WINTER'S BONE - Daniel Woodrell

 

I first read this ten years ago and it is still stunning second time around .  This re-read was better than the first time, it is truely remarkable.

It is one of the best books I have ever read.  The humanity and lack of it is stunning all the way through.  Wonderful prose, great characters 

Woodrell has a modicum of fame and this book is now a movie but he deserves to be front and centre at every book store you walk into.

From the first time I read it:

A couple of times a year, if I'm really lucky I find a book that's extraordinary and 'Winter's Bone' is one, its an amazing book.

Set in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, 16 year old Ree Dolly goes looking for her father.  She lives in a area where everyone knows how to shoot  and 'most families are cooking up crank on the back porch'.

She finds out that asking questions is dangerous for your health.

The writing draws you in and makes it un-put downable.

It's a short read ,193 pages, its dark  and  tells a tale of people who have no time for authority and where a slight can go unforgiven for generations.

It has been made in to a movie and I am dreading how a screenplay will butcher this wonderful writing. (2006)

UNDER THE BRIGHT LIGHTS - Daniel Woodrell

This is a straight out murder procedural.  It is Woodrell's first book and one I first read about eight or nine years ago .

As a first outing its a bit clunky but the basis is here for the great work that is to some.

Start here and read everything he's written.

A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES - Ian Rankin

A new Rebus is always worth reading. 

This has been a remarkably consistent series.  Again, with Rebus retired we have two investigations running, the police on one and Rebus on another.

Rebus's son in law is murdered so there's more family interaction than in any book previously.  This is the third with the parallel investigation and it needs a freshen up , but as stated very consistent , Rebus is a great character.

SLEEPING BEAUTY - Ross MacDonald

The equal of Chandler, LA noir at its very best.  Read all his books and then read his wife's, Margaret Miller, she's even darker .

THE MISSIONARY POSITION - Christopher Hitchens

 

Hitch having a crack at Mother Theresa.  He makes a good argument against her beatification.  This is a pamphlet so its a nice short read.

Its a Hitchens it's sharp and very clever, I miss his writing

EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON - Philip Norman

 

TOWARDS THE END OF MORNING - Michael Frayn

 

CHASTISE - Max Hastings

 

Operation Chastise, better known to the world as  The Dambusters.

The raid was a huge propaganda success for the Allies but whether it achieved a huge amount is debated and the argument comes down on the side of ' not much'.

The raiding group suffered terrible losses.  130 men flew out 55 never came back.  

This book not only covers the raid itself but the  efforts to get it accepted as a viable operation in the first place by Barnes Wallis the engineer who designed the "bouncing bomb".

An interesting read with rose tinted glasses removed after 75 years.  The raids was lead by a 24 year old.  All participants were about the same age.  Many 24 year olds these days have a weep if you yell at them.

 

THE SECRET WAR - Max Hastings

An over view of all the intelligence services on all sides during the war. From the folk on the ground to the back room boys and girls.

Many plans were complete disasters, there are spies and dolts but the underlying theme is the courage displayed by so many when they knew they were going to their deaths.

From code breaking geniuses to husbands and wives all uniting for a common cause on all sides.

A fascinating read like all Hastings work.  A good basis for further reading on particular topics or individuals.

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER - Ian Fleming

 

The names Bond, James Bond and this is a good little diversion.  A good story and not over the top in anyway.

THE DUBLINERS - James Joyce

 

14 short stories and a novella concerning various citizens of Dublin.  Each story has the protagonist having an epiphany in regards what they are doing or their lives in general.

I first read this years ago and some of these stories stayed with me.  Great writing and the only writing of Joyce's I've ever been able to pick up and read.

DEATH AT THE PRESIDENTS LODGING - Michael Innes

 

This is Innes's first effort published in 1936.  Its a good mystery even if it gets a bit convoluted toward the end. The President at a university college is murdered and the killer can only be one of his colleagues.

When Innes was good he was good, when he was ordinary he was awful.  He kept publishing stories for another 50 years after this and from the ones I've read he only goes close to this story a couple of times.

HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS - Agatha Christie

 

Even for Christie this is a cheat on a staggering scale.  Not one of her best

THE KRAKEN WAKES - John Wyndam

 

The earth is invaded by aliens who create havoc from deep within our oceans.

Some good banter from the husband and wife who the story concentrates on and  although it follows a similar pattern as "Day of the Triffids" it lacks any tension with the story being spread out of a decade.

Not Wyndams best.

THE DROP & THE LIST - Mick Herron

 

Two novellas featuring some of the characters that make up the Slough House series.  The Drop adds some back ground to a few of these characters but you are not missing out on anything by now reading this.

LOCK 14 - Georges Simenon

Maigret, super entertaining 

ROAD BLOCK- Hillary Waugh

 

Very dark, brilliant procedural. Track him down and read them all.

THE YELLOW DOG - Georges Simenon

 

Maigret, you can't go wrong

THE SPANISH GAME - Charles Cumming

 

First time I've read Cumming.  I found this hard work due what I thought as a very stupid hero.  I'll try another one but in this he takes himself a bit seriously

LONDON RULES- Mick Herron

 

Another Slough House novel and this apart from a good story and some of the funniest dialogue I've read.  Jackson Lamb, what a brilliant character.

DEAD LIONS - Mick Herron

 

The best of the Slough House books so far, its actually the second in the series which is better read in order

SAFE HOUSE - Andrew Vachess

 

These Burke novels are completely over the top but they carry a serious message regarding harm to women & children.. They stand a re-read

FAHRENHEIT 451 - Ray Bradbury

 

Another re-read, especially relevant in these times of the 'woke'.

DANCING BEAR - James Crumley

 

Crumley is amazingly under rated.  I think he's one of the best to come out of the US. he rates with Hammett, Chandler, Waugh.

He didn't write much as he was too busy drugging & drinking  but whats he has written is legend.  Read and re-read 

BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN - Len Deighton

 

This reads like a Bond spoof, thankfully Deighton got much better after this early outing

JOE COUNTRY - Mick Herron

 

The crew from Slough House, very funny in places, great characters

SPOOK STREET - Mick Herron

 

Another Slough House novel.  Excellent

REAL TIGERS - Mick Herron

 

Another in the Slough House series.  Read them

SLOW HORSES - Mick Herron

 

A unit of British Intelligence who have all cocked up and are banished to  a boring existence  evidently to stop them causing problems.  They are made up of drug users, compulsive gamblers and  those suffering mental health issues.  The unit is run by Jackson Lamb who will go on to become one of the great fictional characters.

Great fun

CAST A YELLOW SHADOW - Ross Thomas

 

A re-read of the master of the crime caper.

MONSIGNOR QUIXOTE - Graham Greene

 

The master.

THE LABOURS OF HERCULES - Agatha Christie

 

A short story collection, light as anything but thats what Sundays are for

DARKNESS AT NOON - Arthur Koestler

 

An outstanding read and it explains the communist mentality.  Been my book of the year.  Read & re-read

GOING TO THE WARS - Max Hastings

 

This is a memoir of Max Hastings trips to conflicts all over the globe over several decades.

Biafra, Vietnam (several times), Northern Ireland, Israel, the Falklands and several others.

He writes in a very honest fashion regards himself (he's basically a coward he says) and how many other journalists flat out don't like him because of his perceived advantages (class) and his contacts.

This isn't a campaign journal just his memories of events and people he shared them with.

Like all of Hastings writing its very accessible.

THE EIGHTH DWARF - Ross Thomas

Los Angeles, 1946.  It was ex-OSS man Minor Jackson who finally pulled the drowning dwarf out of the actor's swimming pool.  It was also the start of a relationship that would pitch him into a post-war whirlpool of corruption and murder.

No one before or since has has written a ' caper' like Ross Thomas.  He has never written a bad sentence or a dull paragraph.  All his books are immensely entertaining, hard to find believe it or not.  I see Briarpatch has been made into a TV series so hopefully there is a resurgence in the availability of his stories.

TARZAN OF THE APES - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Finally found this to read.  Its outrageously ridiculous, completely over the top,but it is entertaining and you can see that how it developed a following when it was published in serial form in 1912.

