Angels Flight

by Michael Connelly
The next Bosch and we cover a lot of ground from Civil rights, child sex crimes, and corrupt cops on the LAPD. Add to that problems with Harry's marriage and you realise this book is not short on plot.
The body count is quite high in this one and as ever has a fairly ambivalent conclusion. A good listen on the commute to work though. 7/10

Those who leave and those who stay

by Elena Ferrante
Part three of the Neopolitan quartet and Lenu and Lena grow up. Lenu leaves, goes through university and marries into a good northern family. Lena leaves her husband and works in a sausage factory owned by Bruno from the beach in Ischia.
We are taken on a whirlwind tour through late twentieth century Italian history and some long drawn out passages on life as a mother which can be a bit tedious. I finished this book absolutely infuriated with Lenu. For someone intelligent and able to think and write about feminist issues how can she get so taken in by a shit who she knows the complete history of. I know I have to read part four but Lenu and I are not friends at present so I am putting it off! 7/10

Her Father's Daughter

by Marie Sizun
The story of growing up at the end of the second world war seen through the eyes of a child. For her early years she is brought up by her mother alone as the father is away at the war. But then he comes back and everything changes. This is a moving portrayal of how a child deals with adult issues and draws you in immediately. I loved it. 9/10

Camille

by Pierre LeMaitre
The third in a crime trilogy featuring Camille Verhoeven. There is a good back story about the quirky and very short commandant in the French police force.
His girlfriend gets caught up in a violent robbery and Camille breaks a number of rules to track down the perpetrators. As in all three there are a number of twists along the way but in this one I did see the end coming. Still a real page turner 8/10

Trunk Music

by Michael Connelly
Another Harry Bosch novel where he returns to homicide after a previous case had put him on suspension.
A simple murder case on Mullholland drive turns serious when Harry discovers that they are treading on the toes of an FBI engagement. Harry also discovers an old love. 7/10

Zola and the Victorians

by Eileen Horne
This is the story of the Vizetelly publishing house and the trouble it got into by publishing the novels of Emile Zola. It highlights the sheer madness of a society that allows a bunch of people with extremely clear views of what is right and wrong to drive public opinion over the edge of a cliff. The outcome of these 2 cases which resulted in Henry Vizetelly being imprisoned for 3 months had long repercussions in England with many books banned/destroyed. This was not reversed until the 1960's and the new laws on obscene publications together with the Lady Chatterley case.
The author of this book covers the ground really well but I found the novelistic style a bit much at times. I also would have to complain again about the poor editing, with words missed out or spelt incorrectly or merged together. Who does read these books before going out?
The dustjacket cover is fabulous! 6/10

The Story of a New Name

by Elena Ferrante
The second in the Neopolitan quartet follows Lila on her disastrous marriage and Lenu on her journey through the education system. It deals in raw detail with domestic violence and the male dominated society of the girls upbringing. These parts of the book were difficult for me but what drew me in was the reflections of Lenu on growing up in a working class environment where little things we now take for granted(telephone, fridge, washing machine) were luxury goods only owned by the well to do in society. This kept lighting up memories from my own past.
I also empathised with the struggle to fit into a society where everyone but you seems to know the rules, and no matter how bright you maybe you are always one step away from your next social faux pas.
But underneath this is a story of a friendship that endures and that is what makes it so engaging and so human. I am looking forward to part 3. 9/10

The Dancer at the gai-moulin

by Georges Simenon
Yet another Maigret and I think my favourite to date. Two young lads get caught up in a much bigger story when they see a dead man in a club they meant to rob. Lots of tension as Maigret unravels what really happened at the gai moulin. 8/10

The Grand Banks Cafe

by Georges Simenon
Another enjoyable Maigret yarn. This time set in a normandy fishing port where a whole crew appear traumatised from a recent trip and the captain has ended up dead. Who did it and why is that radio operator acting so stangely? 7/10

Cousin Bette

by Honore de Balzac

Great storytelling and character painting from one of the greats. Bette is a horrible person with a huge chip on her shoulder and the book unfolds the devious way she goes about trying to get revenge on her virtuous cousin using the outrageous characters she is surrounded by. Very funny in places, gut wrenching in others this was an enjoyable novel and did not speak well of early nineteenth century parisians! 9/10

A People's History of the French Revolution

by Eric Hazan
A very readable account of the French revolution and told from the left's point of view. I found this very engaging and particular the positive view of Robespierre's role in the events of 1789-1793.
Definitely would read again 9/10

