The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel

   

This is a collection of short stories; some of which are better than others!

Good points:
Mantel uses vivid descriptions and amazing characterisations.
They are darkly humorous, although some are uncomfortable,. 

Bad points:
Often the endings are way too sudden and unsatisfying. 
I preferred her longer stories.

Things That Are by Amy Leach

 

A bizarre little book that can't be read too quickly. The chapters cover all sorts of natural topics, switching from scientific to philosophic to poetic themes; for example it contains pieces take an animal or plant and explore its world.

It can feel whimsy with short confusing chapters.

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

 

I really enjoyed this book - a collection of short stories linked by theme and characters from previous stories popping up. 

As you start each chapter, you have no clue how it is going to end up - the kind of book I love!

Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story by J. Jefferson Farjeon

 

A well written intriguing mystery.

There is a spooky atmosphere.

 The story is slow moving in parts.

What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

 

Munro gives detailed answers to weird questions asked from readers on his website - such as How much Force power can Yoda output?

My mind is stretched in fantastic and interesting ways - I was entertained.

 

Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

 

A collection of light short stories, although in some, notably 'Sisters', there's some very sharp social comment.

The short stories contained within the book are beautifully written, but much more of their own time.

There is only one about Cold Comfort Farm - the rest are about  are about ordinary people living ordinary lives reflecting 1930's sexual morals. There is a story where a spinster takes in a single mother and eventually confesses to having had unwedded cough with a man herself.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

 

I really enjoyed this - showed me lots of human history I didn't know.
It was an easy romp through time.

However - 

I thought it was going to be more about why Homo sapiens survived when other homo species  failed.

I thought there was a lot of exaggeration and sensationalism - to quote the Guardian's review "his account of the battle of Navarino. Starting from the fact that British investors stood to lose money if the Greeks lost their war of independence, Harari moves fast: "the bond holders' interest was the national interest, so the British organised an international fleet that, in 1827, sank the main Ottoman flotilla in the battle of Navarino. After centuries of subjugation, Greece was finally free." This is wildly distorted – and Greece was not then free. To see how bad it is, it's enough to look at the wikipedia entry on Navarino"

Fair Girls and Grey Horses by the Pullein-Thompsons

 

A pleasant autobiography written by three sisters. I used to read a lot of their pony stories when I was younger.  They had the kind of childhood I longed for and it showed failings in the education system then for not recognising differences.  It was an easy enough read - but probably not one I would go back to.