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.

While the Light Lasts (Hercule Poirot Series Book 41) Agatha Christie

 

These previously unpublished short stories showcase Christie's talents across a range of styles from romance to the supernatural.

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Having the read the blurb, I expected the book to be something it wasn't, but once I had got over my preconceived ideas I really enjoyed this book.

It is a gentle book which moves slowly to tell the plot.
It is a perfect Autumn book as the main character spends a lot of her time walking in the woods!
The writing is beautiful - poetic and also witty at times. I liked the descriptions of the English countryside.
One of Warner’s better tricks is that you can’t really be sure if she’s introduced a supernatural element or not. Everything that happens subsequently can be explained without resorting to infernal pacts. Everything can be explained as a rationalization of Lolly’s rebellion.

The Schooldays of Jesus by J M Coetzee

I found this quite a strange book but I am not sure if that is because I hadn't read the first book!  Effectvioely, it is the story of two adults trying to raise a very headstrong, very 'different' little boy with the plot involving murder, madness and passion.
It is set in a dystopian Spain where everyone seems to be a immigrant from another life but they have forgotten their past including their name upon arrival in Spain. 
The story was strange with a lot of abstract philosophy about identity, passion, the reliability of memories etc.   
Actually, the book was oddly compulsively readable - involving and haunting.
I think at some point when have stopped thinking about the this one I will read the first and I think there must be at least another book in the series because the ending was so strange!

Serious Sweet by A.L. Kennedy

 
 This is a romance novel: misfit meets misfit and they fall in love; the story of two people trying to meet up in London, which turns out to be not as easy as you might think.

I liked the way the author combined the minutiae of daily life for the main characters, while seamlessly weaving in detailed back story. 

However, at times the lack of plot driven action makes the books dull.

At times, it was confusing; for example Jon's colleague, Chalice's menacing monologues were well-written but out of place as there was no preamble for his threats.  And there was also overly-pretentious fillers sporadically throughout the entire book - written as tableaux of typical London life, they come across as unbidden interruptions in an overlong story. They add to page length, and nothing else. They have no bearing on the main story, nor do they impact the characters in anyway.