Will's Reading 2025

This is my second year on Club Read, so still feeling a bit of a newbie and finding my way - there's a lot to explore here! Thank you to all those who have made me feel very welcome.

I have, however, been on LT since 2008, and my catalogue is a reasonably full record of both my library (currently around 2500 books, about 50% TBR!) and my reading. I'm also a bit of listaholic: lists in the posts below include:

2. Books read in 2025
3. Reading the World project
4. Tour of the United States project
5. Author lists
6. The Book Pile
7. Favourite books and authors
8. Reading awards
9. Review of 2024, looking to 2025

Yes, I do have some aims for 2025 - mainly to improve on my lists 3-6 - and those are detailed in post 9.

Finally an explanation: I do use a grading system, 1-6 stars, and this is outlined below, showing the LT equivalents. All gradings are based on how much I enjoyed the book, not whether it's 'great' literature!

* Positively disliked: almost certainly unfinished. Most of these books do tend to be book group choices! LT rating 0.5 - 1
** Disappointing or not enjoyed even if I can recognise its merits: likely to be at least skimmed, often unfinished. LT 1.5 - 2
*** OK, a decent read. Books I want to finish, even if I don't feel the need to! For non-fiction books this really for books that may not have huge literary merit, but proved functionally useful. LT 2.5 - 3
**** Good, compulsive reading that, whilst putdownable, demands to be picked up and finished LT 3.5
***** Very good, into the realms of 'unputdownable' LT 4
****** Excellent. Some of these may even be 'pending' as favourites, as I usually only decide after a while. LT 4.5
******(F) Favourites: books which, for whatever reason, have something particularly special about them, even if only personal to me. These books are listed on my favourites' list (post 7). LT 5

I suppose I could have just made Favourite's 7-stars, but that just didn't seem quite right! Usually, they are no 'better' than other 6 star 'excellent' books - there's just something about them that strikes a particular chord. There are around 140 at present.

Reading 2025

January
01. The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett ****
02. West of Rehoboth by Alexs D Pate U ****
03. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro GX **
04. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell U *****
05. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ***
06. Notes from the Henhouse by Elspeth Barker ***

February
07. Orbital by Samantha Harvey GR ******
08. A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis ***
09. West by Carys Davies ***
10. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett G *****
11. Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee ******
12. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean U ****

March
XX. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters G *
13. Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza W *****
14. The Burgundians by Bart van Loo *****
15. Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan X **
16. L'Argent by Emile Zola *****
17. Love Triangle by Matt Parker X **

April
18. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri G ***
19. Havana Year Zero by Karla Suarez W ****
20. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning *****
21. Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood W ****
22. We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida G *
23. The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber U ***
24. Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon ***

May
25. Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier G ***
26. The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks by Donald Harington U ***
27. It Comes From the River by Rachel Bower G ***
28. A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro G ******
29. Bookish by Lucy Mangan ***
30. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam W ****(*)

June
31. The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy ***
32. Clear by Carys Davies ****
33. The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell ******
34. The Great Auk by Tim Birkhead ****
35. Overlord by Max Hastings ****
36. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut G ***

July
37. The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel ****
38. The Secret History by Donna Tartt GU *****
39. A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard ****
40. Borderlines by Lewis Baston *****

August
41. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn *****
42. Siblings by Brigitte Reimann *****
43. A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter ******
44. Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller ***
45. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf R ******(F)

September
46. Square Haunting by Francesca Wade ****
47. The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier *****
48. The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott G ***
49. Universality by Natasha Brown ***
50. A Day in Summer by JL Carr ****
51. The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits ***
52. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle GW ***

October
53. Audition by Katie Kitamura **
XX. Flesh by David Szalay X *
54. Flashlight by Susan Choi ****
55. Within the Walls by Giorgio Bassani ****

November
56. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan G ***
57. Looking After Your Books by Francesca Galligan ***
58. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant R ******
59. Helm by Sarah Hall ****** (F)
60. The Habsburg Empire by Martyn Rady ****

December
61. The Land in Winter by Andrew Martin G *****
62. Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean **
63. Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan W ****
64. The Wall Jumper by Peter Schneider ****
65. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal R *****
66. Department of Speculation by Jenny Offil R *****
67. Jane Austen, A Brief Life by Fiona Stafford *****
68. Persuasion by Jane Austen R ******
69. L'Etranger by Albert Camus ****
70. The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud W *****
71. Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood ***
72. The Christmas Appeal by Janice Ballett ****
73. The Nativity by Geza Vermes R ****
74. Seascraper by Benjamin Wood ******
75. Through a Glass, Darkly by Helen McCloy ****
76. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy U ****
77. Blue Meridian by Peter Matthiessen ****
78. Baho! by Roland Rugero ****

A = audiobook, G = book group read, R = reread, U = Tour of the United States, W = Reading the World, X = unfinished

Reading The World
Full details of this project are in this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/342855

Constituent countries/continent are:
the 193 members of the United Nations
its 2 observer members (Vatican City, Palestine)
one ex-member (Taiwan)
the four home nations of the United Kingdom (I've read plenty from England, some from Scotland but very little from the other 2)
the largest island (a self-governing autonomous territory): Greenland
making a total of 200 countries.

The only strict criteria is that I mustn't have read the book previously, and that all choices should be narrative prose. Otherwise, the rule is aims rather than rules, the main aim being to read an example of adult literature frome each country. Ideally by an author born in or a citizen of that country; resident is next best. This project was started in 2022, and the book should be written since 1922 (since the publication of Ulysses). I will normally go for fiction, but, non-fiction is allowed; it may even, on occasions, be preferred if I think it gives more insight into the country and/or its literature. On occasions it will need to be a book about the place written by someone who is neither from there nor a resident, but that will generally be a last resort. Where I've subsequently read another book from the same country that I thought particularly worth recording (especially if I've preferred it ot the original book listed), I've added it to the country as an extra read (occasionally replaced the original read if I didn't rate that very much).

Countries read so far (58/200)
Books read this year are labelled (2025)

Europe (21/47)
Austria: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig *****
Bulgaria: Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov ***
Czechia: Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal ****
Denmark: On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle *** (2025)
Finland: The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna ****
France: The Black Notebook and Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, both *****
Germany: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann ******
Iceland: History. A Mess. by Sigrun Palsodottir *****
Ireland: Ulysses by James Joyce ******(F)
Italy: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa *****
Luxembourg: The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk ****
Netherlands: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden *****
Northern Ireland: Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park *****
Norway: The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas ****
Poland: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ******
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino by Giuseppe Rossi ***
Scotland: O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker ****
Spain: A Heart So White by Javier Marias ***, Permafrost by Eva Baltasar ****
Sweden: The Details by Ia Genberg *****
Ukraine: Death and the Penguin by Andrij Kurkov ***
Wales: One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard ******(F)

Africa (13/54)
Algeria: The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud ***** (2025)
Angola: The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa *****
Burkina Faso: So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo ****
Burundi: Baho! by Roland Rugero **** (2025)
Central African Republic: Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza ***** (2025)
Congo, Republic of: Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou *****
Cote d'Ivoire: Standing Heavy by GauZ ******
Djibouti: In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman Waberi ****
Ghana: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah ****
Kenya: A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o ******
South Africa: The Promise by Damon Galgut *****
Sudan: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih ******
Togo: Michel the Giant, an African in Greenland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie ******(F)

Asia (11/49)
Bangladesh: A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam **** (2025)
China: To Live by Yu Lua ****
Indonesia: Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan **** (2025)
Japan: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto ****
Kuwait: The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa ******
South Korea: The Vegetarian by Han Kang *
Malaysia: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo ****
Pakistan: The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad *****
Philippines: Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco ***
Turkey: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak **
Vietnam: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh **

North America (7/24)
Antigua and Barbuda: Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid ***
Canada: Runaway by Alice Munro ***
Cuba: Havana Year Zero by Karla Suarez **** (2025)
Grenada: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross *****
Mexico: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo ****
Trinidad and Tobago: Minty Alley by CLR James ****
United States: Beloved by Toni Morrison *****

South America (3/12)
Argentina: Not A River by Selva Almada *****; Elena Knows / A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro (both ******)
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *****
Uruguay: Quien de Nosotros? (Who Among Us) by Mario Benedetti ****

Oceania (3/15)
Australia: Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood **** (2025)
Nauru: Stories from Nauru by Bam Bam Solomon and others ****
New Zealand: Potiki by Patrica Grace *****

Tour of the United States
Full details of this project can be read on this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/260906

The list of books to date. My criteria are: post-1900 fiction (preferably) or narrative non-fiction; no children's books; I mustn't have read the book before; no more than one book per author.

44/51
Books read this year are labelled (2025)

Alabama: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau *****
Alaska: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey ******(F)
Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver ****
Arkansas: The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks by Donald Harington *** (2025)
California:
Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf ****
Connecticut: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin **
Delaware: West of Rehoboth by Alexs D Pate **** (2025)
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ****
Georgia: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers ******
Hawaii:
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ****
Illinois: So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell ***** (2025)
Indiana: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields *****
Iowa: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller ****
Kansas:
Kentucky: Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry ******
Louisiana: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy **** (2025)
Maine: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ***
Maryland: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler ***
Massachusetts: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton ***
Michigan: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison ******
Minnesota: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis ***
Mississippi: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ******(F)
Missouri: Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell *****
Montana: A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean **** (2025)
Nebraska:My Antonia by Willa Cather *****
Nevada: The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark *****
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: The Sportswriter by Richard Ford ****
New Mexico:
New York: Another Country by James Baldwin ******
North Carolina: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier *****
North Dakota: The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich *****
Ohio: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson ***
Oklahoma: True Grit by Charles Portis *****
Oregon:
Pennsylvania: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ******
Rhode Island: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike ***
South Carolina: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ***
South Dakota: The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber *** (2025)
Tennessee: Shiloh by Shelby Foote ****
Texas: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ******(F)
Utah:
Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt ***** (2025)
Virginia: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett ****
Washington: Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson ***
Washington DC: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury *****
West Virginia: Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam ******(F)
Wisconsin: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****
Wyoming: The Virginian by Owen Wister *****

Author lists

Emile Zola: The Rougon-Macquart sequence
01. La Fortune des Rougons
02. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon
03. La Curee
04. L'Argent
05. Le Reve
06. La Conquete de Plassans
07. Pot-Bouille
08. Au Bonheur des Dames
09. La Faute de L'Abbe Mouret
10. Une Page d'Amour
11. Le Ventre de Paris
12. La Joie de Vivre
13. L'Assommoir
14. L'Oeuvre
15. La Bete Humaine
16. Germinal
17. Nana
18. La Terre
19. La Debacle
20. Le Docteur Pascal

Charles Dickens novels
01. Pickwick Papers
02. Oliver Twist
03. Nicholas Nickleby
04. The Old Curiosity Shop
05. Barnaby Rudge
06. Martin Chuzzlewit
07. Dombey and Son
08. David Copperfield
09. Bleak House
10. Hard Times
11. Little Dorritt
12. Tale of Two Cities
13. Great Expectations
14. Our Mutual Friend
15. The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Patrick O'Brian Aubrey-Maturin series
01. Master and Commander
02. Post Captain
03. HMS Surprise
04. The Mauritius Command
05. Desolation Island
06. The Fortune of War
08. The Ionian Mission
09. Treason's Harbour
10. The Far Side of the World
11. The Reverse of the Medal
12. The Letter of Marque
13. The Thirteen-Gun Salute
14. The Nutmeg of Consolation
15. Clarissa Oakes
16. The Wine-Dark Sea
17. The Commodore
18. The Yellow Admiral
19. The Hundred Days
20. Blue at the Mizzen

The Book Pile
I am very acquisitive when it comes to books, buying (or receiving) far more than I can actually read in short order. I'm happy with that - I like to have a library of books to choose from and follow whims - but it also means that books that I intended to read pretty soon after buying can get lost! So, I've decided to create a virtual book pile. This will consist of such books, with the aim that I will now read them in the near future!. The pile needs to stay manageable, so I will limit it to no more than ten of each genre, and will generally only add books to it as books already on the pile get read. Hopefully, this, appealing as it does to my passion for lists, will help me work through the bigger long term reading list. We'll see how it all works!
Books that are ineligible to be added include any that are included in another reading project* or being read for a book group (unless already on the pile!) - these are meant to be all books that could otherwise get overlooked because I'm so focused on these other areas. I'll also keep a record of which book pile books I have actually read!

Fiction
Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd
Hy Brasil by Margaret Elphinstone
The Justification of Johann Gutenberg by Blake Morrison
The Late Mr Shakespeare by Robert Nye
The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell
Enlightenment - Sarah Perry
Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
The Fraud - Zadie Smith

Non-fiction
Vanished Kingdoms - Norman Davis
The Rising Down - Alexandra Harris
Foxes Unearthed - Lucy Jones
The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing
The Haunted Wood - Sam Leith
England, A Natural History - John Lewis-Stempel
Super-Infinite - Katherine Rundell
Walking the Invisible - Michael Stewart
Wild Thing - Sue Prideaux
The Nile - Terje Tvedt

Book Pile read this year
The Scapegoat - Lucy Hughes-Hallett
The Burgundians - Bart van Loo
Caledonian Road - Andrew O'Hagan
The Whalebone Theatre - Joanna Quinn
The Glassmaker - Tracy Chevalier
Question 7 - Richard Flanagan
The Land In Winter by Andrew Miller

=========

* These include:
Reading the World
Tour of the United States
Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin sequence
Charles Dickens novels

Favourite books and authors

Authors
To qualify for this list, I must have read at least 3 of the author's books (amazing how many where I've read no more than 2, especially non-fiction). I've only included authors of adult books: for children's authors see the books list, as they are pretty much the same.

Fiction: Jane Austen, JL Carr, Tracy Chevalier, Charles Dickens, Sarah Dunant, George Eliot, Margaret Elphinstone, David Fairer, Thomas Hardy, Donna Leon, Patrick O'Brian, Georges Simenon, Muriel Spark, Elizabeth Taylor, Virginia Woolf, Emile Zola
Non-fiction: Tim Clayton, Laura Cumming, Jan Morris, Claire Tomalin, Jenny Uglow
Both: Melissa Harrison

Books
A record of the 140 books and series which I rate as 'favourites': 6+ stars! These aren't necessarily the best literature I've read, but ones, that, for whatever reason, struck a special chord in my reading that continues to resonate long after actually reading them. Individual books within a series are likely to have scored less, but the rating is for the series as a whole. The lists are divided into

Fiction
Non-fiction
Joint fiction/non-fiction
Children's fiction

Fiction (82)
Ackroyd, Peter: Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem
Ackroyd, Peter: Hawksmoor
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Buchan, John: John Macnab
Carr JL: A Month in the Country
Carr JL: The Harpole Report
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
Chevalier, Tracy: Falling Angels
Childers, Erskine: The Riddle of the Sands
Collins, Norman: London Belongs To Me
Cooper, Susan: The Dark is Rising
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Davies, Martin: The Conjuror's Bird
Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Sherlock Holmes short stories
Dunant, Sarah: In the Company of the Courtesan
Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Elphinstone, Margaret: The Sea Road
Elphinstone, Margaret: Voyageurs
Evaristo, Bernardine: Girl, Woman, Other
Fairer, David: The Chocolate House Treason trilogy
Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying
Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair
Forester, CS: The Hornblower series
Goscinny, Rene: Asterix in Britain
Greig, Andrew: The Return of John Macnab
Guareschi, Giovanni: The Don Camillo series
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Hall, Sarah: Helm
Hardy, Thomas: Far From The Madding Crowd
Herbert, Frank: Dune
Heyer, Georgette: The Grand Sophy
Hoeg, Peter: Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow
Horwood, William: The Stonor Eagles
Horwood, William: Skallagrig
Hulme, Keri: The Bone People
Ivey, Eowyn: To the Bright Edge of the World
Japrisot, Sebastian: A Very Long Engagement
Joyce, James: Ulysses
Le Carre, John: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Lee, Harper: To Kill A Mockingbird
Leon, Donna: The Commissario Brunetti series
Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall
McMurtry, Larry: Lonesome Dove
Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
Miller, Andrew: Pure
Miller, Andrew: Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Monsarrat, Nicholas: The Cruel Sea
Moorcock, Michael: Mother London
O'Brian, Patrick: The Aubrey-Maturin series
O'Farrell, Maggie: Hamnet
Pears, Ian: An Instance of the Fingerpost
Penney, Stef: The Tenderness of Wolves
Perry, Sarah: The Essex Serpent
Prichard, Caradog: One Moonlit Night
Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News
Roffey, Monique: The Mermaid of Black Conch
Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy
Simenon, Georges: The Inspector Maigret series
Smiley, Jane: A Thousand Acres
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Stephenson, Neal: Cryptonomicon
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped
Swift, Graeme: Waterland
Taylor, Elizabeth: A View of the Harbour
Thomas, Dylan: Under Milk Wood
Thompson, Harry: This Thing of Darkness
Tolkien JRR: The Lord of the Rings
Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace
Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited
Willis, Connie: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Woolf, Virginia: Mrs Dalloway
Woolf, Virginia: The Years
Woolf, Virginia: To The Lighthouse
Woolfenden, Ben: The Ruins of Time
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz: The Shadow of the Wind

Non-fiction (48)
Atherton, Carol: Reading Lessons
Blanning, Tim: The Pursuit of Glory
Bewick, Thomas: A History of British Birds
Brown, Hamish: Hamish's Mountain Walk
Clayton, Tim: Waterloo
Cocker, Mark: Crow Country
Cumming, Laura: Thunderclap
Dennis, Roy: Cottongrass Summer
Fadiman, Anne: Ex Libris
Frater, Alexander: Chasing the Monsoon
Hanff, Helen: 84 Charing Cross Road
Harding, Thomas: The House By The Lake
Harrison, Melissa: The Stubborn Light of Things
Hickam, Hiram H.: Rocket Boys / October Sky
Hoskins, WG: The Making of the English Landscape
Howell, Georgina: Daughter of the Desert
Huntford, Roland: Shackleton
Jamie, Kathleen: Findings
Jardine, Lisa: A Point of View
Junger, Sebastian: The Perfect Storm
Kpomassie, Tete-Michel: Michel the Giant, An African in Greenland
Lee, Hermione: Virginia Woolf
Lewis-Stempel, John: The Running Hare
Liptrot, Amy: The Outrun
Longford, Elizabeth: Wellington, The Years of the Sword
Macdonald, Benedict & Nicholas Gates: Orchard
MacDonald, Helen: Vesper Flights
MacGregor, Neil: Germany, Memories of a Nation
Nichols, Peter: A Voyage for Madmen
Nicolson, Adam: The Seabird's Cry
Pennac, Daniel: The Rights of the Reader
Peterson, Mounfort and Hollom: A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe
Pinker, Stephen: The Language Instinct
Rackham, Oliver: The History of the Countryside
de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: Wind, Sand and Stars
Salisbury, Laney and Gay: The Cruellest Miles
Sands, Philippe: East-West Street
Schumacher, EF: Small is Beautiful
Simpson, Joe: Touching the Void
Taylor, Stephen: Storm and Conquest
Tomalin, Claire: Pepys, The Unequalled Self
Tree, Isabella: Wilding
Uglow, Jenny: The Pinecone
Unsworth, Walt: Everest
Weldon, Fay: Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen
Wheeler, Sara: Terra Incognita
Wulf, Andrea: The Invention of Nature
Young, Gavin: Slow Boats to China

Joint fiction/non-fiction (1)
Klinkenborg, Verlyn: Timothy's Book with Townsend-Warner, Sylvia: Portrait of a Tortoise

Children's Fiction (9)
Berna, Paul: Flood Warning
Bond, Michael: The Paddington Bear series
Kipling, Rudyard: Puck of Pook's Hill/Rewards and Fairies
Kipling, Rudyard: The Jungle Book
Milne, AA: Winnie-the-Pooh/House at Pooh Corner
Pullman, Philip: Northern Lights
Ransome, Arthur: The Swallows and Amazons series
Sutcliff, Rosemary: The Eagle of the Ninth
White, TH: Mistress Masham's Repose

Book awards
For the past decade or so, I've done my own end of year book awards (started in another forum where most members did this for an end of year thread). This is a list of the main awards. Books marked with an asterisk in the first 2 categories were my overall book of the year (2022 I couldn't decide!).

