G. Dyer, Jeff in Venice, death in Varanasi
C. Higgins, This new noise: the extraordinary birth and troubled life of the BBC
A. Laurain, The president's hat
Y. Mishima, The temple of the golden pavilion
R. Yates, Revolutionary road
I'm stuck in the middle (well, at the start) of the Booker shortlist. It turns out that A brief history of seven killings is a) not brief, b) largely in Jamiacan patois. It was a poor place to start. More on that next month. Best this month was probably not the great Chinese epic that I have chosen, but it was the most compelling, despite nothing actually happening. I can't decide whether I read it as an interested historian or a consumer of fiction. As someone who knows nothing about eighteenth century China, I found it fascinating, particularly once I reread the introduction about a third of the way through. As a novel, though I said nothing happens, when I reflect actually quite a lot goes on. Several characters get killed off, a child is sold into slavery, there's a magic stone. Somehow, and I think this is the triumph of the book, it glides along gradually, layering these things on, almost imperceptibly, to arrive at the end of the book. It's one of five, and I'm sorely tempted to tackle the rest, where I think that the pace and intensity pick up.
Interminable Booker shortlist first.
