Paris Trance

by Geoff Dyer
This is a novel set in Paris and covering the lives of 4 twenty-somethings discovering life and each other. It is amusing in places, but generally covered a way of life I found it hard to connect with and yet still seemed rather predictable. However, I did like Spunky the dog! 6/10

The Invention of Paris

by Eric Hazan
Subtitled A history in Footsteps this a great book covering the history of various quarters of Paris and how it has developed into today's city. From the broad sweep to the intricate details this is a great book that makes you want to get back to the city and start exploring immediately. One word of advice. Unless you know the city really well it is useful-and will probably add to your enjoyment-if you have a map/street atlas close by. 8/10

A Visit from the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan
The Goon Squad is time and this is a novel about time and its passing and it deals with time in the way that time deals with us. That is, moving at different speeds -sometimes fast sometimes slow. I felt the technical skills in this book outweighed the story at times but a thought provoking book. Didn't enjoy the last chapter. 6/10

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow

by Peter Hoeg

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book but feel that it then started to lose its way. Probably all that snow! Still an enjoyable read 6/10

The Invisible Woman

by Clare Tomalin
This was a fascinating biography and commentary on how history can be manipulated. It leaves many questions unanswered, not least being what did Ellen Ternan think of Dickens and her relationship with him, but this in itself is comment on how difficult this book was to write. 8/10

When God was a Rabbit

by Sarah Winman
This is a first novel and it sometimes showed in the lack of character depth and some of the descriptive passages. However, this book made me laugh (out loud belly laughter) and it made me cry and it made me think. What more can you ask of a novel. I really enjoyed it. 8/10

The Museum of Innocence

by Orhan Pamuk
What can I say about this most exasperating of books. One it is very long. Two, it focusses on one man's pain following the break up of a relationship, and when I use the word focus I mean with the intensity of a magnifying glass on a hot summers day. This is painful at times and there was more than one occassion I wished our hero narrator dead so we could all move on with our lives.Having said that this is beautifully written and leaves me longing to visit Istanbul. The ending is signalled from page 1 and yet still surprises when you get there. I slated this book for all the time I was reading it and yet I think it will live with me for longer than other books I have read. 7/10

Faceless Killers

by Henning Mankell
An early Wallender and a good crime novel. I felt the linking of the two seperate plots was a bit contrived but the Wallender character is deliciously seedy! 7/10

Squirrel seeks chipmunk

by David Sedaris
A very mixed bag. Some of these are very funny, some are very dark and ssome are just not very good. It is a great bedside book though. 5/10

Out Stealing Horses

by Per Petterson
This is a very gentle book but with an underlying tension. It is a melancholic look back at a man's early life and how it is shaping and impacting his later life. We learn nothing, or very little of the bit in between but it does not matter. I enjoyed it very much 8/10

Seraphita

bu Honoré de Balzac
If this was the first Balzac novel I had ever read it would be my last. There is no plot to speak of and is actually just a religious pamphlet in praise of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Utter crap 1/10 no make that 0/10

Freedom

by Jonathan Franzen
This was a great book and one of the few that left me close to tears at the end. It is a story of modern life I guess and how personal lives intrude on our ideologies 9/10

The General

by Jonathan Fenby
A very good biography of Charles de Gaulle with a great balance between the personal, private man and the statesman. 8/10

Three Ghost Stories

by Charles Dickens
Great fun 8/10

The Finkler Question

by Howard Jacobson
Very amusing in parts, boring in others and fascinating in others. He is as in touch with the human condition as any writer I have come across 8/10

Our Kind of Traitor

by John Le Carre

Le Carre on good form but with an ending that seemed inevitable for a Le Carre hero. Enjoyed it though 7/10

The Elephant's Journey

by José Saramago
Written by a nobel prize winning Portuguese writer this is a fantastic story of an elephant's journey from Lisbon to Vienna in the 16th century. I loved it, especially the narrator's quirky asides. 9/10

