The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith

The first in a wildly successful series did not offer me enough reward to continue with the series. Whilst I enjoyed the unusual setting of Botswana and the no-nonsense central figure of Precious Ramotswe, too often the storytelling fell into tweeness. I was particularly irritated by the cowardly refusal to use the word AIDS when that is clearly what was being referred to, and a pointless episode involving a blindingly obvious solution ("they're twins!") that drags on interminably.

Romans

Interesting, this. We move from the narratives that have featured in the NT so far into the realms of evangelism and theological discussion as traditionally ascribed to Paul. I’m not very familiar with this stuff, so I kind of enjoyed it despite the fact that the entire premise is a pile of cods.

Death In Venice – Thomas Mann

This novella only takes an hour or two to read but it packs a lot in. The tale of a writer becoming obsessed with a beautiful teenage boy makes copious references to classical mythology, and the muggy atmosphere of Venice during a cholera outbreak is superbly conveyed.

Such Darling Dodos – Angus Wilson

It doesn’t sound like a particularly appealing prospect; a book of short stories about the anachronistic middle classes in the well-to-do England of the 1940s by a largely forgotten writer. Happily Wilson’s sharp eye and impish humour make the concoction highly entertaining and, once or twice, rather moving.

Acts of the Apostles

Other than the story of the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, which is described three or four times, much of this story of the earliest Christians was new to me, and thus pretty interesting. At times, as Paul and co are chased around various Mediterranean islands by unfriendly locals, it reads a little like The Odyssey.

Room – Emma Donoghue

This is the darling of the book club crowd right now, and I think it’s the bookie’s favourite for this year’s Orange Prize. Very good it is too, walking the line between populist and literary with style.

The narrator is a five year old boy named Jack who lives in Room with his Ma, oblivious to the existence of any world outside. To Jack this is normality, and his perspective partially alleviates the horror that our adult knowledge brings to the situation.

The first half of the story is brilliant, culminating in a sequence that had me breathless as I was reading, it’s really so effective. The intensity dissipates somewhat in the second half, but the abiding memory for me is of the character of Ma, a fierce and smart mother who will let nothing compromise her love for her son.

An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser

Long. Reeeaaallly long. Reeeaaallly loooonnng.

The story is fine, the prose is on the verbose side but OK, so how the hell did this comparatively simple plot bloat out to such enormous length? I think it’s mainly repetition. So determined is Dreiser to outline the shortcomings of the American systems of class, religion, politics, the media and justice that every detail is pored over from a multitude of angles until the only sane response is sheer exhaustion.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

More lovely Holmesian indulgence, this collection including some iconic business such as Irene Adler and the speckled band. This is the first one I’ve read since watching the recent TV series, and I was once again impressed about how the BBC adaptation captures the spirit of the original.
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John

Traditionally regarded as the loopiest/most spiritual of the gospels, it is notably more high-falutin’ in tone than the other three. Some of it is lovely actually, particularly the opening passage.

I am struck by the fact that two of the gospels don’t bother with the nativity at allhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif, only one mentions Mary’s virginity and that is based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for young woman. Crazy shit, man.