With Christmas and a January birthday, I’ve had plenty of new books to get my teeth into. I’ve already mentioned the book by Susan Maushart in a previous post. Here’s what I’ve made of the rest: Franzen’s Freedom – disappointing. I’d been looking forward to it so much but I never really warmed to the characters or the theme. Roth’s Nemisis – excellent, and so much better than Indignation. Rowan’s Rule, a biography of Rowan Williams by Rupert Shortt, was a superbly well-researched and well-written biography. Plenty of opportunity to pause and consider meaty themes. Proust’s Overcoat, by Lorenza Foschini, is a short tale aimed at those who, like me, are Proust addicts. Although short, it somehow helped to make the man himself more real.
Another great non-fiction book was Bounce, by Matthew Syed. In it he explains how champions are made not born. With 10,000 hours of focused practice anyone can become the very best at whatever they chose. It is a book rich with examples and shows just how easy it is to be defined by our own limitations. The moment that we take responsibility for our own development is the moment that we can start to realise our ambitions.