The Man with the Getaway Face

by Richard Stark
The second Parker novel. Did not enjoy it as much as the first one. An average crime caper where the good guy is a bad guy. 5/10

The Vanishing Man

by Laura Cumming
Having read the blurb I was not sure what to expect from this book. I wasn't sure if it was a novel or art history or what?
It turns out to be a very readable book about Velazquez and a little known (and to me totally unknown) shopkeeper from Reading whose life was dominated by a painting he was sure was by Velazquez. It is an absorbing tale as we follow both men through very different but equally fascinating lives. It is also beautifully illustrated 8/10

Number 11

by Jonathan Coe
A great book but probably made better by having read What a Carve Up recently. The book is not a sequel but it does hark back to the Winshaw's a reasonable amount.
A reflection on 21st Century Britain it is both very funny and very sad with a very bizarre ending that on reflection is what the subject matter deserves. 9/10

A Man's head

by Georges Simenon
This was a very enjoyable Maigret. Set in Paris and Maigret on the edge as he has a man released from prison to try and find the true killer. Great stuff 8/10

War and Peace

by Tolstoy
Have listened to this over the last 3 months as an audiobook and it is epic in so many ways.
The thing Tolstoy seems to do effortlessly is move from the large scale of the franco russian conflict to the lives of individual russians and their concerns and daily lives. His detailing of character is wonderful and even his fatalistic philosophising gives you pause for thought-although he does go on a bit! 9/10

What a carve up!

by Jonathan Coe
Part satire on the 1980's and 90's life in Britain, part out and out farce this is the story of the Winshaw family who represent everything dreadful about Thatcher's Britain. They have a butler who goes by the wonderful name of Pyles.
There story is told by Michael Owen, an author down on his luck and whose life is far from staightforward.
It is very funny in places and a good bedtime read 8/10

Voices from the Dark Years

by Douglas Boyd
This was a survey of what it was like in France after the German occupation.
It looks at the wider picture but ties the narrative together by looking at particular families and individuals and the way they dealt with life in this difficult period for France. I found this approach helpful and offered some fresh aspect on living ordinary lives in difficult times. I found some of the editing a bit flawed but I am being picky 7/10

The Hunter

by Richard Stark
This is the first Parker novel and it is hard to describe. I enjoyed it and was willing Parker on even though he is a killer, a woman beater, an out an out criminal. It bugs me that I cannot put my finger on why you end up rooting for him, but you do (or at least I did). Maybe it's the Soprano's thing. Why would you ever like Tony Soprano, but who can't help loving him. Definitely worth a read 7/10

A history of the Barricades

by Eric Hazan
A whirlwind tour of the French barricades from 1588 to 1871-the 1968 barricades were different. It is mostly about Paris but points out that they were used across France and other parts of Europe. It is a book that sets you hunting for more information (I have acquired 2 Victor Hugo boos on the back of it). I enjoyed it immensely and am already planning my next Paris trip to track down some of this history 8/10

The Man I Became

by Peter Verhelst
A novella about a gorilla who gets kidnapped and trained up to behave like a human. He observes and reflects on his life from a time beyond a great catastrophe and it is at times funny, sad and downright weird! I enjoyed it though and it was the right length to avoid becoming stale. 7/10

The Haunted Hotel

by Wilkie Collins
A ghost story set in London and Venice. In true Collins style the plot gallops along as the mystery of what really went on with the older brother in a family is revealed. Great stuff and also coupled with a short story, The Dream Woman'. 8/10

My Brilliant Friend

by Elena Ferrante
Part of a quartet of books that follows two friends from childhood on. It is set in Naples and starts in the 1950's and although at times it moves quite slowly its evocation of Naples streets and childhood memories is fantastic. Definitely worth a read, especially if you grew up in a time when not everybody had a tv or a car 8/10

The Dark Angel

by Dominique Silvain
Quirky crime thriller involving two women, one a burlesque dancer and the other a retired policewoman. Okay but wouldn't rush for the next in the series 5/10

Round up 2015

Have read a number of series books this year, starting with the MadAddam trilogy and starting the Tariq Ali Islam quintet(covered 3 books). Also read Irene from the Pierre Lemaitre crime trilogy, and reread Money from the Rougon Macquart series. Add to this some Harry Bosch and Maigret and I guess you conclude it was the year of the series.
However, my book of the year comes down to one of three from no series.
A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman, a rereading of Great Expectations by Dickens and The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre. If I had to pick one it would probably be Sarah Winman by a whisker, for the way it captures magic in the real.
It would be wrong to end this post without a mention of A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. How this did not win the Booker escapes me. It was the hardest read this year but a book I could not keep away from despite having to put it down for a day or two en route.

