My reads, not the books that came out this year…

It’s certainly true this year, 2024, had probably the least new activity from me. As a result of all this my blog has been quiet, I hope to improve on that in 2025. That doesn’t mean I stopped reading, and so below are four of the books I enjoyed in 2024. As always I want to try and avoid spoilers, but just give you a taste of what to expect if you were to read any of the listed works below. There are links at the bottom if you wish to investigate further.

Two In The Bush – Gerald Durrell. Books by Gerald Durrell are always a good go-to when you want something easy, but worthwhile. There’s so much to learn about the wildlife of this planet, and as Gerald Durrell makes his discoveries he invites you to join him through his books. Two in the Bush is about a journey through New Zealand and Australia in the 1960s, in an attempt to film and learn, what at the time, was new information to the majority of us on this side of the world. Starting with a trip through New Zealand, seeing what was being done to protect endangered species rare to those islands, the book then crosses over to Australia for the same purpose. As always I thoroughly enjoyed this, Durrell recreates the land, the vistas, the fauna and the flora with insight and wit, as well as in such a way you itch to be there with him. The local characters come to life and you wonder what happened to them after. What is nice is that an internet search from 2024 reveals how some of these projects turned out, and in most cases, the work done back then had a good outcome.

“Just at that moment the skipper of the launch cut the engines down, and we drifted under the cliff, rising and falling on the blue green swell and watching the breakers cream and suck at the jagged cliff some twenty-five feet away. The nose of the crane appeared high above, and from it dangled – at the end of an extremely fragile-looking hawser – something closely resembling a gigantic pig net. The crane uttered a series of clankings, groans and shrieks that were quite audible, even above the noise of the wind and the sea, and the pig net started to descend. Jim gave me a mute look of anguish and I must say that I sympathised with him. I have no head for heights at all and I did not relish, any more than he did, being hauled up that cliff in a pig net slung on the end of a crane that, from the sound of it, was a very frail octogenarian who had been without the benefit of oil for a considerable number of years. Chris, wrapped up in his duffle coat and looking more like a disgruntled Duke of Wellington than ever, started Organising with the same fanatical gleam in his eye that Brian always had in similar situations.
‘Now I want you to go up first, Jim, and get the camera set up by the crane so that you can film Gerry and Jacquie as they land,’ he said. ‘I’ll go up next and get shots of the launch from the net, and then Gerry and Jacquie will follow with the rest of the equipment. Okay?’
‘No,’ said Jim. ‘Why should I have to go first? Supposing the thing breaks just as I get to the top? Have you seen the rocks down here?’
‘Well, if it breaks we’ll know it’s unsafe and go back to Picton,’ said Jacquie sweetly.
Jim gave her a withering look as he reluctantly climbed into the pig net, which had by now landed on the tiny deck of the launch. The skipper waved his hand, there was a most terrifying screech of tortured metal, and Jim, clinging desperately to the mesh of the pig net, rose slowly and majestically into the air, whirling slowly round and round.
‘I wonder if he gets net-sick as well as sea -sick?’ said Jacquie.’”
― Gerald Durrell, Two In The Bush

Stowaway To Mars – John Wyndham. I bought this at a second hand book stall in the early 1990s back home at a market in Milton Keynes, and I’d just never got around to reading it. The last few years saw a sudden burst of enthusiasm from myself for this author and so I dug out this paperback and decided 2024 was finally the year, probably about 30 years late. The story is of a competition to be the first to get a man to Mars. It follows a British team, and all the intrigue and politics connected with such a mission. First published in 1936, this is a fascinating insight into how the future was seen way back then. So many things that weren’t predicted make a huge difference to the way the world works nearly a hundred years later, that this future feels quite primitive. For example, the media interest in the project is almost entirely newspaper-based, how old-fashioned that looks in the days of instant 24/7 news via the internet. Even the way society works and interacts is still very much class-based. Not only is this worth reading for the story, it’s ironically a fun journey back in time.

