Bookshelf

Some current reads.

Strangers On A Train

by Patricia Highsmith

Vintage edition 1999

Wasn't sure if this was me, but POW! - what a ride. Strangers On A Train is a chilling psychological thriller that explores guilt, duality, and moral ambiguity. When two men meet on a train and one proposes a murder swap, the tension spirals into obsession and dread. Highsmith’s taut prose and eerie character dynamics make this a masterclass in suspense and the dark undercurrents of human desire. One - Guy - is a talented architect, the other is Charle Bruno a deeply disturbed man - who is the main driving force for the plot. The story grips from page one and moves at a breathless pace. Classic crime. You'd be criminal to miss this one.

Live and Let Die

by Ian Fleming

Pan edition 1973

What a cracker! First published 1954, second in the series after 'Casino Royale'. Bond is sent to the United States to investigate Mr. Big, a powerful crime lord suspected of financing Russian operations and smuggling valuable 17th-century gold coins. As Bond uncovers Mr. Big’s elaborate underworld network, he finds himself caught in a web of voodoo, danger, and deception, stretching from Harlem to Florida and deep into the Caribbean. With the help of his American ally, Felix Leiter, and the enigmatic Solitaire, Bond must survive deadly encounters and outwit his ruthless adversary. Fleming seems to be still getting to grips with the character, not entirely convinced he liked him, almost killing him off in the climatic shark infested scene. Still stands up as a good solid read, if the language is a little dated.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Picador edition 1978

What's it about? So far, an old man in an isolated village buying merch from dodgy traveling gypsies. Think magnifying glass, think ice. Off-putting to start with, becoming quite whimsical/magical later on. This book won the 1982 Novel Prize for Literature. Uses a slow staccato rhythm. Am starting to enjoy it.

 

Description of a Struggle and Other Stories

by Franz Kafka 

Penguin Modern Classics edition 1982

A collection of short stories and vignettes, where the endings are never really endings in the conventional sense. My favourite from these sometimes surreal gems must be The Bucket Rider.

The narrator (Franz) is freezing, he needs coal and seeks to obtain a supply but without any money he must rely on generosity. To obtain the coal - he rides the bucket (coal scuttle). Drawing together elements of fear, death, and sadness. It really is a mini-classic.

'Coal-dealer!' I cry in a voice burned hollow by the frost and muffled in the cloud made by my breath, 'please, coal-dealer, give me a little coal. My bucket is light that I can ride on it. Be kind. When I can I'll pay you.'