by Giuliano da Empoli
A strange book in many ways and supposedly modeled on a real character, Vadim Baranov works as a key advisor to Putin. He uses his background in reality TV to great effect in setting Kremlin goals and political outcomes but eventually he wants out.
The book never quite worked for me but it was apparently turned into a 2025 film which I may have to watch 5/10
by Victor Mallet
Victor Mallet is an FT journalist and makes it clear from the beginning that he is writing with his journalist hat on. That makes this book very readable and it is very current. He looks at how the RN has moved from the fringes of politics in the days of Jean-Marie Le Pen to being the most popular party in France today. He describes how Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella have made themselves and the party so popular, how far left and far right have much in common but also how so much of their policy may not stand up to the realities of government. I found this a very informative and balanced book which is great to read going into the Presidential race next spring. 8/10
by Jon Fosse
This book by a Nobel prize winner is a book I have wanted to read but have been putting off because of it's reputation for being difficult and having no full stops.
I am so glad that I finally got to it. It is the story of Asle, a painter living in the Western part of Norway on the edge of a fjord. He is now in his sixties and over the course of advent he looks back over his life which has all been spent in the same area. He has a neighbour who he sees now and then and they always share an advent meal, and he has a gallery owner who sells his work and puts an annual exhibition at Christmas.
Very little happens but the writing is beautiful-thank you translator Damion Searls- and I felt like I was lowering myself into a nice warm bath every time I picked the book up. It has been my find of the year so far 9/10
by Georges Simenon
A really enjoyable Maigret. A tramp has been attacked and thrown into the Seine but he survives.
Nobody is that interested but Maigret has his suspicions as to the truth and that there may be more to this than meets the eye. He gradually uncovers the story but is unable to do anything about it as nobody wants to talk including the tramp. Great storytelling 9/10
by Jean-Luc Melenchon
Originally published in France in 2023 this English edition was published in 2025.
He highlights the problems the world is facing in terms of climate change, overuse of resources, wealth imbalance, and finds the culprit sitting firmly in the neo-liberal, capitalist system. So far, so good and most of his analysis I could agree with. Where I felt the book gets weaker is regarding solutions. Looking for a common world order, while appealing -and probably the only solution to some of these issues - is too idealistic, and ignores the inbuilt greed humans seem to be born with. I did like his call that we have to start somewhere, so why not do what we can. At least we can go down fighting for what is right! 7/10
by William Boyd
A second novel fearuring Gabriel Dax, a travel writer who inadvertently ends up working for MI6 and the KGB (and subcontracting to the CIA!).
This novel is set largely in Sussex and Guatemala and Berlin. The year is 1963 and JFK is big news. This is probably best described as a spy caper but is a very enjoyable read. Along the way, Gabriel's love life gets more complicated! 8/10
by Georges Simenon
A man turns up at Maigret's house and claims he is planning to kill his wife and her lover who have gradually taken over his house and painting and decorating business. Then he disappears and Maigret senses something is not right. A sad story with an interesting ending 8/10
by Salman Rushdie
A collection of short five short stories, two of which have been published before in the New Yorker, They all deal with ageing and the passage of time in some form or other. My favourite by far was a ghost story called Late. It deals with an author who has been made an honorary fellow of some oxbridge college who wakes up dead one morning. The others were all enjoyable with characteristic humour and satire. I was not so keen on the last story which was about the importance and changing of language. Having just read Julian Barnes it is difficult not to wonder whether this is Rushdie's last book. 7/10
by Julian Barnes
His final book-or so he tells us at the start, but can you trust a novelist?
