by John Merriman
A book about late nineteenth century France and the anarchist movement told by following the story of Emile Henry who exploded two bombs in central Paris. It is a fascinating story and told in a very engaging way.
Merriman concludes that there was no Dynamite Club as such but it is easy to draw parallels between the motivations of nineteenth century anarchists and modern day terrorists. Surely, it behoves society to look at the reasons for such actions 8/10
by Jennifer Egan
A book looking just a short way into the future and where social media and technology might take us, when a social media guru invents a technology that can retrieve memories and download them, and also upload them to the collective conscience. Scary stuff. It has a huge cast of characters who interlink over time and place. Some of these characters appeared in A visit from the Goon Squad. Keeping track of them all required a fair bit of mental gymnastics. I enjoyed the first two thirds of this book but for me it lost its way toward the end and as such lost me as well 7/10
A bit less crime this year-only 5 Maigret's, all enjoyable, and a smattering of others, including The Secret Life of Writers
The Booker list was ok but not a classic. My favourite by far was The trees by Percival Everett, a truly different book. I enjoyed the winning novel, The seven moons but a number of the other novels were pretty ordinary imho.
The year was dominated by a couple of Trollopes from the Palliser series, The Forsyte Saga trilogy-which I thoroughly enjoyed, and to celebrate it's centenary, Ulysses. This book was like climbing a mountain but was in equal measure entertaining and so opaque that it became a slog to get through.
Pierene continue to produce good books in translation with my favourite this year being Marzahn, mon amour.
by George Simenon
We go back in time to Maigret's beginnings in the police force and a case which ends unhappily for Maigret but where his methods shine through all the same. A murder in the house of a wealthy coffee merchant gets covered up by the elite-including Maigret's boss. Interesting back story for the other novels 8/10
by John Galsworthy
The second Forsyte novel takes us into the 20th century and the pain of Soames and Irene's divorce set against the background of the Boer war and the end of the Victorian age. Soames continues to be a bastard but is such a great character. 8/10
by Terence Killeen
The guide referred to in the previous post. This book was invaluable in guiding a layman like me through the maze that is ulysses, giving a guide to the style, to the references to Homer's epic and to the many real characters and places referenced in the text. Great reference book 9/10
by James Joyce
Well, well. I have finally finished this book in the year celebrating the centenary of its publication. What can I say. This was a hard read but at times incredibly engaging, as we follow Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus through one day in Dublin. Each section is told in a different style and sometimes different styles within a section. I have to say without a guide to help I would have struggled but I am glad I have read it. As a novel I would give it 3/10 but as a work of such significance you have to give it more and it will stay with me for some time. 7/10
by Manuel Astur
A book about Marcelino, a lone uneducated man who has killed his brother and has to go on the run. But, it is far more than this. A meditation on rural life, on history in this context and what it means to be human. I felt it lost its way toward the end but an enjoable short read. 7/10
by Shehan Karunatilaka
A book based in Sri Lanka at the time of the civil war. Maali used to be a war photographer but now he is dead. We meet him in the immediate afterlife and he has seven nights to decide whether to go into the light or be condemned to living in the halfway house he finds himself in.
He wants to find out how he died and why, and most importantly, to have his photos found and published. We follow him on this journey. It is both funny and sad and contains some horrifying scenes from the war but I found it gripping and thought provoking and one of three books on the booker shortlist I would like to see win 8/10
by NoViolet Bulawayo
A history of modern Zimbabwe where all the characters are animals and apart from Mugabe and the party of Power, only one individual goat is fleshed out in any storyline.
The book is very funny in places and gut wrenching in others. She uses the device of repetition a lot to emphasise a point and overdid it in places in my opinion. I also struggled with the animals a bit. I sort of get Mugabe as a horse and his wife as a donkey but who then are the cows or the ducks or the pigs and goats and why is someone a chicken and not a duck?
If I was more aware of the history I think I would have got more from the story than I did. 6/10
by Cara Black
The first novel featuring Aimee Leduc, a private detective in Paris. The good news is the fact that it is set in Paris and has some great descriptions of areas of Paris.
