"The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters

This book was an unusual read. A large percentage of it was simply a description of the evolution of British society after World War 2, from the perspective of the boring, every day affairs of a small town doctor and a local wealthy family and their deteriorating home. And yet, surprisingly, even those sections were quite interesting. Throw in a malignant supernatural force of subconscious evil desires, released, probably unknowingly, by the doctor, and the book eventually becomes quite bizarre indeed. Nevertheless, there is a bit of something missing, that keeps it from being great. The problem for me was that even though the author finally practically hits you over the head with the doctor's guilt in the destruction of the family, that plot twist never quite feels concrete. I actually went to the GoodReads site to make sure I interpreted the ending correctly.

"Yiddish for Pirates" by Gary Barwin

I did not enjoy this read. This is what I get for reading a clever, inventive book. There was so much emphasis on the parrot's raunchy Yiddish personality and vocabulary, that it kept taking me out of the story. The worst culprit was the jokes which the parrot kept throwing in out of left field. The story was muddled because of the parrot's odd story-telling style. I was very glad when I finally finished it. Good riddance! That said, I did learn some interesting tidbits about the Spanish inquisition and Christopher Columbus's trip to the New World.

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell

A dreary, depressing and enlightening book. Doublespeak. Taking away liberty to give people freedom. Donald Trump. This book was much more theoretical and less a story than I expected. Interesting that "Brave New World" came out 20 years earlier. I actually thought of this book as being the older one.

"Still Life" by Louise Penny

Not a bad book, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. I think Penny's characters are clumsily drawn, and leave me with a feeling of insularity. All they think and talk about is themselves. This is definitely not literature and I am not tempted to read more Inspector Gamache stories.

"Barkskins" by Annie Proulx

I finally finished this overly long and overly convoluted "mouthpiece" novel about the destruction of forests worldwide. I think it's the worst thing Proulx has ever written. Too too many of her characters do nothing but spout dogma and business information, and never come alive. Any attempts at subtlety are buried under mountains of detail, and it was depressing reading about all those deaths and about the miserable plight of the aboriginal population. The book was somewhat educational, but that's about it.

"Doctor Sleep" by Stephen King

This was a fairly enjoyable sequel to "The Shining". I like the fact that King rehabilitated Danny's father. I wonder if King dislikes the movie because it made Jack Torrance a 100% monster. And oh yes... I think the book lost some of its logical consistency during the battle with Rose, and became excessively silly. ... Harnessing the monsters from the Overlook who happened to be locked in Danny's head... having his father's ghost appear and help him... using the steam of the cancer ridden grandmother to kill the vampires...

"The Museum of Hoaxes" by Alex Boese

A fun enough read about hoaxes throughout time. It was especially significant in this year of fake news and Donald Trump's win of the presidential election.