Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it -

34. '1984' - George Orwell

Is this the same man who wrote 'Down and out in Paris and London'? The writing is still flawed but infinitely more accessible.

Winston filled with impotent rage, exists in a society where shortages, government red tape, fear, totalitarianism is the norm: not (dissimilar bar totalitarianism to London in the late 1940’s). The partys' main mandate seems to be the falsification of memory and the reinvention of meaning, language. It is Shakespearean how Orwell coined so many phrases ‘news speak’ ‘thought crime’ ‘big brother’ ‘double think’ which are now peppered throughout our daily conversations, journalism. (‘2+2=5’ was soviet propaganda suggesting the 5 year plan could be completed in 4). It's frighteningly easy to find similar manipulations of words today in corporate slogans and political party election propaganda. Orwell is reeling against political lies, spin, totalitarianism, facism, Stalinism. Individuality is wiped out everything is monitored, one nation under cctv.

In my opinion it's only a small matter that Zamyatin provided the scaffolding for 1984 as Orwell breaths life into the confused original. A lot of critics at the time thought it was an indictment of the British Labour Party, or of contemporary socialism in general. Orwell stated that the “The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one: Don't let it happen. It depends on you.” Well worth reading. A very scary reflection of the 20th century.

35. ‘Birchwood’ - John Banville

Banville called Birchwood his ‘Irish novel’. Set in the time of the famine Gabriel Godkin is the young heir to the Godkin family estate. The house is falling to pieces around him reflecting the unraveling lives of his family. Gabriel runs away to join a traveling circus and look for his lost twin sister. Like most of Banville’s characters the protagonist is on a quest for meaning. Very dark and gothic. I enjoyed the character of Granny Godkin.

‘In their architecture and in their style, his books are like baroque cathedrals, filled with elaborate passages and sometimes overwhelming to the casual tourist.’ -Paris Review.

36. ‘The Lemur’ - Benjamin Black

I wanted to find out what Banville’s Doppelgänger was like. Very formulaic plot, the ending was too neat. There were parts where you glimpsed flashes of Banville taking back the reins for example the description of a smoker standing out side a bar in New York.

Banville says he isn’t proud of his ‘Banville’ books and prefers his ‘Black’ books, but reading this I wonder how could he really be proud? Robert Harris’s book ‘The Ghost’ has at a basic level a very similar plot, it’s by far the better read. A poor effort.

38. ‘Samuel Pepys: The unequalled self’- Claire Tomalin

I read this ages ago so my memory is a little sketchy …

This is a very extensive and solid biography on Samuel Pepys the 17th century diarist and civil servant.
The book is divided into three parts: childhood pre-diary, the diary years and then the post diary years. Pepy’s account is remarkable not least because keeping a diary was unusual practice at the time but because of the prominent figures who he crossed paths with. The diary spans a very eventful period, the restoration of Charles II, the plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London. The diary is a fascinating historical document for this period. Tomalin also uses other historical records to fill in the gaps, compare perspectives and enlighten the reader. She is a great biographer and a foremost scholar. I found that parts of the book dragged a little for example the chapter on the naval office but only because of how thorough Tomalin is in her description of the day to day work carried out there. The interesting parts: getting his kidney stones removed (skip this part if you‘re squeamish!), the great fire of London as well as it’s aftermath and the politics surrounding it. Women have a voice in the novel too : Elizabeth Pepys Samuels wife, the maids, lady Sandwich. Pepys is not always the most likeable of characters, his treatment of his rivals and women in his life is at times reprehensible. He was avaricious, accepting bribes and burying money. He was a member of the royal society and helped his family in some ways. It is a credit to Tomalin that her portrait of Pepys is so balanced.

By composition it is an amazing work, not least because of the inclusion of informative foot notes and the way she has condensed and made the information interesting. I’m sure her recent biography of Charles Dickens will be equally revealing and extensively researched.

40. 'Moonwalking with Einstein: the art and science of remembering everything' - Joshua Foer

Another book published this year. I suppose this could be placed in the popular psychology section. Joshua Foer is a freelance journalist for the New York Times, he is researching an article on the U.S. memory games and is so intrigued he decides to enter the U.S. memory championships the following year. Ed Cooke a 'mental athlete' and a loveable nerd (the book is full of loveable nerds) takes Josh under his wing and teaches him visualization (loci) and other memory techniques. There are two strands: Joshua's training for the memory championships and a brief overview of the techniques he uses. The history of memory, the ideas of cicero, greek philosophers, medieval philosophers, contemporary practitioners, unusual case studies.

This is not instructive, it is an overview of various techniques and an introduction to the background of the art of memory. This book is very entertaining and accessible. Joshua provides the reader with several interesting titles for further reading.

42. 'Why be happy when you could be normal?' - Jeannette Winterson

'Why be happy when you could be normal?' sadly is a real question posed by Jeannette's adoptive mother. The adopted daughter of a pentecostalist couple in Accrington Lancaster, Jeannette is by her own admission a born scrapper. The architect of her childhood is the fearsome Mrs Winterson, a bible bashing depressive and a violent woman. Jeannette spent a lot of time locked outside in the coal hole or on the front doorstep contemplating what life could have been like if she hadn't been adopted. This time was also spent concocting stories. She tries to understand her adoptive mother and through that to understand what has made her who she is. (Despite all this there are some comic moments).

This memoir is full of literary references, Winterson as we know became a successful writer despite a mother who felt that Christianity conflicted with education. What she says about literature is lovely. Writing as a form of therapy is a common theme with most people who have suffered depression. We leave Jeannette at the age of around 19 and rejoin her 25 years later for the second part which documents the search for her birth mother. For her, writing is therapeutic and there are several emotional challenges to be dealt with. I'm sure the difficulties of searching for birth parents and family members will resonate with many people.

As someone who has been criticized over the years and accused by critics of being arrogant and conceited, she has acquitted herself very well and has uncovered information about her upbringing that has allowed the reader and also herself to understand what she went through.

I read this at break neck speed. It is an engrossing memoir given that she allows her life to flail so much into public view. This book is well written, surprising, uplifting, shocking even, the reader can't help but sympathise. It is baffling how she survived.