I seem to be in a minority in not loving Ancient Light by John Banville. I have to say that I struggled with his Man Booker prizewinning The Sea and this was no different. The story was OK, but the narrative suffers as our narrator contemplates seemingly endless diversions. However, the writing is at times brilliant: "In the deserted dining room all the tables are set, the gleaming cutlery and the sparkling napery laid out just so, like an operating theatre where multiple surgical procedures will presently be carried out". The best bit is the ending, not because it was over, but is such a good conclusion. Though this time, far too brief.
The Cuckoo's Calling was much better than I had envisaged, or was it that after some heavier literature it was good to read something light. Robert Galbraith (JKR) gives us masses of dialogue which is generally well written. The only problem is that the interviewing of one witness after another gets a bit repetitive. But of it's type, a good detective story.
I enjoyed the first half of Clever Girl, Stella's early life was always interesting. It was just that it then seemed to run out of steam. However, the writing has a light touch which suits the story, Tessa Hadley has obviously put in a lot of her own experiences. These are never boring.
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