The story is a fast paced thriller about a murder in the Marais that has links back to wartime occupation and a murder that took place then. I had identified the killer fairly early on and some of the scenes were operating in marvel comic territory. There is also one scene near the end that is like a stage direction for a Puccini opera. I may read another one but Maigret still gets my vote when it comes to Paris detectives 6/10
by Karen Joy Fowler
A historical novel telling the story of the family of the man who killed Abraham Lincoln.
It is the story of a remarkable family but in the end I found it a bit too long and some of the characters not so interesting. However, the writing was very good and kept me hooked until the end, even though we knew all along what the end was. 7/10
by Selby Wynn Schwartz
So the first question I have is whether this is a novel. The author of course answers this by referencing Orlando as biography.
It is a fascinating journey through intellectual, artsy lesbianism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, referencing real life people and events. The unnamed narrator seems to be the lesbian corpus looking and cheering on.
It uses this looping device so the characters keep coming around again. This does mean you want to read it quickly or you can lose track easily.
I really enjoyed the book, although i haven't answered my question but it sent me scurrying to discover more about people like Romaine Brooks and Natalie Barney and that's got to be a good thing. 8/10
by Leila Mottley
This book is set in Oakland and is a fairly depressing tale of poverty in the US and survival against the odds. Despite the grim story line of a young girl, Keira, getting pulled into prostitution this book has an underlying hope and resilience that keeps you hanging in and desperate to see how it ends. 8/10
by Elizabeth Strout
A well told story about William and his ex-wife, Lucy Barton.
William's third wife is leaving him and he has discovered he has a half sister he didn't know existed. This is a third book about Lucy Barton and maybe if I had read the previous two I would have been more engaged but this did not really do much for me 5/10
by Percival Everett
So every so often a book hits the Booker longlist that doesn't feel like it belongs there.
In some ways this is such a book. It is a crime novel and it is very funny in places. It is also a book about racial tensions and hate crimes and the history of black Americans. All in all a strange mix that works and in true Booker style is less unresolved at the end with questions dropped into the readers lap to deal with. A great book but I will be amazed if it makes the shortlist. 9/10
by Hernan Diaz
Always difficult to score the first booker book of the year but this novel grew on me and I enjoyed it.
It tells the story of a rich financier and his wife in the inter-war years but uses a great device which undermines the telling of history and biography. The story unfolds in 4 different books written by different people, the last being the diary of the financiers wife which unlocks the truthfulness-or does it- of the previous three. Great storytelling either way. 9/10
by Georges Simenon
I much prefer generally(maybe with the exception of The Yellow Dog) the novels set in Paris. This novel is very much set around the streets of Paris - although the crimes have largely taken place in Normandy.
Maigret is his normal obsessive self, enjoying the Parisian way of life while fighting crime. Marvellous 8/10
by E.C.R. Lorac
Subtitled a Devon mystery this crime novel was excellent. Although writing as a man ECR was actually Edith Caroline Rivett and she died a year before I was born. This novel was published in 1946, and concerns a man invalided out of the army who rents a farm cottage and works hard renovating it and the garden with it. When he dies in a fire the mystery begins and many false trails are laid. I will try and find more of her writing 9/10
by John le Carre
I found this a bit predictable. The outcome was obvious from early on which left you cringing at some of the scenes as they played out. The training sections were full of technical detail which was tedious. All in all not my favourite 4/10
by John Le Carre
This book made Le Carre's name and it is easy to understand why. Smiley features in cameo appearances but the central character is Alec Leamas. The book is dark and brooding like the character of Leamas. A great book 8/10
by George Simenon
The best Maigret for a while where we learn a bit about the man and the fact he trained for 3 years to be a doctor. This was cut short when his father died and therefore funding with it.
His wife is in hospital and he gets caught up investigating some deaths linked to a prominent doctor in the town. 9/10
by Muriel Spark
A period piece set in South London in the late 50's. It is a fascinating peek into the lives of ordinary factory people and how their lives are upset by the arrival of a very strange scotsman who is not what he seems. Strange, funny and a little unsettling 8/10
by Anthony Trollope
Another Palliser novel.
Phineas Finn is back in London and parliament after the death of his first wife.
