Moses Ascending - Sam Selvon

Much like with The Lonely Londoners, I very much loved this novel, its vignettes and Selvon's propensity for the vernacular. 

It doesn't have the same significance of its predecessor, but it's arguably funnier. That said, it is really nice to see Moses's life come full circle, and the two books allowed me to understand why one of the characters in the book I talk about above is named like that.

The Mars Room - Rachel Kushner

Another of the Booker-longlisted IKEA books, and one for which I really wouldn’t have gone for had it not been for the fact that Don DeLillo was listed in the book’s acknowledgement. According to Oddschecker, it is now the second least likely book to win the award. In spite of that, it’s my own favourite for the year.

The Mars Room is a prison book that manages not to be bad, mean and aggressive. Yet, I believe it does give the reader an actual idea of the daily life in a woman’s prison. It is also about gender (and very much non-binary) and the challenges that women experience when facing unwanted male attention.

Yet again, for interesting that the above things are, what resonated the most with me is the hopelessness of a mother who doesn’t want to accept the reality of having lost her child.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré

As a result of my attempts to limit the number of books that clutter our flat, a few months ago I donated a dozen novels to the LSE Library. One of the librarians congratulated herself on most of my books, except for Le Carré’s The Russia House. Granted, I didn’t love it, but I thought that was excessively snobbish (and that’s coming from me!) and prejudiced against a writer who only made the mistake of creating some of the greatest spy stories ever written and did so in a way that ensured popular acclaim.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldiery Spy was first suggested to me by my old boss (I really do miss her at times) and she was right – though I still need to see the movie that she recommended just as wholeheartedly.

George Smiley is absolutely awesome, and it is clearly not surprising that he is the protagonist of a whole series of novels and not just one. His problematic love life adds a layer to the novel. The plot, in its twistiness, is gripping yet complex. And the way in which the chapters cross space and time is done in a way that keeps the reader interested and, crucially, confused. Desperately trying to figure out who the mole is, the only thing I knew for sure is that it couldn’t be the “obvious” culprit. And “obviously” I was wrong…