My Days of Adventure

by E A Vizetelly
This is a book written by a well known journalist and publisher of Zola in 1913 and relating his experiences of being in France at the time of the franco-prussian war in 1870-1. The language is rather dated and I found some of the military detail a little too detailed but the book was very interesting when describing the situation and atmosphere in Paris as the war progressed. 6/10

Fair Play

by Tove Jansson
This is a short novel that I found totally absorbing about two women living together on an island. Nothing much happens but you are drawn in to their story in a gentle way that made you want to sit down and watch a film with them. 8/10

Any Human Heart

by William Boyd
This life of Logan Mountstuart covers the twentieth century but is less a recap of the history of this period as it is a story of the human condition. The ageing process is movingly handled and as with the whole book shines with life affirming humour. Graet book 9/10

Footprints in Paris

by Gillian Tindall
This is a very readable book covering far more than a few streets in Paris.
You can still feel pain and hurt shouting from some pages but a far louder voice is the connection of memories across family histories and physical space. 7/10

The Quickening Maze

by Adam Foulds
This book is about John Clare and Tennyson and the Doctor who treated John Care during his first period of madness. It is written by a poet and the language is in places, beautifully poetic. I enjoyed it although working out the changes in story narrative took some doing at times but added to the enjoyment. 8/10

The Little Stranger

by Sarah Waters
Set in the period just after the second war this book is a strange mix of ghost story, social history, touch of romance and thriller. I felt it got a bit bogged down about half way through but then picked up the pace again. As ever, the writing is beautiful and a joy to read and the ending was as good as it was -for me-unexpected 8/10

The Girl Who Played with Fire

by Stieg Larsson
This has been a very hyped book and is the second in the Millenium trilogy. Much of the hype is driven by the fact we know that this is it as Larsson died soon after completing this trilogy.

This is a thriller that in my view falls into the same camp as The Da Vinci Code. That is it is a highly charged fast moving plot that keeps you up at night just to find out what is going to happen. That said the first 100 pages were dull and floated around recaps of the last book and badly written sketchy details of the characters sexual leanings. However, once the story commences the next 500 pages are non-stop.
The language is not that of a literary masterpiece and I found it grating and a little nausea inducing at times, but putting that aside I enjoy a good easy read like this and will read the final book in the trilogy, which the ending this book definitely makes almost obligatory! 7/10

The Children's Book

by AS Byatt
A long gentle sweep of english artistic middle class history from late 19th century to the end of the first world war. Interwoven with this is a taut story of a large cast of characters and their triumphs and tragedies. This is not a happy book but it is beautifully written and a joy to read 9/10

The Chalk Circle Man

by Fred Vargas
This was the first Adamsberg novel and gives us his quirkiness head on which I loved. Vargas is still my favourite crime writer. 9/10

Me Cheeta

by James Lever
A fictional autobiography this is a very amusing book in places and I think if you knew your cinema history it would have been funnier still. The writing is very good but the story was stretched out for 50 pages too far for me. 6/10

A Darker Domain

by Val McDermid
Good detective yarn but found the language a bit strained at times. Comments such as somebody expertly copying a picture to a pen drive grated. However, good holiday read 5/10

Chourmo

by Jean-Claude Izzo
The second book in the Marseilles trilogy and Montale has left the police force 12 months ago but gets embroiled in a mafia backed murder of a relative and friend. While the crime story is good the attraction of these books is the city of Marselles, the food and the music of Montale and the fishing trips. I enjoyed this second book more than the first and look forward to the final episode 9/10

The Yellow Dog

by Georges Simenon
An early Maigret set in Concarneau. A good story in a great setting. Very evocative of the Breton coast while enjoying Maigret's unorthadox methods 7/10

The Shadow of the Wind

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Set i Barcelona in the middle of the twentieth century this book grew on me as it went along. There were parts at the beginning where I was a little bored and others where the story swept you along.
However, as the book moved along there were some great twists and surprises that made the second part of the book much more enjoyable. 7/10

Netherland

by Joseph O' Neil
For me this was a book about cricket in New York with another story thrown in. The other story did not grab me but the cricketing references were sublime. 7/10

Doctor Pascal

by Emile Zola
The last of the Rougon-Macquart novels. I enjoyed it because it rounded off the series well and because it is autobiographical and because it is set in Provence. You could criticize it for being melodramatic and for the boring exposition of medical theory but I wouldn't. I feel like I have lived the second empire with these characters and I am going to miss them.
The book would have been more difficult if you were not reading it at the end of the series but I am going to score it high for nostalgic reasons if othing else! 8/10

Flight of the Falcon

by Daphne du Maurier
As you would expect this was a good taut thriller but I did find you were always one step ahead of the hero. Set in a fictional university town in Italy it moves at a rapid rate and is definitely a good holiday read. 7/10

Total Chaos

by Jean-Claude Izzo
Set in Marseilles this is a thriller with a flawed hero and the backdrop of a flawed city which makes both attractive. This is the first in a trilogy and I will definitely hunt out the other two episodes. 8/10

Map of Another Town

by MFK Fisher
This picture of Aix en Provence in the late 50's to early 60's is great. She creates maps from her memory which is a great way of remembering places. Having just visited the town it was interesting to compare her map with mine. 8/10

Seeking Whom he may Devour

by Fred Vargas
A wolf, Adamsberg, and a trip way out of Paris but still a great quirky novel. Glass of wine, open fire, feet up, forget reality and enjoy....8/10

The Paris Enigma

by Pablo de Santis

A crime thriller set largely in Paris at the time of the 1900 world fair. I did not enjoy it. There were too many characters who were left without much more than a name and by the end, which I did enjoy, one could easily have lost the will to finish it 3/10

La Debacle or The Downfall

by Emile Zola

The penultimate novel in the Rougon Macquart series and a harrowing account of the last days of the empire, the French defeat at Sedan and the subsequent Paris commune. Gritty stuff but a great novel and covering all the stuff that Zola excels at such as realism, crowds and the baser sides of the human condition. It was great to see Jean Macquart again. 9/10

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

by Muriel Barbery
This book was very funny, witty, sad and all in all the best book I have read during the last year. 9/10

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Steig Larsson
A good thriller with a double story line running through it. Some of the language is pretty naff but it doesn't detract from the excitement. I think I still prefer Fred Vargas. 7/10