John Le Carre, The Secret Pilgrim

 'The last George Smiley novel (until there were more), and an enjoyable collection of short stories full of disillusion, cynicism, betrayal, double-bluffs and all the other things that make his books so wonderful.  Liz Truss is now our Pm and seems to be doing everything possible to crash the economy and allow the super -wealthy to become super wealthier at the expense of the national good. Its awful and who know where it will end. Labour have taken a huge lead in the polls and had a very good conference with some decent policies, even if their treatment of the left is still disgraceful. It's back to the lesser of two evils until we get PR. . . 

Paul Theroux, The Kingdom By the Sea

 They were talking about this on a podcast a few weeks ago, and I was vaguely aware of it but had never considered it as a read. I still think of myself as not much of a fan of travel writing, but that is obviously not true. Anne Applebaum's 'Between East and West' changed that a decade or so ago, and the truth is I've read and enjoyed plenty of travel writing. I mean to go back and reread Applebaum, btw, note to self. 'The Kingdom By The sea' was Theroux's circumnavigation of the UK by foot, train and bus and was glorious. He's a curmudgeonly sort, very insightful and funny, but with complete disdain for people. He cannot be bothered to learn or remember the names of people he meets and just makes them up, or gives them a name he thinks suitable to them like Dickens. He gets fed up of the tour too, with chapters and chapters on Kent at the beginning of the trip and the whole of the east coast from Edinburgh to Southend distilled down into a very quick and cursory section.

It was a time capsule too, he wrote at the time of the Falklands conflict, so within my living memory, but still post-war Britain with grotty hotels, terrible food and veterans of the Boer War and WWI still around, with millions who had experienced the Second World War.

Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara And The Sun

Similarities to Never Let Me Go, and I have to read The Remains of the Day now to complete the set as that is written from a servant's perspective so has parallels. Klara is an AF ('Artificial Friend') with exceptional awareness and intelligence who becomes the companion to a privileged girl at the top of society. she is utterly selfless, dedicated and obedient and ends up in a scrapyard. Very poignant.

I'm meant to be running a virtual London marathon next weekend, but I went out yesterday and my ankle pinged, so I'm all strapped up. Kwasi Kwarteng has just announced a mini-budget that blatantly favours the very wealthy and is going to rack up government borrowing rapidly. It's hard to tell whether they are just recklessly gambling on a dash for growth they truly believe in, or whether they are just shamelessly trying to make a fortune for them and their friends by shorting the pound and don't give a stuff for the consequences as they'll be rich and someone else will sort out the mess

Alev Scott, Ottoman Odyssey: Travels Through a Lost Empire

 A perfect book for me, a lightly written, personable tour through the minority communities still surviving in corners of what was the old Ottoman empire. Christian sects in Lebanon, Turks still in Bosnia, the Armenian diaspora, and so on, and what it meant to be Ottoman, to be Turkish and how Erdogan is causing no end of trouble. A very wonderful, human read at a time when the world seems to be descending further into a global bin fire. Putin is losing in Ukraine, has just called up 300k citizens into the army and is threatening nuclear war, Trump is desperately fighting back against the host of indictments and criminal charges he deservedly faces, hoping to survive until a change of control of congress in the midterms can be used to get him off the hook, and here at home the new Conservative government's response to the cost of living crisis is to borrow more to make the super wealthy super wealthier through tax cuts that benefit them most. 

James Clavell, Shogun

 'The book I was reading when Queen Elizabeth II died, and such an epic that I was still on it when the funeral was held yesterday. I fondly remember the miniseries with Richard Chamberlain from the '80s, but my word the book was a slog and seemed very dated in its depiction of inscrutable, death-welcoming Japanese. IRL, Britain has been a strange place the last few days, with fawning blanket media coverage and the official line that the whole nation is grieving and in mourning. This is certainly true for some, but for millions life goes on as normal, sad as it is when anyone passes away. There have been some very strange decisions as organisations seek to balance the correct amount of deference and respect. Center Parcs initially told guests they would have to vacate the parc for 24 hours (where on earth would they stay?), before rowing back and saying people could stay but couldn't leave their chalets (!). British Cycling initially sent round guidance that people shouldn't cycle yesterday as it was disrespectful. In the real world, despite everything being shut yesterday, millions of people were out and about on beaches, in parks and woodlands enjoying themselves. Personally I think that's what the Queen would have wanted. I didn't bother to watch the funeral, I had a Zwift session and watched Agent Carter on Disney+.

Mark Galeotti, A Short History of Russia

 A VERY short history of Russia, only 200 pages, so seismic events and huge characters flew by. This had advantages though, and kept the narrative tight on Russia's paradox - should it try to be a european nation or not. In the meantime, Libby's first day at Woking High, seems to have gone well, but she was so tired last night and this morning. she can be very snappy and shouty sometimes, and this morning I got it in the neck because I couldn't supply her instantly with a brolly that met all her criteria. She should be back any moment now, and it is chucking down, so it could be another storm. . .

Janice Hallett, The Appeal

 Bought this a few weeks ago as Janice Halletts second novel, The Twyford Code, was so enjoyable. This was even better and had me hooked. It was structured as a form of email and message exchanges, and seen through the eyes of two law students going through the documentation of a cold case. they were able to talk to each other and act as exposition for dull-witted readers like me who would struggle to understand the enormity of some of the statements and clues otherwise. So so good, and she is working on a 3rd novel apparently Disgracefully I was reading it while Libby was getting ready for her first day at Woking High School. She'll be back in just over an hour, hopefully she had a wonderful first day. William also went back, but Fred goes in tomorrow and so has spent the day getting prepared for GCSE year by rewatching Marvel films 

Jan Morris, Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country

 This is the book I should have read on holiday, and took it with me but couldn't face a doorstop. I regret it now as the easy style, romantic just-about-believable tales and evocation of Wales were delightful to read. Lots of celtic hyperbole and tall stories, and dated in places (it was originally written in 1984 and slightly updated in the 90s). If I'd read it on holiday I would have had the family corralled into driving miles into the hills to see where Owain Glyndwr is rumoured to have picked his nose and used it to ford a crevasse, or the lone stone in a graveyard that St David tripped over and killed the last snake in Wales, or whatever