The Glass Room

by Simon Mawer
The story of a house, based on a real house in Brno, this is a fascinating story of the Czech Republic from the mid 1920's to the 1960's which I found really absorbing. 8/10

Death in the Latin Quarter

by Raphael Cardetti
Set in Paris this is a fast paced mystery thriller involving book restorers and shady secret service personnel from around the world. A great holiday read that is fun and not too taxing. 6/10

Ordinary Thunderstorms

by William Boyd
Enjoyed the premise of this book of a man who has his identity taken from him by being in the wrong place at the wrong time,. However it seemed to lose its way and the ending was disappointing. 5/10

Silence

by Shusaka Endo
This story of a missionary priest in the seventeenth century going off to Japan did not do a lot for me. 4/10

Oranges are not the only fruit

by Jeanette Winterson
Very funny in places and very reminiscent in parts of my youth. Felt the last 40 pages or so lost their way but 25 years on this is still agood read. 7/10

The Kindly Ones

by Jonathan Littell
Where do I begin. It was the best of books; it was the worst of books. One thing is certain you cannot be indifferent to this book. It is the fictional autobiography of Max Aue, an intellectual who was a SS officer during the second war. He recounts his experiences from the relative safety of sixty years after the event when he is a respectable owner of a lace factory in France. The narrative is compelling as it recounts not only the history of WWII but the intimate enjoyment and pain of one man's experience. It is hard going though with some very harrowing scenes. I also found the detail of the SS and German heirarchy difficult to follow, even with a glossary at the end of the book. This is a book that will live with me for some time yet. 8/10

Indemnity Only

by Sara Paretsky
This book, first published in 1982, introduces the detective V. I. Warshawski. She is a Chicago based private investigator who has gone on to feature in numerous subsequent investigations set in the city.
This first novel starts with somebody employing Warshawski by pretending to be a wealthy banker and sending her off on a hunt that results in her finding the body of the bankers son. Despite being warned off numerous times, she pursues the case, involving fraud, murder and corruption to an exciting end. As an aside it is fascinating to read a “modern” detective who is set pre mobile phones, pre internet and who is debating whether an IBM desktop computer would be any help in her office.
The character of VI is well built and it is not hard to see why she has continued to attract readers in her subsequent adventures. The plot in this novel stretches credibility to breaking point at times, particularly in the final showdown scene. I also found most of the characters-with the exception of VI –very two dimensional but such is the nature of the genre. If you enjoy a good crime caper this is a fun read.

Parrot and Olivier

by Peter Carey
Carey is a fantastic storyteller and this is no exception. This is a crazy tale inspired by Tocqueville but covers Paris and Dartmoor as well as America itself. It is littered with amusing characters and tall story scenes. Good fun 8/10

Alone in Berlin

by Hans Fallada
This book took me by surprise. The story is in many ways a simple one of a couple whose son is killed at the front during the second world war. They start a campaign of dropping postcards denouncing Hitler. Somehow the inevitable ending is moved towards with tremendous suspense and an engagement with the characters. The best book I have read so far in 2010 9/10

Berlin Tales

Edited and translated by Lyn Marven
This is a collection of short stories with Berlin as a unifying theme. They range from excellent-Evenings after six by Kurt Tucholsky- to very poor. The photos at the start of each story are a real treat. 2/10

The Outsider

by Albert Camus
A fascinating short novel by one of France's most revered writers. Set in his native Algeirs this is a fascinating story that reminds me of a line from Eliot. Humankind cannot face too much reality or words to that effect. It is a fascinating read that left me asking questions about how I would react in similar circumstances-although I cannot envisage killing a man- and what are the things that should provoke a reaction in us. 7/10

Solea

by Jean-Claude Izzo
This is the final book in the Marseilles trilogy featuring the ex cop Fabio Montale. I can't put my finger on what makes this series so good. It could be the worn down, flawed humanity of the central character, it could be the flawed and yet beautiful city of Marseilles that features as a central character in the book, it could be the thriller that runs as almost secondary story throughout. Whatever it is I found all three of the books really enjoyable as they moved slowly to the ineviatable conclusion. 10/10

