January 17, 2010
#2 - Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith Cometh the weather, cometh the literature… The last remnants of snow and ice have finally disappeared under the glare of the winter sun, removing all evidence of what has been something approaching a month of cold and misery. As our country skidded to a halt two very appropriate books made by way to the top of the pile on my bedside table - Gorky Park and One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn. I plumped for the former, mainly because I’d not read it before. The latter deserves another visit though and it will stay on my shortlist. Gorky Park, which opens in a wintry Moscow, is one of those much-lauded books that I know, primarily, from watching about five minutes of the film version sometime in my dim and distant past. Given that this year could be my year of crime (about which more later) it seemed a natural choice. What I can say is that it took a fair while for me to get into - long enough that I considered putting it back in the pile. In fact, it’s only because I didn’t want to start my year’s reading with a quick surrender that I stuck with it. I’m glad I did. Glad enough to be faintly annoyed (secretly pleased) that there are two more books in this (loose) trilogy to look forward to. Those of you that visited the USSR back when it was the USSR will recognise some of the characters and acknowledge the accuracy of some of the situations that Renko (the hero) finds himself in; not from first-hand evidence (I hope) but because what’s written feels so right. There are more than enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and, for the most part (in particular, the rump of the book that it set in Russia), it is a great read, better even than Child 44, which I enjoyed so much last year. Perfect reading for that ski trip you’re planning.

#2 - Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

Cometh the weather, cometh the literature…

The last remnants of snow and ice have finally disappeared under the glare of the winter sun, removing all evidence of what has been something approaching a month of cold and misery.

As our country skidded to a halt two very appropriate books made by way to the top of the pile on my bedside table - Gorky Park and One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn. I plumped for the former, mainly because I’d not read it before. The latter deserves another visit though and it will stay on my shortlist.

Gorky Park, which opens in a wintry Moscow, is one of those much-lauded books that I know, primarily, from watching about five minutes of the film version sometime in my dim and distant past. Given that this year could be my year of crime (about which more later) it seemed a natural choice.

What I can say is that it took a fair while for me to get into - long enough that I considered putting it back in the pile. In fact, it’s only because I didn’t want to start my year’s reading with a quick surrender that I stuck with it.

I’m glad I did. Glad enough to be faintly annoyed (secretly pleased) that there are two more books in this (loose) trilogy to look forward to.

Those of you that visited the USSR back when it was the USSR will recognise some of the characters and acknowledge the accuracy of some of the situations that Renko (the hero) finds himself in; not from first-hand evidence (I hope) but because what’s written feels so right.

There are more than enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and, for the most part (in particular, the rump of the book that it set in Russia), it is a great read, better even than Child 44, which I enjoyed so much last year.

Perfect reading for that ski trip you’re planning.

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