Top 5 Books of 2009

A lot of reading went down in 2009 and even though it’s impossible to include all the best books, here’s a collection of the great ones ‐ skimmed off from the top of the crop!

February 2009 ‐Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

This offering ‐ also courtesy of David Mitchell, is as far removed from number9dream as number9dream is from Cloud Atlas. In this corner of the literary world you become enthralled in the tide of British nationalism during the Falklands conflict of the 1980s and you see it all from the perspective of thirteen‐year‐old Jason Taylor. This semi‐autobiographical offering is set in the small Worcestershire town of Black Swan Green and among other things, it wonderfully details the special bond between younger brother and older sister. Small town trivialities harangue the adults in Jason’s life, school yard politics set the tone for later life and money matters in a 1980’s economy not too dis‐similar from today, strain family dynamics to breaking point. Throw in an intoxicating sextet from an enlightened elder and you’ve got yourself a top read.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is published by Sceptre (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
April 2009 ‐The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

This is definitely a little bit out there, but once you accept that central character Gideon is an atheist Minister destined to be taken over by the devil, the rest simply flows. It’s an interesting format with a prologue from fictional ‐ Editor Patrick Walker that casts out some irresistible literary hooks. The novel is presented as a manuscript written by Mr Mack and published by Walker after it’s intercepted by a keen journalist. Gideon’s over protective father figure lays the psychological time bomb groundwork for many of the misdemeanours that follow and the rebellion of the sexually liberating university years are particularly vivid! The extraordinary factor might be a turn off for those who subscribe to the old school fiction principles, but if you’re open to new experiences, this read won’t disappoint.

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson is published by Penguin (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
May 2009 ‐Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Welcome to the island of Bougainville near Papua New Guinea. Here your characters du jour live off the land and the sea in a society that’s slowly having the life squeezed out of it by a military blockade. Despite the degenerating, fuel starved generators and the looming threat of raids by the ‘red skin’ military, a beacon of intellectual defiance shines out from unwitting teacher, Mr Watts. As the only white man on the island Watts is something of a last mammoth standing, but when the civil war kicks off and the teachers leave town, it’s Watts who steps up to the plate and takes over the education of the village youngsters. With no educational tools around, it’s a copy of the Dickens classic, Great Expectations that saves the day. You’ll fall in love with our narrating point of view, also know as Matilda, and when her family feud crosses the path of civil unrest, you’ll feel her anguish as if it’s your own. This is one that should have won the Man Booker Prize.

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones is published by John Murray (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
June 2009 ‐Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

This is the best book I’ve read in a long while – especially when it comes down to cutting out the surround sound on long journeys. It’s a tale of love eeking out an meagre existence in the harshest of circumstances, set against a backdrop of Japan in the sixties, mental disorder, profound sexual encounters and the long term, collateral damage caused by suicide. It sounds intense I know but the character attachment, expertly cultivated by Murakami, will have you gasping, jumping, crying and laughing along with the plot. That’s if you’re carbon based or reading it with a Gin hang over. Your main man goes by the name of Toru Watanabe and it’s from his perspective that you experience the flashback of a lifetime - upon hearing a cover of the Beatles tune – Norwegian Wood. The two loves of Toru’s life Naoko and Midori both shape Toru in ways that he won’t realise until the end of the read, which by the way is deliciously ambiguous.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is published by Vintage Books (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.
August 2009 ’The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

This is a charmingly comic piece of fiction that kicks off when our dear old British Queen has a chance encounter with Westminster’s travelling library. After a rather awkward initial withdrawal, Queenie develops a voracious appetite for reading and begins to neglect her official duties. Said neglect doesn’t go unnoticed by the monarch’s staff who diligently plot away to remove this new threat to the traditional status quo. The Prime Minister also weighs in when he finds the Queen doling out what he considers to be burdensome reading assignments at their weekly meetings. You can get through this one in a day and if you don’t catch yourself smiling at the cross over between the great authors of the twentieth century and the Queen’s extensive, and historic social calendar, then you might want to get yourself looked at.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is published by faber and faber (paperback; £6.99). It is also available through amazon.co.uk and all good booksellers.

‐ Rob Savage