#2017readinglist

[robinallender]

always the author and never the character in the book

Last book of the year is An Hallucinated Oral History of the Post-Punk Scene in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Environs, 1978‑1986 by David Keenan, author of England’s Hidden Reverse. A beautiful, strange, hypnotic novel.

(Book 37 of 2017)

[robinallender]

Book 36 is a very funny and very boozy novel from Amis (Senior) in his prime. And, is it just me, or does Amis seem to analogically predict the absurdity of Brexit all the way back in 1986?

To Charlie waiting at the exit, it seemed to take as long for Malcolm to get his car out of the multi-storey over the road from Tesco as it would to get the country out of the Common Market.

[robinallender]

I love rereading Salinger around this time of year. For some reason when I think of his writing I think of frosty but not necessarily festive weather. And how amazing it is to open the books again and find all those characters still there, as real as you or I: Lane waiting for Franny on the chilly station platform, Holden getting the train into the frozen city. Salinger’s writing is so fresh and alive it reminds me of the first time I heard The Ramones or saw a picture of them standing, with brutal simplicity, against a brick wall; a reminder of how pure and direct great music or great writing can be. Salinger’s stories are so real, so contemporary feeling, that you keep expecting the characters to check their iPhones! The dialogue is like someone has left a tape recorder running. The stories sometimes seem incidental or slight but there’s an emotional weight to them; they are stories of post-war America, all concerned with grief in its different forms.

(Book 35 of 2017)

[robinallender]

Thoroughly enjoying Benjamin Myers’s These Darkening Days, a beautifully written noirish thriller set in the Pennines. Lots of literary and musical allusions (including a band called The Thank-Yous, a thinly disguised Unthanks?); really atmospheric and gripping. Looking forward to reading his other books, particularly The Gallows Pole.

(Book 34 of 2017)

[robinallender]

Book 33 of 2017: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré (the photo is a still from the 1965 film).

Putting this book firmly in the category of, ‘I really enjoyed reading it but didn’t have a clue what was going on most of the time.’

[robinallender]

A system of cells interlinked within Cells interlinked within cells interlinked Within one stem. And dreadfully distinct Against the dark, a tall white fountain played.

Sound familiar? It’s the text Officer K recites as his ‘base line test’ in Blade Runner 2049. See here for a great analysis of the allusions to Pale Fire in the film. And so, Book 32 of 2017 is a reread of this absolute classic, which, as well as being deviously and intricately plotted, is also funny as hell. Kinbote is the David Brent of 20th century literature.

Another tormentor inquired if it was true that I had installed two ping-pong tables in my basement. I asked, was it a crime? No, he said, but why two? ‘Is that a crime?’ I countered, and they all laughed.

[robinallender]

Nothing says individuality like 500 million consumer electronics built by slaves. Welcome to Hell.

Very much aware of the irony of posting this on Instagram. But this is a really great, furious, funny rant about our insane age. It also has much to say about the role of ‘literature’ in our society: ‘You had to give the CIA credit. For an agency marked by a persistent tone-deafness of cultural approach, they had realised literary fiction was completely pointless. No one cared about good novels. The funding of good novels was based on an abandoned misapprehension that writers, being the apparent creators of culture, had some impact on contemporary international affairs.’

(Book 31 of 2017)

[robinallender]

The thought of spending my life travelling across England moves me for reasons I cannot easily explain.

The best book you’ll ever read about the A40.

(Book 30 of 2017)