A SEVERED HEAD - Iris Murdoch

 

Adultery, incest, castration, violence, suicide, a cast of wholly horrible humans make up this book.   I found it hilarious -Murdoch, a legend.

A JEALOUS GHOST- A.N.Wilson

A very good tale of madness
 

THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS - John Wyndham

An excellent book.  It is still worth reading even if you have seen the numerous movie and television adaptations
 

THE END OF THE AFFAIR- Graham Greene

 

Graham Greene , genius.  I love Waugh but Greene is it, one of the best, if not the best 20th century novelists

A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA - Richard Hughes

A good wee adventure yarn.. Written 15 years before Lord of the Flies but after reading this I am sure Golding had read it before starting his book

MURPHY - Samuel Beckett

 

Brilliant use of language.  Many many words I had no idea of their meaning and had to have a dictionary on standby.  Very funny , reviews give this book much deeper meaning than I was able to fathom but its thoroughly enjoyable because of the banter .

THE VATICAN CELLARS - Andre Gide

 

The basis of the book is a supposed abduction of the Pope and those that become involved in the rumour.  The real centre of the book is a 'motiveless crime' and it covers it well.  Populated with great characters and some very dark humour.

LES MISERABLES -Victor Hugo

A big read but worth every minute.  Hugo really is brilliant, a great main story with many asides with the odd short story thrown in.  Understandable that's its one of the great novels.
 

SISTERS IN ARMS - Nicola Tyrer

An amazing read.  These nurse's, The QA's suffered starvation, rape but still managed to nurse their patients even in the prison camps.  The Japanese were particularly vile to them, so very cruel.  A book about an extraordinary group of people 

THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR - Paul Theroux

A book about people met on trains while travelling through Asia in the early '70's.  This is early Theroux travel writing when he wasn't as cynical as he became. This has lots of humour, travelling like this is not for the faint hearted.