This book seems part novel, part memoir and reflections on the end of life or at least it's later years, Where one begins and the other ends is hard to tell but this makes it no less enjoyable. His observations are sometimes very funny, other times moving but always(or nearly always) interesting. It was a good read 9/10
by Daniel Defoe
A difficult read in many ways with its racist approach to the depiction of Friday and it's over the top preaching of the protestant world view, not to mention the depiction of slavery, but I was glad to read it. I wouldn't call it a great novel-but seven hundred editions and numerous spin offs would suggest I am wrong-but it was full of adventure. Crusoe is not that likeable but you are desperate to know how he gets out of the hole he has largely dug for himself. An interesting reflection of it's time. 5/10
by Georges Simenon
An unusual murder in a family of "good" people gets Maigret frustrated and having to dig into the family history to understand the case. 7/10
by Jonathan Coe
A very enjoyable read part murder mystery, part piss take of the conservative party and far right as they went through the Liz Truss fiasco. A good holiday read 7/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret is fed up with a change in the judicial organisation which has seen the examining magistrate getting more involved and controlling, so while supposedly investigating some jewellery heists Maigret gets sidetracked by a murder of a burglar he has known for thirty years. 8/10
by Janwillem van de Wetering
Seventh novel in a series I probably started twenty years ago. The main characters are two zany Amsterdam cops called Grijpstra and deGier who are very different but look out for each other and occasionally play music together.
This one involved a murder with no corpse and a corpse with no murder and a tenuous link between the two cases. Very enjoyable 8/10
by Ali Smith
A companion to Gliff which was published last year this book doesn't follow on but playfully references the previous book along the way.
It was an amusing read playing with language and perspectives throughout while still managing to make sensible comments on subjects like war and education.
I didn't really get the ending but rated the book and would probably read again. 8/10
by Rene Karabash
Written by a Bulgarian woman this is an absorbing tale about Bekija(or Matija) who becomes a sworn virgin hours before she was due to be married. This whole set up is alien and governed by the laws of the Kanun.
The voices are all mixed together which can be confusing at times but this adds to the tension as we gradually discover what actually happened on that night in the dairy. I really enjoyed this. 9/10
by Lina Munar Guevara
Set in Columbia, this is a tale narrated by 18 year old Melissa as she looks to graduate and deal with the demons from her adolescent years. Her mother has come to visit her but this is far from straightforward! An interesting book but not altogether my cup of tea. 7/10
by Ford Madox Ford
I am not sure how I came across this book but I am glad that I did.
It tells us the story of Christopher Tietjens and his life before,during and after the first world war. It is also the story of his wife Sylvia who is so obnoxious at times to verge on the unbelievable with out quite falling over. At times the language and classical references left me totally baffled but the style of writing kept me hanging on. Definitely a good read to start the year. 9/10
by Georges Simenon
A retired diplomat is found dead in his apartment and suspicion falls on various old friends, lovers and his housekeeper-the relations between whom are unusual. Maigret gets rather frustrated dealing with them but it was an enjoyable tale and not least because I solved it before Maigret! 8/10
by Colm Toibin
A novella first published in a collection called Mothers and Sons in 2006(?) this is set in the Pyrenees as winter starts to set in. A family that for historic reasons is disliked by the rest of the small isolated village has to come to terms with the mother going missing in a snow storm as she walks out one day having argued with her husband and son regarding her drinking. Sombre and bleak it was a good read which I undertook as storm Goretti battered the south west of England. Very appropriate! 8/10
by Charles Dickens
My Christmas book for this year. Every time I reread a Dickens I enjoy it more I think.
This one was no different as Arthur Clennam returns from China after his father's death, to be confronted with his cold domineering mother and a whole host of intertwined mysteries. One of these, of course, involves our eponymous heroine and her father who is imprisoned in the Marshalsea-a debtors prison.
Full of humour and biting satire this is a long but enjoyable feel good read. 9/10
So, I started the year with a Dickens and as I write this I am reading another one both of which are good festive reads.
The rest of the year has included twelve Maigret's -he is still drinking a lot and still enjoyable.
The Booker list was ok this year with my favourites being The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and from the longlist Endling. I also enjoyed Seascraper.
Elsewhere I read Midnight's Children which I enjoyed and the Magic Mountain followed by the Empusium which was inspired by it.
