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Deception by Philip Roth

I have read many of Roth’s novels and he is a brilliant talent. This one was a little too tricksy for me, with lots of overlapping voices and the invocation of figures who represent the author, or his alter ego of some kind. Clever but, sort of, too clever.

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After Dark by Haruki Murakami

I love his style. Laconic and always hinting at other dimensions of existence. This is probably not his best, but is still a good read.

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Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

The third of the 4-book series. Dramatic and incredibly engrossing, with lots of themes.

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Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel

A very personal memoir. But beautifully written and a superb account of how an artist thinks.

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The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer

An intense, harrowing book but also one of haunting beauty. He is a fine writer and I would like to read more of his work.

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Fires by Raymond Carver

A collection of Carver’s essays, poetry and short stories. He is one of my favourite writers. He has a sort of exquisite sensibility, that allows him to penetrate to the very heart of feelings and sensations. The final two short stories, ‘Where is everyone?’ and ‘So much water so close to home’, are among his very best. The former is about alcohol and alcoholics, who figure in many of his…

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Flappers and Philosophers: the Collected Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I have not read all of these but have noted how they are quite variable. Some, like ‘The Sensible Thing’, hit the spot in that they strike a particular chord in the soul – perhaps what V S Pritchett means when he says a short story should be like something glimpsed in the corner of the eye – and give the sensation of something true clicking into place. Others don’t. And some, dare I say, seem…

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Don't Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier

A collection of her short stories. She was a very subtle and clever writer, I think. The title story was adapted for cinema and became the famous film, directed by Nic Roeg and starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. I was slightly surprised to discover how faithful the film was to the story. Other stories are also unsettling and atmospheric. Very good.

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What's the USE of philosophy? by Philip Kitcher

A book by a professional academic philosopher which addresses the question of why the discipline of philosophy has become so esoteric and distant from human affairs. Highly intelligent people, as he sees it, look for ever-narrower ways of considering intensely theoretical and detailed arguments over questions that matter only to them. I largely agree with him.

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Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard

This is a collection of the author’s book reviews. When I first opened it, I was disappointed to discover that was the case, and I left it to one side for a year or so. But I now find that it is a delightful book, and that the review format, at least in the hands of this elegant and incisive writer, is a very good format for surveying a topic like the current state of the classics (in the sense…

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At the Existentialist Café -Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell

A stylish and entertaining book that combines memoir, biography and philosophy to tell the story of the existentialist philosophical movement. Full of humour and insights. Really excellent.

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Foster by Claire Keegan

A beautiful novella. Just wonderful.

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A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry

A sequel to another wonderful novel, Days without End. I marvel, again, at the skill and determination needed to maintain a narrative voice so well. Also a really interesting take on sexual mores in post-Civil War US. A moving book.

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Transactions in a Foreign Currency by Deborah Eisenberg

A slightly disconcerting book of short stories, all narrated by an authorial voice that is consistent but adjusted to each setting. The narrator is glimpsed, rather than described. I really like this author’s work. Impressionistic and psychological, at the same time.

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Magisteria - the Entangled Histories of Science and Religion by Nicholas Spencer

A sweeping, fascinating book that explains the nuances of the supposed irreconcilable conflict between science and religion. Funny, in parts, too. An excellent read. He shows that it is all, mostly, a contest about authority – who gets to decide?

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Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad

Brilliant novel. According to the notes to my edition (Oxford Classics) the author sets out to try and understand the psychology of Russia. He says that wherever Russians meet, autocracy casts its shadow’ A book for our times, of course.

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What is Existentialism? by Simone de Beauvoir

This is one of Penguin’s ‘Great Ideas’ series, so is a sort of extended excerpt of about 120 pages. I am not sure I am all that much the wiser about the nature of existentialism, though I loved this sentence, which gives a flavour of the book’s tone “The transcendent transcendence can in turn be transcended.”. Which says it all, though it remains unclear what ‘it’ is.