The Rise of Islamic State

by Patrick Cockburn
A useful introduction to the stories behind the headlines in the current Syrian mess.
If you didn't think British bombing was misguided before reading this you may be persuaded otherwise reading this book. 8/10

The Great Swindle

by Pierre Lemaitre
There are numerous swindles going on in this book set against the backdrop of the first world war-the greatest swindle of all. I really enjoyed this book. The first chapter is fantastic, leaving you wondering what the book is about and where it will go. After that it is a case of follow the swindles.
This is such a contrast to his detective works but still great writing One of the best reads this year. 9/10

Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens
What Larks! What can I say, one of my all time favourites and the book that kicked off my love of Dickens. Pip is still as annoying, Estella is still annoying but the characters are all wonderful and the book is a joy to read. 9/10

The Concrete Blonde

by Michael Connelly
The third Harry Bosch novel this year. It was ok and gave us a bit more insight into Harry's character. It was a good relaxing read. 6/10

Playing the Whore

by Melissa Gira Grant
A book about sex work by a sex worker.
An interesting book and an interesting take on this area of society. It suffers from continually claiming that nobody outside the sex workers field could write with any valid opinion about the industry. I cannot agree with that but I did like a refreshing look at the issues. 5/10

Satin Island

by Tom McCarthy
Very different from the previous book, this short novel has minimal plot, minimal character development and yet somehow is very engaging. In parts it is very funny -how funny can a corporate anthropologist be I hear you say- and in others very thought provoking. It definitely grew on me the more I read. 7/10

A Spool of Blue Thread

by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler has been accused of only ever writing about family life. As this is the first book I have read by her I cannot comment on that, but if it is true then she does it very well. This is the story of the Whitshanks scattered over several decades and I found it really engaging. Character development is excellent and the story is kept alive somehow with very little happening that wouldn't happen in many families. Good stuff!7/10

Capital in the 21st Century

by Thomas Piketty
This book I have been reading for the past year nearly and have used audio, paper and kindle at various times to complete it. Having said that it is a very engaging read and highlights the need for some form of intervention if we are to avoid the disparity in wealth from increasing at an accelerating rate. The translation by Arthur Goldhammer is excellet. 9/10

Sweet Caress

by William Boyd
subtitled The Many Lives of Amory Clay this is narrated by a women photographer who lives for a large part of the twentieth century. It tells the story of her life and was at its most engaging when she was photographing things. The parts in the Scottish highlands were a diversion. A good read for a long weekend.8/10

The Looking-Glass Sisters

by Gohril Gabrielsen
This book by a Norwegian author makes any nordic noir you have read look like Anne of Green Gables. This is grim fare and although the writing is great in places it is a thoroughly depressing read. Described as a tragic love story it may be better described as a tragic hate story laced with bitterness and resentment. Could not get into this at all 3/10

Lamentation

by CJ Sansom
This is the last in a series of Tudor crime mysteries featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake. It is a very easy writing style that carries you along through all 600 pages to a surprising conclusion. The historical detail is good and yet it is not a taxing read. 8/10

The Moor's Account

by Laila Lalami
The story of a Spanish expedition to conquer Florida told from the standpoint of a slave who was never consulted by history. This fictional account starts in Barbary before the narrator is a slave and follows his path through good times to bad times to slavery and his final inclusion on an ill fated trip to Florida and a march across the south to Mexico.
I found it slow moving to begin with but I became more and more engaged and ending up enjoying the story. 7/10

A Little Life

by Hanya Yanagihara
Where to begin. This is a long novel at 720 pages. It follows the lives of 4 students who meet at college in their late teens and remain friends through the rest of their lives.
However, it soon becomes evident that the story is really about the elusive Jude who has been severely abused as a child and has been left disabled physically, and mentally scarred as a result.
The story of his life is told in a series of flashbacks that are very detailed and harrowing to read. At one point I had to put the book down for three days and gather my courage to pick it up again.
On many levels this book should not work.
1. It is set in a non determined time frame. It covers five decades and yet they all feel like the present.
2. There is very little contextualisation given. No real life figures or events to allow us to tie the story down.
3. Is it possible that somebody as damaged as Jude could rise to the top of a top flight law firm in New York. If the answer is no then much of the violence depicted becomes gratuitous doesn't it.
4. Could four college friends all rise to very top of their field (art, architecture, acting and law) and still be friends.
5. Would an orthopaedic surgeon take on the case of somebody metodically cutting themselves without referring them to other health professionals.

