Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes

This is the second time I have read this strange book! It is very gimmickacy - the  non-traditional biography of Gustave Flaubert, as researched by a
fictitious biographer’s, interluded with concern for, and reflections on, his wife dying of an illness.
It is unlike books I read before but I loved it for that reason!

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson

What will remain by Dan Clements

 
What will remain is a war novel born out of the author's own experiences of serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan. It consists of a series of distinct but closely interwoven stories told against the backdrop of the conflict. It is on the Guardian's "Not the Booker" shortlist. 
At times, it felt a jumbled mixture of background, emotion and opinion - which at times meant I didn't enjoy it.

THE LESS THAN PERFECT LEGEND OF DONNA CREOSOTE by Dan Micklethwaite

 
This is on  shortlist for the not-the-booker-prize 2016. It tells the story/love-live of  a wine guzzling twenty-two year old whose life revolves around the stories she reads in books. Though it has some very funny moments, this is a very sad book. But it wasn't for me - I didn't connect at all with the main character, Donna!

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Out of all the man Booker longlist I enjoyed this the most. It is a study of and commentary on race - very wittily done with so much in this book usually off limits and taboo. I loved the idea of employing humour to deal with serious subjects.
The pace of the book moves fast.
However, it is not an easy read - there were no 'normal sentences' and that was very tiring and there was lots of linguistic humour which as a white english person it meant it was hard to follow.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

This story isn't on the International Mann booker short-list but one of its prequels - however I thought I had better start with the first one!  It tells the story of intense friendship and rivalry between two girls growing up in the impoverished outskirts of Naples.

I really enjoyed the opening where suspense is created by the fact that the novel begins from the perspective of the story-teller as a sixty-something-year-old woman being told by her friend's son his mother has suddenly disappeared.

It feels vivid and authentic, more like an autobiography retold in the first person.

There are many characters -there are so many families in the neighbourhood, and everyone has nicknames that it was tough to remember who was who and who did what to which relative. (There is a cast of characters listed at the front of the book, but it's still confusing on a Kindle.)

A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa

 
A compelling & circular tale set during the years from Angola declaring independence from Portugal & the ensuing decades of civil war but told from the viewpoint of an agoraphobic woman who barricades herself in her apartment for 30 years.

The story is a fantastic one and yet it has so much detail, recounted in the form that almost resembles journalism and feel real. However,  I wasn't sure about the interwoven stories of other characters - it did all fit together at the end but at times I found it confusing!

The Four Books by Yan Lianke

  
This story I found harder to get into it.This book is set at a re-education camp during the Great Leap Forward. It's a period of history that I know essentially nothing about, so it made for fascinating reading.

 The premise of the book is clever - the narrative chops and changes between three different "books" (the fourth book referred to in the title appears almost as an epilogue), each with a very different purpose. One is The Author writing a novel based on his experiences at the camp. One is the Author writing what's almost a religious story about The Child, the innocent despot who runs their camp. And one is the Author reporting to The Child and the higher ups on the actions of his former prisoners. However, at times I found it hard to discern enough difference among the four narratives.

In the middle the story took a bizarre turn which really drew me in where the Author goes off on his own to plan crops, and suddenly the crops are growing like crazy because he's feeding them his own blood. So that was bizarre, but clearly a metaphor for the Great Leap Forward and how it was ultimately a disaster. Then the book focuses on the great famine and how ultimately the residents of this camp start to die of starvation, leaving those still alive to contemplate just how hungry they have to be before they resort to cannibalism. 

None of the characters have actual names, they are called by the profession that landed them in this no mans land.

The Vegetarian: A Novel by Han Kang

 

I am so glad I am not a judge for the Mann Booker International Prize because I have loved all of them and this one is no different - although a complete contrast to the previous 2 books! 
This tells the story of Yeong-hye. Having recently had a dream that has convinced her to cease eating any meat whatsoever, and finds that such a decision is affect nearly all aspects of her life. It is a beautiful account of mental illness and societies perception of it - it is quite dark in places. Again not a long book  I read it easily in a couple of nights!

I liked how despite being a story that is explicitly about Yeong-hye, it is actually never told directly from her perspective. Instead, we are give about 60 pages a piece from her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister. The oddest part about this formatting is the perspectives do not overlap. It is interesting to read about their personal issues, prejudices, and obsessions!

