Jamrach's Menagerie

by Carol Birch Amother Booker nominee and an interesting tale based around two factual events. However, the middle section involving lizard hunting and shipwreck was far too long for me and the shipwreck in particular needs a strong stomach to get through! Having said that it was a gripping tale and an almost upbeat ending! 7/10

The Last 100 Days

by Patrick McGuinness There was an element of nostalgia reading this book having visited Romania during the disctator's regime and having vivid memories of the TV coverage of his final days in 1989. The story is enthralling and I enjoyed it a lot. Not sure I would read it again but definitely worth reading and I liked the dvice of putting the narrator centre stage but at a late enough time to be an outsider looking in. 8/10

The Sisters Brothers

by Patrick deWitt This was a very engaging, black comic book. It was one of those books where I would like to ask the author why he wrote it in the first place. It is basically about two brothers who go out and play cowboys and then go home to mum. Why would you write that book? Why would it make the Booker longlist. I do not know but I am glad he did and glad it did. 8/10

The Sense of an Ending

by Julian Barnes A short novel of 150 pages but none the less compelling for all that. All the way through the book the narrator was being told he did not understand and even when made clear at the end it took me a while to understand. This was great story telling and I would give it the Booker now so that probably means it won't make the shortlist! Still a good book though 8/10

The Stranger's Child

by Alan Hollinghurst This is a fascinating book with its wide sweep of twentieth century Britain and the effects of a gay war poets relationships with a Cambridge friend and his sister on their immediate families and those who came after. It works best in the early parts of the book I felt but all in all, and to use a technical term, it was lush! 8/10