He is annoying as ever but the tale is told in an engaging way and is very amusing in parts. The story of the foxes and Lord Chilton is an ongoing source of fun. 7/10
by Rachel Cusk
A series of essays and book reviews that were at times brilliant and always well written. I particularly liked the opening essay on driving in rural areas and the one on Assisi and St. Francis. Some great insights that I recognise but could never of crystallised into coherent sentences in a hundred years.
I was less enamoured with her reflections on relationships where all the essays seemed to be flavoured with healthy doses of angst, catholic guilt and the belief that no matter what the circumstances of peoples lives -they must be wrong and cannot possibly be getting the best from their lives. 6/10
by David Kaiser
A very interesting book on the development of physics over the past century and how much discovery has been made as a result of defence funding. The perils of getting funding to keep research going our well laid out. The physics is well explained although I did get lost in places - this stuff is mind boggling! 7/10
by Jose Saramago
This was a very strange, funny and thought provoking book. It's starting point is death being cancelled one new years eve in a small country somewhere.
The rest of the book explores how people react to this and again how they react when death decides to give people one week's notice of death when she reintroduces death again. I got mixed up at the end when we have death herself having to deal with a returned letter! 8/10
by Thomas Hardy
A typical assortment of Hardy characters in Yeobright, Wildeve, Eustacia and Diggory Venn but one of the biggest characters is Egdon Heath where the story is set. Having visited the area this year the book captures the bits of scrubland near the coast beyond Weymouth and Lulworth cove brilliantly. The story is typically tragic and a bit drawn out but his language and detail is fantastic 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret gets dragged to New York by a worried son and where he uncovers a blackmail plot and a sordid murder from long ago. Not the best as I prefer Maigret on French soil but still intriguing 6/10
by Katja Oskamp
A great tale of a woman who gives up her writing career to retrain as a chiropodist. Each chapter tells the story of one of her clients from the housing estates of Marzahn. I loved it 9/10
by Anthony Trollope
The third Palliser novel and not one I enjoyed that much. Lizzy is an abominable character and the narrator tells us as much at the start of the novel. The trouble is many of the other characters, Frank, Lord Fawn, Mrs Carbuncle and Mrs Hittaway to name a few, are all equally horrible. The novel does pick up pace a bit once the diamonds have actually been stolen but the book is too long for the tale it tells. The Duke of Omnium's brief appearances are great though. 5/10
by Claire Oshetsky
I am still musing over this book. It is no doubt a parable about living with challenging children be that by behavior or disability but this was a difficult read in places and yet fascinating and brilliant in others. I shall continue to think about the owl baby and there are some great musical references that I would urge any reader to follow up. 8/10
by J. Meade Falkner
A real swashbuckling tale in the style of Lorna Doone. Set on the Dorset coast near Swanage it tells the tale of John Trenchard and his life with the smugglers of that area. Good lively page turner although there is never a doubt about the outcome 8/10
by John Mullan
A good read looking at the way Dickens used certain literary constructs to achieve results and how these were often breaking the mould.
It was full of great quotes but it did use a lot of the same scenes over again which I thought was a bit lazy. There was also a lot of reference to Edwin Drood. 6.5/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret has been retired for a couple of years when he gets an unexpected visit from an unknown old lady whose grand-daughter has apparently committed suicide. He can't help himself and gets drawn into a dark family history. Vintage stuff but we never did find out what happened to Maigret's aubergines! 8/10
by Dieter Helm
A thought provoking book examining whether we are on the right track to get to net zero by 2050 or not.
The basic premise of the book is that for the last thirty years (ie since the formation of the UNFCCC) we have been focussed on the wrong things and approaching it the wrong way in that the approach is:
1. Top down from the UN via the annual COP meetings.
2. Measures are aimed at producers and not polluters.
He backs this up with the evidence in the growth of ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere and the continued global growth in the use of fossil fuels, all of which stacks up and makes for depressing reading. One of his aims is to try and make sure we do not give up the drive for net zero as a lost cause. I admire his optimism but am still not convinced.
