Michael Pye, Antwerp: The Glory Years

 I've just been out and spent a fortune on all the books I have wanted to buy since September, and the first one I read is one that wasn't even on the list. An impulse purchase in Waterstones' half-price hardback sale, and not a history of Antwerp as I had assumed, but a telling of Antwerp's golden age in the 16th Century. I whizzed through it somewhat, but a nice easy read to end the year. Tomorrow if all goes to plan I'm going to cycle round London and do some IRL Zwifting as it should be quiet on The Mall and Whitehall for a change

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

 'It took me a while to get into it - the orignial intention was to read it in instalments in the same way it was published, but I found it tough to follow and distinguish between pickwickians. The arrival of Sam Weller changed all that, and all of a sudden there was an engaging character to follow through the story, By the end I was very happy to see his good fortune. We're in Twixtmas at the moment, although I am still working so it isn't the normal cheese quality street and sofa period. I didn't feel great over christmas following my booster, so I need to get back in the habit of exercising properly. I also came off the wagon spectacularly with my book buying after the self-imposed moratorium. I'll try and do a similar thing for books and booze between Jan and my birthday and try and buy neither. Will see how I get on - there will, of course, need to be the occasional discreet exception 

David McCullough, John Adams

 Back on home territory, and I feel I know and admire Adams far more than before. The preening, pompous quasi-monarchist I had pictured was a kind, faithful, honest man. The complexity of the founding fathers is an endless study, it's like different aspects, foibles and personalities of ancient gods. Which in a way, they are. Christmas is approaching, the omicron virus variant is spreading at record levels throughout the UK and we don't know what the situation will be at Christmas. Helen has had a booster jab, I have mine tomorrow, but Freddie is not yet eligible for his and Libby and William aren't vaccinated at all. At the same time whoever in the media has been protecting Boris Johnson has cut loose and every day more and more damaging stories are emerging about how he and his administration have flouted the lockdown rules. He looks like a dead man walking, but then it's always been obvious that he is completely unsuitable for public office, why did we have to suffer 2 years of his incompetent premiership to find out what we knew already

Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Blood & Sugar

 'I shouldn't have bothered. The book is a period murder mystery set in 18th Century Deptford and revolving round the iniquities of slavery. It was awful though. The dialogue was clunky, a sample from a random page being ' Forgive me for interrupting your breakfast, but I require a few minutes of your time'. Maybe an attempt to write in the perceived elevated tones of the times, but it just sounded clumsy. Add in to that a dull as ditchwater main character, one dimensional and of course, the white saviour destined to solve the case. When the murderer turned out to be a black slave, well. . . uggh. 'But he was brutalised by his white masters, don't you see? It's actually a very clever commentary on the depravities of slavery and how it debases us all. Except the white saviour of course'.

John Le Carre, The Russia House, Eduardo Galeano, Football in Sun and Shadow

 The Russia House was my read on the best day of the year, the day I drop the car off for a service and MOT in Farncombe and have to kill a few hours in Guildford. I hung found on coffee shops, pubs and tea rooms doing the crossword and reading. Got the christmas shopping finished too. The normal complex, cynical second-guessing cold war paranoia of Le Carre, he was a truly great writer. Galeano was an impulse purchase, the first book I've bought to read myself since September as part of a self-imposed embargo. I'm not sure of the point of the embargo, at least it means there are things I want for christmas. I think I may finally have understood the concept of delayed gratification, as I fully intend to be buying all of them on Boxing Day

Daniel Walker Howe, What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

 An 800 page doorstop, one of many 800 page doorstops that have been sitting in my garage for far too long and causing the shelves to bow. An incredibly detailed overview of a pivotal time in American history, when a few colonies clinging to the eastern seaboard expanded to cover a continent. One thing that will stick with me is the map of James Polk's plan for US expansion, which included most of Mexico and Cuba, a huge southward expansion. The book covers the incorporation of Texas, the war with Mexico which doubled the territory of the US and the expansion into the Oregon territory too. It's undeniable that the USA has done more than any other nation to spread democracy, liberty and prosperity throughout the world, but at the same time this has been done by exploitation, slavery, aggressive militarism, dishonesty and double-dealing. a very complicated dual inheritance which makes american history so fascinating. 

