Joe Speedboat is exactly the kind of coming of age stuff that I have fallen out of interest with, but I couldn’t resist the simple cover, the arresting title and the author Tommy Weiringa, who intrigues me (from the Netherlands, and born the same year as me, etc..). It’s the tale of resentful, wheel-chair bound Frankie, crippled at a young age in a rural harvester accident but encouraged by the always busy, confident and freewheeling Joe. His unlikely progression in life towards amateur arm-wrestling, and unrequited love for the blonde amazonian P.J made for an always interesting read. 3.5 stars.

A bit like Lincoln in the Bardo, with it’s odd subterranean, psychic plot, Lanny by Max Porter is a fascinating and sometimes frightening read about the fate of a boy, and the adults and ghosts who influence and surround him. This is not a book to be recommended lightly, as it really is of quite radical structure, though very short. A triumph though – and to think Kim got it for $2 at the Op shop. 4 stars.

Next was the completely different, longish, bestselling book A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. After the raw earthiness of Lanny, this felt like such a controlled, on-the-rails affair which I was lukewarm about until the unexpected exhilaration of the last section. When I repeatedly read phrases like “Now in all of Russia, there was no greater admirer of the written word than Count Rostov” I felt like I was reading a fairytale for a child. Large sections of it felt a bit that way, and it started to grate on me. An aristocratic man is confined to lifelong detention in a fancy hotel, and through detailed knowlege of people, place and habits, plots an unlikely eventual (decades) escape. Depsite the length, the characters still felt like 2 dimensional caricatures. 3 stars.

There’s a lot of sex talk in Yellow Dog by Martin Amis (2003), and I mean a ridiculous obsession with it, and it’s to the book’s detriment. Otherwise I was enthralled by the disjointed sophistication of it – the earthy asides, the humour, the broken banter and the feeling the Amis is making you work very hard to piece it together. It reminded me of Australian David Foster and his genius-like wordplay and pieced-together logic. The crude originality and lack of telegraphing made for a shocking but thrilling experience in an age that one reviewer called an antidote to “the prevailing literary piety”. A lot of people hate this book! – 4 stars.

From a book that celbrates societies’ worst to one that champions bold open minds and vulnerability, The Museum of Modern Love was quite the unexpected revelation. Written by Australian Heather Rose, it fictionalises characters around a real life artistic event in a U.S Art Gallery in 2010 by Marina Abramovic (and won the 2017 Stella Prize for Fiction). I was captivated from start to finish. 4.5 stars.

After the jubilation of his Booker Prize win, it was sobering to find that I struggled to enjoy Damon Galgut’s The Promise. The theme didn’t appeal much, and I’d say it took more than half of the book for things to accelerate to the point where I was enjoying where it was going. Amor Swart seemed an impossibly distant construct put in place to bridge the decades; barely a glimpse of her life on display. Her brother Anton was better realised, manic and overrun, disappearing into madness. Far from my favourite work of his – 3 stars.

Something more gruelling and sad was Anita Brookner’s A Closed Eye, a book I had almost no recollection of, before remembering chapter after chapter of a desperate mother seeking emotional connection with her oblivious daughter, and her repressed fascination for a friend’s husband, after settling for an older man as a young woman because her family expected it. I enjoyed it, but it was overly long – 4 stars.

I’m only putting this book in the “read” pile because it was the least read of any novel I’ve any attempted. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann was an impossible 1030 pages of no punctuation and a million brief ideas, bridged largely by the phrase “the fact that”, which after only 31 pages I decided was such a one trick pony of intellectual vanity and indulgence that my life should no longer be wasted on it. Unreadable as a whole – 1 star.

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford was so forgettable that I had to flick through it for awhile to even remember the characters, and I know that sounds like it was awful, but it wasn’t. It was just a bit of a naff theme really – 5 London teenagers killed during the blitz in 1944 reimagined as leading full lives in a 21-Up-style slideshow. A well chosen title since it was upbeat and optimistic and enjoyable read – 4 stars.

It’s hard to add anything original to add to the mountain of reviews and studies of Ford Maddox Ford‘s The Good Soldier. Considered his best work, having finished it, I certainly admire the unusual structure; the delicate way the story is revealed through a series of repetitive and tortured, tangled scenes. Considering the few individuals in the novel, it was surprising how many permutations and asides Ford could wring out of them, and yet the “good soldier” himself, Edward Ashburnham still remains such an enigmatic figure till the end. How can you not start to question the narrator, when a man of so many adulterous affairs and proclivities continues to be shown in such a positive, accepting light. Circular and well worth a read again in the future, the torment of the characters is well described and believable – 4 stars.