Fiction Book of the Year
2013: *David Copperfield - Charles Dickens. Runner-up: The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
2014: *Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. Runner-up: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
2015: *Middlemarch - George Eliot. Runner-up: The Aubrey/Maturin series - Patrick O'Brian (first 5 vols read this year)
2016: The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry. Runner-up: Howards End - EM Forster
2017: *To The Bright Edge Of The World - Eowyn Ivey. Runner-up: The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett
2018: A View Of The Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor. Runner-up: Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
2019: *Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo. Runner-up: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
2020: *Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell. Runner-up: A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
2021: The Mermaid Of Black Conch - Monique Roffey. Runner-up: The Great Level - Stella Tillyard
2022: *As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner. Runner-up: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard
2023: The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams. Runner-up: Captain Hazard's Game - David Fairer
2024: *Ulysses - James Joyce. Runner-up: Orbital - Samantha Harvey

Non-fiction Book of the Year
2013: Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon; Runner-up: The Real Jane Austen - Paula Byrne
2014: Pursuit Of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 - Tim Blanning. Runner-up: Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain - Charlotte Higgins
2015: Waterloo - Tim Clayton. Runner-up: Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley
2016: *The House By The Lake - Thomas Harding. Runner-up: The Outrun - Amy Liptrot
2017: The Seabirds' Cry - Adam Nicolson. Runner-up: Love Of Country - Madeleine Bunting
2018: *East-West Street - Philippe Sands. Runner-up: Wilding - Isabella Tree
2019: Daughter Of The Desert - Georgina Howell. Runner-up: The Five - Hallie Rubenheld
2020: Island Stories - David Reynolds. Runner-up: Home - Julie Myerson
2021: *The Stubborn Light Of Things - Melissa Harrison. Runner-up: Orchard - Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates
2022: *The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf. Runner-up: Cottongrass Summer - Roy Dennis
2023: *Rocket Boys - Hiram Hickam. Runner-up: The Flow - Amy-Jane Beer
2024: Thunderclap - Laura Cumming. Runner-up: Reading Lessons - Carol Atherton

Best Book in Translation
2021: The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola
2022: One Moonlit Night by Caradoc Prichard and Michel the Giant, An African in Greenland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie jointly
2023: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
2024: Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro

Best Reread (up to 2015, these were eligible for books of the year, after I've hived them off in a separate category)
2016: Emma - Jane Austen. Runner-up: Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
2017: Flood Warning - Paul Berna; Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome (jointly)
2018: Coot Club - Arthur Ransome
2019: Paddington Helps Out - Michael Bond
2020: Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf in combination with The Hours - Michael Cunningham
2021: Waterland - Graham Swift
2022: A Maigret Christmas - Georges Simenon
2023: none
2024: Another Point of View by Lisa Jardine

Biggest Discovery
2019: George Mackay Brown
2020: Wendell Berry
2021: Gilbert White
2022: JB Priestley
2023: African literature
2024: Patrick Modiano

And a couple of brickbats....
Duffer of the Year
2013: Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
2014: The Dinner - Herman Koch
2015: Divergent - Veronica Roth
2016: Us - David Nicholls
2017: Two Brothers - Ben Elton
2018: I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
2019: I See You - Clare Mackintosh
2020: Gold - Chris Cleave
2021: Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
2022: The Department of Sensitive Crimes - Alexander McCall Smith
2023: Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff
2024: Normal Rules Don't Apply - Kate Atkinson

Most Disappointing
2017: Jacob's Room Is Full Of Books - Susan Hill
2018: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
2019: The Making Of The British Landscape - Nicholas Crane
2020: A God In Ruins - Kate Atkinson
2021: How To Argue With A Racist - Adam Rutherford
2022: The Instant - Amy Liptrot
2023: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
2024: Creation Lake - Rachel Kushner

Spare post 2

Review of 2024 - Books read.

Fiction
General
Normal Rules Don't Apply - Kate Atkinson
Paddington Abroad - Michael Bond
Caroline - Richmal Crompton
Family Roundabout - Richmal Crompton
The Sea Detective - Mark Douglas-Home
The Blue Flower - Penelope Fitzgerald
Conclave - Robert Harris
Orbital - Samantha Harvey
Pearl - Sian Hughes
Creation Lake - Rachel Kushner
August Blue - Deborah Levy
You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here - Frances Macken
Cursed Bread - Sophie Mackintosh
Oxygen - Andrew Miller
The Offing - Benjamin Myers
The Perfect Golden Circle - Benjamin Myers
Symposium - Muriel Spark
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - Julia Strachey
The Safekeep - Youl van der Wouden

Global (Round the World and others in translation)
The Book Censor's Library - Bothayna Al-Essa
Not a River - Selva Almada
Permafrost - Eva Baltasar
The Pleasure of Drowning - Jean Burlesk
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck
The Details - Ia Genberg
Closely Watched Trains - Bohumil Hrabal
To Live - Yu Hua
So Distant From My Life - Monique Ilboudo
The Red Notebook - Antoine Laurain
A Heart So White - Javier Marias
The Black Notebook Patrick Modiano
Missing Person - Patrick Modiano
Runaway - Alice Munro
The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh
Elena Knows - Claudia Pineiro
The Bone Readers - Jacob Ross
Pedro Paramo - Juan Rulfo
Ilustrado - Miguel Syjuco
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead - Olga Tokarczuk
The Collini Case - Ferdinand von Schirach

Tour of the United States
Shiloh - Shelby Foote
Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
Commonwealth - Anne Patchett

Classics
The Plague - Albert Camus
Mugby Junction - Charles Dickens
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
A Passage to India - EM Forster
Ulysses - James Joyce
Passing - Nella Larsen
Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne
Dr Wortle's School - Anthony Trollope

Non-Fiction
Biography and Memoir
Strong Female Character - Fern Brady
The Marriage Question - Clare Carlisle
Thunderclap - Laura Cumming
The Years - Annie Ernaux
Things I Don't Want to Know - Deborah Levy
Autumn Journal - Louis MacNeice
A Flat Place - Noreen Masud

Environment and Travel
The Boundless River - Mathijs Dean
The Full English - Stuart Maconie
Walking the Bones of Britain - Christopher Somerville
English Journey - JB Priestley
By the River - various

History
1923, The Mystery of Lot 212 - Ned Boulting
The US Civil War - Louis Masur
1922, Scenes From a Turbulent Year - Nick Rennison
Germania - Simon Winder

Books
Reading Lessons - Carol Atherton
Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses - Patrick Chambers
Why We Read - Josephine Greywoode (ed)
Talking About Detective Fiction - PD James
York Notes Advanced - Passage to India - Nigel Messenger

Other
Why We Get Sick - Benjamin Bikman (Health)
A Point of View - Lisa Jardine (Essays)
Another England - Caroline Lucas (Politics and Literature)

Review of 2024, and a brief look forward to 2025

This is a copy of the post I finished my 2024 thread off with.

+ 75 books and just under 19000 pages read in 2024, so averaging over 50 pages a day for the first time in 3 years, and 252 pages per book. That latter figure is fairly typical of the years since lockdown – I used to average closer to 300 pages per book before then - and reflects the few longer books I've actually been reading since then, although.....

+ That lower average notwithstanding, I did manage to finish several megas during the year (one of my aims for 2024), including Ulysses, Tristram Shandy and Daniel Deronda, the three longest books I've read since lockdown, so am pleased to have broken through that (mental?) barrier.

+ In 2023’s review, I said it had been a good year’s reading, and 2024 continued that trend: there were, for instance, more 6 star reads than 1 or 2 star reads combined - very unusual!

+ My fiction:non-fiction ratio for 2024 stayed very much the same as the previous 2 years: 68:32, also the same as pre-2017. Intermediate years saw a more even balance. Not sure why!

+ 2022 saw a 6 year low for female authors in my reading (34%). 2023 saw an improvement to 42%, pretty representative of my long-term average. In 2024, for the first time since 2015 (and only the second year ever), I read more female than male authors, (just!), recording 51%. I’ve not consciously tried to change the proportions, so not sure whether there might be a specific cause, but I’m pleased to see a better balance.

+ Less than 10% library books read. Ouch! However, I do have a large personal library of unread books, so a lower figure is probably inevitable, but needs improving. The good news is that the unread library has dropped from 1420 to 1322 (not just read books but clearing out etc).

+ Just 3 books read in my Tour of the USA – lowest number in any year to date. Now on 37 out of 51. Need to get a grip on this one in 2025.

+ 16 books read for Reading the World – par for the 3 years I've been doing this project, which has now reached the 50 mark exactly (out of 201). Happy with that - I reckoned on at least 10 years to finish this project, so not a million miles away. Again, some wonderful books, this project continues to transform my reading.

+ Classics: a distinctly better year than last, with the three megas mentioned above taking up a fair bit of the space. Other shorter novels by Forster and Trollope also read. Didn’t make any progress with Zola, and only some Dickens short stories, so that was disappointing, but overall some definite positives!

+ Book Pile: I introduced that idea this year to help me focus my reading on some of the potentiallly overlooked books on my shelves (too busy with projects etc?). It’s sort of worked, but if I’m going to have one, need to work on it a bit more.

+ I did set a few goals for 2024 last year, with mixed results:
- 40 Tour of the USA books completed – not achieved (reached 37)
- 50 Reading the World books read – achieved (bang on 50!)
- Improve on the 251 page average per book of 2023 – achieved, but only just (252!)
- More bigger books – achieved at least at the top end (the first three 700+ page books since lockdown), but overall still some room for more!
- Higher proportion of non-fiction – not achieved, pretty much the same as 2023.

+ So, for 2025? Hmmm. There’s a part of me that says no goals at all, just enjoy, but I do find them helpful at times to focus my reading so here goes:
- first of all an 'anti-goal' perhaps! Nothing on overall numbers (other than reduce my 'To Read' list, currently at 1331!) - just let that happen. This is more about the shape of my reading.
- Projects: I really want to finish the States tour off, so a major focus on doing just that.
- Genre balance: more of the chunky non-fictions from my library, indeed non-fiction of any length full stops. Aiming for 40%.
- In that non-fiction to include more natural history reading - love it but for some reason hardly ever get around to it and the library is growing. No figure on that! Also more historical biography - the same.
- Authors etc: make better progress with Book Pile (at least 10) and Zola especially; Dickens and O'Brian would be good too, but less of a priority.
- Make more use of the library - aiming for 1 in 5.
- Otherwise, keep on enjoying, especially the Reading the World project (including associated books in translation and smaller publisher's) which is really gripping me.

I really like your biggest discover list This is a gorgeous wealth of lists. Love it!

Another list lover! Welcome to the club!

Ooh, I am sooo tempted to compile a list like this for myself. Very fun to see if my reading tastes change over time. Welcome back, Will!

Your lists are amazing, Duffer of the Year made me laugh. I've already taken a BB - I really liked The Snow Child but for some reason never looked for other books by Eowyn Ivey so I've added To the Bright Edge of the World from your favourites list to my wishlist.

What a beautifully organised group of lists and I enjoyed your very comprehensive review of your 2024 reading. Looking forward to 2025 as well. Happy New Year!

Good luck with your 2025 reading! I'm trying to get back to more global reading and check some new countries off my list as well.

(Also, not me immediately scrolling through your state list to make sure if you'd read West Virginia already that it was a proper West Virginian and not that Jeannette Walls or similar...)

>17 mabith:
As a Brit, I'm always a bit nervous about whether book I've chosen is sufficiently 'of the state', so relieved to hear that - thank you! I did initially limit myself purely to fiction for this project, but I read Rocket Boys under the title October Sky, as part of a Xmas present from my wife (she gave me a box of second hand books, one per month, each with the month in the title! It's been a brilliant present!), and it was soooo good (my book of the year) that I tweaked the rules! Still got a couple of genuine fiction ideas to follow up some day.

>6 Willoyd: Love the idea of a Book Pile list, and how you are managing it. I'll be following.

01. The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett ****
First book of the year, and it was a chunky one, just over 600 pages. Even more so when one considers that this coves a mere 15 years. Subtitled, The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham, the author examines the meteoric rise of George Villiers from court introduction in 1613 to favourite of both James I and son Charles I, through to his assassination in 1628. As favourite he may well have been lover to either or both of these kings (although he also had a loving marriage too), but he was certainly their lead statesman, effectively prime minister in all but name. This is the same Duke of Buckingham who features in Dumas' The Three Musketeers, which is really what first attracted me to this biography (along with a string of great reviews!). It also covered a bit of a hole in my historical knowledge, having studied the Tudors in some depth, and read about the Civil Wars almost as much!

Detailed and chunky it might have been, but it also flowed remarkably easily. Lucy Hughes-Hallett, winner of the Baillie-Gifford for her previous biography (The Pike), and a popular fiction writer, has not written a totally conventional biography. Chapters tend to be on the short side (over 100 of them), and she often varies the style, including bullet point lists, occasional semi-speculation, and asides from the main 'narrative' to cover aspects of Buckingham's life that might perhaps not otherwise fit in neatly. It all makes for a generally rollicking read, whilst not lacking in gravitas. Buckingham himself comes over as an interesting human in all his strengths and weaknesses, unjustifiably demonised at the time, but his own worst enemy in his stubborness and determination to almost unilaterally take on the Spaniards and French - he just never seemed to learn from his mistakes, or indeed from his relationship with James I, who determinedly stayed out of European conflict. At least James helped protect him from his worst errors, but once Buckingham started his association with Charles I, then there was really nobody to protect him from himself. Indeed, Charles just made the situation worse, Buckingham being blamed for many of Charles's deficiencies even when he tried to stop his royal master from some of his worst errors/excesses of stubborness (this was a time when it was regarded as treason to blame a king, so somebody else had to take it). They were basically bad for each other, and both suffered as a result, Buckingham most of all in the short term, but sowing the seeds for Charles's own tragedy some twenty years later.

So, a fascinating, highly readable biography. I have to admit, however, that there were occasions in the second half, when things did very slightly drag, and I do think that the book could have come in a mite shorter without loss. But then, I'm not sure what I would have left out! Once Buckingham and Charles started getting entangled with Parliament (particularly the Commons), there was a certain amount of repetition, but that was because the same things did keep repeating themselves, with the former appearing to continually dig a deeper and deeper hole for themselves. I also think this might have been because the narrative started covering material I was already familiar with - it was the period of James I's reign where I really felt I was learning something new, and with all his faults, I did start to develop more respect for him than previously - he was a cannier man than often given the credit. Overall then, a great start to a year in which I want to read more non-fiction, and some bigger books - both boxes definitely ticked here, and very enjoyably too!

>20 Willoyd: Great review. He's always fascinated me for some reason, so good to see a new biography. Added to my 2025 list of books from others' threads.

>20 Willoyd: I often find the second half of long biographies lagging - I think it is often because a reader now has a better handle on the subject so it feels like we can understand with less. I also suspect that it may have to do with how fast one reads - if you read these 600 pages in 6 months, a few pages per evening, it may not feel as protracted compared to reading in longer chunks... I'd still get a longer narrative to a badly condensed one any day though.

Wonderful review :)

>22 AnnieMod:
All good points....and thank you (>21 SassyLassy: too)!

>20 Willoyd: I learned a lot from your review. The book sounds fantastic, the history fascinating

02. West of Rehoboth by Alexs D Pate ****
Read as the book for Delaware in my Tour of the United States. Edward is an athletic but introverted, bookworm, twelve-year old black boy living in Philadelphia, who spends his summer vacations in Rehoboth, on the coast of Delaware, where his mother has a regular summer job, whilst his father stays at home (having driven them to the resort). It's the 1960s Jim Crow era, and blacks and whites are effectively segregated. Here he develops a fascination, indeed obsession, for his 'Uncle' Rufus, who has been (for some unknown reason) expelled from the house of 'Aunt' Edna (where Edward with his mother and younger sister stay) who herself is a successful matriarchal business woman, more than capable of mainipulating even the local (white) police force. One of Edward's literary heroes is Hercule Poirot, and he determines to investigate Rufus, a hard drinking, messed up man. The bulk of the novel focuses on the development of that relationship, one banned by both Edward's mother and Aunt Edna, and its outcomes, filling in the relevant backstory of Edna's and Rufus's backstory on the way.
Alexs D Pate, who I'd never heard of before researching which book to read for Delaware (there isn't a wide choice), is a great story teller, who gets well inside his main characters: Eddie and Rufus come alive in his hands, although his lesser characters are rather more lightly sketched. There's a liveliness and clarity to the opening scenes which I found immersive. After the family (bar father) move to Rehoboth, the narrative narrows down somewhat to Eddie's burgeoning obsession with Rufus to the exclusion of much else. This is the nature of the story: it is a tale of obsession after all, but I have to admit to feeling that perhaps a little something went missing as a result - this was more of a niggle than a spoiler though, and the thrust of the story still remained compulsive. The last third of the book though....hmmm. All I want to say, because much more would lead to spoilers, is that it was not what I expected, was an admirably different approach, and whilst I'm still not sure if it fully worked for me, certainly made for an interesting read.
Overall, I really enjoyed the author's style: his descriptiive work in particular added a certain richness which made this as much a story of place as people, whilst on the latter, I felt I really learned something about black life at this time; this was a place, a society, a time about which I knew little; I probably still know little, but a few doors and windows have been opened. The story itself, whilst not perfect by any means for me, was still addictively readable - I looked forward to sitting down to read and left it reluctantly, reaching the end satisfied that the story had been fully told, but wanting to know more about Eddie's life beyond. A very enjoyable addition to the tour list.

03. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro **
Read for one of my book groups. I had mixed feelings about this author prior to starting this novel: Remains of the Day had been an enthralling read, When We Were Orphans so-so, and I was unable to finish Klara and the Sun. They had, incidentally, all been book group choices. If I'm really honest, he's not an author who I would naturally gravitate towards, although I was grateful that I had been directed his way with the first of these three. So, which way would I trend for this fourth outing with this Booker short-lister by a Nobel laureate.
Well, sadly, and actually to my surprise, the closest track was with that of the last of these. I cannot in all honesty say that I was ever in the least engaged with this drearily dull and tediously predictable dystopian take on society, and one possible future. It's set in what initially feels to be a contemporaneous England, but from the word go suggests (well, actually, bludgeons you over the head) that something is different, not quite right. And in no subtle way that 'something different' is gradually revealed, to no great surprise. And, basically, nothing happens, but it takes a while to get there - this story could have been told in half the words.
All in all, one of those rare books where I feel I wasted my time. So, why two stars and not one? Well, if I didn't know it beforehand (and I obviously did), Ishiguro can write - and this is well written (if that doesn't seem a contradiction to all that I've said to date), some vignettes in particular provided moments of real character penetration. It's just not something in the broader context of the story as a whole and its structure that I found remotely interesting to read. An early contender for most disappointing book of the year.

>26 Willoyd: I read Never Let Me Go 10 or 15 years ago and loved it. I wonder if I would say the same now? Sometimes dystopian novels don't age well. And it's not one I can reread, as I think not knowing the punchline is key to enjoying the novel.

>7 Willoyd: >8 Willoyd: Love the lists, especially the favorites. I've read just 14 of your fiction faves and none of the NF. I'll take a look at some of the others. Hope you enjoy reading and life in 2025!

>27 labfs39:
That's interesting, because I didn't think there was much if anything of a punchline - it all seemed fairly obvious and well flagged from the start. That was part of the disappointment.

>28 Jim53:
Thank you! I hope some of the lists help you find some interesting reading. Flicking down through my non-fiction favourites again, I think our lack of crossover might be down to my list being pretty heavily Eurocentric, with a high proportion of those being British focused? Just guessing. On the fiction front, my eyes were certainly opened a lot when I started my Tour of the US project, but I've not done anything like that in non-fiction. However, we do have some common ground with Jasper Fforde!

>29 Willoyd: Not for me, but I wonder if your awareness and recognition of the setup was informed in part by the two decades that have passed since it's publication? Just thinking that the reading experience might have been different then than it is now. Or perhaps you are a more savvy reader than I and caught on quicker. That's possible too! Anyway, sorry it was a disappointment. Hope you have some more enjoyable reads lined up.

>27 labfs39: oops. Too late 🙂

>26 Willoyd: interesting. I have this on my plan this year. The only other Ish I’ve read is Klara and the Sun - but I enjoyed it. So, there’s hope for me here.

>8 Willoyd: Great lists, and really good to see George Mackay Brown in your Biggest Discovery List

>26 Willoyd: What is it with Ishiguro and book clubs?!

