The Way of All Flesh - Ambrose Parry
Fallen Angel - Chris Brookmyre
Sum - David Eagleman
Middle England - Jonathan Coe
No one is too small to make a difference - Greta Thunberg
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo
Wait ages for a Christopher Brookmyre book and then you discover two at once. One proper bona fide Brookmyre and one where he and his wife write period drama together under a pseudonym. Both completely different, but both grabbed me like a Brookmyre should.
Have you ever started reading a book and then realised that you're reading a sequel? Yeah, me too. But this is the first time that I started accidentally reading a sequel, only to find that I'd already read the first two installments. I really enjoyed the Rotters' Club when I read it two decades (!) ago, and was really disappointed when I found it ended half way through the story. I read the Closed Circle about a decade ago, and really can't remember anything about it. So reading Middle England it was weird having characters I recognised living very recent history. Enjoyed it a lot.
Talking of threequels, I really enjoyed Republic of Thieves. And this is me going out on a limb, I think it has been my favourite of the series so far, having an equally conniving frenemy as the main adversary added an extra glacé cherry to the whole affair.
Not sure what I made of Kim Jiyoung Born 1982. I feel like I know a lot more about South Korean women's lib than I did before I read it. So that's a thing. Whether I needed to is a whole other thing.
Not sure if the Thunberg should be on the list. It's a book of speeches, rather than a "proper book" and I feel like a bandwagon jumper by adding it. Ooh look at me being woje and relevant.
And finally, let's talk about Sum. I didn't finish it, so it definitely shouldn't be on the list. That said, I feel I read enough of it. Full of interesting ideas, but it felt too much like someone was firing them at you with one of those tennis ball machines that you get in American comedies.
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