2017 Review: Books

These are the books I have read in the last 12 months:

Dubliners

author: James Joyce published: 1914

Always love this. It’s more of a comfort read for me these days.

The Essays of Montaigne, Book 1

author: Michel de Montaigne published: 1580 rating: 5

Jamilti and Other Stories

author: Rutu Modan published: 2008 rating: 5

Great mixture of the everyday, the extraordinary and the fantastic. Stories beautifully told.

Billie Holiday

author: Carlos Sampayo published: 1989 rating: 3

The Grapes of Wrath

Author: John Steinbeck published: 1939 rating: 5

“I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this.”- John Steinbeck, 1936. I have always known of this book but never read it or even knew very much about what is was about. I really wasn’t prepared by how relevant it was to so many situations occurring globally at the moment. The mass migration of populations due to climate changes, infrastructure collapse and economics, the refusal of a system to help and indeed the full demonisation of those in transit.The language is beautifully simple and yet says so much about strength, sadness, suffering, perseverance and dignity.

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

author: Hilary Mantel published: 2014 rating: 5

The Fortune of the Rougons (Les Rougon-Macquart, #1)

author: Émile Zola published: 1870 rating: 5

Worth having an idea of the background and circumstance of the coup d’etat of the Second French Empire (Wikipedia will do), as knowledge seems to be assumed.

Deadpool & the Mercs For Money, Volume 0: Merc Madness

author: Cullen Bunn published: 2016 rating: 3

The Collected Stories Volume 4

author: Arthur C. Clarke published: 1956 rating: 4

Rabbit, Run (Rabbit Angstrom #1)

author: John Updike published: 1960 rating: 4

A really intense, gruelling book about a pretty loathsome wretch. Horrible thing is there’s a billion Rabbits in the actual world. Ahead of its time in many ways. This is my first Updike. His writing is profound. But yeah. Relentless.

Captain Marvel, Volume 3: Alis Volat Propriis

published: 2015 rating: 5

When the World Screamed (Professor Challenger, #4)

author: Arthur Conan Doyle published: 1928 rating: 4

Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Down

author: Kelly Sue DeConnick published: 2013 rating: 4

The Iliad

author: Homer published: -750 rating: 5

Captain Marvel, Volume 1: In Pursuit of Flight

author: Kelly Sue DeConnick published: 2011 rating: 4

The Schoolmaster and Other Stories

author: Anton Chekhov published: 1921 rating: 5