>30 labfs39:
Maybe subconsciously. Spoiler Alert! I wasn't aware of knowing anything much about the book. However, the early stuff on 'donators', 'guardians' and the obvious limited lives of the former made me wonder from the start. Odd sort of school too, not only guardians, but no mention of parents, no exeats or holidays, plus the fact that there weren't any surnames for the children (we only ever got an initial at most). I hadn't worked it out precisely by any means, but was fairly clear it was some sort of breeding or development programme for human organ donation, so the fact they were clones came as no surprise (I had wondered if it was orphans or some sort of reverse Magdalene laundry project).

>32 SassyLassy:
That's a really good question! There do seem to be certain authors that every book club lands up reading. Kate Atkinson is another, and I've really gone off her too, having enjoyed earlier work. Or maybe I notice them because I'm not a fan? Fortunately, they only form a small proportion of my reading, and I am prepared to not read a book I really don't want to even then. On the other side of the fence, we've had some crackers as well this past year. At least it's settled my relationship with Ishiguro once and for all!

04. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell *****
Read as the book for Illinois in my Tour of the US. I had several possibilities for this state, not least Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow and Crossroads by Jonathan Frantzen, two 'big guns', but I opted for this slim novella, barely 135 pages long, mainly because I was intrigued by someone obviously so highly rated (winner of the American Book Award with this novel), but of whose work I knew next to nothing - and even less of the author himself. No regrets either - this was an absolutely captivating contemplation on how we draw our memories together, the impact they can have on our lives, and the destructive impact of an affair between two neighbours on their respective families. I loved the writing, understated, spare even, but all the more vivid as a result: sympathetic if flawed (ie human) characters, the stark environment, the fallout all laid bare: a very human tragedy. It reminded me of Willa Cather's Prairie Trilogy.

In this story, two rather insular boys, neighbours and drawn together almost from necessity, are separated by the murder of a local farmer at the hands of, it turns out, one of the boy's fathers. It very soon becomes apparent that the murdered man had been having an affair with the murderer's wife, both men having been nex door neighbours and close friends previously. The other boy is the narrator, looking back on the event from older adulthood, and trying to reconstruct what really happened from his memories and other still available evidence. And, as the author writes, memory is "really a form of storytelling" that often changes in the telling, not least to help us handle our own emotional conflicts which make our true life stories unpalatable - we (almost) all have something we really don't like looking back on in our past (I certainly do - positively cringe-making even now, over 40 years later). "In talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw".

Reading Maxwell's biography in Wikipedia, I suspect that there are significant autobiographical elements here: the setting is Lincoln, Illinois, Maxwell's hometown; the narrator's mother dies from Spanish flu when he is about 10 as did Maxwell's mother; one of the main characters is an orphan brought up by aunt and uncle, as was Maxwell for some time; the narrator's father remarries and moves to Chicago with his family - Maxwell's father did the same, as Maxwell rejoined him there. These are all key influences within the book. How deep the autobiography goes, I don't know, but it's a book that feels very personal. It's certainly left me wanting to explore his relatively small oeuvre, just six novels, although more short story collections, and a couple of non-fictions, in amongst his main work, almost 40 years as fiction editor for The New Yorker. 5 stars, although I'm not quite sure why I didn't give it 6, so it might change.

>34 Willoyd: terrific review and very interesting about the autobiographical elements. I read a collection of stories by Maxwell. They were so gentle, i barely understood their purpose. Perhaps just too subtle for me. I should try this one.

>20 Willoyd: Fantastic review. I had The Pike on my list already, adding this too.
>26 Willoyd: Agreed, Never Let Me Go was a let-down.

>18 Willoyd: Rocket Boys definitely a good one. My favorite novel by a West Virginian is out of print and quite difficult to find (The Voices of Glory by Davis Grubb) and I'm a little worried that's partly because it's very much about where I grew up, as compared to most that get traction which are about southern WV and the coal industry. If you do want to get to a WV novel, Strange as This Weather Has Been is one I really liked, and Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina is one of the classics.

I didn't care for Never Let Me Go either, and I went into it with no preconceptions and it was the first Ishiguro I'd read so there were no comparisons to anything else. It felt like a bit of a nothing book for me.

Definitely putting So Long, See You Tomorrow on my to-read list. It's interesting to get to these more forgotten modern award winners.

>37 mabith: Storming Heaven was the fiction book I had down to read before I encountered Rocket Boys. I'll probably read it anyway some time soon!

>34 Willoyd: Great review of Maxwell. I read one of his , Time Will Darken It, many years ago, and I'm not sure I understood it well at all. I will go back and look for more. Thanks for the reminder!

>26 Willoyd:

I too was disappointed by Never let me go but personally I didn't find it a waste of time because (as I more or less vaguely recall) the writing was so beautiful and the interactions between the characters so moving. However, these aspects did a lot of heavy lifting as the premise was, to me, completely unbelievable--that anyone, let alone large groups of young people, would that meekly agree to be used and dispatched long before their normal deaths. That's just not how human nature works.

As this seems obvious, I wondered whether there wasn't a message precisely in that choice of Ishiguro's to forsake representation of real rebellion, but I still can't figure out what that could be.

>40 LolaWalser:
I must admit, I wasn't overwhelmed by the writing. Its the fourth of his I've read, and they all felt very similar: this to me was just more of the same melancholic reminiscence.

I think it had to be deliberate as you say. Truly dystopian. Even though these were clones, perhaps a commentary on where human species might be heading. You've only got to look at the normalisation of what's going on in politics today?

05. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ***
A time travel novel that has received a lot of publicity and complimentary reviews, although interestingly those in forums appear to be rather more mixed than I've seen from critics. The premise is that the British government has acquired time travel, and is bring people through from the past. In order not to disturb the time continuum, they are restricted to those who in their own time are just about to die (I'm assuming that they were regarded as dead because they had disappeared into the future!). One of these is Graham Gore, a member of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. The (unnamed) narrator is employed as a 'bridge', ie someone to guide the inevitably bewildered subject (kidnapee?) through the travails of the 21st century - living as a housemate.

So, an interesting, indeed promising, premise which initially worked well for me: following Gore through his adjustments proved interesting with plenty of possibilities. But fairly soon it started to leave me asking "And....?". I was also starting to ask precisely what sort of novel the author inteded this to be. I don't want to suggest that books need to be straitjacketed into a specific style or genre, but I do think the author needs to be very clear about what they are trying to achieve, what the book is about. The problem was that this one seemed to fall between various stools. Obviously it comes over initially as time travel sci-fi (although you rapidly appreciate that the true sci-fi enthusiast is likely to be disappointed, as the author tells us to forget all the technical side of things, and just accept it for what it is!). Romance is almost inevitable, there's just that feel to it. Various interesting social issues are raised, highlighted by the struggle Gore has to adjust to modern day societal norms (not least living unchaperoned in a house with a mixed heritage, female bridge). Then there's the morph into thriller, with, after a fair amount of longueuse in the middle third, a mad rush to a frenetic end with a twist that didn't really work, not least because the book was so determinedly not sci-fi for so long, but then relies on it at the end (and I don't think that's a spoiler). In other words, this is a book that never quite decides what it is, skimming across several genres, multiple ideas, but none in any depth. At the end, it all felt rather superficial, and a mite disappointing, not least given the potential. I haven't read huge amounts of time travel, but just off the top off my head, the likes of The Time-Traveler's Wife and Connie Willis's novels (eg Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog) are head and shoulders better than this (even if the Willis novels contain some fairly awful historical faux pas). But, it's a first novel, and there is enough here to suggest that it might be worth keeping an eye out for future books.

06 Notes From the Henhouse by Elspeth Barker ***
Having read and enjoyed Elspeth Barker's O, Caledonia as my book for Scotland in my round the world tour, I was looking forward to this collection of essays and short stories, reinforced by the reviews I read. Essays depend on high quality writing, and that was for me the primary strength of her novel.

In the event, this proved an enjoyable read, but not as compulsive as I had expected. There was again no doubt about the quality of her writing, but there was a sameness to much of it that left me feeling that she was repeating herself - I suspect that individually in a magazine/journal these would have been a great read, but as a collection (even though I tried to pace myself) it was all too much of a muchness. So, I loved the early ones whilst I was fresh, but later on (especially parts 2 and 3) things began to pall. Amongst these there were some highlights, essays on a first driving lesson (what was the instructor thinking?!) and much of part 4 (including Portia the pig!) standing out. The short stories at the end, in the Appendix, were a bit of a damp squib for me - all so similar, all very much in the vein of her novel, and an awful lot of death (in her essays too).

So, whilst enoyable, with some excellent prose, it wasn't a keeper; quite unexpected. Maybe I should have spaced reading them out even further?

Two books at the start of February:

07 Orbital by Samantha Harvey ******
A reread for one of my book groups. I only read this last September, and the review still stands. Suffice to say that I possibly enjoyed this even more second time around, allowing myself to mull over each chapter individually.

08 A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis ***
Picked up on a whim in a bookshop. Beautifully written, very atmospheric, the torpor and rather melancholic atmosphere permeates every line, reflecting the dullness of this Parisian suburb and life in it (so dull, the narrator's husband refuses to go with her!). Two sisters (one the city centre resitdent narrator, visiting her suburban sister) spend time together and secrets emerge in conversation. Yet, ultimately, this felt all a bit empty and lacking in heft or any real meaning. Maybe that was deliberate, but only a few days later, and I'm already struggling to remember much of the book. It strikes me as an exercise in style rather than substance. The blurb says 'sharply observed and wryly funny', possibly the former, although i didn't really get the point of the observation, but I'd love to know where the latter was. Having said all that, maybe just wrong book at one wrong time? I did enjoy the prose after all.

>40 LolaWalser: Never Let Me Go was the most disappointing of Kazuo Ishiguro’s book partly, like you I found the story unrealistic even as a dystopian novel, but also the idea of harvesting body parts from the living makes me ill.

But I generally like his work.

>42 Willoyd: (and others) Enjoyed these four reviews. Glad Orbital held up. Interesting about The Ministry of Time. Too bad about the Elspeth Barker essays.

09 West by Carys Davies ***
I came to this book rather indirectly: various reviews and comments had attracted me to Carys Davies's latest novel Clear, but when I tried to obtain a copy, none of my libraries had a copy, and whilst the hardback seems to have gone out of print, the paperback wasn't due out until the end of February. But an earlier novel of Davies's, this one, was available from one of the libraries, so I thought I'd try her writing out with that. West is a slim volume (as is Clear apparently) of just 160 pages, set, surprise, surprise, in the American West of the nineteenth century . Cy Bellman, a widower, reads an article about gigantic bones discovered in Kansas (we now know them to be of dinosaurs), and becomes obsesses with seeing the original animals, so he sets off up the Mississippi-Missouri to find them, leaving his ten-year old daughter Bess with his reluctant sister. The novel then alternates backwards and forwards between Cy's adventures and Bess's experiences waiting.

I loved the writing of this - pellucid, precise prose, packing a great saga of a novel into so few pages. Characters are vividly, yet concisely, drawn, and I do get a great feeling of place. So, all the ingredients are there for a rave review. And yet...I could never get past the problem that I just didn't believe the story. Not that Bellman believed the dinosaurs existed - that worked well in fact - nor the happenings both on Bellman's journey and back at home - all to believable in fact - but in the basic premise that he, already having lost a much loved wife, would simply take off and abandon his young daughter to his obviously disapproving sister, knowing that it would take him at least a year, and probably (although not admitting to others) longer. For me, this just didn't ring true, so much so that I never really bought into what happened next. Maybe that's just my twenty-first century sensibilities cutting through. It might have worked for me if Bess's mother was still alive, but this felt like one step too far. On top of that, Cy's journey felt all too aimless; there seemed to be little or no coherence to his search, just vague sorts of wanderings. Maybe that was all the point (if so, I'm not sure precisely what that point was), but it all just led to a sense of irritation, both with the character and with the author!

As so often happens in novels with parallel strands, one engages interest far more than the other, and this was no exception, and I found myself increasingly not really caring what happened to Bellman (a study in wasteful futility), whilst in contrast Bess's narrative saw me through to the end, and I was left wanting to know more.

So, something of a curate's egg of a novel, hence the middle of the road grading. But, given the book's positive qualities, I'm definitely looking forward to giving Clear a go when the paperback comes out in a week or so's time. Maybe not immediately - I've quite a stack at present! - but certainly in the near future.

10. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett *****
A book group choice, this was my third Ann Patchett novel, having previously read, and enjoyed, The Dutch House (for another group) and Commonwealth (for my Tour of the USA), so this was no reluctant read.

The premise was very different though to the previous books, rather more in line (perhaps, as I've not read it yet) with Bel Canto: news comes through to pharmacology researcher Melanie Singh that her colleague and friend, dispatched to the Brazilian jungle to check up on a drug research project being carried out there, has died. The information provided is cursory at best. Under pressure from both employers and the colleague's wife to go and find out what has happened (and to follow up on the project investigation), Melanie heads off to Manaus. It's a daunting, almost overwhelming, experience, not helped by the fact that the head of the project is not only highly elusive, but was Melanie's dauntingly clinical supervisor when she was training as a medical doctor, a career she left after a serious accident.

It's a complicated, perhaps unlikely scenario, but in Patchett's hands, I found it compulsive reading. The tropical atmosphere is as claustrophobic as I find that sort of climate, the plot hangs together surprisingly well (at least for me) and, as I found with the previous novels, the author is a real story teller; I couldn't put it down. So, it was with a tinge of disappointment, that I reached the end, rather more swiftly than anticipated, not least because it all came together with what felt to be an almighty rush; after three hundred and thirty-odd pages of careful build up, it was all rather abrupt, and jarred somewhat: for me it just didn't follow from what had happened to date (although considering the novel later, I think I can see what Patchett was doing/saying - however discussing it would be rather a plot spoiler).

It's also one of those stories that, whilst you are immersed in it (and I was!), it all makes sense, but when you back away from it on completion, and contemplate it, somehow it all feels not quite as credible. But that is almost a compliment, because reading it, I never once doubted, so 'into' the book I became. It certainly promises to make for a good group meeting, raising any number of discussion points both about the novel as a novel, but also some of the broader issues it raises. Well worth its five stars (it lost one with that ending), and the best of the Patchett novels I've read to date.

Two great reviews, Will. I loved Bel Canto (being a sucker for novels about translators), but didn't care much for Run, the only other Patchett I've read. My book club is going to be reading Tom Lake this summer, and I'm looking forward to exploring her further.

>49 labfs39: Discussing State of Wonder in my book group on Monday evening (I was one of three who loved it, whilst of the other 7 or 8, one hated, the others all enjoyed in varying degrees) someone said that her two most popular books were generally reckoned to be The Dutch House and Tom Lake. I enjoyed the former, and Commonwealth, which I read for my Tour of the US, but this for me was the best of the three. I'll be interested to see what you make of Tom Lake.

Jus finished Ann Schlee's Rhine Journey which, if anything, I've enjoyed even more. Can't remember where I saw it recommended (I thought it was somewhere round here, but can't find it), but please to have picked it up - otherwise would have never even heard of it. I'll post a review on the next day or so.

>50 Willoyd: Tom Lake keeps popping up as a recommended for me but from the book description I am not attracted to it. I guess I’ll have to read it.

>47 Willoyd: Fascinating! Adding West to my list along with Clear.

>48 Willoyd: Great review, and enjoy the book club discussion!

11. Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee ******
Charlotte Morrision is a middle-aged (?) spinster on holiday with her brother and sister-in-law on the German Rhine. Life has become rather unsettled for her as the man she for whom she has acted as housekeeper (thus providing her with occupation, a home and an income) has died, leaving her a small legacy sufficient for independence, if that's what she wants, which is uncertain. On the boat, she's sees a man who she initially mistakes for a previous love and, whilst almost immediately recognising the mistake, it sets off a series of events that become ever more unsettling, particularly as she gets to know the man and his family.

I had noted this book owing to a recommendation read somewhere - I thought it was her on Club Read, but can't find the reference anyway - and browsing it in our local bookshop persuaded me almost immediately. Sitting down to read, I was immersed from the word go. It was a three sitting read, but could easily have been one if I'd had the time. I was reminded of one of my favourite writers, EM Forster, both in content - a mixture of A Room With A View (although Germany rather than Italy!) and A Passage to India (startling event turns single woman's life upside down) - and style. This may be the early 1850s (soon after the 1848 uprisings, which do affect the plot) rather than Forster's early twentieth century, but there remained the atmosphere of a woman pushing against the bounds of a patriarchal society (almost without realising in Charlotte's case), with Charlotte submissive to the rule of her tract-waving brother, and en route to the conventional life of a live-in maiden aunt. Although told in the third person, we see the world through Charlotte's mind's eye, including dream sequences which she, and we, are in danger of mistaking for reality - one needs to pay close attention!

This book scored on all fronts for me: I loved the sense of place and the atmosphere - reminding me of a cycling trip up the Rhine of a few years ago, even if this was, and felt, over 150 years ago - and the narrative was strong enough to propel me steadily through the book, still with time to savour the words - I just loved the writing, and positively enjoyed absorbing each word and phrase. This was not a book I wanted to rush through. It was good enough that when, at the end, I briefly went back to the start to check up on a few details, I found myself ready to carry on reading all the way through.

Overall, a read that really chimed with me, and a full 6 stars. Whether it's a 'favourite', time will tell!

12. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean ****
Read as the fortieth book in my Tour of the United States, for the state of Montana. Published in the 1970s, this was a trio of pieces of autofiction set in the pre-WW2 years in the country around Missoula, and based on Maclean's outdoor experiences. The eponymous novella (ARRTI), positioned first, is centred on his relationship with his brother Paul, particularly seen through their mutual love of fly-fishing (inherited from their minister father) and a specific holiday in one 1930s summer. The other two are earlier, the main one (USFS 1919) being another 100-page novella on another summer working with the US Forestry Service in the Montana hills, whilst the third, positioned as almost as a 20-page interval between the two longer pieces, focused on time spent logging and, again, on Maclean's relationship with another individual, this time a logging colleague (they weren't friends!).

The book was worth reading for ARRTI alone. There was an emotional engagement both through the family connections, and through Maclean's obvious passion for fly-fishing: I know nothing of the latter, but I found myself almost as completely immersed as he obviously was - I loved the technical detail, and his deep involvement in both activity and landscape. The time, the place, the people, particularly the three men (the brothers and, later, the father) were all brought vividly to life, and I was surprised how emotionally involved I became and felt at the end! The other two pieces, although fine pieces of writing, lacked the same intensity to me. They were lively, entertaining, and provided insight on time and place, but never quite reached the same level: I wanted to go back and reread sections of ARRTI, but the other two I found myself content to leave and let live at the end. So, whilst ARRTI was a solid 5-star read, the other two meant that overall the book landed up slightly lower, even if still a good read.

As an additional note: as I started to read this, I was almost startled to note that I immediately recognised the name Missoula, a place I've never heard of before this week. However, earlier in the week, I bought the Fitzcarraldo edition of Surrender by Joanna Pocock during a browse in my local bookshop, "a narrative non-fiction work on the changing landscape of the American West inspired by a two-year stay in Montana" - specifically in and near Missoula! I'll have to read this soon! (BTW, going down the list of Touchstone 'other works' to find the 'Surrender' authored by Joanna Pocock produced one of the longest Touchstone lists I've ever seen - there are an awful lot of 'Surrender's!).

Love your latest sets of reads and reviews

>47 Willoyd: ok, I’m curious now. I think i also want to read Clear

>48 Willoyd: the thing about Commonwealth, which is partly autobiographical, and The Dutch House, is that they both hold up when thinking about them afterwards. Bel Canto was beautiful to read, but it’s a little embarrassing to think about the premise and how silly it kind of is. I haven’t read State of Wonder.

>53 Willoyd: I’m so happy to see this. A River Runs Through It was the first truly great contemporary book I read. It’s an all-time favorite. The emotional energy between the lines - with his mother, etc. It’s just a beautiful thing.

There is a movie by Robert Redford, with a young Brad Pitt as Paul. The main plot/atmosphere change is they’re young, whereas in the book they’re in their 30’s and the narrator is married. But it’s a nice movie, made with Maclean’s cooperation and approval.