However, even allowing for the points above this is a gripping novel that raises all sorts of debate and drives you on to the end in a compelling fashion. 9/10

The Buried Giant

by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is set in medieval England in a land where peoples memories are being lost and the land is populated by giants and dragons and ogres. A definite departure from Remains of the Day etc but still beautifully told. It is not a genre I particularly like but I did enjoy this. 8/10

A year of Marvellous Ways

by Sarah Winman
I loved this book. The language was poetic and magical just as the story itself is.
It is set in Cornwall and London just after the second world war and tells the story of an old cornish woman and her meeting with a young London man who has returned belatedly from the war in France. 10/10

The Green Road

by Ann Enright
A story of Irish families which Enright does well, and the first of the 2015 Man Booker crop I have read. This tells the stories of four siblings, their lives brought to us in vignettes from the different decades between the 1970's and today. The stories are great and the family have a final get together one christmas when their mother decides to sell the house.
I enjoyed the book up until the end when it sort of fizzled out, but as a master of telling stories about ordinary people in an engaging way, this is a good book. 7/10

The Black Ice

by Michael Connelly
The second book in the Harry Bosch series. We get a bit more background on Harry but I found this not as good as the Black Echo. There was a bit more, Harry as superman, rather than flawed cop trying to get through. It was still a good read focused around a drug gang operating between Mexico and LA. 6/10

The Stone Woman

by Tariq Ali
The third novel in Tariq Ali's Islam quintet is set at the end of the nineteenth century as the Ottoman empire is crumbling. The stone woman of the title is a rock in the family home of Nilofer, the narrator of the title who returns home after a troublesome marriage. All the members of the family go to talk to the rock when they need to get things off their chest. The device is a bit contrived at times but the story is great and is peopled with colourful characters who stay with you long after the last page 8/10

A philosophy of Walking

by Frederic Gros
A look at the lives and motivations of philosophers and poets who have walked. It may sound dull but it is not. It was fun and insightful. Good read for a long train journey. It will make you want to walk home! 8/10

The Black Echo

by Michael Connelly
The first book in the Harry Bosch series. Harry is introduced as a maverick LA cop who is endearing in his own way. The pace is fast as Harry investigates a murder of an old Vietnam veteran Harry served with 20 years before. He falls foul of Internal Affairs and the FBI but as we learn more of his background some of his motivation becomes apparent.
The book was written in 1992 and is noticeable for the lack of mobile phones and the primitive IT used. Good police procedural; I will read more of Harry Bosch 7/10

Communal Luxury

by Kristin Ross
This is a short fascinating take on the Paris Commune of 1871 and in particular a look at why it has become such a rallying point for the political left.
The discussion around Marx and William Morris was particularly interesting as was the sections dealing with Peter Kropotkin. It is a book I will dip back into 8/10

The Women Incendiaries

by Edith Thomas
A great book about the role women played in the Paris commune of 1871.
Their role was significant and the book produces good evidence to refute the belief that the main role of women in the commune was burning things down.
The question it leaves you with is why it took so long afterwards to give women a strong role in French politics and society. 9/10

The Emperor Waltz

by Philip Hensher
First off, this is a long book. I am not sure that splitting stories up between other stories makes this a novel as opposed to a collection of short stories. That aside these are engaging stories on the whole. I particularly liked the story of Duncan trying to set up the first Gay bookshop in London. I particularly disliked the story of Christian, a student at the bauhaus. He and all the other characters were particularly horrible and the last section featuring them was something in nothing. Throw in some christians being fed to the lions and middleclass kids sniffing poppers while the parents had a very nice party downstairs and you have a good collection of stories. Part of the fun was trying to find a link. I failed to find one. Fun at the time but not a book I would race back to. 6/10

Reader for Hire

by Raymond Jean
The story of Marie-Claire who has a beautiful reading voice and places an advert in the paper offering to read to people. She gets an odd assortment of takers and this becomes a very funny book as she tells us of her encounters. I really loved the ending 9/10

Massacre

by John Merriman
This is a very readable history of the events of spring 1871 and the 10 weeks of the Paris commune. These events are made very personal by use of first hand accounts and memoirs, but also takes in the impact that these few weeks have had on subsequent history. He does not hide away the incredible contribution made by women to the commune and what is surprising is that it took so long for women to be given equal rights with men. Many would argue, with some justification that this is still an issue.
This is a very pro communard history but none the worse for that 9/10

