Robin Stevens, Murder Most Unladylike

Oh, that was good.. It came about because Libby's friend Lauren is reading the series at the moment. We bought her one in Waterstone's in Guildford, and the assistant, a grown man, gushed at how fantastic the series were and how obsessed he and his flatmate were. It's nothing revolutionary, but it's a well-crafted combination of Mallory Towers style boarding-school adventure and a locked room mystery. I'm far from the target demographic, but really enjoyed it! Why was I buying Lauren a book? It was on Libby's birthday, and I took the girls ice skating. Lauren had a fall and hurt her arm, so we cut it short. We had pizza for lunch and her arm was starting to feel better. So we went swimming in the afternoon. Then Lauren's mum picked her up and took her to gymnastics. The next day the arm was a bit swollen and so her mum took Lauren to the drop-in centre. Turns out she had fractured her arm. On my watch. And then I took her swimming. I owe her a book or two.

Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish, William S Burroughs, The Naked Lunch, Malcolm Hislop, How To Read Castles

Helen and I have been watching 'The Witcher' on Netflix, the latest attempt to fill the GoT gap in the schedules. Helen is really enjoying it, but I'm finding it a bit meh. However, I read an interview with the author of the books, and he came across as very dry and funny, so I wondered what the books would be like. It was an enjoyable slice of fantasy, much more than the tv series, but nothing really made me want to read more. It was certainly an easier read than 'The Naked Lunch', which I trudged through. No narrative to speak of, just a serious of disonected vignettes filtered through a drug addled hallucinogenic lens. 'How To Read Castles' was pitched just right. Freddie could have picked it up and learnt from it, it was written in such an accessible, organised way. The true test will be to take it to a castle and see how useful it is. So that's what we will be doing at Easter, whether the rest of the family want to or not!

David Markson, Wittgenstein's Mistress, Robert Macfarlane, Underland: A Deep time Journey

Wittgenstein's Mistress was one single stream of consciousness from the last surviving human on the planet. She was an unreliable narrator of course, and presumably mad, although how much was true and how much her fantasy is not clear. 'Underland' has had fabulous reviews and Robert Macfarlane gets a lot of praise on Twitter, but I didn't like it at all. Possibly I'm just too familiar now with the genre and have turned cynical. It's vicarious nature writing for the urban, urbane reader who wants to be at one with nature, receiving profound wisdom and a better lifestyle from communing with an unspoilt environment. all the charcarters met in these books are poets, or immensely talented musicians or craftsmen, as well as being world authorities on caving, or fungi, or tidal erosion, as well as living in windmills or on boats or in a hammock in a mountain cave. It's all wish-fulfilment tosh and what remains unsaid about all these characters (who are undoubtedly exaggerated and had their potted biographies very carefully curated), is that they are only able to live these lives because they have massive trust funds or made a fortune in the city at Daddy's bank.

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up The Bodies

Just wonderful. Cromwell walking the tightrope and deftly dancing around all the conflicting interests and courtiers that wish him ill while managing to make real a king's whims. Can't wait for the 3rd book in March. At home, William is coming in to his own and developing his own character. He's had trouble with speech and doesn't pay much attention to people either at home or school, but he's still a charmer. He took some chocolate 'dinosaur poo' into school on Friday for Show & Tell, and when he came home proudly announced that as a direct result he now has a girlfriend. A teacher must have said something to him, because he then declared 'Well, it's one way of getting a girlfriend!' Later on he rushed to the loo, and after the flush stated loudly 'That's that mystery solved!'  I investigated no further.

Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fraz Kafka, Metamorphosis, Martyn Rady, The Habsburg Empire: A Very Short Introduction

I think that's the third time reading Wolf Hall, and I'm still spotting new things, Little throwaway lines or comments that you realise with hindsight will have massive repercussions later on - the appearance of Mark Smeaton, of Jane Seymour, Cromwell's profound thoughts about what he will have to do or forego to survive and navigate his way through court politics, and the quiet, assured and competent way he goes about avenging Wolsey. Just about to start Bring Up The Bodies so I am ready for the release of the third book, The Mirror and The Light, in March. I've booked the day off work to read it. 'Metamorphosis' was darkly comic and more of a satire of bourgeois mitteleuropean morality than I had realised. Apparently the biggest issue about having a son turn into a cockroach is what the lodgers and neighbours will think. 'The Habsburg Empire' was perfect for me. Facts and quirks that could be read in an hour or so and provide the most superficial understanding of a subject. It was part of the Oxford 'Very Short Introduction' series, and I think this could well become a rich seam of reading material. Very close to finishing the '100 essential novels', although the thumping 1000+ pages of 2666 and Anna Karenina are intimidating me from the bedside chest of drawers.