[Clive]
Here comes the choice of Norman Geras, proprietor of Normblog. Professor emeritus in government at the University of Manchester, and an authority on Marx, he’s currently rambling around Australia, where he’s cheering on the home side in the Ashes series. (The less said about that, the better. The subject is just too painful for English readers.)
Some time ago I read "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates, and followed up with three other of his novels – "Easter Parade", "Cold Spring Harbor" and "A Special Providence". Somewhere in there I formed the intention of reading all of his work. This year I’ve read two more of the novels: "A Good School" and "Young Hearts Crying". I’ll nominate this last as my pick of the year. I love Yates’s writing. From the first page I feel settled in it, like I’m listening to an old friend talking. The world he describes is often one of hopes on the downward slope to defeat, of the compromises and small deceptions that find their way into the spaces between those living side by side, of the wear and tear of daily lives, and of the humanity that endures within them despite everything. "Young Hearts Crying" isn’t the best of Yates’s novels, but it has all these qualities, and like his other books it tells a gripping story.
The Dish 
