Book Ends
Friday December 8, 2006
We’re into December and end of the year book lists are popping up everywhere. I thought it was time to compile my own short selection. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few, so I’ll be adding to this post as I remember.
Factual and Biography
John Peel: Margrave of the Marshes
John Peel died before he could finish his autobiography, so his wife Sheila completed it. The double authorship makes it a very compelling read, and I think I enjoyed the second half most – possibly because Sheila Ravenscroft provides a great insight into her late husband’s life and loves.
The Planets by Dava Sobel
Astronomy with a little touch of the poetic. Sobel goes beyond facts and figures for a very thought provoking take on the Solar System. Published before Pluto’s recent demotion in the Heavens, by the way.
White Heat by Dominic Sandbrook
A history of Britain in the 1960s. Sandbrook is selective of the events he covers; there’s little on Profumo, the Krays or the satire boom of the period, although I wouldn’t have wanted this book any longer. I’m still looking forward to his assault on the 1970s.
Fiction
The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh
This is Welsh’s modern reworking of fin de siècle; classics such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The most recent comparison I can make is Will Self’s drippy Dorian, but this is far superior. Watch out though for the most grossly sickening sexual passage I’ve found in literature for a long time.
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W.Dahlquist
This is a novel that comes in ten instalments, and as I’ve only read the first four I can’t decide whether this is going to be a book of the year yet or not. However, the first chapter is one of the best openings I’ve read in a long time, so the promise is there. Dahlquist introduces a fantastic trio of central characters; I just hope he knows what to do with them.
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
A collection of short stories by the writer of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Equally well written, charming and strange.
The Sea by John Baville
I made the mistake of taking this on holiday and it isn’t really holiday reading, but putting that experience aside I would still recommend this book for a slightly disturbing read.
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