0661 | The Man Without Qualities | Robert Musil
This unfinished tome of a book is an extremely strange one to experience. Written in a very Magic-Mountain-like way, we find ourselves party to the life of Ulrich, a minor…
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0593 | Women in Love | D.H. Lawrence
Back when I lived in another world, I listened to The Rainbow, the first of this two volume story of the Brangwens of Nottinghamshire. Rainbow scored 59%. This one has…
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0583 | The Radetzky March | Joseph Roth
A book filled with melancholy not only for the characters but the world in which they live, The Radetzky March is a carefully constructed memorial to a lost age. Roth…
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0574 | Against the Day | Thomas Pynchon
Absolutely pointless and not worth anyone’s time, this is a novel by a man entirely self-absorbed. It says nothing about any particular era, has no characters more three dimensional than…
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0522 | The Bridge on the Drina | Ivo Andrić
This is a masterful portrayal of Balkan history which, for anyone not familiar with it or, like me, familiar but confused, is a great way to gain more understanding. The…
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0452 | Fear of Flying | Erica Jong
This book took me very much by surprise. There were mixed reviews online but I thought it was a very bold work of genius. When you consider that this was…
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0340 | The Making of the Atomic Bomb | Richard Rhodes
Context: Just after I finished this off, a 7.3 earthquake with more explosive force than an atomic bomb smashed a pot in our living room from 100 miles away. REVIEW…
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0269 | In Europe – Geert Mak
Context: Finally finished this off at our friends’ lovely house in Beamish, County Durham. REVIEW This was an amazing book and I can’t think why it isn’t better known. For…
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0206 | Neither Here nor There – Bill Bryson
Context: on the shelf at our friends’ place in Dubai so I thought I’d give it a go. REVIEW Read a lot of Bryson and I have to say that…
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0179 | Embers – Sándor Márai
Context: First fiction I’ve borrowed from a British library in well over a decade. Got this one the day I joined Bar Hill library. REVIEW This is the story of…