Three Days in June - Anne Tyler

 71%

12.03.26

Anne Tyler's extensive output can be patchy (or maybe patchworky?) but this is a jewel of a novella, every word carefully placed, every thought and action and memory contributing to the shining whole. Nothing much happens, but it happens so engagingly. If you don't like the best of Tyler's novels, do you really like reading? Or life?

Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty

71%

24.02.25

I've read all Moriarty's novels and they're a mixed bag but this is such a satisfying read that it's certainly her best. For a book about death and mortality, it's remarkably wry and vivid, the humour always balancing the pathos and contributing to the strong characterisation. The handling of the spiritual vs realistic elements is masterful, and it's pleasing to note Moriarty continuing the clever foreshadowing technique she began in Apples Never Fall, which makes you want to flick back and read it all again.

(I do find her negative portrayal of only children a bit irritating, though.)

The Book of Eve - Meg Clothier

71%

12.01.25

Was this fantasy? Magical realism? Speculative historical fiction? Whatever it was, it was oddly compelling, beautiful, intriguing. The characters and worldbuilding were strong, and the complex layers of meaning and plot and power dynamics were handled with confidence. I could have done with a little more humour, but at least it had a happy ending (spoiler!) and it's already better than anything I read last year.

A Skinful of Shadows - Frances Hardinge

71%

12.04.19

Now, this is more like it - a (mostly) well written, (mostly) well edited, exciting, convincing, involving fantasy novel set during the surprisingly underused English Civil War. And, of course from this author, a lot of meaty subtext on everything from gender to power to politics. Mostly fabulous.

The Client - John Grisham

71%
31.12.18

I'd never read any Grisham legal dramas before, due to an unfounded conviction (see what I did there?) that it wasn't my thing. But there it was in the library... and I loved it. Not high literature, and with a confusing cast of characters, but surprisingly exciting for a story that mainly takes place in courtrooms and lawyers' chambers. A fun end to my year's reading.

Standard Deviation - Katherine Heiny

71%
21.08.18

This was fabulous! It immediately appealed in Waterstones, for some reason, and my instincts were good (for once) as it turned out to be unusually funny and quietly rather wise. One for recommending but with the warning that (spoiler about lack of spoilers) it doesn't really end properly; it just serves up a defined slice of life.

Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer

71%
30.01.18

It seems I love Georgette Heyer's Regency romances as much now as I did when I was 14, when I last read one. The difference is these days I prefer the Regency aspects to the (rather dodgy) romance. So much research, so lightly conveyed. It's not exactly hardcore literature but who cares? It's fabulous escapism.

A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler

71%
19.02.15

I might be unfashionably critical of every other writer but I won't hear a word against Anne Tyler. While this lacks the emotional punch of The Beginner's Goodbye it's deceptively complex, with (unusually for Tyler) several delicious twists carelessly tossed into the well-judged prose. As usual, you're left wondering whether it's tragic or triumphant - or both.

The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

71%
08.02.14

An unflinching dystopian vision of violence, squalor and moral bankruptcy, you say. The narrator subjected to unrelenting pain and disappointment, you say. Hang on a mo while I look for the barrel with the laughs in it. It's the sheer quality of the writing that buoys the story along, carefully measured and complex. At its heart, it's a meditation on choice and its consequences. Well, it's certainly worth choosing to read it.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

71%
24.03.12

With the film at maximum hype level this week, I thought I'd better catch up on its source novel to see what I've been missing. Evidently I've been missing children killing each other on live TV - when they're not practising their surprisingly advanced wilderness skills. Yes, the plot is a little creaky if you think about it too hard; yes, the language and style are frequently lumpy and cliched; and yes, it was so gripping that I read it in three days and have already downloaded the sequel. So, high marks not for literary achievement but for just being a darn good read.

The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

71%

03.04.11

Some people say the ending is ambiguous but it was pretty damn clear to me. So clear that I wasn't too keen on being left alone and was still shaking when I went to bed . And so clear that my admiration for the subtle, vivid details and ingenious construction remains in the rational light of day. A little flabby, in places, a little slow, but otherwise entirely riveting.

Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris

71%
31.08.09

Sustained passages of accurate satire and regular flashes of brilliance - this reminded me of "Catch-22" and there's not much higher praise than that. An apparently superficial story of shallow people and meaningless lives is actually nothing of the sort - your own reality is the most important of all. Marred by the pointless final chapter, and probably only striking a chord for office battery hens like me, but overall clever, piercing and funny.

Earthly Possessions - Anne Tyler

71%
24.08.07




One of Tyler's earlier novels, and one of her best. Her quiet wisdom and poetic phrasing illuminates the oddness in ordinary lives.

The Observations - Jane Harris

71%
27.06.07




There may be careful allusions to the classics and a lot of convincingly integrated research, but the main quality of the story is that it's highly enjoyable. Strong characterisation and well judged humour - and pathos - just show how rare they are in modern fiction. A proper good read.

As She Climbed Across the Table - Jonathan Lethem

 71%
29.12.04




This is refreshing - physics and metaphysics collide in a story told with near-scientific precision. Elegant and precise but with a complexity of layers - is nothing ever really nothing or is it everything?

Slaves of the Mastery - William Nicholson

71%
02.09.02




This is much better than the first in the trilogy - not as weird and twisted, perhaps more derivative (c.f. Northern Lights, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars) but harmonious and satisfying. The moral points are subtler than before, and more effective because of it. Also, a well imagined, consistent world. I'm not expecting a happy ending to this trilogy, though...

Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon

71%
09.08.02




More farcical, less historically ambitious than 'Kavalier and Clay', but just as elegant and touching, with the same sudden shafts of illumination that catch you unawares. I'm not sure many writers could succeed in producing such a funny novel about a man man bent on self-destruction.

Pigs in Heaven - Barbara Kingsolver

71%
17.11.01




A book rejected by my Basingstoke reading group because it is modern American literature, I read it more out of interest than anything else. The plot was decidedly odd, and implausible towards the end, with characters appearing for fun rather than to further the story. But there's nothing wrong with that - the quality of the writing itself is impressive - lyrical and often demanding a reflective pause. Even when the metaphors are obvious, the sleight of hand involved must be admired.