si: 50 Books in 2023

Last year hit exactly fifty titles. Hope to match that in 2023.

JANUARY - APRIL

1. The Unexpected Guest by Charles Osborne
2. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Translated by Joanna Kilmartin & Steve Cox
3. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
4. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse written/illustrated by Charlie Mackesy
5. Impossible Vacation by Spalding Gray
6. Last Vanities by Fleur Jaeggy
7. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
8. Rainforest by Jenny Diski
9. City of Night by John Rechy

10. Elena Knows by Claudia Piňeiro
11. Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley Williams
12. The Women Who Got Away by John Updike
13. Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
14. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
15. The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite
16. Friends - uncredited
17. The Best of Friends - uncredited

18. A True Novel - Minae Mizumara
19. Six Goats - Isabel Canas
20. Anatomy of a Murder - Robert Traver
21. The Honeymoon Killers by Paul Buck
22. Victoria & Abdul - Lee Hall
23. Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor
24. Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba
25. The Doll Who Ate His Mother - Ramsey Campbell

MAY - AUGUST

26. Vermilion Sands - JG Ballard
27. The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker
28. The Lightning-Rod Man - Herman Melville
29. The Incredible Melting Man - Phil Smith

30. An Awfully Big Adventure - Beryl Bainbridge
31. The House At Sea's End - Elly Griffiths
32. A Coffin Full Of Dollars - Joe Miller
33. Hazards of Time Travel - Joyce Carol Oates
34. La Belle Sauvage - Philip Pullman
35. The Venetian Game by Philip Gwynne Jones
36. Big Nate Blow The Roof Off! by Lincoln Peirce
37. Zazie in The Metro by Raymond Queneau
38. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
39. Soulless by Gail Carriger
40. 31 Songs by Nick Hornby
41. Symposium by Muriel Spark
42. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And the Horse The Animated Story by Charlie Mackesy
43. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths
44. Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
45. Exploration Team by Murray Leinster
46. Solo Faces by James Salter

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER

47. To Love And Be Wise by Josephine Tey
48. Piano A novel by Jean Echenoz
49. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke
50. The Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter
51. The House Of The Five Poplars by Lucy Crump
52. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
53. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
54. The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale
55. Actress by Anne Enright
56. The Hound of Death and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
57. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
58. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle
59. Closer by Dennis Cooper
60. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
61. This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill
62. In Gratitude by Jenny Diski
63. The Canary Trainer by Nicholas Myers

11. Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley Williams

The Alphabet / Swatch / Attrib / Smote / Bs / Alight at the Next / Concision / And Back Again / Fear and Confessions of a Ortolan Chef / Synaesthete, Would Like To Met / Bulk / Platform / Rosette Manufacture: A Catalegue and Spotters' Guide / Scutiform / Mischief / Spines / Spins

12. The Women Who Got Away by John Updike
Five short stories taken from Licks of Love & The Early Stories 1953 - 1975

The stories are -
Natural Color
New York Girl
Licks of Love In The Heart of The Cold War
The women Who Got Away
Transaction

13. Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata.
English translation by Howard Hibbett
A late work by Kawabata, best know for Snow Country & winning the Nobel Prize in 1968.

14. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
Second in the Ruth Galloway mystery series.

15. The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite
A novella born out of the Covid lock-down in Nigera.

16. Friends
17. Best of Friends
A couple of mini-books, photos & quotes from the TV show.

18. A True Novel by Minae Mizumara
Historial novel that mixes life in Japan, post WWII, with a reworking of Wuthering Heights. Long-winded but enjoyable.

19. Six Goats by Isabel Caňas
Single short story about a maid & a guard trapped by fire during a coup; with a touch of fantasy thrown in.

sixgoats

20. Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

Influential court-room drama from 1958, written by a real-life judge - John D Voelker.
The book is a lot stronger once the trial starts, around half-way through the novel, and the story slowly hones in on just the judge & the two opposing lawyers. But to get there you have 200 pages of odd, rambling, occasionally misogynistic, overwritten prose I could have lived without.

21. The Honeymoon Killers by Paul Buck

Novelization of the film.

22. Victoria & Abdul by Lee Hall

Published screenplay based on the non-fiction book by Shrabani Basu - Victoria & Abdul

23. Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise text Sean Taylor & illustrations Jean Jullien

24. Such Small Hands by Andres Barba.

Unsettling tale set mainly in an orphanage. The arrival of seven year old Marine disrupts the lives of the other young girls and a sinister night-time game leads to tragedy.
This is a unusual horror story, well written and doesn't over stay its welcome at just over 100 pages.

25. The Doll Who Ate His Mother by Ramsey Campbell
Eye catching title for what is actually a fairly thoughtful and well written horror tale. Loved the ending which managed to avoid the usual good vs evil battle to the death while still being effective.

26. Vermilion Sands by JG Ballard

The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D / Prima Belladonna / The Screen Game / The Singing Statues / Cry Hope, Cry Fury! / Venus Smiles / Say Goodbye To The Wind / Studio 5, The Stars / The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista

9 sci-fiction stories 1st published 1971.

27. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

A novella from 1986 which became the basis for the Hellraiser franchise. Somehow the endless sequels, in print or on screen, passed me by after part III. But this original novella is genuinely tense, scary & horrific in the best sense.

28. The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville

A single short story concerning a door-to-door salesman, during a storm.

Lightning

29. The Incredible Melting Man by Phil Smith
Science Fiction/horror story based on the movie.

30. An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Could have easily DNF'd this book early doors. Glad I didn't, turned out to be one of my favourites so far this year.

