced for too long.

Book 30: Took me a while to trundle through. Perhaps overly long with giant leaps through time to tick the multigenerational box while telling this family story. But it's a period of history I didn't know much about so stuck with it for that.

Book 29: The kind of book that as soon as you turn the last page, you want to start reading again to make sure you've absorbed every last word. A stunning read that uproots a tale of family and dislodged love and places it somewhere in that hazy place between life and what comes after...

Book 28: This book served it's purpose to entertain and distract on a long train journey. I imagine would also be ideal on a beach, perhaps? At its core, there's a strong crime narrative which with a more rigorous edit could have been much better paced adding to the tension. Mainly I found myself yelling and baffled by one character's completely ridiculous 'snap' decisions. That said, I imagine someone has bought the TV right for this already.....

Book 27: Dived into this on a glorious autumn weekend away by the sea in Anglesey and finished it back home by the East London canals. Perfect settings for this beautiful debut that has an almost magic realist approach to nature, mythology and relationships. Cannot wait to see what Johnson comes out with next.

Book 26: A fine read for a long train journey. Interesting story, nicely woven character arcs but nothing ground breaking here for me...

(Some very elaborate reviews chosen for the cover art...!)

Book 25: Took me a while to get through this one. Partly down to lack of headspace during a busy time at work but also it seemed to take a while to itself going. Almost as if there were a few too many strands trying to tie themselves together. Would have loved more on the history and the women workers, rather than boathouse shenanigans... But then maybe that's another book to be written!

Still, autumn is here. Let the reading commence.

Book 24: Underestimated my reading capability on holiday meaning I ran out of books - however happily found this from my TBR hiding amongst the Sophie Kinsella and Celia Ahern left in the hotel library. Set in the hazy heat of Tangier where two friends are forced to face the past that tore them apart and the vendetta one may still bear a year later... There have been comparisons to the gothic traditions of Daphne du Marier and perhaps I'd agree

Book 23: It's been a while since I read a book that created such a palpable atmosphere from page one. Filled with mystery and an undercurrent of rage and emotion, this is an eerie tale set on a far off island of only women, once ruled over by a King we never meet, ordered by disturbing rituals and rules to protect the women from the apparent physical dangers of love and men. But all this falls into disarray when three wash up onto their shore...

Book 22: Lovelovelove. Who knew merman erotica would be so thrilling... A contemporary take on love and addiction with a subtle weaving of Greek mythology. And a perfect read for around the pool on holiday!

Brilliant debut novel from an exciting author. Must check out her poetry collections next...

Book 21: What a corker. A relatable and charming protagonist leads us through the trials and turbulence of college, new friends, new love and new languages. Selin's study of language becomes a way of understanding the strangeness of the world and the relationships we make within it.

Book 20: The intertwining of history and non-fiction was what nailed it for me - a fascinating look back through the history of ways of seeing as the narrator tries to consider the notions of motherhood throughout her life. Sometimes a little incongruous to the main story but nonetheless adding a lyricism to history and science.

Holiday book haul has arrived just in time. Any recommendations on which to start first...?

Book 19: Sod it, I'm giving this a 'Pick'. It's not breaking any boundaries or challenging a genre but for an end-of-a-hard-day at work, this is an easy one to pick up. Interesting characters and vivid descriptions of scene and a sense of fun. Ideal holiday read.

Book 18: Frenetic and disorientating, the story and the way it is told is a mirror of the world in which our protaganist is living. Typography, lyricism and design all play their part as dystopian / utopian technology is given the analogue treatment on these pages. Stick with it for the few few chapters and then enjoy the extra narratives that emerge between the lines through colour, font and pagination.

Book 17: Took a while to get into this one but after a decent sitting and a change of pace in the latter part of the book I found my way. Would have loved to have heard this story from Cathy's point of view....

Book 16: There's fire in Meena Kandasamy. And there's passion is this heart wrenching story of a woman trapped in a violent and abusive marriage. It's a story of entrapment and self liberation. But one that navigates through true horror that too many women have to endure before they are able to be freed. A striking and powerful book.

Book 15: A worthy winner of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Man Booker - a contemporary retelling of Sophocles' 'Antigone' through the lives of young British Muslims. Filled with the same family secrets, religious piety, anger and politics as the classic tragedy - this novel remains unnervingly relevant.

Book 14: Based on a true crime story about a brutal murder within a family, this is a fictional retelling. Told from the perspective of several key players in the days around the murders, it's an easy read but not one that really surprises. Like other reviews I've read, it's hard to imagine the main suspect Lizzie is an adult woman... Quite intrigued to read the actual true story to see where the parallels are.

