Atonement – Ian McEwan

 

I am delighted that my reading project for 2010 seems to be on track. I have just finished reading Ian McEwan's Atonement which was one of the books on the Waterstones' Top 50 books of the Decade list and had actually been sitting on my bookcase for a while.

I'd heard a fair bit of hype around the film adaptation of this, but somehow everything about the book seems to have passed me by a fair bit. A shame really as I thought it was an excellent read. I loved the innocence brought out in the thirteen year old Briony and in particular that magical way in which children of that age think that they understand the world and people around them, only to occasionally realise just how wrongly they have interpreted things.

The book's setting in the 1930s seemed to fit well with a few of the other books I've been reading recently, in particular Brodeck's Report and Suite Francaise, although I did also find that there was something there that really reminded me of The House at Riverton as well. Writing here about the books I read does help me keep them much clearer in my head that if I were not doing so, but at the same time I was surprised at how many times I found myself thinking back to Riverton whilst reading this, especially at the end. 

The reading is continuing though with Sunday being the next meeting of the Not the TV Book Group (or #NTTVBG as it's become on Twitter) and hence I've currently reading Ali Shaw's The Girl with Glass Feet
and completely loving it. I'm finding it difficult to put down and am therefore really looking forward to the discussions on Sunday!