31. The House At Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

Third in the crime/mystery series featuring Dr Ruth Galloway.

32. A Coffin Full Of Dollars by Joe Miller

Spin-off from Sergio Leone's Spaghetti westens.
Two bounty hunters reluctantly work together to find the hideout of a gang of outlaws.
Our anti-hero is repetitively captured only to escape almost immediately and the dialogue isn't great, but its a fun read nevertheless.

33. Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates

Interesting and annoying. Dystopian novel which uses time travel to morph into a 1960s University campus story.
The affects of trauma on someone are well done as are the breadcrumbs of doubt scattered through the story which leave you, and the main character, unsure what is real and what isn't.

34. La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

35. The Venetian Game by Philip Gwynne Jones

36. Big Nate Blow The Roof Off! by Lincoln Peirce

37. Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau
Translated - Barbara Wright. Intro - Gilbert Adair.

Iconic French novel and film. A zany adventure tale set in late 1950s Paris, which revels in absurd dialogue and situations. Fun read.

38. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Sections of this debut novel work significantly better than others but overall the book does leave a deep impression.
Its fairly dark and gritty at time and (justifiably) explicit in describing the sex scenes. While it takes Bridget Jones's Diary as a basic set-up (there's even a character called Darcy) 'Queenie' is very much its own thing - and is definitely not a romantic comedy.

39. Soulless by Gail Carriger

Fantasy set in Victorian London, with vampires & werewolves, romance and adventure.

40. 31 Songs by Nick Hornby

Alternatively called 'Songbook', this is a collection of essays loosely based on 31 songs which for a variety of reasons have impacted Hornby's life. The book is twenty years old and has aged it some respects but I found it a quick, interesting read.

41. Symposium by Muriel Spark
A short novel from 1990 with an added introduction from crime writer Ian Rankin - original written for 'Scotland on Sunday' (which perhaps explains why it more about Ian Rankin than Muriel Spark).
A rare five star book for me.

42. The Boy, the Mole, The Fox and the Horse The Animated Story by Charlie Mackesy

Film tie-in book which reproduces the stills and dialogue from the animated short film.

43. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths.
Disappointing 4th book in the Ruth Galloway series.

44. Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

Children's story from 1958. Apart from a spot of time-travel this is grounded in the real world and in Tom has a recognizably self absorbed boy - i.e. not always likable. Reminded me of other, later, books so this was probably fairly influential in a small way.

45. Exploration Team by Murray Leinster

This was first published in Astounding Science Fiction in
March 1956; winning the Hugo Award for the best novelette that year.
A Colonial Survey Officer arrives on the planet Loren Two to find a newly established colony destroyed by native animals. Teaming up with Huyghens who runs a rival (and illegal) venture less reliant on robots, they search for survivors. Fairly tense adventure story with the added element of strange creatures and an alien world.

46. Solo Faces by James Salter
47. To Love And Be Wise by Josephine Tey

Two very well written novels. Solo Faces is about a man who is at his best when mountain climbing. To Love and Be Wise is the 4th Alan Grant mystery,; one of my favourite series I've discovered in recent years.

48. Piano A Novel by Jean Echenoz Translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti
A short novel, split into three sections, which follows Max Delmarc from his last days alive through purgatory and then into a bespoke hell.
I liked the opening but was less & less involved as the story progressed. The punchline ending made it feel like a long unfunny stand-up joke.

49. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories by Susanna Clarke
includes -
Introduction by Professor James Sutherland, Director of Sidhe Studies, University of Aberdeen
The Ladies of Grace Adieu
On Lickerish Hill
Mrs Mabb
The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse
Mr Simonelli or The Fairy Widower
Tom Brightwind or How the Fairy Bridge Was Build at Thoresby
Antickes and Frets
John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner

50. the Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter

51. The House of The Five Poplars

A mostly fun, if forgotten, children's book from around 1909.

52. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Dicken's fourth novel from 1840.

53. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Spectacular all-action blend of SF & pulp crime fiction from 1953.

54. The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale

Kate Summerscale has a wonderful ability of finding stories which while being extraordinary on their own also throw light of the wider social history of their times.

55. Actress by Anne Enright

A 2020 novel from the Booker Prize winning Irish writer. Looking back at her mother's life, Norah tells us ( & her mostly invisible partner of 40 years) the story of Katherine O'Dell's rise and fall from child actor in the theatre to the heights of Hollywood and back again. Compellingly written with a quiet reflective ending.

56. Hounds of Death and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

12 short stories with a macabre and occult flavour.

57. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
Dinosaurs and British explorers. Lots and lots of animals and people die in the name of progress.

58. The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle
This is the second story in the Professor Challenge series. Three years after the events in The Lost World our group of intrepid adventurers can only sit and watch as a cosmic belt of poisonous gas spreads over the whole world. Will anyone survive?
Interesting novella and a fairly quick read. The series which started as fantasy is here SF - in the third it moves on to the supernatural!

59. Closer by Dennis Cooper
First in a cycle of five novels.

60. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Probably written in 1606 with the new King, James I, principally in mind. A shorter play, written quickly perhaps, but still shockingly violent and patchily brilliant.

61. This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill
A novella from 2019. 1st published, I think, in The New Yorker magazine.
Told in alternating chapters by a book editor who has lost his job following complaints about his behaviour, and a female colleague who continues to support him.

62. In Gratitude by Jenny Diski

Memoir of the last years of the writer's life & of her difficult childhood and adolescence, and her subsequent relationship with Doris Lessing

63. The Canary Trainer by Nicholas Meyers