The 2009 Reading List

So, a small change:  rather than simply recommending books by way of asterisk, in honor of life here in dear old Blighty books will now be rated on a 1-5 scale indicated by pound sterling symbols, with “5″ equaling HRH status, and “1″ equivalent to the feeling of seeing a muffin top on Oxford Street.  Don’t ask how all this will be affected by the plummeting exchange rate.

Blood-Dark Track by Joseph O’Neill      £££

The Road by Cormac McCarthy                 ££££

How Fiction Works by James Wood      £££

The Writer as Migrant by Ha Jin   ££

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Silji £££1/2

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean £££££

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin £££1/2

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy £££1/2

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li £££1/2

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell £££1/2

Changes in the Land (Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England) by William Cronon  ££££1/2

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson  ££

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih  ££££

Peace by Richard Bausch   ££££

Granta 108 – the Chicago Issue ££££1/2

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami  ££

The Boat by Nam Le      ££££