Selected Books

If August is to be modern fiction month here is my ambitious selection of 15
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Josh Lawton by Melvyn Bragg
The Rights of Desire by Andre Brink
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
Generation A by Douglas Coupland
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernieres
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
Judge Savage by Tim Parks
Starter for Ten by David Nicholls
The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Will give it my best shot!

How are we defining modern? Within the past 10 years? Five years?

Each to his own Stasia but for me I call everything after the second world war modern (showing my age I guess). Still as a matter of fact it looks like all of my selections are from the last 25 years so that could be it also.

Thanks for the link, Paul : ). I've got a couple of modern fiction here which I'd like to have read before the end of August. They're both long, and I've got company arriving the last week of July for ten days ... so I'm up for A Fine Balance (one of Paul's recs) and The Way the Crow Flies (I read Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees a few years ago and thought she was spectacular, so I've wanted to read this second book for some time).

Nancy I will stick Anne-Marie MacDonald on my burgeoning TBR list - who knows if I manage to get through the one's I've listed I'll add it onto the list.

#3: OK, Paul, thanks for the input.

I definitely want to read The Memory of Love. Beyond that, I am not sure.

#5 Paul, you have a wonderfully ambitious August lined up : ). If you're going to add Ann-Marie MacDonald, I'd suggest Fall on Your Knees - a favourite of mine, and a 5 star read! I can't yet speak for The Way the Crow Flies though I am hoping for great things! (note: I spelled Ann incorrectly in my previous post - now edited - it's Ann without an "e").

Thanks for letting me know about this group, Paul. I'm not completely sure what I'll read yet, but I'll have a better idea next Tuesday, when the Booker Prize longlist comes out. Unless I get to it this month, I'll certainly read River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, and I'm leading a group read of Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec that will start on August 1st (any and all are invited; more info here). Alan Hollinghurst's new book, The Stranger's Child, is on its way across the pond to me, and if it's selected for the Booker Prize longlist I'll read it next month.

# 6,7,8

Thanks for having a look! A very interesting list of books put up none of which I have read yet. I read Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land around 15 years ago and it piqued my interest as I had lived for a year in Egypt in the 1980's - I also have his The Glass Palace on my shelves and will get round to it eventually I'm sure. Happy reading...

Thanks for the link, Paul. I will definitely be joining in. I am away from home until early August, so I will have a better idea of my exact reads when I get back to my TBR shelves, but I know I have plenty of choices for this.

I'll join in with something too, possibly the blackwater lightship if you have that on your list Paul. I'm away from the bookcase till Wednesday but will have a look then... I have plenty to choose from.

# 10 /11 Thanks ladies! I have been getting my 15 ready from the shelves (last night actually) and couldn't find Tim Parks Judge Savage (think my sister-n-law has borrowed it urgh...) so I will replace it with The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (that is only if I can't find the books by Aminatta Forna, Anne Marie MacDonald or Georges Perec that have been recommended). Also realised that the Damon Galgut book waiting on my shelves is The Imposter, In a Strange Room is at my mother's in the UK and I'm not going there anytime soon! Guess I'm as disorganised as usual.

The past 25 years? Lots of choices there, then. I read less modern fiction than I should, probably. So far looking at Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, Prague by Arthur Phillips, and The Master by Colm Toibin. All have been sitting on the shelves, patiently waiting to be among the chosen ones. From your list, I'm especially interested in The Inheritance of Loss, if I can get it at the library.

This looks like fun.

#13 Gail the 25 years bit is only a rough guide - in my catalogue I count modern fiction as anything written after world war 2!
Read Midnight's Children and Shame by Salman Rushdie and both were superb to be honest - I have one or two more on the shelves but the fracas caused by Satanic Verses slowed me down somewhat (it's banned in Malaysia).
Also read Fingersmith and am looking forward to The Little Stranger. If two books failed to make my top ten because of the last third of the story, after incomparable starts, Fingersmith would be one and Captain Corelli's Mandolin would be the other. Don't let me put you off though as it is still a great read. I have The Master somewhere, have you read The Heather Blazing which is wonderful?
I haven't read any Arthur Phillips and the TBR keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

I had Galgut's In a Strange Room home from the library but had to return it unread. If I can get it back again, I will read that one in August along with The Memory of Love.

