Melvin Burgess, Loki

 That's more like it. The most unreliable of narrators tells his own story in a charming way that puts a fresh spin on the Norse myths. Burgess' first adult novel apparently, and I was going to give it to Liana for Christmas, but it is very racy so I may have to think again. Fred had his 15th birthday yesterday, and it is difficult to know what to get him as nothing really enthuses him at the moment (teenage boy), so we have all given him money to put towards a new phone. he is a good lad, much more so than I was at his age. As with all three of them though, I just wish they would read for pleasure - so strange that none of them do. none really interested in football or music either, which just seems so alien to me. I would say it's a generational thing, but so many of their friends are different. Just my poor parenting then. . . 

Malcolm Gaskill, The Ruin of all Witches: Life and Death in the New World

 Loads of wonderful reviews, and incredibly well-researched, but this microcosmic study of a pre-Salem witch trial in Massachusetts left me cold. I ended up glossing over sections and trudging along. In the meantime, I've just cut my finger open with the bread knife so am having tremendous trouble typing this. I'm feeling a little better after some down periods and looking forward to Christmas even as it gets colder and darker. Wales have just lot 2-0 to Iran in the World Cup, making it easier to boycott! Fred is taking his friends to an escape room on Sunday for his birthday. They need to have an adult in the room, so I'll be there, but I've been told I'm not allowed to help!

Colin Thubron, The Amur River: Between Russia and China

This entry is out of place, as I read it before Cloud Cuckoo Land, but must have forgotten to log it. This is the first book by Colin Thubron I have read, having eschewed travel writing for so long. I guess though as I get older I'm happier to read about exotic places from the comfort of an easy chair than actually visit them. What a comparison to Thubron, who is in his 80s and yet set out to one of the most hostile and unwelcoming parts of the planet, both in terms of the environment, authoritarian regimes and grinding poverty and shortages. He tells a good story and almost makes you want to visit the Wild East. I wouldn't last 5 minutes though. Better to stay where i can see the birds in the garden and can order a pizza without having to get up

Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land

A 500 page book that took me 400 pages to get into, not a good sign. Came so highly recommended, and a book about books featuring the fall of Constantinople should have been much more interesting for me, but meh. I do feel at the moment like some of the joy in reading has gone, and there is no new fiction that appeals. Maybe i should go back to George MacDonald Fraser, or Agatha Christie, or Rafael Sabatini, or even Susan Cooper for a bit. mind you, it will be time to reread The Dark is Rising soon. The World Cup in Qatar has just started, and it is very difficult to get excited about a tournament in the wrong place at the wrong time of year. I just don't know.

Francine Toon, Pine

 A Scandi-noir set in the Scottish highlands, very bleak and with a mystical element. Although it was in the Highlands, in my mind it was all taking place in a Wallander-like Scania with flat windswept fields and pine woods. I'm in a rather dark place myself at the moment, have had a lot of trouble sleeping and work is getting on top of me. The situation in the Ukraine and the rise of the MAGA right in the United States is a great worry too, let alone climate change.  We seem to be sleepwalking towards global disaster. 

I need to learn to concentrate on the positives - I have a wonderful wife and family, no money worries at the moment, I'm healthy, warm and well-fed. I need to learn to be content and reduce my anxiety!

Martin Wall, The Magical History of Britain

That was just mad, a very eclectic collection of only tangentially related topics. At some points it was almost a straight history, particularly the Saxon era, which is a pet subject of the author, at other times it looked at spirituality and mythology and the clash with religion, but then went on an extended justification of Aleister Crowley, who the author believes to have genuinely had magical powers and foresaw a century of woe starting in 1914. it finishes off with a call for the Church of England to launch a Coleridgean clerisy to save the nation morally. Still not sure what I have just read.

Laurence Durrell, White Eagles over Serbia

A proto-James Bond, but in style more like a pre war Erskine Childers or John Buchan. I assumed it was set in Victorian times until they mentioned Tito. Absolute bosh, but an enjoyable tale of derring-do. The clocks have gone back and it is very dark now- I don't like running in the dark so have put it on hold in the week, which means a lot of time spinning in the garage. Work is a bit stressful to, so not in the best of places at the moment