Waiting for Sunrise, Not The End Of The World and The Reuctant Fundamentalist

William Boyd is such a good story teller. The first half of the book is a joy. Lysander Rief is in Vienna in 1913 to see a British psychiatrist, and meets for the first time Hettie Bull. But it is his experiences in that city that are the real delight. But knowing Boyd, things start to get nasty. And from then on we are in thriller territory, and sometimes the plot overwhelms the prose. But this is a satisfying tale, and although it is almost designed to follow "Any Human Heart", "Restless" and "Ordinary Thunderstorms" to the TV, it is well written and a real page turner.

I'm not a big fan of short stories, but this is something else. It was the only book written by Kate Atkinson that I hadn't read, and I'm so glad I did. They could easily be described as "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" to borrow the title of Edgar Allan Poe's collection. Each has a grounding in reality whilst at the same time being somewhat fantastical. I have no knowledge of Greek Gods, but they obviously have a lot to answer for. Each story is a perfect little gem, and there are occasionally little connections between them that have you trying to remember where you heard a name before. But what really stands out is the writing. Typical Atkinson, sharp, witty, intelligent, modern. In fact everything I love in a book. Pure genius.

A gripping and enthralling short novel,"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid has an underlying feeling of menace. You, the reader,are an American "visitor" (what are you really?) to an old district Lahore when you are accosted by Changez. He persuades you to stop at a cafe and listen to his story. He is an educated Pakistani who knows about your country from personal experience. His story is wonderfully described, but this is a one sided conversation. You hardly get a look in, although you seem to have declined to say something about yourself. Maybe because his experiences are so much more interesting. Although still quite young, he seems to have had a successful career so why is he trying so hard to throw it all away.  So this is an original way of telling a story. It puts the USA in the spotlight and asks questions about it's hostile attitude to other parts of the world and how that might effect normal people. As Changez says "I am a lover of America", but is he really?