In terms of my favourite book this year it would have to be shared between The Magic Mountain, Going to the Dogs and The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.
by Roger Martin du Gard
Not a well known author in the UK but winner of the nobel prize for literature in 1937. This book was written in 1910-1913 and is part novel and part musings on the battle between scientific reasoning and religion, in particular the Catholic Church.
It gets a bit bogged down at times but I enjoyed it and could recognise similar battles in myself over the years. The end is left beautifully questioning the reader as to where Jean Barois ended up in his thought process and which side he fell on. 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret is working on a bank hold-up but the story reflects on an earlier case of murder which has now reached court. A husband has to face the truth about his wife as his life unravels in the witness stand. 8/10
by John Banville
Still mulling this one over.
From the outset we know this will not end well as our narrator tells us he is writing to try and explain what happened during his honeymoon in Venice. The author paints an eerie Venice with the accommodation much as I remember a hotel I stayed at on my first visit.
The characters too are constantly shifting so that nobody can be trusted or taken as they first appear. There was so much to love about this book and yet I was not quite sure the ending was right. I can't put my finger on what perplexed me about it. Still an enjoyable read. 8/10
by Salman Rushdie
The novel that probably established, and keeps, Rushdie amongst the list of great living authors.
Saleem is born with one thousand and one others at midnight on Indian independence day. Those that survive all have some unusual power and the book is Saleem's sort of autobiography as well as a potted history of India and Pakistan since independence. It is very absorbing and in places very funny; for me it is the closest I have come to a twentieth century Dickens. The book had me regularly reaching for Wikipedia to check out people and events from history. It is not an easy read but definitely worth keeping going through the 650 pages that make it up. 8/10
by Simone Buchholz
Good to see Chastity Riley again but this book was not great. A serial killer targeting dancers in a nightclub. As you would expect it raced along but didn't really take me along with it 5/10
by Desmond Seward
A life of the last empress of France by a not totally unbiased biographer. He clearly is a fan and has a remote family connection back to the second empire.
That aside, I enjoyed this book and it gives a good introduction to the workings of the second empire and the contradictions it contained. She is painted as a formidable woman but with a love for France that was never wholly accepted by its citizens. The book discusses but reaches no clear conclusion on the thing that drove her. Was she swayed more by her desire to see her son as emperor or by her love for France? 8/10
by Georges Simenon
This story starts brilliantly with a rice pudding being enjoyed by Maigret while dining with his wife at their friend's house. After dinner Maigret starts to reminisce on a previous case which was taken out of his hands by the examining magistrate but about which Maigret always had doubts. A man was accused of killing his wife but he maintains his innocence even as evidence mounts against him. 9/10
by Kuchenga Shenje
A mystery set at the turn of the nineteenth century involving a young woman who is an expert book restorer. As we start the novel she has been thrown out of her home by her father for some unseemly goings on with a young anarchist friend of hers and the rest of the story is about how she makes her way,
Full of twists and turns, highlighting the precarious position of a woman alone at this time, it is a real page turner to the end. I found the writing style a bit laboured at times but enjoyed the tale itself. 7/10
by Katie Kitamura
This novel felt like a product of a creative writing class with a technically clever twist half way through but did not work for me. The narrator is a middle-aged actress, who at the start of the novel is rehearsing for a new play which in the second part is up and running very successfully, but the story is about her personla life with husband and family.