This being the case, however, he proposes a three-fold solution that would address the problem he has set out. These are that firstly the polluter pays. ie we move from a production based approach to a consumption based approach. This inevitably leads to some form of carbon tax which applies to consumption so it would need to be applied on imports. Interestingly, Europe is already looking at this and Macron raised it in his speech last week when France took over the presidency of the EU. He suggests that this is a simple straightforward affair and less prone to lobbying and corruption. I seem to recall the same things being said about VAT when it was introduced and that is now incredibly complex. However, I do agree that a tax on carbon has to be brought in. We will not pay for carbon voluntarily.
Secondly it is invoking the principle of public money for public goods. This applies to infrastructure and R&D. In particular he focuses on broadband and electricity infrastructures which should be built by public monies and universally available.
Thirdly there should be net environmental gain in anything we do to mitigate the effects of loss and cheating. I found this hard to seperate from the first point in that any net gain will have to be achieved through the polluter pays principle.
I liked the fact that the book does not shy away from the cost of this and even addresses the thorny moral questions of whether the rich industrialised countries should pay for adaptation measures in those countries most affected by climate change or whether we should have an obligation to accept climate refugees.
The final section of the book looks specifically at agriculture, transport and electricity. These were interesting but I got a bit lost in some of the technical arguments. All in all though a good challenging read to start the year. 8/10
by Anthony Trollope
The second of the Palliser novels following the fortunes of Phineas in love and politics over the five years he spends as an MP for his home constituency in Ireland. Very amusing in places and a great commentary on politics of the period. Our hero could be annoying at times but he gets there in the end you feel 8/10
by Abbe Prevost
I read this because of the operas by Puccini and Massenet. It definitely lends itself to opera, with a narrative that is both dramatic and absurd, but having said that I enjoyed it. The character of Des Grieux is much better drawn than Manon but he manages to invoke our sympathy for both. Like all good opera it does not end well! 7/10
David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters
Does what the title says with lots of graphs and charts showing how the virus has affected our lives up to June 2021. Written in plain english and with a light touch this is a very readable survey of the pandemic thus far. 8/10
A criminal year with 10 Maigret's, 2 George Smiley's and a French detective from pre revolutionary France.
The Booker list was quite enjoyable this year. I liked the winner but my favourites were probably Great Circle and A Town Called Solace.
However, my book of the year must be Orlando Figes' book, The Crimean War. It was for a layman like me so engaging and informative. A close run contender would be Desert by JMG Le Clezio.
by J F Parot
The first book featuring Nicolas Le Floch investigating the disappearance of a police officer. Set in the eighteenth century it is a great page turner. 7/10
by Angelique Villeneuve
A book about a family in 1918 Paris where the husband has returned from the war with his face half blown off. It gently tells the story of how they learn to live together again. It is set in bleak times but is told with a gentleness and an overriding sense of hope. I liked it 9/10
by Gohril Gabrielsen
A researcher on her own in the far North of Norway gradually unravelling. I didn't enjoy this even though it has a great if somewhat frustrating end to the book 5/10
by Lisa Taddeo
Not sure what I made of this. Our heroine/anti-heroine is Joan and she is depraved by her own assessment.
The book is her trying to explain to (for most of the book) an unknown character the reasons why she has turned out so. It is a brutal book and yet you do feel drawn to and repulsed by Joan in equal measure. She has so little empathy for others but there are mostly plausible reasons for this. It definitely kept me engaged 7/10
by Herve le Corre
This is an odd but interesting book. It is a love story, a police investigation into abduction, and a history of the Paris Commune or more particularly, it's bloody final 10 days. At times I found it a bit drawn out whereas at other times it fairly rattled along. It managed to portray both the horrors and the hope of the Commune and in some way explain why that hope has travelled down through the years. 7/10
by Stefan Zweig
A brief introduction to Freuds life and work, written during Freud's lifetime (1931). It was interesting but a bit dry in the delivery at times. 5/10
by John Le Carre
The second Smiley novel and very good. No spies in sight but a straight whodunnit in a posh english public school. 8/10
by Richard Powers
A wacky novel even by Powers's standard. It involves a 9 year old boy who has lost his mother and is brought up by his astrobiologist father. They spend evenings travelling to far away planets and days grappling with the loss of Ally (the wife/mother). I enjoyed it but not as much as The Overstory. 7/10
by John Le Carre
The first novel involving George Smiley which involves a number of murders involving the East Germans. What looks like a straightforward suicide is suspicious to Smiley who gets drawn into a typically complicated plot. Great stuff! 9/10
by Georges Simenon
by Anuk Arudpragasam
An interesting book that could easily win this years booker.
