The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

Richard & Judy's book club is in its third bookboosting year, and today they were discussing another book I haven't read yet:

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

by Eva Rice

Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't not-read-it because it's such a girly-looking book, or for any snobby reasons - I've been impressed by the quality of the books chosen for the show each year (although there are always one or two books that no bloke would ever read, given the choice) - I just haven't managed to nab a copy from any of the local libraries I haunt.

Of the ten books on this year's list I have actually read three of them already. Yes, really. Three! I bet you thought I spent all my time blogging and not-reading didn't you?

I enjoyed The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. At times it reminded me of one of my favourite books of the last ten years: The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, as well as The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Impressively, The History of Love came recommended not just by Richard and Judy, but by two of my favourite writers: JM Coetzee (who described it as "charming, tender and wholly original") and Ali Smith ("a beauty of a book, totally alive...") It certainly is a beautiful book, in a similar vein to The Shadow of the Wind from last year's list - not as atmospheric, but certainly more poignant. How can we not take Leo Gursky to our hearts when presented with such a lonely existence: "All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen," he says.

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes was on the Booker Prize shortlist last year and the real life events it depicts were the subject of a recent BBC2 documentary. To be honest, I think anyone who saw that documentary will be frustrated by the slowness of the book. Fascinating as the story is, for me it fell rather flat compared to his previous work. But I'll come back to Barnes when I discuss not-having-yet-read A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Meanwhile, in its characters' quest for a long-missing stuffed bird, The Conjuror's Bird by Martin Davies has echoes of Barnes' classic Flaubert's Parrot, but is much more in the page-turner mould of a Robert Goddard thriller. On the literary spectrum it lies somewhere between AS Byatt's Possession and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. But then, what doesn't? And talk of The Da Vinci Code brings me to Kate Mosse 's Labyrinth - another book involving a quest for the Holy Grail - which shifted 52,000 copies the week after it was featured (with Richard being particularly enthusiastic).

It's usually good fun to try and predict the winner of these literary contests, but this year it looks like a foregone conclusion. Even before the first book was opened (by the readers or the bookies) Labyrinth was the obvious front-runner. Maybe it will be my featured book-I-haven't-read-yet when it is announced as the winner on Saturday April 1st - or maybe I will actually read that one as well!

The ten books featured on Richard & Judy's Book Club 2006 are: