Nora Seed has depression. And regrets, so many regrets. How would her life have turned out if she had made different decisions? The Midnight Library exists between worlds and gives Nora the chance to try the lives she didn't lead. Are they better than the life she knew?
A book which is by turns funny, touching, sad and delightful. Nora is an engaging character and we find out a great deal about her (and a bit about her favourite philosophers) as the novel progresses. A varied and believable cast of supporting characters too: I particularly liked the librarian, Mrs Elm. A really good read.

I'm struggling with ambivalent feelings about this book. The writing was undeniably lyrical and beautiful, and some of the anecdotes and facts the author shared were very interesting. But I can’t help feeling the whole thing was quite self-indulgent and that she was almost wallowing in being sad. Not to mention the immense privilege of being able to swan off to Iceland or Norway in order to winter properly! Having said that, I enjoyed the reading experience (without having the slightest urge to go cold water swimming!)

(Minor spoilers)
I dithered between 4 and 5 stars for this , because I'm trying not to be over-generous with 5-star reviews, but then I realised that I LOVE THIS BOOK and it totally deserves 5 stars. I've been reading on and off all day, being anti-social and grumpy if I was interrupted, because I was enjoying it so much.
Yes, it's sugar-sweet (literally and figuratively), reminiscent of a Hallmark movie, and predictable in places, but what's wrong with that?
Heroine over 40? Check
Small town full of characters? Check
Food? (I love food-y novels) Check
Animal sub-plot (the dog doesn't die) Check
Family relationships? Check
The characters annoyed me at times - Kit was selfish sometimes, Nora a bit of a doormat, both Elliott and Max a bit too good to be true, but I loved them all.
Did I say that I loved this book?

Things were different in the past.
The casual racism, ongoing sexism (with the note of gallantry that makes teen boys protect their sisters and not hit them unless they're really annoying) and the fact that everyone smoked were expected. I remembered most of that from my youthful reading of this series, which I loved (far more than the Famous Five). 12-year-old me was rather in love with Jack, and totally in awe of the heroic coming-in-when-an-adult-is-strictly-necessary Bill.
As a child, I was wildly indignant at the sexism that never let Blyton's female characters have such an exciting time as their brothers. The racism never occurred to me back then. (I'm not sure I knew any people of colour, certainly no black people, and i regarded them with suspicion partly as a result of that and partly as a by-product of the inherent racism that was just part of how many white people thought back then and that we didn't even realise was a thing.) The smoking is obviously not such a big deal; it was just what a lot of people did back then.
What never occurred to 12-year-old me was the appalling treatment of the orphaned Jack and Lucy Ann and the fatherless Philip and Dinah. passed casually from adult to adult, and fully aware that no one really wanted them.
Having said all that, and taking this as an of-its-time purely nostalgic read, nearly fifty years on, I really enjoyed it.

A quick read aimed at 10-12 year olds, centred around the broken relationship of two sisters very close in age. Told alternately from both points of view, you get to see how much they are both hurting, and how they want to make things right without a clue of how to go about it. Interesting view of a school residential from the children's point of view, though I did feel for the poor teachers! I enjoyed it.

Pure escapism. Set mainly in a small Scottish town over Christmas, five people with their own problems and tragedies come together and make a family. Cosy, predictable, wonderful.

A lovely cosy read. Set in small-town Vermont with a wide cast of characters, and no real villains (well, maybe one, on a small scale - more like dissatisfied and jealous). The characters were human, not all good or all bad, the romance was nice and gentle with a small dose of angst, and the food descriptions were wonderful. A winner.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Wonderful, believable world-building, great characters, and an inventive fascinating storyline.

A wonderful book with the narrative alternating between two sisters who didn't know of each other's existence until their father dies. The two voices are very convincing, and the feelings portrayed are very raw and real. The setting - alternating between the Dominican Republic and a Dominican/mixed community in New York are brought vividly to life, as are the contrasts between the two girls' lives. Their father's death brings all sorts of revelations and resentments to the surface, all of which are beautifully handled. The Spanish phrases add depth to it, although I did resort to Google translate several times when the context didn't make the meaning clear. The poetry was low key, but added to the general feel of the book. Recommended.

My husband bought me this for Christmas, and I wasn't sure about it at first. The beginning was a little slow, with a lot of detail about the author's early life, which at that point was a little wearing when I wanted to get into the "point" of the story. His reasons for including it do become apparent as the book progresses though. I have to admit to not liking the author much at first: he seemed very detached, particularly from his wife and family, despite the respect he gave to the bodies he examined. It seemed as if he cared far more for the dead than the living. (I was also a little irritated by him complaining about his poverty during his early working life. Whilst junior doctors in the 1970s probably weren't paid a fortune, I'm pretty sure he was relatively well off by most standards.)
I warmed to him however as the book progressed. Alongside the fascinating detail about many of the autopsies he performed, both on obscure individuals and victims of famous murder cases and disasters, he is very honest about his own personal life and failings. The details of his early life did seem to illuminate the way he reacted to family life and his scientific detachment which often seemed too much. By the end of the book, he seemed thoroughly human and vulnerable, which I appreciated.
The scientific/medical details and inside information about autopsies, murders and disasters were very interesting, and handled with respect and clarity. More than once, I found myself heading to the internet to find out more about the cases he covered.
Not exactly enjoyable, but a very worthwhile read. Recommended.