Although I don't read crime fiction very often, Runaway by Peter May is more of a mystery thriller. I found the swapping between 1965 and 2015 worked really well as five teenage friends and their elderly selves leave Glasgow for London. I liked the contrasts of the urban and rural landscape as they had changed over the decades. Egg rolls and mugs of tea are replaced by specialist coffees and croissants. In the east end of London, Victoria Hall stands out. And then there is Dr Robert with whom the boys find accommodation, work and other less savory events. He reminded me of the Beatles song, and found the author had too.
Twenty pages in and I knew I was in for a treat. How can Joanna Cannon's first novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep be so good? One reviewer says "Every sentence is an utter joy and every character is perfectly drawn". I loved the way our part time ten year narrator Grace alternates with the third person chapters of her neighbours. Grace is great fun, as is most of the book, even though an underlying dark shadow reveals itself at the end. Although just occasionally trying to liven a sentence for the sake of it doesn't always work. ".... we walked towards home. Past matched lawns and carbon papered lives.... and I tried to make it enough". The hot summer of 1976 gets everyone down, and no wonder.
My first Kingsley Amis and probably my last. Lucky Jim is not as funny or laugh out loud as most of the reviews made out, I only smiled a coupe of times. I found the writing to be very dated, maybe just the language of the fifties no longer appeals. Jim Dixon, the main character, was not at all amusing; I found him just pathetic. All the other main characters were quite splendid, to quote the era. What a difference when I opened a Helen Dunmore novel, the writing sparkled from the first page.
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