All

Happy Christmas!

I leave it as long as possible each year, in case I read something truly wonderful in the final days of December, but this is the final post I’ll write in 2016 as I’m off to Taunton for new year out of the reaches of the internet. I always love compiling my favourite books (very much ordered by how much I liked them than by any objective assessment), and putting them in strict order, because I enjoy lists so much.

As usual, I have a couple of rules: no re-reads, and an author can only appear once. As isn’t unusual, my top ten expanded to a top twelve; it’s been a good year for reading. Without further ado…

12. The Making Of (2013) by Brecht Evens
I wouldn’t say that I have completely come around to graphic books, but I have read a few now – another one was on my longlist – and I loved Brecht Evens’ beautiful watercolours and quirky tale-telling.

11. Alfred and Guinevere (1958) by James Schuyler
An NYRB gem which portrays children’s conversation astonishingly well. An author I’m keen to try again in 2016.

10. Cluny Brown (1944) by Margery Sharp
More than a decade passed between reading my first and second Sharp novels: this witty tale of a maid who gets above her station was a delight. Thanks Jane at Beyond Eden Rock for running a Margery Sharp week!

9. Anne of Green Gables (1908) by L.M. Montgomery
I finally read OVW’s favourite children’s book, and we can now be proper kindred spirits. Matthew for best father figure ever? Yup.

8. Barchester Towers (1857) by Anthony Trollope
I didn’t get around to writing about this properly, but the linked post mentions it. Am I an anomaly to finding this one (though wonderful) inferior to The Warden?

7. On the Move (2015) by Oliver Sacks
This year the world lost a great and (more importantly) kind man, but it was a privilege and pleasure to read his autobiography before he died.

6. Virginia Woolf’s Garden (2013) by Caroline Zoob
The beautiful photography in this book is probably what sells it the most – it’s breathtaking – but Zoob’s descriptions of Leonard and Virginia Woolf are also wonderful. Thanks Colin for this present last Christmas!

5. Quick Curtain (1934) by Alan Melville
Easily my favourite of the joyous British Library Crime Classics that have delighted so any of us this year – Melville’s plotting may not be Christie level, but his writing is very funny, and his quick-witted characters exchange quips brilliantly.

4. A Curious Friendship (2015) by Anna Thomasson
I can’t quite believe anybody wrote a book about Edith Olivier: Anna’s biography of Olivier’s friendship with Rex Whistler is perfectly researched, wisely told, and – above all – an immersively engaging read.

3. My Family and Other Animals (1954) by Gerald Durrell
A riotously funny memoir of life with an eccentric family on Corfu. I wasn’t enamoured by the sections of wildlife, but they are easily outweighed by the hilarious familial exchanges.

2. Nuts in May (1942) by Cornelia Otis Skinner
What a wonderful discovery! Cornelia Otis Skinner is the American E.M. Delafield in many ways – a self-deprecating wife and mother who writes hilariously about the ridiculous moments of everyday life.

1. The Shelf (2014) by Phyllis Rose
And, in at number one – this wonderful book about a reading challenge! Rose chooses to read all the books on a (more or less) random shelf from a New York library, and the various ventures it leads her on. A joy for any bibliophile.

To clear some of my review backlog (some, I realise, have been on my to-be-reviewed shelf for well over a year) I thought it would be good to run through some of the titles which aren’t going to get a whole post to themselves – sometimes because I don’t have much to say, but mostly where I can’t remember enough to do them justice.

A Wrinkle in Time (1963) – Madeleine L’Engle

This is a much-loved children’s book that I’ve been intending to read for ages, but it turns out that I’m the wrong person to read it. I knew it would have time travel, but I thought it would be set on earth – instead, it’s all about other planets and funny aliens and dark forces and basically all the things that don’t fit my tastes as a reader. It was quick reading, but I shan’t be returning to any of the rest of the series. I do, though, still hold out hope for L’Engle’s other books, particularly her autobiographical writing.

The Train in the Meadow (1953) by Robert Nathan

After reviewing Mr Whittle and the Morning Star the other day, I thought I’d see if (since ebooks are available aplenty) any audiobooks of Nathan’s work were out there. And they are! Well, a few are, and they included this intriguing-sounding short book. It was just as quick a listen as the others were quick reads, but it’s rather baffling. A train stops in a meadow; on it are a lonely boy from an orphanage, a disaffected priest, a distraught singer, a couple going through strife, etc. etc. But where are they going to, and where are they coming from? Why are they exiles, and why do they all need their papers checked by the secretive security men? None of these questions are answered – I never worked out if it were a dystopic future or an early comment on McCarthyism or what. But the atmosphere was done very well.

