The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

This one is an oldie, but a goodie, a truly chilling variation on the wellwork apolcalyptic theme. I suspect the early Cold War (the book was written in 1951) permeates the text with the not unjustified paranoia. There is no real climax, no real resolution of the problems concommitant with the existence of giant sentient plant forms capable of disabling and killing humans once nearly all the human race has been blinded by a freak meteor shower. There is the cliche of a warning to scientists tampering with nature - we aren't really good at taking heed of those warnings are they? - and, at the end, a warning that fascism is not the answer to creating order out of chaos, even if it is in the ruins of a civilisation where nearly everyone is helpless. (I don't think the Britons of 1951 needed too much warning about the evil potential of fascism either.)

Rating 8 out of 10.

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

This one stays with you. A study of the family relationships of two very different men, who, however, are friends. Great characters, and the interesting spectacle of someone who states that he does not believe in anything and then stresses out when he does. A very sad ending, but detailed character studies for which the classic Russian novelists are famous. Recommended.

Rating 10 out of 10.

The Pit and the Pendulum - Edgar Allan Poe

This one was a genuinely scary short story about a fellow trapped in a torture chamber during the Inquisition and in peril of a terrible death from a dreadful bladed piece of apparatus. It ends too quickly, though, with the situation being resolved in a couple of sentences. It must have been strikingly original when it was first published.

8 out of 10

The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

This is really a long short story, of course, and it is a very amusing one. A rather stuffy Russian official inexplicably loses his nose, which somehow gets the ability to move around independently and cause all sorts of problems until, in an equally inexplicable development, it returns to its proper place. Very strange, Kafkaesque. Wonder what Gogol was on.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

What can anyone possibly say about this one that has not been said dozens of times before? Austen's account of the trials and tribulations of a family of daughters whose relationships with three very different men form the core of the novel, is just one facet of it. She writes with a rapier like pen on the follies of all concerned, and arch social commentaries abound. Jane Austen knew her human beings. The characters are exquisitely drawn, but for some reason I was particularly drawn to the dunderheaded Mr Collins and his tactless fatuosity, and the infuriatingly stupid Mrs Bennet - how Mr Bennet has, presumably, kept his hands from her throat for over twenty years is beyond my ken.

But of course, the central love interest is Lizzie and Mr Darcy, whose given name is the unlikely Fitzwilliam, not that it is used much in the novel. It would be an interesting exercise to compare and contrast his funny old aunt with Miss Betsy Trotwood from David Copperfield - nice little article in there for someone. It is a theme that has been used so many times before - girl meets man who is nasty, hates him, finds out he is not that bad and then lets him win her back. Interesting to read the original of this well used plot - but I suspect it was not that original in Jane Austen's time either.

The narrative dragged a little for me, not because of the pacing, but because of the long sentences, sometimes in indirect speech. We're just not used to this, in the age of Twitter, and sometimes I lost the plot, or rather, the point of the sentence. Don't let that bother you, this was a fun and sometimes a laugh out loud (Mr Collins again) funny read. I reckon you'll like it.

9 out of 10.

The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

What could I possibly say about this that no one has said before? Although it has dated a bit, with Nixon dead and the Cold War over, it is still a chilling look at an alternate future, wonderfully paced and elegantly drawn and an obvious inspiration for the raison d'etre for Marvel's Civil War. The characters are great - even the nastiest one has some good points, and the one who is apparently the nicest one is not. The interpersals of the stories -the one about the bird, and especially the one about the pirates are relevant and deftly done. I have the suspicion that I missed a great deal in my first read of this book, and it seems to be a common experience. One to be read again. And again.

9 out of 10.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman

This short story - I doubt that it is even a novella or novelette - took me a fifteen minute bus ride to read. I had never heard of it before but it is apparently a very early offering in feminist fiction.

A young woman is confined in a home by her husband, a doctor, who assures her that it is for her own best interests. Gradually, she slips into - or seems to slip into - a kind of insanity manifested by her curious relationship with the yellow wallpaper in her room, which she at first loathes but later becomes, shall we say, very comfortable with.

The work is based on the treatment which Gillman herself received from the renowned early psychologist, S Weir Mitchell, and is critical of Mitchell's methods. It's a powerful piece of work, you are never quite sure whether the narrator is sane or not, and the writing constantly propels the reader forward as the volatile patient's attitude towards her husband, the world outside and the yellow wallpaper changes. Well worth reading.

9 out of 10.