“There was a short interval of stupefaction before he regained presence of mind enough to relatch the locker and go in search of a pistol. Back in the living-room he reported: “There’s a stowaway aboard, Dale.”
The four stared at him as the remark sank in. Dale grunted, scornfully: “Impossible. The ship’s been guarded all the time.”
“But there is. I saw—”
“And searched before we left.”
“I tell you I saw his foot in the chart locker. Go and look for yourself.”
“You’re sure?”
“Dead certain.”
Dale rose from the control desk and held out his hand.
“Give me that pistol. I’ll settle with him. Now we know where the extra weight was.””
― John Wyndham, Stowaway To Mars

Brunel, The Man Who Built Britain – Steven Brindle. The main shopping centre in Bletchley, where I grew up, was named The Brunel Centre, I’ve no idea why. To child me it was just a name of someone from the past. It wasn’t until I seriously started looking into history that I realised how important this man was to the industrialisation of, not only Britain, but the world! Now, many years later, I have a high respect for what this man achieved so when I came across this book about his life I decided I wanted to know more, also I love trains. Like most biographies, this starts at the beginning, with his parent’s history, and then goes on to tell about Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his achievements as well as his struggles, although it does so by project, rather than entirely chronologically. For instance, it tells the stories of the railways, then the bridges and then ships, even though often these things were happening concurrently. This helps understand the processes, but seeing the bigger picture of his life involves flicking back and forth to remember what was happening at the same time. It’s not too much of a disadvantage and I learnt a whole lot more than I did before I picked up this book. Brunel really was someone to name buildings after, although I still don’t know why he had one in Bletchley.

“For nine weeks, Brunel laboured away for up to 20 hours a day, searching for this ideal route, mostly living on horseback, retreating to country inns when the light faded and working on into the night, snatching a few hours’ sleep, then starting again at dawn. William Townsend seems to have faded from the picture within a few weeks: Brunel had become impatient with his comparatively slack working hours. Instead he called on the services of various local surveyors to help him take levels and annotate the Ordnance Survey maps.”
― Steven Brindle, Brunel, The Man Who Built Britain

High Fidelity – Nick Hornby. This is a very famous novel, and I never really had any impulse to read it, that is until a chance conversation with a friend drew it properly to my attention. I have so many books in my “To Be Read” pile, but I like it when I spontaneously buy a book I feel I need to read then and there and go off on an adventure I hadn’t seen coming. This is what happened here. It’s a story about life not going the way it’s supposed to, and it was due to the fact there are many of these, that I hadn’t really paid too much attention to this one. However as a big fan of the 1990s, for me, the nostalgia in this book was palpable. The main characters would have been way older than me at the time of its setting, but just the atmosphere of England in the 90s is exactly what I look back fondly on. As well as books I love music, and so teenage me was often searching out vinyl in record shops, of the type depicted here, there was one just by the Brunel Centre! As stated, this could be just another “bad relationship” book, but there’s something both amusing and thoughtful about the insights of Rob, the main character, as he deals with (or doesn’t) what life throws at him, as well as the moral issues of just what type of a man is he? All this makes this more than just another relationship novel. Along with the tone and the memories of better times, this seals the deal for me. Where did the England of the 1990s go? I genuinely think it was the best decade I’ve lived in.

“People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.”
― Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

As for me, I had started various new projects but hit, not writer’s block – for I knew exactly what I wanted to write, but something preventing me from really getting into it. I’ve said elsewhere this was the realisation that I knew my previous work could be improved. I’d learnt so much up until now and being a self-published writer, I was in a position to go back and redraft, and so I realised this is what I needed to do: redraft EVERYTHING before I could go forward! Therefore my goal, my need, for 2024 became clear.

Amidst a change job in my real life, one day I may make enough money to live from my writing, things became busy, however, I was able to complete Humanity, Framed of Rathgar, Indoldrum and the first series of Beck’s Game; I’m currently halfway through the second series so hope to get that out before the end of the year. Although I was surprised at how much I enjoyed properly reading these works again, I feel at ease now that they have been pushed to a higher bar.

This leaves me the relatively easy task of Series Three and some other bits and bobs for next year, and then I’m clear to get going on something new. What that is, I don’t know – if I continue with a stalled project or want to go from scratch with one of many new ideas I’ll wait to see how I feel. Of course, in addition, there is much to be read. Bring on 2025!

Buy Two In The Bush – Gerald Durrell
Buy Stowaway To Mars – John Wyndham
Buy Brunel, The Man Who Built Britain – Steven Brindle
Buy High Fidelity – Nick Hornby

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