Old Filth, by Jane Gardam

I'm not positive, but I believe Old Filth may be one of the books responsible for the trip to London I am taking one week from today. My father turns 70 the week after next and we had been talking for months about taking a trip for his birthday, but he kept changing his mind about where he wanted to go. Among the places he suggested were the Faroe Islands, India, New Orleans, Berlin, and Iran. When I went to visit him in late August, he surprised me by saying, "How about London?" He told me he'd read two books set or partly set in London and that had gotten him curious. I gather that the books were set before the war and he'd been doing research on the damage from the Blitz. Separately, he brought me a copy of Old Filth, which he was reading at the time, on a visit to Brooklyn a few months back, but I already owned it (it had been recommended to me by another friend some time ago). In any case, very little of the book is actually set in London, but the acknowledgments include a reference to this bookstore, which I have added to my to-visit list for our trip. I'll have to find out what the second London book he read was.

This book is brilliant with foreshadowing and the way the narrative unfolds. I was nearly sure I knew - and grew ever more suspicious - what would be revealed at the end, but it took the whole book to get there. When all was revealed, it satisfied a desire to know that had been carefully built up from almost the start. As I said, brilliant.

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

I feel like I'm a few years late to The Goldfinch. For a couple of years, a couple years ago, it seemed like everyone was reading and talking about it, and then it went away. I had it on my PaperbackSwap wish list and then, at some point, I took it off because I didn't think I'd actually read it. (I read and didn't particularly care for The Secret History and wasn't sure I wanted to commit to 800 pages to something I might feel similarly ambivalent about.) Then in quick succession, I saw the movie trailer and found a copy of the book at my dad's house, and I decided maybe now was the time. I don't know that I have anything useful to add to the discourse around this book, especially 5 years after everyone else was talking about it. It was an absorbing and engaging read - perfect for the subway (minus the size): I almost missed my stop more than once while reading it. At the same time, I didn't think about it much when I was not reading it, especially after the first 200 pages or so, which I found the most interesting. Though there were a couple parts that really resonated with me. It took me 4 weeks to the day to finish, and my sense of relief when I set it down yesterday was great.