They’ve been on my desk for months awaiting a fair hearing, or a night when I could be arsed, and now that I’m getting DC’d playing WoW, the time has come for the shortest of summaries.
Koch’s “The Dinner” first captivated me with it’s Lobster cover, and then infuriated me with it’s ending. A provocative and calculated attempt to goad anyone with a sense of justice, and like The Slap, provide fodder for lacklustre dinner party conversations, if anyone has them anymore. I couldn’t believe how angry this book made me, so 4.5 stars for trolling me so comprehensively.
Next up, the book that cemented Australian Patrick White’s Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978, “Voss”, which won the Miles Franklin and a book whose enigmatic title I’d long wondered about. Probably the 4th White book I’ve read, but one of the best. An imaginative remake of the failed 1849 cross-Australia trek by Ludwig Leichhardt, the utterly impenetrable Voss, driving further and further into the desolate interior, his mind awash in a cool, spiritual relationship with a tortured Sydney schoolmistress. It was a great contrast between their circumstances and in White’s sparse hand, it was a memorable exchange. 4 stars.
Last up, a populist map book by Simon Garfield “On the Map”, full of pics and oddities and chapters that explored everything from Ptolemy to Harry Beck’s London Underground map and Sat Nav. systems. Extremely readable, and had me searching Ebay and Abebooks.co.uk for a nice fresh 1908 copy of Baedeker’s “London and its Environs”, where I’ve since unfolded it’s delicate maps and read all about the beheadings in and around The Tower. 3.5 stars and great fun.