Book Report 2019

I read 33 books in 2019, which I believe is a personal record.  (Apparently Stephen King reads 50-70 books per year, but that guy isn’t human, so it doesn’t count.)

Below, just for fun, is my Top Ten list for the year.

1.     Miss Pym Disposes, Josephine Tey

A strange and wonderful book – witty, compassionate, vividly written, and as far from conventional crime fiction as anything in Tey’s unique and enchanting oeuvre.

2.     Z for Zachariah, Robert C. O’Brien

Spare, harrowing, moving, masterful.  Not an easy book to read, but an easy book to admire.

3.     The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain

An extraordinary book – spare, brutal, and heartbreaking, like a wail of anguish sent by telegraph from Hell.

4.     A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge

A little repetitive from a narrative point of view, but packed with fascinating ideas, and often unexpectedly moving.  A Fire Upon the Deep is a novel both epic and intimate – a staggering feat of imagination, and a damn good read.

5.     Too Many Cooks, Rex Stout

The mystery itself is nothing to write home about, but the setting and characters more than make up for it, and the book offers a very intriguing glimpse of the racial politics of the pre-WWII South.

6.     Dream Golf, Stephen Goodwin

A bit long and a bit redundant – and definitely written for golf aficionados more than ordinary human beings – this is nevertheless a vividly told and inspiring story of perseverance, vision, and the power of a guiding ideal.

7.     Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz

Slightly plodding, but very clever, with two layers of mystery satisfactorily resolved.  In some ways, reading Magpie Murders really is like reading two different books, but each book is pretty involving in its own right, and the connections between them add another level of interest.  Impressive stuff.

8.     Fer-de-Lance, Rex Stout

The pleasure of these Nero Wolfe mysteries is the world they inhabit – a hard-boiled but mercifully rational world, where every problem responds to the application of enough patience and intelligence, where bullies are made to look like fools in the fullness of time, where dinner is always served on time and there is always plenty of milk for Archie Goodwin to drink.  It's astonishing how well-developed that world already is in this, the first of the Nero Wolfe mysteries; it's as if it was always there, patiently waiting for Rex Stout to discover it.  We can only be glad he did.

9.     The Antiquary, Sir Walter Scott

A perilously slight novel, with precious little story to speak of, but so abundantly warm and charming that all other considerations are cheerfully forgotten. All in all, a delight.

10.  The Brides of Solomon, Geoffrey Household

A mixed bag, but Household is always enjoyable. His writing is characterized by an almost uncanny worldliness, as if he had seen everything, done everything, and thoroughly understood it all. War looms large over this collection, but chiefly as a backdrop for humor, heroism, and humanity. “Moment of Truth” is extraordinary – spare and deep and stunning. For that alone, this book is worth reading - but do yourself a favor and read the rest, too.