The Shadow of the Object

 by Chloe Aridjis

Starting with a dog bite in Mexico and a friendship formed in hospital with an older German lady called Wilhelmina the narrator is drawn into a world unknown to her. 

On the death of Wilhelmina she returns to London to meet her son, bringing with her a magic lantern and the ashes. This is a gentle tale that is mesmerising and a love story to magic lanterns and illusion where we are always having to fill in the gaps. I really enjoyed this and would read it again. 8/10

Black Bag

By Luke Kennard

A very quirky readable book which has an out of work actor taking a job being a black leather bag in a lecture theatre for one term. Along the way it examines what masculinity is in today's western society and whether an anonymous black bag can offer sexual fulfilment. It has a take on how to make money in digital world and a talking dog! It is very funny in places. I enjoyed it. 8/10

The Palm House

By Gwendoline Riley 

This is a well regarded author but I could not get into this book. The characters I found impossible to find a connection with or anything remotely interesting about them.

I enjoyed the occasional bit of humour but otherwise left me cold 4/10

The Things We Never Say

By Elizabeth Strout

I did not expect to enjoy this novel as much as I did. It follows Artie Dam, a popular and successful teacher who life finally overwhelms as he descends into loneliness and depression. Sad, it is but engaging and touching the nerve endings of people of my age I suspect. It asks the question of whether it is true that no man is an island. It doesn't really answer the question. 9/10

Poulenc a biography

 by Roger Nichols

An interesting biography of one of the key French composers of the first half of the twentieth century. He comes across as a complex figure but whose musical stature grew and endures. The biography has definitely coaxed me into listening to more of his music which has been a good experience 7/10 

A prayer for Owen Meany

 by John Irving

A sprawling novel of over 700 pages that took me a little while to get into but ended up being totally absorbing. It is set mostly in 1960's New Hampshire at the time of the Vietnam war and two boys, the narrator and Owen Meany grow up together and become best friends, even though Owen manages to kill John's mother at the start of the book with a wild, uncharacteristic swing of the bat in a little league baseball game.

It touches on friendship and faith as the narrator looks back from twenty years hence when he is living in Canada. It is sad and moving in places but also has one of the funniest passages I have read as the 1953 christmas pageant unfolds. 9/10

Land

 by Maggie O'Farrell

Set in Ireland this book follows the fortunes of Tomas and his wife and family, together with the land they inhabit. It starts in 1865 when Tomas, working for the british as a cartographer has a quasi religious experience in a wood on the West coast. It will change him and those close to him forever. It is an absorbing book and has some great characters in it from a slimy priest to a faithful irish wolf hound. 8/10

The Alchemist of Paris

 by M. C. Dulac

A gothic page turner which starts in current day Paris but then takes us back by way of a diary to strange happenings in a house in Paris. Can alchemists make gold or extend life, and what happens if they can. All will be revealed. Fun holiday read 7/10

Maigret and the Ghost

 by Georges Simenon

A policeman gets shot and Maigret is pulled into the art world and the lives of the rich Europeans who operate there. 7/10