Severance ~ Ling Ma

 

The Summer Book ~ Tove Jansson

 

Seascraper ~ Benjamin Wood

 

The South ~ Tash Aw

 

I finished this for 2 reasons :

It was very short and I loved Five Star Billionaire (and I guess because the previous two had been DNF books).

The only thing it had going for it was that it was short ...but a good edit of the rubbish in it could have made it shorter.

I guess the other good thing is that it is supposed to be the first of a set and it saved me having to buy the next ones

The Snow Child ~ Eowyn Ivey

 Grrr ... thought this seemed cliched ... and it was ... but also familiar because I had read it before (and wasn't impressed the first time)

The Strange Case of Jane O ~ Karen Thompson Walker

 

The Sequel ~ Jean Hanff Korelitz

 

Fun, fast paced sequel to The Plot : a novel about a novel.

A little repetitive of the first book with characterisation

The Silent Patient ~ Alex Michaelides

 

Slow Horses (Slough House #1) ~ Mick Herron

 DNF ... but only because I had only recently seen the series ... plan to jump ahead to the unknown.

From the 25% that I did read : great writing and great transfer to the screen

Shanghai Girls ~ Lisa See

 Barely OK

Hard to believe this twaddle was written by the same author as The Island of Sea Women

So Late In The Day ~ Claire Keegan

 

Small Mercies ~ Dennis Lehane

 

*** 

Liked the feisty female lead

'salem's Lot ~ Stephen King

 **** RECOMMEND

The Seven Skins of Ester Wilding ~ Holly Ringland

 ** OK

Could have been a good read if it wasn't so damn longwinded.  An effective edit would have done it wonders

The Suns Walks Down ~ Fiona McFarlane

 

*

Almost a DNF, only finished because we were heading to SA.

Wordage, more wordage and blah blah blah.

Story development is painfully slow and overloaded with characters.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida ~ Shehan Karunatilaka

 Booker Prize Winner but for me :

DNF

Shrines of Gaiety ~ Kate Atkinson

 

X NO BLEH

Boring characters who had no life breathed into them.  

Very little sense of time.

Small Things Like These ~ Claire Keegan

**** HIGHLY RECOMMEND

It was such a small thing (approx 73 pages) but a thing of great poignancy.  

Just beautiful, a lingering read.

Sea Of Tranquility ~ Emily St John Mandel

 

**** RECOMMEND

Shifting time lines due to time travel warp

Engaging read, engaging characters

The Swimmers ~ Julie Otsuka

 

** OK

Not for me but poignant and perceptive.

Interesting writing style : almost a composite of insightful though everyday lists.