There is a reference in the first half to a phone app which seems incongruous given the timeframe referred to and this may have put me off early on, but while I enjoyed some of the style I did not enjoy this book. 6/10
by Kiran Desai
Slow moving but wonderfully told tale of two young Indians at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, initially living in the US and whom there grandparents and parents try to arrange a marriage for. They both reject this but do eventually meet after 250 pages. The characters are well drawn and the story unfolds. Sonia's early abusive lover-an artist-is the only character it is hard to come into land with but this was a novel that was like a lovely cushion you could relax into 9/10
by William Boyd
A really enjoyable spy caper set in the early 1960's. The characters are brilliantly drawn, although with an annoying habit of always telling us what they are wearing. Le Carre it is not but a page turner it most definitely is 7/10
by Benjamin Wood
The story of Thomas, set in the late fifties in a Northern coastal town, where he plies a thankless trade scraping shellfish with a horse and cart and nets at low tide. His life is interrupted by a film director wanting to employ him. The story plays out over a few days but has implications for longer. It is a short novel but beautifully told. Should have made the shortlist but did not 9/10
by Susan Choi
A story told from the perspectives of four main characters over a period of several decades from the end of the twentieth century to the present. Louisa is found nearly drowned on a beach near her house. Her father, who left the house with her is missing presumed drowned although his body is never found. Her mother is suffering from MS although at this point it has not been fully diagnosed. The story of their lives unfolds over time and through Japan and Korea and America. It is beautifully told and after a slow start it's pace picks up toward a poignant ending 9/10
by Catherine Hewitt
The rags to riches story of a nineteenth century courtesan. The story was really interesting, Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne as she ended up calling herself moved in the highest circles of society and became one of the richest people in Paris. She was clearly single minded and ruthless in the operation of her profession. I did at times feel the author was a frustrated fiction writer but that aside had clearly done a lot of research. 7/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret is thinking about impending retirement and getting grumpy. He has to deal with a young new prosecutor who he does not take to and in the middle of this he has to deal with a murder in a house where nobody wants to talk about what happened. Enjoyable for the grumpy Maigret on show. 8/10
by Maria Reva
A wacky read that I enjoyed immensely. It is set in Ukraine just at the time the Russian invasion is starting in 2022. It involves an endangered snail called Lefty and some young women involved in the mail order bride industry together with some of the would be Western husbands. It does get a little complicated. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me question and wonder. It has the most ambivalent of endings. What more do you want from a novel. I hope it makes the Booker shortlist but it may be a bit too off piste for this. 9/10
by Natasha Brown
A disappointing read. It started with a great plot: a man attacked with a gold bar while squatting in an old farmhouse. He turns out to be the leader of an anti-capitalist group and the assailant is not only a member of the group but also the son of a journalist who is/was sleeping with the owner of the gold bar.
A great start but it all rather fizzled out by the end and seemed more of a surrender to the sorry state we are in than anything else. Perhaps even our writers are getting worn down by our current plight 6/10
by Jonathan Buckley
Set almost entirely at a Greek seaside village/town a British women returns to the same place nine years after her last visit when she came to deal with loss of a parent (death) and a husband(divorce). This time she is dealing with loss again.
The story jumps between the two times and the people she met and interacted with on the first visit. They have moved on, she may not have but she has to deal with the changes. It was a very enjoyable read with the story lapping around you like the ocean. My only regret was the ending and her return to the UK where she discusses with her new partner the plan to turn her notes into a book. It didn't see needed to me but a minor quibble. 8/10
by Ledia Xhoga
An Albanian translator/interpreter living in New York runs into problems when working for a Kosovar who has traumas he is trying to work through. She is forced to face some things in her own life as her lack of appropriate boundaries gets her mixed up in some threatening situations. This was a slow moving book at the start but gathered pace and engaged me more and more as it progressed. I liked it 8/10
by Ben Markovits
A road trip of sorts set in America. Tom's daughter is heading off to college and he and his wife have been not getting along since she had an affair of sorts six years previously. This could be the time for a break so after dropping off his daughter he keeps driving West and reflecting on his life,
I found a lot of the basketball and education references difficult, but they probably are fine if you understand American culture. It didn't quite work for me although I did recognise and enjoy some of the references to getting older and the life unfulfilled. 6/10
by David Szalay
The story of a man who starts life with little in a flat in Hungary and ends life with little in a flat in Hungary. A lot happens in between as we move from Hungary to Iraq and to London, and up and down society. As a consequence the story pulls you along as we get close to the central character but never really know him. His mother features at various times through the story but I found her a bit unbelievable. An interesting read 7/10
by Georges Simenon
Very enjoyable, bordering on Simenon's psychological side this story starts with a man coming to tell Maigret that he is going to be killed by his wife. Not long after the wife arrives and Maigret spends the rest of the book trying to unravel what and who he is dealing with. 9/10
by Monica Ali
I was not sure I would like this book but from the start I was hooked. Mina who starts the book as a typical newly qualified doctor, engaged to another doctor and full of confidence learns that everything is not always what it seems as she learns some truths about herself, her parents and her boyfriend. The characters are brilliantly drawn including her old friend/patient on the ward and the very funny handyman/janitor. It's a long book but it was a joy to read. 9/10
by Colm Toibin
The follow on to Brooklyn and we have moved on 20 years to the 70's and Eilis is living in Long Island with her Italian husband and two teenage children.
