Novel
Character based, driven more by personal
relationships than action, ‘Realism’…
HORNBY, Nick
About A Boy 1998
Well written, often funny, nice
balance of hope and realism, read in one session
If On A Winters Night A Traveller 1979 Novel
Postmodern, self-aware, deconstructive – but
also fun and engaging
GOLDSWORTHY, Peter
Maestro 1989
Child prodigy in authentic seventies Australia
Middlemarch 1881-2
Clever, insightful, original, potent, engaging
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 2003 Crime/Novel
Triumphant autistic fantasy. Authentic characters, engaging narrative and excellent structure
HORNBY, Nick
High Fidelity 1995
Very readable, penetrating on commitment, honest, well plotted
How To Be Good 2001
Good characters, poignant without being preachy
ISHIGURO,
Kazuo
When We Were Orphans 2000
Black, very clever subversion of mannered detective
novel to deliver stinging theme
LIVELY, Penelope
Moon Tiger 1987
Great mood, characters, and potent historical settings
Catch 22 1955 Novel
Killer
satire, hilarious but black humour, drunkenly uninhibited
IRVING,
John
The World According to Garp 1978
Funny, striking, constantly moving
KEILLOR, Garrison
Wobegon Boy 1997
Slow moving but warmly funny, and
even some kick
LEE, Harper
Effectively following Twain’s tradition of dry narration from a child’s perspective to comment on America, community, morality and race
LIVELY, Penelope
Passing On 1989
Some good characters, patient story with a kick, a bit preachy
LODGE, David
How Far Can You Go? 1980
Perceptive case studies of how Vatican II, the pill, and changing social values affected adherents
Of Mice and Men 1937 Novella
Stinging, poignant, bleak, insightful
TYLER, Anne
Breathing Lessons 1988
Insightful, humorous, sad, believable
BANKS, Iain
Espedair Street 1987
Anecdotes, soul-searching and recovery of depressed fictional ex-rock star
The Business 1999
Hi-tech business woman moves between 1st and 3rd World
Stonemouth 2012 Novel (almost crime)
Capable narration, strong characters deftly weaved into a cleverly paced non-linear crime-ish plot
Regeneration 1991 Novel/War/Historical Fiction
Insightful WW1 profiles from well researched imagined psychological
counselling sessions with the ‘shell-shocked’
Inconceivable 1991 Novel/Humour
Workmanlike realisation of a usable idea, engaging start and finish, but bogs down in cliché in the middle
GOLDSWORTHY, Peter
Wish 1995
As ever well written but ultimately a deeply offensive theme (B+/F)
LEVI, Primo
The Wrench 1978
Gracefully narrated stories of a tradesman’s jobs and values
LIVELY, Penelope
Judgement Day 1980
Clinical, able, honest,
searching, manipulative
Heat Wave 1996
Potent, capable, slow-moving, tragic, venomous
LODGE, David
Ginger, You’re Barmy 1962
Honest picture of the inanities of national service
Out of the Shelter 1970
Semi-autobiographical coming of
age story of English youth in post-war Germany
Changing Places 1975 Novel/Humour
A middle-aged daydream
Small World 1984 Novel/Humour
Second of the clever and funny Rummidge Uni series
Nice Work 1988
Industry meets academia: deft
observation, articulation, organisation from a benignly humorous narrator
Paradise News 1991
Funny, touching, insightful,
morally & thematically flawed
Therapy 1995
Standard Lodge: insight, humour, alternative forms, incorporated lecture (Keirkegaard), adulterous resolution
Thinks 2001
Standard Lodge, but less substance and more cheap stylistic and prurient tricks
Deaf Sentence 2008
Honest, articulate, fluid, and (refreshingly) not that seedy
McEwan,
Ian
Amsterdam 1998
Able, masculine, articulate, incisive (although events are sensational and finally twee)
Life of Pi 2001
Ably written surprising mix of survival story and deceptively persuasive theology
Tomorrow, When the War Began 1993 Novel/Action/Teen
Surprisingly
workable war and teen romance hybrid; recognisable Oz kids
RL’s Dream 1995
Original, engaging, confronting
Suite Française 2004 (trans. 2006)
Established Jewish novelist sets and writes a story in Vichy France. Extraordinarily poignant.
