With all my books packed snugly into boxes and a ban on bringing anything into the flat that'll need putting in a box, I'm currently on a reading hiatus. But the beginning of the year saw a pretty good run...

Title: Mount!
Author: Jilly Cooper
Read: 24 December – 27 January (yes it took ages, but I was only reading it in bed as Best Mate had gone to the trouble of getting my birthday present copy signed by the goddess herself and I wasn't going to have it dogeared by dragging it around the Victoria line.)

If you're a Jilly aficionado, you'll enjoy this. It's no Polo, but let's face it, what is? If you've read her other stuff, you know the basic story, so crack on and enjoy its joyful Jillyness. If you've not, do yourself a favour and start with Riders. You can thank me later. If you don't like Jilly... well, we'll never be friends.


Title: The Underground Railroad
Author: Colson Whitehead
Read: 18 – 24 January

This reimagining of the 19th century slave escape network as an actual subway has had so much press and so many reviews from people more qualified do so than me that I'm not sure what I have to add. It's one of those novels that makes you want to go away and read about the history and real stories of the period, which says everything about its utterly enveloping, horrifying nature as can be said, I think.


Title: The Vegetarian
Author: Han Kang
Read: 29 January

I've not read anything quite like this slim little book. It opens with an apparently very ordinary man and his ordinary wife, who one day decides to become a vegetarian. From the day she throws all the meat out of the house, the story becomes something else – a much darker tale of desire both fulfilled and unfulfilled; violence; and shame. If you're after something different from anything you've read in a while, this is the disturbing one to tick that box.



Title: Rich and Pretty
Author: Rumaan Alam
Read: 30 – 31 January

One of the things that a course at the Faber Academy taught me was what the books I really love all have in common. They're all biographical novels, looking at themes of family and friendship, which is what this has in spades. It follows two women – one rich, and, you guessed it, one pretty, and their friendship over decades as they grow up together in New York. It's thin on plot, but the prose is lovely, and if you're able to read this on a lounger in the Sri Lankan sunshine, then I can recommend that all the better.

Title: Plot Against America
Author: Phillip Roth
Read: 1 – 3 February

The New Yorker recently ran an email from Roth to one of its writers about the new President of the United States. In it, this book was referred to so I picked it up out of curiosity. It's about a celebrity is elected President, in thrall to a hostile foreign regime, whose racist policies lead to huge upheaval for American society. Word to the wise: if you borrow a copy from your local library, as I did, check the cover design closely before you check it out. Being given a large dollop of side-eye from your fellow guests around the pool for reading a book covered in swastikas will really distract you from your tanning.


Title: Lincoln in the Bardo
Author: George Saunders
Read: 4 February

I don't often read a book in a single day. This isn't an ordinary book. It's the story of the dead son of Abraham Lincoln, and the grief of his father, blending the worlds of life and death as well as the lines of fact and fiction. Nothing I can say will sell this incredible book with justice. Do yourself a favour and get a copy.


Title: Fates and Furies
Author: Lauren Groff
Read: 5 – 6 February

This is another of those modern literary novels taking a sideways biographical look at a couple and their friends and relationship to each other – with an added helping of classical references. I adored this book, and particularly the latter half, which shows us that every story has another perspective. One I'll keep and read over and over again.




Title: Fear of Flying
Author: Erica Jong
Read: 6 – 7 February

Billed as a seminal work of feminist fiction, this is one of those books I felt I should read at some point. I'm not sure if I'm a horrible feminist for saying this (probably), but it just didn't gel with me. I can appreciate that its frank exploration of sexuality and female desire was a huge deal in the 70s, but (thankfully) we've come a long way since then (although not far enough) and I think there's more challenging contemporary feminist literature out there.


Title: The Line of Beauty
Author: Alan Hollinghurst
Read: 7 – 10 February

This is one of my all-time favourite books, re-read because I stupidly only took six books on a fortnight's holiday, and The Writer had finished reading this by the end of our stay. Again, it falls into that modern literature camp of a story about relationships and friendships and belonging, at the same time as painting one of the most sharp portraits of Thatcher's Britain in the 80s. The upper middle class, the lower middle class, the gay scene, politics, mental health, love and art are all beautifully painted, and I'd urge to read – or re-read – this. You'll find something else to love every time.

Title: The Wild Other
Author: Clover Stroud
Read: 19 – 28 February

I won't be letting TW, who frets every time I get on a horse, read this. Clover's memoir about growing up in the shadow of her mother's catastrophic and life-altering riding accident is almost enough to put a gal off her ponies. It's written with huge passion and love, and explores the itch in life that can only be scratched by rubbing up against danger – whether it wears a bridle or not. One to weep your way through (before wiping the tears, and getting back into the saddle).