This is not a lot to show for five months reading. My excuse is that I have done a lot of non-fiction re-reading, and even more writing, re-writing and editing. Will try to do better in the future.

Time of the Child*by Niall Williams
This is what happened in Faha over the Christmas of 1962, in what became known in the parish as the time of the child.
To those who lived there, Faha was perhaps the last place on earth to expect a miracle.
*I did not have the quibble that the author of the review linked to did – I absolutely loved every bit of it.

New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani
My name is Petri Friari, I live at no.16 Kaiser-Wilhelmstrasse, Hamburg and I work as a neurologist at the city’s university hospital.

The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan
Leonie Müller’s feet were cold. She was wearing a pair of wellington boots that were at least two sizes too big for her.

Night in Passchendaele by Scott Bennett
‘It can’t go on much longer, not like this.’
‘’You’re right,’ says Myers. ‘It can’t go on much longer. And neither can we.’

The Buried Life by Andrea Goldsmith
His colleagues called him Doctor Death.
Adrian believed no malice was intended; it was a term of familiarity, like any nickname.

A Woman’s War by Jacqueline Dinan
August 1914. I am startled by of his boots pounding on the hallway boards.

My Watching

I did do some TV watching as well. I re-watched several series from start to end.

Foyle’s War (Acorn) Set mainly in Hastings, this is a mystery series following police detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle through World War 2 and just after when he becomes involved with MI5. The series appears to reflect the period quite accurately and, at times, offers ethical conundrums. The final series, particularly the last episode, is excellent.

Ghosts (Stan) A young woman inherits a decrepit stately home from a distant relative and discovers, after a fall from an upstairs window, that the house is haunted by a collection of ghosts from various periods in England’s history. It’s wonderful escapist watching. I watched the original UK series but there are now at least two other series. I won’t be watching the US series as I remember what they did with Men Behaving Badly and Kath and Kim. The trailer for the Australian version looks dire too – more slapstick than the gentle humour found in the British original.