I’ve been an avid reader for most of my life, but in recent years I haven’t read as widely as I’d like. My mum passes on an almost constant supply of crime books, and along with monthly book club books, I rarely have time to read anything else.
I want to read more books of my own choosing, particularly ones set outside of the UK as it’s a great way to travel vicariously.
See below for my brief reviews of the first 10 books:
1. Love and garbage – Ivan Klima
Set in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the 1970s/1980s. The narrator is a banned author writing a book on Kafka who has taken an additional job as a street sweeper. Self indulgent musings and observations on Kafka, the street sweeper gang, family, his lover and his wartime childhood.
Sense of place: 6/10.
Plot: 5/10.
Readability: 7/10
Characters: 8/10.
Overall:7/10
2. The seven moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka
Set in Sri Lanka in the early 1990s, against a backdrop of civil war. This book won the 2022 Booker Prize. A mix of magical realism and dystopian satire, it tells the story of a murdered photographer, Maali, who has seven moons to find out who murdered him and sort out his affairs. Enjoyable but hard going at times as it assumes a level of Sri Lankan political and spiritual knowledge.
Sense of place: 8/10.
Plot: 8/10.
Readability: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
3. Little black lies – Sharon Bolton
Set in the Falkland Islands in the 1990s. A step up from the usual crime thriller because of its location. The timeline and narrator jumps around a little which I always struggle with, but it kept me reading late into the night. I was slightly disappointed to discover the author lives near Oxford and researched the book via YouTube videos of the Falklands!
Sense of place: 9/10.
Plot: 7/10.
Readability: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
4. The goodbye cat – Hiro Arikawa
Set in contemporary Japan. A book of short stories about cats, with a general feeling of loss running through them. I’m not usually a fan of short stories, and (dare I say) I prefer dogs to cats. However, I really enjoyed this book even though it was sad in places.
Sense of place: 8/10.
Plot: 7/10.
Readability: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
5. The glass room – Simon Mawer
Set mostly in Central Europe, primarily Czechoslovakia, from the 1930s onwards. A tale of a modern glass box house and those who live there. Plot focussed (slightly unbelievable at times) and heavily slanted towards the lives of the family who commissioned the house. Easy to read and most ends neatly tied up (again, slightly unbelievable).
Sense of place: 9/10.
Plot: 9/10.
Readability: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
Challenge partly completed. Pop over to read the full list of my 60 things to do before I’m 60.