Books I have read – April 2021 to September 2021

In April 2021 I started to try to note what I have read and what I thought about it.

I have made little attempt to edit my thoughts – some are probably unduly harsh, others wildly enthusiastic. There’s no real pattern to them, though I have often noted when I started and when I finished (if I did)

April 2021

Great Apes – Will Self (1997) – Started, can't get on with it. Will try again later. Nope, just doesn't work for me.

Westwing - Ian Rankin (1999) re-issue Finished. A bit 'crafted' but a good read. And very prescient. Secret space weapons, cover-ups, communications intelligence.

As Long as You Both Shall Live - Ed McBain - (1978) Finished. Very McBain – does seem a bit thin now and less 'gritty' than Mcbain's felt contemporaneously. Much more 'procedural' than I remembered, too.

You Don't Belong Here - Elizabeth Becker -  How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War (2021) Excellent and stimulating book, beautifully written and full of new (to me) insights.

The Swan Machine - Dean Parkin - (2016) Marvellous poetry about everyday life, memories, family, growing up, not growing up. I shall give a copy to someone as a birthday present.

Current Reading (May)

Cadillac Jukebox - James Lee Burke (1998) (on hold)

Dipping into:

Highways and Byways in East Anglia - William A Dutt (1914)

May 2021

The Dark Angel – Elly Griffiths (2018) – Finished. Up to EG's standard. Excellent. Set mainly in Italy, lotsa landscape and witty asides. 

The Vanishing Box -  Elly Griffiths - Finished

The Theban Mysteries – Amanda Cross (1971) – Finished. Discursive novel with lots of commentary on Vietnam war and US reaction. Well-worth reading. Short, as well.

Those Who Are Loved – Victoria Hislop (2019) In progress (22/5/21) Having trouble reading this, though I usually like Hislop's work. It's wierdly flat and lesson-like. Will return later (10/6/21) Still not started up again (24/9/21) (never finished)

On the Shores of the Mediterranean – Eric Newby (1984) Just started (19/5/2021)

Up in Honey's Room – Elmore Leonard (2018). In progress. Very wordy by Elmore criteria. Clever and funny but, for me, too many explanations and historical banter. I think it's possibly very American in focus, addressing US's attitude to fascism, prejudice. Not my favourite Leonard.  Finished 14/6/21

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Margaret O'Farrell (2008) Finished – excellent subject/storytelling, beautifully written, as always. 

The Good Thief's Guide to Paris - Chris Ewan (2008) Started 28/5/21 finished 6/6/21 Interesting and convoluted crime novel, set in modern Paris, but too much unnecessary detail for me. Pleasant style of writing. Would benefit from a hefty edit. 

The Salmon of Doubt – Douglas Adams (2002) Started 28/5/21 Finished 3/6/21 Excellent, interesting essays (esp pp 152 – 155). 

Portrait of the Spy as a Young Man – Edward Wilson (2021) – Started 26/5/21 . Not impressed so far. Still struggling a bit with this, though we're currently on Catesbys first mission as a spy in France in (I think) 1944. And Ted has become obsessed with mentioning Suffolk, and Lowestoft in particular. Sadly, failed to finish. Will try again in the winter. After listening to Ted's talk at Folk East (Aug 22), will revisit. I have enjoyed all of his work in the past, so it's most likely my bad.

Oh Dear Sylvia – Dawn French (2012) Started 27/5/21 – abandoned.

June 2021

The Sentinel – Lee Childer (2019) Started 1/6/21. One of those stupid Jack Reacher 'thrillers' novel that keep you reading because of the storytelling. This is the first Childer novel in which I've got past the first few pages. They always feel to me as though they are written for young teenage boys, echoing the mould of Western loner heroes.(Finished 15/6/21)

Portico – Gideon Burrows (2020). First signed edition. I bought this because I'd been following Gideon's blog as he coped with a brain tumour, and liked his style. It's a novel set in 2030, and it's all about social media, media, conspiracy theories, and time. I started it a year ago, but found it hard going, not least because it needs a good incisive edit, which would help the momentum. I'm going to return to it (14/6/21)

Glittering Prizes – Frederick Raphael(1976). Loved the series in the 70's. Re-reading. Much better than I remembered, I think because the subjects seem even more pertinent.  Story of ambition, education, anti-Semitism, racism, left-wing politics, liberalism in general, failure and success. (18/6/21 – 29/6/21)

Expresso Tales - 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith (2005) Started 20/6/21 great gentle tales of love and failure, superb whimsical characterisation. Smashing. Finished 6/7/21.

A Song For The Dark Times – Ian Rankin (2020) Started 28/6/21 An excellent return to form. Great plotting, lotsa insights into growing old, but I fear John Rebus is about to be shuffled off. Finished 4/7/21

The Last Temptation – Val McDermid (2002) Started beginning of July, but reading other books at same time... 


July

Lights of East Anglia – Neville Long (1983) History of East Anglian light houses. Nicely written. Only read the Lowestoft chapter properly. Lifted info for Lowestoft Old and Now.

