Why Didn't they ask Evans

By Agatha Christie

A crime that would have gone undetected after someone falls over a cliff in Wales. Enter Bobby and Frankie to solve the case. It was a bit Enid Blyton on the audio book I listened to but enjoyed the plot. 5/10

The Liar's Dictionary

By Eley Williams 

A fun novel about words. Set in the current day and the start of the previous century it is the story of a dictionary and some mischief making by one of the compilers in the earlier time period. Great larks and sent me to a dictionary on many occasions 8/10

How Democracy Ends

By David Runciman 

Spoiler alert. This book does not answer the question implicit in the title.

However, it is a thought provoking missive on where democracy has reached in the West and some of the possible paths it might take.

There are some jarring sound bite like sentences but ignore those and it was an accessible and enjoyable read 7/10

Nights of Plague

By Orhan Pamuk 

Pamuk at his best, writing about political shenanigans and religious/racial tensions. All set against the background of the plague. It is a long book but I found it compelling reading 8/10

History. A Mess.

By Sigrún Pálsdóttir

A story set partly in Oxford and partly in Iceland and involving a PhD student who makes a discovery that she discovers later may not be correct. As a consequence of decisions she makes her health suffers and we follow this journey.  Has a great twist at the end 8/10

Writers and Revolution

By Jonathan Beecher

A fascinating book looking at the 1848 revolutionary events in France through the writing of 9 different authors. Each chapter would stand alone and this led to some repetition, but that aside it was an enjoyable and engaging read 8/10

The Prime Minister

By Anthony Trollope 

The fifth book in the Palliser series and one I enjoyed. The heroine was milked of every ounce of melodrama but apart from that it was amusing and painted a more vulnerable side of Planty Palliser which worked well 8/10

Victory City

By Salman Rushdie

A story about a mythical figure who like the novelist creates a city and empire and all its inhabitants from nothing. Rushdie's imagination is amazing and this is a great tale. 7/10

Birnam Wood

By Eleanor Catton

A mystery/thriller set in New Zealand where a billionaire crosses paths with an ecological action group. It was a quick read but it never quite worked for me. The characters were all a bit too stiff and playing to stereotypes. 

Having said that I didn't see the end coming in quite the way it did. 6/10

Shalimar the Clown

By Salman Rushdie

A story spread across the globe but centred in Kashmir and the tensions of that region since partition. 

I found it a slow start but it gathered pace as the novel unfolds. The characters are large and engaging and as ever the plot comes from a fascinatingly creative mind. 8/10

Mirror of our Sorrows

By Pierre LeMaitre

The third in the interwar trilogy which sees some previous characters return as the German invasion of France in June 1940 is taking place.

After a strange encounter between a doctor and a waitress followed by a suicide we learn the history that led to this moment. 

A good read but lacked some of the punch of the earlier books. 6/10

My Friend Maigret

By George Simenon

Maigret has an English detective from Scotland Yard shadowing him and he is not too happy about it. They end up in the South of France investigating a murder of someone who claimed Maigret was a friend. Good yarn 8/10

Demon Copperhead

By Barbara Kingsolver

An ambitious book mirroring David Copperfield in a modern American setting. Damon is brought up on a trailer park and then in foster care. The story follows his life with Damon as narrator.

The writing is good but I found the constant referencing of the Dickens work a distraction. 6/10

The Dead Secret

By Wilkie Collins

Set around a house by the sea in Cornwall this is a mystery about a housekeeper and her mistress and a secret they held between them. The melodrama is a tad too high and the secret is easily guessed, but it was a fun read nonetheless 7/10

The Dynamite Club

 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

The Candy House

 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

Review of the Year 2022

 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.

Companion Piece

By Ali Smith

A really enjoyable book about modern life told through an encounter with a wacky family and a story within the story about a young female blacksmith who may or may not have made the lock which features in the first part of the story.

All good fun with a serious poke at the inept government currently in power. 8/10

To Let

By John Galsworthy 

The last part of the Forsyte trilogy and its weakest.

The story revolves around Fleur and Jon the daughter of Soames and son of Irene. It verges on melodrama but the writing is such as to walk a narrow line that keeps it real.  As a picture of Britain leaving the victorian age this is a brilliant series with wonderfully drawn characters 8/10

The Politics of Imperial Memory in France, 1850-1900

By Christina B. Carroll

This is an interesting book charting the portrayal of Empire in France from Napoleon 111 to the early 20th century.  I particularly liked the way it differentiated Empire at home to Empire overseas and also the way reaction to the second empire was such a problem for republicans.

Having said this the writing style I found difficult and not very engaging 5/10