The Night at the Crossroads

by Georges Simenon
A really enjoyable Maigret where a man complains about his car being stolen only for it to be found in a neighbors garage with a dead body inside. So begins a long investigation with a number of nice twists, but rest assured, our hero sorts it in the end! 8/10

Restless

by William Boyd
A novel split between World War II and 1976 as a mother unfolds a hidden past to her adult daughter. This was a really enjoyable read and had me hooked from the first few pages. 9/10

Irene

by Pierre Lemaitre

This is the book that precedes Alex but was published in the UK after this.
It is violent to the point of being gratuitous and thereby losing some of its tension. Camille the main investigator in the trilogy is caught uop in a series of brutal murders undertaken by a serial killer who copies scenes from books written at the darker edges of the genre(Ellroy, Brett Easton Ellis etc). The trail leads to a dark and horrific ending.
I did not enjoy this as much as Alex but still an intriguing tale. Some of the tension was relieved by having read Alex first, which gives away the ending to this book. 6/10

Arab Jazz

by Karim Miske

A really enjoyable crime novel set between the 19th in Paris and New York. The story follows Ahmed, who has been mentally injured by a crime seen some years before, following the discovery of a brutal murder in the flat above his own apartment. Peopled with interesting characters across varying cultures and backgrounds it sits nicely between the violence of Pierre LeMaitre and the quirkiness of Fred Vargas 8/10

Dog will have his day

by Fred Vargas
A dog craps near a tree in Paris, that after rain leaves a small piece of bone, a bone that turns out to be human. This sets Louis Kehlweiler on a trail that leads him and his acquaintances (Marthe and the three evangelists) around Paris and on a trip to Finistere.
A murder mystery develops, complete with the quirkiness we have come to expect from Fred Vargas. Great fun 8/10

Portrait of the Writer as a Domesticated Amimal

by Lydie Salvayre
A 2007 novel from a winner of the Goncourt prize in France, This is a satire based around a writer brought in to write the biography of a fast food mandate. Against her better judgement she enjoys part of the lifestyle, and who wouldn't enjoy meeting with Robert de Niro! ...... or Bob as she called him. The subject of her biography is called Tobald and he is in all ways obnoxious. This leads to some very funny passages as the foundations of modern society success is examined, and found wanting 8/10

White Hunger

by Aki Ollikainen
This book is set in 1867 Finland where a failed harvest has led to an appalling winter of famine.
The book is bleak and there is little in the way of happy outcomes and yet the language-even in translation- is beautiful, and helps paint the horrors of the individuals involved. 8/10

The Carter of 'La Providence'

by Georges Simenon
The next in the Maigret series and one I liked a lot. A murder on a trading canal around Paris with a host of suspects and dark pasts. I think the cliché is "vintage Maigret" 8/10

Things to Make and Break

by May-Lan Tan
This series of short stories has everything I like and hate about short stories. You get hooked very quickly to the plot driving the story and then, just as you want to know what happens next, or more about a particular character, its over. End of. If you like short stories these are good. 6/10

Elisabeth is missing

By Emma Healey
This is a mystery with a twist.  The story is told by an eighty two year old narrator suffering with dementia and called Maud. Her current life is full of forgotten words, places, and people. She is convinced her friend Elizabeth is missing and because we only ever hear her confused version of the story it takes a long time to solve the mystery.
However, Maud's long term memory is crystal clear and in these passages she tells us about the events of 1946 when her sister disappeared never to be found.
The two stories intertwine beautifully and the story is at one time intriguing and at another incredibly sad.
Having said that I am not sure the story worked entirely and I was left a little frustrated with the ending. 8/10

The book of Saladin

by Tariq Ali
The second book in an intended quartet that ended as a quintet of novels about the tensions and conflicts between Christendom and Islam over the ages. This book tells the story of Saladin and his rise to power in the twelth century, and his part in what the english refer to as the crusades.
It is peopled with great characters ranging from the sultan's wife, Jamilla and her various lovers, to Eunuchs, to old retainers and not least the Jewish narrator of the story who is employed by Saladin to write an accurate account of his life.
As with the first book I find I love the characters but the story can sometimes be a bit flat. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

by Rachel Joyce
A thin soil for a plot. Harold gets a letter from an old work colleague who is dying of cancer. He writes a reply and sets off to post the letter and just keeps walking from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick on Tweed in Scotland. Along the way he meets an assortment of characters who all help him find himself and come to terms with life changing events in his past. A little like Harold the plot seems to lose its way now and then and, like Harold, could probably have reached the end sooner than it does. The book handles the end well though. 6/10

MadAddam

by Margaret Attwood
The third book in the MadAddam trilogy this book takes the story on beyond the global catastrophe and fills in the backstory on Adam 1 and Zeb as well as several of the other characters. This is a book about endings and beginnings and hope as well as sadness.
I get the felling that the author had fun writing this book. There are some very funny parts such as the story of Fuck and fuck's place in the evolving mythology of the Crakers.
Not as good as the first book in the trilogy I still enjoyed this book. 7/10

The Paying Guests

by Sarah Waters
A novel set in the aftermath of WW1 and a mother and daughter who have lost the men in their family and trying to hang on to their upper middle class standing. With money running out they take in a young couple as lodgers and over the course of a summer their lives become increasingly entwined with disastrous consequences. A new time setting but this is vintage Sarah Waters with drama and tension right to the end, not to mention the odd twist and turn as the story unfolds.
The characters are brilliantly drawn and the detail of life after the war is fascinating 9/10

The Year of the Flood

by Margaret Attwood
This is the second book in the MaddAddam trilogy and tells the story of God's Gardeners in the years immediately preceeding the waterless flood or plague that is at the centre of the trilogy.
I did not enjoy this book as much as Oryx and Crake. I found the characters hard to identify with and it was very late in the book before I managed to sort out who was who. However, it did keep me wanting to know what happened after the flood. Bring on part three! 7/10

The Shadow of the Pomegranate Tree

by Tariq Ali
The story of one muslim family in Southern Spain at the time of the expulsion of the Moors. The family are very engaging and the portrayal of family life is beautifully drawn against a background of the harsh realities of the time. 9/10

Oryx and Crake

by Margaret Attwood
A reread of a book I read first over 10 years ago. I enjoyed it much more this time. It is the tale of Snowman formally Jimmy who is trying to survive and make sense of the post apocalyptic world he lives in. Through flashbacks we learn how this came about and the roles that Crake and Oryx played in it. 8/10

Thank you for this moment

by Valérie Trierweiler
The inside scoop on the Francois Hollande love triangle and what really drove him to the croissant on a scooter caper. Very trashy but some interesting insights to life at the top of French politics. One feels the lady doth protest too much however. 4/10

Money

by Emile Zola
My second reading of this book and still very enjoyable. One cannot help feeling Zola would have loved to have been around in the years following 2008 and have written about unscrupulous bankers and a corrupt financial system. There is nothing new under the sun! 9/10

Holy Disorders

by Edmund Crispin
A tale of Geoffrey Vintner, church organist, summoned to Devon in wartime by his friend Gervase Fen who has asked him to bring a butterfly net. Murder and mayhem ensue, not to mention a spy ring and very little use for a butterfly net. This is a crime mystery told with tongue firmly in cheek and very enjoyable as a result. 8/10

The Sportswriter

by Richard Ford
The life of an ordinary American, Frank Bascombe, living an ordinary life. It was interesting but not gripping and I am not sure how quickly I will return to the other books in this series. 6/10

The Origins of Totalitarianism

By Hannah Arendt
I worked through this as an audiobook which was not the best format in which to read this book. Having said that the book, which is now over 50 years old was fascinating. A lot of her analysis still holds true despite subsequent shifts in power. Definitely a good -but dense-read 7/10

Suspended Sentences

by Patrick Modiano
This is a book of 3 short novellas whose link is Paris and looking back. This is writing for the soul. Nothing great happens and yet the writing is beautiful and a credit o the translator. This has to be near the top of my favorites list for this year 9/10

Perfidia

by James Ellroy
This is the first novel in a second LA quartet but set in the second world war-ie before the first quartet.
It is a wild ride and I found the slang hard to follow at times. It portrays the unreal world of LA just as Pearl Harbour takes place and is told around the murder of 4 Japanese from the same family.
It is hard to split the good guys from the bad guys-which is a large part of the books appeal. I would recommend you try and read this in big chunks-it is 700 pages long-as that helps get into the language and the staccato writing style. 7/10

The Search Warrant

by Patrick Modiano
The winner of the nobel prize so as I had not come across him before had to be worth a try.
The book is simple in concept and very short but I found it absorbing. The narrator sees a newspaper article about a girl who disappeared in the middle of occupied Paris in 1942. He sets out to discover what happened to her. Written in journalistic style it takes us through his investigations over a number of years. It grew on me as I went through it. 8/10

The Night Watch

by Sarah Waters
A foray out of the nineteenth century for Sarah Waters as she writes a book about London during world war 2 and its immediate aftermath. The book starts at the end in 1947 and works backwards in 2 leaps to 1941. It is a device I was sceptical of before reading the book but it is brilliantly executed and very gripping. It will certainly satisfy those who always read the last page of the novel to see what happens! The characters are rendered with so much care and I so wanted to know what happened to Kay. A great read 9/10

