A failed doctor is chased across the world by a terrible curse. Set just before the first world war, you know, the war to end all wars. Global politics, Spies, and the supernatural, it's actually quite believable. Good stuff.

Not as good as the last, the characters have all grown up but the language still seems very much stuck in young adult mode. Good story though so I'll have to read the next.

These all have bookmarks in them, have to finish at least one but I'm too busy reading something else. FML.

What an incredible storyteller. The writing is beautiful, as are all the characters and I can't help imagining this as a Studio Ghibli movie. Completely unbelievable but I want to believe it all. Hoping Hayao Miyazaki reads it soon.

Oh dear, a good satire can be so depressing. A timely read given our own Captain has just taken control of legal matters of interest to himself. When did it even become 'legal' for an American president to pardon a murderer or rapist? 'No one is above the law' it says in the Constitution. Not true says I, we're living in a fascist state, have been for some time. This idiot at the helm is now showing us what's possible. U.S.A!
Great book.

Thin. The plot was thin, the supernatural element thin, the book itself though that's not relevant. Meh.

The first half of this is excellent. Fascinating, shocking and brilliant. It gets bogged down with first hand accounts and detail later on, valuable information for an historian but it got a bit repetitive for me.

I learned something about Munch at least. Love Karl's writing but parts of this were lost on me. The combination of author and artist makes this a bit heavy on the introspective. Made me think too hard!

Taking it slow this year, more re-reads and some classics like this that I've inexplicably not read until my fiftieth year. I did enjoy this, no description required as it's all been said before.

A very enjoyable read. New take on time travel, at least for me. Destroyed my own theory on why time travel is not possible.

Loved this, brilliant writing, fantastic period picture of London and memorable characters. A little floppy at the end but not too disappointing. Best book of the year so far! 😉

Brilliant book, beautiful, sad and terrifying. A unique voice I'd say. My last read for 2019, Merry New year everyone.

A bit politically heavy and detail oriented in places, but really interesting to read. Not much seems to have changed, people are people I suppose and fear is such a great motivator. Lies too, don't forget the lies. Coal is not coming back but not to worry, meth and opiates have never been more affordable.

Great storytelling as usual. Not her best but excellent none the less.

A bit boring really.

Just finished, spaced these out over the year. Might start from the beginning in January (depending on how many books I get for Christmas), beautiful stories.

This was a tough read, very sad and quite disgusting in places. Just my type of thing! Trailed off a little towards the end I thought, could have been a few pages shorter.

Jumps around in time telling a variation of the same tale, quite unique and beautiful.

Reasonably good detective thriller. Very quick read, easy on the mind you might say.

Mercury transit almost over. It's the tiny black spec in the top left. Cell phone photo though my small telescope. I'll be eighty next time this happens and is visible in North America, if I make it that is. Mercury will of course.

It's a pretty good read, a bit dark I suppose but I wish the house has been a bigger part of the book. The characters were all good, but not as interesting as the house. Too many unrevealed secrets.

Two parts, Before and After. The first part was brilliant, the second totally unnecessary. A great idea but ultimately pointless though well written. What happens after an inexplicably terrible event ? People get on with their lives, the end. Yawn.

The first pages show the quality of literature here. Brilliantly written tale of cultist isolation, how easily led we are, until we aren't. No happy endings I'm afraid.

This is dystopia at it's best. So believable it's utterly depressing at times. It's also deeply British and made me homesick despite the horror of it all.

Satisfying, well written thriller. Plane crash, wilderness survival, bad guys, big pharma (more bad guys) enough said really.

Peculiarly good read, unique in some ways but also predictable (in a good way). Agatha Christie, Clue, Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, Memento among a few things it reminded me of.

Incredible, beautiful and poetic, I wish it was all real. I've never read anything like it.

Pretty good mystery. Not quite Scandi enough for me but I read the author is half Norwegian, half American, studied in England. Still, a good novel full of despicable characters.

A bit too long this, I got bored by the end as it seemed to drag on to it's obvious conclusion.

A great book in many ways and quite an important work I would say, but it did get a little tedious past the halfway point and lost its impact. Brilliant writing though.

A really interesting look at Russian culture and history. The whole thing was a bit soul destroying though. 'Big hearted, warm and witty' said someone on the back cover. For me it was just a sad book about a terrible country. A timely read as we watch our freedoms in America dissolve into a more Soviet version of capitalism.

Interesting style of storytelling, great writing, but ultimately a little predictable. I was waiting for the twists but there really weren't any.

Not sure how many times I've read this. Gaiman is the only writer whose books I read more than once. Mostly.

Well written, nice idea but a bit too Y/A for my tastes.

Engrossing, dysfunctional love story. It's been done a million times but this is uniquely brilliant and modern and very Irish.

Not my favorite from McEwan I'll admit, but quite brilliant. Alternative history? Science fiction? Who cares? He was accused of genre snobbery after a recent interview but every author has the right to be snobbish about their own work. They write the books and we get to tell them what it's all about!

This guy is such a good writer, burrows so deep inside the characters mind it gets uncomfortable. Ordinariness happens but it's so interesting and the Dutch perspective is fascinating to me. How can cultures be so unique when we're all exactly the same?

This was great, I think I liked the other one too. No spoilers.

Didn't even know Koch had a new book. Love surprises at the library!

Great story but always feels a bit rushed at the end. Too much happening too quickly, everyone conveniently converging without reasonable explanation. Can't remember how many times I've read it though.

Really interesting novel and very well written but a little light given the subject matter. Ignorance, fear and cruelty is what this book is about, but it wasn't there. Too sympathetic and understanding I thought. Having said that I did read it without putting it down.

Powerful and beautifully written story about growing up in Nazi Germany. Incredible description of Kristallnacht, still so hard to believe this actually happened but this really made it real for me. Tearjerker ending, superb.

Decent mystery with a little ghost story woven in. Just not quite mysterious or scary enough for me though. Great story, huge potential but it didn't really get there.

Good thriller/mystery/ WTF is happening sort of tale full of despicable, greedy/ gullible, weak characters; hated them all by the end. Lots of twists and reveals and a great last line. Noooooo!!!

Fun book. Wonderful writing, wicked characters and I really liked the way it ended. Describing Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' as the musical equivalent of a pack of M&M's, brilliant.

Here are my #Top6Reads @Cinfhen. So hard to choose, I think I just lost an hour of my life! I'm definitely reading Kristen's book again, absolutely brilliant.

Fairly predictable story of a sociopath exacting revenge for the death of a friend. Well written and very satisfying to read though, full of disgusting characters that are fun to hate.

A very enjoyable read, really captivating all the way through. Wish I had the strength to visit Alaska. Emotional ending 😢

I started to read and just couldn't stop, brilliant book. Should have guessed the ending but I was so engrossed I didn't have time to think. Excellent.

A proper bit of highbrow literature this. Pretty short and interesting. It gets quite intriguing halfway through and ends well.