Colin Dexter, The Way Through The Woods

 A later Morse, set in the early '90s but still very dated in parts. There are the remnants of a very conservative outlook on social matters - unmarried couples in hotels being something to remark on, illicit dirty magazines and far too many unnecessary mentions of bosoms and other parts of the anatomy. It's also a world without the internet and mobile phones which seems incredible now. Morse has to phone the local education authority to find out term dates, people can genuinely disappear without trace or use someone else's passport. The Past is another country. Morse remains an irresistible character though. Curmudgeonly, pedantic, preening but with that first-class mind that enables him to see what others cannot. I'm running low on rereads though, just two to go. Maybe Flashman next, or back to the Poirots. Perhaps something new - PD James? Or back to Wallander. . . 

Robert Ford et al, The British General Election of 2019

Have been waiting a long time for this. My copy was late arriving and it appears to have been in great demand - or poor distribution by the publishers. As always with what I grew up calling the Butler Series, it's the first draft of history; an objective, analytic, dispassionate review of the 2019 GE, the Brexit election which was such a disaster for the Labour Party. It was always going to be a disaster as Labour faced an impossible task - full-throated backing for Brexit would have seen them haemorrhage remainer support and been completely out of line with the sentiments of the vast majority of the party's MPs and members, but supporting remain means losing those key Brexit-supporting voters that Labour needed to gain seats. The tightrope Labour managed to walk in 2017 came adrift this time, and the shifting demographics of support for the two main parties was accelerated. Labour increasingly are the party of the urban, the young, the university-educated and ethnic minorities rather than being the class-based party they were for so long. Added into this, is the toxicity of Corbyn. Of course he has been unfairly traduced and vilified, and his manifestoes in 2019 and 2019 enthused me far more than anything else I've seen from Labour in my lifetime, but many millions more felt differently to me. the Labour party is now back under the control of the right wing of the party, who are now doubling down in their attempts to ensure the left never ever hold power in the party again. I'm not interested in an anti-democratic, left-hating party whose aim is to gain power to ensure there are no socialist changes in the UK. there is already one very electorally successful party that does that, another one is just greedy. Let's see what happens, but it's hard for me to look at some of the awful people in the shadow cabinet and the wider PLP and wish them well. but as Mandelson said, where does the left have to go? 

Andrew Caldecott, Wyntertide

 A sequel to Rotherweird, set in a strange anachronistic town cut off from the rest of England where advanced science and magic mix. I struggled with the first as it was so complex, but decided to dive into the second as it had such excellent reviews from people worth listening to, notably Hilary Mantel. However, I struggled even more than with the first, couldn't distinguish between characters and didn't really understand what was going on. Perhaps this is partly because I rushed through it as 'The British General election of 2019' has arrived, and I can't wait to read it. I know it will be painful, but I'm looking forward to a dispassionate assessment of what was a disastrous result for Labour. From my perspective things have got even worse since, and I'm close to leaving the party than ever. An uninspiring, promise-breaking leader, insipid policies, the continuing stranglehold on the party by the right and the expulsions, suspensions and fixed elections of anyone who speaks up against them, all at a time when we should be leading the charge against an incompetent and corrupt government. I can't see a way back for Labour in its current form, I hope I am proved wrong.

Peter Ackroyd: The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling

 Been on the shelves for a long time in the garage, and it looks like it has been nibbled by mice! It's a shame as it is a beautiful looking book. A very fun retelling, although some of the stories drag on a bit. All the exuberance of Chaucer but with the concomitant crudities, to misquote Kind Hearts and Coronets. Helen has been away for a well-deserved break this weekend, back tonight. I've just about coped with the kids so far, but with Wil's funeral on Friday, taking the cubs for a night hike and sleepover and the dentist today, it has all been a bit much. Will be very glad to see her this evening! Wil's funeral was heart-breaking, I can't imagine how desolated Heidi and the children are, we should have been better friends and I kick myself that we lost touch in recent years. 

