Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

An exciting, if totally ridiculous book about a secret, magical division of the metropolitan police force.  This is the first part of a trilogy following Peter Grant, a new recruit to a wizard inspector, who is learning magic as he embarks on his policing career.  This is excellent escapism as the plot is humerous, believable (within the confines of a magical universe) and easy to read.  The writing is never going to be the attraction to this book but at the same time it is light, often illuminating and certainly never jarring.  Very readable, very good fun and enjoyable.

Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain

Life is too short for many things - exactly pairing up similar looking black socks, making your own stock, keeping receipts, travelling on the circle & district line, conversations about mobile phone tariffs, anything to do with model railways.  And reading this book.  Or indeed, writing a review of this book.

NW by Zadie Smith

This is an excellently well written book about two girls, Leah and Keisha, who grow up on a Council estate in Kilburn.   I enjoyed the style of writing very much and it is worth a read to appreciate the language and the observational social commentary.  However, I was disappointed with the two main characters who are difficult to engage with and for me that unfortunately detracted from my enjoyment this book.  There was something about both characters which made them a little indistinct - and it was too evident that they were vehicles for the message behind the book rather than realistic representations of people.   In my opinion, this lack of identification with the characters prevented this book from being truly absorbing but it is still an enjoyable novel by a very talented writer.

A Trick I Learned from Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge

This is an unusual book written from the point of view of a young man struggling to keep his small family afloat after the death of his mother.  The main character, Lee, is a trainee undertaker at a local funeral parlour who takes care of his rebellious, deaf younger brother.

The writing is a little difficult to get into because it is written like a dialogue or internal monologue, but once you get into it it is excellent and becomes much easier to read.  Lee is likeable and it is easy to sympathise with his situation, which despite being tragic is portrayed in a surprisingly humorous way.  This is not a plot heavy book but it is very poignant, interesting and well written and I really enjoyed it.