Day Ten

Day 10 – Favourite classic book

Hmmm .. I need to think about this one!

Ok, well I could pick any of about twenty or thirty favourites, but if pushed I'd have to go for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice even though that seems like the most predictable of answers, it's the first classic that I ever read for pleasure and it encouraged me to try other classic stories. Also, I love the humour in it, it's the sort of humour I love best .. observational and at times absurd.

The list of those that I also love would be as long as your arm .. I'll just mention a few ...
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford

Money : A Suicide Note

Synopsis: This is the story of John Self, consumer extraordinaire. Rolling around New York and London, he makes deals, spends wildly and does reckless movie-world business, all the while grabbing everything he can to sate his massive appetites: alcohol, tobacco, pills, pornography, a mountain of junk food and more. Ceaselessly inventive and thrillingly savage, this is a tale of life lived without restraint; of money, the terrible things it can do and the disasters it can precipitate.

Review: This book is truly filthy, my ears were blushing as I listened (I'm sure it made it worse to listen .. there was just no escape .. the words just came blaring out of my headphones.) Having said that I don't know if I would have ploughed on with it if I'd been reading it. It's a great big book of sleaze.

This is a searing, cynical look at life in the 1980's for the rich and successful John Self. John is an ad director who is now working on his first feature film. He spends his time between London and New York basically indulging in all the worst habits of the rich and privileged ... booze, drugs, porn and fast food, it's all so seedy that you feel quite grubby reading it but the story is laced with deep, deep sarcasm and irony. Amis is having a pop at celebdom here and the Hollywood film industry in particular and he doesn't pull his punches. John is killing himself with his excesses, he knows it, but he just can't help himself, he binges and indulges to the point of saturation. He behaves abominably and so does everyone around him, there is nothing or no-one that can't be bought with money. John has a number of friends (or more accurately hangers on) who are palpably only interested in him because of his success, they are shallower than a puddle, but the lifestyle is just too addictive and John is in deep. He veers between self loathing and self justification, sometimes believing he can pull himself back from the brink sometimes revelling in his hedonistic lifestyle.

It's a very funny book in a dark sort of way, hilarious at times and also totally cringeworthy (awful toe curling scenes between John and his father's girlfriend who shows him her centrefold pictures) but it's also a bit depressing, probably because it's just so repellent, it made me feel physically sick as John wallowed around too boozed up to function properly doing irreversible damage to his health (he's obese, with rotting teeth, tinnitus and a dodgy heart) and being mysogynistic. There is a point in the story where you feel he might just turn it all around and, though he isn't really likeable in any way, you're hoping that he will (though the sub-title is a bit of a giveaway.)

Amis is a really clever writer and there are moments of sheer genius, John's ramblings are the best part, he gets all the good lines and I loved his sarcasm. I quite liked the way Amis wrote himself in as a character, the ordinary fairly sensible writer who John asks to write the screenplay .. he sort of sees John in the same way as we do, a bit appalled by his lifestyle, wishing he would change but not being at all surprised when he doesn't. I also liked the way in which various people tried to rehabilitate John by getting him to read proper books (something other than porn in other words.)

Not a book to be lent to anyone of a nervous disposition and not for those who are easily offended ... definitely don't lend it to your gran/mum/neighbour .. not unless they are fairly broad minded with their reading choices.

It's clever (sometimes just a bit too clever) and I can see that Amis is a really accomplished satirist .. it's just that I didn't particularly enjoy listening all that much .. after all, as someone or the other said, 'young ladies are delicate plants.'

Despite the fact that it made me blush from the knees upwards, Stephen Pacey's narration is sensational.

Day Nine

Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving.

A Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It's got a bit of a gloomy, if not to say sinister, reputation, there's all that stuff about it being the book that motivated Mark Chapman to shoot and kill John Lennon so I was expecting it to be pretty bleak and to have a subtext running through it that encouraged readers to go out on the rampage. It is said to be the book he had asked John to sign earlier in the day but then it could just as well of been 'The House at Pooh Corner' ... it's a bit unfair to blame a book because someone who's clearly unstable has gone out and committed a murder.
Holden, the main character, is a depressive and he hates phonies but in no way is he violent, or an instigator of violence. I was quite touched by his narration, he's a young man trying to figure out the world and trying to come to terms with the death of his younger brother. He's angsty and troubled and doesn't always handle things in the best way but he recognises that eventually and seeks help.
Its a book that makes the lists for 'most overrated book' regularly so obviously it's not for everyone, there's not much light in it and the plot is quite thin, nothing much happens, but I'm ok with those sort of intimate novels where you just spend time in the protagonists head, as long as that head has interesting thoughts. I guess I loved it more because I was expecting to hate it.

The Bell

Waterstones Synopsis: Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to live with her husband in a lay community encamped outside Imber Abbey, home to a mysterious enclosed order of nuns. Watched over by its devout director and the discreet authority of the wise old Abbess, Imber Court is a haven for lost souls seeking tranquility. But then the lost Abbey bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered, and hidden truths and desires are forced into the light.

Review: I am such a fan of Iris, she writes so intelligently and her characters always seem so real, she doesn't make them particularly likeable or striking, they're always fairly ordinary but with just a few words she manages to paint them into life and you feel as if you could pick them out anywhere, similarly she gives you such a great sense of location that you would know the place immediately should you come across it but she's never flowery or overly descriptive. She clearly loves delving into the psychology of her characters and finding out what makes them tick, that's always a major part of any Iris novel (or those I've read so far anyway,) she often makes her characters disagreeable, they do things or have done things that are distasteful but the author never seems to be judging them or condemning them .. she's merely observing them and, for the most part, the reader is inclined to do the same.

This story has multiple narrators, firstly we are introduced to Dora who, after a short separation (and I loved the first line .. 'Dora Greenfield left her husband because she was afraid of him. She decided six months later to return to him for the same reason.' ) is joining her husband at the mysterious Imber Abbey where he is working on the research of some ancient manuscripts. The Abbey is home to a lay community, with the addition of an adjoining enclosed order of nuns (why that should be creepy I don't know but there's something a little sinister about silent nuns.) What should be a place of calm is really a seething mass of repressed feelings and inner struggles .. nobody is saying anything out loud but they're all paddling like mad beneath the surface .. struggling to keep up a sense of normality with the nuns silently observing.

The other characters in the community are a mixed bunch .. most of them have secrets to hide and there is a lot of moral deliberation and soul searching. Apart from Dora, one of the main characters is Michael, the leader of the community who has all sorts of demons perched on his shoulder, the main one being a disgraced past involving a homosexual encounter with a teenage pupil at a public school where Michael taught. He felt he had put most of this behind him but that young teenager is now a dissolute young man and he has found his way to Imber seeking refuge. There is also young Toby, a newcomer to Imber, who has rekindled some of those old memories. Michael finds he is back in the struggle between the spiritual side of his nature and his sexual inclinations, it's a struggle that has never really gone away.

