So this year I have so far read 50 books. Below is the list in mostly chronological order (nerd alert!). Where there's a link it's to a previous review of that book. Might do a little 140-character review of the rest in time on separate blog post.
- Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
- Black Swan Green (2-6 all reviewed on same link as this one)
- The Plot Against America - Phillip Roth
- A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
- Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson
- Mortal Engines
- The Road - Cormac McCarthy
- The Damned United - David Peace
- The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
- Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
- The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
- The Country Life
- The Remains of the Day - Ishaguro
- Under a Blood Red Sky
- How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs If You Ever Want to Get Published
- The Olive Readers (worst book of the list without question)
- Viva South America!
- When will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson
- Survival of the Fittest by Dr Mike Stroud
- Shakespeare - Bill Bryson
- Neither Here Nor There - Bill Bryson
- The Never Ending Days of Being Dead - Chown
- In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
- Blind Faith - Ben Elton (terrible)
- A Wild Sheep Chase - Murakami
- Attention All Shipping
- Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time
- Leviathan by Philllip Hoare (best book of the year, without question)
- Moby-Dick
- Ghostwritten
- American Pastoral - Roth
- A Light Hearted Look at Murder
- Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals
- The New York Trilogy Paul Auster (all Auster's covered on this link)
- Man in the Dark - Paul Auster
- Music of Chance - Paul Auster
- Leviathan - Paul Auster
- Dance Dance Dance - Murakami
- The House of Sleep - Jonathan Coe
- The Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster
- Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster
- Timbuktu - Paul Auster
- Mr Vertigo - Paul Auster
- The Trial - Kafka
- The Maze of Cadiz
- The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster
- To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
- Moon Palace - Paul Auster
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
- Drown - Junot Diaz
Posts
2 comments:
Note on Leviathan: Read WG Sebald's Austerlitz. It is brilliant. In fact, read all of his 'novels'.
Austerlitz has a genuine creative innovation not seen before in the novel, at least, not so expertly: the non-present narrator. A pure cypher for the description of another character.
All his books are highly recommended and clearly influenced Hoare's style significantly - use of photos/captions especially.
Some good stuff on that list - a few I've come across before and enjoyed a lot, others sat on a shelf waiting for me and even more I now want to investigate. My credit card now hates you!
Post a Comment