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Ten great books from 2020 you have to read!

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  Soooo many brilliant books, TV series and films in 2020. Couldn’t work out why there was so many, then I remembered lockdown. So thanks, world of entertainment. Here’s my very complicated list of what I’d recommend – please let me know what you think of them, or recommend me stuff I’ve missed. Firstly the much maligned (by me) world of fiction writing .  Four books stand out as masterpieces. I would warn you that you need to be into fiction and beautiful writing, for all of them.             Joint First           Joint First      Third              Fourth   I’m finding it hard to write about them – “masterpieces” seems to cover it. Hamnet and Fingersmith are slow unwindings, interior worlds, atmospheres (and lots of plot); Girl Woman Other has a terrible title and improves instantly. It’s a great example of hooking you and reeling you in over and over again. Maps for Lost Lovers? At the time one revi
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Seven must-reads for summer 2019

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In need of hours of thought provoking entertainment? I reckon I've sorted it for you.  Here they are in order of greatness. Three of them are fiction - IKR!!! Fabulous, entertaining, life enhancing, educating in history, emotion and philosophy type fiction though. So, At joint number one (fiction award) The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber . Powerful, shocking, no-holds barred depiction of Victorian England. Ir's what Dickens should have written. An excellent listen. Here's my original post At joint number one (non-fiction award) Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari A great, energetically written philosophical tour of pre human history, human history and some bets on the future. A great great first half, and a good second half. here's my original post   At number three (fiction) BY THE SAME AUTHOR AS THE WINNER Under the Skin by Michel Faber I listened to this on audible and gradually worked out what was going on This
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The Dry by Jane Harper

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Nope However my esteemed friend Val writes "Re The Dry - I SO disagree! It breathes the Australian outback, captures exactly how people speak and react, and the denouement is spot on. Aussies are imprinted with the dread of fire - I’ve seen a tiny version of a grass fire and it terrified me - the power of fire in the dry is overwhelming. I thought it was a terrific book! I completely love her latest The Lost Man too."
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My Thoughts Exactly - Lily Allen

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Maybe - if you're an angst ridden teen or if you like her music. It's enjoyably written - direct and plain in a good way - and there's a lot about the music industry in it. There's also continuous moaning, little humour - the self deprecation is woeful not funny, and nothing has gone right for her. Wound me up a bit.
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Hard Times -Charles Dickens

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Maybe read. I t ried listening and couldn't concentrate. Probably needed to read the book for an hour, get into it, then I'd be able to follow. It looked really interesting and the bits I caught whilst astro planing were cynical, bitter, ironic, satirical etc.
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The decline and fall of the Roman empire - Thomas F Madden

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Overall no. Started promisingly - was there a Roman Empire, was there a decline, was there a fall? He problematised all 3 ideas and I thought great. It isn't a book as such btw, it's a lecture series. Anyway it then descended to a description of each emperor and such an emphasis on one person (each time) seemed to ridiculous to me. Trade wars and the emergence of other countries weren't even side shows, they were bare mentions. Got to hard to remember which emperor we were on. Gave up.
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The Anglo Saxons by Michael C Drout

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Should you read this book? Yes for history fans. It's not a book, it's a series of lectures and I loved them. I rushed off and watched The Last Kingdom, then Vikings because of them. I did Anglo Saxon at Uni in 1984 and I swear I learned more in this lecture series. This was the lecture series I needed BEFORE I did the course.  Here's one thing a liked - a centuries mnemonic: MCGVR (Mcgyver) 6th century - migration 7th century - conversion 8th - golden age 9th - vikings 10th - recovery
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