The community are awaiting the arrival of a new bell, the old bell having mysteriously vanished centuries before. After Dora arrives at Imber, Paul tells her about a legend surrounding the bell '...sometime in the fourteenth century, that was before the dissolution, the story runs that one of the nuns had a lover. Not that that was so very unusual I daresay at that time, but this order had evidently had a high standard. It was not known who the nun was. The young man was seen climbing the wall once or twice and ended up by falling and breaking his neck. The wall, which still exists incidentally, is very high. The Abbess called on the guilty nun to confess, but no-one came forward. Then the Bishop was called in. The Bishop, who was an especially holy and spiritual man, also demanded that the guilty one should confess. When there was still no response he put a curse on the Abbey, and as the chronicler puts it, the great bell "flew like a bird out of the tower and fell into the lake" .. the guilty nun was so overwhelmed by this demonstration that she forthwith ran out of the Abbey gates and drowned herself in the lake.' and this legend seems all the more thrilling when Toby tells Dora of an object, that he has discovered, buried deep in the lake which may well be the ancient bell.

I love the suspense Iris builds in this novel, it was palpable .. I was always waiting for the shock or jolt to come and it frequently gave me the shivers. I got a bit carried away at times (having seen too many episodes of 'Midsomer Murders' most likely) and expected the giant bell to come crashing down on an unsuspecting victim but Iris is subtler than that. Like all the novels that I've read of hers so far, the story is multi layered and it's almost impossible to give an accurate account of it .. it's the sort of book that has so much going on that a repeat reading is a must. I'm sure I missed lots of subtleties. I'm always marvelling at how clever she is, she doesn't make it complex but there's always lots to contemplate.

Like a really good episode of 'Cadfael'

Day Eight

Day 08 – Most overrated book

Oh dear, this will put the cat amongt the pigeons, let me say at the outset I don't really believe in the term overrated (or underrated I guess) .. it's just a question of personal taste. If I don't like a book it doesn't mean it's overrated if a million other people love it, it just means it wasn't for me.

So the book that wasn't for me but was for a lot of other people is Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (which is often classed as one book on the lists) ... that's not to say that I hated all three of them, I just got steadily more disappointed and disillusioned with them. I thought they had some great ideas (loved the depiction of the dæmon's and the armoured polar bears) and I quite enjoyed the first book The Golden Compass .. or Northern Lights as we say this side of the pond. I didn't enjoy the other two much, I don't know what it was, some of the ideas seemed re-hashed and hackneyed. The main problem was that I didn't care enough about Lyra or Will ... I guess, having at the time lately read Harry Potter, I was comparing them to Harry, Ron and Hermione .. you feel you know their characters inside out but Lyra and especially Will felt too one-dimensional to me.

Dear Mr Bigelow

Synopsis: Dear Mr Bigelow is an enchanting collection of weekly letters written between 1949 and 1961 from an unmarried woman working at the Public Baths in Bournemouth, to a wealthy American widower in New York. Frances Woodsford and Paul Bigelow never met, yet their epistolary friendship was her lifeline. We follow Frances' trials with her ghastly boss Mr Bond; the hilarious weekly Civil Defence Classes as the Cold War advances; her attempts to shake off an unwanted suitor, and life at home with her mother and her charming ne'er-do-well brother. Sparked with comic genius, the letters provide a unique insight into post-war England and the growth of an extraordinary friendship.

Review: I read this at the same time as reading Veronika Decides to Die and I'm glad I did because it was the perfect antidote. Whilst VDTD was (I thought) dreary and flat, Dear Mr Bigelow was lively and full of spark.

This is a book containing the letters sent to Mr Bigelow (and she wrote him a weekly letter for twelve years,) a retired captain living in Long Island, New York by Frances Woodsford a 36 year old living in Bournemouth England, and working as as secretary in the Bournemouth Public Baths. We never ever read Mr Bigelow's replies because Frances didn't keep them. She was told, after Mr Bigelow's death, that her correspondence to him had not been kept and after a few years she discarded his too (she said they were a bit haphazard anyway and were just scrawls written on scraps) but a few years later she was contacted and told that the letters had been found. You get a strong impression of what Mr Bigelow was like though from Frances's replies, they shared a similar sense of humour and anything that was thought could entertain the other would be cut out and sent.

Frances had started writing to Mr Bigelow as a kindness to his daughter who was a good friend and who often sent over precious food/clothing packages etc from America (for though it was the 1950's, rationing was still in strict operation in Britain,) but she soon grew to enjoy their correspondence. Frances always typed her letters during her lunch hour at the public bath's, she called them her 'Saturday Specials' but they were just as likely to be written on any day of the week .. she always mailed them on a Friday though. She has that happy knack of writing letters as if she's chatting to the recipient, they're full of news and gossip and accounts of her daily life. She lives at home with her mother and brother Mac and is often exasperated by the pair of them especially Mac who get's away with murder (not literally .. just that, like a lot of men from that era, he is used to being waited on hand and foot by the women.)

'Dear Mr Bigelow,
... My brother is very fond of telling the story of Dr Johnson who was said to have spat out a mouthful of too hot soup with the remark "some dam' fool would have swallowed that." Not that my brother does more than copy the remark, I would have you know. My brother does seem sometimes to be ashamed to be seen in public with me. One fine day, when I am out with the scion of the Woodsford family, I will do everything I know, and a few things I imagine, to give him really something to be shamed for - I shall scratch, hitch my skirts, smooth my girdle, pick my ear, run my nails through my hair for dandruff; stare at people; laugh like a nosiy hyena, and belch, whenever we come within hearing distance of any and everybody. That'll larn him.
The peculiar thing is that I really know my one and only brother isn't ashamed of me. At least, I am always clean and tidy in public, and fairly quiet. I wore gloves (as I always do) and a hat, and my fur cape, a decent quiet dress and stockings. He wore a tennis shirt (he did have a tie, I will grant you) but no hat (he never does) and no gloves. So why he should act as though I were a leprous barmaid, heaven knows! In the street, we alternately crawled along to avoid catching up with somebody he knew, or raced along side streets to ensure meeting as few people as possible. It brings out the nasty, catty side of my nature, and I dream of becoming the Hampshire Lady Tennis Champion (much chance!) and then joining his club after they begged me to do so on bended knee, just for the pleasure of refusing to associate with Mac. See what a horrid nature I have at bottom, but you won't tell anybody, I know ...'

A great snapshot of what it was like to live in Britain during the 1950's. Frances could draw well too and the letters are full of great little illustrations as well as a sprinkling of photo's. Anyone who loved reading Nella Last's Mass Observation diaries will love this. Frances could be bossy and terribly competitive but you can't help becoming fond of her.