Smile or Die

by Barbara Ehrenreich
A swipe at the positive thinking industry in America with some reference to the rest of us.
I found the book quite heavy on evidence but would have liked more reasoning as to why positive thinking is not a good thing. An interesting thought provoking read all the same. 6/10

The Girl who kicked the hornet's nest

by Stieg Larsson
The final part of the Salander trilogy and like the previous two ploughs on at an unrelenting rate. As with any series like this there is an element of repitition for those who need a reminder of where we have got to and this makes the book too long. It is a great yarn though!8/10

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel
This Booker Prize winning novel plots the life of Thomas Cromwell-an advisor to Henry VIII. Its detail is remarkable but I never got caught up in the story although the characters were remarkably well drawn and the scope extensive. I can see why it won the prize but I would have chosen AS Byatt above this. 7/10

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

This nights foul work

by Fred Vargas
A french detective novel which is fairly wacky and reminds one of "The Incredible Journey" at one point. However, I like my crime novels off the wall and you will need to suspend your disbelief no more than you would for Agatha Christie or most other crime novels. The serious crime unit under Adamsberg is an interesting place there is no doubt. 8/10

L'Argent

by Emile Zola
A very timely read of this the 18th novel in the Rougon Macquart series. It deals with the rise and fall of a bank toward the end of second empire France. It has many parallels with the current financial crisis and is perhaps a warning not to over react too much. These things are cyclical after all even if the scope widens to a global level.
Some of the book gets bogged down in technical stock dealing and the English reader suffers from there only being one translation in existence. Now would be a good time for a new full translation! Not one of Zola's greatest by any means but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would from some of the comments I had read earlier. 7/10
www.emilezola.info

The White Tiger

by Aravinda Adiga
The story of a an Indian growing up in India in a time of huge change(ie Now!). It is a very readable tale touching on the caste system, corruption, murder, the new economy and the emergence of India-all in an engaging style. The main character remained somebody I felt distant from and could not take to, but I am not sure we are meant to like him. He is a killer and a corrupt businessman after all! 8/10

A Fraction of the Whole

by Steve Toltz
This is a long meandering book which in many ways is full of drivel and in others is very amusing. It reminds me in some ways of Peter Carey's, Illywhacker but maybe that is just the Australian connection kicking in. At over 800 pages I could have done with it being a little shorter but I skipped along through it just to find out what happened next. I would not read it again. 6/10

The Clothes on their Backs

by Linda Grant
As someone who grew up in the 70's I enjoyed some of the nostalgia in this book but I never really connected with the story or the characters and was left disappointed come the end. 6/10

Rancid Pansies

by James Hamilton-Paterson

The third novel featuring Gerald Samper, a snobbish writer living in Italy(mostly). While not as laugh out loud funny as Fernet Branca this is still very amusing in places and a great critique of the Princess Diana myth as only Samper could do it. 6/10

La Bete Humaine

by Emile Zola

The seventeenth novel in the Rougon Macquart and one of the best. After the dream this is straight back in to the darker side of the human existence and a roller coaster murder yarn set on the railway line between Le Havre and Paris. It is Zola at his best painting wonderful descriptions of the landscape and a plot that runs along with the railway it depicts. 9/10

Have Mercy on Us All

by Fred Vargas
The second novel I have read by this author. It is published by Vintage in the UK and had some bad editing mistakes but apart from that annoyance was a good read. The main character is likeable and suitably flawed as a human being to make him attractive.
The premise behind the story requires some suspension of reality but is none the less absorbing for that. 7/10

Five Photos of my wife

by Agnes Desarthe
A gentle and at times amusing, at times sad tale of a man's search for a memory of his wife. I really enjoyed this book 9/10