Book 13: A mini break from fiction - and big books! - to read this fantastic literary lecture by Mary Beard on the ways language has influenced women's place in power since the early Greeks. And how it's still doing the very same thing. A rallying call to action.

Book 12: I love what she's done with language here - making the words become almost part of the healing process the narrator is undertaking as she tries to piece together memory and experience and carrying on as normal. It's an hour long read, pacy and engrossing - and novella is ideal for this kind of hard hitting subject. While not venturing too far into new territory, I'm I trigger to read more after this debut.

Book 11: As always, Roy's prose is beautiful - dense yet breaking out into lyricism. Something that definitely helps as you wind through a not insignificant word count and a narrative that seems to almost want you to get lost. It took me a while to get into the book but after reading an interview where she described the book as her questioning 'can a novel be like a city?' everything seemed to fall into place.

Book 10: Ran out of books on holiday so had to resort to an emergency book left in the villa we stayed in... A few hours worth of light entertainment by the pool but not much more.

Book 9: It was only Eleanor who could tell this story. It is only her story to tell and our privilege to be able to listen in. Inspired by an article about loneliness in the city, Honeyman invites us into the mind and histories of our wonderful protagonist, Eleanor. With all her flaws, inside and out, it's always her we are rooting for. Dark but with streams of light cutting through, it's a must read.

Book 8: A fantastic collection of essays covering anything and everything from London neighbourhoods, family, politics, race, dancing, art, and literature. Smith writes as though she is sat next to you sharing a story. A perfectly crafted story, yes, but one that is steeped in personality and authenticity you find in her novels - a quality that is often overlooked by your usual essayist.

Book 7: Having myself embraced the restorative power of open water swimming last year while training for my first (equally restorative) triathlon, this book immediately appealed. Heminsley's narration is somewhat emotional yet always sincere - capturing that icy panic that can consume you, even before you get in the water. Another easy read about woman meets nature and the importance of breathing. Dive in.

Book 6: When you thought there would never be room in your heart for anyone else except Angela Carter... Dark and unnerving, and disturbingly relevant, Machado weaves an incredible collection of short stories around the corporeal constraints of femininity and beyond.

This will undoubtedly be the book I buy all my friends this year. Essential. Please let there be more from this one.

#readwomen

Book 5: Judging a book by its cover, I was excited to read this one - all that antique intrigue and folklore brought flashbacks of the Essex Serpent. But this deserves it's own adoration, not comparison. Mermaids and seedy East London backstreets and parlours make for a wholly entertaining read.

A strong contender for Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction? #readwomen

Book 4: One of the longest serving titles on my TBR list - but worth the wait. Admittedly saw the film (which was fantastic) before the book but nonetheless, the book goes deeper and harder into what happens in Room - and its impacts once our protagonists make their escape. Superbly written with an unlikely narrator but one with whom we immediately trust and root for.

Any recommendations for other books by Emma Donoghue? #readwomen

Oh dear... Book admin long overdue. Prepare for onslaught of uploads and very short reviews...

Book 3: Pegged as 'this year's must read', the first chapter drew me in and kept me there on a precipice but wanting just that little bit extra... Still a cracking, speedy read filled with enough tension and suspense to excuse the at times formulaic plot. Intrigued to read some of her other novels...

Book 2: What. An. Adventure. Into the wilds of remote Orkney islands and the human psyche. In this memoir come nature book, Liptrot captures something raw and unique and bracing. As bracing as winter sea swimming and at times, just as dark. Simply could not recommend this book enough.

Poetry in every paragraph.

Book 1: One of those books where you turn the last page and want to start right back at page one. Beautifully written, entwined around multiple characters, timelines and perhaps most importantly, place. Took me an age to get to this in my TBR pile but it was worth the wait.

Starting 2018 with some that have been on my #TBR shelf for far far too long. Before moving on to some of the amazing books by women coming out soon including Imogen Hermes Gowar's The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, Tara Westover's Educated, Melissa Broder's The Pisces and Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties.

Nice broad mix - and adding in some non-fiction.

Any other #readwomen recommendations for 2018?

Book 29: Last one sweeping up the 2017 shelves. Kind of annoyed not to squeeze in a round 30...!

Forget twee old ladies, knitting and happily reminiscing. These two octigenarians are both as cantankerous as each other in a refreshing and honest portrayal of ageing and the furies that come along with it! Add family secrets, race and the cultural history buried in the land and you find an insightful and surprisingly touching read.

