This is our first update post for our epic Around The UK in 144 Books challenge.
Jen ‘The Sat Nav’ Lucas: - https://jenmedsbookreviews.com/
So.
Last month I had the mad cap idea that it might be fun to try and read one book
based in every county of the UK. What was going to be about 80 counties
(original counties) after ‘challenge’ soon became 144 counties and political
districts. So – after drafting in reinforcements in the shape of Abbie from Bloomin' Brilliant Books and Rachel from Rachel's Random
Reads, we set off
on our little adventure. We have no set itinerary, we’re just reading what we
can when we can and hoping that we hit some unique counties along the way. This
post is our first update – a little bit from each of us as to how we’ve done.
So…
Yes well. When I started out, this seemed like quite a nice challenge. January
was a good month for reading, although both last month and this I’ve had a lot
of books to read for blog tours, many of which took me out of the country
entirely…
I
have to be honest, at times I felt like I was stuck in the UK’s equivalent of
the Bermuda triangle – the M25. I expected a lot of books to feature in the
same place but it seemed to take me ages to get out of London. Not that there
is anything wrong with London. I like London. I also like variety. I have read
quite a few none London books though, but here are the few which I managed to
publish reviews for this month.
And
to prove a point…
Books
I have read but have still to review this month include Edinburgh,
Nottingham, Manchester. So how did my travel buddies do?
Well
if I’m honest January hasn’t been a bloomin’ brilliant month in regards to
making a dent in the reading challenge. I only managed to cover two counties as
my reading in January took me out of the UK quite a bit.
The
two books I did read, however, were a couple of crackers and, I’m pleased to
say, both by debut authors! My first book was Lies by TM Logan, a fast-paced, gripping
thriller in which Joe Lynch, following a chance encounter with his wife at a
hotel, sees his life spiral out of control as he realises everything about his
life has been built on untruths and deception. Set in central London, the
setting itself didn’t play a particularly integral part to the plot, but I was
pleased to include this book in the challenge. Want to know more about Lies?
You can read my review here.
The
second book was Mary’s The Name by Ross Sayers. A wonderfully written
tale about eight-year-old Mary and her grandfather who, following a robbery at
the bookmakers where he Grandpa works, they move from Stirling to Portree in
the Isle of Skye. A beautiful story that in turn has you both laughing and
crying. Portree plays a large part of the story in Mary’s the Name and Ross
Sayers has really brought the town and it’s inhabitants to life. You can read
my review here.
With
February being a busy month and, if I’m honest, as I’m kind of winging it at
the moment I’m not sure where February will take me, but I’m looking forward to
the ride!
Rachel 'Entertainment Director' Gilbey
Since
the wonderful Abbie and Jen came up with this epic Around the UK in 144 Books
challenge, and my possibly mad decision to join them, I have been quite
impressed with just what a variety of locations I can read in a month, due to
pure luck. In addition to the following books, I have also read books set
abroad in various destinations, and at the moment I'm using this challenge to
see just what is possible. I'm sure as the months go forward I will be
desperately looking for suggestions for missing counties and also begging for
time to read books for them!
In
the meantime, January, has taken me the length and breadth of the country, from
Edinburgh in Perfect Remains by Helen Fields, all the way to A Cottage in
Cornwall by Laura Briggs, which I think you can guess the setting of, and this
is via Birmingham in real life for meet up of TBC - The Book Club members where
I met the lovely Mel Comley amongst others.
So
in January my challenge entries are as follows and I look forward to seeing you
in a month for another update.
Total counties visited by Rachel - 6
…
Thanks
for the updates ladies. As you can see, we are getting there. But you can
probably also guess (as would be expected) that some of the books the gals have
read are also on my TBR pile and so are some of the counties covered. This is
going to be a long tour. Hope you enjoy the journey as much as we are.
Happy
reading all.
JL
Jen you aren't the only one at least one of your books I may yet be reading at some point, and I'm sure there will be some destinations where all three of us will read the same books.
What we are though still looking for are suggestions for many of the counties. If you take a look at my challenge page where I try to update with our latest posts as soon as I can, you can see the list of counties we haven't read or put live yet...if you have any suggestions for any of them, please do let one of us know.
Wow, the three of you managed to cover a lot of counties already.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned you're still looking for suggestions: What about Paper Hearts and Summer Kisses by Carole Matthews for Buckinghamshire? The e-book is out already and I completely fell in love with this.
Good luck for the rest of the challenge
We definitely seem to be motoring around Britain but still the majority of the country to see.
DeleteThat is definitely my sort of book suggestion, I have every intention of buying a copy of the Carole Matthews, probably by the time its released in Paperback. Thank you