After being crap at novel reading all year, I’m finally catching up a bit.
Muriel Spark - Memento Mori. Very funny meditation on death and what it means to us. Reminded me a bit of Lolly Willowes, in that it seems to be just a genteel pastiche of bourgeois values, but is actually cutting and rather wicked. It also has a character in it called Granny Trotsky.
Jennifer Egan - Manhattan Beach. A far more ‘traditional’ Novel then A Visit from the Goon Squad, tho that does it no harm for the most part. I loved the first three-quarters, but as the climaxes started to build it became a bit obvious, with scenes I just didn’t quite believe. Still well written and enjoyable, but not quite as good as it might have been.
Anna Burns - Milkman. Unnamed people during the troubles in the early seventies. I’m only a third of the way in, and I suspect it may turn into a ‘boys and their toys’ view, but it’s gripping stuff so far.