2013

	This Side of Paradise – F. Scott Fitzgerald My Rating ★★★    3.4 A University paradise is followed by life lessons The first novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald follows the early life of Amory Blaine and is split into two books. The Romantic Egotist is his life through to his Senior year at Princeton University, the discovery of love and the creation of a personality - Paradise. The Education of a Personage is Amory's life in the real world and is illustrated through a series of life lessons that develops a feeling of disillusionment with life itself before turning at the end with a Road to Damascus moment. The notes and extra material in this edition is useful and interesting and shows the parallels this book has with F.Scott Fitzgerald's own life.
	All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren My Rating ★★★★  4.2 A political classic, no longer politically correct Robert Penn Warren won a Pulitzer prize (1947) for this long novel and two years later the film won three Academy Awards, it doesn't disappoint. While the main thrust of the book is following the political life of Willie Stark "the boss" who becomes Governor of Louisiana, it is equally about the narrator Jack Burden, a journalist and a sort of "fixer" for Willie. The book has a number of themes love (and affairs), family, race, slavery, education, alcohol, religion and of course politics. The novel is not written linearly and asks the reader to do a bit of time traveling, which can be confusing. Don't be put off by today's politically incorrect language as this is a classic written more than 65 years ago - times have changed.
	The Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen My Rating ★★★    2.8 Like modern art you will love it or hate it A frustrating read, sometimes enjoyable, many may not complete this book. The Los Angeles Times says 'Probably the most intelligent noir ever written... fills the reader's heart with dread'. At times it was too intelligent for me and I so dreadfully wanted some passages to finish. This book has complexity with parallels running between characters, but it is the dialogue which in my opinion lets it down, it is sometimes completely unbelievable. The chapters I enjoyed most were the ones I read with no distractions in the early evening. At times the prose is outstanding. I wasn't surprised to find in the introduction that Elizabeth Bowen wrote the book over an extended period. Try Graham Greene's The End of the Affair for an entirely different London wartime book.
	Driving Over Lemons – Chris Stewart My Rating ★★★    3.2 Read this if planning to visit Grenada, Spain This is an enjoyable documentary on building a life in the Sierra Nevada as a farmer and going native. It is an easy read but far from an easy journey for Chris and his wife Ana as they take over a farm and start to modernize it in this idyllic landscape studded with lemon, orange and olive trees. This real vision of Spain is far removed from that an hour away from the A-7 Autovia. An alternative travel book for those heading for the Alhambra.
	Every Contact Leaves A Trace – Elanor Dymott My Rating ★★★★  3.8 An Oxford murder with a difference There are no famous detectives in this investigation and it doesn't read like a normal murder mystery. This is a deep and sometimes moving narration of love, jealousy, grief and revenge set around an Oxford college. It has an absorbing storyline with a moral dimension which continues through to the end. It is an excellent first novel written partly on scene by an English Literature scholar. It is well worth a read.
	Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky – Patrick Hamilton My Rating ★★★★  4.0 A classic study of observation in 1930's London This is a beautifully written and sometimes comic study of ordinary lives set against the backdrop of The Great Depression. A trilogy, with each story focusing on one of the main characters, Bob a bar waiter, Jenny a prostitute, and Ella the ever optimistic barmaid at The Midnight Bell, a pub in central London. This is a study in observation, you can feel Patrick Hamilton sitting anonymously at his table with a pint and a notepad, and it is no surprise that Bob's story is semi autobiographical. This is a social history study of the early 1930's, a bleak atmosphere where living on the knife edge of survival is too apparent but where hope of a better life is ever present.
	Berlin Noir – Philip Kerr My Rating ★★★★  4.0 Introducing Bernie Gunther, Poirot's antithesis This is the omnibus edition of the first three Bernie Gunther books written 20+ years ago. For fans (I am a fan) and first timers this will not disappoint. In the first two books of this set Bernie is the sardonic private investigator living dangerously in pre-war Nazi run Berlin. The third book is pitched in Cold War post Nuremberg trials Vienna where unsavoury alliances are the backdrop to the new enemy of communism. If you have not been introduced to Bernie before, there is no better place to try him than at the beginning.
	The Accidental Apprentice – Vikas Swarup My Rating ★★★    3.4 Easy reading, fast paced, destiny (H/B)ollywood? Written by a man in the first person voice of a young woman, and successfully so, we are propelled into the improbable storyline of a chance encounter with a billionaire industrialist who offers you the opportunity to become a CEO of his conglomerate if you can pass seven life tests. But what is the catch? This is an enjoyable book, best read quickly, with bustling Delhi and rural India as backgrounds. Unfortunately, it is unavoidably predictable, you could never guess the tests but the outcomes are predestined at least until the seventh one and Vikas has already signaled in the first few pages that we will arrive in jail facing a death sentence. I have no doubt it will make a 5 star film.
	Norwegian by Night – Derek B Miller My Rating ★★★★   3.9 American author writes Nordic Noir There can't be too many books with an eighty-two year old hero. Sheldon Horowitz rescues a boy from a Balkan gang and is then chased across Norway by his pursuers, the police, and his grand-daughter (Rhea) and her husband (Lars). Sheldon is an ex-Marine and might be losing his memory, will he remember enough of his training to reach safety? This is a well written, sometimes complex debut novel. It is gripping and in places funny. It has had good reviews and I enjoyed it, but not everyone will. Sheldon often flits back to previous times and the book oscillates between Sheldon and each of the pursuers so that there are four sets of narratives to keep track of.
