*Next book to be read
*Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh) Martyr (Kaveh Akbar)
Harsh Times (Mario Vargas Llosa)
Tuesday 27 May at Tim’s
Tuesday 24 June at Aileen’s
Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis) Published 1954
Regarded by many as the finest, and funniest, comic novel of the twentieth century, this is the story of Jim Dixon, a hapless lecturer in medieval history at a provincial university who knows better than most that ‘there was no end to the ways in which nice things are nicer than nasty ones’. Amis’s presents a gallery of English bores, cranks, frauds and neurotics with whom Dixon must contend in order to hold on to his cushy academic perch and win the girl of his fancy.
The Harpole Report (J.L. Carr) Published 1972
George Harpole is the acting head of a primary school. Determined to climb the career ladder, he is none the less hampered by his honesty and fair-mindedness – and his fellow teachers. This entertaining story is told through a stream of log books, notes, letters and memos.
Orbital (Samantha Harvey) Published 2024
A team of astronauts collect meteorological data, conduct experiments and test the limits of the human body. They circle our planet 16 times, witnessing its spectacular beauty. However, they cannot escape its constant pull and the fragility of human life fills their conversations and their dreams.
The Odyssey (Homer) Translated by Emily Wilson
Written in iambic pentameter verse, Wilson’s translation recaptures Homer’s ‘nimble gallop’ and brings an ancient epic to new life.
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (Paterson Joseph) Published 2022
Actor Paterson Joseph’s debut novel, chronicling the life of the first Black man to vote in Britain, began life as a one-man play. It opens in 1775 with Charles Ignatius Sancho declaring his intent to revisit his diaries and set down his life for his son, Billy. Sancho is born and orphaned in 1729 on board a slave ship. On returning home, his master gifts the small boy to three maiden aunts in Greenwich, who treat him like a pet. The story ignites with his description of Sancho’s short-lived attempts to tread the boards as Othello.
Death and the Penguin (Andrey Kurkov) Published 1996 in Russian, 2001 in English
The novel follows the life of a young aspiring writer, Viktor Alekseyevich Zolotaryov, in a struggling post-Soviet society. Viktor, initially aiming to write novels, gets a job writing obituaries for a local newspaper. The source of the title is Viktor’s pet penguin Misha, a king penguin obtained after the local zoo in Kyiv gave away its animals to those who could afford to support them. Kurkov uses Misha as a sort of mirror of (and eventual source of salvation for) Viktor.
Harsh Times (Mario Vargas Llosa) Published 2019
The novel portrays the ins and outs of the military coup that, in 1954, ended the government of Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala and elevated Carlos Castillo Armas to the presidency of the country. With a mixture of real and fictitious characters, it reveals the power of manipulation and its capacity to direct public opinion and turn lies into truth.
Mating (Norman Rush) Published 1991
This is a first-person narrative by an unnamed American anthropology graduate student in Botswana around 1980. It focuses on her relationship with Nelson Denoon, a controversial American social scientist who has founded an experimental matriarchal village in the Kalahari Desert.
Ulverton (Adam Thorpe) Published 1992
This is Thorpe’s debut novel, which recounts 300 years of history in the fictional village of Ulverton. Told through diaries, sermons, letters, conversations and film scripts, the novel reconstructs the unrecorded history of England.
Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh) Published 1928
This is a social satire based on Waugh’s own experiences as a teacher. The protagonist, Paul Pennyfeather, accepts passively all that befalls him. Expelled for indecent behaviour from Scone College, Oxford, he becomes a teacher.
The Shepherd’s Hut (Tim Winton) Published 2019
In one terrible moment, Jaxie Clackton’s life is stripped to little more than what he can carry and how he can keep himself alive. There’s just one person left in the world who understands him. This is a searing look at what it takes to keep love and hope alive in a parched and brutal world.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin) [Oct 2023] Published 2022
Taking place over 30 years, this novel examines the nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and our need to connect and to be loved