Tony has had an affair that has resulted in a child that the woman's husband has made clear will be dumped on Tony once born. Eilis is not happy and decides to go back to Ireland for the first time in 20 years to see her mother and try and sort out her future. We meet many of the old characters and catch up with what has happened in the town over the past two decades-not much as it turns out.
I enjoyed this story, probably more than Brooklyn but it leaves so many questions hanging at the end. I am not sure this is to facilitate a sequel-but it could be- as much as to leave the future in the readers minds to disentangle-or not! 8/10
by Ngaio Marsh
The second of the Inspector Alleyn novels and not as good as the first one imo.
A nasty actor is shot dead during a play that Alleyn is watching with Nigel Bathgate when somebody swaps dud bullets for the real thing. A number of people have good motives to want the victim dead and Alleyn sets about unpicking the case. I will probably give him another try but for the moment it is back to Maigret for my crime.
by Agnes Lidbeck
A novel about parenthood, relationship strain, a difficult affair and death all in a short novel and all a bit much for me.
It maybe that I am getting too old for the angst of younger writers but I did find this book piling on the agany a bit too much. The writing style and translation I enjoyed. The subject matter, not so much 5/10
by Daniel Susskind
The author sets out to explore a number of questions such as what is economic growth, what is good about it and what is bad about it and finally, how should we approach growth going forward.
The first parts of the book are uncontroversial and interesting. However, he makes it clear that in his opinion we have to continue to pursue growth. He is rather quick to dump the arguments of those who struggle to see how growth can continue and I found his arguments for how it might a little fanciful.
He tackles the problem of the trade-offs necessary between growth and desirable outcomes really well and this I found the most thought provoking part of the book. The answers he offers didn't work for me but I don't have anything more plausible to offer so you have to applaud this attempt and if it gets more of us thinking about this issue then bravo DS. 8/10
by Ngaio Marsh
Enter Inspector Alleyn who has to solve the murder of a man at a house party where they are playing a murder game. Of course many people have a motive but our man finds his way to the truth. Vintage english crime from the 1930's. Good fun. 7/10
by Olga Tokarczuk
Very funny, very dark, this book is loosely based on The Magic Mountain but is set in Silesia at the same time as the former book.
The characters are sympathetically drawn and, being half the length, we do not have so much philosophising. There is still some!
The subtitle refers to a horror story that does unfold gently as the book goes on and explodes at the end of the novel in a scene with gothic overtones!
A very enjoyable read 8.5/10
by Georges Simenon
Set in a Crimean port town in the 1930's this is the story of a Turkish consul sent to Stalin's Russia just ten years after the founding of modern Turkey. It captures his sense of isolation and the mistrust everybody has in everyone else. Is he being followed, is he being poisoned? 7/10
by Rachel Bowlby
Part of the Writing modern life series this is a short introduction to Zola's novels looking at the beginning, middle and end of his life and concentrating on character profile, shops and Zola's exile in London.
It was a very interesting book and I particularly enjoyed the middle section on shops, contrasting the department store on The Ladies Paradise with the smaller shops of L'assommoir and Le Ventre de Paris. 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret has been advised by his doctor to take a holiday but rather than go away Maigret and his wife stay in Paris to enjoy a quiet August. It is not long before a murder is reported in the newspapers and Maigret takes on the role of a member of the public as he tries to solve the case by using the newspaper reports only. Great fun 8/10
by Ben Okri
A cross between midsummer nights dream and the wasteland this is a wacky book about two successful but unhappy couples and a magical festival one of them organises in an enchanted wood in the south of France. What could possibly go wrong? More clever than riveting it was a fun read. 6/10
by Saou Ichikawa
A short book, that was longlisted for the International Booker 2025.
