Beth Revis, Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel

I bought this for Helen as a Valentine's present, it's the story of Han and Leia after they marry. It's just what you expect - they go off on honeymoon but are torn between duty and love as Leia negotiates with interplanetary diplomats, Han gets sucked into a gambling den and then it turns out the idyllic plant they visit has a secret imperial base that they have to destroy. Another undemanding, pleasant read, it's going to be tough to get back into things that require some work in the new year!

Pete Jordan, In the City of Bikes: The Story of Amsterdam Cyclists, Janice Hallett, The Christmas Appeal, Katherine Rundell, The Golden Mole

 My Christmas reading, and all nice easy reads. A history of bikes and cycling in Amsterdam by an American cyclophile who moved to Amsterdam and has a great love of cycling, Janice Hallett's latest is exactly what you'd expect, but a fun couple of hours turning pages and the Golden Mole was a series of short chapters about interesting animals species, all of which are endangered of course. Christmas was very quiet, lots of sitting round, eating and watching TV. Today is my first day back at work, but for only two days and it should be very quiet. We're planning on travelling up to Derby to see Helen's folks tomorrow after work. Hopefully we'll be able to get into the Peaks so Fred can scratch off a few more of his places on his Peak District Map.

Antal Szerb, The Pendragon Legend

I picked this up in the Hungarian section in Daunt Books assuming that something called 'The Pendragon Legend' had been put in the wrong place. Very glad I did because I took a look at the blurb and it was straight into my shopping bag. It's written by a Hungarian Jew born at the end of the 19th century who fell in love with England and the English. Parts of it read as a parody of Buchan, some of Wodehouse, some of Agatha Christie and some of Wilkie Collins. a really enjoyable adventure. apparently his masterpiece is more serious, so maybe not such a rollicking read, but it's on my list now.

Matthew Green, Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain

 A travelogue through abandoned places in Britain - Skara Brae, Dunwich, the villages lost to the Ministry of War during the world wars and so on. Pleasant enough and encouraged me to visit some of these places myself, but no great revelations or new knowledge. The kids have now broken up for Christmas so we have to try and keep them entertained. I have to work most of this week so it is all on Helen - I can just shut myself away and get on with work, emerging briefly for biscuits and twixes.

Flann O'Brien, The Third Policeman

 Second reading of this, as it is so well spoken about and considered by so many to be incredibly funny. But I just don't get it. It's brimful of ideas and strangeness and surreal images, but I just don't find it funny. On paper I should love it, particularly as bicycles feature so heavily. I just don't seem to get Flann O'Brien though. I'll keep trying. Apart from that, I wanted to record Libby's never-unfunny habit of referring to people as 'humans'. She's done it for years and I'm not sure where it came from, but rather than say 'Guys' or 'people' when referring to others she will proclaim 'Humans!'. It's very odd and alien sounding, it marks Libby out as the extraordinary person we know she is. The extraordinary human, I suppose.

Iain Sinclair, London Orbital

 'I've shied away from Iain Sinclair for along time, as I read something of his (Downriver?) that I remembered as being impenetrable, full of mysticism, strange leaps of logics and long words I didn't understand. There's a germ of truth in all of that, but I wonder if I may have confused Sinclair with Iain Nairn and/or Will Self, as London Orbital was a great read, really enjoyable and with much more bonhomie than I was expecting. I'd love to go walking in the company of Iain Sinclair, which was not my recollection at all. Maybe I've changed. Maybe the concept of psychogeography has seeped into me as I've learnt to walk and think and appreciate my surroundings.  It helped that I'm so familiar with many of the areas he explores, having lived my whole life within a few miles of the M25 (or the future location of the M25 until it was constructed), always between the M4 and the A3 junctions. It was thrilling to read his thoughtful description and musings on the future of doomed Harmondsworth, on the Runnymede bridge and the Siebel offices, and excursions to Royal Holloway College. He was walking through my life

Michael Frayn, Towards The End of the Morning

 As has happened to me before with Michael Frayn, as I read through this I realised I had read it before. Still very funny, but it's strange that I seem to have a mental blank over an apparent Frayn period in my life. I'm sure I've never seen 'Noises Off', but now I'm thinking that if I do go and watch it 5 minutes in to Act I I'll realise I performed in it once or some such. I can't imagine when I went through this Frayn phase. I started recording the books I read way back in March 2011 and I don't think it's on the list (it's a faff to search).

Henrik Meinander, Mannerheim: Marshal of Finland

 I didn't know a great deal about Mannerheim before this, but was intrigued why someone with a German name was the hero of Finnish independence. His story was even more intriguing - a german descended, Swedish-speaking member of the Finnish aristocracy whose first loyalty was to Tsarist Russia. He never learn to speak Finnish properly and was primarily motivated by restoring the Tsar and fighting communism - Finnish independence seems to have been an incidental by-product for him, however airbrushed this was later to present him as a Finnish patriot. An incredible figure though  - a spy in central Asia, the last of the great cavalry officers, a cunning geopolitician and the shaper of the Finnish state. I bored Helen by talking about him until she made me stop.

Andrew Barrow, The Tap Dancer

 Alan Bennett's favourite novel apparently, and it is difficult to think of higher praise than that. It was a very funny book with absolutely no plot dominated by the father of the family, and presumably autobiographical. The family were so incredibly posh, with the most wastrel of the 5 sons getting a job at Harrod's seen as the last resort of a man who has failed at everything. Very sweet and affectionate drawing of a family happy to bicker and snipe but who still love each other.

Eric Foner: The Story of American Freedom

 A superb review of the changing and conflicting meaning of 'freedom' to Americans since independence. I was wondering why I hadn't read it when I was studying the history of the USA, but then realised it was written in 1994 after I finished my course. I think at the time I would have found it a bit to intellectual and conceptual, but Charlie Bourne must have loved it

Julian Rathbone, A Very English Agent

 I've really enjoyed previous books by Julian Rathbone, and not sure why this one passed me by - it's 20 years old now. It's right up my street - a historical novel with a sense of humour, with an unreliable narrator inserted into and influencing major historical events, similar to Flashman. I think many of the nods to history may have passed me by, I don't know the intricacies of the Cato Street Conspiracy or the death of Shelley, and  sometimes I got a little lost, but still enjoyable. today I am back at work following a few days off when the weather has been too miserable to do much. the car is being repaired and is going to cost me a fortune, just waiting to hear back from the garage. got to help out at Forest School with William at least (crikey it was cold), but missed my works Xmas do in Newbury. This meant I could see Libby's musical theatre performance though, so it all worked out well and at least I wasn't one of the parents who got dragged up for the improv bit. Fred had his interview with Woking College yesterday and all seemed to go well - looks like it will be his first choice.