Top Five Books of 2020

CarltonC: An excellent readable introduction to the history, culture and development of Germany, highlighting 30 episodes/artefacts to make an overall narrative that is very much greater than its parts. Whilst some of it was familiar, there was much history which has also been clarified, making me want to read more. It is educational in the best sense of the word, fascinating, making me want to learn more.

CarltonC: Set in 1950, this is a quiet but powerful novel of loneliness, relationships and the stories we tell, ourselves and others, written with beautiful flowing prose. Highly recommended if you want a slow read.

CarltonC: Narrated by a French Tunisian Jew after a gunman murders tourists on the beach at Sousse in 2015, this novel is told in short, seemingly disjointed short chapters, which brilliantly build up a kaleidoscopic picture of the narrator’s Jewish Tunisian parent’s and her life in Tunisia, followed by their exile/permanent move to France. I found this an engaging and fascinating insight into a country and culture of which I previously knew next to nothing.