>54 dchaikin:
The edition I read has a foreword by Robert Redford in which he describes the process he went through with Maclean to get it on screen - interesting. Sounds (and looks from the trailer) like one to watch. I gather USFS 1919 was also translated to the screen - not sure if a full-blooded film, but maybe to TV? I agree with you about the emotional energy. It was a story that grew on me as it progressed - couldn't put it down over the second half.

>47 Willoyd: I now have West on hold. A four week wait but I’m sure it’s worth waiting for.

>56 kjuliff:
I've got Clear on order at my local bookshop - it was published in paperback here at the end of last week.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters *
Well, that was an interesting one. This was the choice for this month's read for one of my book groups. The novel is set around the disappearance of a young Mi'kmaq girl whilst the family, from Nova Scotia, are blueberry picking in Maine. She has been kidnapped by a local childless couple, and the novel examines the impact of this event on both the girl herself, Ruthie (renamed Norma by the couple), and her family. Amanda Peters herself is of mixed heritage, part Mi'kmaq, and the book is aimed partly at highlighting the racial prejudices the Mi'kmaq have faced historically, even very recently. It wone an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. What?!

It's not often our very varied group is in complete accord in our feelings about a book, and on the one or two occasions where we have been in complete agreement, it's been as to how good a book has been, so this one achieved something unique to date for us: unanimous, almost vitriolic, dislike! 'Pedestrian', 'poorly written', 'bland', 'two dimensional' and other similar descriptors were agreed to by all. We were lucky that one of the group had visited one of the Mi'kmaq communities whilst on holiday in Nova Scotia last year, and was able to provide some valuable insight from the introduction she had been given by community members, as this novel provided little if any - indeed, this was regarded as perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the novel, that it could have been set pretty much anywhere in the world. One of our group, with personal insight into being brought up in a family of different heritage, found the character of Ruthie simply unbelievable. We were staggered that this book had won any sort of prize, and bemused by the positive reviews we'd read. All we could think was that the book's cause had given this novel some sort of 'worthy' status that had influenced reviews and jury opinions.

TBH I was, if anything, relieved! I'd read this book with a rapidly sinking heart, and only managed to reach the end with massive stints of skim reading. Unrelentingly dreary, tediously predictable in plotting and stereotypical, cardboard cutout characterisation, lacking in any narrative suspense, this was for me representative of the worst sort of mis-lit, a style and genre of writing that I really dislike anyway, and I dreaded being the 'odd man out' at our meeting, convinced that, given the consistently positive reviews from media and online, I was missing something substantial, and going to be on my own. I should have had more faith in the rest of the group! It was interesting talking round the group, how many had feared the same! I struggled to give this one star.

>57 Willoyd: Oh good. Enjoy.

>58 Willoyd: So happy to read your thoughts on The Berry Pickers! Living in Nova Scotia, I was afraid I would have to read this sooner or later, possibly for my book club. Listening to reviews on the radio, and various interviews with the author, I suspected it might be as predictable as you have described. The only thing it seemed to have going for it was that it seemed to be based on a true story, and as such, could have been really interesting.
I didn't realise it had won awards in the US, in fact looking at the list, it seems it may have won more there than in Canada, where the awards seem more local.

>58 Willoyd: I think every other book club meeting of mine I fear being the odd one out in disliking a book. It's such a pleasant surprise when other people have also noticed the issues and not just turned their brains off during the read (people are stressed out, it's somewhat understandable, but frustrating to always be the voice of 'but what about this plot hole or this person going completely out of character for no reason except the plot needed it').

>58 Willoyd: whoa. I had read positive responses before. Interesting

>58 Willoyd: Ha, yes, I've been the lone outlier in a book group meeting more than once and it's quite a thing to have to figure out how to be truthful but respectful of those who loved the book.

13. Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza *****
Having reached fifty books in my Reading the World project just before Christmas, I've had a brief hiatus whilst I get my United States tour back up and running: i initially intended only to start this global journey after finishing the American trip, but was too keen to start, and the problem then became that the latter then slid rather on to the back-burner. I'm still pressing on with it (40 reached now), but can't leave this alone much longer - it's too addictive!

So, a book for a country (Central African Republic) in a continent that's been a bit of a revelation: I've really enjoyed pretty much every African book so far having read so few before. This latest is apparently the first adult novel from CAR to be translated into English. As Ann Morgan says on her Reading The World website (in several places!), there's a danger in this sort of situation for a book and author to be almost forced to adopt the mantle of 'representing' a country, and i suppose that's true of any book in a project such as mine too, but on the positive side, it's still broadening my range of reading, and these books are increasingly serving as an introduction to a whole range of literature that I'm looking to explore further.

Co-Wives, Co-Widows is a slim volume, barely 120-odd pages, in the Dedalus Africa series. It focuses on the impact of the unexpected death of their husband Lidou, a successful builder, on the lives of his two co-wives, especially when Lidou's family led by cousin Zouaboua, a nasty piece of work!) try to take over Lidou's property and money. Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou have a fight on their hands if they are going to secure their and their children's future.
The novel touches on a range of serious subjects, including the situation of women in a highly patriarchal society and systemic corruption at all levels (it is set against the backdrop of a presidential election). However, it's written with such a light touch, that it's the wit and humour that is the main aftertaste, but it's a wit that cuts with a very sharp knife. Yabouza says much in very few words, so few that on occasions it's almost too easy to miss, a single word changing the slicing direction of a sentence, a severe beating of the two wives summarised in barely four or five lines, the brutality underlined by the succinctness and matter of factness of the writing, but easily overlooked if not paying attention! The language feels simple and direct belying a subtlety that took me a while to appreciate. Much of the narrative has an uncomfortable feel from a westerner's perspective (the patriarchy!), but one begins to understand that the women involved (not just the two co-widows) are going to 'succeed' (read survive perhaps, but hopefully also change things) by working within the system rather than always against it.

I found this a very quick but thoroughly rewarding read. It initially feels a 'simple' read too,being fooled by the directness of the language, but I was soon disabused of that! Whilst I enjoyed this from the very first page, it was a book that definitely grew on me as I read it, and is one that I will almost certainly return to in the future. And, in the same way that I have started to enjoy exploring the back catalogue of Latin American specialists Charco Press, I'm now looking forward to trying out others in the (smaller) Dedalus Africa series, which has opened up previously hard to come by introductions to other non-English speaking countries from this continent too.

>64 Willoyd: what a lovely review. In so many ways. I certainly appreciate your caveat in your project - “there's a danger in this sort of situation for a book and author to be almost forced to adopt the mantle of 'representing' a country”. But mostly you left me wanting to read this novel that says so much in few words. And i’m glad you got so much enjoyment out of it.

14. The Burgundians by Bart van Loo *****
If one ever reads any medieval history or historical fiction, Burgundy and the Burgundians have a tendency to keep cropping up. Most famously, at least for me, was that they were the ones who captured Joan of Arc and sold her to the English with dire consequences. The wine region is probably even more famous, and I assumed that most of this history would be centred on that part of France. How wrong could I have been, as the bulk of Burgundian territory, and the main source of wealth, was actually in the Low Countries, and before long I found myself realising that I was actually reading an origin story for the Netherlands and Belgium (and, to a lesser degree, Luxembourg), and a background history to one of the lynchpins of European Early Modern history, the Emperor Charles V - nephew to Katherine of Aragon and father-in-law to her daughter, Mary I. I had always read of him in his role as monarch of Spain and Austria, and never appreciated that fundamentally he was, and felt himself to be, Burgundian (and that Burgundian equates to modern day Dutch/Belgian).

In fact, this book filled in so many holes in my European history, being one of those books where a light-bulb seemed to go off, perhaps not on every page, but certainly every chapter! And it was very readable! This is no academic tome, and whilst there is sometimes a tendency for some to look down at 'popular history', and the author is certainly not afraid to offer his opinion, I enjoyed the driving narrative that the author developed, and found it sufficiently deep and rigorous for my purposes! It is perhaps slightly unbalanced in that the meat of the book seems to be with Philip the Good, whilst the period after the death of Charles the Bold is pushed through rather rapidly, but that reflects the 'glory years' where Burgundy was a genuine European power. It did, however, mean that, at least for me, there were one or two patches of longeuse in the middle, whilst the pace was almost too much of a gallop towards the end. No matter, it's a book that will remain on my shelves for dipping into and refreshing - I've become increasingly fascinated with Dutch/Belgian history, but haven't been this far back before. As an added bonus, I also found the interestingly discursive bibliography to be very useful - and have already followed up on some of it (including the fiction).

15. Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan **
I've been looking forward to this for a while, even more so as an increasing number of people have positively raved about, so settled down to it last night after finishing the above, looking forward to a satisfyingly big week of a read. 24 hours later, a quarter completed, and I'm done! There's plenty of evidence here for the quality of writing - some brilliant sections - but ultimately, as so often, it comes down to the characters for me (although one or two pieces of dialogue sound horribly artificial). It's patently clear that one isn't meant to like them, and that's no problem. But they, and the direction the book is taking, feels so superficial, so 2-dimensional, so devoid of any real interest, I really don't care. The book is described as a 'state of the nation' novel, but it isn't. As so often, reviewers and commentators seem to think London is the nation (as do our politicians), but it isn't, and this is very much about London alone. And even then, just one, rather privileged slice of it (although there are so many characters, it's inevitable others are touched on). As a Londoner who emigrated to the north decades ago, but whose roots are still fairly firmly planted in that relatively small, if heavily overpopulated and badly mangled, corner of the country, I do enjoy reading about my home city, but sadly, not this. I don't want to run this book down, I know I'm in a minority, and there is no doubt that this is very readable in its own way - but I can't get the phrase 'all style and no substance' out of my head. I don't even really 'dislike' it - I just don't care enough to keep ploughing though the remaining 400 pages.

Very glad to have your positive review of The Burgundians, I'm greatly looking forward to that one.

>66 Willoyd:

glad the Burgundians was so rewarding. I’m definitely intrigued now.

And I’ve been curious about Caledonian Road. It got a lot of buzz and then seemed to fade a bit. You certainly haven’t made me want to read it, and i appreciate that from you. But also, if I do read it, i’ll keep your ex-Londoner perspective in mind.

>68 dchaikin:
I've got a couple of friends, whose opinionr I respect, who really enjoyed it. I suspect it'll come down to how one relates to the characters.

Currently reading Zola's L'Argent (Money), which is so much more my scene. There just feels to be so much more depth. Not sure quite why or how I'm relating to a set of 19th century French (largely high society) types more than a 21st century set of British individuals - but I am!

>68 dchaikin: I was about to say I really liked Caledonian Road until I realized I was conflating it with O Caledonia, mentioned earlier. I haven't read the O'Hagan, and now not so sure either.

Great reviews here, including a few that are on my pile. And I share your love of Orbital. Rhine Journey and The Burgundians weren't on my radar before and are now, so thanks!

>70 lisapeet:
O Caledonia was a very striking book. I'm in two minds about it: Barker's writing was amazing, but because we knew what had happened from the word go, it sort of took the stuffing out of the plot side things for me. But one I'd certainly recommend people to read, just to make up their own minds (and I did enjoy it)! If you liked O Caledonia, I'd definitely recommend her book of essays/short stories, Notes from the Henhouse.

16. L'Argent (Money) by Emile Zola *****
Aristide Saccard makes a comeback after his major role in La Curee (The Kill), in this fourth volume* of Zola's Rougon-Macquart sequence. Zola takes a long hard look at the world of finance and speculation in Second Empire Paris. He tells a great story, told in the same rich and lush style of the Empire itself, whilst drilling down into its corrupt underbelly (no less corrupt than we are today, I hasten to add!). With all of these books so far, I've enjoyed them from the outset, but it's taken a while for me to sink fully into the narrative, and this has been no exception, not untypical of quite a bit of nineteenth century literature for me. But once in, it's absolutely gripping. I just love the richness of characters and the atmosphere created. A very satisfying read, that seems also particularly topical.

* I'm reading them in the order recommended by Zola himself, not in publication order. This was actually a fairly late book in written order, being the 18th published. It definitely follows immediately on from, and refers to, La Curee, both the third in Zola's order, and the third published.

17. Love Triangle by Matt Parker **
My OH was rather surprised at the title when she heard it - "not like you!" - but this is no romance but a book on the author's joys in trigonometry. I'm no ignoramus in the subject, having studied it up to first year uni as a subsidiary subject (where I did reach my limit!), but I found myself after the first few reasonably straightforward and interesting chapters, all too rapidly getting lost in the topics introduced, and frankly not that interested. Unfinished.

18. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri ***
Read for one of my book groups. This was Lahiri's second volume of short stories following on from her Pulitzer prize winning collection Interpreter of Maladies, one which debuted in the New York Times bestseller list at #1. Although not a short story fan, I expected much, but to be honest I wasn't over impressed. There's no doubting her writing skills IMO, but as a collection I found this rather repetitious and, in the end, mildly tedious. Lahiri appears only interested in the experiences of a very small cadre of people, middle class Ivy League West Bengali immigrants to the US, and is consistently bleak in her views (with the the odd glimmer of positivity). In earlier books she apparently focused on first generation immigrants, here switching for the first time to second and third generations. Characters were largely interchangeable, scenarios similar, issues examined and re-examined, gloominess prevailed. I don't think this helped being a collection of short stories, almost encouraging repetition, and always finishing just as the characters started to feel developed and potentially interesting. I would be interested to read one of her novels, although not rushing to in amongst a TBR pile of far more attractive looking reading, and if ever tackling another short story collection, reckon that I would appreciate them more read individually over a rather more extended period of time than the ten days this book occupied. As so often, I went along to the book group thinking I would be out on a limb (expecting others to be more enthused - after all the applause and sales), only to find that most of us were in agreement - very few (two of the twelve I think) were anything more than lukewarm, although none positively disliked.

>66 Willoyd: Have you read any of Andrew Hagan's other books? I haven't read Caledonian Road and I'm quite sure I never will, but I tried Mayflies a couple of years ago and didn't get very far. I seem to remember my reaction was quite similar to yours here - I'm fine with not liking characters, but I just didn't care.

>72 Willoyd: Love Triangle is another I'm unlikely to read...and yet somehow I feel that the world is a better place for there being someone out there who loves trigonometry enough to write a book about it.

>64 Willoyd: I do like the sound of Co-Wives, Co-Widows, though (and thank you for bringing Dedalus Africa to my attention).

>73 rachbxl:
...and yet somehow I feel that the world is a better place for there being someone out there who loves trigonometry enough to write a book about it.
Totally agree! I'm a bit of a science/maths fan (my degree was in Earth Sciences), so do read that sort of book regularly, if not frequently. I even taught A-Level trig to my niece during lockdown, but for some reason, just couldn't get my head around this one. Brain fade with age perhaps!

...and thank you for bringing Dedalus Africa to my attention
One of the most exciting side effects of doing a Reading the World challenge, is that it has encouraged exploration of various indie publisher lists - most of my buying is now through them. I think that's been the single biggest change to my reading in the past few years. Currently, the one I'm enjoying the most is Charco Press, based in Edinburgh, who specialise in Latin American books. Am reading one of theirs at the moment, Havana Year Zero, and really enjoying!

>74 Willoyd: HYZ was a fun one, really grounded in place even if the story was a bit uneven.

>75 ELiz_M:
Good summary of my experience to date.

Some catching up on this month's reading to date:

19. Havana Year Zero by Karla Suarez ****
Read as the book for Cuba in my Reading The World project. A lively, quirky romp of a novel, centred on a quest by Julia (a pseudonym, as are all the names meant to be) to trace a document which proves that the Italian, Antonio Meucci, invented the telephone, as opposed to Alexander Graham Bell (Meucci is an historically real person). It's as convoluted as ball of wool, and thoroughly entertaining, reeking of both time (1993) and place.

20. The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning *****
The first volume in the author's Balkan Trilogy, set in Romania in the early months of World War Two, centred on newly married couple Guy and Harriet Pringle. It's still early days (the first book of six, including the chronologically successive Levant Trilogy), but the couple's relationship looks like it could get complicated as they gradually reveal their characters to both each other and the reader, the situation looks increasingly precipitous as the war comes ever closer, and the novel gradually entwines the reader in its narrative. The world they live in almost seems childlike in its naivety, emphasised by a mixed cast of often eccentric characters, but there's an undercurrent of darkness which gives a distinct edge to the story. The only minor irritant is one Yakimov, a British passport holding White Russian, who is a bit too much of a caricature for my taste, but otherwise I'm gripped.

21. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood ****
Read as the book for Australia in my Reading the World project. Shortlisted for the Booker prize last year, and regarded by many as the best on that list, I can see why (even if I disagree - Orbital remains for me a rare occasion where I actually agree with the judges, at least of those I've read to date). It is a book which I respect, even admire, rather than actually say I 'like'. Beautifully written, it's more a meditation than a narrative (although the progress of the plague of mice has a certain compulsive, almost horror, quality to it), not least about how we handle both grief and those instances in life of which we are privately ashamed, but which occasionally come back to haunt us (even if others may barely remember them, if they do at all). I read this pretty much in one sitting (only broken to make a cup of tea at one point!), it was so compulsively hypnotic. So why 'only' 4 stars? I can't quite put my finger on it, but in the immediate aftermath, that just felt the right level - perhaps reflecting that lack of like versus respect. Just a mite too clinical, too starkly 'literary'? I struggle to put my finger on it, but that's how it left me, so 4 it is.

22. We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida *
Read for one of my book groups. I wasn't looking forward to this, unimpressed as I am with the latest fashion for 'quirky' Japanese books (libraries and cats seem to abound), but even with that likely prejudice, I couldn't quite believe how bad this was. 5 short stories all based around a mysterious mental health clinic, that only appeared when people 'needed' it, and where cats are prescribed as the 'medicine' for clients' ills. All very cutsie with a streak of magical 'realism' (nothing very realistic here), served with a liberal dose of repetition, clunkiness, stilted dialogue, tell not show, and paper thin characters. How on earth was this even published, let alone a bestseller? Ghastly, and not worth wasting any more words on.

23. The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber ***
Read as the book for South Dakota in my Tour of the USA. A first person story told by the wife and mother in a black family of ranching settlers in the Badlands about their efforts to survive all the vicissitudes of life both thrown at them and self-generated in this tough environment - and there are plenty! Eminently readable and well placed in time and space, I really enjoyed this for the first half to two-thirds, and found some of the issues raised promising, not least the various elements of prejudice. although ultimately not explored in as great a depth as I hoped. However, the unremitting grimness took its toll as this felt increasingly like an exercise in fictional mis-lit, and I struggled to more than skim the last third as the story arc became increasingly depressing and obvious. On top of that, whilst I don't need an ending that ties up all the loose ends, this one just left too many unresolved for me - the story felt to be only half told. There was much to admire about this book, but in the end it left me rather more frustrated, even irritated, than satisfied.

>77 Willoyd: Don't worry, Yakimov will grow on you, and he is important to the plot.

>78 RidgewayGirl: I agree. I still remember him from reading the book last century!

24. Truss at 10 by Anthony Seldon ***
An interesting, strongly researched account and analysis of Liz Truss's brief time as Prime Minister. I found the structure a little bit laboured, based around the author's 10 rules for keeping power as Prime Minister, but it certainly highlighted quite what a disaster she was. And, in spite of her protestations, self-inflicted.

25. Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier ***
Read for one of my book groups. A slight oddity, being an unfinished novel by Anthony Quiller-Couch (a man oft cited in Helen Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road), whose daughter persuaded du Maurier to finish it after his death. It's not clear how much is which author's work, but the book tends to be credited to the latter. It's a 'modern day' retelling of the Cornish legend of Tristram and Isolde (at least, it's set in the early 20th century!). I enjoyed some of the descriptive writing, evoking Quiller-Couch's native and du Maurier's much loved Cornwall, but the plot felt mildly laboured and rather contrived - with 2-3 characters providing something of a narrative of various versions of the original legend through their researches, thus theoretically enabling the untutored reader to spot the parallels, but it all got rather stodgy and predictable. Not a bad book, rather somewhat dull, and it took some effort to make it to the end.

>80 Willoyd: I think I’d find Truss at 10 a bit depressing; the whole thing - her first and last audience with Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen’s dying days. I’m no monarchist, and the events did not rise to those of a Shakespearean tragedy, but it was nevertheless rather sad.

>81 kjuliff: I see it more as the culmination of 14 years of madness, particularly the last 8 or 9 (which the current government sadly don't seem to be digging us out of very well) - although it could get madder. Seldon suggests that, when it came to the death of the Queen, Truss handled herself rather better than she did elsewhere. Couldn't have been much worse though.

