73 The Only Plane In The Sky by Garrett M Graff
Those of you who've already reviewed this did a better job than I could. Even though I remember that day so clearly, and could probably write down a fairly accurate timeline of what happened when, I was struck again by just how much happened, and how quickly. Oral history seems perfectly suited to narrating something that is so well known and written about - I think it is only through hearing from the people involved, from family members to Donald Rumsfeld to the poor woman who checked the hijackers in to their flight and told them to hurry that you get any real sense of the fear and confusion and horror. I cried several times reading this.
74 Nine Perfect Strangers by Lianne Moriarty
I've listed to several audiobooks this year that have been ruined by poor narration whereas this, I think, was saved by excellent narration. The plot is a bit hokey (guests at a spa retreat that goes somewhat off piste) and I never quite believed in all the characters or their behaviour but the narrator was so enthusiastic and delivered some terrible dialogue with such elan that I got quite caught up in it. And it was very diverting as I did some unbelievably tedious and lengthy domestic chores.
75 A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
I didn't see this as "wildly funny" or "bitingly satirical", despite what the blurb promised. It was rather sad. Possibly this is me, not Waugh. I can see it is accomplished and rightly highly regarded, and I've not read much else of his to compare it to. Brenda and Tony are wealthy, bored and drifting apart. When Brenda starts an affair, things go awry and end badly for everyone.
76 The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
This is billed as a modern retelling of Beowulf. Not having read the original, I can't comment on that. This felt more like a prose poem than a novel in places although there is a plot of sorts. Most of the story is told from the point of view of the monster's mother (here, the monster is just a kid, and the mother is an Iraq war veteran who somehow survived an assassination attempt and now lives in the mountains near an upscale development where people shelter together from the unknown outside). There is a lot going on here - patriarchy, fear of the unknown, class, conflict), and I don't know if I would have benefited from having read Beowulf. I suspect it would have led to a lot of "but what about...?" type questions if I had. In the end I just went with the writing, which was rather lovely.
77 Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
This was so good. Short, lyrical and packed with references to music, movies, and places in South London that I love. And although it starts as a love story, it moves into a different place that is much more focused on race and racism, and the challenges of being a young black man in a world that doesn't trust you. I usually read for the plot, and for character, and it's a challenge for me to engage with a book that puts language and structure first but this was so clever and so beautiful that I flew through it.
78 My Antonia by Willa Cather
I have had a run of really good books recently, and this was an absolute delight. I read Prairie Fires earlier in the year which really helped me get to grips with where Cather sets this novel, which is about immigrant populations in Nebraska at the turn of the century, just as the railroads open up the prairies.
Jim is an orphan who comes from Virginia to live with his family. On the journey he meets an immigrant family from Bohemia and forms a friendship with the daughter, Ántonia. They grow up together then grow apart as Jim moves away to New York. This is as much about the prairie as it is about the people who live there, and Cather writes about it with real and very present love and affection. I would re-read this in a heartbeat, and it would make a wonderful gift for someone who likes reading for reading's sake. Not much happens and we have to take a lot for granted, as much of what does happen is reported by characters within the book to Jim, rather than experienced by Jim, but it is a beautiful story.