The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag

This is the story of a magical place to escape to when real life gets to be a bit too much set in Cambridge. I didn’t LOVE it, but I enjoyed it.

Good points: 

The story was whimsical and fun.
I enjoyed the references to the literary greats in the book as well as other famous women in history and I want to go and read some of the other novels referenced in the book such as Rebecca. Middlemarch and A Room with a view.

Bad points:

Plot development was rather slow.

The narrative was sometimes confusing by the constant changing point of view.

It was predictable - unfortunately too cheesy and perfect.

Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers

      

A gentle story of Julia Garnet, a retired teacher, and her transformation in old age when she moves to Venice for six months following the death of her life-long friend.

Good points

I liked the interlinking story of Tobias and the Angel.

A story with many layers.  

Middle-aged single women may recognise bits of themselves in the main character 

Bad points:

Often characters serving the plot popped up rather too conveniently. 

I found some of the characters in the novel slightly unconvincing - the twins restoring the church and the older would be lover fancying the younger pupil 

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

The story is an account of trauma, grief, and a realistic glimpse mental illness. 

Good points:
I liked how the story keeps jumping around in time - similar to how I remember things.
Filer uses his own experience as a mental health nurse to inform the novel and the passages set in the treatment centre were convincing but makes it realise it must be quite grim 

Bad points:
Whilst I did enjoy it I didn't find it deeply moving or compelling.

After Dark by Wilkie Collins

    

This is a collection ofsix short stories mystery, suspense and romance revolving around a portrait artist who must temporarily stop his work to rest his damaged eyes.
 I like the descriptions of atmosphere and personality.
But I didn't find all six of the short stories equally compelling and some of them were rather slow

 

A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie

 

Within its 300 pages, a story unfolds that covers the travels of the fifth-century BCE explorer Scylax, working on behalf of the Persian king Darius I; an attempt by early 20th-century archaeologists to recover the circlet worn by Scylax; the outbreak of the first world war; the experiences of Indian Army troops on the western front and later as injured servicemen in Brighton hospitals; the rise of the non-violent independence movement in Peshawar and the bloody killing of non-violent protesters by the British Army in 1930, in Peshawar
  
Good points:
A great deal of armchair travelling, which I absolutely loved
Beautiful description of places

Negative points:
Ploddy and lacking in real plot
Almost tries to do do much I would have liked more detail about the horror of the trenches, life as a nurse etc.  
I never felt emotionally drawn to the characters

Dorothea's War: The Diaries of a First World War Nurse by Dorothea Crewdson, Richard Crewdson

  

In this book there is no action, no romance, no scandal - just everyday feelings of being part of the war through the initial hopes and then the despair of the great campaigns. In some ways, it is quite dull as there is no
surgical operations and the real horror of war as she remained mostly on the periphery in her role as a volunteer.

It is quite interesting reading about the entertainment enjoyed by staff and patients, the feel for the coastal town and the surrounding countryside and the culture of the day--such as chaperones accompanying the women.

I also really enjoyed post war when she visited the trenches.

  

Seiobo There Below by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Ottilie Mulzet

This book won the Man booker International Prize this year.  It's an interesting, challenging and unusual book, of interlocking short stories about art, beauty and the sacred; such as a heron stands perched above a stream, waiting in perfect tension to catch its prey; monks pray to a statue of the Buddha, knowing every detail of its tarnished face but yearning to recognize and be enveloped by the Buddha's infinite compassion; a cynical tourist wanders in a museum in Venice, but sees a half-remembered painting of the dead Christ and is overwhelmed by pathos and emotion; a Japanese goddess descends to earth, bearing a fruit of immortality, searching for perfection.

 I loved the chapter numbers - instead of the usual order, they are Fibonacci numbers.