The Dream (Le Reve)

by Emile Zola
This was hard work and far from being the most enjoyable book I have read of Zola's.
The main character Angelique is the Rougon-Macquart connection. She was abandoned as a child and the story starts with her turning up in a church porch from where she is taken in by some church embroiderers. She is annoying and I couldn't wait for some Zolaesque tragedy to take her away. Sadly it did not.
I will need to read around this to try and redeem the book but it definitely his worst to date- in my humble opinion! 4/10

The Three Evangelists

by Fred Vargas
Very enjoyable crime thriller. An easy read and great to relax with. 8/10

Testimony

by Nicolas Sarkozy
Fascinating stuff. The man intrigues me with his certainty about life and his beliefs. His piece on his wife and their eternal bond which has subsequently evaporated is illuminating. His utopian vision for France is straight from one of his beloved America's movies. Having said this I like this man and some of his open discussion of chaging France is refreshing.
Gets a bit bogged down in places but worth reading soon before it gets consigned to the political tract bin. 8/10

The Gathering

by Anne Enright
I had mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the writing very much and there were some extremely moving and disturbing passages as well as some darkly humorous ones. However, I felt the story line was a bit thin and the ending unsatisfactory. It was almost as though having revealed to the reader the central issue of the story the rest of the book lost its way. Would still recommend it though. 7/10

Ninety three

by Victor Hugo
Set in 1793 this book was about the Vendean war at the time of the French revolution. The second half of the book was good and had some great insights into the terrors and hardships of civil war and also some detail on how enlightened some of the revolutionary thinking was. However the first half of the book was hard going and pretty dull. 4/10

Dawn, Dusk or Night

by Yasmina Reza
Subtitled 'a year with Nicolas Sarkozy' this is a book of reflections and observations of the French president during the manic year leading up to his election in May 2007.
I found the style of this book difficult to get my head around and yet I could not put it down. It is mesmerising and offers this love him hate him view that resonates with my own reactions to Sarkozy. So many of the observations are fleeting glances when I would have liked to stay longer, but maybe this is the nature of the man where clearly what you see is only what he wants you to see. The book mercifully steers clear of any comment on his private life and gets an extra point from me for that alone. 9/10

Rounding the Mark

by Andrea Camilleri

Another Inspector Montalbano crime mystery set in Sicily. This is very easy reading but great fun although easier than some to unravel fairly early on. 6/10

La Terre (The Earth)

by Emile Zola
The fifteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series and I think one of the best.
It is shocking even today and exposes some of the more base and brutal sides of mankind, where Jean Macquart as a outsider throughout observes the futile battle of the peasants with the soil and themselves. Some of the scenes are brilliantly written such as when Lise is giving birth at the same time and i the same location as their household cow is giving birth to twin calves. There is even humour with Jesus Christ's(a character not a deity) farting exploits. Definitely a must read if you want to sample Zola. 9/10

Notes from Exile

by Emile Zola
This book is edited and translated by Dorothy Speirs
I guess this book is a little niche but I loved it. It is very short and contains notes that Zola made when forced into exile in England during the Dreyfuss affair.
What is more it includes photos taken during that time by Zola himself. Then there is even more with an introduction that gives us some background on the Vizetelly family who were responsible for some of the early Zola translations. For his pains one of them received a prison sentence for publishing porn. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. 10/10

The Power of Flies

by Lydie Salvayre
Originally published in French these are the musings of a madman (or is he?) who has murdered someone and addresses himself to the judge, the warder and his psychiatrist. You do find out who he has murdered but not until the very end and there are several potential candidates along the way. We only ever hear the voice of the accused and as such he provokes our sympathy but it left me wanting to write somebody elses point of view. What did the judge think or his wife or his father. A good thought provoking book. 8/10

The Courtesans

by Joanna Richardson

Brief biographies of a number of different courtesans from the French second empire days. It was fascinating reading and an insight to French society of that time. I found the style a nnoying at times and felt that the author was always trying to restrain from passing judgement on these women. 5/10

The Discovery of France

by Graham Robb
This is a fascinating book. It is full of interesting info on shepherds on stilts, people with deliberately contorted heads, hobbitt like folk etc. They all lived in a seemingly hidden France unrecognisable from our perceived view which I guess is typically the court of Versailles and bloody revolutions on the streets. I loved it even though he does bang on about map making and cyclists more than I cared for. 9/10

