December non-genre fiction

Dec 19, 2012 04:47


2006
The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink
White Eagles over Serbia, by Lawrence Durrell
The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon
Perfume, by Patrick Süskind
Crooked Little Heart, by Anne Lamott
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming

2007
Sodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel Proust

2008
The History of Henry the Fifth, by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare
As You Like It, by William Shakespeare

2009
The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Mr Singh Has Disappeared: A Concussed Novel, by Horst Prillinger
Wild Sweet Love, by Beverly Jenkins

2010
The Falls, by Ian Rankin
Fair Play, by Tove Jansson

2011
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson
Het Boek Van Alle Dingen / The Book of Everything, by Guus Kuijer

December seems to have been a rather sparse month for my non-sf fiction readings in years past. December 2006 was unusually good, but I can't remember a lot about the novels I read that month - I do seem to have enjoyed them all apart from The Crying of Lot 49.

So I am picking only two novels in particular of the 19 above, but with a particularly numerous field of honourable mentions.

The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgson Burnett - this was as good as I had hoped it might be, a story of healing from psychological and physical trauma through friendship and gardening.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson - this is for the whole trilogy which was excellent, compelling, absorbing reading for me last year, if not quite Great Literature.

Honourable mentions to Tove Jansson, Marcel Proust and six of the seven from December 2006.

All four of the Shakespeare plays I listened to in December 2008 are excellent, and actually I think in future postings of my past non-genre reads I will omit Shakespeare from this category; it is too much like comparing apples and oranges.

bookblog

Previous post Next post
Up