Judith Herrin, Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

 Maybe overplaying the centrality of Ravenna to early medieval europe, but it is fascinating to read about the strange mix of Latin, Greek and Gothic and Catholic, Orthodox and Arian traditions that melded together in Ravenna and it does look a truly beautiful city - certainly some of the churches are astonishing. Maybe I'll get there one day on my cycle tour of europe. I'm trying to interest the family in a trip to Malmesbury Abbey to see where King Athelstan was buried, but it's not attracting much interest, To be fair, apparently there isn't even a tomb though, so it would be underwhelming as well as involving 4 hours in the car with the kids complaining. My Fiction Tsundoku pile has a few doorstops like Ducks, Newburyport, A Place of Greater Safety and Lonesome Dove which are staring at me. I'll have to tackle at least one soon, but it is going to affect my run rate. I heard yesterday that a friend from College has passed away. He was a great guy, funny, articulate and we joked that he only hung around with us until he found better, more suitable and glamourous friends. We always had such fun whenever we met up and should have got together far more often. We had lost touch since having kids and now the opportunity is gone. There's a lesson there. His poor wife and children.

Colin Dexter, The Jewel That Was Ours

 I think I've said this before, but Morse has really dated. Astonishingly unacceptable words like 'nymphet' and respectable men openly fantasising about rape.  Having said that, Morse remains a compelling character and the police procedural is always good fun as he solves the puzzle. 

James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

 All very confusing, I bought this as I thought I had really enjoyed Agee's 'A Death in the Family' which I read as part of the 100 essential novels. However, it turns out I was thinking about Robert Penn Warren's 'All The King's Men', a fictionalised biography of Huey Long. Reading the synopsis of 'a Death in the Family' I don't remember it at all, and 'Let Us now Praise Famous Men' was really hard work and difficult to describe. It's far more than the reportage on poverty-stricken rural white Alabama sharecroppers expected, and quickly becomes experimental with literary forms, musings on the nature of writing, and 100 page descriptions of rooms. I ended up skim-reading, again. On the bright side, my covid isolation ended today and I could leave the house and go for a run. Autumn has arrived, the common is transformed with leaves underfoot and frost everywhere. I feel like I've been robbed of two weeks of ideal running weather. Still, if that is my major concern I've been let off covid very lightly.

Eric Ambler, Epitaph For A Spy

 That's the ticket, a period thriller with some shady mitteleuropeans, brash americans and supercilious Frenchmen. I was completely suckered, and like the narrator thought the spymaster was an idiot making stoopid decisions, and then the big reveal showed he knew all along what he was doing. More Agatha Christie or John Buchan than John Le Carre, but good fun and yet more isolation reading. i must feel better, I've just eaten a whole packet of jelly babies left over from trick or treat. THFC played their first game under Conte last night, I would have been there if I hadn't been isolating. I'm absolutely thrilled by his appointment, but I can't see it ending well, he is too big for Spurs and there is no way Levy will back him financially. Still, let's enjoy the ride. Last night we went 3-0 up, then let in 2 soft goals and had our best defender sent off 60 minutes in. somehow Vitesse managed to then get 2 of their players sent off, including the goalkeeper. Absolutely mad and thoroughly enjoyable. No idea what Conte made of it though, lets hope he can conte Spurs rather than Spurs spursing Conte

William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: the Relentless Rise of the East India Company

 More of a skim than a read. I have really enjoyed William Dalrymple's travel writing, but his historical work is such a slog. Impeccably researched and he obviously loves India, but it was dry stuff. He's no apologist for the EIC and it's corporate criminal exploitation of a subcontinent to enrich a few stockholders. I'm still isolating, and would go mad if it wasn't for the sessions on the exercise bike. In the meantime, Helen has to deal with pick up and drop off and all the outside chores on top of a very demanding job. At least we are not self-isolating at the same time. I'm released on Sunday so will see how it goes. In the meantime after a rough couple of days I'm feeling fine now, hopefully that's it for me.

Ursula Le Guin, a Wizard of Earthsea

 One book, one entry? Let's see how long this lasts. I've been meaning to read this for ages, but it wasn't the revolutionary upturning of traditional fantasy I was expecting. Main character still a boy, female characters either evil or servants or beautiful aristocrats. apparently  this all gets turned on its head in book 4, by which time Le Guin had seen that she was conforming to the mind forg'd manacles of how fantasy should be written. I'm still isolating, but feeling much better although I am wheezing a bit and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit scared. Thankfully everyone else seems to be unaffected, although all the burden is falling on poor Helen at the moment. To make things worse, Mum has apparently been diagnosed with dementia, waiting to hear more from Dad but bloody hell.