At one level nothing much happens. The carer of a grandmother in Colombo dies in the North of the country and the grandson goes to the funeral.
This simple premise is the canvas for some beautiful writing about the process of growing old and the working of memory. It is also an examination of how a country deals with civil war. In a particularly memorable section he writes about a documentary about two young women who are part of an elite suicide squad in the tamil tigers. This real documentary (that I have subsequently watched) is as haunting in his description as it is in the actual watching.
The only parts of the book that did not work for me is where the protagonist examines an old brief love affair he had. So what I felt. As for the rest 9/10
by Nadifa Mohamed
Based on a true story about a Somali Man, Mahmood, who is accused of killing a shopkeeper. He protests his innocence throughout.
He is a rogue but not a killer and the book catches that perfectly. At times, it meanders and gives a lot of padding (too much?) to the characters but a good read. 8/10
by Laura Elkin
A short book of notes made on a mobile phone while commuting in Paris.
Sharp and witty, as well as melancholic in places. Reaction to Bataclan is caught in how I recall the time, shock, despair, defiance. 7/10
by Sunjeev Sahota
A book set in India and the UK across two different times. A young second generation British Indian is trying to kick an opium addiction and is goes back to family in India to try and help.
His great grandmother was one of three girls married to three brothers at the same time, but none of the brides knew who their husband was. She is compromised by a series of misunderstandings and the story gradually unfolds for both her and the narrator.
I really enjoyed this book and would have liked to see it make the Booker shortlist. The judges felt otherwise! 8/10
by Mary Lawson
Set in a town in the far North of Canada the story is told through the eyes of three characters linked in tenuous ways but brought together by an old house and a cat and two traumatic events 30 years apart.
I really enjoyed this book and the balance between the narrators worked well. A special mention to Moses the cat! 9/10
by Karen Jennings
A short book and not one I found that interesting. The hero(anti-hero) Samuel, tells his life story from an island he lives on alone, and which is disturbed by the arrival of a washed up refugee. 5/10
by Damon Galgut
This could have a subtitle of 4 funerals and no wedding (or at least not one we are invited to.
This book traces the fortunes of the Swart family over 30 years by dropping in on various deaths in the family. I started reading this fearing the worst but the book grew on me as it went along. 8/10
by Rachel Cusk
Much more familiar Booker territory than my last entry.
A woman has an encounter with an artist's paintings in the Paris of her youth.
Years later she invites the artist to join her and her family on a remote salt marsh where they live. The book revolves around what unfolds during that summer and what maybe love and friendship means. Parts I enjoyed as good writing, much was very angsty. Not my favourite 6/10
by Maggie Shipstead
Unlike many Booker prize novels this was a gripping story from the start and that maintained that driving pulse throughout nearly all of its 600 pages, The story of a woman looking to make history in aviation by a round the world trip north to south in the 1950's.
The flight was never completed and our hero and her navigator were presumed dead as they were never found.
This is the story of her life and that of her brother and a childhood friend called Caleb. It was a great story and therefore in danger of not making the shortlist! 9/10
by Pierre Lemaitre
This was written in homage to Alexander Dumas and The count of Monte Christo.
It is a story of revenge and a definite feel of Lemaitre letting his hair down and having fun in this story set between the wars. Great fun 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Out to the west again for Maigret where he is investigating a death on behalf of a Paris judge. Nothing official and a very closed tight lipped community and a private detective who once worked for Maigret.
Maigret gets to the bottom of things but once again nobody is prosecuted, a recurring theme in his novels. 8/10
by William Boyd
Set in Brighton in the late 60's this is the story of three different people whose lives interact loosely around a film being made in East Sussex.
As ever the writing is compelling but this is not the best William Boyd novel I have read, bordering on farce at times. 6/10
by Jenny Offill
A novel that is everything Trollope is not, apart from being very funny in places.
