John Purcell

Elizabeth Strout's book Olive Kitteridge takes Sherwood Anderson's Winesberg, Ohio approach to storytelling giving us interlinked stories centred around one community but takes a slightly different path by also managing to give a near complete history of one of the town's most complex inhabitants, Olive Kitteridge. With the clarity and honesty of Carver but with an emotional intensity all of her own, Stroud doesn't flinch when staring into the void. This is a tough read. Not because it is experimental writing or dense or long, but because it leads us to questions we dare not ask ourselves and gives us answers we just don't want to hear. Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitterage is a book I will remember. Brilliant.

It's hard to make sense of a work of genius. The attempt makes you look foolish. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers is a work of genius. If you like to read books that stun you into silence then give this one a go.

We think we know the story of The Count of Monte Cristo, but in truth, until we have read Robin Buss’ translation, published by Penguin Classics, we know nothing. All previous popular editions in English were reprints of a poorly translated and abridged nineteenth century edition which reduced the great work to the level of a common pot-boiler. These second-rate editions were then translated into film. In short, The Count of Monte Cristo we have always known is an impostor! The new translation brings a greater depth and subtlety to the story from the outset, setting the scene thoroughly, introducing us to Edmond Dantes and his fiancé Mercédès, drawing both their characters deftly, revealing their youth, innocence, and promise, and in so doing, we feel the blow of the unjust act which follows more deeply. We, too, yearn for revenge. The Count of Monte Cristo was always a story of extremes, of murder and vengeance, of great wealth and ambition, of love and intense hate, but now, with Dumas’ descriptive capacity restored, with his imagination untethered by dull witted opportunistic hack translators, with his canvas cleaned of impurities, the reader’s involvement is increased, the ride becomes real and the lessons, though harder to learn, once learnt, are unforgettable.

Make sure that you read William Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair in public, not in the hope that someone may spot you reading a classic, but so that you may see the characters of this wonderfully perceptive (and prophetic) novel wandering about in the flesh. Vanity Fair is populated not by characters but by real people and thus, will never date. Thackeray is masterful, he allows his characters the freedom to do as they please; they are autonomous and must make decisions on their own, as must we all. Some choose poorly, and yet succeed. Some choose well and yet are rewarded by misfortune. Some grab and grumble, some laugh and give, some believe they are masters of their own destinies while some are cut down in their prime. In Vanity Fair Thackeray has captured humanity in the raw - just after getting out of bed and before our first cup of coffee. You will delight in discovering people you know in its pages. You may smile when they reveal themselves as cads, you may cry when those who deserve better are treated cruelly and you may laugh when the frauds get their comeuppance. But be warned, read Vanity Fair and enjoy the show, but know that somewhere within is pages lurks a soul much like your own, and when you least expect it, maybe when you’re laughing hardest at the foibles of another, you will recognise yourself and be silenced. For whether you know it or not, we all live in the pages of Vanity Fair.