Running in the Corridors (2014) by Ann Thwaite

I read these short stories, mostly about childhood, by Ann Thwaite ages ago – and feel terribly guilty for not having written about them. Thwaite is best known as a biographer (of A.A. Milne, amongst others) but is also adept at the short story – and, though I don’t remember a huge amount about these stories (which I read in April), I know that I liked them. And the volume is beautifully produced by Rethink Press. (Oh, and did you know that the etymology of corridor is ‘running place’?)

God on the Rocks (1978) by Jane Gardam

I got this in a Virago Secret Santa last year – it’s such a beautiful edition – and enjoyed reading it back in May. Despite discussing it at book group, all of the details of the novel now escape me, frustratingly, though I do remember that the end had some great stuff about art. Oh, Simon. You and your terrible memory.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?(2011) by Mindy Kaling
Why Not Me? (2015) by Mindy Kaling

I read the first one of these, and listened to Kaling reading the second one, and it’s one of those rare occasions (for me) where the audio is better. She reads her book perfectly, which is hardly a surprise. Both are very amusing accounts of Kaling’s life and career in television – for those not in the know, she currently stars in The Mindy Project, which she also writes and produces. There’s not much deep and meaningful in these, but her way with comedy is very up my street – dry and self-deprecating and slightly silly.

Look Back With Mixed Feelings (1978) by Dodie Smith

Oh gosh, I read this one all the way back in September 2014… it’s the second volume of Smith’s autobiography, and chiefly concerns her time in various theatres (sometimes acting, often an assistant). It doesn’t have quite the charm of Look Back With Love, and perhaps I didn’t love it quite as much, but I certainly enjoyed it hugely. She is quite dry about her youthful passions and anxieties:

I have an account of that day, written in a red, leather-bound notebook in which I only described very important occasions. I say “I can’t write all I feel” – but I must have been doing my best, having turned out forty pages.

Well, there, that’s cleared the pile a little.

So many reviews I’ve been intending to write! So many, in fact, that I suspect I might end up doing a mini-roundabout. But here is, instead, something of a miscellany of various bookish things that have been going on here and elsewhere.

1.) The 1938 Club – I don’t think I ever officially announced this, but the upshot of the discussion after the 1924 Club was that we’re going to do something similar every six months, picking years from different decades. Ali’s suggestion of 1938 sounded perfect to me – a time of much change, but on the cusp of much more – so Karen and I will be hosting the 1938 Club together next April. More news more nearer the time, but consider yourself forewarned!

2.) Proust – I now have three books about reading Proust, and have loved one of them, so I decided I should actually read some of him. Since making that decision, I’ve been keeping an eye out for a nice edition of the beginning of Remembrance of Things Past, and found it in Oxfam:

3.) Alice – it’s the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland being published, and I wrote a fun quiz for OxfordWords which will help you find out which character you are. Go and enjoy…

4.) Word of the Year – speaking of work, it’s been super busy recently as we do our annual Word of the Year announcement and campaign. That was one of the reasons I haven’t blogged much lately, and it was also really fun and stretching (as I wrote and ‘directed’, sort of, a sketch to accompany the campaign). In case you haven’t seen what the WOTY was, all is revealed over at OxfordWords.

5.) I bet she does – here’s another beauty I picked up in a charity shop:

6.) A Little Life – I still have zero intention of reading this contentious book, but love reading about it. Thomas’s wonderful review highlights all the reasons why I’m sure I’d hate it, and this snipey exchange between reviewer and editor (highlighted by Teresa)

7.) Tea AND Books – Novel Tea Tins got in touch ages ago mentioning their beautiful book-shaped tea tins filled with fancy teas, and I’ve been trying to remember to mention them ever since. Pop over and take a look!

8.) Every English Novel Ever – enjoy this description of Every English Novel Ever, via Karen at Cornflower. It’s hilarious, and I super want to read that novel.

9.) Retirement? – ages ago I was asked if I could recommend books to read in retirement. Nothing to make you feel young like it being assumed that you’re near retirement when in your 20s (as I was then!) Well, I told Age UK Mobility a couple of books I’d recommend, and they never emailed back… but turns out they DID accept them, and they’re amongst various others here.