Its a short novel capturing much of the angst of modern life. Very readable and lots of tips for surviving when the lights go out! 7/10
by Anthony Trollope
The first of the Palliser novels. A long book with lots of fun interjections from the narrator this is a book that introduces Plantagenet Palliser and his young wife who brings much wealth with her.
The title character is a cousin who is strong minded but changeable to say the least when it comes to love. Thankfully, things have changed in the last 200 years. I ended up forgiving her! 8/10
by Georges Simenon
A murder foretold is a little too convenient for Maigret as he sets about investigating the murder of a clairvoyant. Good fun 7/10
by Georges Simenon
For some undisclosed reason Maigret has been banished from Paris to the provinces. In a small town near Nantes a body is discovered in a house belonging to a retired judge and the judge is trying to dispose of it. Very strange goings on in rural France! 8/10
by Georges Simenon
A body found dead in the cellars of a posh hotel in Paris with fingers pointing clearly at one of the staff.
Maigret gets a trip to the South of France where he seems very out of place, as well as getting mixed up with a rich American before we finally discover the true murderer. 8/10
by Georges Simenon
A melancholy affair this one as Cecile should not have died and to some extent Maigret believes he is responsible. He gets to the bottom of it in the end though :) 8/10
by Juan Emar
A crazy book written by a chilean author in the 1930's. Very funny in places and totally bizarre throughout. 7/10
by Georges Simenon
Another strange case. Maigret has been retired for sometime and is living in the Loire valley near Tours.
His nephew, a policeman, does something stupid and is arrested for murder drawing Maigret back to Paris and his detective work.
I need to read around this as there are 55 more novels in this series and the next one has Maigret back in full detective mode so clearly not published chronologically. 8/10
by George Simenon
An interesting book with Maigret about to retire and a strange barge owner whose past catches up with him. Darker than some but really enjoyable 9/10
by John McGregor
A difficult but compulsive read. Robert, has worked for 30 years in Antarctica for several months of the year. On his last trip he has a stroke in the middle of a storm and further tragedy ensues. The large part of the book deals with the aftermath of these events and Robert's handling of his speech and mobility impairment. It also deals with his wife who holds a senior research post and the effect it has on her life. This gets lost toward the end of the book and I ended up musing on how this would pan out. Thought provoking stuff and written in a totally engaging style 9/10
by Gustave Flaubert
A book made interesting by its historical setting and the key events in the 1840's in France as it passed from monarchy to republic. The plot is limited, following the life of the main character, Frédéric Moreau. He is generally annoying but is in love with the wife of a man called Arnoux who is modelled on a real life character. His character drawing is good and some of Frederic's friends are at times funny, monstrous or to be pitied. I never felt any of this for our hero. 7/10
by Georges Simenon
Off on his travels again, Maigret is in Cannes and Antibes on the cote d'Azur. A man has been murdered. He is a foreigner but has lived in France for sometime and was a hero of the resistance. He appears to have fallen on hard times but there is more to it than that. Very enjoyable! 8/10
by Georges Simenon
Maigret gets shot while on his way to the Dordogne for a holiday.
He has to solve the case from his convalescent bed. Good policing mystery. 8/10
by Max Porter
A very short book telling the story of Francis Bacon's death through his supposed thoughts on 6 canvasses. I felt all through that I was close to seeing what Bacon and the author were grappling for but failed on both accounts. Maybe I needed to know more about Bacon or maybe.......5/10
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A story about robots set sometime in the not too distant future would not normally be my chosen reading but I did enjoy this. It uses the robot Klara to examine what love is and what is human and a playful examination of religious belief. As you would expect all really well written with a bittersweet and almost inevitable ending, 8/10
by Charles Dickens
In many ways a collection of stories but weaved together in a humorous way by the members of the club and Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's manservant. This is one of Dickens's funniest books with a whole host of amusing and sometimes unbelievable characters. Too long some would say, and they may have a point, but hugely enjoyable as a source of escapism 9/10
by Orlando Figes
This was a fantastic book. It manages to bring together official and unofficial accounts from all sides in a major conflict and put them in the context of European history at the time, and all in a highly engaging manner. 10/10
