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 our 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
