by Richard Powers
A wacky novel even by Powers's standard. It involves a 9 year old boy who has lost his mother and is brought up by his astrobiologist father. They spend evenings travelling to far away planets and days grappling with the loss of Ally (the wife/mother). I enjoyed it but not as much as The Overstory. 7/10
by John Le Carre
The first novel involving George Smiley which involves a number of murders involving the East Germans. What looks like a straightforward suicide is suspicious to Smiley who gets drawn into a typically complicated plot. Great stuff! 9/10
by Georges Simenon
by Anuk Arudpragasam
An interesting book that could easily win this years booker.
At one level nothing much happens. The carer of a grandmother in Colombo dies in the North of the country and the grandson goes to the funeral.
This simple premise is the canvas for some beautiful writing about the process of growing old and the working of memory. It is also an examination of how a country deals with civil war. In a particularly memorable section he writes about a documentary about two young women who are part of an elite suicide squad in the tamil tigers. This real documentary (that I have subsequently watched) is as haunting in his description as it is in the actual watching.
The only parts of the book that did not work for me is where the protagonist examines an old brief love affair he had. So what I felt. As for the rest 9/10
