20 - The Devil's Ark

It was between the ages of 16 and 18 that I read a sizeable number of the books that anyone wishing to claim an interest in literature has to read. And it was during that same period that I managed to get back into reading in a way that I had been neglecting since my childhood. I came to realise that there was a world of literature out there that was essential to my intellectual development - and while I still have a long way to go in that respect, I am glad to have had the time and inclination to make the attempt.

My motivation can be attributed in large part to one man - Stephen Bywater. Taking charge of the literature side of my AS level in English Literature and Language, he taught the subject in the best possible way, opening my mind to entire new schools of thought and ideas that perpetuated my cultural curiosity through university and beyond. So it was only fair that, when he wrote a book, I should give it a read.

The Devil's Ark is an enjoyable piece of pulp-noir horror set in 1930s Iraq as a team of archaeologists attempt to excavate the ancient city of Nineveh. They are joined by photographer Harry Ward, who has been drifting around the world since his release from a mental institution that had been treating his WWI-induced PTSD, and now finds himself in the same region where he experienced that trauma. However his nightmares soon become the least of his worries as the team finds itself plagued by attacks of an apparently supernatural nature, and begin to clash among themselves as well.

The book is as good as you would expect from a writer who has devoted their career to the study of literature and language. Of course it's well-written, the characters are all well-defined and interact in a convincing manner, and the plot develops in a perfectly metered fashion as the tension builds (although contrary to the classic English teacher epithet, we are given a beginning, a middle and something that doesn't quite serve as an end). But what elevates it above being simply a technical exercise in fiction is the way the imagery interplays with the interior monologue, the exploration of mankind's darkest recesses (not surprising to anyone who has experienced one of his lessons on Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber) and a couple of genuinely hair-raising moments of pure horror. On reflection, it surpassed my expectations.

5/5

When it comes to 30s-inspired noir cool, this song serves as as good a soundtrack as any.

So that was 20 books for 2017. I think I was rash to say in my introductory post that I had ever fallen out of love with reading, because the love of it never went away. But I have certainly found that rearranging my life to make more room for it has been beneficial in a number of ways. With that in mind, my target for 2018 is to read just one book - David Foster Wallace's 1200-page juggernaut The Infinite Jest. I may review that here too if I haven't forgotten about all this by then.

Final ranking of all the books read this year, because I like to do that sort of thing:

1. Catch-22 - still yet to come across anything on its level.

2. Micromegas

3. Station Eleven

4. Hard To Be A God

5. The Devil's Ark

6. Anthem

7. Les Steine de la Castafiore

8. Ubik

9. The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds

10. Stories of Your Life and Others

11. Bricking It 

12. Morning Crafts

13. Wake

14. The Road to Little Dribbling

15. Distraction Pieces

16. The Devil Rides Out

17. A Brief History of Time

18. Rushing to Paradise

19. Make Something Up

20. Meditations