The Sea House -  Esther Freud (2003) Started 14/7/21. Finished 20/7/21. Liked this very much, the best of the three Bookclub books so far. Good writing, lovely descriptions, loved the Em and Arri characters, and the artist Max is equally irritating and interesting – from the Acknowledgements, the scroll exists, at least for somewhere.

The Salt Path – Raynor Winn (2018) Started 6/7/21. This is July's Bookclub read. Actually, It's August's read...The action takes place in 2013 (ref death of Seamus Heaney) Finished 13/7/2021. If I'd written this, I'd be proud. But I didn't enjoy it. I didn't like the narrator. I didn't like the narrative devices. I didn't believe it. I didn't believe the facts eg the weight of the rucksacks – far too low for what they were carrying. She rarely had a kind word to say about anyone. It aims to be honest but it feels less than that. It feels strangely contrived. But it's probably just my sensibility... 

The Woman in Black – Susan Hill (1983) July's Book Club read! Started 10/7/21. Finished 13/7/21. Well, that explains the rocking chair in Not Going Out Christmas special! I can see why it's become so popular – spare writing, marvellous descriptions, an unending non-disclosure of information, a gradual increase in the height of the waves of fear – and notions of evil, of revenge, of ghosts, of the failure of Christian beliefs to protect the narrator. Nothing is explained, of course – why the narrator is chosen to suffer, for example, or why, if the result is known, the inhabitants didn't explain what they knew – unless it was a deliberate act, one which would prevent one of their own children dying? That would throw up complicated ramifications – Kestwick? Surely he should be the obvious target for the mother's malevolence? I've probably misunderstood it all. But an enjoyable read, with fine landscape descriptions of marsh and estuary land – I must find a Peregrine passage to compare with.

Hard Revolution – George Pelecanos (2004) (Charity shop) 22/7/2021 Unfinished.


The Drop & The List – Mick Herron (2015) (Library) Started 25/7/2021 It's a re-read for me. Very much enjoying. Finished 28/7/21 Good read, they withstood a second read very well.  

The Last Voice You Hear – Mick Herron (Library) Started 26/7/21. A re-read. Great twist at end of first chapter. Tough, clever, witty, crime writing. Some great characters and characterisation. Finished around 6th August.

August

An Air That Kills – Andrew Taylor (1994) First in a series introducing 50's detective Inspector Thornhill. Very English crime, very even-handed, discursive in style. Liked it. (finished around 10/8/21)

Bird Haunts of Southern England – G K Yeates (1947) Bought off ebay – interesting stories about bird photography during and after the 2nd World War. Features a chapter called The Black Redstarts of Lowestoft, and one on Hickling Broad. Dipping into.

The Catch – Mick Herron (2020) – the third in the series of novellas. This one is funny and so cynical, with enough twists in its 100 small pages to out curl a curly-wurly.

Curlew Moon -  Mary Colwell (2018) – Started 12/8/21. An account of a walk from the west coast of Ireland to Boston, following the time-span of courtship, egg-laying and fledging of the curlew. A lovely book, with superb pen and ink drawings (which I'm diligently copying to help me learn how to do it). I might buy a copy of this book. 30/8/21 - Not really a walking book – more an extended rumination on destruction of wildlife in general.(Library).  Becoming a bit turgid for me. Too much info – though it's 'interesting', she's got so much to impart she's finding it hard to find new ways to express it.

Three Fifths – John Vercher (2019). American crime novel, about character, nurture, identity, racism, single parenting, love. It's a flat, level style which can get on my nerves slightly, but powerful and thoughtful. Also a lot of detail about working in low or mid-level restaurants, and the way you get paid and the organisation. Library. Started 12/8/21. Completed 18/8/21

The Cabin – Jorn Lier Horst (2018). Bog standard who-dunnit/police investigation. Flat, mansplainer style, a sort of superior GCSE level, where the plot is all that matters, it's the jigsaw that counts.(indeed, Jorn uses a jigsaw as a clear metaphor throughout the novel). It worked for me, so although I had absolutely nothing emotionally invested in it, I wanted to see how the writer resolved the crime. Started around 20/8/21, finished 26/8/21.

Waterland – Graham Swift (1984). Bookclub read. (26/8/21 - ) A re-visit to a book I think I love. It will be interesting to get my reaction. Initially rivetting, but beginning to pall now. Didn't get to the end. Lorraine later pointed out the Christianity motifs throughout, which we didn't discuss at Book Club.

Broadland – David Blake (2019) 30/8/21 - . So far, a bit slow. Also, the paper is extremely thin, so you can see the print from the reverse side – I find this very disconcerting. Started again about 19th September. It's OK. I expect to finish it. Unfinished.

Reconstruction – Mick Herron(2008) Started 27/8/21 - . Most excellent. Taken over from Waterland. Finished beginning of Sept. 

Forgotten Tramways of East Anglia(1984) – bought for Trams project and Lowestoft Old and Now history timeline.Article written and put on Lowestoft Old & Now end of October.

Nightmare Abbey – Thomas Love Peacock. I was prompted to get this from the library (County Reserve!) because of hearing Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which I found amazingly funny and modern. I think Nightmare Abbey  was touched upon for O Level (so I would have read it, if indeed I did, in about 1963). Didn't read in the end.