Stella Gibbons, Christmas on Cold Comfort Farm, Simon Kuper, Barca - The Inside story of the world's greatest football club

 The invasion of Ukraine doesn't seem to have gone to plan to Putin and the west seem to have hardened resolve, with Germany breaking their rules to provide military equipment to Ukraine, and Finland and Sweden considering joining NATO - so the hoped-for destabilisation of the west doesn't seem to have worked. Personally this is the place where i divide with the 'Stop the War' Left who look to hold NATO at least partially responsible for Putin's aggressiveness. On the other hand, Putin's pronouncements are getting more and more threatening and he is talking about nuclear war to counter aggression from the west. Horrific. I hadn't realised Stella gibbons had written more about Cold comfort Farm, but it turned out to be a collection of her short stories, none of which were anywhere near the brilliance of CCF. May have to reread, a true comfort book. I've looked out for Simon Kuper's work since his wonderful 'Football Against the Enemy' in the early '90s about how politics and football come together, more of that here, with some incredible insights into Cruyff and Messi's Barcelona

Shirley Collins, America Over The Water

 I'm in a bit of a dark place at the moment. Struggling to sleep, loss of appetite and an emptiness in the pit of my stomach. Work is a bit stressful but I think on the whole it is due to the horrific situation in Eastern Europe, as Putin has just invaded Ukraine. He is just not going to stop. He's prepared to go to war and will sooner or later come directly into conflict with a NATO country and then it could be the end of humanity. There's no-one in Russia that can stand up to him and no amount of sanctions will affect him. Hard to see a good outcome at the moment

I saw Shirley Collins speak at Hay a few years ago, purely because Stewart Lee was introducing her. I didn't know very much about her, but as a socialist, folklorist and folk singer she should be right up my alley. I found her fascinating and her love of music and folkways shone through when she spoke and in the book. Incredible that she was accompanying Alan Lomax on those field recordings to capture a hidden centuries-old tradition. where I differed from her was in her insistence that contemporary artists not innovate and perform songs only as the would have been performed in the 15th, 16th, etc century and they be venerated. It seems so odd to me to think that way - the songs themselves have evolved and changed over the centuries, why halt that evolution? I guess I see what Shirley Collins is getting at when you hear samples of long-forgotten folk singers resurrected by Moby and used to sell cars, but on the other hand it is bringing old music to a new audience and allowing those songs to be heard and appreciated again

Conn Iggulden, Dunstan

 Lent to me by the dad of one of Libby's friends. I think I've read some of Conn Iggulden's Roman novels, but this is set in Saxon England, a fictionalised account of the life of St Dunstan, who seemed a right terror. Couldn't help but be strongly reminded of Bernard Cornwell's Warlord books, which cover a similar period in a similar way. I'm going to return the favour by lending The Winter King. 

Jerry Brotton & Nick Millea, Fifty Maps and the stories they tell

 'Another bed-time dipping-in book, as my read rate has slowed drastically along with my exercise over the past few days. Helen is working incredibly long hours and has to go back into the office on weds and thurs, so I struggled to get any time to do anything, and since then we have had Libby and Helen's birthdays and parties so again no time for exercise. Hopefully I can fit in something tonight. It doesn't help that my finger's still bandaged up and out of action. We caved in the night before Libby's birthday on Friday and got her a phone, which is the one thing she wanted for her birthday. Most of her friends have one, but we have been saying for a long time that she would get it when she started school. We caved though as we couldn't think what else to get her, and tbf, it seems like the right time as most in her class now have a phone.

Matt Zoller Seitz, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins

 A coffee-table book which I read in chunks before bed. A beautiful book full of stills and sketches from the film, which I love. I wasn't a huge fan of Wes Anderson before the film, but the combination of Anderson and Stefan Zweig produced something wonderful, a lament for that lost, gentle, Habsburg world where civilised people could travel across europe and be at home anywhere. Of course, it's an imagined world, the reality was nothing like that and the anti-semitism, exploitation of the underclass and stultifying bureaucracy are glossed over. Britain Begins was one of those Barry Cunliffe books I could already have read. He's wonderful at telling the story of these islands through the archeological evidence we have, but he is such a prolific writer I'm never quite sure what I have read already. My fault, of course. In the real world I managed to slice open my finger yesterday with the breadknife and spent the afternoon at the NHS Walk-In Centre. I also sat on my glasses and broke the. so that's Valentine's day.

Jay Parini, Borges and Me

 A fictionalised memoir recommended by Helen's Aunt Jane, who you have to listen to when she recommends a book cause she knows her onions. I'm not at all familiar with Borges, and don't know how much the eccentric character in the books is based in reality. It was a mixture of an encounter with greatness for a young impressionable man and a quixotic road-trip romp through the Highlands. Borges falls downs hills, jumps in lochs and discusses the nature of creativity and the writing process while eating cheese rolls. quite sweet but didn't make me say Wow. I seem to remember it was featured on A Good Read, might have to dig it out and relisten 

Mick Herron, Joe Country

 I very much enjoy the wit and dialogue of Mick Herron's books, and the wonderful characters of Jackson Lamb, Roddy Ho and Diana Taverner. There's a TV version coming out in April starring Gary Oldman and I'll be watching it excitedly. But after six or seven books with similar plots and politics, it's becoming samey. Some new faces join the slow horses for unfair reasons, someone is trying to frame them, the Park massively muck up and expose state secrets, there's a climax involving blood and death and then Jackson Lamb saves the situation while picking his nose. I bought a book of Mick Herron's short stories, it will be interesting to see how much I enjoy his writing outside of the world of Slough House

Owen Wister, The Virginian

 I was really looking forward to this, billed as the first western and immensely influential on 20th Century American culture. I could cope with the dated supremacist mindset similar to Gone With The Wind, but I guess that for me the western is primarily a cinematic medium, and I want to see the epic scenery, the harshness and beauty of nature and the lone hero with his code of honour prevailing against the odds.  I got all that, but the environment didn't come to life on the page and there was far, far too much of an interminable courting of a dull prim schoolmarm that would have been at home in any Victorian hack's novel