The little girl and the cigarette

by Benoit Duteurtre
A short satire sending up some of the lunacy in our current society's thinking. As with all good satire it is just inches between reality and the absurd. Being French it ends with a suitably dark twist. Excellent 9/10

David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens
As ever with Dickens a great cast of wonderful characters from the glorious Betsy Trotwood to the outrageous Mr Micawber. The only parts I found tedious were the Dora passages. The rest is a great read with some very comic writing indeed. 9/10

The Masterpiece

by Emile Zola
Fourteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series. This novel more than any other of Zola's is based on real characters from his own circle of friends, including himself as the novelist Sandoz. There were parts of it I found really interesting and great writing such as the crowds at the exhibition and the struggles of trying to portray nature in painting. But other parts, such as Sandoz talking about writing a series of novels based around a family just seemed too anal. Still a great insight into the Paris art scene in mid nineteenth century Paris 7/10

www.emilezola.info

The Uncommon Reader

by Alan Bennett
If you ever feel guilty curling up and reading a book this is the perfect book to assuage your guilt. Written with gentle humour this is a great book and it will only take you an afternoon in front of the fire to read. My only problem was it was not long enough! 9/10

The Shape of Water

by Andrea Camilleri
A crime mystery by an Italian author set in Sicily. A quick easy read-I read it during a four hour train journey-that was very enjoyable. A nice light touch in the principal character, Inspector Montalbano, which I like in a crime book. 6/10

Germinal

by Emile Zola
Thirteenth of the Rougon Macquart and probably the most well known.
This was a great read with some of Zola's most memorable crowd scenes as the striking miners protest and rampage. You are drawn in to the terror of group action. The book also portrays the disconnect between the working class and the bourgeoisie that doesn't seem a million miles from the position in the Paris suburbs today. A great book. 9/10

www.emilezola.info

Hallucinating Foucault

by Patricia Duncker
This is a haunting novel based around a fictional mad French writer obsessed with Foucault and an unnamed Phd student obsessed with the writer. It is all about the relationship between writer and reader but is told in a gripping way that holds your attention even though the conclusion is inevitable. 7/10

Eugénie

by Desmond Seward
This is a biography of the wife of Napoleon III and the empress of the second empire. It is written from a very supportive view and is very readable.
It does not set out to supply new information but it does give an interesting portrait of second empire life and is a great background to the Rougon Macquart novels of Emile Zola.
A good bibliography as well. 8/10

www.emilezola.info

The Journal of the de Goncourts

This is extracts from the diaries of the French brothers covering the period 1851 to Edmond's death in 1896. It is a fascinating glimpse from one part of French society of the second empire period and its aftermath including a first hand account of the seige of Paris and the commune. There were parts which recounted details of people I do not know but this did not distract from my enjoyment.
I bought this second hand so it may no longer be in print but could definitely be picked up on Abe books. 8/10

Darkmans

by Nicola Barker
This is the 4th novel I have read that appears on this years Man Booker shortlist and I felt really let down by it. The novel is gripping to read and has some fantastic comic characters as well as dark undertones that pull you in to the story.
It is a long book (800+ pages) which makes the last 100 pages all the more disappointing, as you realise that nothing is going to happen and characters just disappear with no explanation. It has received a lot of plaudits and no doubt I am missing the clever undertones but I am not convinced that clever makes for a good read 4/10

Mr. Pip

by Lloyd Jones
A book about one of my favourite books, Great Expectations. But this book is more about the power of a novel itself to transform our world and experience and even to save us from our experience. This book has the power to shock you as it describes the bloody civil war on a pacific island but also to protect you from these realities. The book is still lingering with me even after putting it down. Thank you Mr. Jones (and of course, Mr. Dickens). Great larks 8/10

On Chesil Beach

by Ian McEwan
As ever with McEwan this is beautifully written and evokes places and times in a wonderful way. I found the plot very thin and the end incredibly rushed but no doubt it will remain the bookies favorite for the Booker prize. I would still go for the reluctant fundamentalist. 7/10

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

Long-listed for the booker prize this year this is a short gripping novel and highly recommended.

