Hello St Marks

I think I may have reached the end of this blog, a bit over a year after I started. The goal was to track a year of reading, but I underestimated the burden of it. The writing, not the reading. I've missed a few books - not many, I think, but enough to take the shine off the comprehensiveness of the record. And who knew it would supplant my hardcopy diary so completely? A lifetime habit of putting pen to paper has stopped dead, with barely 10 pages since this time last year, and not a sensible word written. My book reading is documented, more or less, but a year of my kids' lives has passed unrecorded. So, to wrap it up, several posts: Recently read: 'Allotted Time' by Robin Shelton. A lovely memoir about two blokes in England taking on a local allotment. Robin's bipolar, a dad, an unemployed once-teacher, in a darkish place. Lightly told with very little detail, it's an oddly shy memoir (that seems odd, written down, but feels perfect for this modest book). Rob...

Nancy Pearl interviewed Michael Perry for Book Lust. It was delightful, very Nancy - her catholic taste, her enquenchable enthusiasm, this poet farmer - so I surfed to Amazon to track down Michael Perry. 11 days later, 'Population: 485' turned up (used, as-new condition US$3.95 plus $19.95 postage). Michael Perry writes personal memoir - 4 or more books to date, with this the first. In this book Michael returns to the town in Wisconsin he grew up in, where his family lives and works, and joins the volunteer fire brigade and emergency response team. His long, slow reunion with his much-loved home town is interleaved with stories from his EMT experiences - some funny, some tragic, all local and intimate. It's all very personal, and reflective, and pragmatic. Michael is smart and thoughtful and has found a place for himself - an educated man, a poet, soft-handed - in this tough, hardscrabble community. He works the fire brigade with his brothers and his mum: "Disagreement...

Assorted reading oddments all completed, some proven substantial, others not. "Northanger Abbey" was lovely. The plot is so slight, the humour bubbles at the surface. I do like Catherine very much but I love the wretched General Tilney most, and this made me laugh out loud: "Never had the general loved his daughter so well in all the hours of companionship, utility and patient endurance as when he first hailed her "Your Ladyship!". My second iPhone reading experience is also completed, leaving me bereft: "Infection" by Scott Sigler (is that his porn star name?). I was so keen to extend my drive time listening each day, I started wearing my earphones in the lift and, twice, to the bathroom. Daft, juvenile novel about alien invasion but it had me hooked from chapter 2, so hats off to Scott. I almost donated some money to him, as prompted by the post-story sales pitch. Iain Banks' publishers are releasing his latest novel, "Transition" as a...

Nothing to report, zip. I'm reading like a 21st century citizen of the digital world, with nothing to show for it. On the go right now: Michael Perry's "Population 485", a memoir about small town Wisconsin and volunteer firefighting. I ordered Perry from Amazon after listening to Nancy Pearl's podcast interview with him. I'm reading "Northanger Abbey" on my iPhone at lunchtimes; saves carting a book around. When I'm in the car I'm listening to "Infection" by Scott Stigler, audiobook edition, on my iPhone. Also reading, in old fashioned hardcopy, a fantasy novel I can't recall in any detail. Plus the usual shiny weekend supplements. I started Donna Tarrt's second novel then took a firm grip on myself and put it back on the beside table, back to finish Perry before I move on.

This is nearly impossible. The simple task was to record everything I read for a year or so, but here it is October and not a word written about September and lord only knows what I read. Most recently I've been sucked into the reading zeitgeist that is Stieg Larsson's 'Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' series - first two books. My neighbour, my book guru (Wayne) and finally Alison all recommended these books, so what could I do? Perfect airport bookshop purchase. A few forests have been written about this series so what can I add: I loved book 1, was pissed off by book 2 but will wrench book 3 from Wayne's hands at the first possible moment. They're gripping thrillers, populated with a very odd heroine - Lisbeth Salander - and a supporting cast of pragmatic Swedes. I especially enjoyed the Swedishness of the books, like an unfamiliar flavour of tea.

And finally, 'Incurable' by John Marsden, continuing the story of Ellie from the 'Tomorrow' series. I loved the first few 'Tomorrow' books; taut, smart writing for teens. A bunch of teens go camping deep in the bush on the weekend Australia is invaded by unnamed, overwhelming forces. The kids have to work out what happened, find their families (dead or captured), look after themselves and, sooner than seems possible, form an ad hoc but very bloody resistance. Ellie is the chronicler and thinker, bright, capable and handy with a gun - approachably heroic. Marsden is very, very good at writing cleanly about teenagers (truthfully, I think, but it's been a while) without preaching. But after 9 books - 'Incurable' is from 'The Ellie Chronicles' which follows the group after the truce - I'm over it.

Oh dear, this is not a post to be proud of. Nothing but fantasy and sci fi on the pile of recently reads and I did vow to diversify my reading body, didn't I? Nothing to do but list 'em and move on. Most recently: Sherri S Tepper's 'The Margarets'. Now this book isn't anything to sniff at. Great, writing, complex structure and concepts, impossible to summarise. Larry Niven's 'Destiny's Road'. Seamless writing by a master of the craft, in blurb-talk. Planet-based sci-fi; a well-paced adventure quest, nicely grounded in the everyday. 'Dragonflight' by Anne McCaffrey. This is still a tender subject. I had to re-read this one for the first time in a decade because I had blithely recommended it to my 10 year-old neighbour. She had just finished 'Twilight' so clearly has open-minded parents and a capacity for teen fiction, but soon after I passed it across the kitchen table I realised I had been thinking of 'Dragonsong', a light...

It took an age for me to finish Guy Gavriel Kay's 'Tigana'; 2 months on and off my reading pile. I'd read something which called this a perfect fantasy novel - just one volume, engaging characters, richly drawn, ripping yarn etc, so I was ready to sink right into it. It's possible my notoriously wretched memory sabotaged me - as I started 'Tigana' I was deflated by a niggling familiarity (have I read this before?). Still don't know, but it came together for me in the end. Great female characters, great everything characters, actually - old, young, men and women, wizardy and not. I recollect where I heard about Guy - on Nancy Pearl's 'Book Lust' podcast - so it must have been Nancy who called it 'perfect'. Nancy has never found a book she didn't like but she's a famous library reviewer goddess, so it's still high praise.

Book 9 of Sookie Stackhouse's vampire saga is now under my belt, and it appears that there are more to come. I had a notion that this was the last book in the series, which added some frisson to the read, but the story ended with Sookie out of one pot of trouble and looking sideways at another, so it's not over yet. With book 9 I proved how fun and forgettable these lovely books are: with two thirds read I left it at M's house, where it was lost under a pile of kids's books.. for 5 weeks. When I recovered it I started right back at the beginning and enjoyed it just as much on the second read as the first, since I'd forgotten almost all of it. Perfect.

Second best book of the year: 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver. Apparently this is a popular book - I picked it off the A&R Top 100 shelf and now find it on reading group lists. I have to say this does not endear me to a book, it takes the gloss of discovering something wonderful, but so be it. This book was a beautiful, distressing journey, a perfectly crafted reveal. I was completely in Shriver's power and just gave myself over to it - which was delicious given the sloppy casual way I've been reading lately. 'Kevin' is written as a collection of letters from the mother of a schoolyard mass murderer. I know another reader would have loathed this mother, but I was on her side. She didn't fall in love with her son as she was sure she should, then couldn't like him. Did he go bad because she couldnt find it in herself to love him, or was guilty detachment a reasonable response to this damaged, sociopathic kid? The mother's voice is s...