Progress on the 1001 (2006 version)

Pre-1700

1001. Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus
1000. Metamorphoses – Ovid
999. Chaireas and Kallirhoe – Chariton
998. Aithiopika – Heliodorus
997. The Golden Ass – Lucius Apuleius
996. The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
995. Gargantua and Pantagruel – François Rabelais
994. Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit – John Lyly
993. The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe
992. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
991. The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
990. The Princess of Clèves – Marie-Madelaine Pioche de Lavergne, Comtesse de La Fayette
989. Oroonoko – Aphra Behn

1700s

988. A Tale of a Tub – Jonathan Swift
987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
986. Love in Excess – Eliza Haywood
985. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
984. Roxana – Daniel Defoe
983. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
982. A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
981. Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding
980. Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus – J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, A. Pope, J. Swift
979. Pamela – Samuel Richardson
978. Clarissa – Samuel Richardson
977. Roderick Random – Tobias George Smollett
976. Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
975. Fanny Hill – John Cleland
974. Peregrine Pickle – Tobias George Smollett
973. Amelia – Henry Fielding
972. The Female Quixote – Charlotte Lennox
971. Candide - Voltaire ***
970. Rasselas – Samuel Johnson
969. Julie; or, the New Eloise – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
968. Rameau’s Nephew – Denis Diderot
967. Émile; or, On Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
966. The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole
965. The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith
964. Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne
963. A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne
962. The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie
961. Humphrey Clinker – Tobias George Smollett
960. The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
959. Evelina – Fanny Burney
958. Reveries of a Solitary Walker – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
957. Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
956. Confessions – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
955. Cecilia – Fanny Burney
954. The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
953. Vathek – William Beckford
952. Justine – Marquis de Sade
951. The Adventures of Caleb Williams – William Godwin
950. The Interesting Narrative – Olaudah Equiano
949. The Mysteries of Udolpho – Ann Radcliffe
948. Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
947. The Monk – M.G. Lewis
946. Camilla – Fanny Burney
945. Jacques the Fatalist – Denis Diderot
944. The Nun – Denis Diderot
943. Hyperion – Friedrich Hölderlin

1800s

942. Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth
941. Elective Affinities – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
940. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
939. The Absentee – Maria Edgeworth
938. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
937. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
936. Emma - Jane Austen
935. Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
934. Ormond – Maria Edgeworth
933. Persuasion - Jane Austen
932. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
931. Frankenstein - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
930. Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
929. The Monastery – Sir Walter Scott
928. Melmoth the Wanderer – Charles Robert Maturin
927. The Albigenses – Charles Robert Maturin
926. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg
925. Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper
924. The Betrothed – Alessandro Manzoni
923. The Red and the Black – Stendhal
922. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
921. Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
920. Le Père Goriot – Honoré de Balzac
919. The Nose - Nikolay Gogol
918. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
917. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
915. The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal
914. Dead Souls – Nikolay Gogol
913. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
912. Lost Illusions – Honoré de Balzac
911. The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
910. Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
908. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
907. La Reine Margot – Alexandre Dumas
906. The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
905. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
904. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
903. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë
902. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
901. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë
900. Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell
899. Shirley – Charlotte Brontë
898. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
897. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
896. Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
895. The House of the Seven Gables – Nathaniel Hawthorne
894. The Blithedale Romance – Nathaniel Hawthorne
893. Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
892. Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell

891. Villette – Charlotte Brontë
890. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
889. Walden – Henry David Thoreau
888. Hard Times – Charles Dickens
887. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
886. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
885. Adam Bede – George Eliot
884. Oblomovka – Ivan Goncharov
883. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
882. Max Havelaar – Multatuli
881. The Marble Faun – Nathaniel Hawthorne
880. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
879. The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
878. Castle Richmond – Anthony Trollope
877. On the Eve – Ivan Turgenev
876. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
875. Silas Marner – George Eliot
874. Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
873. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
872. The Water-Babies – Charles Kingsley
871. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
870. Uncle Silas – Sheridan Le Fanu
869. Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
868. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
867. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
866. Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
865. The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
864. Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
863. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
862. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
861. The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
860. Maldoror – Comte de Lautréaumont
859. Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
858. Sentimental Education – Gustave Flaubert
857. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
856. He Knew He Was Right – Anthony Trollope
855. King Lear of the Steppes – Ivan Turgenev
854. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
853. Middlemarch – George Eliot
852. Spring Torrents – Ivan Turgenev
851. Erewhon – Samuel Butler
850. The Devils – Fyodor Dostoevsky
849. In a Glass Darkly – Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
848. Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
847. The Enchanted Wanderer – Nicolai Leskov
846. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
845. The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert
844. The Hand of Ethelberta – Thomas Hardy
843. Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
842. Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev
841. Drunkard – Émile Zola
840. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
839. Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
838. The Red Room – August Strindberg
837. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
836. Nana – Émile Zola
835. Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace
834. Bouvard and Pécuchet – Gustave Flaubert
833. The Portrait of a Lady – Henry James
832. The House by the Medlar Tree – Giovanni Verga
831. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
830. A Woman’s Life – Guy de Maupassant
829. The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
828. Against the Grain – Joris-Karl Huysmans
827. Marius the Epicurean – Walter Pater
826. Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
824. Germinal – Émile Zola
823. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
822. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
821. The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
820. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
819. She – H. Rider Haggard
818. The Woodlanders – Thomas Hardy
817. The People of Hemsö – August Strindberg
816. Fortunata and Jacinta – Benito Pérez Galdés
815. Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant ***
814. The Master of Ballantrae – Robert Louis Stevenson
813. Hunger – Knut Hamsun
812. By the Open Sea – August Strindberg
811. La Bête Humaine – Émile Zola
810. The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy
809. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
808. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
807. Gösta Berling’s Saga – Selma Lagerlöf
806. New Grub Street – George Gissing
805. News from Nowhere – William Morris
804. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
803. The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith
802. Born in Exile – George Gissing
801. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
800. The Real Charlotte – Somerville and Ross
799. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
798. Effi Briest – Theodore Fontane
797. the Time Machine - H.G. Wells
796. The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
795. Quo Vadis – Henryk Sienkiewicz
794. Dracula - Bram Stoker
793. Fruits of the Earth – André Gide
792. What Maisie Knew – Henry James
791. The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
790. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
789. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
788. The Awakening – Kate Chopin
787. The Stechlin – Theodore Fontane
786. Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. – Somerville and Ross