Is Last Letter to a Reader really Gerald Murnane‘s last? I feel like he’s been threatening this forever really, but as a man in his early 80’s perhaps this is it. Dedicating a small chapter to the feelings he has for each of his previous books – of course not in as literal a way as a reader might hope, he admits to his favourite sentences in some cases, in others to his family situation when writing, and to writing droughts and unpublished dross. As always there are always mentions of his many filing cabinets of notes (for a man of some humble beliefs, the ego of this has always sat funnily with me) and again, the failed “O, Dem Golden Slippers” and his love of Proust and Emily Bronte. For the Murnane tragic (and I am one), it was a lovely slice of candour and admission. What a unique individual he is – 4 stars.

New Grub Street by George Gissing, published in 1891, continues my willling exploration into older, more moderately acclaimed titles (e.g. The Good Soldier) introduced by the interesting Backlisted podcast. A warning to the scholarly and uncommercial writer, recurring sections dealt with the misery and fate of the honest and scrupulous, and of the advantages given to populist, opportunistic writers. Far from a morality tale, the cheeky, morally dodgy guy gets the girl, which was a bit hard to take since the other blokes died or starvation or pneumonia. An enjoyable slice of life from an age of innocence in the act of turning – 4 stars.

I’m always cursing that I didn’t write up a summary when I finish each book. I end up having to flick through things to remind myself of what it was like, so don’t expect anything deep this time around.

I had to look up the meaning of the word Apeirogon by Colum McGann, and it’s completely nonsensical to me – “a polygon with a countably infinite number of sides”. How is something infinite and yet countable? Anyhow, it was an engrossing (overly long) read about two families that had lost teenage daughters to Israeli / Palestine acts of domestic terrorism, who had formed a strong bond over their shared losses. Completely gripping in the first half, whilst details were being trickled out, but a touch repetitive by the end. 4 stars and a delight.

You have to hand it to Murakami, whose Kafka on the Shore is inventive, metaphysical and compelling, whilst not losing a middle aged reader in the process. I suspect my tolerance for magic realism has been on the wain for a long time, but the simultaneous quests of 15 year old Kafka and the simple 80 year old Nakata grabbed me hard and kept me wondering if they were the same person, at different stages of life or? Long, but effortless, it gets a 4.5 stars from me.

I had high hopes for Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Selected Stories, but again, short stories just don’t seem to be doing it for me this year. The last quarter of them, from 1977’s Kingdoms of Elfin, I skipped as they were completely unreadable. The remainder were arranged thematically, which I thought was a mistake, finding myself only really enjoying a half dozen in around the same section of the book. She’s highly acclaimed, and there’s a lot of variety here, but I certainly couldn’t recommend it. 3 stars.

What was it about 2021 which made me give some older women writers a go, when formerly apart from Proulx, Garner and ?, I pretty much avoided them (sorta shameful really). I think it was the podcast Backlisted which convinced me to try Muriel Spark, and her short “The Girls of Slender Means“, which was delightfully dated, but at times incomprehensible, needing careful reading. The last third whizzed by due to a incident with an unexploded mortar affecting the safety of the girls household, but overall, this was not what I expected and left me unsatisfied. 3 stars.

When I went back through 2020, I had a few 5 star books, but none for 2021 – well, with my last one ($3 from the Op Shop thanks to Kim), I’ve finally cracked it – the incredible Brighton Rock by Graham Greene was my book of the year; an unexpected delight. Published in 2003, it details the turf wars of seaside Brighton in the 1930s – reminiscent of Clockwork Orange or even something like Orwell’s Of Mice and Men (don’t ask me why I say this!), mostly the story of the inner workings and conflicts of 17 year old Pinkie, a better character study of which you won’t find anywhere. Amazing! Visceral, frightening in parts, and completely believable, it had me completely entranced and gasping by the end. 5 stars to you Graham Greene!

I went through a huge Indian phase in the late 90s – maybe all the Western world did; authors like Rohinton Mistry, Kiran Desai, Arunhdati Roy and Vikram Seth were high on the bestseller lists and somewhat romanticised Indian life. Maybe it was just me, but it seems like folks then moved on to other fertile ground – that of Africa or Indonesia and African American stuff. I never did get to India in my travels but once in awhile I like to breath it in again, as I did with No Presents Please by Jayant Kaikini, a book I bought as much for the joyous cover as I did for the writing. The stories of ordinary life in Mumbai were patchy and uneven (it seemed to me) – some of the earlier ones were more loaded with conventional twists and satisfying unpredictable endings, and then others went nowhere or told a point that was lost on me. Still, enjoyable – 3.5 stars.

Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty had been on my wishlist for awhile – Kim found it in an Op Shop by chance, so I was thrilled to get it during this COVID period where I’d not visited a book shop in 18 months it seemed. It can’t be just me that seeks fictional themes that reflect the phase of life you’re in, or will shortly be in and this one promised t deliver. A long married, retired Irish couple go on a long weekend to Amsterdam, where their domestic routines and familiarity with each other provokes reactions and decisions. The woman is found to have suggested the trip so she can explore a future religious life of spartan purity – one that her husband has no part in. The husband, an increasingly doddery drunk, surprisingly understands and continues to do thoughtful things for his wife despite this betrayal. Hopes are dashed and I was left with a gentle, sympathetic portrait of a couple who’ve drifted far apart but who remain grateful for each other when there is nothing left. 4 stars.

This one, Woes of the True Policeman by Roberto Bolano is a such an unbalanced, frustrating read, though all his books could be described that way, but when the author died midway through revising it in 2000, it was always going to attract someone wanting to compile the scraps and background research into a commercial product. Large chunks of this are extremely readable – the story of an older passionate gay man who has sex with his students and is eventually hounded out of Spanish academia to Mexico, where he tries to rebuilt his life, only to find new temptations. There are many short chapters in the midst of this final unfinished novel dedicated to topics such as Sworn Enemies of Arcimboldi (a fictional writer) – and then a list of names of fictional people, and chapters with synopses of fictional books he had written. WTF! haha. I skipped some of those bits, but the remainder was typically compelling and dangerous, and Bolano has to be read at least once for the mildly traumatic exposure to his crazy excesses. 3.5 stars.

The Harp in the South by Ruth Park is set in inner Sydney around the 1930s I think, in a very poor neighbourhood of immigrants all trying to get on in life amidst the violence of the streets – car accidents, drunken sailor fights, illegal betting and backyard abortionists – you name it, it’s happening. For me, is was father Hughie Darcy, a flawed and simple man, who provided the highlights of this sympathetic Darcy family novel, which brought to mind The Grapes of Wrath or My Brother Jack. The scenes where the family interact with their lodgers spinster Ms Sheily and Protestant Mr. Diamond are particularly spiteful and amusing. The coming of age story of innocent Roie Darcy is the drawcard and theme, but the bit players and glimpses into everyday life are eye opening and make for a terrific read. 4 stars.

I had no idea how uncommon Yours by Philip Callow was until I noticed only a single review on GoodReads, but the reviews on the cover were convincing, as was the $1 price tag. What a unique and mostly gripping read. Precise and unsettling, a young working class woman ventures into the adult world in the early 1960s to observe and brutally judge her peers for their flaws. There’s a lovely period feel about it (published in 1972), though I’m not convinced it’s a particularly good example of a man writing as a woman. I’d read him again for sure – 4 stars.

Picking up Bypass – The Story of a Road by Michael McGirr, I’d prepared myself for a slog, since A: It was Australian, B: It contained quite a bit of history, C: The main theme was the dull Hume Highway. I was regularly surprised by the freshness of the prose and the candour of the author, a former priest on a redemptive bicycle ride down the Hume from Sydney to Melbourne, partly shared with his future wife-to-be. The historical asides (Hume vs. Hovell) were short, witty and not too indulgent, and the modern day stories of the highway (trucking strike of 1978, Cliff Young ultramarathon, etc..) were interesting and varied. It was beautifully balanced, researched and funny I thought. How is this so poorly rated on Goodreads? 4 stars.

The podcast Backlisted had gotten me interested in Anita Brookner, and Fraud, and I’m glad I ventured into her carefully disguised, but probably 1960s insular London world, where the unsexy themes of aging, loneliness and domestic servitude are freshly explored. It brought to mind to The Old Wives Tale that I read only earlier this year, in that the romantic and social aspirations of the main female characters fell away to more immediate needs of monetary survival and familial duties. Although you could call it a dour novel, I found it a wonderful and unpredictable read – can you be truly happy in caring for others and denying your own needs? 4.5 stars.

Is there anything that Coetzee doesn’t do well? Life and Times of Michael K was completely captivating (reminding me of the The Road by McCarthy) in its nihilistic personal journey amidst a civil war in South Africa. Another sad, miserable story you say? Yes, but the sparse style and deep empathy for Michael are completely engrossing, and the narrowed, mute life he finds for himself is sad, redemptive, and completely believable. A total triumph that haunts. 4.5 stars.