26. The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks by Donald Harington ***
The book for Arkansas in my Tour of the United States. Donald Harington is an author of whom I'd previously not heard at all, but when investigating novels for Arkansas, his name cropped up time and again as very much an author of place, in a similar way to Wendell Berry being 'of' Kentucky and William Faulkner 'of' Mississippi, all three creating and developing a body of work based on one fictional place. In this book, we have a multigenerational story of the Ingledew family of the author's fictional town of Stay More set in the Ozarks, in the northern reaches of Arkansas, the subject of most of his books. Having dipped into this a couple of times, I was really looking forward to this, and once getting going properly I was rapidly immersed in the stories - the book effectively being 20 interlinked short stories, each one based on a building in the town (illustrated in the chapter heading). The writing is difficult to describe: folksy, tongue-in-cheek, it's a sideways look at an American backcountry lifestyle and mores (I think - I'm no expert!). It's certainly engaging.
And yet, I found around halfway through that things were distinctly dragging. The style, initially engaging, gradually felt irritating, the tone felt flat, almost monotonous, the characters became confusing - they were all so similar - and I really started to wonder if I was going to get to the end. This wasn't helped by the author's obsession with sex, and I found his almost matter of fact approach to rape and incest uncomfortable. Perhaps this was deliberately so? Maybe, but it was the sort of uncomfortable which almost put me off completely, and I'm not a squeamish or straitlaced reader by any means. However, I pushed through, and things did pick up in the last third.
In a very similar way to the previous book in this project, I found much to admire and enjoy in this book, and in just the same way, early chapters suggested this was heading almost for 'favourite' status. But it's tonal flatness, thematic repetition, samey characterisation and some distinctly uncomfortable approaches in places made this harder work than I initially expected, and I was relieved rather than satisfied to finish and to be able to move on. Whilst my reading of the two othe authors mentioned above, Wendell Berry and William Faulkner, left me keen to explore their work more, I'm not so sure here,

27. It Comes From the River by Rachel Bower ***
Read for one of my book groups. An interesting read by a local writer (from Bradford). Alex is a young mother married, it's almost immediately apparent, to an abusive, highly possessive, husband. Lauren is a single mother of two, trying to make ends meet, with her story opening just as she is caught shoplifting. Nancy is an older woman, now in a care home after a domestic accident. Their three stories are told in alternating (if one alternate between three?!) stories, in monthly chapters. Gradually, as is inevitable (so no spoiler!) there stories intersect, reaching the equally inevitable climax.

The author is a poet and short story writer, and her poetic background shows. Every now and again she overeggs the pudding, but overall I enjoyed her writing, and the way we see the stories intersect. The characters are well drawn, even if I found them a little bit cliched. What slightly disappointed me was the plot. The blurb declares that the novel is "infused with the folklore of northern England...{and}...is an unforgettable, uncanny debut about violence, resilience and hope - and the power of women when they work together". Hmmm. There is an element of 'folklore', with a few additional sections about the 'gytrash'*, but they add absolutely nothing to the story and are, if anything, a complete red herring, going absolutely nowhere. And, as for the women working together, they don't, not at least until virtually the last page. I was hoping for something a bit original, different - even unforgettable and/or uncanny! Instead, we were treated to a fairly average, if well written, story treading a well-worn and fairly obvious path - although the ending had its moments of high drama. Ultimately a bit disappointing, but achieves three stars for the writing (with which one or two other reviewers were, I have to admit, less enamoured).

*A gytrash is a "North-of-England spirit....which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon belated travellers" (Jane Eyre ch xii). There is, almost inevitably, a Wikipedia article on the subject, which I had to look up (it's a while since I read Jane Eyre!). Given one of the plot elements, the 'large dog' idea promised but never delivered.

28. A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro ******
Read for one of my book groups. After a string of, at best, average reads, it was good to get back to an author whose previous novel I'd read, Elena Knows, was at the top of my scale. And boy, did she deliver. Mary Lohan is an ex-patriot Argentinian, returning from Boston to Buenos Aires after a twenty year absence to assess a school for accreditation by the educational organisation she works for. It's a reluctant return, as she was previously a parent there, but left the area after some sort of disastrous incident there in which she was involved. However, she has physically changed a lot in the time, and is virtually unrecognisable, so takes the risk of returning. The novel develops from there, but to say more would spoil.

I was gripped, transfixed, pretty much from start to finish. Having reached to page 70-ish in one sitting, I realised that I had to put the next morning aside to finish off (it's only just over 200 pages) - this was not a book I wanted to read in short sections. At times during that morning, it proved both vividly and excruciatingly painful to read - I almost couldn't at one point, so scrunched up was I in reaction to what was unfolding. On at least one occasion I had to stand up and walk round the room to take a (very!) deep breath or two. It absolutely nailed me to the seat otherwise, and nothing was going to disturb me from finishing this. It's a while since I read a book that moved me quite as much as this one did. Simply put, it blew me away.

Having read two of the three books published by Charco Press, and loved them both, I'm now going to try what she's rather better known for, outside Argentina at least, her crime novels, published by other presses. Even if they are only half as good as these two, they'll be worth a read; it'll be interesting to see how they compare. I am also looking forward to reading that third, Time of the Flies, but not immediately - that sort of intensity needs spreading out a bit!

>84 Willoyd: I’ll keep this also in mind but this particular book will not make my TBR list. Thanks for enlightening us with your review.

>85 Willoyd: Great review! There’s only one of her books in English in audio though many in audio in Spanish. I’d love to be able to read more books as I really liked Elena Knows.

>85 Willoyd: That goes straight to the wish list. I just read Elena Knows and thought it excellent.

>85 Willoyd: That is a very enticing review, Will. I was very impressed by Elena Knows, so I'll keep my eye out for this novel.

29. Bookish by Lucy Mangan ***
Subtitled 'How Reading Shapes Our Lives', this takes over where Bookworm, the story of the author's childhood reading, leaves off. Having enjoyed that (not perfect, but fun and interesting to read), this seemed like a no-brainer, particularly given the swaithe of 5 star reviews. Hmmm. I'm going out on a limb on this one, but I thought it was very ordinary, tending towards the disappointing.

I so related to her 'bookworm' view of the world - I've been in enough trouble in my life for having my nose antisocially buried in a book to fully empathise with her point of view - and I enjoyed her lightness of touch, but for me the content was lacking. Sentences all too often rambled on, and didn't say an awful lot quite several times over, discussion of books felt superficial at best, and there was a general woolliness to the narrative. I was also looking forward to her focusing on the world of adult reading after a full book on children's reading, but it seems that children's books are a significant proportion of her adult reading too, and I found myself skipping or skimming large sections in search of something a bit more grown up (I find children's literature fascinating by the way, but this was meant to be a book about adult reading. Perhaps if she'd discussed why so much children's lit still fascinates her - and others - as an adult I'd have stayed interested).

I can't say I agree with quite a few of her assessments (sorry, but I'm not giving ground on the plain awfulness of Dan Brown! And no, I'm no fan of bonkbusters!), but divergence of opinion on books is the stuff of life, and any book group where we all agree is guaranteed to be a dull meeting. There were enough areas where we definitely agreed (yay, another who rates Anne Bronte in front of her sisters!) for there to be enough common ground, so it wasn't her book opinions that have influenced my rating. No, this book was for me sadly just too frothy and too thin to be more than a throwaway read, with no real examination on what was supposedly the topic of the book as in the subtitle - perhaps if that had been rephrased 'How Reading Is My Life' it would have felt more to the point? So, OK while it lasted, but nothing like enough depth to remain on my shelves alongside her previous book.

30. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam ****
The book for Bangladesh in my Reading the World project. The story of a widow's efforts to keep her family intact as her two children get involved in the 1971 War of Independence. I knew next to nothing of this period, only being aware (as a 13-year old at the time) of the change from 'East Pakistan' to 'Bangladesh'. Of the horrors of the war and genocide - absolutely ignorant.

The story itself was a fairly standard if enjoyable family saga, with no real narrative surprises but enough character, plot and sense of place to keep me engaged through to the end, even if none particularly stood out. Rehana, the mother, is young(ish?0 and naive in the ways of the world, but has a certain steel when it comes to her children, and builds in strength and character as the narrative progresses. It was certainly good enough for me to look to read the sequel A Good Muslim (just ordered). Some reviews do comment negatively on the accuracy of the background (although I have to say that the tenor of the complaints suggest some sort of agenda - and they are often not accurate in themselves), but that's a subject about which I don't know anything like enough to comment. However, whatever else this book did or was, it had me going off to read up more on the subject (ongoing!), so in terms of helping improve understanding and knowledge, - and helping open my eyes - this was a definite success, and I can see why it won Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

31. The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy ***
I was initially totally engaged with this slim novel (barely 200 pages) as the main protagonist, Saul, is knocked over on the 'Abbey Road' album pedestrian crossing, breaks up with his girlfrienc, and goes out to East Germany (it's the 1980s) and falls in love with his interpreter. Some of it feels rather strange, the characters are interesting rather than likeable, but there's a feeling of something to come. And then things become distinctly odd (I won't say what as it would be a spoiler). I found myself floundering and intrigue started to turn to bemusement and rapidly increasing disengagement, before realising (rather slow on the uptake") to understand what was going on. Well, at least in principle, as some of the detail was still, deliberately, obscure and tangled. It was also enough to see me through to the end, appreciating in particular the author's portrayal of the mix of thoughts going through Saul's mind, and the interplay between memory and current events. The book as a whole, however, left me rather cold: it all felt rather too clever (at least for me) and manufactured, but perhaps more critical was that the more I read of Saul, the less I was interested in him. So, another book where I respected the writing, but whereas I did enjoy Stone Yard Devotional, I cant say I liked this very much at all.

32. Clear by Carys Davies ****
John Ferguson, a poverty-stricken minister in the newl formed Free Church in Scotland, is employed by a landowner to be taken out to a remote island off the north coast to evict the sole remaining resident to make way for sheep (part of the Highland Clearances). His 'victim' Ivar speaks only Norn (a northern dialect), so when John arrives and is taken into Ivar's home after an accident, the whole idea of how to effect this eviction appears even more problematic, especially as the men gradually develop trust and a means of communicating. In the meantime his wife Mary, left on the mainland, is increasingly worried about what her husband has taken on.

I enjoyed the author's atmospheric writing in West, even if I had some problems with the story itself, and pretty much the same could be said here. Some reviewers have complained about a lack of pace and overwrought descriptions, but for me the fomer was perfect and the latter both evocative and involving. The narrative development showed promise, but yet again, I just couldn't match the people (particularly John) with the events that transpired. And then when we came to the ending, the pace seemed to go into sudden overdrive, and the whole story, in stark contrast to the carefully developed buildup, all came to a juddering and all too conveniently resolved halt. It was an improvement on West, but the flaws were all too familiar. Still, it was an enjoyable read; Davies certainly creates a vivid sense of place that reminds me strongly of the Scottish islands, so it was no real surprise, even with my doubts, to see her win the Ondaatje prize (for books that do just that!). I also look forward to reading more from her, but I hope she can sorther plotting out, and move from the just good to great (at least IMO!).

>93 Willoyd: Great review. I agree with you about the pace at the ending of Clear. But I did enjoy it and as a consequence I tried West , which I didn’t finish. I agree let’s hope the next book is better because she certainly can write well.

>92 Willoyd: sorry you didn't like this. I'm a fan. I listened on audio and did not pick up the trick (and still loved it. 🙂 I enjoyed the tone and evoked mysterious odd feeling...a lot). So I did some research - and, to reviewers' credit, didn't find the answer. But some reviews said to read it twice. So I started again, caught the trick, and listened to a completely different book - which I loved. So I feel I got two great books out of it!

>93 Willoyd: glad you liked this better. I would like to read it. Somehow, I thought Carys Davies was a man... but anyway.

>92 Willoyd: >95 dchaikin: Now I am intrigued and will have to read The Man Who Saw Everything . I want to see if I can work out the trick..

>95 dchaikin:
I do feel as if I missed something and/or it went rather over my head.

>97 Willoyd: I started it today because it was free on audible. I think it’s a little bit strange for me to understand in my current state. I’m a little confused as to whether it’s really good or really terrible.

>98 kjuliff:
Couldn't agree more!

It's been an incredibly busy past month, including a fortnight or so away (in the fabulous Outer Hebrides) and my mother's funeral, so reading has been rather erratic, generally in short bursts. Unlike many - most? - people, I actually read less when away on holiday, so I'm actually surprised to have completed as much as I have in the time. A burst of short reviews now to catch up.

33. The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell ******
The author moves to a larger, older apartment in Berlin with her husband and 2 sons, to face breakdown in the apartment itself (Opening sentence: A large pool of water had appeared overnight on our kitchen floor, so silent and unexpected it seemed to be a mirage) rapidly, and unexpectedly at the time, followed by the same with her marriage (Second page: It asked for an equally extreme response, which duly came in a sudden, brutal and final break....My husband went away for work and never came back to our home.). As a consequence (the reasoning is obscure!) she is drawn into the history of the apartment (one of few on the street to have survivied WW2) and that of the part of the city surrounding the building - riven with significant history as we find. The book grows into a mixture of (largely cultural/social) history and memoir, and an absolutely fascinating read. I was hooked from start to finish, wrapped up in both the text and following the book and identifying locations on Google Earth (I love books where I can track them like this!).
It's a book I will almost certainly return to (especially when I next get back to Berlin - this is a part I didn't get to visit, but abuts onto the small part I'm familiar with). Initially given 5 stars, but, writing 2-3 weeks later, I can't for the life of me think why I was so stingy, so a 6th added on. This will challenge for my non-fiction book of the year I'm sure.

34. The Great Auk by Tim Birkhead ****
A subject that's always intrigued me. Split into two halves, the first focusing on the history of the bird itself leading to its extinction in (probably) the 1840s, the second on the after-life of the bird, in particular what happened to the various artifacts (stuffed skins, eggs mainly), and more particularly, the mildly eccentric life of perhaps the most avid collector of these, Vivian Hewitt. The author is a recognised authority on the species (his area of speciality study more generally is guillemots), so as one would expect, there's a ring of authority, and he's a decent writer who can tell a good story. However, whilst I was glad of the 'full' story, I felt there was too much emphasis on the second section than the first: indeed, by the end of the book I felt I knew almost more about Hewitt than about the Great Auk! So, a decent read, but not a keeper.

35. Overlord by Max Hastings ***
The author's one volume account of WW2 is perhaps my favourite history of that period, so it was almost inevitable that I'd go to him for this more focused account. And it is a good read. However, perhaps as a function of that greater detail, I felt that i got rather bogged down at times in all the various regimental/brigade/divisional numbers, and I found it increasingly hard to keep any sort of picture in my head of what was going on. I think this wasn't helped by the, as is all too usual in such histories it seems, poor range of maps, and their inadequate labelling and level of detail.
On the other hand, Hastings excels in several other areas. I find some (all well regarded) authors rely too heavily on too frequent and too large chunks of quotes from letters/interviews to tell their story. This author, as in the previous book, is far more able at sustaining the flow, - both choice and length almost invariably moving the narrative on and enhancing it. Equally, I enjoy his (what seems to me) even handed analysis, that takes one well beyond a simple retelling. His views on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the forces involved (at least the main ones), and of the leaders, were illuminating; I particularly appreciated his precision, clarity and balance. Overall a satisfying and educational read.

36. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut G ***
Read for one of my book groups, but already on my TBR shelf after a very strong recommendation by a friend. It certainly started off well, with an enthralling chapter that linked so many different chemical threads together. However, it became apparent (supported by reading interviews with the author) that whilst the first chapter was almost 100% factual, later chapters grew more and more fictional. I have not problems with that normally: I enjoy historical fiction and am used to authors filling in gaps with their own interpretations, even slightly modifying the history to enable a stronger, pehaps more focused, narrative arc. However, it became apparent that in order to tell the story he wanted to tell, the author apparently replaced large chunks of the history with complete fictions of his own, increasingly so as the novel (which is what it was) progressed. It didn't help that some of this fiction took on a distinctly sordid tone. To such an extent that by around two-thirds through this relatively brief book, I was looking to finish, and only to glad to get there(I don't think I would have bothered if it hadn't been a book group read). Group discussion revealed that I wasn't the only one both bemused and disappointed with the author's all too violent twisting of his subject's lives, undermining any credibility in what he was trying to say, which seemed to be a very cliched examination of the mad genius (male of course!). It didn't even provide any illumination of the science involved, with descriptions of the 'beauty' of the maths or concept involved left completely unexplained and undescribed. Overall, very disappointing, and only saved from a 1/2 star rating by the excellent first chapter. What I find curious is that we, a very disparated group, were near unanimous, yet Goodreads (for instance) suggests that over three-quarters of the 56000+ ratings were 4/5 stars.

37. The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel ****
A curiously enjoyable read, picked up on spec in a bookshop on holday last year. Jane is a young widow with 2 teenage daughters (Eve and Vera), working on a bioengineering project to restore the woolly month from extinction. Because she's a single parent with little support, the daughters get dragged all over the place, so their education is, shall we say, diverse. It's a novel that centres on the ethics of such a project, but is also an examination of the mother-daughter relationship, which, my being male (one of three brothers, and the father of a son), is about as far from my familial experience as I can get! So I can't vouch for its authenticity or otherwise, but I can vouch for the liveliness of the writing, its humour, and its thought provocation. Other themes also thread their way through the narrative, not least the issues Jane faces in a decidedly patriarchal workplace.
This book was by no means perfect. In fact there were some fairly massive flaws (not least the coincidences/unlikelihoods) and the writing itself felt patchy. It's been likened by some to Lessons in Chemistry, which I have to say that whilst I enjoyed whilst reading, left me distinctly discontented and more and more irritated on reflection. And yet...maybe it was being on holiday, or maybe it was the sheer (and deliberately chosen?) unlikelihood of what happens, or perhaps it was my complete lack of experience of any aspect, or the contrast with reading the last few weeks, or...any one of half a dozen things, but whilst I certainly get why reviewers have offered such a diversity of opinions and, objectively, I can't disagree with those who didn't rate it, I have to say I quite enjoyed this; in fact it felt rather refreshing! But only as a small dose!

Welcome back, Will.

I read Ausubel's first book, No One is Here Except All of Us, which I found unusual and rather thought-provoking.

And so to a few more over the next couple of posts! It's almost a month since I last posted; time seems to have slipped away even quicker than normal - it always seems to do so in the summer.

38. The Secret History by Donna Tartt *****
Read both for one of my reading groups and as the book for Vermont in my tour of the USA. This was a long anticipated tome - a book that I have meant to read for some time, and I was delighted (and ready) to at last be tackling it. In some ways, it lived up to expectations too. It was very soon apparent that Donna Tartt can really write: I was almost immediately grabbed by pretty much every aspect, and completely immersed in the story. I settled in comfortably for the long haul (700+ pages)

But then, about a third of the way in, things began to drag a little. Just a little, but I found myself shifting from enthralment to a feeling of 'come on, get on with it', a feeling that not only can the author write really well, but she knows she can, and that she was beginning to indulge herself, a feeling where I began to wonder where the editor was. It was a subtle shift, but it enough to induce restlessness. However, because it was both a group and a tour read, I persisted, and gradually, another third of the way along, I was slowly but surely pulled back in. There were still questions about where things were going, but in the end the denouement was such that it all finally made sense!

So, perhaps not the 'great novel' I was expecting, or, at least, not the perfect masterpiece - it was cerainly 'great' in some ways both in size and quality - but one that justified the time and effort demanded, which is saying something given that I'm not normally into preppy novels about privileged 'kids'. In fact, there were aspects that would normally have completely turned me off. For a normally big starter, I can't say I liked any of the characters, and on occasions struggled to even differentiate between one or two of them. Indeed, I can't say I even cared about them particularly. Their activities - antics - were of the sort that would normally have me running a mile to avoid reading about them. This was one of those books where we knew one of the main plot outcomes before the end of the first page: who killed whom, and almost how. The setting was, for me, not of any particularly interest or depth, being a privileged university/college (so not of much interest) in an under-developed Vermont -no real depth or sense of place other than in one particular section set in winter. Hmmm, yes, that section, the same one which left me wondering why all those pages were there and seemed to be just one huge almost stand-alone diversion. I think I worked it out, with the help of my book group, but I still think it would have been a better book without. or at least not taken so long to work through.

