Mystic River – Dennis Lehane, 2001 ★★

SPOILER WARNING: People Get Hurt

One big taboo when writing reviews is the spoiler. A reliable rule of thumb is to avoid it whenever possible. In most cases, avoidance is no big deal. But what if a “no spoiler” rule blocks you from discussing 75-80 percent of the work in question? Can you sensibly raise questions about an ending when even discussing the underlying framework of that ending risks telling the reader more than they want to or should know?

The Story Of The Malakand Field Force – Winston Churchill, 1898 ★★★

Making His Mark in the British Raj

For many great literary figures, a first book is like a declaration of principles, a bugle call with resonances that echo for posterity yet can be scarcely audible at the time of publication.

That was my main takeaway from reading this, the earliest book by one of the most famous figures of his century, published even before that century had begun.

Winston Spencer Churchill was many things in a lifetime so packed with incident he was very nearly of retirement age before he got around to doing the stuff people best remember him for.

Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak, 1958 ★★

Forbidden Fruit Is Not Always Sweet

Does declaring a novel forbidden also somehow make it great? It’s a question I am left with after reading Doctor Zhivago, the novel that won its author a Nobel Prize which he couldn’t collect because he was under house arrest for writing Doctor Zhivago.

I can’t think of a better recommendation for a book than that; alas, making the right kind of enemy may be by far the best thing Doctor Zhivago has going for it.