The History of Mr Polly – H.G. Wells

In which Wells turns his hand from the science fiction for which he is best remembered and goes for comic social commentary, which was in fact taken very seriously at the time. The effect is patchy, with some odd stylistic tics tending to camouflage a simple and rather sweet story.

The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion

Joan Didion is the quintessential Upper East Side intellectual; unapologetically privileged, humanely insightful and hyperarticulate. I am a great admirer, and this gorgeously written meditation on the sudden death of her husband and the subsequent grieving process is perhaps her finest work.

Don Juan – Lord Byron

Byron termed this an “epic satire”, a decent term for this 500 page poem in ABABABCC cantos. The tone is chatty, discursive, allusive and alternately witty and bawdy with occasional outbreaks of seriousness. Perhaps the best example of the learned but fun-loving tenor is the verse that rhymes Plato with Cato with potato.

Family and Friends – Anita Brookner

An interesting and unusual family saga written in densely textured prose and written in the present tense. Somehow one reads it as if it is being read in a Joyce Grenfell voice: