Leo's Litlist 2009

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Wed July 22nd, 2009, 8:21 pm

...and now just finished The Little Stranger

What a fantastic book! A sort of retro haunted house story with added social comment and psychological insight - I was so impressed by this. I really enjoyed The Night Watch, but this was even better IMO. A great twist on the old unreliable narrator device too...

It's the sort of book that would be best read on a dark, wintry evening snuggled up under a blanket, but it has managed to keep me awake over the last few summer nights listening for things going *bump*

Looks like I'm on a roll - my last three reads (Secret Scripture, Hodd and LS) have all been excellent.

The Dream of Scipio by Ian Pears up next.

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Wed July 22nd, 2009, 10:40 pm

Glad you liked The Little Stranger. I really liked it too, and for the same reasons. I think all of Sarah's books are good, though. She's definitely an author who hasn't disappointed me yet.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Thu July 23rd, 2009, 12:30 pm

[quote=""Ludmilla""]Glad you liked The Little Stranger. I really liked it too, and for the same reasons. I think all of Sarah's books are good, though. She's definitely an author who hasn't disappointed me yet.[/quote]

At what point did you get the twist? I thought there was a certain turning point in the story where she really started to make it clear...but it was very cleverly and subtly done.

I'm now going to reserve her three earlier books at the library and work my way through them over the summer.

Her books have a rare combination of the strong, narrative drive of popular fiction, along with the depth of insight and refined style that characterises the best literary fiction. Writers like that are pretty unusual and are to be cherished IMO!

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Thu July 23rd, 2009, 1:36 pm

[quote=""Leo62""]At what point did you get the twist? I thought there was a certain turning point in the story where she really started to make it clear...but it was very cleverly and subtly done.
[/quote]

I think the turning point would be Faraday's conversation with the other doctor (where they get into psychology a bit), but there are clues, if you care to look for them, much earlier. I agree that it was cleverly and subtly done. I love unreliable narrators when they are done well, and this is a good one. I thought the way she expresses Faraday's profound puzzlement at the end was pitch perfect.

It's really hard for me to rank her books, but I would put Affinity, Fingersmith and The Little Stranger in the top tier and Night Watch and Tipping the Velvet in the 2nd tier - but all are very good.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Thu July 23rd, 2009, 7:42 pm

[quote=""Ludmilla""]I think the turning point would be Faraday's conversation with the other doctor (where they get into psychology a bit), but there are clues, if you care to look for them, much earlier. [/quote]
Yep, and when Caroline started talking about the book she was reading about "shadows" and suchlike, I thought "aha!" There was a clue even in the very first chapter when he breaks off the bit of moulding. I did wonder at first if the electrical treatment of Rod had somehow sparked things off, but I think that was a bit of a red herring...

[quote=""Ludmilla""]It's really hard for me to rank her books, but I would put Affinity, Fingersmith and The Little Stranger in the top tier and Night Watch and Tipping the Velvet in the 2nd tier - but all are very good.[/quote]
OK I'm gonna read Fingersmith next.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Mon August 10th, 2009, 8:16 pm

Well I decided on some brain candy before starting Fingersmith, so I'm reading The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. As comfortingly predictable as mashed potato, but very nicely done.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Mon August 17th, 2009, 9:20 pm

Gave up on The Winter Sea. It wasn't bad exactly but I just couldn't get up any enthusiasm for the Jacobites.

Now well into Fingersmith

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Sun October 4th, 2009, 11:40 am

I am so way behind with this!

After the very wonderful Fingersmith I read The Seance by John Harwood, another Victorian gothic-a-palooza. Since then it's been a sad series of DNFs which I'm too depressed about to list here

So I took some time off to read non-fiction.

Next up is The Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon (of Rose of Sebastopol fame.)

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Wed November 11th, 2009, 4:58 pm

Even further behind with my updates...

I've had so many DNFs the last coupla months it's got downright depressing.

Managed to finish two Phil Rickmans in October - The Fabric of Sin and To Dream of the Dead. This writer deserves to be a LOT better known - his Merrily Watkins series is going from strength to strength.

Just about to start The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, a Booker shortlisted novel about poet John Clare.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Tue December 22nd, 2009, 11:17 am

My Literary Attention Deficit Disorder continues apace, so many DNFs over the last month

including The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (actually managed several chapters of this) and The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell.

I did manage to finish The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, probably because it was only about 200 pages. Now back on my Phil Rickman re-reading program with The Man in the Moss.