Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

 Now that was a great read. Not at all what I was expecting, and I still can't believe that a man, let alone a man who went to school in Woking, was able to create characters who seemed so real, normal and with so much empathy. I would have assumed it was a female writer If I wasn't aware of the author's identity. On top of that it was such a well-realised and imagined alternative world, as real and disturbing as Gilead with it's almost identical parallel to our own world with one slight twist that alarms and changes so much. I'll be adding in to Helen's pile for her book club reads, and have put 'The Remains Of The Day' on to my wish list. The children are growing up - William and Libby are at the school disco tonight and Fred is off on a 4 day expedition to the Brecon Beacons. Mind you, he's just made such a palaver of going into Woking to get his own tea. 'What if they ask me questions?' 'What if i don't know the answer?' 'Should I take a bag?' 'What sort of bag should I take?' Bless him i think he's just a little nervous, hopefully he'll thrive.

Tom Holland, Athelstan

 Part of the pocket-size Penguin Monarchs series, and fewer than 100 pages. We've been watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix, and Kev was asking about the historicity of it so I thought I'd have a refresh. The earlier series revolving around Alfred's court seemed to have been fairly historically accurate as you'd expect from Bernard Cornwell, but the more recent series seem to take  much larger liberties (which is fine, it's all just a bit of fun). Freddie is off on another explorer trip this weekend, this time to the Brecon Beacons, He is a little worried, but I'm very proud of him

G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday

 'Not sure why this is revered so much - 'the best spy book ever written'  apparently, when it is nothing of the sort. It's very Victorian and stiff, and while the idea of a group of anarchists where everyone there is actually a secret policeman is a funny one, there's no understanding or attempt to understand the motives behind anarchists and terrorists and when policemen trust the personal honour of the anarchists not to reveal who they really are, well. . . . Great title for a book though.

Nicholas Stargardt, The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-45

 'Happy springtime reading. . . Actually it was really interesting to read an account of WWII from a different perspective, the ordinary experience of German workers and families during the war. Still pretty horrific of course, full or paranoia, misinformation, distrust, propaganda, deprivation, not knowing what is happening to loved ones at the front. . . 

Simon Winchester, Land: How the Hunger for ownership shaped the modern world, Dasa Drndic, Trieste

 'Land' was an entertaining, pop read on the subject of land ownership and how the absurdity that one person can say 'this is mine' over a piece of land has evolved and shaped history and our surroundings. 'Trieste' I'm still not sure what to make of. It revolves around the impact of Nazi policies towards Jews and the Lebensborn programme in Northern Italy, but is a partly fictionalised, partly documentary (although it is not clear which is which always). It's got me back in a WWII mood though, currently reading another book on the subject. IRL, it's been a wonderful week. Me and the kids had three lovely days in the New Forest, despite the occasional grump and gripe about being made to walk. The place we stayed in was full of old guiding memorabilia from a time when Britain ruled the world, and the rooms had wonderful colonial and imperial flavours. The house was tumbledown and neglected, but that just added to the charm. It was nice to get an insight into guiding too. It was my birthday yesterday so I took the day off too. i wanted to try and run 20 miles, which would be a record for me, but as I got that far I thought I'd keep going and try to do a marathon distance. i managed it, but by Gum it was hard work and I was walking a lot of the last four miles. Starting to stiffen up now, although the most painful bit is a friction burn on my inner right arm where it was rubbing against my flab!

Roberto Bolańo, Nazi Literature in the Americas

 He must have loved writing this, a fictionalised history of imaginary notable American right-wing authors. Endlessly creative, an entire world built on a skewed version of 20th Century Latin American history. My head hurts so much at the moment, I went out on saturday with friends from school and still haven't recovered

Tore Skeie: The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire

 Nice to read something about the period from a different perspective, more balanced towards the Norwegians and Danes and seeing them as part of an overall milieu rather than faceless 'others' who have no history until the appear on the shores of Northumbria. Slept in my own bed for the first time in a while last night as we have been in the tent. It's too hot in the house though! I would happily sleep out in the tent all the time I think, as long as there is a warm blanket and sleeping bag and the house is a few steps away if I need anything. I'm taking the kids down to the New Forest for a few days next week without Helen. I think I'm more excited about it than they are though, I hope it goes well.

Maurice Leblanc, Arséne Lupin:Gentleman Thief

 Just finished a three day training course on Scalable Agile Framework and cannot face the backlog of emails so writing here instead. It's gonna be a mad couple of days I think. Lupin is experiencing a moment following the updated Netflix series which is very cool and stylish, so the original books set in the France of the Belle Epoque are being republished at the moment. They haven't dated at all, it really is surprising they are not more popular here, a wonderful read. I made my way through this collection of short stories in a day, and have ordered a box set on special offer. Lovely light reading, but like Sherlock Holmes or PG Wodehouse, best done in bite sized chunks

Emmanuel Carrére, The Kingdom

 Not a book I would normally have read, by a very clever French thinker and about the early church and the gospel of Luke and a fictionalised account of what his life could have been. I think I got it as it has a nice cover with some wonderful quotes. I did really enjoy it, although I think a lot of the theology and morality passed me by. I continue to be shocked at how different the Jesus of the New Testament is to the Jesus presented to us by the Church, and I don't know which I dislike more - the tetchy, unforgiving, harsh contrarian of the NT, or the perfect, all-loving, all-compassionate kindly Christ presented to us. I'm currently on a Scaled Agile Training course being run remotely and it's difficult to be engaged. It's nice to be training again, but this is not the best way to do it. It's also affecting my running. It's a combination of things, but the clocks going forward, the early start of the course each day and sleeping in a tent mean it's tough to get up and head out running, so I've lost my motivation a little. I'm on the exercise bike instead, but I should be out and about

Colin Dexter, The Daughters of Cain

 I must have said this before, but Morse has dated so badly. He's still a wonderful, compelling character, but the casual sexism and lechery  is shocking in the era of #metoo. Things that seem ok for Morse and the author to think or say are not OK, it would be considered predatory behaviour from an authority figure now. Easter holidays have started, and Fred decided to put the family tent up as a project. He did a great job, but the last few nights it's been minus degrees until last night, when it was 5 degrees. So everyone wanted to sleep out. William made it until 02:30 due to the cold, Libby until 4-ish, but Fred lasted the night. I managed to get some little sleep, I think I'll be out there with them for a few weeks, but I'm happy about that, its nice to be in the open air.