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

I loved this book - it is not a long book I read it easily on a Sunday afternoon! It tells the story of the life of Andreas Egger, an unremarkable man who ekes out a simple existence in an Austrian mountain valley. He is a thoughtful, gentle soul and though he encounters great hardship and misfortune, he never fails to appreciate and be thankful for the smaller things.

I love the treatment of time - years pass in a couple of pages or even paragraphs, or a day may take pages to describe.
It is full of wisdom and stunning imagery which results in a heartbreaking, humbling and inspiring story.  
It makes you think about the things which make you YOU and the coincidences which silently lead you through your life. 

A Strangeness in my Mind by Orhan Pamuk

       

It is the story of boza seller Mevlut, and his life in Istanbul set over four decades which is basically a history of Istanbul through main character, Mevlut Karatas between 1969 and 2012. Mevlut works a number of different jobs on the streets of Istanbul and observes a large number of changes.

Pamuk's title is taken from Wordsworth's poem, The Prelude

"I had melancholy thoughts ...
a strangeness in my mind,
A feeling that I was not for that hour,
Nor for that place."

I loved the  detail given creating a set of characters and a sense of place that I felt I had got to know intimately
The story moves forwards by seamlessly shifting from one character’s viewpoint to another and adding gradually new viewpoint which I initially didn't like but I quickly found to be effective and interesting! 
It felt like a Dickensian saga.

At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison

This is a fiction novel by the author of Rain. 

I loved the variety of characters from young to old and all are utterly believable.
I also enjoyed the slowly disintegrating marriage of Howard and Kitty is beautifully done - maybe hints of green shoots or maybe a separation and divorce - we are left wondering.
She also beautifully writes descriptions of the English countryside.

The ending was totally unexpected and slightly shocking - and it felt really unfinished, like she has just got bored with writing.
Also I did find the switching between characters confusing.

All That Man Is by David Szalay

This is a story of nine seemingly unconnected stories about nine men each of them at a different stage in life. 

They are all linked by theme where various men come together to produce an exploration of male vulnerability.

I preferred some stories to others.
I think Szalay relies too heavily on its themes to give it the unity of a novel.

Slade House by David Mitchell

This is a sort of prequel/set along side the Bone Clocks,

David Mitchell does his usual thing of writing a few short stories, and linking them together. 
It is a querky ghost story.
It is short.

I didn't enjoy it as much as the Bone Clocks - maybe because the idea was no longer novel.
The first couple of chapters were good but by the end you knew what to expect.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

I loved this book about the  transformations we go through in life and how different events within our life affect, shape us, and make us who we are today.

I expected it to be an easy read and there were many laugh out loud moments but  I did spend some time crying over parts of it.

I did imagine Ove as a man in his eighties and yet the character is only 59 which just threw me all the way throughout the story . 

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike Book 3) by Robert Galbraith

The story starts with Robin Ellacott  receiving a package containing a woman's severed leg.  This alarms 
Cormoran Strike, who can think of four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible.

I enjoyed reading about Robin and Strike's personal lives.
The killer came across as  creepy, realistic, sadistic.


I didn't like the chapters written from the point of the view of the killer which didn't happen in earlier books

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker, Sam Taylor

This book was a who-done-it, providing red herrings, changing accounts from many different people, a poignant friendship and an illicit love. 

I liked the passages about writers , writing and publishing.
I liked the portrayal of the feel of small town in New England, its people and the fierceness of protecting their own. 
I am not sure I would class it as a thriller - as at now point was a in anyway mildly scared!
It was long book and in parts felt slow.

The Betrayal of Trust: Simon Serrailler Book 6 by Susan Hill

So far I think this is the weakest book I have read of the Simon Serrallier series.   It is much ploddier than the others and more predicable.  In places I found it confusing and the characters felt less likable.  

The Grand Reopening Of Dandelion Cafe (Cherry Pie Island, Book 1) by Jenny Oliver

This was cheap 99p kindle amazon offer, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it.

 A feel-good, fun, flirty book, perfect for combating vampires. It was very quick to read.
I loved the descriptions of food and the fact it had rowing in it.

Tremarnock: The Lives, Loves and Secrets of a Cornish Village by Emma Burstall

A 59p deal from Kindle - an easy read.  Quite enjoyable, no thinking needed!