BEST SUMMER READ, 2010
date: 25 August 2010 at 09:37:45 - 0 comments
Before they go on holiday, a lot of writers recommend books by telling you that they intend to read them. The idea is that you should read them, too.
Well, here’s a new take on that trend...
Here is a list of the books that we actually DID read, together with our opinions of how good, bad or indifferent they were.
In alphabetical order:
Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn (Black Swan) – a great read, highly original, really enjoyed it.
David Downing, Zoo Station (Old Street) – an intriguing story well-told, captures the era nicely.
Alan Glynn, Winterland (Faber & Faber) – convincing Irish noir, look forward to the next.
Robert Goddard, Long Time Coming (Corgi) – not his best, but always immensely readable.
Georgina Harding, The Spy Game (Bloomsbury) – an engrossing mystery told from a child’s point of view.
Philip Kerr, If The Dead Rise Not (Quercus) – very disappointing after his recent triumphs. I was truly irritated by the ocean of inappropriate similes...
R. N. Morris, A Razor Wrapped in Silk (Faber & Faber) – a great period piece, beautifully written.
Robert Muchamore, The Sleepwalker (Hodder Children’s) – a kids’ book with gazump. Don’t know why I read it – we have no children – but I really enjoyed it, and may buy more.
Joyce Carol Oates, The Gravedigger’s Daughter (Harper) – totally boring. Gave up after 90 pages. I was hoping for something along the lines of My Sister, My Love, which was great.
George Pelecanos, The Way Home (Phoenix) – another terrible read. Dull, uninspired. The tale seems to have no plot, it just dwindles to a welcome end.
Ian Rankin, The Complaints (Orion) – the boss is back with a cracking novel that keeps you on the edge from start to finish.
BEST OF THE BUNCH?
Well, I didn’t include Hiary Mantel's “Wolf Hall,” because I haven’t quite finished it. If you like history and know something of the period, it knocks spots off every other book around. If not, who knows?
I was surprised, and pleasantly so, by Georgina Harding’s THE SPY GAME, so it gets my vote as BEST READ OF SUMMER, 2010.
HAS ANYONE OUT THERE GOT ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR RECOMMENDED READING?
