Two very enjoyable
books that were rattled through; although the 800 pages of Vanished Kingdoms
took a fair few sessions on the exercise bike compared to Emil & The
Detectives, which I devoured in a spare hour while Helen was out tap-dancing.
I'm full of admiration for the breadth and confidence of Norman Davies after
his Histories of Europe and Poland, although his idiosyncratic history of the
British Isles, with his thesis that there really is a common 'British' identity
rather than English, Scottish, etc didn't ring true. He's very good at placing
contemporary Europe in context, and pointing out that the current configuration
is far from immutable; Belgium, Italy, Spain or the UK could all split up in
the near future. The referendum on Scottish independence has just been agreed
so is in the headlines, so it was a very timely read. Lots of commentators are
talking about the break-up of the UK and seemingly unaware, as Davies points
out, that the breakup of the UK has already begun when the Irish Free State was
set up - we're already on the path to the UK dissolving.
'Emil & The
Detectives' was a great yarn, I think I nearly cheered out loud when Emil
foiled the thief. What a great read for an 8-11 year old, I'll be recommending
it!
Helen had a day out
at the spa on Saturday so I took F&L into town. Hamley's in the morning,
where Libby did her best to destroy the Lego statues and then the British
Museum in the pm, which they loved. Not for the exhibits, which didn't
register, but for the opportunity to run around an enclosed space. It's Book
Week at Freddie's school this week, and on Thursday he is to go dressed as his
favourite character from a book - he's chosen Asterix, which obviously makes me
happy, bless 'im. Not sure school will allow him to take his sword in though
No comments:
Post a Comment