Francis Spufford Golden Hill

The main interest was the historical setting    New York of mid-1700s which worked well. The characters less so

Samantha Harvey - Dear Thief

A hung jury  on this one  - Had great reviews from professional critics  but a bit of a struggle to read and warm to .  Marmite.

Geoff Dyer - Jeff in Venice Death in Varanasi

A readable book of two halves with some very amusing bits. Is he trying to say something profound about life? Perhaps he finds writing too easy  . OK  not great

George Sanders Lincoln in the Bardo

The house is divided  either a great work  , moving and humorous and original  or a pretentious hard to read  not even a novel....

Colm Toibin House of Names

A mixed reception for this  retelling  of and tinkering with the Oresteia . Why did he write it   ?

Graham Swift Mothering Sunday

A short jewel.Wonderful writing  and evocation of time and place. Is the writer toying with us with the talk of "truth" and  author character saying she lies in interviews? A good read

Mary Westmacott Absent in the Spring

Good but not great . We couldn't help  comparing to her other name "Agatha Christie",similar tricks and devices in the writing . Enough in it to be worth reading and not a whodunnit  but  a mystery in its own way

Sylvia Plath The BellJar

Why have none of us read this before ?  It is a good read. Funny moments in a sad story

Sebastian Barry - A Temporary Gentleman

A hit. Most really liked it one quite liked it. One of the overlapping but independent series of books about the McNulty family. Lyrical, moving ,engaging

Evelyn Waugh - A Handful of Dust

A book of two halves, Some preferred the first half  some the second but all found it readable