To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

It was a while before I tuned in to the writing style, which captures in text something of the internal thought processes of the characters, but once I was comfortable with it the added dimension of realism proved very powerful. Again we are in "family in a country house" territory. In the first section the action is all in the characters' heads and almost nothing happens externally. In the middle section the style changes completely as much happnes off stage and much time passes, then we return to the initial setting and style for the final section; at the end of which the trip to the lighthouse is finally achieved. Rich, complex and rewarding writing which brings to life a varied cast of characters, illumnated from within rather than observed from outside.

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The Hour - Michael Hutchinson

Michael Hutchinson's book is an account of his attempt to beat Chris Boardman's record for the greatest distance cycled in an hour. Hutchinson tells the story with flashes of humour and occasional lashings of irony. The book also provides a wealth of background information about cycling as a sport, the hour record in particular and the greats of cycling history. Thoroughly entertaining in a thoroughly British way and highly recommended.

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Ring - Koji Suzuki

The trouble with reading novels in translation is that it's not clear where the boundary lies between the original author and the translator. When all seems to work well, as with Philip Gabriel's translation of Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore", it can be ignored but in the present case I wonder how my dissatisfaction should be shared between Koji Suzuki and Robert B. Rohmer/Glynne Walley. Certainly there seem to be many extraneous Westernisms that don't sit comfortably in a novel so firmly set in Japan, both geographically and psychologically. One assumes these may be laid at the translators' door. That the novel fails to generate a sense of horror, in spite of reiterating frequently that the protagonist feels the pressure of impending doom is more difficult. Wherever the blame ultimately lies, the book fails to engage and the supposed mechanism of death is unconvincing.

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Atonement - Ian McEwan

The significance of the title only really comes through at the end of this evocative and involving novel. Before that we are treated to McEwan's spin on the "family in the country house" story and an intense portrayal of soldiers involved in the British retreat to Dunkirk at the start of World War Two and the nurses in England receiving the casualties on their return to Britain. The writing is masterful and the perspective thrown on the rest of the book by the final scenes is thought provoking and affecting.

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