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
