Rose Tremain, Merivel: A Man of his Time, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, Clive King, Stig of the Dump

Merivel was a nice bit of throwaway historical fiction set in the Restoration. A class up from Simon Scarrow. Naturally I agreed with every word of The Spirit Level, even the  bits I didn't read or didn't understand, because it reinforces my prejudices about inequality being a BAD THING. Similarly, all the rebuttals of it are WRONG as they are politically motivated. Obviously I'm joking to an extent, but it does show how little we use facts (or I do anyway) to form our opinions, and how much we use them to back up already formed prejudices. Luckily of course, Reality has a Liberal Bias. Stig of the Dump was fab, wish I'd read it when I was 8 when mucking about in rubbish dumps and making camps and hunting squirrels would have been the best way to spend a summer holiday . Have tried to interest Freddie in a book rather than a picture book, but he doesn't seem ready yet. Also of course, I so rarely do his bedtime as Libby is so insistent on me looking after her. Apparently she spent all of yesterday telling Helen that she liked everyone except Helen. 'Like Bea. . . Like Daddy. . . Like Luke. . . Like Gemma. . . Not Like Mummy, Mummy not sleep with me, Daddy sleep with me'. Helen bribed her with chocolate last night to stay in her bed. It worked, and I had the first whole night's sleep in my own bed for weeks. The precedent has now been set. . .