1900s

785. Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
784. Sister Carrie – Theodore Dreiser
783. Kim – Rudyard Kipling
782. Buddenbrooks – Thomas Mann
781. The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
780. The Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
779. The Wings of the Dove – Henry James
778. The Immoralist – André Gide
777. The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
776. The Ambassadors – Henry James
775. The Golden Bowl – Henry James
774. Hadrian the Seventh – Frederick Rolfe
773. Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
772. Where Angels Fear to Tread – E.M. Forster
771. Professor Unrat – Heinrich Mann
770. The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
769. The Forsyte Sage – John Galsworthy
768. Young Törless – Robert Musil
767. The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
766. The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
765. Mother – Maxim Gorky
764. The House on the Borderland – William Hope Hodgson
763. The Old Wives’ Tale – Arnold Bennett
762. The Iron Heel – Jack London
761. A Room With a View - E.M. Forster
760. The Inferno – Henri Barbusse
759. Tono-Bungay – H.G. Wells
758. Strait is the Gate – André Gide
757. Martin Eden – Jack London
756. Three Lives – Gertrude Stein
755. Impressions of Africa – Raymond Roussel
754. Howards End – E.M. Forster
753. Fantômas – Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre
752. Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton
751. The Charwoman’s Daughter – James Stephens
750. Death in Venice – Thomas Mann
749. Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence
748. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
747. Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
746. Rosshalde – Herman Hesse
745. Locus Solus – Raymond Roussel
744. Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
743. The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
742. The Rainbow – D.H. Lawrence
741. Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
740. The Voyage Out – Virginia Woolf
739. The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
738. Rashomon – Akutagawa Ryunosuke
737. Under Fire – Henri Barbusse
736. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
735. Bunner Sisters – Edith Wharton
734. Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsen
733. Summer – Edith Wharton
732. The Shadow Line – Joseph Conrad
731. The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
730. Tarr – Wyndham Lewis
729. Night and Day – Virginia Woolf
728. Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence
727. Main Street – Sinclair Lewis
726. The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
725. Crome Yellow – Aldous Huxley
724. The Fox – D.H. Lawrence
723. Ulysses – James Joyce
722. Babbitt – Sinclair Lewis
721. Aaron’s Rod – D.H. Lawrence
721. The Last Days of Humanity – Karl Kraus
719. Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
718. The Glimpses of the Moon – Edith Wharton
717. Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
716. Jacob’s Room – Virginia Woolf
715. The Enormous Room – E.E. Cummings
714. The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
713. Amok – Stefan Zweig
712. Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
711. Cane – Jean Toomer
710. Zeno’s Conscience – Italo Svevo
709. The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet
708. A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
707. We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
706. The Magic Mountain – Thomas Mann
705. The Green Hat – Michael Arlen
704. Billy Budd, Foretopman – Herman Melville
703. The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
702. The Artamonov Business – Maxim Gorky
701. The Trial - Franz Kafka
700. The Counterfeiters – André Gide
699. The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
698. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
697. Manhattan Transfer – John Dos Passos
696. The Making of Americans – Gertrude Stein
695. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
694. One, None and a Hundred Thousand – Luigi Pirandello
693. The Plumed Serpent – D.H. Lawrence
692. The Good Soldier Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek
691. The Castle – Franz Kafka
690. Blindness – Henry Green
689. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
688. Amerika – Franz Kafka ***
687. Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson
686. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
685. Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust
684. Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
683. Nadja – André Breton
682. Parade’s End – Ford Madox Ford
681. Quicksand – Nella Larsen
680. Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
679. Quartet – Jean Rhys
678. The Childermass – Wyndham Lewis
677. The Well of Loneliness – Radclyffe Hall
676. Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence
675. Orlando – Virginia Woolf
674. Story of the Eye – Georges Bataille
673. Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe
672. Les Enfants Terribles – Jean Cocteau
671. The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner
670. Harriet Hume – Rebecca West
669. The Last September – Elizabeth Bowen
668. Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
667. All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
666. The Time of Indifference – Alberto Moravia
665. Living – Henry Green
664. Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
663. A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
662. Passing – Nella Larsen
661. Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico
660. The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
659. Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh
658. Her Privates We – Frederic Manning
657. The Apes of God – Wyndham Lewis
656. Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
655. The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
654. The Waves – Virginia Woolf
653. The Radetzky March – Joseph Roth
652. The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett
651. To the North – Elizabeth Bowen
650. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
649. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
648. Journey to the End of the Night – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
647. A Scots Quair (Sunset Song) – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
646. The Man Without Qualities – Robert Musil
645. A Day Off – Storm Jameson
644. Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
643. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
642. Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
641. Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
640. Call it Sleep – Henry Roth
639. Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse
638. Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
637. A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh
636. Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
635. The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain
634. Novel With Cocaine – M. Ageyev
633. Threepenny Novel – Bertolt Brecht
632. The Nine Tailors – Dorothy L. Sayers
631. Burmese Days – George Orwell
630. England Made Me – Graham Greene
629. The House in Paris – Elizabeth Bowen
628. They Shoot Horses, Don't They - Horace McCoy
627. The Last of Mr. Norris – Christopher Isherwood
626. Auto-da-Fé – Elias Canetti
625. Independent People – Halldór Laxness
624. Nightwood – Djuna Barnes
623. At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
622. Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner
621. Wild Harbour – Ian MacPherson
620. Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
619. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
618. The Thinking Reed – Rebecca West
617. Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley
616. Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner
615. To Have and Have Not – Ernest Hemingway
614. Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)
613. The Revenge for Love – Wyndham Lewis
612. In Parenthesis – David Jones
611. The Years – Virginia Woolf
610. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
609. Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
608. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
607. Murphy – Samuel Beckett
606. U.S.A. – John Dos Passos
605. Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
604. Cause for Alarm – Eric Ambler
603. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
602. Nausea – Jean-Paul Sartre
601. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
600. After the Death of Don Juan – Sylvie Townsend Warner
599. The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
598. Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys
597. Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller
596. Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood
595. Coming Up for Air – George Orwell
594. At Swim-Two-Birds – Flann O’Brien
593. Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
592. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
591. Party Going – Henry Green
590. The Tartar Steppe – Dino Buzzati
589. The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
588. Native Son – Richard Wright
587. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
586. Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler
585. The Hamlet – William Faulkner
584. Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
583. Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
582. The Living and the Dead – Patrick White
581. The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien
580. Conversations in Sicily – Elio Vittorini
579. The Outsider – Albert Camus
578. Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
577. Embers – Sandor Marai
576. The Glass Bead Game – Herman Hesse
575. Caught – Henry Green
574. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
573. Dangling Man – Saul Bellow
572. Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
571. Transit – Anna Seghers
570. The Razor’s Edge – William Somerset Maugham
569. Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi
568. Arcanum 17 – André Breton
567. Loving – Henry Green
566. The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford
565. Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
564. Animal Farm - George Orwell
563. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
562. The Bridge on the Drina – Ivo Andric
561. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
560. Back – Henry Green
559. The Plague – Albert Camus
558. The Path to the Nest of Spiders – Italo Calvino
557. Under the Volcano – Malcolm Lowry
556. If This Is a Man – Primo Levi
555. Exercises in Style – Raymond Queneau
554. The Victim – Saul Bellow
553. Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann
552. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
551. The Heart of the Matter – Graham Greene
550. Death Sentence – Maurice Blanchot
549. Disobedience – Alberto Moravia
548. All About H. Hatterr – G.V. Desani
547. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
546. The Man With the Golden Arm – Nelson Algren
545. Kingdom of This World – Alejo Carpentier
544. The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
543. The Case of Comrade Tulayev – Victor Serge
542. Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
541. The Garden Where the Brass Band Played – Simon Vestdijk
540. The Moon and the Bonfires – Cesare Pavese
539. I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
538. The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing
537. Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake
536. The 13 Clocks – James Thurber
535. The Third Man – Graham Greene
534. The Labyrinth of Solitude – Octavio Paz
533. The Abbot C – Georges Bataille
532. The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
531. Molloy – Samuel Beckett
530. The Rebel – Albert Camus v
529. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
528. The Opposing Shore – Julien Gracq
527. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
526. Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
525. Malone Dies – Samuel Beckett
524. Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
523. The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson
522. Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor
521. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
520. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
519. The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt
518. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
517. Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
516. The Adventures of Augie March – Saul Bellow
515. Junky – William Burroughs
514. Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis
513. Watt – Samuel Beckett
512. The Unnamable – Samuel Beckett
511. The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
510. The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
509. Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
508. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
507. A Ghost at Noon – Alberto Moravia
506. The Story of O – Pauline Réage
505. Self Condemned – Wyndham Lewis
504. I’m Not Stiller – Max Frisch
503. Bonjour Tristesse – Françoise Sagan
502. The Ragazzi – Pier Paulo Pasolini
501. The Recognitions – William Gaddis
500. The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
499. The Quiet American – Graham Greene
498. The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
497. A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
496. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
495. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
494. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
493. The Floating Opera – John Barth
492. Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
491. The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
490. The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
489. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
488. Justine – Lawrence Durrell
487. The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
486. Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
485. Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
484. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
483. Homo Faber – Max Frisch
482. Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
481. The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
480. Voss – Patrick White
479. Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
478. The Bell - Iris Murdoch
477. The Once and Future King – T.H. White
476. The End of the Road – John Barth
475. Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
474. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
473. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
472. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
471. The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
470. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
469. Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
468. The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
467. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
466. Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
465. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
464. Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
463. Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
462. The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
461. Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
460. Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
459. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
458. Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
457. Rabbit, Run – John Updike
456. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
455. The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
454. Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
453. How It Is – Samuel Beckett
452. The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
451. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
450. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
449. Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
448. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
447. Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
446. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
445. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
444. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
443. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
442. Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
441. Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
440. The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
439. The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
438. Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
437. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
436. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
435. The Collector - John Fowles
434. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
433. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
432. Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
431. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
430. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
429. Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
428. The Graduate – Charles Webb
427. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
426. V. – Thomas Pynchon
425. Herzog – Saul Bellow
424. The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
423. Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
422. Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
421. Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
420. Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
419. The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
418. Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
417. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
416. August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
415. The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
414. Things – Georges Perec
413. The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
412. Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
411. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys
410. The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
409. The Magus – John Fowles
408. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
407. Trawl – B.S. Johnson
406. The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
405. A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
404. The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
403. No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
402. The Joke – Milan Kundera
401. Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
400. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
399. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
398. The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
397. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
396. Chocky – John Wyndham
395. The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
394. A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
393. In Watermelon Sugar - Richard Brautigan
392. The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
391. Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
390. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
389. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
388. The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
387. Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
386. Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
385. The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
384. Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
383. Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
382. A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
381. Them – Joyce Carol Oates
380. Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
379. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
378. Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth
377. The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
376. The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
375. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
374. Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
373. Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
372. Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
371. The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
370. Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
369. Troubles – J.G. Farrell
368. Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
367. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
366. Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
365. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
364. The Ogre – Michael Tournier
363. The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
362. The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
361. Rabbit Redux – John Updike
360. The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
359. Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
358. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
357. The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
356. In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
355. House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
354. Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
353. G – John Berger
352. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
351. The Breast – Philip Roth
350. Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
349. Sula – Toni Morrison
348. The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
347. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
346. The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
345. Crash – J.G. Ballard
344. The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
343. The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
342. A Question of Power – Bessie Head
341. Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
340. Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
339. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
338. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
337. Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
336. The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
335. Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow
334. Correction – Thomas Bernhard
333. Dead Babies – Martin Amis
332. Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
331. High Rise – J.G. Ballard
330. Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
329. Fateless – Imre Kertész
328. The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
327. Grimus – Salman Rushdie
326. A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
325. W, or the Memory of childhood – Georges Perec
324. Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
323. Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
322. Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
321. Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
320. Interview With the Vampire - Anne Rice
319. The Public Burning – Robert Coover
318. Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
317. The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
316. The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
315. Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
314. Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
313. Dispatches – Michael Herr
312. The Shining - Stephen King
311. Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
310. The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
309. In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
308. The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
307. Yes – Thomas Bernhard
306. The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
305. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
304. Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
303. The World According to Garp – John Irving
302. The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
301. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
300. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
299. The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
298. Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer
297. A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
296. Shikasta – Doris Lessing
295. Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
294. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
293. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
292. City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
291. Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
290. Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
289. Rites of Passage – William Golding
288. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
287. Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee
286. Broken April – Ismail Kadare
285. Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
284. July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
283. The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
282. Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
281. Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
280. The Names – Don DeLillo
279. Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
278. On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
277. The Newton Letter – John Banville
276. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
275. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
274. A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro
273. Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
272. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
271. A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
270. If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
269. The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
268. The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
267. The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
266. The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
265. Waterland – Graham Swift
264. La Brava – Elmore Leonard
263. Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
262. Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
261. Shame – Salman Rushdie
260. Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
259. Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
258. Neuromancer – William Gibson
257. Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
256. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
255. Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
254. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
253. Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
252. The Lover – Marguerite Duras
251. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
250. The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
249. Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavic
248. Legend – David Gemmell
247. Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
246. Queer – William Burroughs
245. White Noise – Don DeLillo
244. Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
243. Perfume - Patrick Suskind
242. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
241. Contact – Carl Sagan
240. Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
239. A Maggot – John Fowles
238. The Cider House Rules – John Irving
237. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
236. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
235. The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
234. Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
233. The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
232. Foe – J.M. Coetzee
231. Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
230. An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
229. Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
228. The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
227. Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
226. Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
225. Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
224. Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
223. The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
222. Beloved – Toni Morrison
221. Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
220. World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
219. The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
218. The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
217. Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
216. The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
215. The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
214. The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
213. The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy
212. The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
211. The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
210. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
209. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul - Douglas Adams
208. Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
207. The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
206. Libra – Don DeLillo
205. Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
204. The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
203. The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
202. Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
201. The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
200. Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
199. Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
198. The Book of Evidence – John Banville
197. London Fields – Martin Amis
196. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
195. Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
194. The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
193. The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
192. The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
191. The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
190. Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
189. Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
188. Moon Palace – Paul Auster
187. Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
186. A Disaffection – James Kelman
185. The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
184. The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
183. Possession – A.S. Byatt
182. Like Life – Lorrie Moore
181. A Home at the End of the World - Michael Cunningham
180. The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
179. The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
178. Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
177. Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
176. Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
175. Amongst Women – John McGahern
174. Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
173. Wise Children – Angela Carter
172. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
171. Downriver – Iain Sinclair
170. Regeneration – Pat Barker
169. Typical – Padgett Powell
168. Mao II – Don DeLillo
167. Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
166. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
165. Wild Swans – Jung Chang
164. Arcadia – Jim Crace
163. Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
162. Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
161. Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
160. The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
159. Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
158. The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
157. Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow - Peter Hoeg
156. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
155. Jazz – Toni Morrison
154. Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
153. The Crow Road – Iain Banks
152. Indigo – Marina Warner
151. Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
150. A Heart So White – Javier Marias
149. The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
148. Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
147. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
146. The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
145. The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
144. The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
143. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
142. The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
141. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
140. What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
139. On Love – Alain de Botton
138. Complicity – Iain Banks
137. Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
136. Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
135. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
134. Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
133. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
132. The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
131. Disappearance – David Dabydeen
130. Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
129. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
128. How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
127. City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
126. Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
125. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
124. The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
123. Land – Park Kyong-ni
122. Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
121. The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
120. Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
119. The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
118. Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
117. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
116. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
115. The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
114. Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
113. The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
112. The Information – Martin Amis
111. Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
110. The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
109. Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
108. The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
107. Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
106. Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
105. The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
104. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
103. Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
102. Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
101. Silk – Alessandro Baricco
100. The Untouchable – John Banville
99. American Pastoral – Philip Roth
98. The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
97. Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
96. Underworld – Don DeLillo
95. Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
94. Great Apes – Will Self
93. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
92. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
91. Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
90. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
89. The Hours – Michael Cunningham
88. Another World – Pat Barker
87. Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
86. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
85. Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
84. The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
83. All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
82. Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
81. Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
80. Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
79. Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
78. Sputnik Sweetheart - Haruki Murakami
77. Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
76. The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
75. Fear and Trembling - Amelie Nothumb
74. Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
73. As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakulic
72. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
71. The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
70. Timbuktu – Paul Auster

