This book took me a while to get into, but once I did, it was unputdownable. The author manages to make one of Shakespeare's implausible plots both modern and believable. (Having said which, I've never read or seen  The Winter's Tale, and now it's on my list to do both.) With one exception, I found myself rooting for each character at some point in the novel, flawed as they were, and even though many of them made very questionable choices at times. The ending was satisfying without being too neat, and I enjoyed the author's breaking of the fourth wall now and again and addressing the reader directly.

An enjoyable book that I read in the mornings following the dates of the entries in the book. Great descriptions of Christmas past and present and of traditions. Lovely recipes, although I've only tried one of them so far. (The Christmas pudding - it was delicious!)
2024 - re-read and enjoyed it again. His observations of detail are fascinating and inspiring. And the chocolate and ginger cake is fiddly but yummy.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative. Maybe even too informative - although the explanations given by the non-binary character to her clueless but well-meaning friend rang true to the situation they were in. Lovable, believable, infuriating, flawed characters. A good quick read.

I think I enjoyed this even more than Legends and Lattes. Young!Viv is so engaging, and her frustration at being injured and unable to get on with her life as she had planned is very convincing. A brilliant and varied cast of characters, and lots going on. And a bookshop! And baked goods!

This series just keeps getting better. I love the world-building superimposed and the very real world, and I love the varied cast of characters. Superb narration by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

A lovely split timeline story with more than a hint of fantasy/magical realism, but also a gritty dose of real life in terms of characters with genuine major problems to deal with. Anger-inducing in places because of the way women were treated by society as recently as a hundred years ago, and how some are still abused today. Likeable, but not perfect characters, and a few unresolved mysteries. Great narration.

I did not like this book, and probably would not have finished it if it had not been a book club choice. It was a "slice of life" book, but the life was monumentally dull, and actually unbelievable in places. The things that did happen were unexciting - even Covid was a non-event, and the protagonist was an ICU doctor! The main character is probably autistic, although that is never explicitly stated, but I felt that this doesn't explain her motivation to be so totally work-focussed and uncomprehending of those who are not, nor her relationship (limited as it was) with her family. Her family obviously care about her and want the best for her, although their way of trying to get this is un-subtle and just irritates and confuses her. Apparently there is a lot of humour in this book, but it was lost on me. I can see how this might appeal to someone who likes quirky characters with a different view on the world from what is typical, but this book was not for me.

This is a touching, in places very sad, book. Mabel is very lonely, and was so even before her husband of many years died. The whole story is full of reminiscences interspersed with the current day story of trying to find her long lost friend, and there is so much sadness in Mabel's thoughts of what she has lost and what she missed out on. But there is also hope and laughter and a fantastic element of female friendship and found family in this book, and Mabel is stretched to do things she never dreamed of.

The ending is very satisfying, if slightly wistful, with elements of what might have been if only things had been different in Mabel's youth.

This took me a while to get into, but I really enjoyed it when I did. I seem to be reading a lot of New York based books lately, and this was another one, with an interesting look at the magazine, music and publicity world. To be honest, not a great deal happens. It's just a picture of a very intense female friendship and how that changes and eventually dies over the years, without any big dramatic falling out, but just the process of life and drifting apart.

A personal and interesting discussion of how we deal with the problem of "bad people" who create things we love. How do we reconcile and separate the two? Is is okay to like and continue to engage with artworks, writing, films etc. made by people whose actions we deplore? Of course, there are no easy answers, but this is a thought-provoking book that helps the reader look at their own motivations and make their own decisions. I appreciated the acknowledgement that this is HARD. It's tough to be invested in something and hold that in tension with the knowledge that the person who created it has done bad things. The creation remains unchanged, but we cannot help but think of it in relation to its creator.
A fascinating read that I will re-visit in the not too distant future.