It starts with a steamy sex session in a Tokyo swingers club but then quickly switches to it's main theme about living with disability as a young woman. It is a difficult read at times but scattered with humour and certainly thought provoking. 5/10
by Thomas Mann
First of all, this is a long book with large sections of philosophising that lost me at times. However, it is also an absorbing story set in the seven years leading up to the first world war in a sanitorium in the Swiss mountains. It is funny in places and sad in others, and in others fascinating as we go through the new record collection or a seance with one of the patients being the medium. I am going to miss this hotch potch of characters from our hero Hans Castorp to Settembrini and Naphta, our two philosophers, to Behrens and all the patients who come and go but are central to the story at various times. Not the easiest of reads but really enjoyable. 9/10
by Georges Simenon
Another good story. Hot August and Maigret is failing to find a missing English woman when he is asked to protect a very wealthy businessman who turns out to be someone who Maigret knew at school but did not like. When he is killed Maigret tries to find the killer. In both cases there is no quick resolution but it is enjoyable to see how it unfolds. 8/10
by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison
The subtitle of this book is The Secret History of Neoliberalism.
It is a short history of capitalism and the rise of neoliberalism from the second world war and in particular rhe damaging effects it has had on the world and society since the 1980's. It is at times a bit of a rant and there will be few who will agree with it 100% but reading it against the unfolding of the second Trump presidency makes for sobering reading. Much of the root of neoliberalism is found in Hayek they state and it is well known that Thatcher adored him.
The most notable quote for me was by Roosevelt in 1938 when he said "the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism." Sobering stuff. 7/10
by Chris Miller
A fascinating history of semiconductors that places them front and centre of the last 60 years and the centrality of our reliance on them for our current way of life.
Both breathtaking it what has been achieved and frightening in how quickly we have become reliant on them. Very readable 8/10
by Shady Lewis
An Egyptian, living and working in the UK is asked by a friend in Cairo to arrange the funeral of someone he has never met and does not know. He reluctantly agrees and the thread of this story takes us through the book as we learn about our hero's life working in local government in London, dealing with a failing system. The book is very funny in places and very sad and moving in others. It was up there with the best from this year so far and am sure it will still be come the end of the year 9/10
by Georges Simenon
A serial killer on the loose in Paris is making Maigret angry. He sets a trap to try and find the killer and nearly gets a policewoman killed. By the end he is highly infuriated and ready to beat up the killer who by this time is in his office. I found this one slightly off par given the level of the previous two but still a good listen. 7/10
by Pierre LeMaitre
Billed as a black, comic novel this is certainly a dark tale and I am sure the author had a lot of fun writing it.
An atypical but top rated contract killer has reached her sixties and is starting to develop serious dementia like symptoms. Mayhem is let loose. We are introduced to a number of characters who you build empathy with, only for them to be summarily dismissed at some point. His ability to keep us onside with the story is a mark of his storytelling skill. There is a neat twist at the end of a real page turner of a story. 9/10
by Georges Simenon
Another interesting case where Maigret spends much of his time in a bistro by the Canal St. Martin after a headless dismembered corpse is found in the canal. He almost stumbles on the killers by accident but the bulk of the tale is him trying to work out why and why then. 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret attempts to solve this murder by trying to understand the dead girl. He has a detective from the second arr. one step ahead of him the whole time until the end. It was an enjoyable story with Maigret at his best at home in Paris. 8/10
by Karsten Dusse
A black comedy crime novel about a solicitor who turns to killing after attending a mindfulness course. The premise is amusing and their are some funny parts such as a magpie flying off with a key piece of evidence but the book lacked much in the way of suspense. You always knew how it would end and much of the book was just going through the motions, although I did like the ending. 5/10
by Ian Goldin
This was a really interesting book. Written in 2024 many of the figures quoted are up to date, but as well as trends in current migration this book gives a succinct history of migration over the centuries and points out how as a species we have always moved. He also emphasises how people fleeing adversity tend to stay as close to their home country as they can, rather quashing the myth of being overrun with asylum seekers.