Colin Dexter, The Wench is Dead, Shaun Bythell, Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops, Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles, John Boughton, Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman and the Mountain of Light, Chris Wrigley, Arthur Henderson

 A week's worth of reading, far more than usual because we have been restricted in our movements. Libby tested positive for COVID and had to self-isolate, so our plans for half-term had to be scratched, and instead we had a quiet time at home, so lots of reading. a week after Libby tested positive I did too, and am just in to my isolation period. I am starting to feel better after a rough few days, but I can feel it in my chest, have shortness of breath and notice it when climbing the stairs. Everyone else is still testing negative, so let's see what happens. Given my invalid status it's been easy comfort reads. Back to Morse and Flashman, and I'm sure I've said this before but it is incredible how dated Morse is. Casual sexist and racist attitudes are normal, even charming and whimsical rather than bigoted or predatory behaviour. Incredible to think how much society has changed its views on what is acceptable behaviour. Still a long way to go though. Flashman has the excuse of being a Victorian for his own prejudices though, but Morse still feels contemporary to me, or near-contemporary. 'The Song of Achilles' was wonderful, a poetic, erotic retelling of the Siege of Troy as a love story between Achilles and Patroclus. I loved Madeline Miller's 'Circe' too, here's hoping for more retelling of the Greek myths from her. 'Municipal Dreams' had the expected result at making me rage at the folly and cynicism of the destruction fo council housing from the 80s onwards and its move from an aspirational, well-built homes for heroes to jerry-built last resort housing. What a state our country is in as a result. The biography of Arthur Henderson was a reminder of the eternal battle in the Labour Party between those who seek to replace capitalism and those who seek to work with it. Henderson was very much the latter and would have been at home in Keir Starmer's Labour Party, and led the calls for Corbyn to be expelled. I didn't realise quite how anti-the left he was, I only knew him as one of the 'good guys' during the bankers' ramp that didn't jump ship and betray the Labour Movement

Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

 All these wonderful books that I read and don't write anything about or take time to pause and digest, but the one I pick is a corporate entrepreneurial self-help guide. Not something I would voluntarily read, as it serves a practical purpose and reading is an esoteric activity that should be enjoyed for itself, not because of any tangible gains or improvements as a result. Reading is to be enjoyed, not applied to the real world. There is part of me that wants to do a good job though, and if this helps then hey-ho. The reason I read it was because my company have introduced a 'Spirit Day' which each of us should use for development and well-being. I was sceptical of this, but I must admit I really enjoyed a day of very few emails and no meetings when I could concentrate. It also appears to have inspired me to start writing again, even if just a few sentences. I've broken 1000 miles for the year (running) and just had a PB in the GSR and the Surrey Half, so I'm feeling fit and healthy for a change. I've also stopped drinking, which undoubtedly contributed to that wellbeing too. Will be back on it by Christmas no doubt, and in the meantime am eating far too many sugary and fatty snacks.

Marc Morris, The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England, Colin Dexter, The Riddle of the Third Mile, John Steinbeck, A Russian Journal, Andrew Michael Hurley, Starve Acre, Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise & Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate, Kingsley Amis, The Alteration, Heather Cox Richardson, Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre, Colin Dexter, Last Seen Wearing, Norman Davies, Beneath Another Sky: A Global Journey Into History, John Le Carre, Call for the Dead, Matthew Strickland, Henry the Young King 1155-1183, James Meek, The People's Act of Love, Jonathan Mullard, Pembrokeshire: A Natural History, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, Ysenda Maxtone-Graham, British Summer Time Begins. Jasper Fforde, The Constant Rabbit, Charles Spencer, The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream, Helen Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, William Souder, Mad At The World: A Life of John Steinbeck, Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club, Raynor Winn, The Wild Silence, Ken Follett, The Evening and the Morning, Paul Preston, A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain, Mick Herron, Slough House, Joseph Roth, The Hotel Years, Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain, James Dugan, The Great Mutiny, Colin Dexter, The Last Bus To Woodstock, Lawrence Wright, God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State, John Steinbeck, The Moon is Down, Cat Jarman, River Kings: The Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads, John Le Carre, A Small Town in Germany, Lauren Johnson, Shadow King, The Life and Death of Henry VI, George Sanders, Lincoln In The Bardo, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, John Steinbeck, In Dubious Battle

