The books I read in 2010

1. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. Treasure, revolution, thwarted love, madness and incomparable structural manipulation by the Old Man of the Seas. ****
2. If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino. Over-rated book about books that tries to hard to be clever and succeeds only in irritating. *
3. Wicked Beyond Belief by Michael Bilton. The hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Grim but compelling, slightly marred by the author's clumsy style. **
4. The Climb Up To Hell by Jack Olsen. Account of a disastrous attempt on the Eiger's North face. The first half is riveting, the second less so. **
5. The End Of Iraq by Peter Galbraith. Dissection of Why It Went Wrong. Overstays its welcome, slightly, but contains a lot of important information. **
6. Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare. One of Will's least liked and least played works. Much of it may be the work of collaborators. No star
7. Henry VI, Part Two by William Shakespeare. Enthralling account of the War of the Roses. Diffuse, just lacks the impact of the best tragedies. ***
8. The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Maladroit 19th century psychological murder mystery. Pretentious, witless, and incompetently executed. No star
9. Henry VI, Part Three by William Shakespeare. The climax of the War of the Roses. Not as good as part Two, but still remarkable. **
10. Three Who Made a Revolution by Bertram D. Wolfe. Big, painstaking triple biography of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin up to 1914. ***
11. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. Witty, but too short to give an idea of his accomplishment to newcomers, or deliver new insights. *
12. The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King. Popular history of God's Own Country. Wide in scope but shallow in analysis. **
13. A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr. Poorly executed murder mystery in dystopian London. No star
14. Real World by Natsuo Kirino. Murder disrupts the solipsistic lives of Japanese teenagers. Starts well but seems to lose its way towards the end. *
15. Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse. The bombing of Hiroshima and the ending of an entire way of looking at the world. Long and slow, but potent. **
16. A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter. Witlessly plotted multi-murder mystery, and nasty to boot. AVOID
    
17. Give the boys a Great Big Hand, by Ed McBain. Fine dialogue & characters. Plot an afterthought to hanging with the boys on the 87th precinct. *
18. Cypress Grove by James Sallis. Murder mystery that strives to be big on atmosphere and setting and character, but is fatally short on plot. No Star
19. If This is a Man by Primo Levi. Levi's account of his time in Auschwitz. ****
20. The President We Deserve by Martin Walker. Bill Clinton's early life, political rise in Arkansas and his first term. Little insight, but adequate. No star
21. Infinite Loop by Michael Malone. The story of Apple Computers. Gargantuan ego, genius, madness, venality, incompetence and decadence. Astonishing. ****
22. 1977 by David Peace. Murderous, nasty peek at the underbelly of Yorkshire. The squalor and violence is justified, but the plot untimately becomes incoherent. *
23. Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones. Revisiting Jones's novella disappoints - the narrator's voice sounds contrived and even its brief length seems stretched. No star
24. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Partly successful crime drama based around real life case. Contrived and lacking the breakneck fury of his later work. No star
25. The Shout and other stories by Robert Graves. Enjoyable, diverse collection. Perhaps too consistently whimsical. **