Yes, I think 2009 was officially my worst ever year for reading (and also blogging, but that is less of a life threatening condition). It feels as though I spent the year reading bad books, the wrong books, books that were highly praised and turned out to be rubbish, books that started well and fell apart in the middle, books that were boring, books that were incomprehensible. Or it might just have been me. Either way, I was not a happy reader. But looking down the list I now see many books that I truly loved. I think the truth was that life got in the way and it ended up being the year in which I probably abandoned more books than I finished: an astounding reversal of my usual forced march through books I am not enjoying, on the off-chance that they redeem themselves in the final pages. (For the record this has happened just the once in my entire reading career but it was Ali Smith's The Accidental and I ended up liking it so much that it vindicated a life time of trudging). I kept starting good books and then being distracted from them so long that by the time I was back I had lost heart with them. Some appalling casualties of this were Wolf Hall (which I had in my hands the day after publication and well before the Booker hoo ha), A Gate at the Stairs and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, all books that I adored in the hours I spent reading them but after being taken away from them for a month or so, I couldn't bring myself to pick up again. For the record I would recommend all three, despite only having half or a third read them.
So what with one thing and another, not many books got mentioned last year so I am going to do a quick catch up and see if I can review all 36 in a single post and in nine words or fewer. Here goes:
Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life by Dominic Dromgoogle. Mad exuberance of a man living and breathing Shakespeare.
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. Gorgeous book drunk on history and love.
Down River by John Hart. Ho-hum thriller. Don't bother.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. The world was right: this is an amazing book.
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. Baffling, wonderful, compulsively readable.
The Film Club: No School. No Work...Just Three Films a Week by David Gilmore. Nice idea, infectious enthusiasm for film, tedious personae.
The Chateau by William Maxwell. Stylistically and psychologically wonderful tale of Americans abroad.
Ripley's Gameby Patricia Highsmith. Good but interchangeable with all the other Ripleys.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. Finally I am old enough to understand the fuss.
Out Stealing Horsesby Per Petterson. Understated, luminous, short and haunting.
Englebyby Sebastian Faulks. Apparently I was not supposed to like the narrator.
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. Terrible waste of my time.
Accidents in the Home by Tessa Hadley. Forgettable (and now forgotten) domestic nothingness.
And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison. Everyone apart from me loves this one.
The Lost Childby Julie Myerson. Mother exploits child for money in very bad book.
The Children's Bookby A S Byatt. Loved this totally and wanted to live in it.
The Quest for Corvo by A J A Symons. Amazing book about writing a biography. Read it.
The Little Strangerby Sarah Waters. Oooh goosebumps. Read this one too!
Housekeeping vs The Dirtby Nick Hornby. Comfort re-reading when things were tough.
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. See above.
The Franchise Affairby Josephine Tey. Dated who-didn't-do-it which inspired Sarah Waters.
The White Darknessby Geraldine McCraughen. Fabulous teen Arctic adventure. Recommended.
Carolby Patricia Highsmith. Not Ripley. Interesting.
Compulsionby Jonathan Kellerman. I was very ill. It was very easy.
The Hard Way by Lee Child. I was still ill. Best living thriller writer.
The Senator's Wifeby Sue Miller. Well written, emotionally astute family story. Likeable.
The Suspicions of Mr Whicherby Kate Summerscale. Loved this Victoriana so much I virtually inhaled it.
The Distinguished Guestby Sue Miller. Another talented and likeable novel from Sue Miller.
The Liar's Clubby Mary Karr. Ok but didn't like it as much as anticipated.
A Writer's Diary by Virginia Woolf. I am beginning to know sections by heart. Adored.
Deceived with Kindnessby Angelica Garnett. Fascinating memoir by Virginia Woolf's niece.
Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill. Sentimental, sententious twaddle.
Affinity by Sarah Waters. As close as is possible to my ideal novel.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattooby Steig Larsson. Really, what is the fuss about?
Shakespeare Wrote for Moneyby Nick Hornby. See Hornby entries passim.
Seasonal Suicide Notes by Roger Lewis. Grumpy old man writes very funny book.
So there we have it. An entire year's worth of book reviews in one post. At this rate I can keep the blog updated with just one post a year. Anyway let's hope that I get my reading mojo back this year.
I hope you get your mojo back and I also hope you convince yourself to go back to 'Wolf Hall' one of these days (there's going to be a sequel, you won't know what's going on...except you will because it's probably one of the best know stories of history, also did you know Henry VIII died yesterday, oh so many year ago?)
Opinions do seem violently divided about 'Howards End is on the Landing' and 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'. Taking your other recommendations into consideration :)
Posted by: Jodie | Friday, 29 January 2010 at 08:37 PM
I am so so so happy you're back, Sandra.
Posted by: SFP | Friday, 29 January 2010 at 09:40 PM
I hope you do get your reading mojo back and that you manage more than one post a year.
Wolf Hall came to a halt for me too last year, although I was enjoying it, because once I put it to one side for a few days I'd completely lost track. I thought I'd start it again one day and that day is yet to come.
Posted by: BooksPlease | Saturday, 30 January 2010 at 02:56 PM
Always good to see you here! I can't wait to check some of these out. Oh, and I have also had the worst reading and blogging year...
Posted by: Diana | Saturday, 06 February 2010 at 02:22 AM