And yet, this remained compulsive reading. The build up to the murder , the why, and the fall out from it and its effect on this misanthropic bunch of privileged misfits was riveting. It was the epitome of watching a slow motion car crash: you know you shouldn't, it's anything but pretty, you're desperate to do something but you know you can't, and you just can't take your eyes away as you sit there in both horror and fascination. There were some superb stylistic choices, not least the author's decision to see events solely through the eyes of one of the group members, one who in some important ways was different to the rest of the group, even an outsider - you're both outside looking in, but also inside at the same time, with all the added intrigue of wondering how reliable or accurate the narrator is in their interpretation of events. And to that extent, this is a work of (almost) pure genius. I still reckon her editor could have been a bit stronger though. It all certainly made for a stonking group discussion!

39. A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard ****
An interesting, fairly light and easy, read about the influence of sheep on our (British) history. No huge insights, but some interesting snippets, a few eye-openers, all pulled together in an eminently readable way - and a nice offset to the previous book. I was lucky enough to meet the author at an event at our local bookshop, and she came across as genuine and interesting as her book. She has written a number of others in a similar vein, and I'll be looking them out. Not great literature, but a pleasure to read.

40. Borderlines by Lewis Baston *****
The author visits and takes a good look at the history of various borders between European countries, sometimes breaking them down into sections where each has been formed in a different way. The history ranges from the almost ancient, where a fistful of Belgian 'exclaves' in the Netherlands are a result of medieval ownership patterns (this was a revelation, had me diving into Google Earth, and really makes me want to visit!), to the ultra-topical, and the divides between Russia and its neighbours. This is a book where there's so much, that I have already forgotten or not fully absorbed a good half or more of it, and so has to be one that I will return to (a lot, I think!). Fortunately it's also a book which is well signposted, and works well as a series of individual essays.

41. The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn *****
A story of eccentric family relationships, growing up, resilience, discovering oneself, adapting to wartime. In some ways it's all been said before, in others it came across as quite fresh. To be honest, it wasn't what it was 'about' that I was interested in or read it for: this was chosen because I was looking for a good, solid, summer holiday-type read, and it pretty much ticked all the boxes, providing me with an absorbing story about three 'siblings' (it's complicated!) growing up on a minor Dorset landed estate in the 1920s, and the impact of war on their lives. I'm sure I could critique it more closely, but I'm perfectly happy at having been told a thoroughly good, solidly developed story where I really cared about the characters involved. I think I might carry on with August in a similar vein, although I do/did have other plans. My only complaint was that I wanted to know what happened to them afterwards too!

Welcome back. The Booker longlist is out and I was wondering if you might chime in. Great set of reviews. The Undercurrents catches my attention. Too bad about When We Cease to Understand the World. I’ve been looking forward to it.

I’m deeply sorry for your loss of your mother.

>104 dchaikin:
Thank you for your kind thoughts. She was 93, and had been bedridden and pretty much incommunicado since a stroke during lockdown. She was also a lady of great faith, and I believe, after many conversations on the topic with her in the past, it will have come as a welcome relief. I remember her mother, at exactly the same age and stage of life, if much more 'with it', assuring me that she was 'ready to meet her maker'. Funeral day turned out to be a very celebratory day for a normally far-flung family!

I have been following the Booker chat thread with much interest. I'll pop a note on there which will also explain my lack of contribution!

That does sound beautiful. That’s how my grandmother’s funeral was. It was a giant crowd and people got up and told funny stories about her.

Glad to see you back Will. I’ve missed your posts. Say hello to West Yorkshire for me. When I used to visit my friends in Derbyshire we’d take day trips to Yorkskshire. Lovely place.

Waving hello!

>107 kjuliff: >108 labfs39:
Thank you - and hello again too!

Two books, read fairly quickly one after the other, one fiction and one non-fiction, recognising Women In Translation month: both have been translated from the original German (Reimann was East German and Ritter Austrian). Both have been on my shelves a while, and definitely overdue to be read!

42. Siblings by Brigitte Reimann (transl Lucy Jones) *****
Brought up through the era of the Berlin Wall, I have always seen East Germany as having been pretty much the antithesis of what I believed in, being a communist, totalitarian state imposed on it's population by the Soviets. And it largely was, with some pretty horrific stories emerging. However, there was obviously another side to it, given the nostalgia for it shown by many of of its ex-inhabitants now absorbed (if not necessarily happily integrated) into the reunited Germany. This semi-autobiographical novel* also considers this 'other side': Elisabeth and Uli are siblings in the East Germany of 1960, before the wall itself went up, who have very differing views, Elisabeth happily (?) part of the system, Uli frustrated and deeply unsatisfied by it, and considering defection. Lurking in the background is their older brother Konrad, who has already moved to West Germany, and reviled by both siblings as too besotted with consumerist values. The difference is that Elisabeth and Uli are very close, and Uli sees his reasons as being utterly different to Konrad's, and this rift is liable to tear them, and their family apart. In barely 120 intense pages, their differences are argued over and considered, context is examined, and an outcome is reached. Phew!

Having read Jenny Erpfendorf's Kairos last year, set in a very similar context, I was both intrigued and slightly wary approaching this - having found the latter somewhat - given the plaudits - predictable and dreary. This was so different. For once the blurb nails it (even if I wouldn't have begun to think of using the same phrase!): In prose as bold as a scarlet paint stroke, Brigitte Reimann battles with the clash of idealism and suppression, familial loyalty, and desire.. An excellent one-sentence summary that I can hardly better. This gripped me from start to finish, and provided the sort of vividlly drawn insight into a world of which one has little knowledge and no experience that great fiction is so well suited to.

*A note on the autobiographical aspect: Reimann was, like Elisabeth, a state-sponsored artist in an industrial complex, and it's the pollutants from that which are thought to have been the cause of her early death at 39. The book was written immediately after, and presumably as a response to, the defection of her own brother to the West.

43. A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (transl Jane Degras) ******
A memoir of the author's year long stay on the north coast of Spitsbergen with her hunter husband over the winter of 1934-5. This book has apparently never been out of print (the edition I read was a Pushkin Press Classic), and it's not hard to see why. It's a rare book - it must be an early pioneer of the female experience in the Arctic, as I can't think of much else written from this viewpoint. There's very much a 1930s attitude towards women that permeates the book (not dissimilar to some nowadays!), and it's interesting how the author challenges and rolls as suits her needs (the one row the couple have is when she decides enough is enough and washes down the floors and internal walls of the hut, leaving them coated in ice!), although there were areas that i never fully got a handle on, not least her relationship with her husband (almost always written of fairly dispassionately as 'my husband'). The hut (tiny, as the online photos attest) was also shared with another younger hunter, invited along for the winter by Hermann without Christiane's knowledge until she arrived in Svalsbard! Whatever the proximity, it seemed to work.
Just as with the previous book, the author here covers a lot of ground in relatively very little space, but still manages brings her experience vividly to life. It's interesting that the language develops throughout the book as the author does: initially quite simplistic, gradually more figurative, descriptive, and internal. Whether as a result of this, or just the narrative itself, I found myself almost inexorably myself drawn into both the setting and the experience, even though I think it's almost impossible sometimes to fully comprehend the intensity and remoteness of such an experience, however well written. I certainly rattled through the last half of the book engrossed. But this isn't just about the author's own development, great as it is: it also has so much to say about our own disconnecton with nature, and demonstrates how much our climate is changing: the pack ice rarely reaches Svalbard nowadays (the main port has been ice free for the past decade). A classic.

Both of these reviews interest me in the books, and I've added Woman in the Polar Night to my wish list.

44. Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller ***
A decent enough read, but a book that never really left the starting gate for me. Just too many things didn't quite hold sufficient credibility, not least the two 51 year old siblings, so innocent about life and dependent on their now deceased parent, and so hidden from the realities of both the world and their mother's true lifestyle. No one thing, but the accumulation of what had happened just didn't quite ever feel sufficiently real for me. To be honest, i wasn't really sure what the point was - was there one? So, whilst well enough written, and finishable, it never really gripped me.

45 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf ******(F)
My third or fourth reread, and it just gets better every time. Read this after listening to the episode of the podcast 'The Secret Life of Books' on this novel, and it proved even more interesting as a result. The character development, the internal monologues, the structure, the..... well I could just go on and on. This is quite simply a work of genius, and one of my all-time favourites, so enough said! I could have reread it instantly,

46 Square Haunting by Francesca Wade ****
A group biography of 5 women who all broke new ground in literature and women's lives, and who all lived in and around Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury between 1900 and 1940. As a a series of profiles, this was a really interesting read, and has certainly inspired me to buy a copy of one of their books straightaway (Eileen Power's Medieval People). However, I found it a little bit of a letdown as a book, as I expected more focus on their lives in the Square, and a bit more about the place itself. Instead, it was a fairly clear cut collection of 5 separate mini-bioographies, with (largely) only passing references to the place. Interesting, and eminently readable, but it didn't quite fulfill the expectations so proudly proclaimed on the cover.

47 The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier *****
With many authors, I would have probably been almost entirely enthusiastic about this, but this is the author of The Girl With The Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, Remarkable Creatures, and The Lion and the Unicorn (amongst others), so good, even very good, but not quite at the same level as her best, the characters in particular just being marginally more 2-dimenstional than I would have hoped. However, I did enjoy her sense of place, and her manipulation of the 4th dimension - an intriguing idea that added both an extra frisson to the book, and provided an interesting continuity - although I thought it was going to have a more important impact than it did on the plot. This book certainly whiled away part of a long (trans-Germany) train journey very successfully with little effort!

>112 Willoyd: I’ve read Mrs Dalloway twice but you’ve inspired me to read it a third time. It’s one of those books..

>112 Willoyd: nice about Mrs. Dalloway. I happen to have Square Haunting at the house from the library. I’m picking through books on Virginia Woolf, seeing what I might want to read.

>114 dchaikin: I can recommend Hermione Lee's biography. It's a bit of a doorstopper, but superb. One of my all-time favourite biogs.

>115 Willoyd: i have that from the library and definitely want to read Lee’s take.

48. The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott ***
A dystopian eco-myth based novel set in an unnamed country (the spitting image of Tasmania apparently) that has undergone a coup d'etat. This got off to a really strong start with a telling of the (made up) myth of the Rain Heron, followed by an opening section of some intensity and colour. However, just at a criticial moment we get taken off to what initially appears to be a completely different thread, but soon becomes apparent is flashback, keeping us waiting to return to the scene some 60 or so pages later. I hate that sort of story-telling. The flashback is well told though, almost taking us even more into the mythical, but when we return to the main plotline, I felt the story started to lose its way - hard to describe without spoilers. There are some brilliant descriptive passages, but overall I felt the whole thing grinding down and losing my engagement. By the time I reached the end, it all felt a bit tired and had turned into the predictable. This wasn't helped by the fact that an absolutely critical part of the story just didn't add up: if the Rain Heron was as a rain heron was described, then what happened couldn't, as far as I can see, have happened. There were a couple of other minor glitches in the credibility line too, but that for me just undermined things too much. I read this for a book group, and whilst we've not discussed it yet, chatting to one or two other members, we're all similarly puzzled.
So, a book of much promise, but sadly not quite delivering. Not a bad book by any means, and actually a very good novel for a book group as I think it's going to generate plenty of discussion, but definitely not in rave territory.

49. Universality by Natasha Brown ***
Having previously read and really enjoyed Assembly, I was looking forward to this Booker long-listed novel and, much like the above, it got off to an excellent start. Sadly, again much like the above, it seemed to lose its way too.The opening 'long form essay' section made for a pacy, punchy start, and I appreciated how the later sections peeled back the layers of deception inherent in both its creation and telling, but it was largely talk, and I found that I really didn't care, particularly about the characters, none of whom were particularly three dimensional. There was some brief respite with the story as told by Richard, the owner of the farm and gold bar involved in the original attack the essay is about (and trumpeted in the blurb), and I was amused to find that he emerged as, at least IMO, the most sympathetic character, but otherwise, I really wasn't bovvered. But then satire often passes me by (and rarely involves great characterisation). I was not surprised to find a few hours after finishing the book that it didn't make it on to the shortlist. I'd have been disappointed if it had. I am in the next few days moving on to some of the shortlisted novels, so it'll be interesting to compare.

50. A Day in Summer by JL Carr ****
Fifty up! And a book that I have long had on my shelves to read, but for some completely unknown reason never got around to. Carr is the author of my favourite all-time book, A Month In the Country, and I've read most of his works, but this (and A Season in Sinji) have passed me by, tucked away on my shelves. This was particularly of interest, being his first novel. Carr himself said that this was technically the most complex book he wrote, and there's no disagreement here! Covering the events of a single summer's day in a small Midlands town celebrating its annual fair, there are multiple strands and a cornucopia of characters. It's a tricky balancing act and there are occasions where he almost slips off the wire, but he just about keeps things on track m and it builds up nicely to a decently climactic ending that involves some interesting twists. Some of his characters do seem to have come straight out of one of those terribly British 1940s/50s black and white films, but that didn't detract; they did come over as all too human, even the ones I disliked! There's much sadness and grief - one reviewer described the book as 'bleak' - but I never found it so, with Carr's obvious care for his characters, something upon which the likes of A Month in the Country was built. This may not have been Carr's greatest, but one where one can definitely see where that great stuff came from, well worth the time (and I enjoyed the appearance of characters I've come across already in later books!).

>117 Willoyd: I too, didn’t expect Universality to make it on the Booker shortlist. But I’m interested in. Natasha Brown’ s Assembly. I really need to read more books from the UK. Living in America, I miss seeing reviews of English novels. I’m used to Australian reviews, Australians being more oriented to English books and movies.,

>118 kjuliff:
I don't really read many reviews of UK (or for that matter any other!) fiction - at least not until after I've read a book - although I probably pick up more than you will just as a matter of course. I do pick up recommendations from here and from the podcasts I listen to, although most of my UK reading comes through the 2 book groups I belong to (although both do include other countries too). That contrasts with my non-fiction reading, where I do read and follow up reviews quite often. It's probably why I've hardly ever heard of Booker-listed books until they actually appear on the longlist!
(Podcasts I major in: Book Club Review, The Mookse and the Gripes, Slightly Foxed, Secret Life of Books, Books on the Go, Bookshelfie, The Book Club - Specatator magazine).

>119 Willoyd: Thanks for your podcast list. I’m checking them out.
Currently listening to a Slightly Foxed episode on Muriel Spark. I used to listen to the TLS podcast, but it got to match into the local festivals and wasn’t really irrelevant for me..
I’ve been really missing books written by UK writers since living in America

>117 Willoyd: seems like a reasonable take to me on Universality. Very interesting about Carr’s book, A day in Summer. And congrats on 50 books!

51. The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits ***
Not for the first time, I find myself wondering either what the Booker judges see in a book, or what I'm missing. It's probably the latter, but the main thought to come to mind at the conclusion of this shortlister, is how ordinary it was. Not a bad book by any means, with some lovely writing, possibly even a long-lister, but surely, surely this wasn't one of the six best books published last year? Like several recent reads, it got off to a good start but gradually I felt it lose its way as the narrator wanders uninvited from relation to acquaintance to previous girlfriend. It's a road trip, one does that, but the aimlessness felt, well, rather aimless. And then, the medical issues, an irritating and obvious distraction, became to my mind something of a cop-out, and the ending felt all rather obvious. Perhaps the biggest problem is that, being told in the first person, much of this was internal monologue, almost stream of consciousness, and on that front it suffered rather badly from its proximity to my reread of Mrs Dalloway. Now there is a book that never loses its way. And, given others' reaction, maybe it is after all just me. 3 stars.

52. On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle ***
A tricky one. I read this as a book group choice, and as my book for Denmark in my global project - I hadn't intended for this to be the Danish choice, but, shortlisted as it was for the International Booker, it seemed a good one all the same. And in many ways it was. But, but.... (and be warned, I've tried not to spoil, but inevitably some of my comments might work that way for some)

The idea is both an interesting and a familiar one: the narrator, Tara Selter, an antique book dealer, finds that she is trapped in November 18th. It's reminiscent of the film Groundhog Day, although the author says that she had the idea long before it appeared. Life constantly repeats, and yet it also doesn't. Whilst time never moves on, she does - a burn that she incurs on the first Nov 18th gradually heals, some objects stay with her (eg some books she purchases on the first Nov 18th), but others don't. She experiments at trying to keep her husband Tomas awake through the night to see what happens, and early in the morning he goes through a reset, and suddenly wonders why she is in the house and not away (as she is on the first Nov 18th). So, whilst the day repeats itself, some things, even people, move with her. But (that word again!), and this was the start of my problems with this book, what does and what doesn't move seems to be pretty random. In fact, the only consistency appears to be that it suits the author that they move (or don't!).

Well, maybe, or maybe this is part of what Balle is addressing - our relationship with time. Even so, it's the randomness that bothered me. However, one thought that cropped up in the book group is that maybe, somewhere in there, there is a consistency, and perhaps that's part of what we might found out later; it may even be part of the resolution (if there is one).

Tara herself, not the most empathetic of characters even initially, becomes ever more self-orientated as the book progresses, almost inevitably I suppose, but other characters recede as a result, not least Tomas himself, who becomes more and more just a series of sounds, a 'ghost'. We see things very much from her perspective, so Tomas 'forgets' at the end of the day. Er no, he doesn't, he's moved on to Nov 19th and the Tomas she sees at the start of the day hasn't yet known the things that she sees him as having forgotten. Meanwhile Tara sees herself as a 'monster', not least because the food (and other items?) she consumes is not replaced - gradually the supermarket is being emptied of the goods she favours. This may well partly be a take on our consumerism, but again, I found the logic somewhat illogical, especially as some items do revert, and again felt events were being fitted to the author's needs/wants, not the author coping with the 'reality' of recurring time.

I may well be focusing too much on this aspect, but for me the main weakness of this book, and what left me rather underwhelmed at the end, was the inevitable repetition (of course it's repetitive, that's the point, but it's also the challenge!), and yet what moving on there was just didn't work for me. Now that all might come out in the wash, and there's no doubt that I am intrigued to find out how this time issue is resolved (if, of course, it is), but therein lies the final problem I have with this book. Balle has already made it clear that this is a seven volume series. I am interested in knowing what happens at the end, but do I want to read the other 6 books to find out? It's rather like a boxed set series- and rattling around in my head is the question, am I sufficiently addicted to continue? Or am I prepared to become 'addicted'? And when I look on it like that the answer is pretty much the same to pretty much every boxed set I've ever seen: 'No' (a few BBC classics dramas aside!). Of course, it doesn't help, that I'm going to have to wait for future volumes to come out (Vol 3 in English will be in the shops soon). Maybe if I waited until all 7 were out and read them as one single long book? I don't know, although the prospect doesn't excite me in the way that many long books do. In the meantime, this was an interesting concept, with, as things stand, just too many flaws and too much commitment required to make me want to stick it out. Just like the finale is almost always the most watched programme in any series, I might just wait and read the final book.

>122 Willoyd: so interesting to read your response to Balle. I think that if you’re only looking for an explanation and solution, seven books is too many. But if you’re happy to be lost in her repeating Nov 18 - then seven books is just fine. But I’ve only read one…

>123 dchaikin:
I wasn't initially just looking for that by any means. I'm happy to get lost in books (indeed seek that!), including some absolutely massive ones that dwarf her prospective volumes, but (and this was touched on by somebody else last night, so isn't an original thought and was their example), whilst something like Ulysses doesn't cover much temporal ground, it drills down into minutiae (and much diversion!) and sucks you in. This on the other hand left me (us) only really wanting to know the explanation and solution - it became the main interest. The rest of the book, whilst sufficiently interesting for one maybe two volumes worth, just hadn't enough to want to go the full 7-volume distance; the character wasn't sufficiently engaging and the plot too holed. Having said that, the colleague who came up with that comparison, is one of the Volume 2ers. i think I might wait and see what she and the others say. Whatever else, it certainly provided for a fascinating evening's discussion - it was a great book club choice.

>124 Willoyd: believe me, volume II is just another play-thing. I agree with your take on volume I. I must’ve been masochistic when I bought volume II.

53. Audition by Katie Kitamura **
Hmmm. My third Booker longlister, my second from the shortlist, and I'm beginning to think that I and the judges are rather out of synch this year. I loved Kitamura's writing, but as a novel this almost completely failed for me.