Saying that I'll give the other two dozen or so Tarzan books a miss.

THE SCARECROW - Ronald Hugh Morrieson

One of my favourite authors, a great New Zealand author but he gets zero recognition.

From a previous entry:

This is the world of 14 year old Neddy Poindexter and and his mate Les in small town New Zealand in the mid 20th century.

This small town is visited by rape and murder and along the way we glimpse the idiosyncrasies of the people living in this town.

Very very dark, very very wonderful.  Small town NZ exposed.  The myth of the simple clean new Zealand way of life is exposed here as simply that, a myth. Here we have endemic drunkenness, boredom and frustration.

A great read.  Morrieson should be compulsory in schools.

THE STORIES OF TOBIAS WOLFF - Tobias Wolff

This is a wonderful collection of short stories, written by one of the modern masters of the genre.

Just don't expect to feel comfortable after reading many of them. Wolff has the knack of identifying all our little vanities and foibles and making the reader examine himself, hence you can feel very uncomfortable.

Great writing.  His memoirs are well worth reading as well.

APPLEBY ON ARARAT - Michael Innes

Detective Appleby is shipwrecked on an island after his shop is torpedoed.  There are several other passengers stranded with him.  Then people start dying.

Innes is the most inconsistent of all detective fiction writers, when he is good its fantastic , when he is bad you get this.  This is truly terrible, absolute tripe.

The only reason I'm not actually throwing the book out is the edition is 58 years old and deserves better, the writing doesn't.

DREAM STREET - Damon Runyon

The Dream Street of the title is Broadway.  This collection of short stories is told by an anonymous narrator totally in the first person.  It is so totally in the first person , a student of Runyon has found he only used 'was' a half dozen times in all his fiction. 

Here we have tales of hitmen, gamblers , pimps and  dance hall girls all trying to make a dollar and find success.

The characters are not nice people but Runyon gives them humanity in their own pathetic way.   The stand out is is the humour, fantastically funny throughout

The musical Guys & Dolls was based on characters from these stories.  A brilliant read.

COLLECTED SHORT STORIES - Robert Graves

A magnificent collection of Graves's work.

The book is broken up into - English Stories- Roman Stories-Majorcan Stories.

Wonderful humour throughout. This is a collection to be read and re-read

THE FOLIO TREASURY OF SHORTER CRIME FICTION: POLICE PROCEDURES.

A solid selection, Simenon is always worth a read.  Wallace is terribly hit and miss but this is a good tale & seeing as he wrote several hundred books its understandable. 

Theres a Rebus thrown in as well and Rankin writes quality. 

THE FOLIO TREASURY OF SHORTER CRIME FICTION: SUPERIOR SLEUTHS

A good selection, the picks for me are le Carre with this being Smileys first outing and the Rex Stout  always worth reading.

THE FOLIO TREASURY OF SHORTER CRIME FICTION: EARLY ESCAPADES

400 hundred pages of mid 19th to early 20th century crime writing.  The pick of this selection are the stories by Doyle and Anna Katherine Green .

Green was one of the earliest female crime writers, evidently she was second to be published.  She is very good and worth tracking down

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - Evelyn Waugh

This is close to the 12th time I've read this book.

Its all been said before.  Its my favourite read of all time and I'll read it many more times.  Fantastic

THE RATLINE - Philippe Sands

The story of a senior Nazi responsible for thousands of deaths and his escape after the war hiding for three years before his eventual death in an Italian hospital.

The first half of the book is reconstructed from the diaries of his wife , who was even a more radical Nazi than von Wachter himself.

A truly disgusting couple and she held her views until her death many years after the war.

The second half of the book is the author trying to get the couples youngest son, Horst, 80 years old at the time , to acknowledge the enormity of his fathers crimes.  In the end its a sledge hammer against a fly and got tedious.

The first half up until Otto's death is interesting but  the remainder can be flagged

THE CROOKED COUNTIES, Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes- collected by Hugh Greene

This is the third collection of early 20th century detective tales collected by Greene.  I haven't been able to find the second collection yet but the idea has run its course  with this collection.

Very weak generally with a couple of completely absurd ones.   Again its good they are collected but not reading, collecting only.