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The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - This was on a lot of "best books of 2023" lists, and I vaguely remember reading AV's debut Cutting For Stone, but that's not why I read this mammoth (over 700 pages) novel. I read it because I was intrigued by the premise: in 20th century India, three generations of a family are afflicted by at least one family member dying in water. I thought it was going to be a good fantasy read; instead, it was a very good, but not great, read about a strong matriarch (who I loved) and a granddaughter who--very mild spoiler here--figures out the very non-mystical answer to why family members die in water. Sort of. Once again, AV wrote what he knows--being a surgeon in India--and the book IMO could've benefitted from better editing. Too much time was spent on the first generation (the strong matriarch's generation), so even at over 700 pages, the ending felt a bit rushed. Also, a lot of people die in this book. A LOT. So...not the best thing to read right before Christmas. Still, the ending was brilliant, and if you have the time, I *do* recommend ACoW and give it a B+.

The Midnight News by Jo Baker - Once again, I was misled. I thought "midnight news" was literally going to be about midnight news. Instead, it was yet another book set during WWII (seriously, what is the fascination suddenly with that time period? I have another book waiting in the reading queue that's also set during WWII) and was again a book with people dying. This time, it's friends, family and acquaintances of the heroine, who's "adulting" for the first time in her life, working as a typist in an office and renting the uppermost room in a nearby flat. She's told all these women (and they're all women) died in the London bombings but she doesn't believe it. But she can't tell anyone her suspicions because only a few years earlier, she'd been hospitalized for "a mental breakdown" and everyone thinks her concerns are just her nerves. I won't spoil the ending but I will say I don't feel the author really explained it well, or maybe I was just being particularly dense the day I finished the book. I'm giving this one a B-, maybe a C+, because it didn't really break any new ground and wasn't terribly imaginative.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent - Ugh. This one is about the titular character, who's 40 and considered, yes, "strange". She doesn't like people very much, has no use for small talk and is baffled by social interactions. That's not the "ugh" part...the "ugh" is because it turns out she had a tragic past, and what happened to her when she was a very young child was...ugh. Not as many people die in this book as in the previous two I'd read but it was again not a cheery or hopeful book, and the ending was for me absolutely awful. I feel it was a well-written book but unless you really love to wallow in misery and darkness, take a miss on Miss Sally Diamond. I'll give the book a C because again, good writing, decent execution but the story was just...ugh.