OK next tranche coming up. Again, in no particular order.
- Mrs Harris goes to Paris - Paul Gallico. Another gorgeous reprint from Bloomsbury. Delightful book, warm hearted but with an underlying sadness. Be warned - do NOT buy the DVD of the film. I did. It is awful. Angela Lansbury in cheeky cockney mode and Omar Shariff phoning in a performance. Has now gone to a charity shop.
- Maestro's Voice - Roland Vernon. This was right up my alley. Opera setting and the tenor bears a more than passing resemblance to Caruso.
- The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge - Patricia Duncker. A slightly weird, creepy off the wall book which really grabbed me. Beautiful writing.
- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson. Copy came from publishers complete with a packet of Darjeeling tea and a packet of shortcake biscuits. The perfect accompaniment to this delightful book.
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and Smiley's People - John le Carre. Only read these this year as I realised that though I knew the story inside out, I had never read the books. So this was remedied and they are quite quite brilliant. Ditto the Perfect Spy which I also read after borrowing the DVD from my daughter. Peter Egan in this - a stunningly good performance.
- American Devil - Oliver Stark. One of the best debut thriller novels I have ever read. I have raved about this, interviewed the author here and here and given away copies courtesy of the publisher and Oliver and have done my best to spread the word. When the paperback edition of it arrived I was thrilled beyond words to find I was quoted inside.
- The Diaries of Duff Cooper edited by John Julius Norwich. Totally fascinating light shed on the times of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. Duff was right in the heart of it all and did not miss a nuance. This review is in a round up with a few other titles so you will need to scroll down the page a little
- Louisa May Alcott - Harriet Reisen. Brilliant biography of one of my favourite authors. By the time I finished reading this if Bronson Alcott had been alive I would have murdered him. Another idealist, quite happy to use his family to support him while he swanned around full of himself and...but I must not start. .
- My Life in France by Julia Childs. Read as an antidote to the utterly ghastly and self obsessed Julie and Julia about which I can say nothing good. They are both reviewed together and was so glad to see all the comments on this one
- The Journals of Lucy Maud Montgomery. I have been reading this off and on for the last three years but 2010 was the year I read the last three right the way through. Heartbreaking reading and a must read for anyone who is interested in this author.
Summing up of my reading year coming up next plus my choice for Random's Book of the Year.
