I’ve got a bit of a backlog after a lazy weekend where I lay in the garden and read because it was too hot to do much else. Not that I read all of these in one weekend, and several were half read books I decided to finish off after far too long.
72 Josser by Nell Stroud
A josser is an outsider in the circus world which is what Nell Stroud was when she graduated from Oxford and joined the circus. Her account of her three years there is gritty and completely free of sentiment and made me think hard about circus as an art form. Knowing she's gone to set up an achingly middle class circus - Giffords, loved by Boden-wearing Cotswold families for years - slightly took away from the story she tells here, and I'd have liked more of a reflection on what Giffords is trying to do, but that's my issue not the book's.
73 Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
This was terrific! It's the only book King has written for a younger audience and it blows most YA fiction I've read out of the water. I read it as a teen then forgot about it until someone gave a copy to DD. She's not read it yet as "she doesn't care much for dragons". I told her there's only one dragon and it dies about ten pages in, and what remains is a tremendously believable tale of good and evil. I was really struck by the obvious fun King has with the narrative voice, prompting, guiding, steering and observing. Plus - and I had no idea when I read this as a teen and didn't remember so didn't make the connection - the King's magician isn't just evil, he's the evil man in King's universe.
74 The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis
Not a cheerful read, to say the least. Eddy is poor, and bullied, and gay. His life is bleak, and although there is love, there's also violence and brutality. This felt much less like a novel than a misery-lit memoir. It's well done but I can't see quite why it's gained all the praise it has - I found it painful to read (perhaps that's the point) and somewhat mannered in its style and approach. Perhaps it's because it's French and therefore must be clever.
75 Palace Pier by Keith Waterhouse
Washed up writer finds a manuscript by Patrick Hamilton (now there’s a good writer!) and tries to turn it to his advantage. I don’t think I was in the mood for this, I didn’t find it funny or particularly interesting.
76 The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
I must have read this as a teenager. But I had no memory of it at all. I think someone up thread (Cote, I think) described it as quite YA, which is spot on: it works as a concept (post apocalyptic world where anyone or anything that deviates from “normal” is rooted out) but not a particularly sophisticated one.
77 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Picked up a second hand copy out of curiosity. I can see why it's become a classic and even though most of it is stating the obvious ("be kind", "show an interest") it's nonetheless good to be reminded of what it takes to get on in life.
78 Behind her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
Having sworn off thrillers where the middle class female protagonist is slightly damaged and drinks a bit too much, I found myself sucked in when this was on the Daily Deal this week. And was quite glad I did because while this has a lot of the hallmarks of this frustrating genre it was actually totally bonkers at the end and - despite the bonkersness - properly chilling. Not at all what you expect or imagine from the first 75% of the book.