Book 28: Nature runs through this book like a ferocious wave. Nature as in the ocean, the hills, the weather but also nature as in our human nature. Focusing on the lives and histories of two men, the eponymous Midwinters, we sail through loss in all its guises and how we might have to go against what we think is our nature to come through a tempest.

Book 27: (Catching up on books read in 2017!)

A tad longer and drawn out than it perhaps needs to be but, nonetheless, The Mare evolves to be a tale of two cities. Both an antithesis of each other - the fresh air and bareback freedom of the country fights to win over the pollution - moral and environmental - and suffocation of the city. But there is still dirt in the country...

Book 26: Having flashbacks to the emotional toil of A Little Life, a book that revels in the hurt and damage of human relationships. Still, at least First Love is only 165pages. 165 pages of our narrator's unrelenting search for love and the useless and abusive men that stand in her way to reach it. More an emotive, inward looking monologue than a novel, but I probably couldn't have handled much more...

Book 25: There is more than one novel tied up within this one - whether that's a good thing I'm still undecided. Culture and tradition, expectation and jealousy, grief and perseverance all entwine and battle with one another for airtime here. That said, Adebayo's style makes it instantly readable, even if its story arc verges on the repetitive...

Book 24: Working my way through this year's Bailey's Prize list and this is 2017s winner - and also the one I'd heard the most about. Provocative and bold, both in concept and style - what would life be like if women were the physically stronger sex? How would the switch in the age old (im)balance play out? Upon later reflection, I found myself wishing she'd pushed it even further... And I'm keen to hear from men who have read it for their take.

Book 23: We're not breaking any boundaries here, the ending is predictable and the characters reasonably template BUT, this is an easy and engaging read that will certainly keep you entertained with whispers on terraced street corners, glamorous housewives and their twitching curtains.

Book 22: Don't let the slightly trite title out you off. Inside, you'll find a surprisingly thrilling tale if a young girl seeking her own history and discovering some hidden truths about her family and their role in the turbulence of China's past.

** Woefully behind on my Litsy admin... So prepare for a deluge of one line reviews! **

Book 21: Family drama, borders and boundaries, horses and dubious breeding... Well written with a range of characters spanning various centuries- but would have liked to spend more time with some of the lesser developed or later introduced characters...

Book 20: The Tempest is one of my favourite Shakespeare texts. Filled with otherworldliness and magic, desire and betrayal, washed away, captive on a remote island. Atwood retells the tale from inside a prison, with a wronged and exiled director keen to find his revenge in the ultimate play within a play. A playful and imaginative reimagining - anyone read others from this Hogarth Shakespeare series? #readwomen #baileysprize

Book 19: Soared through this one - a well crafted story, powered with music and memory and the secrets history hopes to keep hidden. Travelling through time with our two protagonists, we move from pre-WW2 on the Swiss border to modern day, with all its ghosts. But family skeletons have a tendency to emerge in unlikely ways...History sometimes gives its own perfomance. #readwomen #baileysprize

Book 18: Having struggled through A Girl is a Half Formed Thing, I was hesitant for round two. With nods to similar subject material as the first, this tale weaves in more sensuality and emotional growth. With a leading man far too familiar to one who in my own history, McBride captures that breathless and all-encompassing love, nay, compulsion of young love. Stick with the lamguage style - you'll fall into it. #readwomen #baileysprize

Book 17: Sent away from East London (and a street just down the road from my flat!) to recuperate their TB inflicted lungs in the fresh air of Kent, two twins find themselves in unfamiliar but fascinating company. As some of the first patients of the NHS, entitled to free healthcare, it's an intriguing look at how this change affected all those involved. But there's more comedy than tragedy in this sanitorium #readwomen #baileysprize

Question: for a 7 day holiday, how many books is too many books...? And if this is too many books, which should I take?

Book 16: What a wonderful welcome back to reading after the harrowing A Little Life. The hype behind The Essex Serpent is completely deserved. Superstition and intrigue, tradition and community and even some politics - all with strong women at the helm. A historic tale with a modern spin - such a great novel. Will be looking up Perry's earlier novel asap. Also - bonus points for beautiful cover! #readwomen #baileysprize

And that *finally* brings an end to my Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction longlist for 2016..Dog earred and well read itself having been folded in my purse for the last year.

Better print off 2017's and start working my way through..! #BaileysPrize #TBR