Sweet Tooth, Ian McEwan

Read on the Kindle, following Amazon recommendation.

A new Ian McEwan book? Well, what are you going to do? You have to download and read it, right? After all it will probably end up on the Booker list, no?

Well, actually, no.  This book didn't make the even the long list for the Booker, and I think the reason may be that this book is McEwan by numbers.

Serena Frome is recruited into MI5 out of Cambridge University, where she has gone to study Maths at her mother's insistence.  She works on some low level projects before getting involved in Sweet Tooth, a project to secretly recruit and financially support writers who are hostile to Communism.  Serena starts an affair with, and eventually falls in love with the author she has been sent to recruit.  Of course, such a massive deceit is not going to end well for them.

Perhaps I am just too young to recall the 70s; the political wrangling and the 3 day week.  Perhaps I didn't take enough notice of the Cold War at the time, but this book failed to grab me.

A Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

Read in paperback, recommended and lent by Sam.

This book reminded me very much of Cloud Atlas: the changing narrators, styles and time periods, including a chapter set in the future.

You have to keep your wits about you, as the points of view and time frame changes from chapter to chapter with no preamble.  However, the same characters come back time and again in different configurations.

It also reminded me of Black Swan Green, another David Mitchell book, because each chapter can be read on its own, like a collection of short stories.

Set in America, the story broadly follows the lives of Bennie, a music entrepreneur, and his assistant Sasha, their brushes with celebrities and their successes and failures.

I enjoyed the style of this book, but was not particularly moved by it.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

Read on the Kindle, as recommended by Granny, also on the Booker Prize Long List 2012.

A very gentle book, with a deceptively simple premise.  Harold receives a letter from a friend to let him know that she is dying.  Harold writes a reply, and sets out to post it, but walks past the postbox and keeps on going. Eventually walking from South Devon to Berwick upon Tweed.

On the way we learn about Harold's history, and his relationships with his wife, his son, and the friend he is trying to keep alive.

Contains some very poetic passages about the English Countryside, and also meditations on materialism and celebrity.

At times sad and poignant, ultimately uplifting and definitely a page turner.

Cloudstreet, Tim Winton

Read for Book Club - chosen by Ros.

Set in Perth, this novel teems with strong Australian characters.

Two families come by chance to live together in a big old house.  Each family has their own tragedies and joys to cope with in a story spanning 30 years.

It took me a while to read, but it was worth it to follow the lows and highs.

The Stranger's Child, Alan Hollinghurst

Read on the Kindle - special purchase at 20p.

I had read and enjoyed the Line of Beauty, so when I saw this book on special offer on the Kindle I went ahead and downloaded it.

It's a novel with a broad historic sweep - starting in the early 20th Century, and ending in the current times.

Each section of the book is set in a different time, and the challenge every time the focus shifts is to work out where and when you are, and how everybody is connected.  Events and characters are viewed differently with hindsight, sometimes we know more than the characters in the book, and sometimes they have knowledge we didn't have.

Only spoiled by a slightly downbeat ending, where loose ends were left flapping in the wind, I nevertheless enjoyed this book too.

A Perfectly Good Man, Patrick Gale

Read on the Kindle, after Amazon recommendation.

A companion piece to Notes from an Exhibition, it features the same Cornwall location and some of the same characters.

An interesting structure, where Father Barnaby Johnson's chapters work backwards in time, while the rest of the narrative starts at the beginning and works forward.

Beautifully written, with the central questions seeming to be not only What makes a Good Man? but also What makes a Man Good.

I loved this book, and was sad and bereft when I finished it.

How to Eat Out, Giles Coren

Read on the Kindle, after recommendation by Amazon.

Giles Coren, son of Alan Coren, former editor of Punch, and brother of Victoria Coren, writer, presenter and champion poker player, is a food critic and television presenter. (He's also written a novel, but I haven't read that yet).

This book is part autobiography, part travelogue, and part instruction manual for how to get the best out of a dining experience in various different types of restaurant.

He may come across as pompous and opinionated some times, but he sure knows how to string a sentence together, and some of the chapters are laugh out loud funny.