I have never been a Wuthering Heights fan, although I have tried it at various stages in my life to see if growing up makes a difference. Not sure it does, to be honest. But thanks to this chat, I started Tenant of Wildfell Hall last night and am hooked. That's this weekend sorted out.
64 People Person by Candace Carty-Brown
I really enjoyed this story of five young people who share a father but not much else. It wasn’t quite sure whether it was a family saga or a thriller and as a result I found it a slightly curious read, but I loved it enough that I was prepared to forgive its slightly uneven storytelling. And set in south London, too – the backdrop to my teenage years.
65 Fatherland by Robert Harris
I had read this once before, probably not long after it came out, but didn’t remember much apart from that it was “alternative history” set in 1960s Germany after the Nazis had won WW2. It was a very cleverly done and very tense thriller – the slow unfolding of the story was horrifying and the end genuinely tense. Much better than a lot of his recent stuff though I have a soft spot for Conclave.
66 Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean O’Hagan
As a massive fan of Nick Cave’s music, but being less familiar with his written work, this was engrossing. The two men had a series of conversations over lockdown where Cave talks about art, faith, love and his past. It’s extraordinarily beautiful and thoughtful, particularly when he talks – as he does repeatedly – about the death of his teenage son Arthur several years ago. Because it really is “in conversation”, it’s repetitive at times, and there is not a clear and linear narrative but I read it as poetry much of the time, and will certainly go back to it more than once.
67 War Doctor by David Nott
Recommended on here and certainly not oversold. He’s clearly a difficult character, but I think perhaps hard to excel in the field he does without a certain bloody minded tenacity. The detail of the operations was mostly just background for me but the descriptions of what it’s like to work in a war zone on trauma patients, and the ethical and professional dilemmas it throws up was fascinating.
68 The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
Probably didn't need to write this, as I've just seen Welshwabbit's review, which I can't disagree with! But as I had already written it...
First, it is reprehensible that this was allowed to go through the editorial process unaltered because I am willing to guess that at least 50% of readers will either listen to it on an audiobook or read it on a Kindle. I did the former and it was incredibly hard work to focus on the content of the endless online chats and Twitter threads and filter out all the @s and “private channel has opened” stuff that if you were reading it you’d be able to skim past. And then I am told there is a similar problem on Kindles with the way the chats are rendered by a friend who is visually impaired and relies on being able to scale up print. I realise it’s hard to write a book about online fandom, bullying and internet trolling without a bit of online chat but it made it really challenging and unnecessarily so, in my opinion.
That aside, plus the fact it’s obviously about 30% too long due to ridiculous amounts of unnecessary detail – I don’t care what colour the plush velvet carpet in some rich bloke’s hallway is, it has nothing to do with the plot and is another 30 words I didn’t need to listen to – it was pretty good. I was completely lost by the ins and outs of the plot, partly due to there being so many people involved but also because of listening to it online. But at least there were no enormous diversions this time – it was (largely) either the case they were investigating or Robin and/or Strike.
And like most other people I’m quite invested in Robin and Strike even though Robin could and should do much better for herself.
This was a big improvement over the stupid one about the stupid horse, at least.