Although a bit of a slog in parts, the dense, ambitious and carefully researched An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears was quite the labyrinthine political whodunnit 1660s journey through Britain and Italy – worthy of the Umberto Eco tag. There were times that I got lost in the technicalities of the plot(s), mistaking characters for others (often not spelled out deliberately for intrigue), so perhaps a little complex and long for me, but I loved the technique of giving quarters of the book over to the first person perspectives of key players – someone you thought was good was revealed later to have betrayed etc. My opinions kept shifting on the culpability of many, making for an unpredictable finish. There are many injustices within, making it hard to take at times, however I’m full of admiration for anyone attempting a work like this. What a mini-series it would have made. Not for everyone – 4 stars.

After my last three books, The Life to Come by De Kretser felt a little light and fluffy, but she’s not writing in the same space at all. There’s some terrific language and inventive phrasing here, but it felt choppy and uneven at times. It read like a commentary on modern relations in our busy world – people glancing briefly against each other and then they’re on to new things -self absorbed and shallow. A reviewer called it “a study of modern day, globalised, well-meaning tactlessness”. Another calls it deeply moving, though I’m not sure I agree on that! 3 stars.

Although not my usual stomping ground, I thought I’d try Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, as it promised “unflinching and devastating” which peaked my interest. Unfortunately, once you read incredible sparse writing like that of Galgut or Coetzee, it always feels like a stepdown, especially when it takes twice as long as needed to work through your story – the book was/felt way too long (even at 305 pages). I enjoyed the prison interactions, the tender descriptions of care for a floundering partner, and the healing, feel-good (American?) ending, but ultimately, I was just glad to finish. 3 stars.

The dated looking, odd-coloured and wonderfully titled The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus (1983) felt like a book I had to read. Although it took me 6 weeks, I worked my way though this dense Dutch translation and was rarely not intrigued by the inhabitants of Walle in West Flanders (Belgium) before and during World War 2. Pretty quickly I found myself struggling to work out the political sympathies of the families and individuals (so many!) – all struggling to live through the life-changing period of German occupation, where opportunistic alliances or minor betrayals routinely led to flight from authorities, work camp internment or to survival. I found the Flemish/French cultural battles hard to understand at times, however the picaresque domestic relationships of all the uncles and cousins and neighbours were amusing and varied. The coming of age of Louis was completely believable, although the first third of the book detailing his schooling at the convent was probably the least interesting part. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone really, since, as a reviewer stated it was “an hallucinatory fresco” at times and perhaps unsatisfying in some ways. 3.5 stars.

The Old Wives Tale – Bennett: Despite it being a long read, I have little to say about the book – it was certainly not a chore to work through, my chief pleasure not necessarily being the contrasts between the two sisters, but instead, the contrasts between life 100+ years ago and now. This is why I read the classics thesedays it seems! There was something rhythmic and methodical about the book which I liked. Having to read all about one sister’s life to old age, before even beginning the other sister’s story was a wonderful piece of delayed satisfaction in an era where a writer nowdays couldn’t help but leap frog back and forth every second chapter to satisfy our ADD. 4 stars!

Stoner – Williams: Boy I wish my Op Shop paperback copy had this pensive cover, as I probably would have read the book years earlier. The 1965 novel follows the life of a farmer’s son turned tenured university lecturer as he moves through life – his marriage, his parents, his daughter and work colleagues all proving difficult, but somehow he manages, despite so much sorrow and disappointment. There were times when I couldn’t suspend disbelief (could a wife just be so awful and odd?) and it felt perversely maudlin and engineered, but on the whole it soared. Who’d have thought the academic achievements of a middling professor and his minor goals in life would make for such a quirky interesting story. A sad and moving novel. 4 stars.

Sellevision – Burroughs: It’s been awhile since I finished a book in 4 days, and whilst that’s normally a good sign, in this case it took about the same before I’d forgotten about it completely. There’s some showbiz satire here, but nothing that made me laugh really -mostly caricatures and storylines that ended predictably. I don’t really know how it ended up in my To Read pile, but it still made for a pleasant diversion. 3 stars.

The Abstainer – McGuire: God I was looking forward to this one. I considered The North Water probably the best book I’d read in the past year or two, and this one began with similar promise. A troubled Irish cop pursues a would-be assassin in 1860s Manchester, where treachery and torture are part of everyday life. It was a cracker of a page turner really, until the last chapter, which was the ultimate gut-punch after a series of blows. Could there be a less Hollywood ending to a book? Devastating! 4.5 stars.