Category Archives: Novel

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

The Illustrated Man was my previous experience of Ray Bradbury: beautiful and disturbing post-war sci-fi stories, set in our present. Fahrenheit 451 is clearly, from the author’s various prefaces and the publisher’s blurb, a much more famous work, probably because of … Continue reading →

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“The Trial of Mussolini” by ‘Cassius’

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

A wonderful find (I’ve forgotten where from). A 1943 fictionalised transcript of the trial Benito never had, at some putative war-crimes tribunal in London. Part of the Gollancz series of anonymous books published in the war. The first prosecution speech … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Danger” by Marjery Allingham; “Have his Carcase” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Campion or Wimsey? Campion. Lugg or Bunter? Bunter. Stanislaus Oates or Parker? Oates. So Allingham wins 2:1. And when you factor in Sayers’ casual racism (part of the time, but tellingly absent from Allingham), and the grating vicarious Wimsey-worship of … Continue reading →

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Beryl Bainbridge: “Sweet William”

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Puzzled by the very end, which seemed intended as a punchline, making clear what had really been going on, but for me as usual leaving me none the wiser, I found Katha Pollit’s contemporary review of this 1975 novel. This … Continue reading →

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Donna Leon: “Through a glass darkly”

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Another Donna. Madonna of the laguna, of sumptuous meals with named wines, of the affection of Paola and Elettra, the two women fusing to channel the author’s love for her hero, as Sayers’ for Wimsey and Allingham’s for Campion. Madonna of … Continue reading →

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Leon Uris: “Exodus”

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

Fascinating. Published in 1959, not long after the events it describes, this self-proclaimed epic novel tells the story of the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948. It claims all the ‘events’ are true, but the characters are fictional, and … Continue reading →

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Ben Aaronovitch: “The Rivers of London”

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

A standard and fun modern tongue-in-cheek crime/mystery story, uplifted by being set in a magical-realist London where the eponymous (a word never to be used in serious writing) rivers of the eponymous capital city have deities who are alive and active. … Continue reading →

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“The Rings of Saturn” by W.G. Sebald

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

A chance find on the bookshelves of a holiday cottage in Staithes. Ten short chapters. I’d heard of the author, but that only: I didn’t even know he was German. If I had I might have been put off, as … Continue reading →

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Dickens: “Dombey and Son”

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

So long ago now I can’t remember it all, and it took me so long to read. How did they get away with it then? Ah yes – serialisation over months, and that’s how long it took me to read. Totally immersing, … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Tooth” by Ian McEwan

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

So far my McEwan reading has been: –The Comfort of Strangers (many years ago, at a friend’s house). A chilling novella with a gruesomely violent ending, but whose motivations are implausible –Saturday. Again tension, but this time much better handled … Continue reading →

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