I only ever meant my ‘Recently Read’ sidebar to have three books in it at any given time, but after a while I found myself reluctant to delete them as I liked having a record of my reading. I probably should have started a reading blog, but purely for my own benefit, here’s a dump of the books I’ve read over the last 18 months or so:
Caedmon’s Song by Peter Robinson. Picked up for a, ahem, song in Oxfam but oddly disappointing. Plus partly set in a village near where I grew up and the place descriptions don’t feel right to me.
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton. Patrick Hamilton is the man.
Before the Frost by Henning Mankell.
Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl. How could you not love a cookery book whose first proper section starts “We begin in the autumn because that’s when everything changed. Autumn is a season I love more than any other; for its smoky sense of purpose and half-lit mornings, its bonfires, baked potatoes, nostalgia, chesnuts and Catherine wheels.” On the other hand a (female) friend of mine points out that the only people who like Sophie are men. She also describes Sophie as a ‘simpering blonde’. Like that’s a bad thing…
The Pyramid by Henning Mankell.
Before I Die by Jenny Downham. I wasn’t going to cry. Right up to the bottom of the last page. Then I read the last line and I cried and cried.
The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell. Much more complex than the TV adaptation.
Every Atom Belonging by Dan McKinnis – on Authonomy. Unfinished but I love it.
JPod by Douglas Coupland. Edgy. Or do I mean ASCII 101,100,103,121? Worthy sequel to Microserfs.
Sidetracked by Henning Mankell
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton. So wonderful. London between the wars through the eyes of three very different characters who meet in a pub called The Midnight Bell.
The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark. Diabolical. By which I mean: pertaining to the devil.
The Ill-Made Knight by T H White. Superb.
The Witch in the Wood by T H White. Just marking time – for me and the author I think – until we get to the real deal – the Ill-Made Knight.
Twilight in Eden by David Budd. A wonderful, surprising book. Just wish he’d change the title – but I’m working on that.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. In boot fairs and school fairs I am rebuilding the Alan Garner boxed set lost from my childhood. Trouble was – I just didn’t like this. Not a patch on The Owl Service or Red Shift. Will try Elidor next.
Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. So good. So, so good. Thumbs up. 10/10.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Warming to this very much as I go… dead sinister subtext but deceptively simply told.
Killing Me Softly by Nicci French. Good, but would she, would she have gone off with him like that?!
The Sword in the Stone by T H White – without this there would have been no Harry Potter. Taking me even longer to read… too heavy to read on the train as it’s part of the whole Once And Future King sequence in one volume.
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton – love the writing, the style, the tone. Took me ages to read, though. Very different to the film.
Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds. Just perfect, even if I’m not sure about the punchline. But then you need something to smile about at the end.
Bye Bye Birdie by Shirley Hughes – a graphic novel for grown ups by a great children’s illustrator
Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds – oh Tamara Drewe, how do I love thee, let me count the ways… always loved Posy Simmonds since The Silent Three strip back in The Guardian but this is on another level. A work of genius, a truly great graphic novel.
Les Belles Images by Simone de Beauvoir
The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
A Necessary End by Peter Robinson
A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson
The Body on the Beach by Simon Brett
Bitter Medicine by Sarah Paretsky
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Aftermath by Peter Robinson – one of the best of the half dozen or so Inspector Banks novels I’ve read
Raking the Ashes by Anne Fine
Gallows View by Peter Robinson
The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine
The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
The Complete Peanuts 1955-6 by Charles M Schultz
A Song of Stone by Iain Banks – oh soddit I’m giving up on this on page 77. Over-written. Annoying. I really only like 2 Iain Banks books: ‘The Crow Road’ and ‘Complicity’.
The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin
Death is not the End by Ian Rankin
Craven House by Patrick Hamilton (wonderful, beautifully written and observed, much funnier than I was expecting but this is an early work before he got bitter)
Canal Dreams by Iain Banks (the trouble with this is that other people’s dreams are never that interesting… I ended up skipping the dreams just to get to the end. Just read that Banks thinks it’s his worst book and I can see why.)
Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (some great ideas but not quite sufficiently well-executed – unlike the characters from Jane Eyre, Mr Fforde’s own characters fail to spring to life)