2000s

69. Pastoralia – George Saunders
68. Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
67. House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
66. Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
65. Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
64. After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
63. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
62. The Human Stain – Philip Roth
61. How the Dead Live – Will Self
60. City of God – E.L. Doctorow
59. Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
58. Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
57. Ignorance – Milan Kundera
56. Under the Skin - Michel Faber
55. The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
54. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
53. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
52. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
51. An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
50. The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
49. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
48. Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
47. At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
46. Fury – Salman Rushdie
45. The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
44. Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
43. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
42. Atonement – Ian McEwan
41. Schooling – Heather McGowan
40. Platform – Michael Houellebecq
39. Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
38. Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
37. The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
36. Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
35. Dead Air – Iain Banks
34. Youth – J.M. Coetzee
33. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
32. Shroud – John Banville
31. In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
30. That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
29. The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
28. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
27. Unless - Carol Shields
26. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
25. The Double – José Saramago
24. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
23. Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
22. London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
21. Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
20. Islands – Dan Sleigh
19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
18. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
17. The Light of Day – Graham Swift
16. Thursbitch – Alan Garner
15. The Colour – Rose Tremain
14. Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
12. Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
11. The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
10. Vanishing Point – David Markson
9. The Master – Colm Tóibín
8. The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
7. The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
6. The Sea – John Banville
5. Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
4. Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
2. Saturday – Ian McEwan
1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

Day Seven

Day 07 – Most underrated book

Probably a lot of people will think it's not underrated but I'm going to pick Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke which I thought was just genius. Apart from here on the forum I never hear about it, if I mention it to people they've never heard of it, it doesn't make any of the lists, you don't see it promoted in shops infact you're lucky to find a copy (and I know I've been looking) and, though I think it did win some awards it was not listed for the Orange prize and only longlisted by the Booker and yet I think it is one of the best books to have been written in the last ten years. It is a bit of a housebrick and that might put people off, it has endless footnotes and it does take a while to get going, you have to invest some time at the beginning but the payoff is that you get to read one of the most inventive, imaginative stories ever.

Love in a Cold Climate

Synopsis: 'How lovely - green velvet and silver. I call that a dream, so soft and delicious, too.' She rubbed a fold of the skirt against her cheek. 'Mine's silver lame, it smells like a bird cage when it gets hot but I do love it. Aren't you thankful evening skirts are long again?' Ah, the dresses! But oh, the monotony of the Season, with its endless run of glittering balls. Even fabulously fashionable Polly Hampton - with her startling good looks and excellent social connections - is beginning to wilt under the glare. Groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, fearsome Lady Montdore, Polly instead scandalises society by making a very shocking choice.

Review: This is the sequel to The Pursuit of Love but it actually follows the same timescale and has the same narrator, Fanny Logan, but here we see what she was up to when she wasn't staying with her cousin Linda Radlett (and all the events that took place in The Pursuit of Love murmur along in the background here.) In particular it focuses on Fanny's visits to Hampton where she stays with the terrifying Lady Montdore, Lord Montdore and their lovely daughter Polly who is the same age as Fanny and, apart from Linda, her closest friend. Polly is the beauty of her age and her parents have the highest hopes of her making a good match, but there's something wrong. Polly is not one bit interested in any of the young men they have so far thrown at her. Lady Montdore in particular is simmering with ill concealed rage and disappointment, she cannot understand why Polly is so cold. Polly is perhaps one of the few people not intimidated by her mother, she knows her own mind and she's determined not to be brow beaten. They are only lately returned from India where they have governed for the last five years and it's Lady Montdore's idea to have Fanny to stay in the hope that she might have influence with Polly but Fanny is at a loss to put her finger on exactly what lies behind Polly's disinterestedness.

'.... No, but what I really want to know about coming-out here is what about love? Are they always having love affairs the whole time? Is it their one and only topic of conversation?' I was obliged to admit that this was the case. 'Oh, bother, I felt sure, really, you would say that - it was so in India, of course, but I thought perhaps in a cold climate ....'

After the death of her aunt, Polly makes a surprise announcement which sends shockwaves through Hampton and puts her mother and father in a spin. I can't say too much more without spoiling the plot (and indeed I had to edit the synopsis as it gave away the main twist of the story and whatever you do don't read the book blurb) but not only does it have far reaching consequences for Polly herself it leads to events that completely transform the life of Lady Montdore and, at the same time, introduces us to the wonderful Cedric Hampton (who, though they've never seen him, is heir to Hampton, it being entailed away from the female line.) Cedric is summoned to come and stay at Hampton and as he hails from Canada they are expecting a rather hale and hearty lumberjack type rustic but what they find is something quite different ... 'a glitter of blue and gold crossed the parquet, and a human dragon-fly was kneeling on the fur rug in front of the Montdores, one long white hand extended towards each. He was a tall thin young man, supple as a girl, dressed in a rather bright blue suit; his hair was the gold of a brass bed knob, and his insect appearance came from the fact that the upper part of the face was concealed by blue goggles set in gold rims quite an inch thick.'

Although I love it nearly as much as I do The Pursuit of Love it has a very slow start (with the introduction of the new characters and their genealogy etc) and there is also a slight absence of Radlett's which to my mind is shameful (though they are still there sporadically.) Nevertheless the character of Lady Montdore is a triumph, she's hilariously awful (one of literature's great comic creations) whilst pretending to be benevolence itself ... 'Ever since she was born, you know, I've worried and fussed over that child, and thought of the awful things that might happen to her - that Montdore might die before she was settled and we should have no proper home, that her looks would go (too beautiful at fourteen I feared), or that she would have an accident and spend the rest of her days in a spinal chair - all sorts of things, I used to wake up in the night and imagine them, but the one thing that never even crossed my mind was that she might end up an old maid.' but rather like Uncle Matthew in The Pursuit of Love you can't hate her ... not entirely.

