Ned Palmer, A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles, Stephen Lawhead, Hood, Alexander Watson, The Fortress: The Great Siege of Przemysl, John le Carre, The Honourable Schoolboy, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

 'Hood' was recommended by Lucy Mangan as a comfort read, a retelling of Robin Hood set in Wales.  Didn't grip me though, The dialogue was so clunky and cliched. 'Have at thee, thou varlet!' After that though, 3 gripping reads. Yet more on Eastern Europe and the twilight of the Habsburgs, a Le Carre and the new book from Colson Whitehead, a jarring tale of abuse and the dilemma of how to react to the authority of evil and oppression - oppose and suffer or accommodate and survive. I'm a coward, no doubt I'd take the latter. In the world outside books, a vaccine has been developed for the virus and the roll out started yesterday. We are all still distancing and the kids have had to isolate again following cases at school, but there is light at the end of the tunnel now. Unfortunately the light just means we can see the car crash that is Brexit.