While we're in the Middle East I'm going to take the opportunity to recommend anything by Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz - I've read the so-called Cairo trilogy (a masterpiece) and more recently two slim novellas, Adrfit on the Nile and The Beggar, which were both also excellent.
"Things We Lost in the Fire" - Mariana Enríquez. A collection of short stories set in modern day Argentina. Really unsettling, dark and macabre. The author is exploring how Argentina's past flows down into the present - a kind of national inherited trauma. Gothic horror and magical realism. A really good read that's stuck with me for several days. She's a great writer.
Purity, by Jonathan Franzen. First time I've read Franzen. I really enjoyed it, I thought he was just a great storyteller, weaving some interesting threads around.
Just browsing and remembered this favourite thread! I've been doing rather a lot of reading this year and not really saying anything about it but I just realised that I finished my 100th book of the year on Boxing Day...I thought I was doing well with 80+ in 2018! I'm trying to put together a nice concise best fiction & non-fiction list which I'll post up once its done. In fact, I might make it a best of the last two years since I don;t think I posted a lot in 2018 either!
Canada is by Franzen also I think? I really enjoyed that. Argues a strong argument doesn't he.
The Lark Ascending by Richard King (The Music of the British Landscape) - Read this over Christmas and loved every page. It's a history of the British countryside loosely framed through its music. A fascinating read that explores our relationship to the land which wanders all over the place. From Vaughan Williams and the first world war, through the fascist Blood and Soil volkish movements, post war environmentalism and hippy idealism of the 60's, the traveller convoys and the battle of the Beanfield to the rave at Castlemorton and the Criminal Justice Bill into the present day. Beautifully written, thoughtful and introspective. I've gone down loads of Wikipedia ratholes and added loads of interesting music to my playlists. A really great and absorbing read. Recommended.
Quote from: Falling Down on January 03, 2020, 04:05:30 pmThe Lark Ascending by Richard King (The Music of the British Landscape) - Read this over Christmas and loved every page. It's a history of the British countryside loosely framed through its music. A fascinating read that explores our relationship to the land which wanders all over the place. From Vaughan Williams and the first world war, through the fascist Blood and Soil volkish movements, post war environmentalism and hippy idealism of the 60's, the traveller convoys and the battle of the Beanfield to the rave at Castlemorton and the Criminal Justice Bill into the present day. Beautifully written, thoughtful and introspective. I've gone down loads of Wikipedia ratholes and added loads of interesting music to my playlists. A really great and absorbing read. Recommended.This sounds just my cup of tea.