My list so far:
- Angelmaker – Nick Harkaway
- My Lady Parts – Doon Mackichen
- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
- Ghosts of the British Museum – Noah Angell
- Beyond the Wand – Tom Felton
- Spook Street – Mick Herron
- Dark Earth – Rebecca Stott
- The Complete Yes Minister: the Diaries of a Cabinet Minister – Jonathan Lynn & Antony Jay
- Voices of Rome – Lindsey Davis
Adding to the "books you should read" book chat, CCM was a rare DNF for me many years ago, lent by my late FIL: I just couldn’t get into it. Having said that I loved Notwithstanding and have another of his on my wish list so we’ll see. EO was a book club read, as was Lessons in Chemistry, I found both a bit meh while the rest of the club were raving about them. Hey ho. And on the subject of Marmite books:
’10. Children of Paradise – Camilla Grudova
Late to the party as always with this one, a book that was much read by 50 Bookers a couple of years ago as it was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023. It proved to be another divisive read at the time a la BBB, and I can understand why.
Holly has applied for a job at the Paradise, one of the city’s oldest cinemas staffed by misfits. As a cleaner, usher, kiosk attendant and general odd-job girl she deals with the frankly disgusting state of the building and unsavoury habits of her work colleagues and customers, but gradually becoming one of the team she learns about the history of the place and becomes part of the Paradise itself. When a corporate takeover threatens the individuality of the Paradise and violence breaks up the team, what future is there for Holly?
I’m on the fence about this one. It was ok, not great but had a good plot and came to a satisfying conclusion.
’11. The Drama of 365 Days: Scenes in the Great War – Hall Caine
This slim volume is a fascinating critique of the causes and early days of the First World War, or the Great War as it was known in the book, which was written in the Autumn of 1915. A series of short chapters give pen-portraits of some of the individual royalty and statesmen, the part played by various countries and the national character of the main protagonists. As a historical document it is very much of its time, patriotic to the point of jingoism and playing on the stereotypes of the European nations involved, as you would expect given the situation when it was written. However, if you accept the xenophobia it is a snapshot of one man’s opinions in the midst of a War unlike anything the world had seen at that point, and the hindsight of knowing what came after makes it all the more poignant.
As a bonus my original 1915 copy comes with historic woodworm holes, yum.