My planned modern fiction reads for August:

Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (currently reading)
Pao by Kerry Young
From the Observatory by Julio Cortázar

#16 Good luck Darryl that looks like a varied and eclectic list! Haven't got round to any of them yet although the Perec should be fairly imminent. Notice a few from the Booker list there and I will be interested to see what you make of those.

>14 PaulCranswick:: Paul, I had a great till the last third problem with Memoirs of a Geisha, a quite fine book almost ruined by a sappy (my opinion) and unrealistic ending. Very unfortunate. The only Toibin I've read is Brooklyn, which I loved in a very quiet way. But I keep seeing fantastic things about him everywhere, so I'm looking forward to more of his work. I've got an interest in James for a variety of strange reasons.

Completely forgot about the banning of Satanic Verses, which doesn't seem like a book I'd be interested in anyway, but one never knows.Oh, and I'd second lit_chick's recommendation of Fall on Your Knees--a geat book.

I'm looking forward to everyone's comments on their reading; as always, Darryl's list is full of books completely new to me.

#14 Mine was the first country in the world to ban it (possibly because the author is homegrown), didn't stop me from reading it :)

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #1

Review of Book # 69 An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

If ever a book was saved by its last two chapters this was it. Mildly ironic, mildly acerbic, mildly readable for the most part Ms Bainbridge gets into her stride only as the pages left in this short novel a wearing thin (how to distinguish between novella and short novel anyone?). Set in the local reperatory theatre world in the immediate aftermath of the second world war in Liverpool, it is a tale of obsessions, unrequited and forbidden loves alongside the foibles and petty ambitions of the cast of characters. Has a surprising and blackly tragi-comic ending which almost excuses the fits and starts of the earlier 150 pages. Enjoyed it more than most of the other books I've read by the late prolific author.

7/10

Home from my vacation and have sorted through my planned reads for August. I decided to go with a few prize winners and/or nominees and thus:

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt - longlisted for 2011 Booker
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller - longlisted for 2011 Booker
The Seige of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell - winner of the 1973 Man Booker Prize
A Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich - Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize

These, along with my other Challenge reads (TIOLI and 11 in 11) should keep me pretty busy!

Good luck Judy I have the third on your list on my TBR in the near future along with Troubles which won the "missing" booker award. Am told that the latter is the better of the two but let's see.

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #2

Review of Book #70 Josh Lawton by Melvyn Bragg

A gem of a novel. Bragg concerns himself with themes of jealousy, covetousness, love (at turns wholesome, forbidden, and adulterous) and creates memorable characters in this compact Cumbrian novel. Well worth a read.

8/10

I am going very modern with the newly released Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell. I adored her book of short stories American Salvage and have high hopes for this one which based on LTers synopses seems to be connected to my favorite of those stories.

# Another one for the TBR list then Nancy. Not heard of the writer to be honest but looking up the reviews she does seem well worth a try.

If modern means anything from the last 25 years then I'm in! I have some books that I need to clear up fast from my TBR list.

I just finished The Siege of Krishnapur and I loved it. Gave it five stars and here is my review:

Drawing upon the history of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, J.G. Farrell once again turns his razor sharp wit upon the British justification of their colonial policy. In The Siege of Krishnapur which he loosely based on the sieges of Lucknow and Cawnpore, he gives us a dramatically vivid account of a well mixed group of unique characters as they are trapped in the Company residency for a number of months holding the mutineers at bay.

While these people are plunged into danger and despair, we also are treated to their inner thoughts and justification for being in India and, from missionary zeal to actually believing that the British were improving the life of native Indians through medicine and science, we also see how effortlessly these same people hold themselves above the native population, fully confident in their superiority.

Beautifully written with his trademark ironic warmth, this is the middle book of his Empire Trilogy. J.G. Farrell is indeed an author of great skill as he delivers a suspenseful story, yet still manages to convey the political and human consequences of the British Colonial rule. The story is interesting and gut-wrenching while the political background is fascinating, I highly recommend this book.

#27 Judy thanks for the very erudite and informative review. Based on your feedback I will certainly move this up on my TBR lists.

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #3

Review of Book # 71 The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury

A little bit a novel of its time if truth be known - setting out as it does the mores of the intellectual university community of the late sixties and seventies. Permissive, radical and fairly objectionable the characters in this novel whilst stereotypes are enjoyable nonetheless. A great send-up of the faux-marxist, bed-hopping culture that (apparently) abounded at the time as well as a morality tale of sorts as the leading protagonist gets embroiled in a sex and marking scandal that threatens his job while assisting his street cred. Good fun even if a tad on the dated side. Would help to have sampled the university life at or near the dregs of the time concerned. Must admit I don't remember anywhere near as much sex but whether this is an indicator of clean living or the early stages of dementia I couldn't hazard to say.

7/10

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #4

Review of Book # 72 The Rights of Desire by Andre Brink

Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee certainly have more laurels but for me Andre Brink has always been my favourite amongst South African writers. This is not his best novel by any stretch of the imagination but it does consider some of his favourite themes - loss, longing, obsessions, the supernatural and sex (often prohibited as in Black & White in Old South Africa, here we have a retiree falling for a younger lodger and struggling to contain himself). As always set amongst the fabric of a changing South Africa wherein his frustrations at the decay of society and lawlessness there in the hopeful aftermath of the end of Apartheid shines through. Evocative and exquisitely written as it is Brink's leading man Ruben Olivier fails to quite hit the mark and is less than believable as the fauning suitor. There are however some marvellous metaphors on the state of marriage - how about "we started out as rabbits and ended up as cats and dogs!"

7/10

A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry

A Fine Balance is the story of four vibrant but unlikely characters who come together to form a family of their own making in order to overcome their individual hardships in 1970s India. Dina, a young widower, and Maneck, a younger student, are of the same social caste. Their lives become entwined with those of Ishvar and Om, tailors of the “untouchables” class. The country is beleaguered by widespread political corruption. The Emergency, declared by the government, perpetrates unfathomable caste violence, thereby ensuring the dominant caste is not “polluted” by society’s lower castes.

What I Liked: Mistry is a fine writer; his prose is powerful yet approachable. The characters are wonderfully rich – full of personality and idiosyncrasies, eminently likeable and relatable.

What I Disliked: I don’t think the novel needed to be so long. It tended to occasional rambling, which I found detracted from the story line, and was distracting.

Favourite Quote: The four main characters have created a quilt from fabric scraps collected from each day’s tailoring. Each of the quilt’s squares is resplendent with memory: “Calling one piece sad is meaningless. See, it is connected to a happy piece – sleeping on the verandah. And the next square – chapatis. Then that violet tusser, when we made masala wada and started cooking together. And don’t forget this georgette patch … the whole quilt is more important than any single square.” (568)

At its heart, A Fine Balance is a human story. Well worth the read.

4/5

#31 Good review Nancy. My favourite Mistry novel and I actually rank it as amongst the best of the last 20 years. Granted it is a little rambling but the evocation of time and place and the sheer ebullience of the prose remain with me still.

#32 It is beautifully written, no doubt. It's the only Mistry I've read to date, but I'll pursue more. Which is your next favourite?

#Would say Such a Long Journey although Family Matters is not bad either.

Pao by Kerry Young

This novel is narrated by Pao, who fled at the age of 14 from Guangzhou, along with his mother and brother, to Jamaica in 1938, after his father was killed during the second Sino-Japanese War. Uncle Zhang, a friend of Pao's father who is the godfather of Kingston's Chinese community, provides for the family and takes Pao under his wing. Pao quickly learns the business, and acquires more power and status as he provides protection for businesses and individuals in Chinatown and becomes an influential racketeer and businessman in his own right. He marries Fay Wong, the beautiful but self-absorbed daughter of another powerful businessman, which allows him to accrue more power but leads to personal grief and tragedy. Through Pao's narrative the reader learns about multicultural Kingston, the relationship between the races and different segments of the local community, and the history of Jamaica as a British colony and an independent though not completely free nation, where the majority struggle to overcome poverty and increasing violence while a select few profit handsomely and leave the island with their ill gotten gains.

Pao is an engaging narrator, whose Jamaican patois, frequent quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and personal conflicts and successes make this an enjoyable and educational novel. However, the reader learns about the other characters through Pao's not entirely reliable eyes, and they are more inscrutable and less interesting as a result.

Th author was born in Kingston and emigrated to England in 1965 along with her Chinese father and Chinese-African mother, and her personal knowledge and experiences add flavor and integrity to this compelling debut novel.

