To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

What can I say about this that has not already been said? (When did that ever stop me?) Save to say that, as always, I have trouble getting started. The first section of Part One always seems to me to be much longer than it really is. Perhaps an indication of the extreme compression involved in the writing. There is so much to take on board at the beginning of the work that It makes the rest seem daunting, when in fact when has once found one’s balance, so to speak, the rest flows like... well... thought.

The best part of the book as far as I am concerned is the short, middle section. Ten years in fifteen pages and the sense of change and decay in an otherwise unchanging universe are conveyed with all the intensity of a poem – a nocturne in which the bursts of light are not stars or comets, but the falling of shells and the shock of sudden death.

That it is, for me, the best part of the book does not detract from the context in which it sits. Rather it enhances the preceding and following sections, providing a different perspective on the scene; perhaps even the perspective of the scene itself – a meditation on how the places we live view the passing of time. A triumphant work.

A Man Lay Dead - Ngaio Marsh

The first of Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn mysteries. As a book written partly to entertain herself and partly to see if she could do it, it is quite remarkable. Focussed, smooth, and well paced with an intriguing storyline, it is an excellent first attempt. In retrospect (I have read a number of her books before, including this, though never in order) it is clear this is a first book.

Characterization is sketchy and often so subtle (if at all there) as to make some characters indistinguishable from others, whilst others still are mere ciphers (e.g., the Russian sub-plot). The story is also a little light in places. But in the end, what we have a thoroughly diverting tale that does not rely on a gimmicky detective. It is clearly written without a word wasted, spiced with a dry wit, and full of all the indications that here was a writer who would become a queen of the genre.

Interim - Dorothy Richardson

The fifth of Richardson’s Pilgrimage series and I can only say these are works of genius. Engaging, witty, written with great simplicity and still finding room to experiment with form and style. Miriam Henderson’s development is so subtly told, that you are carried along, unaware of much change until you glance back and read, again, the fragile uncertainty of the know-it-all teenager of the first book.

Whilst Miriam still struggles with some of her pre-occupations (especially that of adequately conveying her inner life to others – which must make these not only the first stream of consciousness novels, but amongst the first meta-narratives), she has matured. Still uncertain about much that goes on around her, she is independent and living a life that quietly questions many of the male-centred and dominated establishments of the day.

To have sustained such a detailed and endlessly fascinating psychological study of a single character with such style and maturity; to write so well and explore the way in which words can convey the inner life of a person; to conjure up a picture of society with all its quirks, prejudices, and possibilities; to chart the progress of new ways of thinking; and still not be feted alongside the likes of Woolf, Joyce, and other modernists, suggests to me that there is something sadly awry in the world of literature.

The Moment Of Eclipse - Brian Aldiss

This collection of short stories from the latter half of the 1960s demonstrates both Aldiss’s craft and art as a writer. The stories are science fiction (in the broadest sense of the term – many of them demonstrating the exploration of inner space that exemplifies the so-called New Wave that centred around Moorcock’s New Worlds magazine), yet they are highly literate. The writing is polished and intelligent. It shares space with some of Ballard’s work.

Technically the stories explore language and form without being self-consciously ‘experimental’, particularly so in ‘Orgy Of The Living And The Dying’ which is reminiscent of his novel Report On Probability A. They treat the reader as an intelligent being capable of appreciating subtlety and the jumps in narrative. They are also imaginative, displaying both a social awareness and a dry wit.

A third of the book is taken up with three linked stories that explore (at different periods of time) the consequences of a virus that infects animals with immortality. Others explore the consequences of artificial intelligence (‘Super-Toys Last All Summer Long’ and ‘Working In The Spaceship Yards’), and others introduce meta-narratives where the boundaries between the creation and its creator are blurred or dissolved.

All in all a fascinating and entertaining collection with stories that stay in the mind, slowly evolving, long after the covers of the book are closed.

