Favourite books of the year
Of course they’re not of the year, rather just the best I happen to have read in the past 12 months. And, strictly speaking, this one was at the end of 2008:
This one was extremely good:
And can’t believe it took me so long to get round to this – just absolutely outstanding:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
And the worst…these two were just awful:
They say they don’t want to be friends with you
Never mind.
An American Dream by Norman Mailer
With the Mailer obituaries still fresh and still coming up with an, at best, mixed analysis of his life’s achievements and his writings, revisiting this one reminds you of the extraordinary power of some of his work. It’s years since I read this now but I’m still reminded from time to time of the brilliance and sheer energy of the novel. It struck me then as setting a standard to which only a few others have come close since.
So, if tempted to the Mailer back catalogue, go for this one.