 'My love affair with Steinbeck continues, and 'In Dubious Battle' made me look into my soul and find a coward there, I think. It's the story of union organisers in California trying to agitate and raise a strike among the exploited apple-pickers of the valley and coming up against every type of violence, intimidation, double-cross and abuse of power possible from the Growers Association and their allies in local government, the police, the press. I can't imagine the pressure of how striking would  cause men to starve, risk their lives, their livelihood, their families' lives and everything they have for something incredibly unlikely to be successful. I think I would have caved and not had the courage. It was a riveting read though, and I was right there in the valley facing the dilemmas with the men. It's Steinbeck's most overtly political and 'red' book, but it's not at all ideological. Just about decency and the working-man deserving to profit from the fruits of their labours.  At home, Libby is the first in the family to test positive for COVID-19, she's at home now and bored out of her mind. Helen, Freddie and I are all vaccinated, but William is likely to get it too. we've had to cancel our trip away at half term and bastard Alton Towers won't refund me

William Gaddis, The Recognitions, Debbie Stowe, Romania, Malorie Blackman, Noughts & Crosses, Heather Cox Richardson, How The South Won The Civil War, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Peter Oborne, The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the emergence of a new moral barbarism, Louisa May Alcott, More Little Women, David Graeber, Bullsh*t Jobs: The Rise Of Pointless Work And What We Can Do About It, Colin Dexter, The Dead of Jericho, Sophy Roberts, The Lost Pianos of Siberia, Mikhail Sholokov, And Quiet Flows The Don, Alan Palmer, The Baltic: A New history of the region and its people, Colin Dexter, Service of all the Dead, David Hackett Fischer, Historians Fallacies: Towards a Logic of Historical Thought, Elizabeth Knox, The Absolute Book, John Steinbeck, Once There Was A War. Colin Dexter, The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn, Helen Carr, The Red Prince: John of Gaunt: Duke of Lancaster, Alan Garner, The Owl Service, Max Adams, The First Kingdom:Britain in the Age of Arthur, Paul Kingsnorth, Beast, Arthur Koestler, The Thirteenth Tribe, Colin Dexter, The Secret of Annex 3, Janet M. Hartley, The Volga: A History of Russsia's Greatest River, John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold, David W Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, And Language, Scott Innes, Galactic Keegan

 After slogging joylessly through The Recognitions to complete the 100 Essential novels, I wrote the starting piece to what I thought would be my thoughts on all those great books, but it was not to be. That was months ago (as can be seen from the list of books above), and since then I haven't written at all. It's been a bit of a mix - some predictable comfort reans like Morse, Steinbeck and straightforward historical narratives, but also some more challenging Russian Literature and the bizarreness of 'Galactic Keegan' . already I have a new '100 Books Bucket List', hence Black & White and Little Women. 60 out of 100 read, but thank god there are no more impenetrable  doorstops like The Recognitions. Scanning the list the most challenging remaining reads are going to be Ulysses and War and Peace, but there are some nice things there too like Roald Dahl's Matilda and a Harlan Coben thriller.

At home, I'm in a new job and am now officially working from home. I'm not sure how long this will last, as my job can be done from literally anywhere in the world, and as my team are all based in Germany and Romania having my role in the UK makes little sense. Sooner or later I think redundancy will come calling, but for now I'll make the most of it. We are over a year into the pandemic, and currently a bit worried about a third wave due to our incompetent government. most of the population in the UK has been vaccinated though, hopefully that will help.  The children are all back at school, William's reading is progressing, but he does seem rather too proud of all the detentions he gets for not listening in class. I think he has suffered more than any of us with lockdown as he got into a routine of just staring at the TV. All three of them spend too much time on the screen, but then so do Helen and I. . . 

William Gaddis, The Recognitions

 Four years ago I bought a scratch-off wall chart of the ‘100 Essential Novels’. Today, the last entry, ‘The Recognitions’ by William Gaddis, was scratched off with a 20 cent coin. Back in January 2017 it was probably it was just an impulse purchase, a simple click or three while scrolling and swiping idly away at the iPad. Since then it’s consumed a fair chunk of my free time, and the ‘100 essential novels’ have been read on trains, in the garden, in bed, in the viewing gallery of Woking Pool, sheltering from the heat in Florida, sheltering from the rain in Wales and sheltering from my family and responsibilities more than a conscientious father should. Most of the reading has taken place while putting in a token half-arsed spin on various exercise bikes in the gyms of the Thames Valley.

