Deliver Us From Evil - Tom Holland

This starts off as a Restoration era murder mystery but becomes something a bit ludicrous and is clearly meant to be dark and scary. It features a few real-life people (which I can't stand) including the dissolute Earl of Rochester. Spanning from the Salisbury plains, to Bohemia and the New World, it follows Robert Foxe as he attempts to find out what happened to his father and what led to his mother's being burnt at the stake, as he learns about the evils haunting the world, he becomes corrupted and loses his core values, making him quite hard to like.
If you like historical fantasy novels, this might be for you, but to be honest, this wasn't for me.

Company of Liars - Karen Maitland

Set in the Middle Ages, during the plague years, Company of Liars follows a rag-tag group as they try to outrun the pestilence that's stalking the land. Told from the perspective of a member of this company, Camelot, a seller of 'relics', the story unfolds and it appears misfortune and death is stalking the group, or is it?

I'd read Maitland's The Owl Killers, and a friend had told me I'd probably like this one too. And I did!
I quite like historical fiction written with a good feel for the period in which it's set, and Maitland writes well. The story's involving, and the characters all have dark secrets that threaten them, which adds to the mystery of why they hear a lone wolf howling in the night, and what exactly is out to get them, and who is the creepy little girl, Narigorm? As it unravels the narrative becomes more sinister and darker, and the plague stalks ever closer.

The Queen of Everything - Deb Caletti

Jordan's life is just fine, she lives with her dad, has a job, gets good grades. And then one summer it all seems to fall apart. Her dad falls in love with the wrong woman and doing so has consequences.

I'd read this book before, ages ago, when I was a good little student librarian. I couldn't remember what it was about, I just remembered the title. It's aimed at teen readers not me, and the language is fairly simple, no long complicated words. Having said that it's well written, Jordan is a likable character and the plot is quite sophisticated. It's a nice, quick read.

An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears

Set after the Restoration in the 1600s, this novel is made up of four different narratives, covering the same time period and a murder (or was it) at Oxford University. The first account is that of Marco da Cola, a Venetian visiting England. The next, by son of a possible traitor, Jack Prescott, builds on the first as does the third, that of cryptographer and mathematician (and priest) Dr Wallis. The final story, by historian Anthony Wood is intended to tie up loose ends and explain the preceding accounts. All the way through, you wonder who's telling the truth and what they have to gain by writing.
I have a slight issue with books that use real people in fictitious ways, as this one does, adding fictional characters to round out the plot. While it's well written, clearly the 17th Century has been well researched, I always feel using real people muddies the line between fictional and factual writing. The book contains a dramatis personae at the end to explain who's who, which makes it plain which parts of the story are pure fantasy and which aren't. It just doesn't sit well with me. Plenty of people have led truly fascinating lives and been involved in all manner of things, so write about them. You want to tell a story about a possible conspiracy that might affect the king, then make it up by all means. Adding real people to ground it in a time isn't necessary, plenty of historical fiction doesn't feel the need to do that. It just bothers me.
Anyway, as I say, this is well written and researched, cleverly constructed and while it dragged a little at times, a decent read.

44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith

This is a very cosy sort of book. Originally written as a serial for The Scotsman, this book tells the stories of the various residents of the flats at the titular address. There's vain Bruce and his new flatmate, Pat, interesting Domenica, who's seen plenty of the world, pretentious Irene with her almost silent husband, and son Bertie, who is the focus of all her ambition and is starting to buckle under the pressure. McCall Smith has a talent for creating fascinating and relatable characters (I really enjoyed his Ladies No 1 Detective Agency books). The book is broken up into short chapters, suitable for it's original use in the newspaper, and is something to be nibbled at. A sweet sort of book. There's a sequel on the way too, continuing the stories of the residents of number 44 and their friends.

Netherland - Joseph O'Neill

This book claims (via the blurb) to be about cricket. I happen to think cricket is deadly dull, the only sport (if you can call it that) that's duller is golf. Luckily the cricket is the focus of this novel at all. It's about relationships, between Hans, the main character, his wife Rachel, their son, Jake and between Hans and his strange friend Chuck. Chuck and Hans meet at a cricket match. Hans is Dutch (re-read the title, there's something clever going on there!) and the only white player in the many New York based cricket teams he encounters. Chuck is an umpire. He's also a dreamer, a schemer and the man who wishes to introduce cricket to mainstream America. The game is played mainly by ex-pats and their descendents, from the West Indies, the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean and South Africa (all cricket mad nations). Chuck wants to change this. As his marriage is falling apart and his wife has returned to England, Hans finds himself drawn into Chuck's many schemes (some quite dangerous), as he remembers his mother, and struggles to come to a decision regarding his relationship with his wife.
It's quite slow in parts (much like cricket), and it meanders along, not requiring a huge mental involvement. People who like cricket will get some of the references, but they're not essential to the plot, so don't worry if you find it all rather boring. It comes to a nice conclusion, and Hans is quite likable in a dry humoured way. His descriptions of the other residents of the Chelsea Hotel where he's living are quite entertaining. Well written and thoughtful.

What won't you read? Well....

I often get asked what books I don't enjoy, what I don't like to read. There is a list. It isn't very long, but it exists.

I can't stand poorly written, badly edited writing. So that's Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer then. Although a friend did point out that if rubbish like that can get published, anything can!
I also refuse to have anything to do with Harry Potter. I like fantasy novels, there are some that I've thoroughly enjoyed. A lot of people avoid it as a genre. I just avoid anything with J.K Rowling listed as author.
Then we come to the biggies. The sacred canon authors I would quite happily have pulped. In alphabetical order. Jane Austen. The Brontes (yes, all of them) Charles Dickens (except Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, I like Miss Havisham), George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy. These make up (with the exception of Austen) what I think of as the depressive Victorians. Reading anything by any of them makes me irritable and likely to bite the head off of anyone unlucky enough to be nearby. Austen's heroines drive me nuts. Dickens writes the same story over and over (poor little orphan, mean people, benevolent benefactor, success). Hardy hates women (they all die miserably, and suffer in life), the Brontes don't believe in happiness or joy (for women they're quite misogynistic as well), George Eliot depresses the hell out of me (read Silas Marner, there is no joy in the woman). I just can't read them.
I also would pulp Moby Dick. It's long, it's boring and to be honest it's quite pointless. The plot goes missing every now and then, none of the characters are likable, I'm still trying to find anyone who enjoyed it.
The Hobbit put me off ever attempting the Lord of the Rings. It's deadly dull and nothing much seems to happen. One of the few examples of supposedly excellent fantasy letting me down.
I'm trying to think if there are any others. There's only ever been a few books I've had to put down half way through and never picked up again. I seem to have blocked most of them from my memory, or they're already on this list. I try to be fair, I give books a chance. Some are heavy going yes, but I persevere. The list above are the exceptions. No thank you, not for me.