A lovely read about the history and customers of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, from its founding in 1898 during the Dreyfuss Affair, through the German Occupation and beyond. A whole history of interesting characters wander in and out of its doors, behaving badly and bitchily, including Marcel Proust, Hemmingway, Goring, Goebbels, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, the awful Windsors, the collaborational Coco Chanel, Cocteau, Sartre, Scott Fitzgerald. Highly entertaining and most unusual social history. Great read.

A concept book of short stories based on “what if there was a ukulele in it?” Pastiches of the imaginary writings of famous people. In the end it’s too much pastiche and I turned to a pastis.

For once not a Maigret, but an excellent tale of love and lust and female determination. Fascinating.

Especially Hemmingway. The story behind The Sun Also Rises and the self-making of a legend. I have come to like Hemmingway less and less. Both as a writer and as a mythomaniac. Sorry, but give me Fitzgerald any day. Very enjoyable book about the real characters portrayed and betrayed in the novel.

Quite fun.

In search of a daughter. A man with foresight for disaster. This is a long novel, too long in my humble, but I stuck with it because he writes so well and it is interesting to see a writer becoming a master.

So happy to always have a Maigret to grab.

Short stories by the rather rough Elroy. Odd echoes of Chandler with modern brutalism and old fashioned racism.