27/12/15: Richard Flanagan – The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is the story of a surgeon who endures time in a Japanese PoW camp in WWII, helping to oversee the brutal construction of the "Burma Death Railway". He's a complex man who becomes regarded as a great hero almost despite himself. The narrative moves forwards and backwards in time, telescoping the years brilliantly, examining how the defining relationship of his life changes everything that follows. The book works on multiple levels. It's especially good at conveying the utter wretchedness of life in the PoW camp – the insane cruelty that somehow became ordinary routine. It takes an elegiac tone as it follows up on various lives after the war ended, showing that for many of the individuals scarred by these experiences it never really ended at all.

It's a deep book that takes some getting into – moving slowly in places and then racing through the years in other sections. It's a wise book, too, understanding that the moral choices we make are never simple.

As a work of literary construction it's impressive. It won the won the 2014 Booker Prize and you can see why. It's not "difficult", by any means (although you might want to look away during some scenes of brutality), but it's rich enough that you would probably get more out of it on a second reading.

13/12/15: Jacques Bonnet – Phantoms on the Bookshelves (2010)

Fascinating reflection on the joys – and challenges – of owning a huge collection of books. The minutiae of how to file them is examined with joyous detail. If you love your books (rather than soulless electronic "files"), and find it hard to part with them, this is a stimulating and inspiring read. The only gripe is that there's not more of it. After 123 pages, you wish for additional collector-obsessive detail.

10/12/15: Norman Collins – London Belongs to Me (1945)

Superb, sprawling saga about the residents of no.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, London, with England in the shadow of World War II. In particular the focus is on Mr and Mrs Josser and their family, who form the emotional core of this mini-community. We also meet their landlady Mrs Vizzard, the well-meaning petty criminal Percy, the ravingly politicised Uncle Henry and the devious "spiritualist" Mr Swales. There’s also flamboyant nightclub attendant Connie and food-loving Mr Puddy. The book follows the lives of each character, circa 1938–1940, interweaving the strands brilliantly with both comic and serious moments.

In Ed Glinert's introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition, there’s an almost apologetic note about this not being a “complex, sophisticated novel” (i.e., a “serious” work of literary fiction). “It exists simply as soap opera,” he writes. This sells it short. Yes, it’s unashamedly populist and very easy to read, but that’s not to say it’s in any way shallow or formulaic. Far from it: over 830 pages, Norman Collins weaves a huge tapestry that continues to surprise and delight. A huge range of life and experience is presented here and the human truths the author explores are no less relevant now than when this was first published in 1945.

Note: a film, a.k.a. Dulcimer Street, was made in 1948 (featuring Richard Attenborough and Alastair Sim) with significantly altered plot elements.