March

The Splendid and the Vile        Erik Larson

A terrific read.  About Winston Churchill in the dark days of 1940, replacing Chamberlain as Prime Minister with the country in imminent danger of German invasion.  It’s about his crew, Beaverbrook and Tree and so on, his loyal family, his determination to bring America in, via Roosevelt during two years of one hundred and fifty German bombers overhead.  The cruelty of the Blitz, and the nightly raids which killed thousands of Brits is particularly relevant in the age of CV.  There are indeed worse things.

Framed                Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Why Michael Skakel spent over a decade in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

Robert F. Kennedy sent me this, because, unbelievably, the murder of Martha Moxley took place during the first ever broadcast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on PBS in 1975 and several of the protagonists were racing home to watch it.  More importantly, I was convinced by this book that a major injustice took place, prodded by Dominik Dunne and Mark Fuhrman the OJ Cop, when Michael Skakel was suddenly accused of and shockingly convicted of the murder three decades later, despite never having been a suspect and having a cast iron alibi.  I think he is out now.  I hope so.

Vegas                  John Gregory Dunne

A Memoir of a Dark Season

I have been searching for years for this book and I finally found it at the Pasadena Book Fair. It was certainly worth the search.  A very fine semi-autobiographical novel of a writer and his nervous breakdown in Vegas. Sharp, funny and sometimes cruel.  I loved it.

February

The Hunchback of Notre Dame        Victor Hugo

I’d forgotten just what a damn good writer Hugo was.  The French Dickens.  This abridged version was really good.  Completely captivated me.  Musical anyone?

Frankissstein                Jeanette Winterson

Lake Geneva 1816 and Mary Shelley is writing her classic on a wet weekend in Switzerland with Byron and Shelley and meanwhile in Brexit Britain a man is making robotic sex toys

The Man in the Red Coat        Julian Barnes

Much as I love him he didn’t grab me with this odd tale of a bunch of Frogs in Angleterre in the summer of 1885. The Belle Epoch in London and of course very gay Paree.

January

A Very Stable Genius              Philip Rucker & Carol Leonnig

A fine book on the Orange Monster.  But after a while I no longer wanted to continue reading about how crazy this terrible tyrant is and I put it away.  He is making everyone nuts.  Poor America. Will it ever recover?  The Trump Presidential Library is going to consist of nothing but books exposing what an insane malignant narcissist can do to democracy, when tutored by Putin and Roy Cohn.

The Catch            Mick Herron

He seems to be very good at these short novellas, perhaps inspired by Simenon.  This is great.

Maigret and Monsieur Charles         Georges Simenon.

Another brilliant one.  The great thing about the novella is it’s hard to run out of steam, as so many novels do.  Even great ones.

Serotonin             Michel Houellebecq

The same bleak view from a loser.  Compelling writing and total honesty.

Pal Joey               John O’Hara

Wonderful short letters from a Chicago nightclub singer to a better.   Became the basis for the Rogers and Hart musical.

Rogue Lawyer               John Grisham

Fine character.  A rogue lawyer.  Really interesting and very well told. I had picked up a large priont format but it was already very easy to read.

Maigret Hesitates           Georges Simenon

…but not for long.  Slight resemblance to another story of his, where he learns in advance a crime is to be committed. This one really surprises him and he hesitates to call the outcome.

More Than Likely          Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais

Fabulous memoirs from the two great writers (and Director). I loved every second of it.

Likely Lads, Porridge, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.