Also read in 2011

The Man Who Knew Too Much – W Howard Baker
Swords Against Wizardry – Fritz Leiber
Artemis Fowl And The Atlantis Complex – Eoin Colfer
Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones
The Game – Diana Wynne Jones
Murder In The Sun – Jack Trevor Story
Down With Skool – Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
How To Be Topp – Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
Whizz For Atomms – Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
Back In The Jug Agane – Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
Terror Keep – Edgar Wallace
Unexpected Magic – Diana Wynne Jones
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream – Harlan Ellison
A History Of Monks House And Village Of Rodmell – Julie Singleton
Slaughtermatic – Steve Aylett
Between Fantoine and Agapa – Robert Pinget
The Empire Of A Thousand Planets – Mezieres & Christin
That Voice – Robert Pinget
Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor – Mervyn Peake
The Old Man Dies – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Minister – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Young Girl – Georges Simenon
The Secret Kingdom – Jenny Nimmo
Maigret’s Little Joke – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Old Lady – Georges Simenon
Pure Dead Magic – Debi Gliori
Maigret And The Headless Corpse – Georges Simenon
Maigret’s First Case – Georges Simenon
Maigret Takes A Room – Georges Simenon
Maigret’s Failure – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Man On The Boulevard – Georges Simenon
The Others – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Loner – Georges Simenon
Pure Dead Wicked – Debi Gliori
Maigret’s Memoirs – Georges Simenon
Maigret In Society – Georges Simenon
Maigret Loses His Temper – Georges Simenon
The Window Over The Way – Georges Simenon
The Magic Drum – Emma Tennant
Maigret’s Pickpocket – Georges Simenon
Maigret And The Nahour Case – Georges Simenon
Maigret Stonewalled – Georges Simenon
The White Cottage Mystery – Margery Allingham
The Crime At Black Dudley – Margery Allingham
Mystery Mile – Margery Allingham
Look To The Lady – Margery Allingham
Police At The Funeral – Margery Allingham
Sweet Danger – Margery Allingham
Death Of A Ghost – Margery Allingham
Flowers For The Judge – Margery Allingham
Maigret And The Hundred Gibbets – Georges Simenon
Dancers In Mourning – Margery Allingham
The Case Of The Late Pig – Margery Allingham
The Fashion In Shrouds – Margery Allingham
Lock 14 – Georges Simenon
A Crime In Holland – Georges Simenon
Mr Campion And Others – Margery Allingham
A Face For A Clue – Georges Simenon
Traitor’s Purse – Margery Allingham
Coroner’s Pidgin – Margery Allingham
More Work For The Undertaker – Margery Allingham
The Tiger In The Smoke – Margery Allingham
The Beckoning Lady – Margery Allingham
Hide My Eyes – Margery Allingham
The China Governess – Margery Allingham
The Mind Readers – Margery Allingham
Cargo Of Eagles – Margery Allingham
Mr Campion’s Farthing – Youngman Carter
Mr Campion’s Falcon – Youngman Carter
Maigret And The Enigmatic Lett – Georges Simenon
A Battle Of Nerves – Georges Simenon
Maigret Takes The Waters – Georges Simenon
The Friend Of Madame Maigret – Georges Simenon
Maigret In Court – Georges Simenon
Maigret’s Boyhood Friend – Georges Simenon
Maigret At The Crossroads – Georges Simenon
The Sailors’ Rendezvous – Georges Simenon
At The ‘Gai-Moulin’ – Georges Simenon
The Galton Case – Ross Macdonald
Maigret And The Tavern By The Seine – Georges Simenon
The Wycherly Woman – Ross Macdonald
Maigret And The Wine Merchant – Georges Simenon
The 50s & 60s The Best Of Times – Alison Pressley
My Friend Maigret – Georges Simenon
The Zebra-Striped Hearse – Ross Macdonald
The Chill – Ross Macdonald
The Far Side Of The Dollar – Ross Macdonald
Faustine – Emma Tennant
Black Money – Ross Macdonald
Backwater – Dorothy Richardson
334 – Thomas M. Disch
Honeycomb – Dorothy Richardson
The Instant Enemy – Ross Macdonald
Pure Dead Brilliant – Debi Gliori
The Goodbye Look – Ross Macdonald
The Lion Of Boaz-Jachin And Jachin-Boaz – Russell Hoban
The Tunnel – Dorothy Richardson
The Mathematics Of Magic – L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

A grand total of 139 books read during the year.

Ice Trilogy - Vladimir Sorokin (tr Jamey Gambrell)

It is unusual for me to give up on a book. It has to be very badly written or exceedingly dull. This was both. I know it is not the translation as Gambrell has proven her ability to move a work from one language to another with a great deal of skill and sensitivity to the original. But there’s not much you can do when the original is as bad as this.

All of which has left me wondering. Sorokin is, apparently, highly regarded. He has won literary prizes. Surely it is my judgement that is in error. Or not. Literary prizes, in my opinion, often go to undeserving but safe work. In Sorokin’s case, it has probably gone to someone who put their head a little way above the parapet and got lots of attention for it. It certainly hasn’t gone to them (on this evidence) for their ability to write.

I got part way through the the first book, Bro. It is plodding, dull, almost adolescent in its repetitiveness and peppering of the text with randomly italicised and capitalised WORDS, and by half way I had given up caring about the characters or their story. The potential was there for a story that could have turned the entire history of the Soviet Union inside out, but Sorokin has given no thought to structure or style (or if he did, he made the wrong choice) and ruined his opportunity in a story so dull I literally fell asleep part way through a chapter.

One for the charity shop.

Baga - Robert Pinget

A gentle and surreal fairy tale of a king and his first minister (Baga), written with humour and affection. This makes it seem a lightweight piece of writing, but on the contrary it manages to explore some deep themes; it simply does this without ever taking itself too seriously.

As a piece of social commentary, it is still relevant today (if not more than when it was written. Notions of sovereignty, war, and how those of us who just want a quiet life are forever thwarted by the psychopaths who want to dominate and cause misery are all prodded with a stick perfectly designed for the purpose.

If you have never read any Pinget before, this is perhaps a good place to start.