 | The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.15 Intriguing re-take on America's other history, and revealing insight into the Jewish immigrant experience. Worth reading but a little heavy going
|
 | The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Buy new: £2.47 / Used from: £2.01 One of the best novelisations of the Richard III debate ever written, and a cracking detection novel at the same time. And all that without the lead character ever leaving his hospital bed.
|
 | Without Blood by Alessandro Baricco
Buy new: £1.80 / Used from: £1.20 Horrific. Compelling. The most elegant prose produced by a living writer. And a damn good story too.
|
 | Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
Buy new: £2.47 / Used from: £2.35 Disappointing. An enjoyable read, but lacking the insight into Afghani life that either the Bookseller of Kabul or The Kite Runner provide.
|
 | The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
Buy new: £2.87 / Used from: £0.01 A mildly literary crime novel with an involved plot but a sadly predictable end - but getting there was good fun.
|
 | Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.01 The attempts at a cliff hanger for every chapter become irritating and I'm not sure I'm convinced by an ex-alcoholic called Temperance, but a pretty good crime novel nonetheless
|
 | The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell
Buy new: £0.01 / Used from: £0.01 A decent crime novel but it doesn't live up to its literary aspirations nor all the hype surrounding it. It's more a rites of passage story than a genuine literary investigation.
|
 | The Seventh Son by Reay Tannahill
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.01 I wish I hadn't wasted either the time to read this book or the money to buy it. Flat characters. Little plot. And historically vague.
|
 | Moll Flanders (Oxford World's Classics) by Daniel Defoe
Buy new: £4.19 / Used from: £1.66 Brilliant. One of the earliest English novels which loses nothing over time. Full of wit and irony and a detailed picture of London past. Good story too.
|
 | The Mystery of the Princes by Audrey Williamson
Buy new: £1.35 / Used from: £0.50 Perhaps the best introduction to the Richard III debate that there is. Very readable and information presented in context so that it makes sense even to the novice. At times it's tantalisingly vague
|
 | Alexander Selkirk: Survivor on a Desert Island (Who Was...?) by Amanda Mitchison
Buy new: £1.56 / Used from: £0.01 Excellent review of the real Robinson Crusoe.
|
 | Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.01 Perhaps not her best novel, but an enjoyable, quick and easy read.
|
 | Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill
Buy new: £0.02 / Used from: £0.01 A bit disappointing really. I kept thinking, surely it's about to get better, surely I'll see the connection soon, but no, right to the end it remains pointless. And the style of prose is very heavy.
|
 | The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01 I'm left wondering why I bothered to finish this novel.
|
 | The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Buy new: £6.29 / Used from: £0.01 Sumptiously written, gripping story - the best read of the year so far
|
 | The Yellow Wallpaper (Virago modern classics) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Buy new: £0.95 / Used from: £0.01 A little gem, devoured in a single sitting. A stunning and disturbing portrait of the decline into madness
|
 | Don't Make Me Laugh (Quick Reads) by Patrick Augustus
Buy new: £0.01 / Used from: £0.01 Quirky, gritty and very direct. Even funny at times, but ultimately a little unsatisfying
|
 | The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £3.41 Beautifully plotted, very English, compelling mystery
|
 | Text in the Book Format by Keith A. Smith
Buy used from: £33.46 An intriguing and thought-provoking book for those interested in the effect of presentation upon communication and meaning
|
 | Sons and Lovers (Oxford World's Classics) by D. H. Lawrence
Buy new: £3.44 / Used from: £0.01 Best novel of the year so far for me. Compelling, stimulating, heart-wrenching, frustrating, evocative, expansive, very English
|
 | The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham
Buy new: £4.84 / Used from: £0.01 London-based crime fiction which starts off well but turns out to be just a mediocre, predictable thriller
|
 | Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
Buy used from: £1.98 An unusual, intriguing and easy read but ultimately flat and unrewarding
|
 | A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
Buy new: £4.95 / Used from: £0.01 Quirky, enjoyable, even funny at times, but in the end unfulfilling.
|
Listmania!
