The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Mark Haddon Fifteen year old Christopher Boone, who hates to be touched and despises the color yellow, is a self- proclaimed mathematician with a prosaic take on the world. When he wakes one morning to find his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, dead on the lawn, impaled with a pitch fork, he is initially blamed and arrested. A teacher encourages him to write about the incident which inspires him to solve the mystery by emulating one of his favorite people, Sherlock Holmes. But in the process of doing so, he stumbles upon another much more personal mystery, leading him to take an eventful train ride all by himself. The book is about neither mystery, really. It’s about Christopher’s view of the world and how the world responds to him. Turns out that when you remove all sentiment and emotion from life’s travails, you’re left with pure logic and rationale which is both illuminating and entertaining in turn. A beautifully written book, warm and endearing, which might just inspire you to look at life a little differently.
The Anomaly Hervé Le Tellier It’s hard to write about this book without spoiling the main premise, which is much more fun to discover for yourself. The novel opens with a series of seemingly disconnected chapters introducing a wide assortment of characters. Gradually the threads converge, and we learn that each character was a passenger aboard Air France Flight 006, a flight that endures a terrifying storm immediately before its descent and then encounters something deeply strange and utterly inexplicable. The remainder of the novel explores the consequences of that “something,” spiraling outward into existential questions, philosophical reflection, a little religious debate and a smattering of metaphysics. Yet this is not a dry read. It has a central thread of sly, cheeky humor with the author taking pot shots at popular culture — mostly American, which the French author has a great deal of fun with — modern anxieties and political absurdities (including a certain President). Clever, entertaining and beautifully thought-provoking.
The Care And Feeding Of Ravenously Hungry Girls Anissa Gray When Althea and her husband Proctor — respected pillars of their small community and owners of a much-loved local restaurant — are suddenly arrested and imprisoned, their twin teenage daughters are left in limbo. They are taken in by Althea’s sisters, Viola and Lillian, but what should be a simple act of family support quickly unravels into something far more complicated. Such a stunning fall from grace has a profound impact on the teenagers, and as it turns out, Lillian and Viola are not without their own demons. A mess of regrets, secrets and unresolved pain bubble furiously to the surface. But while this could have been a dark and depressing narrative, it crackles with a sprightly energy and is suffused with a hope and resilience that prevents it from collapsing into a dark abyss. So while I will admit to reading this purely because of that glorious title, it unexpectedly turned into something far richer: a novel that explores generational trauma and family dysfunction with emotional intelligence, slowly peeling back the layers to reveal how pain is inherited — but also how love and forgiveness can take root in even the most fractured soil.
In The Distance Hernan Diaz An exquisitely curious book about a young Swedish man who emigrates to the US in the mid 1800’s. He travels with his brother, but while docked in Portsmouth they lose each other and Hakan mistakenly boards a ship bound for San Francisco instead of New York. Upon arrival on the West Coast, without fully understanding the expanse of the land he must travel, Hakan heads east in search of his brother, setting out on an adventure which lasts a lifetime. Along the way he meets a naturalist who teaches him about medicine, is held captive and becomes entangled with Indians, criminals and religious fanatics. And over the years, as he grows from teenager into a “stupendously tall man” his reputation grows along with him as each successive escapade turns him into a legend from town to town. Breathtaking in scope and riveting in detail, this book sets you right into the vast and unsettling emptiness of The Plains to experience Hakan’s often solitary, sometimes peculiar, but always beautifully haunting journey. A brilliant novel and one of my absolute favorites from recent years.
The Magnificent Lives Of Marjorie Post Allison Pataki A fictionalised account of the life of Marjorie Post, the novel traces her journey from her birth in 1891 in Battle Creek, Michigan, to her death in 1973 in Palm Beach, Florida — a life spanning 83 years of remarkable wealth, influence, and reinvention. Born into extraordinary fortune after her father, the inventor of Grape-Nuts, transformed the family business into a commercial empire, upon his death, Marjorie found herself one of America’s wealthiest women at the age of 28. What followed was a life lived on an almost cinematic scale: four marriages, three daughters, a floating palace of a yacht, and a string of vast, opulent estates — including the now-famous Mar-a-Lago, which she commissioned, designed, and furnished according to her own exacting vision. Her second marriage took her into the heart of Moscow when her husband was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Russia shortly before the Second World War. Here, she acquired extraordinary works of art and jewellery, including pieces once owned by the Russian imperial family — treasures salvaged from a collapsing world order. But amidst all the glitz and glamour, as she hobnobbed with the Astors, the Vanderbilts and several Presidents, she never forgot her roots. She had a deep-seated commitment to philanthropy which saw her fund hospitals, support relief efforts and help feed the hungry during the depression. This is a richly detailed and engaging portrait of a woman who moved effortlessly between worlds — from industrial America to international diplomacy — and who left behind not only a legacy of immense privilege, but also one shaped by generosity, ambition, and an enduring sense of social duty.