Centred on an older actress working on a new play and struggling to make a major mid-play transition work, the book opens with her meeting a young man in a fashionable restaurant, and examines the developing relationship between her, him and her husband (and no, it's not a ménage a trois). The book's structure reflects that of the play, set out in 2 parts/acts.

I was fine until the end of Act One, with characters and situation intriguingly developing, but the disjunction between the 2 parts and the (obviously deliberate) omission of the transitional scene was all too much (for me), and I never recovered engagement. Indeed, just the opposite as I grew increasingly irritated, with the climactic scene descending into plain silliness.

To be honest, my initial reaction was to record this as, at most, a two star read, but I did finish it (thank goodness it was no longer), and, as I said at the start, there is no doubting in my mind the quality of the writing - some of the individual scenes are superb. Trouble is I couldn't get the phrase 'style over substance' out of my head, even if it's probably my lack of perspicacity that was the real problem - there are enough rave reviews to suggest the substance imay actually be there, even if I still can't see it. So, this scrapes a three, sitting alongside both the other books to date, which is fair enough as they all, for me, started well but tailed off in their various ways as they progressed.

Later edit: no, I have to be completely honest with myself. This really was a disappointment. No way can I give it 3 stars - 2 it is, FWIW.

Flesh by David Szalay *
Now I know I'm just not on the same wavelength as this year's judges! (Am I even in the same room?). Managed about 100 pages and then decided I couldn't stomach another 250 of the same. I usually enjoy lean writing, but this went well beyond that into the dull and repetitive, with reams of inane dialogue. Yes, I know that's all part of the characterisation (if Istvan had said 'OK' one more time I think I'd have screamed), but that was the point to me - he, and thus the book, just weren't interesting (I can do 'bad' no problem, but not uninteresting). It was all summed up by one of the most tediously tawdry opening chapters I've read in a while. G*d it was so predictable and obvious. Please, please let the next three reverse the slide. Knowing 2 of them (Miller, Desai), I am at least optimistic, but to date this has been one of the most disappointing shortlists for a while.

>126 Willoyd: I love this review Will, it is exactly how I saw the book on the first read, and then I started reading the reviews saying it was brilliant blah blah. So I read it again and I think it’s meant to be a puzzle - like a cryptic crossword puzzle clue but in literature form. If this is in fact the case, then I suppose it is clever.

I read that Roddy Doyle said that all the books in the short list were books that only their writers could write. Which I thought was rather interesting, and probably true.

In any case, it’s a great review and you really nailed the book for readers who don’t like or expect cryptic puzzles when looking for a good read.

— edited for typo fixes.

>128 kjuliff: That's really interesting, thank you. I suspect you're right - I do enjoy puzzles, but no, probably not in my reading, although I'd never thought about it before. I'm trying to think of anything similar I've read before on that front, but not off the top of my head.

>129 Willoyd: I started reading The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya which seem to be getting dangerously close, so I stopped reading as it was doing my mind in.

>128 kjuliff: Interesting that, talking to my local bookshop owner who has just read Audition, she said that, of all the shortlist, if this won, it would be the hardest for her to sell. She hated it: having also read the rest of the list, put it bottom of her rankings. Otherwise a difficult call, although personal favourite was probably the Miller. I don't think I'm going to get to read them all in time now, but might be able to squeeze in the Miller, and leave Desai for a more leisurely take afterwards. So far of the four, Choi tops the list comfortably for me, but I'm not sure it's a 'winner'.

54. Flashlight by Susan Choi ****
One of the Booker shortlist. After three disappointing reads, I was hoping for something better with this, and fortunately I got it. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was certainly a contrast: big, bold and discursive where the others all felt small, lean and focused. At 400+ pages this was no shrinking violet, and it proved to be an even longer read than anticipated, perhaps longer than optimum, but overall I enjoyed this opening up. It was geographically (and chronologically) broadly flung too, stretching from the US to Korea and Japan, with an extended European interlude too. However, the wordiness had a purpose, providing a richness and depth which again proved a welcome contrast. I can happily do lean (some of my favourite books....!), but it was good to get back to someone who obviously enjoys telling a story. It was quite a story too, a study in family secrecy and alienation, with a fair number of twists and turns, and a couple of pretty hefty twists. All in all, I felt as if my reading was starting to emerge out of the Slough of Despond into which it had been cast for almost a month.

Character-wise, a potential problem was that none of the main protagonists, Louise and her parents Anne and Serk, were at all likeable. One could feel sorry for them (well I did!), but I never warmed to them (well, a little bit perhaps, in the last quarter). However, they were interesting (especially the two women), which is more than could be said for any of those in the previous shortlisters, especially Flesh. It also helped that the subject matter was completely new to me, so I was learning as well. And the author did chuck in a 'likeable' character in the shape of Tobias, Louise's half-sister, and Anne's (initial) big secret.

So, overall a definite step in the right direction. I can certainly see me returning to Choi's work in the future. Yes, it did drag a couple of times, and I did find myself occasionally skimming through the chapters centred on Serk, but this was a book that I had no problem coming back to, never wanted to do anything but read through to the end, and was glad to have read when I got there - which is more than can be said for more than one recent novel. Is it a Booker winner? I wouldn't object if it did, far from it, but I can't see it: it's too straightforward a story, and those don't seem to have won much lately. Indeed, amongst those shortlisters I've read to date, it almost feels to be something of an anomaly.

55. Within the Walls by Giorgio Bassani ****
Read during a visit to Ferrara, and as an introduction to the author's Novel of Ferrara sequence. Short stories are rarely my choice, normally being read as a book group read or for another reason, but these proved highly evocative and tied in beautifully with my visit: it was an almost surreal experience being able to walk (and run!) the very streets written about almost immediately after reading of them. The author's writing is highly atmospheric, and are rather more in the vein of character studies than full-blown stories, highlighting both individuals and their relationships within the context of the time and the city. They certainly brought the city to life for me - and I will definitely be carrying on with the series. Indeed, I now (soon after returning home) have a hardback copy of The Novel - the US edition with a far more interesting, attractive, cover than the dull as ditchwater UK version!

So, Flesh won the Booker. I can't say I'm surprised: as I've said above, I've felt so out of synch with this year's judges that this was probably inevitable. What has surprised me is the widespread acclaim for the book, with it being quite a few people's favourites on line. But it's been interesting that, when talking to others in my face to face book groups, and even to a couple of local book sellers (both of whom were hoping it didn't win!), none have rated it more than 'alright', and most positively disliked this. Certainly, there's been absolutely zero enthusiasm, unlike last year (even if most people expected James to win). Odd.
In the longer term, I don't think I'll bother trying to read the shortlist again - it's too short a time and there's too high a proportion of books I'm left wishing I hadn't spent all that time on. I think next year, I'll start with the longlist, and use it as a recommendations list to cherry pick from. I'd have certainly read both the Miller and the Desai by now, and a couple of others I'm looking forward to. Of the three shortlisters I didn't rate, I don't think I'd have actually chosen to read any of them, and am not particularly glad to have done so. If anything, I seem nowadays to be more interested in the sort of books that the International Booker and the Women's Prize turn up.
As for the livestream - what a disaster.

56. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan ***
Read for one of my book groups, I had been looking forward to this for some time. In the event, it proved to be a surprisingly disappointing read, perhaps a victim of too much expectation. The first chapter promised much, but it then seemed to fall apart somewhat, the butterfly wing effect being distinctly unoriginal. I kept thinking 'So what? Life IS like that and you don't have to keep beating me over the head with the same idea ad nauseam'. The whole construct felt rather artificial. It didn't help that the book didn't seem to be able to make up its mind whether it wanted to be fiction or non-fiction: it didn't surprise me to learn that the author apparently wanted to submit it to the Booker, but the publishers decided it wasn't sufficiently fiction....
By far and away the best sections were the straight memoir - recollecting his father, the near-death canoeing accident, and it was good to end with that, leaving me far more satisfied at the end than I had been for much of the rest of this book.

>134 Willoyd: thanks so much for this review Will. I was thinking of buying this book, but for some reason I was hesitant.. it seemed like I wasn’t going to like it, but I couldn’t work out why. So I have to thank you because no way will I buy the book now?.

>135 kjuliff:
It was odd. Q7 has had loads of rave reviews, and we all expected to really enjoy it - I was positively looking forward to it. Quite a few did, but nobody was wowed in the same way as the reviews, and a fair number had real issues with it. I was quite surprised.

>136 Willoyd: I too was quite surprised. I had been waiting for Question 7 to come out, after reading about it well before publication, expecting something out of the ordinary. Then . I think what happened was that I read a negative review and somehow found out more about it.

AdmittedlyI have not enjoyed everything written by Flanagan, but those that I have enjoyed, I’ve enjoyed immensely.

It’s still on my wishlist but I will try to remember to take it off.

57. Looking After Your Books by Francesca Galligan ***
Slim little volume published by the Bodleian Library, and written by one of their rare book librarians. Dipping into this, I thought this was going to be full of fascinating nuggets and useful information. To some extent it was, but all too often it was just too generalised and vague, and at the end, it not taking up much time at all, I was left with a vague sense of disappointment. It did what it says on the tin, but I had hoped and expected, rightly or wrongly, for something rather more.
Interestingly she is a great fan of inscriptions, marks of ownership etc. I've always been wary of these, but as I've got older, I've enjoyed them more, even if they might reduce the value. In fact, that's perhaps part of this latter day appeal!

58. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant ******
I read this a few years ago, long enough ago for plot details to have receded from memory. What was left was primarily a feeling of pleasure - I had enjoyed this! But then, I do with most Dunant. So, when we stayed in Ferrara as part of our autumn interrailing trip to northern Italy and points in between, this seemed a no-brainer for a reread. I actually started this whilst we were in the city itself, so had the chance to visit the convent the book's location is based on - well, at least the outside, as it was closed to visitors whilst we were there. Never mind, this was still very much worth it, and there was still something special about actually being there! Dunant evokes both period (16th century) and place superbly. Having been to a couple of talks by her on Renaissance and Reformation Italy, she really knows her subject. Her characters are roundly drawn and eminently believable. Hers is the sort of writing I can just immerse myself in. This is simply great story telling, whilst at the same time providing great insight into a world that is about as alien to someone like me as it could possibly be (16th century, female only, highly religious, enclosed/isolated etc). I loved it. Interestingly, I find I've kicked this up a couple of grades since my last read - I wonder if that is the result of having visited for myself. I'll be soon on to Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait, also set in Ferrara, so it'll be interesting to see if that is similarly affected (and then on to the next Giorgio Bassani - same again!).

>139 Willoyd: Liking the sound of this. However, I have had difficulty persuading myself to read anything by Dunant after watching her on late night television introducing the director Robert Lepage. After gushing on about him for sometime, she then introduced him using the English pronunciation of his name, not the French. So much for that research effort!

>139 Willoyd: I have yet to read any Sarah Dunant but your review has piqued my interest. I have read the Marriage Portrait but was surprisingly disappointed as I’ve read other books by O’Fareell and enjoyed them.

>139 Willoyd: I think I must pick Sarah Dunant as one of my D-focus authors for 2026.

>140 SassyLassy:
Well we don't say 'Paree' either! No worse than the French calling London 'Londres'! (I jest!).
I remember reading somewhere that she is fluent in several languages, including French, not surprising given her mother was French, so suspect there was an underlying reason if that was a mistake. Was that on a BBC programme? If so, she was probably relying on the BBC's research - they are usually assiduous at checking up on name pronuncations, but do occasionally get it wrong.

59. Helm by Sarah Hall ****** (F)
My first experience of Sarah Hall's work, and what a revelation. One of those rare occasions where the book actually lives up to the blurb and the quotes!

Helm is the only named wind in the UK, the Fohn wind that comes off the Pennines over Cross Fell into the Eden Valley. It's a part of the world I know well, even though I've not actually experienced the wind itself. That knowledge may make me somewhat biased - knowing the setting always adds to the enjoyment - but I found myself totally engaged from line 1, and have spent the last week savouring pretty much every one of them. It's structure is one that doesn't always work with me, a series of interwoven narratives spread across human history from the Neolithic to the modern day. It doesn't always work because all too often I get really interested in one, and keep wanting to jump forward to continue, but here I positively enjoyed the swapping backwards and forwards, moving between 'episodes'. Some of the stories only last for one or two, others last from start to finish. They all, however, have their own distinctive voices and focus on our relationship with Helm, presented as a near sentient being (with it's own distinctive voice) in its own right.

And that to me is the point of this novel: our connectedness, or otherwise, with nature, with the world we live in, and how we live in that world. There is plot - each thread has its own story to tell, some more dramatic than others - but the traditional idea of 'plot' is not central. Helm's multifarious influence is, and we ignore it at our peril.

This could therefore have been quite a depressing book, but it is anything but. Helm is certainly not 'immortal', and there is a degree of melancholia in that - but for me this is in many ways the most uplifting book I've read this year, and such a welcome contrast to some of the dreary, even tawdry, fiction I've encountered recently (it's been looking up in the last 2 books though!). Certainly my favourite fiction of the year to date. I was interested to see that Helm was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize - which intrigues me as, browsing this and past years, there are so many titles I barely recognise, if at all. The books that I do know suggest that these are lists that could well be worth exploring (perhaps starting with this year's winner?) In the meantime this is the first book this year that goes straight on to my favourites list.

BTW, I absolutely loved the cover (the UK version -the US one looks relatively, and surprisingly, disappointing).

>136 Willoyd: i’ve been waiting forever for Tim Winton’s Juice to come out in America. I’m hoping I’m not disappointed. I remember putting both. Juice and Question 7 in my wish list about the same time. I’m hoping that Winton doesn’t disappoint.. is Juice available in the UK?

>145 kjuliff: Yes - it came out in July. Views here are generally positive.

>144 Willoyd: also just longlisted on the Gordon Burn prize. Encouraging review. I’ve been hearing great things about Helm from several different places.

>143 Willoyd: It was BBC. I think I was just shocked, as having followed Lepage for several years before that, I had never heard him referred to that way, and never have since, whether on an English language network or French. A person's name is such a part of their identity that being introduced as someone completely different must have been a shock to him too. He did look somewhat surprised.

That's an interesting point about how place names are pronounced. Around here, I try to go with the local pronunciation, although that sometimes requires a stretch of the imagination. Fauxbourg Road is "Foxburg", Port Mouton is "Port Muttoon". There are two towns I know of called Souris. One uses the French pronunciation, the other an English version. You just have to know where you are!
What do you do when travelling?

>144 Willoyd: enjoyed your encouraging review.

>148 SassyLassy:
With personal names, I agree, as the named person' would say it (as close as I can). For place names it's a balancing act between language I'm speaking and language name is from. Tend to favour the former. Seems silly saying Paree when speaking English, just as wouldn't expect or say London when speaking French.

English place names are rife with odd pronunciations anyway even without worrying about language!

Wonderful reviews of Sacred Hearts and Helm. Your enthusiasm is contagious. For some reason I had Sarah Dunant confused with Anita Diamant. If you had asked me an hour ago, I would have said I had read something by Dunant, but that's not the case.

>151 labfs39:
LOL! I've done that before too! I've just bought Dunant's latest - a while since her last, I wondered if she had retired. If you fancy trying her writing, I would recommend Sacred Hearts or In the Company of the Courtesan for her historical side, and really any of the Hannah Wolfes for a British female Marlowe-ish crime series. Her psycho-thrillers are more of an acquired taste and attracted controversy for her depiction of rape in one of them Transgressions. I found them powerful but quite demanding.

I haven't read Diamant so can't compare!

Thank you for your kind words: nice to be able to enthuse after a string of not so greats! Good to say that I'm currently enjoying The Land in Winter rather more than the rest of the Booker shortlist read so far.

60. The Habsburg Empire by Martyn Rady ****
One of Oxford's excellent Very Short Introduction series, read as background to a recent holidays in Vienna and North East Italy. We studied this as part of the European History module of my A-Level History, but that is more years ago than I like to remember, and needed refreshing and broadening out to the full length of this extraordinary families time in power. I'm intending to read up more, but this was a very useful primer. I'm a fair fan of the VSI series, which usually does exactly what it says on the tin, so rarely exceeds more than 3 stars, but Rady was particularly lucid in its narrative, so warrants a slightly higher rating. I certainly galloped through this. Obviously it misses out much, but as a preliminary overview it was exactly what I wanted, although I was glad I did have some background. I plan to move on to Rady's rather fuller The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power early next year - it's already sitting waiting on my shelves!

61. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller G *****
Read for one of my reading groups, and the fifth book in my Booker shortlist read. OK, I know the Booker has been and gone, but I was never going to get through all 6 in the time, so left this as one of the two postponed; I also wanted to go the group meeting with this fresh in mind. And things are improving, this being the second that has ranked something better than just ordinary (or worse) in my books.

Set in the brutal winter of 1962-3 (I can just about remember it!), two neighbouring couples are at parallel stages of their marriages, with their first child expected in the New Year. They are also at critical stages in different senses too - one husband is having an affair, the other is struggling to make their farming business work. Although of different social circles (and classes - this the early, post-war, 1960s after all), their lives become interlinked. The meteorological onslaught adds to the stresses and the strains begin to show.

As is Miller's wont, the writing is quite understated. There is a matter of factness that belies the depth. Sentences are short, conjunctions fewer than one would expect. This creates its own rhythms, which add to the hypnotic effect of the writing. After the opening chapter, the perspective swaps between the four main characters, with inner monologue almost to the level of stream of consciousness at times. Not quite, but it has a similar effect. There is rarely (if any) high drama in the Miller books I've read, being built on an accumulation of smaller details and moments, they always seem to make an impact, even if one doesn't realise it a the time - they are books that work their way under the skin - at least they do mine!

I also found myself immersed in the period. This is certainly a relatively long time away (particularly for younger readers!), but it's still within the memories of many; it is either way oh so different. Everybody smokes, including the pregnant mothers, who also drink; the social order is rigidly structured and cringingly patriarchal, memories of WWII are fresh in the mind. Scenes in shops, on the train and elsewhere reaked of this era - it certainly brought memories (even if just as a young child) flooding back.

However, I can see why this didn't win the Booker. In fact, I'd be mildly surprised if it had. This is particularly so given the others I've read that made the shortlist, which are all bigger, showier, more obvious. This is, as Miller always is, subtler, more restrained, the sort of book and writer liable to slide under the radar. Stiletto vs sledgehammers. I don't think it's his best either, although it's up there (for me, of the ones I've read, that would be Pure and Now We Shall Be Entirely Free). But, in terms of the shortlist, it's proved by far and away the best read (I'd have looked to Choi to win though). But, I've yet to read Kiran Desai; that'll come early next year.

>153 Willoyd: two interesting entries. But of course I'm more interested in your lovely review of The Land in Winter. I love what you have to say. I think it’s structurally nearly perfect.

>154 dchaikin:
Wow. Thank you!

>153 Willoyd: What an enticing review! I’d more or less forgotten this year’s Booker. The Land in Winter was one of the books not available in the United States in time for the announcements. so I hadn’t even looked into reading it. Your review has inspired me. Thank you..

>153 Willoyd: Interesting to read your review. I was 12 at the time of that winter when even in London we thought the snow and ice would never go away. Brought back memories and so I might be tempted to read this.

>157 baswood: how interesting! Another Booker book takes place in roughly 1962 England, Seascraper. It’s a warm wonderful little book. But it doesn’t touch on that unusual winter. (It takes place along the west coast a little north of Liverpool)

62. Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean **
"A beautiful homage to the art of reading". Hmm. Not really. French whimsy along the lines of Antoine Laurain, and I wasn't struck with his books. Centred on Marie-Constance, a young married (yes, that's important) woman trying to set up a business as a reader, who develops an almost inevitably eccentric clientele. All too obviously written by a man (would a woman be so breast obsessed?), and feeling dated (written in 1988, but rather 70s-ish). I suspect this would make a better film, and it was made into one (La Lectrice - the orginal French title of the book), but as a book, this didn't work for me.

63. Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan ****
My book for Indonesia in Reading the World project. The story of two interlinked families. A shocking, apparently inexplicable event happens in the opening pages. Gradually we find out why it happened. It's a dramatic, really lively promising start, with an interesiing touch of magical realism. The book never loses its interest or pace, but whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, I was a mite diappointed that the magical aspect was left rather undeveloped. Equally, the chronology, deliberately blurred, for me just edged into the unnecessarily convoluted. But these are minor nitpicks - this was a genuinely good read, which I rattled through in barely a day!

