A Passage to India - E.M. Forster

Ah, the relaxing joy of an E.M. Forster novel when your pregnant wife is overdue!

Seriously though, this novel was exactly what I needed - I considered reading Howards End, but I don't think I could have survived it emotionally...

Forster's subtle (or at times not so subtle) criticism of Western colonial attitudes is still remarkably relevant in today's world. As is his portrayal of mental illness. As is his description of class issues. As is his discussion of race.

Sure, Forster himself was a Westerner talking about India and was affected by all our (mis)perceptions and (mis)conceptions, but to me he remains fundamentally a genius.

Bliss – Peter Carey

And another book given to me by my colleague as he was moving flats (this time, however, one that I greatly enjoyed).

Bliss’s plot is hilarious (a term that I normally detest, but that I think describes the novel quite well) and its improbable twists all appear somehow believable. I just kind of wish the reader was told what happened to Lucy and her truck-driving boyfriend, but Carey’s novel remains for me a wonderfully entertaining and witty portrait of a clash between high-flying career-focused people and, erm, hippies.

And probably I also really enjoyed this because I know nothing about Australian literature (well, it depends on whether you consider Coetzee to be Australian…). 

A Winter Book – Tove Jannson

A book that one of my colleagues gave me because he was moving (or maybe because he had read it and found it awfully dull?).

Sure, these short stories are really well written, but have no appeal whatsoever to someone who doesn’t have a passionate love for the great North, or for sailing. I had never heard of Tove Jannson, but this book felt like a fairly pathetic attempt to put together a number of stories (and of fan letters – seriously?!?) just to make a quick buck (maybe to pay the medical bill for an 84-old author? Although I’m not really quite sure how many copies the book might have sold). 

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle

Yes, up until now I had never read an actual Sherlock Holmes novel (only a few of his short stories, but even there not many) and I’m about to say something awful: it’s alright. Not great. Not bad. Alright, which probably means I deserve to be kicked out of this country for many.

The thing is, a number of the surprises (like the mysterious second character found on the moor) are not excessively surprising, and one thing is being smug, but Sherlock Holmes is just a wee bit too smug.

Unfortunately I must say that as far as Sherlock Holmes is concerned, I like his 21^st century alter ego (Gregory House) a lot better. And as far as Conan Doyle creations go, I enjoyed The Lost World immensely more.