A lovely gossipy, bitter-sweet read.

The Makings of a Cottage Garden

Well this is the progress so far, we're having to put the 'bones' of the garden down at the moment .. the fun part (the planting) alas comes later.


Typically the British weather is causing rain to stop play frequently but Rome wasn't built in a day as they say and neither it seems are postage stamp sized cottage gardens.

Day Six

Day 06 – A book that makes you sad

It's fairly easy for a book to make me cry, I am a hopeless crybaby when it comes to books and films. Recent tear jerkers for me were Markus Zusak's The Book Thief which I just cried buckets over and J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows which had me in floods (the reasons for which I can't go into without plot spoiling.) The book that makes me most sad though is Anne Franks The Diary of a Young Girl, just to read all her private thoughts and feelings, all her hopes and aspirations wrapped up with her fears and anxieties and resentments and worst of all is that you know the outcome so when she's chattering on about her hopes for the future, such as how she would love to be a writer, and how she longs to be outside again, a part of you breaks because you know she never will or will never be conscious of it anyway. Her diary lives on but it's a bit like Van Gogh and his paintings, you just wish they could see how much their work is revered now. Of course if Anne had survived her diary would probably never have been published but then I'm sure she would have written because even at a young age there was talent there. She is known to have died shortly before the camp at Bergen-Belsen was liberated and it's also thought that, having witnessed the death of her sister, she believed both her parents to be dead. If she had known her father was still alive perhaps there would have remained a small spark of fight which might have kept her alive for a few more weeks .. we'll never know but that thought just adds to the sadness. She wanted to live on and be remembered and in that she succeeded which is the only shred of hope to be gained from her story .. there must have been thousands of other 'Anne Frank's' who were wiped away as if they'd never existed.

Phineas Finn

Synopsis: The second of Trollope's Palliser novels tells of the career of a hot-blooded middle-class politician whose sexual energies bring him much success with women.

Review: I normally like Trollope's writing, but this one was just a bit too political for me, I found my mind wandering off and thinking about cake whenever there was a long passage about parliament or the elections. If I had been reading it, rather than listening to it, I think it would have stayed sitting on the side ignored for large periods of time.

Phineas's father want's him to be a lawyer and has sent him to London to study, but his heart is not really in it. In the course of his studies he meets a fellow Irishman and politician who convinces him to stand for parliament in the coming elections. This seems much more desirable to him than the law, but much less desirable to me .. surely the law wouldn't have been this tedious! The book is a whacking 700 odd pages long and a lot of it is taken up with lengthy discourses on the workings of parliament, elections and which minister is in which job (which seemed to be a game something like musical chairs.)

Luckily Trollope also excels at writing about romantic entanglements and Finn has his fair share of these so they sucked me back into the story (shallow I know!) He has a perfectly lovely sweetheart in pretty and loyal Irish girl Mary Flood Jones but his elevation in society takes him away from home and throws him into the path of more beautiful, intelligent, not to say influential, women like Lady Laura Standish, Violet Effingham and Madame Max Goesler and he's inclined to think, at one time or another, that he is in love with each of them or at least to think that he could do so much more in the world if he was married to them.

This leads to Trouble of course (with the proverbial capital,) with Finn causing bad feeling and heartache all over the place and going so far as to find himself obliged to fight a duel abroad. He's incredibly good natured and affable in the main and so, despite this little foible (of throwing himself at women and failing to see that he has a lovely girl patiently waiting back home,) you don't find yourself taking against him. You are just waiting for him to wake up. He's not in the least arrogant and his behaviour in general is right thinking although, in politics, as a newcomer, he is a little green behind the ears.

Written in Trollope's usual ironic style, the story is entertaining but has ploddingly dull bits.

Excellently read, as all of Trollope's books are, by Timothy West.

Day Five

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy

The books that cheer me up the most are P.G. Wodehouse's books and in particular his Jeeves and Wooster stories .. how can you not smile at a cast of characters such as Harold 'Stinker' Pinker, 'Gussie' Fink-Nottle, 'Tuppy' Glossop, 'Catsmeat' Potter-Pirbright, 'Stilton' Cheesewright and 'Chuffy' Chuffnell. Bertie is just so lovably dense, he's always getting into scrapes, hiding from his formidable Aunts, falling in and out of love and finding himself engaged - usually against his wishes - to all sorts of unsuitable females and it's left to Jeeves of course to always save the day. My favourite book of his is probably 'Right Ho Jeeves' .. just because I love the ridiculously drippy Madeline Basset (who thinks that the stars are God's daisy-chain) and her equally soppy suitor .. the newt fancier .. Gussie Fink-Nottle.

You can't be gloomy when you read Wodehouse it's impossible, he'll cheer you up before the end of the first page.

Seeing the books come to life on screen with the sublime Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry was just the icing on the cake .. the first two series in particular were phenomenal.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Synopsis: Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

Review: I'm really impressed with Jonathan Safran Foer's writing, he's just so creative and innovative - his stories are almost woven not written. This is the tale of Oskar Schell, a very bright nine year old with an enquiring mind whose ambition is to be a great inventor. Oskar's father died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre and he is having a terribly hard time dealing with it, thinking about it gives him 'heavy boots' and he is haunted by the answer phone messages, left by his Father just before he died, which only he has heard. He lives and re-lives the tragedy, and continually thinks up all sorts of imaginary inventions that would help prevent such a disaster happening again .. such as skyscrapers which have deep roots so they could never topple, airbags for skyscrapers and incredibly long ambulances which connect every building to a hospital.

Rather like 'Everything is Illuminated' there are several narratives running through the story, Oskar's is the main one but there are also narratives by Oskar's Grandmother and Grandfather (told separately in letter form,) stretching way back to when they were young and living through their own tragedy .. the terrible bombing of Dresden. These are the only bits that can at times seem wearying .. it's a story of lives not lived, voices lost and life stories written up as blank pages ... literally, there are blank pages scattered through the book along with incredibly closely typed pages and pages with just numbers on etc etc but eventually it all melds together to make a beautiful whole.

Again, like the last book, this is a noisy chattering story especially where Oskar is concerned, everything he thinks and feels just comes rattling out - along with all his quirks of speech and flights of fancy and this is what makes you get to know him in double quick time. He has found a key in an old vase in the back of his Fathers closet and, believing it to be a quest, sets out to try and find the lock that the key fits (this is one of those impossible quests which only happen in books and one that introduces a lot of oddball characters to the story as Oskar searches the New York boroughs for every family by the name of 'Black' .. the one word written on the envelope which contained the key) hoping that what he finds will help him to make sense of everything.

