readingrat | Books read in 2017 (better late than never . . .)

Jodi Picoult, Small Great Things (***)

Racist parents accuse a black nurse of causing the death of their new-born boy. Obviously, we empathise with the nurse, who is a sober, hard-working mother. I did wonder how reader sympathy would play out if she had been portrayed as an unreliable spendthrift with no maternal qualities. As it was, the question of good and evil didn't even arise. However, the depiction of the American ultra-right scene was instructive.

Octavia E. Butler, Dawn (****)

After a major catastrophe the few surviving humans find themselves rescued/abducted by an alien species that thrives on symbiosis. Should the humans cooperate with their rescuers and merge with them or maintain their own identity? The moral dilemma is extremely bothersome: it touches on questions of survival, gratitude, empathy, and identity. My only issue with the book is that it chooses to draw the reader onto the heroine's side by depicting her opponents as a shifty, amoral crowd. That isn't a convincing argument in favour of or against a moral choice.

Liane Moriarty, The Husband's Secret (***)

The titular secret resurfaces years later, wreaking havoc in the lives of three women and their families. What I liked about the book was that although the characters are pretty much unlovable, the author manages to arouse commiseration and empathy for all of them. Other than that, well, meh.

Colm Toibin, Brooklyn (*****)

The book explores the cultural and emotional rift caused by living between two worlds. Its Irish heroine emigrates to the US, adapting to her new home and circumstances, only to find herself in emotional turmoil when she returns to Ireland for a visit. Her feelings of dissonance are ones I'm well familiar with, having grown up on two different continents and continually confronted with the fact that neither understands the other.

Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire and Mockingjay (***)

Can't keep up with the first book in the series, but they're good reads. What I like about them is that they don't mind propagating the tough truth that it's never simple, never just black or white — a truth that many 'adult' books don't seem to get. (See Dawn and Small Great Things.)

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote (***)

My major reading project of the year. As you can see, it didn't tick too many of my boxes. Yes, it was okay, but someone should have done some serious editing along the way. It got repetitive and the second part wasn't credible by any standards.

Emily St.John Mandel, Station Eleven (*****)

Probably my favourite book of the year, though I can't tell you why. I was seriously disappointed when it was over — and I didn't see the end coming. (That's a downside of reading ebooks: the end can catch you by surprise.) The novel follows the fortunes of loosely connected individuals who survive a viral epidemic. There isn't really much of a plot nor a tangible resolution, but something about it kept me going.

Fredrik Backman, A Man called Ove (***)

Swedish misanthrope finds back to life after a major loss. Nice read, but predictable.

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (*****)

I'd forgotten just how good this book is. A topic that'll (sadly) never grow old, with a brilliant naive narrator. Wow, just wow, even after all these years!

Jodi Taylor, Just One Damned Thing After Another (**)

Ahem, I remembered reading the title in Flywoman's reading list and got it mixed up in my mind with her review of The Essex Serpent. In short, I thought I was buying a different book. Went back to her blog after reading it (feeling just a bit miffed) and realised my mistake. I heartily concur with her assessment of the book.

Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life (****)

Another page-turner, but be warned, this one is not for the faint of heart. It has just about every trigger that exists, and then some. Follows the fortunes of two college friends, one of whom is haunted by the ghosts of his past. Well-written, gripping, but a tad too graphic in its descriptions of violence for my taste.

Cheryl Strayed, Wild (***)

The author describes her hike along the Pacific Trail and what led to it. The book polarises its readers, because it's hard to believe that so much stupidity can actually be crowned with the success of survival. I liked it, but there was a lot of face-palming during the read.

Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad (*****)

A slave woman on a cotton plantation decides to flee and makes her way north in stages. All actors in this drama are described without sentimentality; the lines between good and bad are blurred. The hype about this book is justified. Go forth and read!

David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks (***)

Supernatural tale of a group of immortal baddies who get taken out by another group of immortals, the goodies in this tale. Well written, but it made little sense. Besides, where's the fun when the line between good and evil is clearly demarked?

Emma Healey, Elizabeth is Missing (***)

Dementia from the sufferer's perspective, clothed in a 'missing person' mystery, or rather, two missing persons mystery. Well done and an interesting take on the naive/unreliable narrator.

Benjamin Bahr et al., Faszinierende Physik (read in German) (*****)

Physics for Dummies, but with lots of very pretty pictures. Things I know, things I used to know, and a number of things I didn't know and will probably never understand. (Why do they have to keep finding new particles?)

John Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain (***)

I must admit that I was lost most of the time. Ratey works off the premise that the reader has a working knowledge of the brain's structure and function, which I simply don't have. Still, there was enough of interest even for the uninitiated.

Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (***)

This book is a lot of things: the story of a somewhat toxic friendship, a portrayal of the life of the Neapolitan working class of the 1950s, an examination of the workings of Mafiosi structures in society. The hype is probably justified, but I didn't like the protagonists enough to want to read the sequels.

Sebastian Haffner, Zur Zeitgeschichte (read in German) (***)

A collection of essays, mostly about history books written by other authors. The essays are worth reading even if one hasn't read the books they refer to because Haffner's take on the historical events they cover is understandable even for lay people.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Der Besuch der alten Dame (read in German) (*****)

This play, a story of how money and power corrupt and how the masses can be coerced into committing crimes, is a set text in German middle schools. This year, I decided it was time to bridge the gaping chasm in my general knowledge.