It is written in the first person and is one side of an unusual conversation. It builds suspense gradually and has a gentle humour as well as being very touching. It also makes you think about some of the larger issues in the world and hopefully offers a slightly different perspective. 9/10

Zest for Life

by Emile Zola

The twelfth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series and the worst so far in my view. The plot is extremely thin and being obsessed with death is very depressing. No wonder one of the hero's idols is Schopenhauer.
The novel is set on the Normandy coast and has some good description of the sea and its relentless attack on the cliffs. There are some graphic descriptions of childbirth and gout but I found the whole thing a bit too repetitious. Hopefully it will be like La Curée and improve on second reading. Still the good news is that the next novel is Germinal and this I love. 4/10

www.emilezola.info

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexander Dumas
If AD was alive today he would surely be writing film scripts. This book moves at such an exhilarating pace that the 1200+ pages seemed to fly by with its cast of prisoners, thieves, bandits, child murderers, poisoners, lesbians, drug users, and more. For a ripping yarn and not quite the expected ending this is great stuff. 9/10

The Blond Baboon

by Jan willem van de Wetering
Another crime mystery and this time our laid back Amsterdam heroes are back in their home town investigating the death of an old woman. A very easy read but great fun as ever7/10

The Ladies Paradise

by Emile Zola
The eleventh book in the Rougon Macquart series and one of the most fascinating to date. It follows on very closely from Pot Bouille following the fortunes of Octave Mouret and the growth of the department store. The social and economic history element to this book is as fascinating as the character narrative itself.
The heroine reminded me very much of a Dickensian heroine although I did enjoy her resolve in leaving her uncle and the umbrella maker to run with the new. 9/10

www.emilezola.info

Pot-Bouille

by Emile Zola
This marks the half way stage in the Rougon-Macquart series being the tenth out of 20 novels. It is set in Paris and describes the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie through the goings on in one house in the Rue de Choiseul. Only one member of the Rougon-Macquarts features and this is Octave Mouret who comes to Paris from the South and sets about conquering Paris and its women, with varying success.
It was a good read and as usual peopled with a number of great characters, notably the horrible Mme Josserand and her equally obnoxious brother, Bachelard 8/10

Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen
A very enjoyable yarn from Jane Austen. Her books are very amusing and this one has a great, but not too taxing, mystery running through it. 9/10

Zola, A Life

by Frederick Brown

An excellent book. It is very readable and has a great balance between Zola's life and his works and a very good chapter summarising the Dreyfus affair. There are also some interesting photos spread throughout the book. If you want a comprehensive introduction to Emile Zola and his work then this would be a good place to start. 9/10

Amazing Disgrace

by James Hamilton-Paterson

This is the follow-up to the excellent Cooking with Fernet Branca and gives us the further exploits of the snobbish but very funny ghost writer Gerald Samper. This time he is writing the biography of a one armed and obnoxious woman sailor while longing for more worthwhile subjects, such as Max Christ the composer.
The book has some very amusing episodes but seems to rely to heavily on its predecessor and I did not enjoy it as much. 5/10

The Bullet Trick

by Louise Welsh

This was a good thriller set between Glasgow, London and Berlin and involves the bizarre tale of a conjuror going through a tough time. It was gripping and I read it very quickly although in places it felt a bit strung out. Would still recommend it though. 7/10

Nana

by Emile Zola

The ninth book in the Rougon Macquart series.
This is one of the best known of Zola's novels, not least for the allegations of pornography when first published. Now, more than 100 years later it still has the ability to shock in its depiction of a society rotting beneath a facade of respectability.
I did not enjoy this as much as some of his books as I found it difficult to differentiate some of the characters early on but still a good read. 7/10