On a lighter note...

I thought I would share the ten books I've enjoyed reading most over the last year. As I tend to alternate fiction and non-fiction when I'm reading I've done the same here.

In no particular order then...



















1. Elizabeth Costello, J.M. Coetzee

Coetzee features heavily in this list (he featured heavily in my year). Elizabeth Costello is more a series of essays than a novel; a blend of fiction and philosophy, compassion and concentration. More ideas on a single page than most writers have in a lifetime.



















2. What Ever Happened To Modernism?, Gabriel Josipovici

Again, full of ideas. Stylishly written and argued. It contains one of the most incisive critiques of contemporary English culture I have read. Reveals the shabbiness and complacency of most novels written today.



















3. Beware of Pity, Stefan Zweig

Zweig's masterpiece. Effortless prose. Almost 500 pages long, yet never feels laboured. Lightness of tone belies the seriousness of the project. Stunning.




















4. The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, Norman G. Finkelstein

Will make your blood boil. Describes how the very people who claim to be defending the interests of Jewish Holocaust survivors have secretly profited (and continue to do so).



















5. Snow, Orhan Pamuk

Slow-moving, snow-softened prose. Needs to be read slowly to appreciate it fully. Exploration of the conflict between Western secularism and Islam, set in a remote Turkish city during a snow storm. No easy answers, just a defence of our basic humanity.



















6. Inner Workings: Essays 2000-2005, J.M. Coetzee

Coetzee has read everything. Seriously - everything. Reading this collection of literary essays will leave you wondering what you have spent your life doing. And not only has he read everything, not only does he speak four languages (it may be more), not only is he one of the best fiction writers around, he is also - as this book proves - possibly the best essayist of his generation.



















7. Diary of a Bad Year, J.M. Coetzee

Did I mention he is also an astute political analyst? Tony Blair and John Howard, among others, are exposed for the mendacious hypocrites they are. Great book.



















8. The Emergence of Memory: Conversations with W.G. Sebald, Lynn Sharon Schwartz (editor)

Like hearing Sebald's voice from beyond the grave. Strangely fitting. And strangely poignant too.



















9. A Heart So White, Javier Marias

One of those very rare books that makes the familiar new. Part fiction, part philosophy, wholly unique.



















10. Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship, J.M. Coetzee

Coetzee again. More of the same: beautifully written, thoroughly researched, carefully balanced essays. Clear-sighted and compassionate. A testament to the splendour of the open mind.