I haven’t banged on about reading for a while, not because I haven’t been reading, but because I couldn’t think of anything interesting to say. I’m not sure I have anything interesting to say now, but I did promise I would include it as one of my topics, so here, for what it’s worth, is my take on the last five books I’ve read. No plot spoilers, no literary criticism, just rough and ready gut reactions, based on my own particular taste.
PERSONAL: Lee Child. A Jack Reacher book, read in October 2022. Can’t remember a thing about it, except that I enjoyed it because everyone needs a formulaic book from time to time. I speak as someone who has read all the Dan Browns (and watched the movies more than once). Recommendation score: 10/10. Ticks all the boxes an action thriller should, and has a distinct, instantly recognisable writing style.
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO: George Saunders, November 2022. This was first recommended by a friend, and for reasons I no longer understand, I took against it. It won the Booker Prize in 2017 and was critically acclaimed. It sounded difficult and clever, and I wasn’t in the mood for difficult and clever. However, my 2022 end of year’s resolution was to break out of my reading comfort zone, so Lincoln it was. I felt I owed George Saunders the courtesy, seeing as I follow his Substack avidly.
It was utterly brilliant, a fairground ride of a book, a mixture of ghost train and rollercoaster, with a tender story at its heart. Recommendation score: 10/10 for originality, entertainment and the sheer versatility of his writing. And not difficult to read at all, though definitely clever.
OH WILLIAM! and LUCY BY THE SEA: Elizabeth Strout (author of Olive Kitteridge, which was dramatised for TV in 2014 and starred Frances McDormand), December and January. Last year I was lent both of these, and I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. For those not familiar with Strout’s work, these two books are the third and fourth in a series, the others being My Name is Lucy Barton and Anything is Possible.
Recommendation score: 8/10. Points lost because I didn’t fully believe in the main character, however beautifully she is portrayed (won’t say more as it would involve spoilers), but I’m nit-picking. These novels, written in deceptively simple prose, a cross between raw memoir and stream of consciousness, are perceptive and compassionate about human relationships, which gives them enough points to overcome my objections to yet another book about a writer.
THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS: Pat Barker, January and February this year. Another book lent to me, and in the frugal months after the festive season, I was grateful not to have to buy. I had avoided this one too when it first came out, thinking it would be too worthy, with pseudo-archaic language like Madeleine Miller’s Circe which I gave up after the first page. (Apologies to anyone who liked Circe and – although she won’t read this – the author.) I was wrong. Its colloquial style brings to life the physicality of war and the horrors of conquest. Easy to relate to recent history, even though it’s about the Greek-Trojan wars. Recommendation score: 8/10. Points lost because it dips a bit in the middle (good to know that even first-rate authors have saggy middles) and sometime the colloquialism grates. But I’m definitely going to read the sequel, The Women of Troy.
I’ve now dived into the total unknown, a novel called Trees by Percival Everett. Only a few chapters in, so I’ll hold my fire. But this exercise has shown me how safe my reading was, and this year I plan to tackle as many authors as I can to expand my horizons. Let me know if you have any recommendations for my ever-growing list. Although you’ll have to make a pretty good case if it’s sci-fi, fantasy, horror or romcoms.
Thank you, David! We aim to please. And do share any novels/writers you think the world should know about.
Yeas, I must read Angela Carter too. So many shameful omissions from my reading list...