	The End of the Affair – Graham Greene My Rating ★★★★★ 4.5 A classic that can be read and reread If you are perusing a book shop (or the online equivalent) and are about to discard this book as poor value (it is only 160 pages long) then stop right there! If you have never read Graham Greene then you really should and this is a good place to start, and once read it is highly likely that you will reach for a second of his, and a third. This book is about obsession and jealousy, love and hate, it has comic turns and sadness. But consider this, it has parallels with Graham Greene's suspected own affair, and it has spawned two films and an opera.
	The Hustler – Walter Tevis My Rating ★★★★   4.2 Debut novel from a great American post war author This must be one of the best books going that focuses on what it's like to excel at a sport or game, how it requires character, it's not just a game, more of an art form. But Walter Tevis achieves this again with - The Queen's Gambit - this time the focus is Chess. Nine ball, bank, straight pool, one-pocket are the hustler's games. 'Fast Eddie' plays all types, but against Minnesota Fats his interest is straight, 'I like the expensive kind.' This is an excellent debut book, easy to read, a page turner. Written in 1959 it was turned into a movie two years later starring Paul Newman. Twenty-five years later Walter Tevis completest the story of 'Fast Eddie' with his sequel - The Color of Money.
	Exposure – Michael Woodford My Rating ★★★★★ 4.5 Japanese saying - The honest man is sure to lose Michael Woodford, ex-President and CEO (2 weeks) of Olympus Corporation is my corporate hero. His honesty and integrity drove him to querying inexplicable payments in excess of $1.5 billion knowing that he would almost certainly be dismissed and that he was putting his life in danger. This excellent and revealing book is easy to read and a real page turner for a business book! What it reveals to us is why corporate values and governance are so important.
	Kim – Rudyard Kipling My Rating ★★★★   3.7 Read in September 2013
	The Woman in the Fifth – Douglas Kennedy My Rating ★★★★   3.7 Read in September 2013
	A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming My Rating ★★★★   4.2 A pacey modern spy thriller – I want more! This is a modern gripping spy thriller with our hero, Tom Kell, an ex-MI6 agent engaged to track down Amelia Levene who has disappeared and in six weeks is due to become the first female MI6 chief. Charles Cumming had a short career in MI6 himself and this book feels realistic. It has pace created through 80 small chapters with an average of 4 pages per chapter. From the outset it creates open threads and then starts to pull those threads together so that you are carried through to the end. This is the sixth book by Charles Cumming and the first I had read. His first book A Spy By Nature has already been bought and sits near the top of my 50+ reading list.
	The Whisperer – Donato Carrisi My Rating ★★★★   4.0 Read in August 2013
	Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton My Rating ★★★★   3.8 Before you go out binge drinking, read this first! If you are suffering from schizophrenia or are generally depressed or lonely, don't read this book. If you are stuck in a rut, drink and smoke too much and considering becoming a professional alcoholic, then you might learn something from this book. If you are thinking of trying something different and have never read any Patrick Hamilton, try Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky first, but do read this classic of pre-war London fiction that has a parallels with Patrick's own life.
	Agent Zigzag – Ben Macintyre My Rating ★★★★   4.2 Read in August 2013
	If the Dead Rise Not – Phillip Kerr My Rating ★★★★   4.0 Read in August 2013
	The Expats – Chris Pavone My Rating ★★★★   4.0 Read in July 2013
	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John le Carré My Rating ★★★★   3.8 Read in July 2013
	Firewall – Henning Mankell My Rating ★★★★   4.1 Read in July 2013
	The Pianist – Wladyslaw Szpilman My Rating ★★★★   4.0 Read in June 2013
	Beastly Things – Donna Leon My Rating ★★★     3.4 Read in June 2013
	HHhH – Laurent Binnet My Rating ★★★★   4.1 Read in June 2013
	Perfume – Patrick Suskind My Rating ★★★     3.4 Read in May 2013
	The White Lioness – Henning Mankell My Rating ★★★★   4.1 Read in May 2013
	The Comedians – Graham Greene My Rating ★★★★   4.3 Read in May 2013
	Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace – Kate Summerscale My Rating ★★★★   3.5 Read in April 2013
	The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid My Rating ★★★★★ 4.5 Read in April 2013
	Brighton Rock – Graham Greene My Rating ★★★★   3.9 Read in April 2013
	A Quiet Flame – Philip Kerr My Rating ★★★★   3.9 Read in March 2013
	The Queen’s Gambit – Walter Tevis My Rating ★★★★★ 4.5 Read in March 2013
	Before the Frost – Henning Mankell My Rating ★★★★   4.0 Read in March 2013
	The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers My Rating ★★★★   3.7 Read in February 2013
	Prague Fatale – Philip Kerr My Rating ★★★★   4.2 Read in February 2013
	The Uninvited Guests – Sadie Jones My Rating ★★★     3.2 Read in February 2013
	Ride a Cockhorse – Raymond Kennedy My Rating ★★★★   4.1 Read in January 2013
	Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene My Rating ★★★★★ 4.6 Read in January 2013
	Phantom – Jo Nesbo My Rating ★★★     3.4 Read in January 2013