An article in today's Times lists the 10 best novels about cricket (the cricket world cup has started, in case you weren't aware). I happen to have read two of the books and warmly recommend them - whether you're interested in cricket or not - as their scope goes well beyond the game:
Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn has a post here, while my thoughts on A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks, originally published elsewhere, are below.
"A novel in five stories, each one linked to its fellows in ways which are subtle and surprising, seemingly coincidental but always telling, this is a book of imagination, delicacy and sensitivity. Perfectly pitched, profound, and beautifully rendered, it explores the possible lives, the paths and opportunities taken or missed, which cross-hatch human existence.
The stories are set in different countries and at different times, their points of connection – or divergence – serving to underscore the book’s theme: whether individuals are actually distinguished, one from another, or are in fact all part of the same vast and interconnected drama, ‘the same joined-up life’.
From a World War Two labour camp to a Victorian workhouse, a 1960s American singer/songwriter whose work pins a life in a few lyrics, and an Italian neuroscientist researching the physical basis of human consciousness, each character and personal history offers much to admire and much to ponder."
Not included in the Times list but very deserving of a mention is of course L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between.