We are all completely beside ourselves

by Karen Joy Fowler
A family reflection narrated by Rosemary and concerning her parents and two siblings. A quirky enjoyable novel touching on some current issues. It has been shortlisted for the Booker but I would be surprised if it won

The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien

By Georges Simenon
The third Maigret starts with Maigret performing a swap of a suitcase that leads to suicide. The action then moves from Bremen to Liege to Paris and back to Liege as Maigret uncovers a 10 year old crime. Really enjoyable 8/10

The Children Act

by Ian McEwan
The story is of a high court judge in the family division and her long term husband who is about to turn 60 and is having a sexual crisis.
The book interweaves the stories of some of her cases with her personal drama in a compelling way that McEwan as a great storyteller makes effortless. I found the book thought provoking as well as enjoyable if not a little uncomfortable. 9/10

The Late Monsieur Gallet

by Georges Simenon
The second Maigret novel and a story of hidden identities. Quick and enjoyable caper but not one of his best 6/10

How to be Both

by Ali Smith
This is a book in two halves, one half being about a modern day teenager who has recently lost her mother and the second about a fifteenth century fresco painter. The painter is real but the story is built from the very few fragments that we have. The stories are tenuously connected and I discovered afterwards that the book has been published in 2 versions with the stories placed in a different order in each. I was very frustrated reading the painters tale second as I kept wanting it to return to the other story. I wonder if I would have felt differently reading them the other way around. Now I will never know. Very well written but a frustrating read and an unsatisfactory ending for my tastes 7/10

Orfeo

by Richard Powers
The quirky story of Peter Els. At the time of the novel he is a 70 year old composer/retired music professor who in his kitchen has set up an amateur genetics laboratory. By a string of events this comes to the attention of homeland security and suddenly our hero is on the run. During the course of his running he reflects over his life and we see how two sides of his life have converged to produce his current predicament. Very amusing in places and  an interesting ending. Should have made the Booker shortlist. 9/10

The Long Road to the Deep North

by Richard Flanagan

It is unusual for me to start writing about a book before I have finished it but this book has evoked strong responses in me that have varied enormously.

The book follows an Australian surgeon, Dorrigo Evans, who joins the Australian army at the start of the war and is captured by the Japanese, ending up working on the Burma railway construction. Just before leaving for the war he has a short affair with his uncle's young wife, that has an impact on the rest of his life.

The book ranges back and forwards from the war years to the current day, following the fortunes of both Dorrigo and his fellow prisoners and their captors.

The writing is intense and at times almost poetic with short arresting sentences. At other times any beauty in the language gets overwhelmed by the sheer barbarity of what is being described. It is at this point I have to question whether this is gratuitous gore or something that is necessarily shocking to make us confront man's inhumanity. I don't know. It is certainly not an easy read and has left no options for a happy or hopeful ending.

With the last world war so far away for many of us, it is important that we do not forget the realities of it and the huge waste of humanity that results but is fiction the way to do this, or is it just another form of forgetting? I don't know. I will revisit my musings on this when I finish the book.

So I have finished and I have to say that I found the end of the book a little indulgent. Did we need a chapter on the execution by hanging of a Korean guard-especially one ending in a very clichéd mid –sentence halt as the trapdoor opened. Did the book really need our central character saving his family from the middle of an inferno in a forest fire? It was more Rambo than anything else.

The book has made the Booker shortlist but I would be disappointed if it were to win. 7/10

Pietr the Latvian

by Georges Simenon
The first Maigret novel and great as a straightforward police novel. Maigret has the most accommodating wife in the world who is always there with a good hot meal when he comes home a week late from work. It is of a certain time but a good light read for a journey 8/10

The Dog

by Joseph o' Neill

Longlisted for the booker prize and by the author of Netherland which I really enjoyed.
This is the story of an American lawyer who for various reasons ends up in Dubai working for wealthy emiratis. It is very funny in places but the book never quite grabbed me. It may be more engaging if you had lived in the emirates 5/10

The Exception

by Christian Jungersen
The story of office politics told against the backdrop of genocide. The story is told by 4 workers in a small office at the Danish Institute for Genocide Research. A death threat is received and as the story passes from narrator to narrator so our view of the truth changes and our certainty decreases the more we read. It is a great thriller 9/10

