My Books of the Year 2011 – Literature & the Pulps

Posted: December 30th, 2011 | No Comments »

Listed simply because they’re books that deserve to be noted, praised and spread around to more readers hopefully (I’ve included a few that are a couple of years old but I only got round to reading this year). Have probably missed loads but just flicked through my Kindle and these jumped out as good reads this year that weren’t Penguin Modern Classics, old stuff from more than a few years ago, that stuff that gets read and re-read (so no Greene, Conrad, Hamilton or Orwell) or are, eeerr, by me!:

In no particular order but all books I thought excellent this year (Germany for some reason featured in many in one way or another quite by accident I think)

All That I Am – Anna Funder – my best read of the year by a long way; based on the true story of the German anti-Nazi refugees who came to London in the 1930s

The Secret History of Costaguana – Juan Gabriel Vasquez – excellent book about both the history of Panama and Joseph Conrad from the Spanish-based, Colombian author

Waiting for Robert Capa – Susana Fortes – great short novel about the refugee German photographer Gerta Pohorylle and her time in France and Spain in the 1930s with the great Hungarian photographer Robert Capa.

The Paris Wife – Paula McLain – a great story of 1920s Paris a told through the eyes of Hadley Richardson, Hemingway’s first wife.

Breath – Tim Winton – I’d long wondered what all the fuss was Down Under about Winton but this surf novel shows he is worth all the praise that’s heaped on him.

Jamrach’s Menagerie – Carol Birch – a wonderful tale spreading from the Ratcliffe Highway to the Far East.

The Prague Cemetery – Umberto Eco – the master returns and this novel of anti-semitism and the horrible types who perpetrated it is a difficult read but a tour-de-force

Soldiers of Salamis – Javier Cercas – a great novel of the Spanish civil war and a modern day Spanish quest to understand the country’s fractious history.

The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes – I blow hot and cold on Barnes but this perfectly crafted novel had me blowing hot.

Half Blood Blues – Esi Edugyan – a truly unique novel even for someone like me who’s read just about everything on the 1930s; the use of slang and detail were superb.

Far To Go – Alison Pick – I was expecting a standard run of the mill Kinder Transport novel but this was great in terms of twists and being a bit different.

Snowdrops – AD Miller – a gripping Greene-esque read that was a one sitting experience for me.

The Fat Years – Chan Koonchung – great to see that irony and dystopia exists in Chinese writing too

The Map of Time – Felix J Palma – a tome travel steam punk adventure from Jack the Ripper’s London. Not my usual fare but satisfying in and of itself – apparently it’s the first in a trio.

Blackout and All Clear – Connie Wilson – two novels about time travel back to the Blitz – even if you don’t like sci-fi (and I’m no great fan) the plot is great and the descriptions of wartime London are superb.

Whatever – Michel Houellebecq – I was loathe to include this as there’s so much I don’t like about Houellebecq and his writing and am annoyed that he appears to be the flag bearer for French writing in translation. However, like Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho (back in 1991!) however appalled you are sometimes there are stunning scenes that linger in the memory.

The Maintenance of Headway – Magnus Mills – an almost perfect little book about buses, bus timetables and bus drivers!! Sometimes genius comes in strange packets!

The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman – another lovely little package of a novel about an ex-pat newspaper in Rome – brilliantly observed and wonderfully written.

At the Chime of a City Clock – DJ Taylor – Taylor is hit and miss I find but this one is a loving homage to 1930s writers such as Hamilton and Orwell and well executed.

The End of Everything – Megan Abbott – reminded me Donna Tartt’s The Secret History in many ways and Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides. Abbott emerges from noir writing as a great contemporary novelist I think.

The Trinity Six – Charles Cumming – good enough spy story and page turner for anyone, like me, who laps up Cambridge Spies anything!

The Report – Jessica Francis Kane – retelling of the Bethnal Green tube disaster during the war that’s quite affecting and gripping.

A few pulps I’ve liked this year – David Downing’s “Station” series was excellent and his Potsdam Station, the latest, is by far the best and a superb recreation of 1945 Berlin. Lynda La Plante’s Anna Travis series continues from strength to strength – this year I caught up reading Silent Scream, Deadly Intent and Blind Fury (Bloodline is now out as the latest) – all excellent. Neil Cross’s Luther novel The Calling was great as was series 2 on TV. Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s Nairboi Heat was a great crime novel set in hot, hot Africa while Martin Cruz Smith’s Three Stations saw Arkady Renko back in cold cold Moscow. Denise Mina’s The End of the Wasp Season was an unexpected pleasure that required concentration (it’s not really pulp at all but great literature) and lifts her up a rung on the literary ladder. This year it seemed austerity Britain was in – I loved Gordon Ferris’s Danny McRae Glasgow post-war series as well as Craig Russell’s Lennox series (slightly better) also set in post-war grimy Glasgow while Elizabeth Wilson’s War Damage and her earlier The Twilight Hour were both excellent recreations of post-war London. Peter James’s Dead Man’s Grip (the 7th Roy Grace novel) marked him as the best ordinary-middle-aged-British-copper writer (and there’s loads) at the moment. Finally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly new out but I discovered Graham Hurley’s great DI Joe Faraday series set in Portsmouth this year and have been lapping them up.

As I say there’s probably some I’ve forgotten – I’ll leave you with Susana Fortes’ cover as it was a favourite image of mine this year:

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