J. Barker, Agincourt (2005)
M. Benn, People like us (2007)
Bendis & Gaydos, Jessica Jones, Vol 2: the secrets of Maria Hill (2016)
A.C. Doyle, The adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)*
L. Henry, Who I am, Again? (2019)
C. Higgins, Under another sky (2013)
P. Lively, The road to Lichfield (1977)
I. Livingstone, Dice Men (2022)
W.S. Maugham, The Summing up (1938)
M. Renault, The Persian boy (1972)
Good month. Three pieces of marvellous fiction (Miller, Lively, Doyle). Huge affection too for Maugham's book, which was let down by the final section on philosophy. I loved the first three quarters, and it would have been my favourite of all. I think it really distills, in clear, readable, prose Maugham's own views on literature and the production of it. Obviously some of that as dated, and some of his views are plain wrong, but hugely enjoyable to read. I obviously also loved Livingstone's account of the first years of Games Workshop, but I won't claim profundity for it.
M. Benn, People like us (2007)
Bendis & Gaydos, Jessica Jones, Vol 2: the secrets of Maria Hill (2016)
A.C. Doyle, The adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)*
L. Henry, Who I am, Again? (2019)
C. Higgins, Under another sky (2013)
P. Lively, The road to Lichfield (1977)
I. Livingstone, Dice Men (2022)
W.S. Maugham, The Summing up (1938)
M. Renault, The Persian boy (1972)
Good month. Three pieces of marvellous fiction (Miller, Lively, Doyle). Huge affection too for Maugham's book, which was let down by the final section on philosophy. I loved the first three quarters, and it would have been my favourite of all. I think it really distills, in clear, readable, prose Maugham's own views on literature and the production of it. Obviously some of that as dated, and some of his views are plain wrong, but hugely enjoyable to read. I obviously also loved Livingstone's account of the first years of Games Workshop, but I won't claim profundity for it.
So, all my favourites were fiction. I always like to reread Sherlock Holmes. I forget what triggered this one, but they were as excellent as I remembered. The road to Lichfield was also excellent. I do think Penelope Lively is one of finest novelists. I think she's slightly overlooked (not much - she is a Dame) because she writes about domesticity, not big issues. It's striking that her, richly deserved, Booker win came from a novel set in Egypt. This one is resolutely narrow, but well done. The writing is lovely, effortless and seemingly throwaway prose. But it's sharper than that underneath and a exemplar of 'show, don't tell' writing. It's also well crafted: the sub-plots dovetail, both as counterpoints and as tributaries, and it covers a lot of ground in a short period. Augustown is also a well crafted book. I do like their plots to work. It does what you might expect around local colour and myth, but it's in the bringing of that into the here and now that works really well. I also think it manages variance of tone exceptionally well. This makes it sound highly technical; it's not. It's enormously fun to read, and full of high drama. Nor is it very long either.
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