The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

The Wandering Falcon is a moving collection of interconnected short stories set in the remote tribal areas that border Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, which all feature one character, Tor Baz, who began life as the child of two lovers who have fled from their village and spent his life as a wanderer throughout the region's villages, a man who belongs to no particular tribe but is able to gain the respect of those he encounters. Life in these areas is difficult, due to the harsh climate; the rough terrain; the sometimes brutal justice administered to those who break tribal customs and laws; the hostile relationships between neighboring tribes; and government officials, who draw and enforce fixed boundary lines between countries where none existed before, thus impeding the centuries old way of life of these nomadic tribes.

Despite these hardships and restrictions, the people portrayed in this book are full of life and pride in themselves and their tribes, and their stories are both unique and universal.

Jamil Ahmad began his career as a Pakistani civil servant in Balochistan, compiled notes about the people he met there, and originally wrote these stories in the mid-1970s. He retired, moved to Islamabad, and was inspired to rewrite them in 2008 at the age of 75, when the book was initially published. These regions, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have gained more importance in recent years, as they are home to the Taliban and other insurgent groups that have waged war against the Pakistani and Afghan governments and their Western allies. Although these stories were written well before the onset of the wars in Afghanistan and the strife in Pakistan, Ahmad provides valuable insights into the people who live there, in an engaging manner that made for a quick and enticing read.

Steve Inskeep of National Public Radio recently traveled to Islamabad and interviewed Jamil Ahmad. Ahmad's fascinating story, which includes additional insights about the people in his book, can be heard online at http://www.npr.org/2011/06/16/137216570/wandering-falcon-describes-pakistans-tri....

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

This Booker Prize longlisted novel is narrated by Harrison Opuku, an 11 year old boy who has recently emigrated to an impoverished south London neighborhood along with his mother and older sister, while his father and baby sister remain behind in Ghana. His mother works long hours as a midwife, and he and his sister Lydia are left mainly to fend for themselves. Harri is a good boy, although a bit naïve in comparison to his classmates and the boys in the neighborhood. He lacks a father or other adult male authority figure that he can relate to, and falls under the influence of a local gang of older boys who terrorize younger kids in his school and conduct random acts of violence in the neighborhood, with little deterrence from the adults who live there or the local police, who are generally viewed as incompetent and hostile.

The novel opens with the stabbing death of a schoolboy on a sidewalk near Harri's flat. Harri does not know the boy well, as he is older and goes to another school, but he and his friends vow to find out who murdered him. Inspired by the American television show CSI, the boys use their fledging detective skills to spy on potential suspects and gather fingerprints and other specimens from the crime scene. Harri is generally well liked by his classmates, as he is a fast runner and a good fighter, and he eagerly participates in typical boyhood pranks and games. His home life is a bit dull, as his older sister finds him to be a bother, and he befriends a pigeon who serves as a companion, confidant, and guardian angel.

As the story progresses, the identity of the boy's killer is obvious to the reader, but not to Harri, whose investigation intensifies as he gathers more clues and puts himself in danger.

Pigeon English was written in honor of Damilola Taylor, a 10 year old Nigerian boy who was murdered in 2000 in the south London neighborhood of Peckham, along with other children in the UK who experience fear and violence on a daily basis, and is also based on the author's own childhood experiences and people he encountered as a child and young adult. Harrison's voice and character are maddening, lovable, and ultimately unforgettable, and this is one of the better coming of age stories that I've read. The novel's main flaw is the character of the guardian pigeon, whose comments I found inscrutable and whose presence was unnecessary and distracting, which caused me to knock half a star off of my rating of this otherwise superb novel. It is also a very timely one, given the recent acts of violence in impoverished neighborhoods in south London and elsewhere. I doubt that Pigeon English will win this year's Booker Prize or even make the longlist, but it is a novel that was enjoyable and deserves to be widely read.

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

The novel, based in part on the life of the early 20th century English poet Rupert Brooke, opens at Two Acres, a Victorian estate in suburban London in 1913. George Sawle, a student at Cambridge, has invited his close friend Cecil Valance, a poet of modest talent and greater wealth, to spend a weekend with his family. Cecil's wit and striking good looks charm everyone in attendance, none more so than George's younger sister Daphne, an outspoken and independent minded 16 year old girl who spends her days reading and quoting from the poetry of Tennyson and Valance. After a raucous and unforgettable weekend, Cecil dedicates a poem to Daphne and the estate, which he wrote in the notebook that she lent to him.

