Hannah Hiles

My New Year’s resolutions for 2017 mostly fell into two categories – self-care and time management. Many fell into both camps (yes, I made a few this year!), including “read more books” and its cheeky little sister “FINISH books”. I have a bad habit of having lots of books on the go at once and not finishing many of them, and while I have no problem giving up on books I’m not enjoying, I even find that I’m not getting to the end of ones I want to read! What’s that about? Anyway, I didn’t do too well with this resolution in January and only finished one – and that one I zipped through in a couple of days because I just couldn’t put it down. I’ll try again in February!

Books finished

Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult

This is the only Jodi Picoult book that I’ve read – I suspect they are generally too depressing for me – but I just couldn’t put it down. I even had it on Kindle, hard back AND audio version so I could read it wherever I was. I was hooked and devoured the 600-plus pages at every opportunity.

It’s the story of a high school shooting told from multiple perspectives, including the shooter himself, a judge who is the mother of one of the students caught up in the attack and a detective investigating the crime.

I guessed the twist about halfway through but it didn’t spoil the pleasure of finding out how it all tied together – and my mum, who I immediately passed the book on to, didn’t see it coming.

I chose it after watching the heart-breaking documentary Newtown, about the Sandy Hook shootings, and it made an interesting fictional counterpart.

Also on the go

• The 15-Minute Rule – Caroline Buchan
• Big Little Lies – Lianne Moriarty
• Clutter-free with Kids – Joshua Becker
• The Marriage Book – Nicky and Sila Lee