The only downside-apart from the inevitable skimming across the surface- was the referencing which was not easy to follow back to sources. 7/10
Set in a small village that reminds Maigret of his childhood, a cantankerous old woman is murdered and the village schoolteacher, who is an outsider gets the blame.
He asks Maigret for help and this results in Maigret travelling to the village and trying to unravel village politics and history. 8/10
by Charles Dickens
A long read for the Christmas period and a book I have not read for a long time which made it all the more enjoyable as I could not remember how it unfolded. The humour is wonderful and Dickens' slating of the poor laws still carries a punch from this far away in history.
The antics of John Harmon would I think raise a few eyebrows nowadays and may make some modern readers uncomfortable but the power of the storytelling gift still shines through, and with memorable supporting characters like the Veneerings, Mr. Venus and Jenny Wren this is a great read. 9/10
A busy year and some good reads amongst them.
On the non-fiction side I found Goodbye Globalisation thought provoking and helpful in understanding what is going on in the world. Also Salman Rushdie's reflections on his attack and its aftermath was interesting. Andrew Martin's book on the Paris metro had me hooked in a way I did not expect.
On the fiction side there was an interesting Booker prize but as ever my favourite -My friends- did not make the shortlist. Also enjoyed James and Enlightenment and Playground.
In other fiction Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq was good and the latest Jackson Brodie from Kate Atkinson was crazy but fun. I read Paul Auster's last book and his New York trilogy both of which I enjoyed. Again on the wacky side, was The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers guild but an enjoyable read.
Crime has included a number of Maigret's and a series set in Hamburg by Simone Buchholz featuring a prosecutor called Chastity Riley.
My best books of the year are probably My Friends and The Annual Banquet but a hard choice this year!
by Georges Simenon
The lowly mistress of an eminent surgeon is found dead by gun shot to the head in the apartment paid for by the surgeon and in the same building as he lives in with his wife.
Maigret spends a long time talking with everyone but the surgeon, who eventually contacts Maigret himself. Good story 7/10
by Elisabeth Braw
Through various interviews, press publications and research this book traces the path of globalisation through the past forty years and examines why it may now be coming to an end. Actually, it postulates that it is coming to an end. It explores the rise of China and western businesses love affair with China which now is cooling significantly. It looks at Europe's interactions with Russia that came to a juddering halt after the Ukraine war started. You leave the book thinking, with the benefit of hindsight, how could we have been so naive as to think such massive growth could be achieved without harming the planet, to think that trade would trump ideological stances and desire for power or that people would think cheaper goods were fair recompense for losing their jobs. This is a very readable and thought provoking book 9/10
by Guillaume Musso
A young woman is found in the river but escapes on her way to a secure hospital. DNA matches her to a pianist who died 12 months before. Who is she and what is her connection to an older police officer who has had a fall and his son? Enter Roxanne, a police officer with her own problems.
This is a fast paced thriller for which you have to suspend belief at times but doesn't stop you turning the pages. 6/10
by Max Porter
Shy is a troubled teenager and this book covers one night of his life as he sets out from a special residential school with a rucksack full of rocks.
Max Porter's books are refreshingly different and this one is no different. It was a lively, sad, funny engaging story. Loved it. 9/10
by Ali Smith
Two abandoned children, a horse destined for the knackers yard, lots of red lines and a society under seeming totalitarian rule. Nothing is fully explained as we gradually piece together what is happening in two time slots five years apart and sometime in the near future.
For all this I enjoyed this book, typically witty and playful but I was left frustrated by the unresolved endings. I wonder if Glyph will help when it is published. I am not holding my breath! 8/10
by Agatha Christie
A Hercule Poirot novel centred around an evening of bridge at the murder victim's house. Which of the four players at table 1 killed him and which of the four sleuths at table 2 will uncover the killer. Good stuff 7/10
by Andrew Martin
Who could have thought that a book about trains could be so interesting and amusing.