Cecil dies tragically during the Great War soon afterward, and the uncovered poem gains widespread fame as a glimpse of English country life in a time of innocence. He is revered by Churchill and other leading public figures, and details about his life take on greater interest. However, Cecil's homosexuality is hidden by those closest to him, as these activities are not to be discussed in public.

Although the poet serves as the main focus of the novel, Daphne serves as the book's central character. The book moves forward in time from 1913 to 2008, and through her and other main characters within and surrounding the Sawle and Valance families Hollinghurst paints a detailed picture of British upper middle class society through most of the 20th and early 21st centuries, including its preferences and deep prejudices, and the changes in its view of sexual behaviors. The novel is enhanced by the author's comic wit, and its characters are as finely portrayed as in any book I've read in recent memory. However, the novel's last section was flat and somewhat contrived, which kept me from giving it a 5 star rating. Despite that, The Stranger's Child is one of the best novels I've read this year, and I think it would be a worthy winner of this year's Booker Prize.

#35-38 Great reviews Darryl and I will put all four on my TBRs. Hollinghurst does apear to be the frontrunner for this years Booker doesn't he - let's see.
It's funny how many otherwise great novels slip up in their last couple of chapters. Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Fingersmith fall short of greatness in my view for the same reason. Can anyone think of books which have been saved by the last few chapters?

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #5

Review of Book #73 Starter for Ten by David Nicholls

Reverted to this as I was starting to struggle on Angela Carter's fantastic (as in unbelieveable) Nights at the Circus. Lit light fast paced story of an undergraduate's first year at school, of his yearning for the wrong girl, of his banal difficulties of his home-life and of his participation in University Challenge (for non-brits an actual Quiz show from the UK pitting 2 university teams of four against each other in competition. The catch-phrase of the quiz master the fabulously named Bamber Gascoigne is "Here's your starter for ten" {as in points} and hence the book's title}.
All said enjoyable, witty and a blessed relief from Ms. Carter but no literary award winner.

6/10

Read Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/76972535

I just completed A Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. This book was a finalist for the Pulizer Prize in 2009, I wafted between giving it 4 1/2 or 5 stars and finally decided on the 4 1/2 rating. Here is my review:

A Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

A Plague of Doves is a set of connected stories, peopled in the most part by characters of mixed Indian-
White blood. Set on and around a reservation in North Dakota, concerning two communities, one Indian, one White. We read of their differences and their similarities, the various truths of living in a small, isolated area where mistrust and suspicion is the norm.

At the heart of this book, outlined at the very beginning, is a story of the terrible murder of a white farming family. The survival of a baby and the immediate outlash at the Indian community. These deeds set the tone and echo on through the generations to come. We eventually learn who the murderer was and who the baby grew up to become.

The stories jump around from person to person, backwards and forwards in time, You would think they would be a bit disjointed but Louise Erdrich is able to use language like an artist uses paint. She develops and enhances the pictures she is showing us. Her marvellous writing makes the whole book cohesive and real. These pages breathe life..

A fully populated, ultimately humane story, A Plague of Doves was a entertaining read about how entwined fates shaped the destiny of Pluto, North Dakota.

#41 Know what you mean about Tracy Chevalier. Must admit I came away from Burning Bright feeling much the same way. In parts very good but the whole somehow not equal to the sum of those parts.

#42 Looks like you have unearthed another winner Judy for my unacceptably large TBR list. The faster I read the longer the list becomes (I think there must be a scientific equation there somewhere).

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #6

Review of Book # 74 The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor

I have read some good books this year and this short novel is amongst the very best. William Trevor casts a jaundiced eye across the contents of a small coastal town and brings to light the wrong doings and tragedies of its inhabitants brilliantly through the medium of one superbly realised and spiteful young individual - Timothy. Adultery, homosexuality, children abandoned, and basic human weaknesses are revealed under the surface of the seemingly mundane existences of the people of Dynmouth. Timothy preys upon the innocent by opening their eyes to goings-on they would have preferred to have left as was -and all for a scheme of his which he follows tenaciously. Great read and heartily recommended. Its spare and understated prose is a wonderful canvas for the dastardly plans to unveil.

9/10

#44 - I guess what goes around comes around, Paul. The Children of Dynmouth sounds like a book I would enjoy and I am adding it to my wishlist. Thanks.

Since I do not do formal reviews, I will just state that I finished In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut.

Stasia have just started The Imposter by Damon Galgut - What did you think of In a Strange Room as your post is a tad inscrutable.

