long time. I reckon I would have to go back to well before I arrived in Wang,
about 15 years ago, to a year when I read less. I only read five books last
year. Pretty pathetic really, even if I was tired for just about all of the
year.
I do most of my reading at night, just before bed. A few
months ago I started to read The Swan Book, by Alexis Wright, and
found the first few pages almost impossible to comprehend – it didn’t help that
I kept on falling asleep. I tried to get into the novel over the next week or
so, but had the same problem. Not the fault of the writer I am sure, just me
being too tired.
Of the five books, three were very good science fiction
novels, one was an insightful book of poetry – yes I actually read a book of
poetry all the way through, so it must have been good – and a western.
The three science fiction novels were Maddaddam by Margaret
Atwood, Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie and Lexicon by Max Barry. All
were very good, but perhaps the best was Lexicon.
It gets the nod because of its
originality and it was fun to read – it’s not a comedy, but it is written in a
slightly amused tone. I have reviewed all three of the novels on this blog.
The western was Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
It’s a Tsunami of descriptive passages. I can’t imagine a desert being
described in so many different ways. It’s a novel where all the characters are
either sociopaths or fools or both. The main character turns out to be the
desert and the effect it has on a gang travelling through it. I had read
McCarthy’s The Road and thought it one of the best apocalyptic novels
going round. It too is full of descriptions of the desolate countryside.
poetry. To me, you either get a poet’s writing or you don’t. I am not into
re-reading to find hidden meanings or to find any meaning at all in a poem. I
am also not into pretty poems about how lovely the world is and how lovely love
is. Neither is the writer of this collection. Most of his poems are
observations on human nature and how misguided and flawed we are. Caged Without Walls spoke to me. I also
reviewed it in a post this year.
and did not fall to sleep while reading its first 35 pages. Zoo
City by Lauren Beukes certainly has an intriguing set-up. Hopefully I
will be posting a review of it in a couple of weeks.
is that it should be easy to better that total this year, double it, triple it,
quadruple it…
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Thank you Graham. That's very kind of you.
Funnily enough I had a bad year too. About the same number. Though you've had a big writing year. which is great.
Thanks again.
Maybe that's why writers I know are not talking about books, they aren't reading them. Just writing them, and they keep on piling up. Two facebook connections have books out in the coming weeks, when will I ever read them?
I did read for a second night in a row last night.