books

Way behind in listing them here, will forget soon!
Zadie Smith's new book, Swing Time 2016, was very good. Thoughtful, interesting, good believable characters. Friendships from childhood, mothers, growing up, "helping" in Africa all explored.

The Sympathizer, 2016 by Viet Thanh Nguyen, such a good wrister. Sentences you want to remember. The main character is neither Vietnamese nor American...the book moves between the two as he confesses. Very good book.

Ian Rankin's latest Rebus book Rather Be the Devil 2016, is very good. Rebus is sick, quit smoking, but remains his usual self. Good to connect with all the characters as they age and change. Rebus even has a dog!

Daisy in chains 2016 by Sarah Bolton. another good mystery by a good mystery writer. Also very aborbing and perfect for driving to Victoria! had to finish by kindle because could not wait for return drive and audio version. Good plot, unexpected turns that she did well.

Novel, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, by Mohsid Hamid, 2013. Good writer, very good book. People you are routing for in this book that poses as a self help book, but is really a good movel.

mysteries

Elly Griffith's other series, about Max the magician, Smoke and Mirrors, 2016, is good. Set in 1951, lots of theatre and slow paced police work.

Tana French, The Trespasser, very good mystery. Listened to half of it, read the other half. Good characters, good plot.

Nearly finished Ann Patchett, Commonwealth, 2016. Very good novel, good writer.

Really enjoyed two of a trio of books written by Mark Douglas-Home, The Sea Detective is the first, The Woman Who Walked into the Sea is the second. The police detective is a jerk, the other characters much more interesting and important. Good plot, interesting setting. Looking forward to the third book.

books

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Daniel James Brown, 2013. Very interesting book, focusing on one rower, Joe Rantz, but really about the team and how they got to the Olympics in Berlin, and the builder and the coach. Very good book.

Couple of mysteries by Mark Douglas-Home that I liked a lot. The Sea Detective. 2015 and The Woman Who Walked into the Sea, 2016. Looking forward to the 3rd one. Interesting plots, interesting characters. Ecology a focus.

Slade House by David Mitchell, 2015. Fantasy, ghosts, built into this novel. Pretty good but not my favourtie book by him at all.

Couple more of mysteries by Mick Herron that I liked- in a series, the Slough House series of rejected MI5 people who have to work as outcasts. good plots, fun to read.
Slow Horse #1
Dead Lions, #2
Real Tigers #3

and #4 The List, have not yet read.

good memoir, iffy mystery and a poor novel

The Outsider, my life in intrigue by Frederick Forsyth, 2016. Really interesting book, a very different life. Had to go find the four old movies made from his intrigue novels.

The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood, 2016. Too long, and too gory in parts. The only saving grace was the ending, which was a happy ending. Wont be reading any more by this author.

Amoung the 10K Things, Julia Pierpont, 2016. Got half way and quit. Dreary plot, not a single character of interest or anyone who is likeable. Not a good book.

good novel, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, 2016, by Chris Cleave. Set in London in WWII, surviving or not surviving the blizt and also set on Malta - starving people unable to leave or fight. Good characters, interesting story.

forgotten mystery, strange mystery, good novel

good novel, High Dive, 2016 by Jonathan Lee, young UK writer. He writes about the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, when Thatcher and crew were at a conference in September 1984. Very interesting characters, very good book.

Spooky mystery, hard to figure out what is going on, but you know it is not good. Even the title is played with as a concept. I'm thinking of ending things, by Iain Reid, 2016. Is she ending an affair or is it suicide??

audiobook from library, a good mystery, but all is forgotten....title, author, plot. sad state of aging brain. Found it! Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, 2016. It was good.

Started reading Startle and Illuminate by Carol Shield's grandson and daughter. Anne Giardini, 2016. Very interesting book

Family Life, a novel, 2014 by Akhil Sharma. It won an award and I don't understand why. Not a bad book, but felt half finished and not that great.

3 novels and a mystery

My Name is Lucy Barton, 2016 by Elizabeth Strout. Odd characters, odd book but good. Worth reading. Who are these people who never see their families? Don't get it, but the book was convincing.

Prep 2005 by Curtis Sittenfeld. Book about a girl who goes to an exclusive boarding school far from home for high school. An unknown environment to me. Well written book - maybe too long and wandering but interesting.

The Little Red Chairs, 2015 by Edna O'Brien. Different book, set in the present, mostly in Ireland but the story is really about Sarajevo. She brings it all together in the end. Not sure what I think of it.

The Damage Done2016 by James Oswald, shepherd by day, writer by night. No. 6 in his series, and it's good. Very enjoyable after wandering novels.

Sad book, funny book

Everything I Never Told You 2014 by Celeste Ng. Very sad book but very well written. A family that misses each other at every turn. Hard to watch the lack of communication in action, but easy to understand the reasons why. Each character gets to tell their story.

Doctor Thorne, part of the Barchester Chronices by Anthony Trollope, not sure when he wrote it but mid 19th C. Very verbose writer, my goodness! But very funny at times and very incisive in disecting his characters. Thoroughly enjoyed it.