#47: Just a tad? Man, I was trying to be completely inscrutable.

Once I got used to the style of the book - which took me a while, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the second section, 'The Lover,' the best of the three parts. I rated the book at 3.75 stars.

I am now reading The Memory of Love.

Thanks Stasia - I've hit a sang with The Imposter. I was at work yesterday and my driver informed me that the ignition had jammed on my car and it couldn't start. The car was towed and will only be ready for collection tomorrow morning (Saturday - phew covered by warranty!). My book was on the back seat as I had been reading it on the way to the office and he had not removed it. Can only resume with it tomorrow and am looking at a couple of Biiogs in the meanwhile - a soccer one from my favourite club Leeds United - A Football Man by John Giles and a book by Bob Newhart which I picked up for the equivalent of USD2.50 at the metro station yesterday making my alternative way home.

A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards

Jinx is a beautiful but deeply troubled east Londoner born to Caribbean immigrants, whose life was shattered 14 years ago when her mother Joy was brutally murdered by Berris, her second husband and Jinx's stepfather. Jinx blames her own jealousy and spite for her mother's murder, and has shut herself off from everyone, including her ex-husband and their young son, until the day that Lemon, Berris' best friend and a man she has admired since she first met him as a teenager, knocks on her front door. Lemon seeks to makes amends for his role in her mother's murder, now that Berris has just completed his prison sentence. During an intense weekend, filled with deep emotions and tempered by Lemon's irresistible cooked meals, the two relive their own separate and interlinked past histories, the passionate but troubled relationship between Berris and Joy, and the seemingly benign but malicious acts that led to Joy's murder.

A Cupboard Full of Coats is an intense and gripping debut novel which was an interesting selection for the Booker Prize longlist. I don't expect it to be selected for this year's shortlist, as it lacks the rich character development and complexity of the typical Booker fare. However, this being a far from typical year for the prize, I wouldn't be completely surprised if it does appear amongst the six finalists.

Well, I just finished Snowdrops by A.D. Millar which is also on the long list for the Booker Prize this year. Unfortunately, this book and I did not get along. Here is my review:

Warning - contains some slight SPOILERS

Snowdrops by A.D. Millar

I really don’t know what to think of Snowdrops by A.D. Millar. It was obvious right from the start that the main character, Nick, was being set up in an elaborate hoax involving property fraud and most probably murder. But we eventually discover that this naïve shmuck is also getting conned at his workplace as well in a totally different racket. It was also obvious, since he was narrating the story in the future, that he was going to be bruised but not knocked out.

Speaking of the main character, I found him unlikeable, weak and pathetic. He convinces himself that his obsession with a Russian woman is love, and he simply ignores all the warning signs that he is constantly stumbling over. In fact, for the most part, this book is filled with sleazy, greedy people that I really couldn’t care about at all.

Knowing Snowdrops has been nominated for the Booker Prize leaves me scratching my head. I just don’t see anything in this book that is worth raving about. Maybe it’s me and I just can’t recognize great literature when I read it, but frankly this book left me feeling quite flat.

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK # 8

Review of Book #77 The Imposter by Damon Galgut

Finished off on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Have read some good books recently and this is another of them. Set in modern South Africa with a protagonist facing a mid-life crisis and he takes up residence in a summer house in the country belonging to his brother. He meets an old school friend of whom he has little recollection of and spends time with the "friend" and his attractive coloured wife in an idyllic estate. The story has themes of corruption, deception, obsession and the redefining of the racial divide. Still not sure which character in the book was the Imposter but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

8/10

Whoops forgot to post this one

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #7

Review of Book #75 Generation A by Douglas Coupland

That's 75 up for the year but it was a shame not have done it with a book I enjoyed more. Have now read 2 "Sci-Lit" novels in the space of a month (see #174 Review of Book #67 above) and come to the firm conclusion that it is not the genre for me. On the plus side this was fairly easy reading and the initial third of the book actually quite enjoyable but the whole was let down by a long and extremely tedious sequence of short stories told by the 5 leading characters of the novel - a sort of Decameron or The Canterbury Tales on internet acid. It seemed a fairly obvious way to fill out the novel to full length so that the writer start collecting royalties.

