The Mating Season: by P.G. Wodehouse

Howards End is on the Landing: A year of reading from home by Susan Hill

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain by Allan Ropper and Brian David Burrell

I read this because I'd heard it serialised on radio 4 but, although I really wanted to like this book because I am interested in Neuroscience - I didn't!
I found this book patronising in tone and very self-congratulatory - possibly because it was American but I had expected it to be more like Oliver Sacks' writing!

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

 
This is the story of a young man with a mystery who turns up in mid-eighteenth century New York, then a small colonial settlement of some 7,000 people.
I know nothing of 1746 New York but really enjoying learning about it as an English colony with a heavy Dutch influence, and slavery still the standard.
I felt the portrayal of New York was vivid, and the cast of characters believable!
The secret surrounding the mysterious Smith was intriguing right up till it was revealed at the end - I love a book where I have no idea of where it is going! 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This classic horror story is actually told through a collaboration of journals, letters and papers.  The different viewpoints told via each journal create suspense which suits the gothic tone of the novel.
Although a classic, there are some flaws the novel does not explain - why is Dracula obsessed with Mina and the second half, where is there is less Dracula himself, is less gripping than the first half!

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

 

Having read reviews, this book seems a little like marmite - you love it or you don't - I am in the later!  
This book had the feeling of a Charles Dickens novel in some ways; the strange pacing, the somewhat caricatured characters and the atmosphere were reminiscent of The Old Curiosity Shop for me. I loved her detail of Victorian life - the social issues, descriptions of early medical advance.
The Essex backdrop was brilliantly written though, and I loved the imagery and Perry's descriptive style. I also thought that the letters the characters exchange throughout the novel were nicely done. 
I liked all the symbolism - the serpent itself, possibly a multi faceted metaphor, representing at different times superstition, the general darkness of human nature, self doubt and destructiveness, the threat of adultery to a happy marriage, and indeed there could be a reading of the book in which Cora is the Essex Serpent.
However, I didn't really warm to the characters and at times I felt the book dragged!