There were three parts that appealed to me about the wallchart, none of them intellectual or overly complex. The first was simple and one of the more basic human desires, to collect and categorise shiny things. Collecting is fun, marking off progress is fun and having some tangible way to display one’s progress and achievements feeds the ego. Making sense of a senseless world through categorising and labelling gives us all a sense of control. How incredible it would be to have ‘done’ the 100 essential novels. To be able to believe we had ‘completed’ literature. Nonsense of course, but a comforting thought for the collectors among us, whether butterflies, Pokémon, stamps, stickers or worthy literature.

The second part was also ego-driven (there is a theme developing), and my shame at considering myself a bibliophile, but aware there were huge gaps in my knowledge of literature. Generously, this could be seen as a noble impulse, the desire to improve and educate oneself, but I suspect it had more to do with deep-seated insecurities at not being able to join in when confronted with genuinely clever people who can effortlessly and joyfully expound on the centrality of Natasha’s dance to War and Peace, and how it explains the quintessential soul of Russia. As I write this, it occurs to me that (with two exceptions to the rule), I don’t know anyone that +could+ explain the significance of Natasha’s Dance and the chances of A) meeting someone that can and B) meeting them at the moment they are doing it are as likely as finding a very particular piece of hay in the unending wheatfields of Tsarist Ukraine. So there’s a very good chance I’ve spent a fair portion of the past four years preparing for an event infinitesimally unlikely to occur, and doing so while neglecting to perform far more necessary activities such as picking the kids up on time, putting the bins out and fixing the leak in the airing cupboard. Sorry, Helen. And to compound my negligence, ‘War and Peace’ wasn’t even on the list, so I’m still fecking clueless about Natalya Ilyinichna’s pas de châle.

Lastly, and even more simply than the first reason, I enjoy reading. My earliest memories are of going to the maternity ward at Hillingdon Hospital when my youngest brother was born and being excited not because of the birth of our Kev, but because I could climb up on the bed and Mum would read me Asterix. We didn’t have many books at home, and the only time I can remember Dad reading something that wasn’t the Daily Express sports pages was when he was on jury duty and took a copy of Spike Milligan’s wartime memoirs with him to stave off the boredom of sitting through a case of harassment and accidental exposure at Isleworth Crown Court. So it’s not an inherited love, and I remain unremittingly jealous of those lucky enough to have grown up in houses brim-full with tottering stacks of paperbacks, with Radio 4 playing in the background and a broadsheet on the kitchen table. When I found out the family of a good friend named all their pet cats after Dickens characters I felt like I had finally found my people. I tried to get them to adopt me. I’d even have let them call me Pecksniff.

 

Owen Hatherley, Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London, Michelle Paver, Wakenhyrst, David Hackett Fischer, Liberty & Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas, Magnus Mills, Explorers of the New Century

 'Writing this under duress as I am coming to the end of William Gaddis' The Recognitions, which will deserve an entry all to itself. There were some good reads in this batch, a history of Labour government in London written from the point of view of the left, a cracking slice of East Anglian gothic, and David Hackett Fischer's 'Liberty and Freedom' inspired by the jaw-dropping scenes in DC as Trump supporters with their own view of liberty and freedom attached the Capitol building, which should symbolise both. Very good on the clash of different views of liberty and freedom in the Us and how they have developed and clashed. then finally a Magnus Mills comfort read, the normal sparse surrealism in an enclosed world.

John Steinbeck, East of Eden, Martyn Rady, The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power, Henry Treece, Hounds Of The King, Roberto Bolano 2666

2666 leaves me with just one more of the '100 essential novels' to read that I started all those years ago. It's a great big wodge of a book which has been staring at me from the book pile on top of the chest of drawers since before lockdown started. I decided not to attempt it or the other remaining book, William Gaddis' The Recognitions during lockdown, as life is hard enough! as many critics have said, it can be seen not as one book but as five separate books, and all stood alone as reads that gripped me and kept me interested. the exception was the core of the novel, which at times turned into a list of horrific murders of women in Northern Mexico. hugely ambitious though, and it has made me want to read more of his work. On the others, yet another book about the Habsburgs and that glorious lost mitteleuropa they represent, of ceremony, inefficiency, polyglotism, open borders, railways, regalia and refusal to adjust to the modern world. Steinbeck's East of Eden was an epic, I love reading his work and this may be the best. I'll have to reread The Grapes of Wrath. At home, the mismanagement of COVID means the UK now has the highest death rate in the world and we are in a 'mockdown' when we are all meant to stay at home, but people are still working, kids are still going to school and shops are still open.