100 books in a year. Eleven to Fifteen.

Great news, it's me. Here to share with you some of the books I've been reading this year. 

Last time I told you what I thought of books six to ten. And, as sure as maths is maths, here come the next five. 

Ban This Filth - Ben Thompson

This is good. It's about Mary Whitehouse, the mad old woman who spent her life crusading against moral filth wherever she saw it. Which was pretty much everywhere, but particularly on TV. 

I can't remember a time when I didn't know Whitehouse's name. She was a ubiquitous presence in the media as I was growing up, always railing against some new perversion which was going to ruin the minds of the innocent. And of course I loved all the perversion and stuff, and was very excited about having my mind ruined. So by extension I hated her. And I was looking forward to this book ripping apart her idiotic, puritanical ideas.

Well, to my annoyance this turns out to be a thoughtful, well researched book which takes a balanced, fair approach to the mad old battleaxe. Thompson has unearthed an massive amount of correspondence, primarily between Whitehouse and the BBC, which shows the development of her campaigns through the years. The letters themselves are fascinating - full of middle class passive aggression and sexual tension - but the real gold is in Thompson's dissection of the battles.

He has a very dry wit and pulls no punches when it comes to addressing Whitehouse's more unreasonable panics. But he also takes pains to look at her motivations and finds that, even though her actions might often seem mad and bizarrely naive, she was at heart a good woman who observed the power of the media, and worried about its effects. Damn you Thompson. I didn't come here to have my prejudices challenged. But well done anyway, I guess.

Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie

If you've followed my reading journey from the start you won't be at all surprised to find that this was my first Agatha Christie. Yes, I know - she's one of the best selling authors ever. How have I avoided it? Well, by cunning, stealth and misdirection, that's how. I'm sneakier than I look.

Anyway. I didn't like it. Stupid bloody book. Why is she so popular? And don't go saying, "Because she's great and you're wrong and I bet you weren't even paying attention properly and kept checking your phone to see if anyone had clicked 'like' on that picture of you in a hammock."

Here's the thing. I'm willing to accept that Agatha Christie is objectively good. and that people like her for a reason. But on the evidence of this book and this book alone. I don't get it. She introduces a dozen characters, all of whom have completely interchangeable names and personalities and say things like "I say, Julian, can you make the badminton kerfuffle at the weekend?"

And then I'm meant to keep track of them all, as they wander about their complety unrelatable lives, having tea at each other's houses and occasionally dropping dead of murder. And I'm meant to work out the impossible puzzle of who was near the garden when the hen made a loud noise and such trivia. And then Miss Marple, who isn't even a detective, comes up at the end and says, "Ah, didn't you realise that Margaret took Jocasta's earring and so that means Henry couldn't have worn a hat that day and so I think Sebastian did the murder." Yeah, Miss Marple. If I had literally nothing to do all day, I'd be great at working out what was happening. But I'm not a retired old nosey madwoman, so I wasn't. 

Stupid book. 

The Hotel Avacado - Bob Mortimer

I read Mortimer's first novel, The Satsuma Complex, last year, and found it pleasantly diverting. Same with this sequel. It's mildly funny and well written, and I yummed it up, much as one might yum up an enjoyable ham and cheese pastie. It didn't rock my world, but it did keep me happy til lunchtime. 

It's a little odd reading a book by Bob Mortimer I found myself automatically trying to tune into his 'TV persona' voice, looking for absurdity and playful irony in every character and plot beat. For as long as I've watched Bob, he's been a carnival of gentle absurdity, and so I was looking for that here.

But it's not really that sort of thing. It's funny, yes, and he has some winning turns of phrase that demonstrate the unorthodox connections forged by his unique synapses. But this is a sincere, romantic tale of people trying to win against the odds. And it's quite lovely.

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris

I have a friend called Matt who is very smart. Well, I have two or three, but let's not get bogged down in trivia. This Matt, the Matt we're focusing on, lent me a book by David Sedaris in order to stop me strutting up and down his house, drinking his wine and shouting, "What books would you recommend? I'm trying to be clever, like you."

This is not that book - this is one I sought out afterwards, by the same author. But it's more or less the same thing. A series of journalistic-ish, autobiographical-ish essays about memories and times Sedaris has experienced, with reflections on how it made him the person he's become. Though really it's just a series of hilarious, slightly bitchy stories about stuff he did. 

I'd never heard of David Sedaris before this, and am delighted to find that he has many books for me to newly enjoy. He appears to be a slightly awkward, outsidery kind of guy, who found that, in the world of prose, he's something of a badass. Love it.

Grendel - John Gardner

I've wanted to read this for years. Ever since 1987, when I first heard the very-long Marillion song of the same name. The song retells the story of Beowulf from the perspective of the monster, and it goes on for ages and has cool widdly keyboard bits and I love it. When I discovered it was based on a book, I became very excited.

"Why didn't you read it, then?" you may ask. To which I can only say... um... I'm not sure, and I've been busy, and please don't make me think about the fact that it's been nearly 40 years. I really don't think I can account for that big a gap in my CV.

Anyway. I read it this year, so shut up. It's very weird and wonderful and I had a great time with it. Grendel lurks on the outskirts of human society, occasionally breaking into their castles and biting people's heads off, then retreating to his dead to wax philosophical on the nature of being. It's a wild, vivid ride that throws notions of storytelling and morality in the air and laughs as they cascade all over the place. Dark, mad and fascinating. 

So there you go. Five books closer to the grave. See you next time, for books sixteen to twenty. 

Or you can skip back, to books six to ten.