I finished this book while on a short visit to Paris and I have to say that as a result of reading this book I was looking at trains and stations in a much more interested way. Martin takes us through the history of the metro before diving into a line by line description and it is readable at every stage-well maybe not the details about the different types of train. Loved it 9/10
A voyage through Eliot's sources and his friendships and his marriage as he spends 1917 to 1922 developing what will become the Waste Land.
I found it fascinating and at times a fraction overlong but a good read. There is much about Ezra Pound which I found informative and he also spends a considerable time on Eliot's attitude toward the Jews.
He is sympathetic toward Vivian and recognises how she and Eliot both struggled in their marriage. Well worth ploughing through 8/10
by Lauren Elkin
I like Elkin's writing and this, her first novel, is no different. The title refers to the scaffolding that surrounds Anna's Paris apartment for the duration of the novel-set in the year following lock down.
She is recovering from a miscarriage and has been signed off work. She is a shrink. The book explores through the lens of Lacan primarily, issues of desire and selfhood. The central section dwells on a couple from fifty years previous who lived in the apartment, who were exploring the same issues. There are various hooks that tie the two parts together.
Did I enjoy it? I don't know. I found the characters very annoying and very middle class self absorbed twenty first century types -but I guess that is what Elkin was aiming at. It was interesting subject matter but at the end I was not quite sure it worked. I need to muse some more 6/10
by Michel Houellebecq
Well that was a cheery little number. The clue is in the title I guess.
We follow Paul, a high flying civil servant who is preparing with his boss-the finance minister-for the 2027 presidential election. We follow the story from the end of 2026 through 2027.
Apart from his career, his marriage and family are not in a good place and there is a wierd string of cyber/activist/terrorist attacks going on which nobody can fully explain.
It's a while since I read a Houellebecq novel but I really found this one interesting and as ever I was left with many unanswered questions-but you know that when you take one of his novels on 8/10
by Eric Hazan
A book about a man who loved Paris by a man who loved Paris. This book is full of interesting detail but you do want a map to hand to locate streets and areas that he mentions. Really enjoyable if you like Paris or Balzac or both 8/10
by Colin Barrett
A story of rival families caught up in small town drug dealing in Ireland. The characters were generally well drawn but it did engage me greatly. 5/10
by Richard Powers
I so enjoy this author. His imagination and cast of characters are Dickensian in scope.
This story is about a couple of friends who meet at school and play a lot of games together but get absorbed by the game of go. One of them goes on to become a tech billionaire, the other does not. There stories intersect and fly apart and along the ways we meet a host of characters, learn about the oceans and AI and climate change and French Polynesia. It is capped off with a fantastic twist in the tale.
The biggest surprise though is how this book did not reach the Booker shortlist. 9/10
by Kate Atkinson
Jackson Brodie is back and he is on good form.
This is a very funny and entertaining book with multiple deaths and multiple reasons in true Agatha Christie style. Brodie stumbles into the mystery almost by accident and meets up with some old friends! It is great larks and written in a way that keeps it the right side of daft. Loved it 9/10
by Samantha Harvey
This is a very short book at just over 100 pages and deals with one day -or I should say 24 hours on board the International space station and the interactions and lives of the astronauts aboard. I did not expect to enjoy it and yet it was strangely absorbing as well as being informative about life in space. 8/10
by Rachel Kushner
A spy story with a difference. Sadie Smith is sent to infiltrate a commune in South West France as well as keep an eye on a low ranking government official. She used to be employed by the FBI but her current employer remains unknown.
The book never really got going for me and although I enjoyed some of her fun one liners to end various sections I was yearning for something to happen. By the time it did happen it all felt too late. 6/10
by Tommy Orange
Another family saga. This time about a twentieth/twenty first native american family in Oakland. A look at life for the underprivileged and discriminated against in modern America. It was well written but left me a bit cold 6/10
