Well hello. You join me in a victorious temper. In 2025 I set myself the challenge of reading 100 books before the year was out. And I have just completed that task. Please gaze at me in admiration. Unless you have also read that many, or more. In which case please stay quiet and pretend I am special.
I've decided to write a little about each book, and what I got out of it. If that sort of thing floats your boat, you've come to the right ocean. Here we are with books 41 to 45.
Real Tigers by Mick Herron
It's the third 'Slow Horses' book. And what a joy. These books are pure pleasure and I love them.
I am not alone in this, of course. The recent TV adaptations - also excellent - have brought many people into the world of the Slow Horses. I'm part of a crowd of recent converts, and happy to be so.
It would be nice to be one of these people who are cultured and ahead of the curve: an early adopter. "Oh, I've been reading these for years. Yes, I discovered them at my book club. You found them where? On television? What on earth is that?"
But I'm not that kind of guy. I saw the TV show and loved it and so I'm pursuing the books. And I'm reading the books only once I've seen their adaptations. That feels like the right way round to me. For Slow Horses anyway. I like to be surprised and thrilled at the kinetic, vibrant experience of the show and then, later, deepen my appreciation of the story by reading the book. I know a lot of people work the other way around. You do you.
When it came to this book, I'm very glad I saw the show first. If you've read any of my other reviews you'll know that I'm fairly easily confused. There's a lot of characters to keep track of in this story, and some of their names begin with the same letter. I don't know about you but that's a recipe for disaster, comprehension wise. Luckily, I'd seen the TV version, so I was able to go, "Ah, that one's Kristin Scott Thomas," and, "This is the bit with the guns! Shoot! Bang! Hurray!" and so on.
I'm a simple creature.
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
My re-reading of the Hitch Hiker's books comes to a conclusion. And quite a glum one.
I've read the first three books dozens of times, and the fourth nearly as many. This fifth book, however, I don't think I've read more than twice. Certainly I didn't remember a great deal of it. And indeed, I can't remember that much now, a few months after the most recent re-read.
The energy of these books has, for me, always come from their attitude. Yes, they are brimming with cool ideas and outlandish characters, and that's a strong part of the appeal. But the real quicksilver joy of Adams is in his prose. The tone of the storytelling. In the radio version, this comes through the wry, off kilter voice of the Guide, as it narrates facts about the universe. In the books, it's the whole character of the text itself. Events are recounted in a playful, mischevious manner, as if the very story is a living thing.
Here, Adams seems depressed. His characters are lost and lack direction. Where before this seemed fun and adventurous and free, here it seems bleak. Arthur can't find his home, just a series of unsatisfying, false versions of home. Ford is being forced to write a soul-less version of the Hitch Hikers Guide, for a horrible corporation he hates. I've no idea what was going on for Adams at this point, but these don't feel like subtle analogies.
There is still stuff to like. The plot still crackles with invention and there's undeniable intelligence at work. But this really wasn't great.
How Westminster Works by Ian Dunt
I like Ian Dunt. He turns up on podcasts and talks about politics, and it's really interesting because he's a) well informed, b) intelligent, c) articulate and d) fond of expressing a, b and c through the medium of swearing.
I suppose I mean "he's funny", and that's why I enjoy him. Politics can be very depressing. I want to have a sense of what's going on in the world, but I would rather the answer was not "all the things that are happening now". When I hear Dunt on podcasts, he makes the whole thing tolerable with his general sense of exasperation at the idiotic decisions made by our so called leaders. It's a little sugar, to make the stupid medicine go down.
He's not as much fun here. I mean, fair enough. It's a book, and the mission is clearly "inform and educate" rather than "make Rob laugh all evening because God knows if he stops being happy for even one minute he'll become furious with the universe like a massive entitled child." So the focus is on telling us how things work, in an accessible way. However. I would have liked a little more of his personal take on things. Dance for me, authors. Dance.
The book is both very interesting and very boring at the same time. It's a detailed explanation of the various systems that make our political system work - how laws are made, what MPs do with their time, how democracy functions, that sort of thing. If there's one takeaway it's this: it is a miracle anything gets done, ever. I came away with a little more tolerance for everyone who works in Westminster, as their jobs seem basically impossible given the archaic structures of the place.
That's about it, though. I haven't retained much of the detail. That's down to me, I realise. It's a very long book, and I'm easily distracted. So maybe the message is, please write me clever and informative books, but make them shorter, and include more jokes.
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
This might well be my favourite book of the year. As such I might struggle to say much about it, except for 'Go read it, it's lovely."
It's easy to be miserable about things, isn't it? See my review of Mostly Harmless, for example. Things that make me happy, though? What's that about?
This book made me happy. We follow a young girl, through adolescence into womanhood. She is convinced she is an alien, sent here to report on the world. And it's possible she's right. The book reads just as well either way, and indeed much of its joy and power lies in the ambiguity.
Whether we're looking through the eyes of a girl or an alien, the world is a weird place, that's for sure. The behaviour of the humans is largely inexplicable. Emotions are huge and stupid and wonderful and overpowering. Events happen for no reason, bringing destruction and sadness in their wake. And then, there are moments of inexplicable beauty, tiny and weird and impossible to fathom.
I am often moved by small, daft things. Things can make me sad, or fill me with joy, for reasons I don't truly understand. This book seems to find that thread and weave it into story. I had all the emotions, and I recommend it on that basis.
The Wheel in Space by Terrence Dicks
This was free with Doctor Who magazine, and I thought, "Yeah, this will be an easy win on my journey to a hundred books." And I was absolutely right. It was a snack of a book. A breeze. I could have read it while running a bath, and be done before it was time to deploy the novelty ducks.
None of which is to say I didn't enjoy it. It's a snappy, exciting story of monsters in space, whose afternoon is ruined when Doctor Who comes along to spoil their evil plans. It's a novelisation of a TV story which doesn't exist any more, so this is a fun way to engage with a lost text. These novelisations are how I really got into reading, at 8 years old, and I have great affection for them.
I'm deflecting a little, slightly insecure about my choices. This "100 books" thing is meant to be a big journey across expanded horizons. I'm wrestling with authors I've never read before, in an effort to broaden my experience of literature and, in doing so, improve my own writing. And here I am, reading a book which basically goes, "Doctor Who saw the Cybermen. Oh no! He ran off. The Cybermen looked evil. In space!"
Terrence Dicks knew what he was doing, of course. His skill was one a lot of authors would do well to emulate: he wrote simply and communicated ideas quickly. That's way up there on my list of 'things I'd like from your book, please.' Dickens may have developed his characters and themes more fully, but I'll be done with a chapter of this before you've got to the end of one of his bloody complicated sentences.
That's it for now. I hope there was something to enjoy.
Join me next time for books 46 - 50
Or look back at my previous experiences, with books 36 - 40.
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