'The next morning I told Mom I couldn’t go to school again. She asked what was wrong. I told her, “The same thing that’s always wrong.” “You’re sick?” “I’m sad.” “About Dad?” “About everything.” She sat down on the bed next to me, even though I knew she was in a hurry. “What’s everything?” I started counting on my fingers: “The meat and dairy products in our refrigerator, fistfights, car accidents, Larry –“ “Who’s Larry?” “The homeless guy in front of the Museum of Natural History who always says ‘I promise it’s for food’ after he asks for money.” She turned around and zipped her dress while I kept counting. “How you don’t know who Larry is, even though you probably see him all the time, how Buckminster just sleeps and eats and goes to the bathroom and has no raison d’être, the short ugly guy with no neck who takes tickets at the IMAX theatre, how the sun is going to explode one day, how every birthday I always get at least one thing I already have, poor people who get fat because they eat junk food because it’s cheaper. . .” That was when I ran out of fingers, but my list was just getting started, and I wanted it to be long, because I knew she wouldn’t leave while I was still going. “. . . domesticated animals, how I have a domesticated animal, nightmares, Microsoft Windows, old people who sit around all day because no one remembers to spend time with them and they’re embarrassed to ask people to spend time with them, secrets, dial phones, how Chinese waitresses smile even when there’s nothing funny or happy, and also how Chinese people own Mexican restaurants but Mexican people never own Chinese restaurants, mirrors, tape decks, my unpopularity at school, Grandma’s coupons, storage facilities, people who don’t know what the Internet is, bad handwriting, beautiful songs, how there won’t be humans in fifty years –” “Who said there won’t be humans in fifty years?” I asked her, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” She looked at her watch and said, “I’m optimistic.” “Then I have some bad news for you, because humans are going to destroy each other as soon as it becomes easy enough to, which will be very soon.” “Why do beautiful songs make you sad?” “Because they aren’t true.” “Never?” “Nothing is beautiful and true.” She smiled, but in a way that wasn’t just happy, and said, “You sound just like Dad.”

It's impossible not to snivel your way through most of it as you read about Oskar and his grief over 9/11 and the Dad he has lost (and what a Dad! ... the sort of Dad that makes every day exciting.) He visits foreign websites which show and tell him far more about 9/11 than he has been able to glean from American news footage and he painfully invents and re-invents the details of his Father's death. He picks over all these details and gives himself bruises, he has phobias about tall buildings and the underground. Reading it gave me heavy boots and I ended up with a binful of crumpled soggy tissues.

It's true to say that anyone who hated 'Everything is Illuminated' will not like this because they are written in such a similar style but anyone who even vaguely liked it will probably enjoy this one more because it is that little bit easier to read and keep track of the threads, only a little though. It's also true to say that Oskar is perhaps a little bit too advanced and knowing for his age but not unbelievably so (such is his cheek that to gain sympathy on his quest he sometimes gives his age as eight but ups it to twelve if there is any sign of a sexual encounter .. though he knows next to nothing about it ... 'I know lot's about birds and bees but hardly anything about the birds and the bees.') His mum, who herself is suffering but trying to move on, comes in for some pretty harsh treatment at times from her son in that unreasonable way children have of thinking that they are the only ones affected. In the story Oskar keeps a scrapbook entitled 'Stuff That Happened To Me' which is full of pictures and clippings, not of stuff that has happened to him but stuff that is affecting him, like a recurring image of a body falling from the twin towers (which, in order to discover if it's his Dad, he has zoomed in to until all that can be seen is pixels,) and these are scattered throughout the book, somewhat distressingly.

Not an easy read, not an escapist comfy cosy read, but a book to make your brain and heart ache.

Miss Hargreaves

Synopsis: When, on the spur of a moment, Norman Huntley and his friend Henry invent an eighty-three year-old woman called Miss Hargreaves, they are inspired to post a letter to their new fictional friend. It is only meant to be a silly, harmless game - until Miss Hargreaves arrives on their doorstep, complete with her cockatoo, her harp and - last but not least - her bath. She is, to Norman's utter disbelief, exactly as he had imagined her: enchanting, eccentric and endlessly astounding. He hadn't imagined, however, how much havoc an imaginary octogenarian could wreak in his sleepy Buckinghamshire home town, Cornford. Norman has some explaining to do, but how will he begin to explain to his friends, family and girlfriend where Miss Hargreaves came from when he hasn't the faintest clue himself? Will his once-ordinary, once-peaceful life ever be the same again? And, what's more, does he want it to? Miss Hargreaves is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.

Review: This is the second of the Bloomsbury Group novels that I've read, the first being 'Let's Kill Uncle', and I'm glad to say that they are continuing so far to be delightful. It's very Wodehouse in feel, Norman is at times a bit like Bertie in that he's naive and gets himself into scrapes, unfortunately for Norman he hasn't got a Jeeves to sort it all out for him, he tries to manage things for himself and thus ends up in a right old pickle.

It's a great premise, Norman and his friend Henry become bored whilst in Ireland on holiday being shown around a decrepit old church and invent a character, the elderly Miss Hargreaves. They give her characteristics and traits and even go so far as to name the book of poems she has had published. As a continuation of the joke they decide to write to her at the hotel in which they have said she is residing and invite her to stay but when Norman returns home, much to his alarm, there is a letter waiting there from her. He is inclined to think that Henry is playing a joke on him but then his father, a bookshop owner, comes home carrying a rather worn copy of her published poems. Henry is more than a little disturbed.

Miss Hargreaves has decided to take him up on his offer and comes to stay with him in his hometown. She is everything that he and Henry described and she greets him as one old friend to another. He tries to shun her and tells everyone who will listen that she's not real, she's just a figment of his and Henry's imagination but of course he only ends up looking like a madman and it's true Norman is a bit of a fantasist ... he tells us so in the prologue .. he doesn't even know if we will believe his account of things.

'We dashed into the refreshment room and hurled down double brandies. We couldn't speak. Through the window we watched, our empty glasses trembling in our hands. "Henry," I moaned, "she is exactly as I imagined." Limping slowly along the platform and chatting amiably to the porter, came - well, Miss Hargreaves. Quite obviously it couldn't be anybody else.'

This is a novel (rather like 'Let's Kill Uncle') which manages to be both comic and disturbing. Miss Hargreaves seems harmless enough but grows increasingly more sinister as the book progresses. At first she is a friend to Norman but, because of his erratic behaviour towards her, soon becomes a fearsome opponent. This 'Frankenstein's monster' suddenly finds a life force of her own ... she doesn't need her creator anymore. She has practically all of the townspeople eating out of her hand and begins to convince them that Norman is mad and needs help. Norman veers between admiration and disgust .. he's incensed at her nerve but can't help feeling a little proud.

As problems mount for him, he ponders on the thought that just as 'creative thought creates, 'destructive thought destroys' and he tries to figure out ways to get rid of her but he soon realises that, just as Henry was in at the conception of Miss Hargreaves, so it needs the both of them to un-imagine her, but can they do it?

The only thing that I found a bit tedious were the passages about the church services which did get a little bit involved at times but other than that it's a delight. It's a book to make you laugh, cry and be a little bit spooked.