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley
I am not a science fiction fan but this is a remarkable book in many ways. It hints at a future containing many of the things we see today but is at other times rather quaint in assuming things that might still be with us that are not.
The plot, revolving around 2 characters from different castes in the brave new world is moving and funnt at times. Mr. Savage trying to apply Shakespeare to a technical age is fun.
I enjoyed it for being not what I expected 7/10

The French Intifada

by Andrew Hussey

This is a good overview of the problems France faces in living with the inhabitants, and descendants of inhabitants, from their ex colonies. It is very compelling reading and certainly set me off looking for further information. It is a shame that the text is littered with errors-words missing or in the wrong order etc. This made it very frustrating to read and so a low score 5/10

Silas Marner

by George Eliot
This is the story of Silas Marner, the weaver and his life in rural England. Having been framed for a crime he did not commit he leaves a large town and comes to a small village where he makes his living as a weaver. He keeps himself to himself and is besotted with his money which he counts every evening. Two key events in succession change his life forever.
This is a great book told by a master storyteller. I loved it 9/10

The Red and the Black

by Stendhal
This was a fascinating book. The style of the author and his dry sense of humour was great, and the book was full of memorable one-liners, such as "The idea which tyrants find most useful is the idea of God" or "After moral poisoning, one requires physical remedies and a bottle of champagne".
My problem was that I hated Julien, the hero of the novel. Everything about him was selfish, including the fact he hogged most of the book! Still apart from that it was a good read 8/10

Mitterand: A study in ambiguity

by Philip Short
Very readable and as the title suggests highlight admirably the glaring ambiguities in Mitterands life from start to finish. Really enjoyable 9/10

Stoner

by John Williams
This film came heavily recommended and although I enjoyed the writing style and the central character, William Stoner, I found the support characters-his wife, Lomax his enemy in the University, his daughter Grace and others a bit thinly drawn and in the case of his wife, Edith, a little hard to believe in.
Stoner was born on a farm, went to University, married badly, had an affair, taught at the University where he had some scrapes and died. Much more interesting than that summary would suggest but not great 7/10

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker
A quarter of the way through this book I was ready to give up, it was so heavy going, but I am glad I persevered. the characters are wonderfully drawn and it has a very upbeat ending.
The story of a Southern woman in the early 1900's, Celie, her sister, the jazz singer Shug Avery and a host of other characters is both painful and moving, amusing and sad, and entirely engaging 8/10

Capital

by John Lanchester
I listened to this on an audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is the story of the inhabitants of one London street in the years 2007 to 2008 when the financial crash set in and the story of their lives. There is Roger-a banker directly affected by the crash and various characters in between to old Mrs Letherby who is not affected by the crash in any way but who has her own story that is just as absorbing. All these characters hardly ever interact but are propelled forward by a very thin plot line and the absorbing nature of their own stories. You could argue that many of these individual stories are stereotypical, but the characters are delightfully drawn and I felt genuinely sad to leave them and not know how their stories ended. Was it Poland or Hungary or London? Or was it Poland and Hungary! Ah we will never know. 9/10

The Big Sleep

by Raymond Chandler
If you have watched any films featuring Philip Marlowe from the 40's era the book will not come as any surprise. Some of the one liners are fantastic. The story is typical detective fiction but done very well. You know just about what is happening but there is a twist in the final resolution. A great travel/holiday read 7/10

The House of the Spirits

by Isabel Allende
A family saga set in an unnamed but very recognisable country this book is teeming with all sorts of characters from animals-"Barabbas came to us by sea"-children, lovers, tyrants, spirits of the dead and they all combine to tell a story that is magical, strange sad and somehow uplifting all at once. This is not the sort of book I would normally read but I enjoyed it immensely 8/10

Beloved

by Toni Morrison
A story set in the American South just after slavery was abolished. A slave who escaped before abolition is never far from the consequences of her early life which drove her to kill(sacrifice? protect?) one of her young children. Is it a ghost story? It is certainly haunting and will live with me for some time. The characters are beautifully crafted and the pain is shared with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it. 8/10

The Black Dahlia

by James Ellroy
A very dark crime thriller. This is a novel set around a real murder in the late 40's in Los Angeles. I found some of the gore scenes too much but was hooked by the whodunnit element. 7/10

In the Darkness

by Karin Fossum
A nordic thriller with unusual characters but a fast moving plot. Quite a short novel but a good read. I will definitely look out for more by her. 7/10

A Wild Herb Soup

by Emilie Carles
This is a great memoir of a woman growing up in the rural south of France. She was born in 1900 and as well as a personal story it reflects the history of France during the 20th century. 8/10