It's the busy season, not just festively but also reading-wise. December is always my busiest book month of the year, and this year has got off to the sort of start that suggests it might be again. Reviews are likely to be short, perhaps even only a couple of sentences - I just can't keep up otherwise, especially as I tend to focus on the shorter end of the novel spectrum! I just can't concentrate on a big book at this time of year.

64. The Wall Jumper by Peter Schneider ****
This is a novel, but it reads as reportage: the narrator travelling back and forth across the Berlin Wall collecting stories of 'wall jumpers', people who in one way and another manage to cross east to west, and reflecting on differences in viewpoints learned through growing up in such different cultures. It's particularly interesting given the ongoing issues with the merging of the two Germanys: almost 45 years on, this is still a highly relevant book.

65. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal *****
I've read this a couple of times before, this was the book for Czechia in my Round the World project, but having just seen the film (again - I saw this as part of the film club at school back in the 1970s), I wanted to compare book and film more closely. In spirit and in general terms, very closely matched, and several incidents are transferred almost verbatim, but the sequencing is slightly different, which does make for surprisingly different stories. The main protagonist is a railway 'apprentice' in a small regional station during WW2, very proud of his position, but struggling with life, being a frustrated virgin and depressed enough to have attempted suicide. In barely 80 pages of concise but vivid prose, the author tells the story of his efforts to make something of himself, to prove that he is a 'real man'. There is much humour, but equally pathos. A quick, but engaging read that has grown on me with each reading.

>162 Willoyd: I love Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude, and Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age was good too.

>163 labfs39:
Must try those. Thanks for the pointers.

66. Department of Speculation by Jenny Offil *****
A reread from 2023. The story of a marriage told in a series of fragmentary paragraphs, treading a fine line between desolation and sharp humour. Nobody is named, and when the marriage struggles (this is a novel after all!) the writer moves from first to third person, presumably to try and create a sense of distance/alienation. it does! There are some wonderful moments of insight, particularly from a parental perspective, which (even though I'm male and never experienced motherhood) I could strongly relate to! I have to admit there are sections which I didn't fully understand, or indeed even follow, but the writing carried me through these. All in all, beautifully observed and beautifully written.

67. Jane Austen, A Brief Life by Fional Stafford *****
Both a brief account, and an all too brief life. What would she have achieved if she'd lived a fully three score and ten? Read to mark Jane Austen's 250th birthday. This was an illuminating and eminently readable biography (almost unputdownable!), focusing mainly on her writing development, and providing a useful framework on which one can then hang more detailed biographies such as Claire Tomalin's. It also made we want to read all Austen's novels again! Perhaps not immediately, but certainly a change of plan, and will move on to her last novel, Persuasion, the only one that I've read just the once. Perhaps the others in the new year.

>162 Willoyd: & >163 labfs39: The Hrabel I've read is I Served the King of England, which I remember being very good. I should read more of his work.

>166 rocketjk: And that was the one I didn't like, lol

>167 labfs39: >166 rocketjk:
I'll have to try it and see which side of the fence I fall!

68. Persuasion by Jane Austen ******
Read as a follow up to Fiona Stafford's biography. It's the only one of the big six that I've read just the once, at which time it wasn't one of my favourites (although I have loved them all, with perhaps Northanger Abbey being the only one rated below six stars).And it still doesn't quite mix it with Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, but it's not far off, and Anne Elliot is definitely one of the great 'heroines'. I'm not quite sure why, but it could be something to do with the overcomplex genealogy perhaps, or the more straightforward romantic plotting. There's no doubting though the glorious Austen writing or her needle sharp character development. It was, for this unashamed Austen fan, a wonderful wallow, and I could have just started it all over again straightaway. I must read the others again in the New Year. (And I'm going to watch the BBC adaptation too, currently available on I-Player).

69. L'Etranger by Albert Camus ****
I have read this once before, but only as a studied text for French Literature AS-Level, way back in the mid-70s. Needless to say, I barely remember it other than being a tedious translation effort. It's long overdue another go (particularly after reading and enjoying La Peste a couple of years ago), and as The Meursault Investigation seems to be a good choice for Algeria in Reading the World, now seems as good a time as any! So...it's easy to see why it's a classic. It's good, very good. It's seen as an examination of Absurdist philosophy, and I get that. The satire on Frenh justice in part II (or is that 'justice' in general?) is vicious. To me, however, what came over much more strongly, was Meursault's autism. This was the grim, realist, side to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (and no, I'm not compariing them as literature, there is no comparison). I was fairly amazed that I'd never heard this before as it seemed screamingly obvious, so was relieved to find a note about just this right at the end of the book's Wikipedia entry that showed that this has been recognised (I'd begun to doubt myself!).
But I can't say I was wowed. For me this is a book more to be admired and respected than enthused about (in contrast to, for instance, La Peste) I found it an interesting read certainly , but I never felt it reached far beyond simply doing what it says on the tin, the raison d'etre always more important than the novel itself. Animal Farm, amongst a number of other classics, had the same effect on me. But I am intrigued to read the Daoud take now!

Love seeing the Austen love. I failed to celebrate her birthday properly. Glad you held up your end. Persuasion is one of the only two Austen’s I’ve read, although i completely adore it. Interesting on Camus. Classic after a classic.

>169 dchaikin:
Everybody has there own personal favourite, of course, and mine is probably S&S, but when it comes to 'greatness', I find it hard to look beyond Emma. P&P is probably the most popular, and Lizzie Bennett is one amazing heroine (perhaps the GOAT?), but there's a bite to Emma that is, for me, lacking in P&P, that takes it that bit further. There is no doubting in my mind that the Andrew Davis P&P is one of the greatest TV dramas ever made, but then Ang Lee's S&S is one of my top 3 all-time favourite films. The BBC also did a brilliant Emma, but I also loved the 2020 film, which got that 'bite' pitch perfect for me. The other favourite Austen adaptation is Love and Friendship, perhaps the most misnamed film ever, not just because it's anything but that in the film (!), but because it's actually based on Lady Susan, and not Love and Freindship (sic - Austen's spelling)! I can feel a bit of a binge-fest coming on!
Sorry, any excuse to rave!

>170 Willoyd: wow. Love it! Love your take on Emma.

>168 Willoyd: Two of my all-time favourite books

70. The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud *****
Read as both a follow-up to L'Etranger and as the book for Algeria in Reading the World. This was a fascinating counterpoint to Camus's classic. I was glad to read it immediately afterwards as I might well have missed some (many?) of the points of contact otherwise, and I really enjoyed picking these up! Overall. I was surprised, if anything, to enjoy this more than the original. This felt more human and more deeply rooted in place. There was a colour that Camus's lacked. All of this was obviously deliberate on the part of both authors, but the later book did chime more with me (although it of course needed the earlier work to build on!). Perhaps it would be fairer to say, that they worked really well as a pair, both contrasting and complimenting each other; a case of the sum being distinctly greater than the parts.

71. Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood ***
A profile of a largely dysfunctional fictional Anglo-Irish family, whose misanthropic matriarch is the ubiquitous GGW. Shortlisted for the Booker even if barely long enough to count as a novel, this is widely regarded as a hidden classic.
As a character, or family, portrait, this works. As a collection of scene setters, this works. But as a novel it barely gets off the ground, and the continual misery, whilst classically gothic, just felt unrelenting and pointless. There is humour, but it's of that black sort that just doesn't grab me; funny this is not in spite of what some reviews claim. After a promising first quarter, nothing really developed (other than the misery), and I wasl eft well before the end with a growing sense of ennui, however good the quality of the writing.

72. The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett ****
A fun, light piece of Christmas froth that suited me perfectly for the time and place. Rattled through this in a couple of hours on Christmas Eve, and even found myself giggling more than once (not a common reading occurrence). Great literature this was not, but who cares?

>173 Willoyd: Just looked back on my review of The Mersault Investigation and noted that I found it clever, witty, modern and ultimately vacuous -- mmm perhaps I need to give it another chance.

>176 baswood:
One person's vacuous is another person's depth?! I think it may well have benefited from the juxtaposition with L'Etranger. Not from being better, but because it was easier to see the context and links. It certainly helped me appreciate Camus's book more than I had, so maybe it also helped me enjoy the Daoud more too

>173 Willoyd: I enjoyed this book too although many people found it offensive. I read.Camus’s classic in my 20s and I read Daoud’s counterpoint a few years ago. So there was a big gap in between the two reads.

I thought we were both good but of course Camus’ was a masterpiece.

CurrentlyI am very ill havingrecently returned from a hospital stay. I am unable to read because I can’t concentrate. I’m not in pain, but my body and mental stamina have taken a bit of a beating. Interestingly, I decided to read Camus’ The Plague even though I’ve read it many times before.

I have many books waiting to be read, but I just can’t get into them. I tried some crime stuff, but it just seemed trite.

I have barely been on LT. but was stuck by your review.

>178 kjuliff:
I am so glad it proved of interest, especially given the circumstances. I hope things start looking up for you soon. I wonder if The Plague worked because you had read it before? There are times when I simply need to read something familar. BTW, all too much crime fiction has the same effect on me!

73. The Nativity by Geza Vermes ****
A book that I've read before, but of which I could remember little. Seemed a good choice for Christmas! This is an examination of the Nativity story as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which also led to me rereading the opening chapters of all 4 of the gospels. I hadn't realised quite how different the two accounts were (almost incompatibly so), and how much the traditional Nativity story was a merging of the 'best bits' of the two accounts. And 'story' looks to be the right word, with so much likely to bear little relationship with what actually happened. Given the issues of 'fake news' today, this book proved to be surprisingly topical. A fascinating read.

74. Seascraper by Benjamin Wood ******
Longlisted for the Booker. I'm completely bemused why I'm writing that - at the very least this should have been shortlisted, and it certainly knocked the winner itself out of the park; we're not even talking the same league, although admittedly that wasn't difficult IMO. Deeply atmospheric - the scenes on the fogbound sands were utterly gripping - wreaking of time and place, and with such superbly rounded characters, this was a genuine one sitting read. Just glad it was Boxing Day and had the time to do just that, as this was that rare beast, a book that just kept getting better and better.

>180 Willoyd: interesting review
>181 Willoyd: of course, I love seeing this. Seascraper was so moving and endearing and well done.

75. Through a Glass, Darkly by Helen McCloy ****
One of Penguin's 'Mermaid' series, nicely produced paperbacks (with those lovely French flaps!) of "unjustly neglected works of popular mid- to late-twentieth century fiction". This was originally the eighth in the author's Dr Basil Willing (psychiatrist) series of mysteries, and has a distinctly gothic feel to it. An intriguing premise, nicely set up (I was certainly hooked when browsing!), that sustains the interest and pace for most of the way. I found the last 10% or so slightly unsatisfying although it would make for a good book group discussion, but this was thoroughly enjoyable nevertheless, and I wouldn't be averse to reading more from Helen McCloy.

76. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy ****
Read for Louisana in my Tour of the USA. This was nothing like what I expected, even after reading the blurb. Far more philosophical, far looser plotted. Also, in many respects, a far harder read. Indeed, in places this felt almost incoherent, shooting off and coming in from tangents. Perhaps if I was more familiar with the place and vocabulary, some of this would have made more sense. However, the descriptive writing, both of character and place, was superb, and there was enough that made sense to anchor me sufficiently and keep reading! By the end, I felt I was getting sufficient grip, but how we got there, I wasn't too sure about!

The two final books of the year

77. Blue Meridian by Peter Matthiessen ****
An account of the filming of the film Blue Water White Death. The writing is excellent, but the book feels rather of its time (early 1970s), particularly where it comes to conservation standards. It takes a long time to develop as well, the Great Whites not appearing until almost the end, but that was plenty of interest on the way, especially given the historical insight - we seem to have come a long way since in more ways than one.

78. Baho! by Roland Rugero (transl Christopher Schaeffer) ****
My book for Burundi in Reading the World. Indeed, this is apparently the first book from Burundi to be translated into English. It's a very slim volume, but packs a lot of energy, colour and social discussion into those pages. The story centres around a mute boy who, trying to ask a young girl where he can go to the toilet having drunk an excess of water, is misunderstood and thought to be trying to carry out the latest in a series of rapes. Chaos lets loose, and Nyamuragi, the boy, just seems to dig himself ever deeper into this hole. I galloped through this in just one sitting, perhaps too quickly so, and I probably need to return to it soon to give it a bit more time, but this proved to be a compulsive, thought-provoking, and insightful read - the African novels in this project are definitely one of the highlights!

>181 Willoyd: I agree about Seascraper. An extraordinary book.

I also have just two reviews to finish up the year, and then we're off to next year's Club Read.

Review of 2025

+ 78 books and almost 19800 pages read this year, both highest figures since 2021 - starting to pick back up towards 2017-21 levels. The average of 256 pages per book is pretty typical of years since lockdown. For 2019 and earlier that figure was around 300 pages, and reflects the fewer longer books I've actually been reading since then.

+ In 2024, I did manage to read substantial doorstoppers (including Ulysses and Daniel Deronda). This year I intended to build on that, but that hasn't really happened. Only 3 books over 500 pages, the longest of which (The Scapegoat, 648pp) was the first book of the year!

+ Quality-wise a fairly typical year, although the percentage of 6-star plus books was marginally the highest since 2011, the last time it topped 12%. Two books added to the all-time favourites list, Helm and The Undercurrents. No new authors added, but with 2 books at 6-stars, I can't see it long before I add Claudia Pineiro (I need to have read three books from an author before they can be added).

+ This year was more fiction orientated than ever before - the first time over 75% (60 books). Since 2017 it's been around 2:1, and prior to 2017 almost 50:50 on occasions. Not sure why, but one reason might be that I've been more involved in book groups, forums etc, and they are all more fiction orientated.

+ 2024 was only the second year I had read more female authors than male, even if only just (51%!)! This year, my reading has been far more female author focused than ever before, at 58%. That's not something I aimed to do, so not sure if there's any particular reason. Perhaps it ties in with my reading fewer non-fiction?

+ In 2024 barely 10% of my reading consisted of library books, and I aimed to hit 20% this year. Well, I didn't, but at least it went up a bit, reaching 15% (12 books) this year.

+ At the beginning of 2024 my TBR list sat at 1322. It currently sits at 1347, boosted by some fairly hefty buying in the sales in the last week of the year. So much for reducing it! Too much buying - simple answer. That needs to come down in 2026.

+ 7 books read in my Tour of the USA, a big improvement over last year (just 3), halving the number to complete. 44 down and 7 to go - a real drive to finish this in 2026. I started this at the end of 2016, so it would be nice to finish within the decade. I initially estimated it would take around 3-4 years to complete (English Counties took just two and a half years!).

+ 8 books read for Reading the World – about half the previous 3 years (16-18-16) - the overall total thus at 58 out of 200. I've been accumulating books to read, but allowing other distractions to get in the way of actually reading them. Not this year!

+ Classics: a bit of an undercooked year. Just the one Zola, and otherwise mainly just a couple of rereads plus a couple of slimlines (Camus, Bassani).

+ Book Pile: aimed for 10, read 7. Reconstructing it slightly for 2026 to see if I can up that number.

+ As ever, some great and not so great reads with my 2 book clubs. They will, inevitably, be more hit and miss for me than my own choices. Thus, for the 10th year in a row that includes my 'Duffer of the Year', but also includes my runner-up in the Fiction category. Having said that, some of the 'worst' books made for some of the best discussions, so often were worth the effort anyway!

+ One major distraction this year was trying to read the full Booker shortlist, just at a time of year when my reading was likely to dip anyway (I read fewer books when on holiday, not the greater number that most people seem to!). This was not a success: there were too many disappointing, the worst was the winner, and they just took up too much time proportionally. Definitely not 'value for money'. There were some great books on the short/longlist, but no surprises, so next year I'm going to cherry pick and not let the Booker judges decide my reading for me (book group choices are enough on that front for me!). Other lists look much more interesting too, not least the International Booker.

+ I did set a few goals for 2025 last year, but they were largely (and deliberately) kept fairly vague. Perhaps as a result, I barely achieved any. These were:

1. Reduce my TBR list: actually went up slightly to 1347.
2. A major focus on finishing the States tour off: with 14 to go at the time, that was perhaps a bit too optimistic, but am glad to have halved that figure.
3. Increase non-fiction to 40%, and some more chunky ones: almost exactly the opposite, as down to an all-time low of 24% this year!
4. More natural history reading: well, I read a couple, which was a couple more than in 2024. Not a great achievement.
5. More historical biography: four in 2025 as against 1 in 2024, so, yes, achieved that.
6. More use of library, targetting 20%: reached 15%, an improvement on 2024, but not as much as aimed for.
7. Make better progress with Book Pile (at least 10): it was better, but didn't hit the target, reading 7.
8. Otherwise keep on enjoying, especially Reading the World, associated books in translation and smaller publishers: RTW books were down (partly down to other distractions), but again read just over 20 books in translation (about a quarter), so happy with that.

So, overall I will set some up some specific aims for 2026, as they do seem to give my reading more focus and structure. I will list those at the start of my 2026 Club Read thread. In the meantime, I have for some years indulged myself in one more list, my end of year 'awards'. These follow in the next post. Otherwise, on to 2026!

Awards for 2025
I've been doing these awards for the past decade or so - I find them fun to look back on! They are based simply on the books I've read in the past year. In 2025, they totalled 79 in number, a kick back up after 2 slower years. Of these 60 were fiction, 19 non-fiction, a 76%-24% split, the biggest gap I've got on record - not sure why. There was no shortage of quality in those non-fiction reads though! Male:female proportions were 42:58, only the third year since I started recording where female writers outnumber the men, and again the biggest gap. An unusual year.

Fiction Book of the Year
Winner: Helm by Sarah Hall
Runner-up: A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro
Shortlist: The Land In Winter by Andrew Miller, Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee, Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrienne Yabouza

Non-fiction Book of the Year
Winner: The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell
Runner-up: A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
Shortlist: Borderlines by Lewis Baston, The Burgundians by Bart van Loo, Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

Overall Book of the Year: Helm by Sarah Hall

Duffer of the Year: We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida
Shortlist: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, Flesh by David Szalay, Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean

Biggest Disappointment: Flesh by David Szalay
And, if the Ishida hadn't been so dreadful, this would have won the Duffer category too. Close behind was the other Booker shortlister, Audition by Katie Kitamura. Really made me despair.

Best Reread: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Read for her 250th birthday. So much better than I remember it (and already thought it was good!)

Best Book in Translation: A Little Luck by Claudio Pineiro
Shortlist: Siblings by Brigitte Reimann, A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter, Co-Wives, Co-Widows by Adrianne Yabouza, Money by Emile Zola

Biggest Discovery: Giorgio Bassani
There were several authors I read for the first time who could have been included on this list, not least Sarah Hall! However, althought I only rated his short story collection at 4*, there was enough in there to make me feel that the rest of his 'The Novel of Ferrara' sequence could be something to really look forward to. And there's the added 'discovery' of Ferrara itself whilst on holiday this year!

>188 Willoyd: this post will be invaluable to me, and I’ll be referring to it during the year. I’m particularly interested in A Little Luck by Claudia Piñeiro Elena Knows was one of my favorite books in 2025. Unfortunately it is the only one available in English in audio though many of her untranslated books are.

I’ve read quite a few books on your lists and noticed many by English writers. So I intention to read the fiction books that I’m not yet read. Thank you for your post.

>189 kjuliff:
So pleased it's been helpful. There's obviously a lot of crossover, but I have noticed differences being one of the few British-based readers here. I certainly find the insights into American (in the word's broadest sense) reading really useful myself, so am delighted that my slightly different slant is also useful! Having said that, I'm impressed in the range of reading here too, as I'm picking up more and more global reading (which is great for my Reading the World project!). I've certainly found myself having to order an increasing number of books from the States that aren't available here because of recommendations in this group!

Elena Knows was one of my favourite books from 2024 - in fact my 'best book in translation', so that's 2 years in a row for Pineiro. I've just promoted it to my Favourites list too.

>190 Willoyd: yes, as I wrote 2026 Introductions, “ CR is a great group and though American-based it welcomes readers throughout the world.” My LT experience has certainly improved my reading in terms of expanding it to literature from America and Eastern Europe in particular. I have also discovered a number of American books that I had been unaware of, who had passed over.

I love your review and awards posts. So much good reading. I'm so glad you joined CR. Look forward to following along again next year.

>192 labfs39: Thank you. That is so lovely to hear. On to 2026!