With two books published last year, this has been a year of promoting my last books (‘Death on the Thames’ and ‘Harold Wilson – 20th Century Man’), writing the next one, and reading.
In a lifetime of reading, I’ve only now managed to read a Booker winner before it won. ‘FLESH’ by DAVID SZALAY is a complex story simply told. Szalay’s sparse prose hides a deep well of emotion that the reader surfs without ever becoming immersed. I’ve rarely read a book so quickly.
I managed another couple of books in this year of their publication; ‘HOMEWORK’ by GEOFF DYER is the memoir of a near contemporary, growing up in Cheltenham rather than North Kensington. I confess to never having heard of this wonderful writer but after 300 pages in his company I liked (and admired) him a lot. Other biographies/memoirs consumed this year include ROY JENKINS’ magisterial biography of ‘ASQUITH’, ‘JOHN AND PAUL’ by IAN LESLIE (who I had the pleasure of interviewing at the Cheltenham Literary Festival) and ‘MY OWN WORST ENEMY’ by ROBERT EDRIC. I’ve long touted EDRIC as Britain’s most underrated novelist. Although he now keeps himself to himself near Hull, he was raised in Sheffield and his memoir gives a gripping and vivid description of the city in the 50s and growing up with a father he detested.
So far as crime fiction is concerned, I had my usual large dose of GEORGES SIMENON, feasting on ‘MAIGRET AND THE GOOD PEOPLE OF MONTPARNASSE’, ‘MAIGRET AND THE LAZY BURGLAR’, ‘THE SAINT-FIACRE AFFAIR’, ‘MAIGRET’S ANGER’ and ‘MAIGRET AND MONSIEUR CHARLES’. I also got around to reading one of the classic crime novels of the golden age. ‘THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY’ put PATRICIA HIGHSMITH at the pinnacle of the women crime writers who helped create that age.
Having read Roy Jenkins biography of Asquith, I just had to read ROBERT HARRIS’s fictionalised account of the PMs extraordinary affair with Venetia Stanley. As with all Harris novels, ‘PRECIPICE’ doesn’t disappoint. I loved ‘THE LIGHT YEARS’, ELIZABETH JANE HOWARD’s first volume in her Cazalet Chronicles. Married to Kingsley Amis and stepmother of Martin, I rate Howard more highly than both men in this distinguished literary triangle.
I read THOMAS MANN for the first time this year and ‘BUDDENBROOKS’ made me regret that I’d left it so long. I also read ‘MRS DALLOWAY’ by Virginia Woolf and can see why it’s often compared with Ulysses in concept if not in style.
Other books read this year included a P.G.WODEHOUSE (‘AUNT’S AREN’T GENTLEMEN’), ‘DEADLINE’ by my friend STEPH MCGOVERN and NELLA LAST’s astute and remarkable account of the war years as a housewife in Barrow (NELLA LAST’S WAR). As Christmas approaches, I’m well into re-reading ‘DAVID COPPERFIELD’ the CHARLES DICKENS novel I first encountered when I was 14 and ‘MODERNITY BRITAIN’, DAVID KYNASTON’s fabulous portrait of Britain between 1957 and 1962. Both volumes are too thick to be finished by year end and so will fall into next year’s summary.
Merry Christmas to all my followers (both of you!) and happy reading in 2026.
