Apparently made into a 2019 movie which I'll watch
Cloudstreet
Tim Winton
My notes
The best novel I've ever read I think
Slice of life, a sprawling family drama over 20 years
Makes me want to read more about my home town/state
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
My notes
Midlife crisis meets coming-of-age story
Sad, but also very funny and hopeful
Great writing, very English, highly enjoyable
The Factory
Hiroko Oyamada
My notes
Very disorienting — hard to get a sense of time or place
An arduous read, but ironically that may have been the point (a critique of mindless work and capitalism)
Has that "Kafkaesque" uneasiness throughout
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
My notes
Demolished in about two days. Total page-turner
Kind of fronts as a murder mystery but actually more about Christopher and his autism/Aspergers
Book came out in 2003, apparently considered controversial now (exaggerated/insensitive?) which is actually a shame because I felt it really made me think about what it must be like to live with it
All in all, a great and very unique book
The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley
My notes
This is screaming out to be a BBC mini series (in production at the moment I believe)
Fun and vivid writing
Rom com, sci fi (time travel), history, spy thriller, dystopia, very human connection
Genre-bending
More about the setting, characters and fun than the details per se. Many details left out or left unsaid
Stinkbug
Sinead Stubbins
My notes
Kind of like Silicon Valley meets White Lotus
Corporate cult thriller
Unhinged work culture satire
Explores corporate hypocrisy — "we're a family", wellness and "values"
