A Spy in the House of Love - Anais Nin

A dull account of a married woman trying to satisfy her desires in a series of affairs, to little effect.

At least it gave me a reason to revisit this splendid track from my youth:

The Old Curiosity Shop – Charles Dickens

"One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing." – Oscar Wilde

Thanks to Oscar’s famous and acidic quip, I knew how this one ended. He was right too, as this displays some extreme examples of Dickens’ most well-known shortcomings; sentimentality, verbosity and a Manichean approach to humanity and morality. There is also a false start in which the first few chapters a narrated in the first person, only for our guide to bafflingly depart; the rest of the book is told through the third person omniscient voice.

Nevertheless, there is some fun to be had with the vivid characters, particularly the loquacious ne’er-do-well Dick Swiveller (!) and the vividly demonic Quilp. I also enjoyed the satirical depiction of a waxwork museum, surely the dullest form of entertainment yet devised by humankind?

The Trick Of It

A minor work by a major writer. The plot revolves around a lecturer in Eng Lit who breaks the hitherto unknown taboo "against intercourse with an author on your own reading list". The unusual form of long, self-justifying letters and the theme of literary jealousy reminded me of Nabokov.

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

In comparison with The Hitch, Dawkins is the sober and reasonable face of the current surge of atheist pamphleteering. I would actually recommend this book to a curious reader because, whilst not as much fun as God Is Not Great, it is more structured and persuasive.

The God Delusion occasionally gets bogged down in the author's pet subject of genetics, but the argument is strong and some of the asides and footnotes are delightful.

God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens

Oh I do love The Hitch. He's a journalist that has all of my favourite qualities: fiercely intelligent and well-read, provocatively funny, a believer in Enlightenment values and usually pissed by lunchtime. He's pro-Iraq war and anti-abortion, but that would just make a session at the pub with him all the more entertaining. If you don't know him, just do a Google search, there's heaps of good stuff out there.

As for this book, the subtitle tells you most of what you need to know: How Religion Poisons Everything. It is an exuberant broadside against religious belief both in the general and in the particular. I am persuaded by most of his arguments, even if in my case he is (ahem) preaching to the converted, although he occasionally strays into shaky territory in his passion. For example, to deny that Martin Luther King Jr was largely motivated by faith is pushing it a bit - people can do the right thing for the wrong reason. The book sometimes lacks focus, probably because Hitchens is so knowledgeable and he wants to cram so many ideas into so little space.

Overall, though, I thought that this book was uproarious, offensive and insightful. In other words it's a blast.

Ghost World – Daniel Clowes

I like an occasional comic book, and this one is a wee gem. The focus is on female teenage relationships and impending adulthood, with a wistful and realistic feel.

The Master – Colm Toibin

This is a kind of imaginary biography of Henry James that won universal plaudits but left me feeling somewhat cold. The narrative follows the author in the latter period of his career and details the various relationships in his life and how they affected his work. I may well have got more from this had I read more of James’ work. but I was more impressed intellectually than emotionally.

At one point the ambiguous role of the author as observer and user of his friends is described as “cold sympathy” – a great phrase and one which would also serve as my view of the book.

A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh

A Handful of Dust is an interesting, funny and ultimately rather moving experiment. It starts in familiar Waugh territory, satirising the party set of the ‘thirties, but the mood shifts with a tragic event and the closing passages, set in Dutch Guyana, are very bleak. The control of tone throughout is hugely impressive, and the characters are all believable in their self-serving delusion.

Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton

This is a barnstormingly brilliant novel from an author that doesn’t seem to get much critical kudos but surely deserves it.

The plot revolves around a man with what used to be called schizophrenia but is now called dissociative personality disorder. Most of the time George is a downtrodden failure living a booze-sodden existence in Earl’s Court and hopelessly pursuing Netta, the girl of his dreams. When his brain “snaps”, however, he becomes murderous and starts plotting the killing of Netta.

The book was written in 1941 during the blitz, but is set in 1939; the sense of foreboding in the plot mirrors the approach of the war and the resigned gloom that settled over London.

I reckon that the combination of thrilling story and portrait of a very specific subculture at a critical moment make this a masterpiece, and I don’t say that about many books.

The Prince – Nicolo Machiavelli

If you’re interested in Fifteenth Century European politics, this is a cracker. If, like me, you are not, then the application of the methods of power broking suggested herein seem tenuous at best.

I’m a bit bemused – why is it so famous? Can anybody enlighten me?

Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence

I’ve always steered clear of this despite its social importance, largely because of my lack of interest in erotic writing. It was therefore a relief to find that it deals just as much with class as with sex, albeit in a jarringly dated fashion. It’s not a particularly interesting novel, and the shagging is very mild by today’s standards.

Is It Cowardly To Pray For Rain?

I needed something light to read that required minimal thought with maximum distraction, and nothing could have been better than this transcript of the Grauniad’s over-by-over coverage of England’s win in the last Ashes series but one.

I had forgotten just how tense the series was and somehow I found myself fretting about the outcome. More fun can be had from the digressions initiated by emails from readers on all kinds of matters, cricket related or otherwise.

Seeing Is Believing; How Hollywood Taught Us To Stop Worrying and Love the 50s

Deeply, deeply disappointing stuff from the author of the brilliant Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. The formula:

1) Establish an unconvincing political dichotomy in 1950s art between radicals and centrists
2) Shoehorn every movie you've ever seen into said dichotomy
3) Write a dodgy undergraduate thesis on the subject and get it published

It's rare to be so frustrated with a book.

The Warden - Anthony Trollope

I read a blog post from the Grauniad a wee while back about novel sequences and it got me interested. I reckon I'll try a few, and Trollope's Barchester books come up first.

The Warden is an interesting, low-key work about local politics as they apply to an idealistic individual who doesnt accommodate local propriety. There are strong parallels with Henry James' Washington Square, in that it deals with the marital prospects of a middle class daughter under the influence of her father, and also in that they're well worth reading.