A Song For A New Day 2019 SF/Novel/Music
Very impressive realisation of idea, lots of great craft but narration and dialogue don’t soar
The Shipping News 1993
Redemptive city to country feelgood story with strong episodes and dialogue
The Reader 1997
Modern German grapples to decide appropriate response to the holocaust
Jasper Jones 2009
Engaging coming of age story, rural 70s Australians amped up to Shakespearian proportions
The Little Friend 2002 Crime/Novel
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885 Novel
First half powerful, funny, striking, but then slides into farce
Dicey’s Song 1982 Juvenile (Novel)
Capable young teen sequel to Homecoming
Tree By Leaf 1988
Able meditation on choice and destiny (much better job than Cherryh’s Rusalka)
The Messenger 2006 Novel/Juvenile ((teen) and adult)
Good heart, engaging Australian expression and humour, oversimple
The White
Tiger 2008
Able concept and writing, perceptive, but
deeply cynical, and consistently unpleasant company
Mansfield Park 1814
Atypical, censorious heroine and plot, less fun than usual (apparently)
Canal Dreams 1989 Novel/Action
Ably realised genre hybrid, but I admired this book more than I enjoyed it
The Quarry 2013 Novel
Able (Banks is a writing legend), but too cynical for me
People of the
Book 2008 Novel/Historical Fiction
Clever enough idea competently realised – but not really for me
CAMUS,
Albert
The Plague 1947
Plague as a metaphor for German occupation of France
Room 2010 Novel
Competent realisation of a concept, but probably better as short story, or maybe a novella with a sequel
Silas Marner 1861
Not as engaging as Middlemarch, but interesting plot turns, characters and themes
Everything Is Illuminated 2002
A Dancing
Bear 2005 (Online) Novel
Clever but ultimately empty/ugly satire
FRY, Steven
The Liar 1991
Irritatingly constant seedy
action undermines language drenched with wit
The Hippopotamus 1994
Able characters, style,
dialogue and plot. Definitively gratuitous immorality
GALLICO, Paul
The Boy Who Invented the Bubble Gun 1974
Dated but OK. Troubled teen overcomes angst amidst silly spy shenanigans
GOLDSWORTHY, Peter
KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) 1996
Read overnight, mid-life issues, authentic Italian-Australian soccer playing characters
GRISHAM, John
The Chamber 1994
Original plot, interesting as legal/family documentary, flawed thematically
The Testament 1997 Novel/Legal
Enough to keep you turning pages, but some weaknesses of plot and glib US orthodoxy
Style a bit windy. Plot, action and dialogue are entirely secondary
A Long Way Down 2005
Typically good characters and dialogue but wayward structure
JAMES, Henry
An International Episode 1878 Novella
Fascinating
though less entertaining more modern foil to Lizzy Bennett
The Bostonians 1886
I must have liked it to have kept it but I
can’t remember why - time for a reread
JOYCE,
Rachel
The Unlikely Pigrimage of Harold Fry 2012 Novel
Endearing, poignant aspects
unravel in the last third
KAFKA, Franz
The Trial 1925
Dim on why I kept it – pleasure or pretension?
KUNDERA, Milan
The Joke 1967
He’s good but it’s been too long for me to remember why
The Farewell Party 1976
He’s good but it’s been too long for me to remember why
Ignorance 2003
Insight or projection?
LODGE, David
The British Museum is Falling Down 1965
More broad comedy and less perception than usual, literary in-jokes, and bemoaning Catholic birth control
Enduring Love 1997 Novel/Thriller
Hitchcock(?) style focus on the psychological effect of a stalker on an everyman
Atonement 2001 Novel/Historical Fiction
Too much setup, evocative war scenes, dubious dénouement
number9dream 2002
Sum is less than parts: cool elements undermined by implausible and pretentious environment
A Dancing
Bear 2005
Clever but ultimately empty/ugly satire
The Altruists 2019
Nausea 1938
I kept it, but I can’t remember it and have no desire to read it again
The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break 2002 Novel (Magic Realism)
Able ‘Of Mice and Men’ mood, characters, themes; mythic hook largely gratuitous
The Stone Diaries 1993
Undeniably able fictional autobiography, but not my thing
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living 2005
Detached narrative, effective historical setting, didactic moral
Well written, but depressing (and a bit preachy)
The Accidental Tourist 1985
Good movie, can’t remember if the book was as enjoyable
Kalki 1978
Hinduism and apocalypse in the US
WAIN, John
Comedies 1990
Real sense of 30s England
WALTER, Jess
The Zero 2006
Deft enough satire ala Heller, able writing,
but it didn’t grip or sting me much past half-way
Beautiful Ruins 2012
B-
Time For Bed 1996
Offensive
static overwhelms talented signal
Mildred Pearce 1941
Mildred: heroine, or just as shallow as the men she supplants?
CARROLL, Steven
All musing doth not a novel make
GUEDJ, Denis 2002
Not quite successful attempt to integrate maths history and theory into an engaging teen novel
The Buried Giant 2015 Novel
Dim memory. Not really engaging?
The Last of the Honky-tonk Angels 2003
Salem Falls 2001
Hooks for teen
girls, but clichéd and a bit glib using difficult content salaciously rather
than insightfully
Housekeeping 1981
Well written, but cold, somewhat misanthropic atmosphere
Table For Eight 2018 Novel (Romance)
Sad granny fantasy. Seriously, you’re 70 and you still want to base your identity on how sexy you are? Moments of tiny relationship insights in a world of superficiality presented as sophistication. On the (utterly shamelessly promoted) love boat
Delusions of Grandma 1994
Bad US sit-com gloss and
introspective vacuity
The Untouchable 1997 Novel
Blind Faith 2007 SF/Novel
1984 template to hypocritically
vilify facebook and religion
HESSE, Hermann
The Prodigy 1905
Utterly detached narrative, no humour, low action, little
insight
Independent People 1935, 36
Highly praised. Highly tedious.
The Boy Next Door 2009
I could not handle the constant bland short sentences
TYLER, Anne
Searching for Caleb 1975
Disappointingly bland and loose intergenerational family drama
The Color of Law 2005 Novel/Crime
Definitive stereotype, appallingly myopic
That Eye, The Sky 1986
Dark, cynical, bleak
F
GOLDSWORTHY, Peter
Wish 1995
As ever well written but ultimately a deeply
offensive theme (B+/F)
Three Dog Night 2003
Goldsworthy has jumped the shark