5/10

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #9

Review of Book #78 The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

I have had a good month with my modern lit and this probably is tops. Nominated for the Man Booker in 2009 I can only say that Wolf Hall must be unbelievably good to have beaten this to the prize.
Gives a nod to the slow burning gothic novels of a century earlier the story is concerned with a series of incidents occuring at Hundreds Hall in Warwickshire in the aftermath of the second world war. Brilliantly realised the novel chills as it exposes greed, superstitions and class divergences in what amounts to a very good novel. I enjoyed Fingersmith but felt that it tailed off somewhat - Waters put that right here and I would say that this is the best thing I have read this year.

9/10

You have had a good month, Paul! And congratulations on reaching 75. Mine hasn't been so good, but still the books have opened my eyes to new authors and new experiences--and took some time to read an ARC and a couple of books about music.

Shalimar the Clown is incredibly dense with themes, information, emotions, and a convoluted plot developing from a simple and common idea: man is betrayed by wife, seeks revenge. This book starts slowly, but the pace increases rather breathlessly at the end. It completely repays the effort required to read it.

Old Filth is my favorite read this month. Funny and moving, this story of one man's life often had me feeling stunned as different points of view revealed more and more of the main character, Edward Feathers. I'd recommend this to everyone.

The Master is a beautifully written but very slow-moving biographical novel about Henry James. Readers who like James or who are familiar with Victorian Lit. will be very comfortable with it. I read Author, Author by David Lodge and liked it better, although many disagree with that point of view

I gave up on Fingersmith for the time being as I just wasn't in the mood for too much drama, real life having quite enough of that for me right now, thank you very much.

#55 Not sure I totally agree with you Gail your list looks impressive enough to me! I have not read The Master yet but The Heather Blazing I thought majestic and I have The Blackwater Lightship up next. Read a few David Lodge and like rather than love his work to be honest although his latest about HG Wells, A Man of Parts has had some solid reviews.

Surprised you floundered with Fingersmith as I think it starts very well but tails off.

I am a big fan of Lodge's nonfiction; the James book was my first try at his fiction, and I understand that it's untypical of his other fiction. I find his views on literature illuminating and fun to read. But then, I love books about books.

Fingersmith will go on the shelf to await a better mood on my part.

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK #10

Review of Book # 80 Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

I have read enough books to realise that Ms. Carter is an exceptional writer but regret that this was not my cup of tea at all. I must admit that the "magic realism" genre is profoundly difficult for me as I like to empathise with characters or at least be able to place myself in the situations devised but I couldn't get excited as to whether the leading protaganist was really a half-swan or not. I'll stick to stories I can relate to thank you very much and nurture my stifled imagination somewhat before I try Angela Carter again.

4/10

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK 11

Review of Book #81 The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn

Don't mistake the writer for the late lamented hollywood giant of the same name but this Mr. Quinn will surely become better known after this debut novel. Grew into his work after a somewhat turgid opening and by the end I became eager to look out for his next novel. Mixes an obvious love for Architecture, Liverpool and history in a tale of love, war and old buildings. There is an interesting slant on the war novel as this concerns those left behind and too old to fight as the leading character becomes a "rescue man" digging out those buried amongst the rubble of the buildings he had sought to glorify during the blitzkreig of Liverpool in the second world war. Love and betrayal also play a part in an enjoyable if old fashioned tale which ought probably to have been edited down by 40 pages or so to become amazing.

7/10

AUGUST MODERN FICTION BOOK 12

Review of Book #82 The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin

Toibin has walked these paths before in Story of the Night, (the care of those dying from Aids) but he does it better here. Centres around an estranged family Grandmother, Mother, Daughter and the Aids suffering son as they come together and work out their differences as Declan (the son) deteriorates before them. Not a jolly tale certainly but a sympathetic and non-melodramatic novel which lays bare human weaknesses and misunderstandings and how the actions of others, well intentioned or no, are misinterpreted by those around them.

8/10

AUGUST MODERN FICTION SUMMARY

These are the books I read and in my order of preference:
1 The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
2 The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
3 Josh Lawton by Melvyn Bragg
4 The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
5 The Imposter by Damon Galgut
6 The Rights of Desire by Andre Brink
7 The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn
8 An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
9 The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
10 Starter for Ten by David Nicholls
11 Generation A by Douglas Coupland
12 Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Very close between the first two which will go into my 100 best (1 per author) category at the year end. All up to 10 were worth a read. Coupland's novel was to full of filler and the subject matter of NATC befuddled, baffled and eventually bored me.