Piccadilly Jim – P.G. Wodehouse

Another slice of Wodehouseian merriment , in which mayhem is created with the usual effortlessly entertaining results. Like imbibing expensive brandy whilst wearing a smoking jacket.

Barnaby Rudge – Charles Dickens

This is a curious, broken-backed novel. The first half is a reasonably interesting family melodrama, but then there is a sudden five year hiatus and we pick up the story in time for the Gordon Riots, in which anti-Catholic mobs burned down half of London. The odd structure rather wrecks the plot (which is largely irrelevant anyway) but the riots themselves are superbly executed.

Wrapped Up In Books - 2007 Review

I managed 101 books last year, an increase of a massive one from 2006. Still, I ploughed through War and Peace which is pretty good.

Best Books: Orlando, Goodbye to Berlin, Pobby and Dingan, The Master and Margharita, The Sea, On Beauty, War and Peace, Washington Square, The Human Stain, Hangover Square, The God Delusion, The Slaves of Solitude, The Honorary Consul, Barchester Towers, A Question of Upbringing, The Age of Innocence

Worst Book: Diamonds are Forever

Longest Book: War and Peace

Shortest Book:The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories

Non-Fiction Books: 18

Australian Books: 8

Books by Women: 15

Resolution for 2008: More series - Barchester Chronicles, A Dance to the Music of Time and The Alexandria Quartet

Here's to next year. Thanks for reading - it's been literary.

Why Don’t Penguins Feet Freeze? - Mick O’Hare (ed.)

A series of reader Q&As from New Scientist, this was a fairly entertaining, informative and brisk read. It concentrates largely on the trivial or bizarre – I had to laugh at the discussion of what becomes of the bullets that get fired up in the air at raucous street celebrations in the Middle East (hint – it’s not such a great idea).

The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai

This is a pretty good novel, but I doubt it was the best novel of the year despite winning the Booker.

As is common in Anglo-Indian fiction, the main themes are migration, the clash of cultures and the resultant struggle to find one’s own identity. The writing is perhaps a tad over-elaborate but the characters are engaging and some of the imagery is striking.

The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene

Another trip to Greeneland, another superb novel. As usual, it is a kind of moral thriller that gives us utterly believable characters engaged in all-too-human behaviour that leads to catastrophe. Sobering, humane and quite brilliant.

I Peed on Fellini - David Stratton

This is the splendidly titled memoirs of Australia’s leading film authority, who also happens to be the teacher on the film course I have been attending for the last few years.

Knowing Stratton fairly well it was fascinating for me to read about his childhood and early years, but the main fun of the book lies in his rich store of anecdotes and encounters with film luminaries. I mean, who else would get to hang out at Gene Kelly’s house for the day, or visit the Taj Mahal with Satyajit Ray, Akira Kurosawa and Michelangelo Antonioni?

(You might wish to check out the interview with him in the upcoming March edition of GQ Australia. Ahem.)

The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Leo Tolstoy

As my mate Ben once said of Malone Dies, the title gives away the ending. This struck me as fairly minor Tolstoy, although it is apparently regarded very highly among his late works. Perhaps I am being deceived by the book’s brevity, or maybe I am right and the collective critical wisdom is full of it. Who knows?

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

It’s always slightly odd reading a book when you are very familiar with the film adaptation (Scorsese’s superb effort), but the quality of the writing on offer here easily transcended my mental obstacles to fully enjoying the novel. The convincing story of love thwarted by social convention is hardly an original theme, but the evocation of 1870s society (the book was written 50 years later) is dazzling and the emotional content resonates strongly.