Agatha Christie, Before The Flood, Kapka Kassabova, To The Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, Niklas Natt och Dag, The Wolf And The Watchman, John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley

Two fantastic books in a row. Agatha Chrisie was comfort reading, to the Lake another examination of the nuttiness of ethnic, linguistic and religious differences in the Balkan. The Wolf and the Watchman took the Scandi-noir police procedural, with it's grizzled and flawed investigators, its seedy and depraved underbelly of a respectable society, and misogyny, cruelty and torture and moved them all to 18th Century Stockholm for a really refreshing spin. And then Steinbeck. I've not read much Steinbeck, and none of his non-fiction, but this was incredible. Later in life, Steinbeck sets off in a trailer with his dog Charley to go look for the real America. He writes so well - self-deprecating, honest, insightful. He was away a wee bit too long as he starts having conversations with Charley in print, but what he has to say about the creeping consumerism and materialism in America, and the peculiar issues of the Deep South are still as relevant today.