Mike Parker, All the Wide Border: Wales, England and The Places Between

I was always going to enjoy this.  A middle-aged man tramping along Offa's Dyke full of little bits of history, quirks and lamentations for a lost, simpler life. Split into three parts corresponding to the three river valleys that make up the border - the Severn, The Dee and the Wye. Made me want to get out there and see these places for myself, the only one I'm really familiar with is the southern section and even then I'm limited to the market towns - Hay, Chepstow, etc. He is a little rude about Hay, which he obviously loves but has mixed feelings given it's international renown and Disneyfied/theme park version of a small border town. I'll be there myself quite soon if my birthday cycling quest goes according to plan

Umberto Eco, The Prague Cemetery

 Very complex and convoluted, but I decided to just go with the flow and keep with it, even though I wasn't sure who was who and what they were doing. Eco acknowledges this in the endpiece and humbly says he often has the same problem. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, he writes so well and the story of an anti-semite conspiracy theorist inserting himself into and shaping major events and scandals in the 19th century was very well done, and chilling given the propensity of people even today to believe such dangerous and pernicious attacks and slurs.

Alice Roberts, Buried: An Alternative History of the First Millennium in Britain

 What happened in these islands between the Romans leaving and the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is a fascinating period, but one with very little we know and lots of conjecture. This was a very interesting book looking at evidence from graves to try and understand more - or at least dispel some of the myths. Quite a chatty style, with lots of talk about the writer's own experiences, family and friends. Not sure about that, was all a bit chummy sometimes.

Flann O'Brien, The Dalkey Archive

 'I keep trying with Flann O'Brien, as he is often described as one of the best comic writers by people who know what the are talking about, but I just don't get it. It's not nonsense that I can follow, I'm missing out somewhere. Back in the real world,  I feel like I am only just now starting to recover from James Millar's 50th birthday party at the weekend. It was lovely to see everyone again but blimey it has taken it out of me. I woke up back in Harmondsworth having already done my 10,000 steps for the day as I decided to walk home, being too tight for an Uber. I then had to cycle back to Woking, which took a while. When i got back I went straight to bed.

Peter Ross, Steeple Chasing: Around Britain by Church

 'Didn't register this at all when it came out as a hardback, but the paperback had a massive promo in Waterstones and it looked interesting. It was a pleasant enough read, loosely structured but dedicated to the beauty and needs to preserve churches and cathedrals in Britain. A bit High Anglican, and there seems to be a disjoint between the author's claimed lack of belief in christianity and the reverence in which he holds the church and everything associated. I guess that is very Anglican itself though, to believe in the importance of ritual and the church at the heart of the community as moral guide, helper to those in need and defender of the natural hierarchy. It's only the belief in God which appears to be optional. His other book is about graveyards and called 'A Tomb With a View', which cannot possibly be any good with such an awful title.

Laurent Binet, HHhH

 Heard lots of good things about this, but never picked it up as the story of the assassination of the monstrous Reinhard Heydrich didn't appeal. Having really enjoyed Binet's 'Civilizations', which he must have had so much fun writing, I gave this a go and loved it. It's a world away form the imaginary history  f civilizations and instead scrupulously (or at lease it appears so) stick to the known facts. What makes it so interesting though it that it is less the story of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, and more the story of writing the story of Reinhard Heydrich. You get sucked in as the author discusses the best way to frame a scene, or what to leave out, or the difficulties of filling in the gaps where information is spares. this approach really draws the reader in as a confidante of the writer. A really enjoyable book.

Peter Clark, The Men of 1924: Britain's First Labour Government

Back on home territory here, and a book released to mark the centenary of the first Labour Government. Rather than being a history of the government itself, it's a very good summary of the events leading up to Labour forming a government, how they grew in parliament and popularity (although let's face it, the key factor was the franchise extension to cover all men of working age). It is interesting to see how horrified and shocked the establishment were with the thought of socialists taking power, particularly given what had happened in Bolshevik Russia. There are some potted biographies of all the cabinet too, rescuing many from obscurity. It also shows how much the demographics of the PLP have changed, and for the worse. Nowadays nearly all our MPS are graduates and from a professional background, there are very few truly working-class MPs, and those that we do have- Ian Lavery, Nadia Whittome, say, are under attack from their own party leadership and face deselection.

Joe Dunthorne, Submarine

 I saw the film a few years ago which was quite funny, and it's the same with the book. It's not quite the incredibly hilarious best book about teenagedom that the blurb suggests, but it's funny, Welsh and has no filter. Very enjoyable and I've put more by Joe Dunthorne on my to-read list. I'm still trying to catalogue all the books in the house, I'm 750 books in so far but still have British and European history to do, so final total will be about 1500 I would guess. I need to find time each day to just do a little bit more though. At the same time I'm trying to do at least 2 hours of exercise a day as my weight is creeping up and I don't want to change my diet. Yesterday I did a tour of the Western end of the M25, a littoral of gravel pits, scrap yards and fly-tipped sofas. All good practice for my 50th birthday cycle plans though

Amy Jeffs, Wild: Tales From Early Medieval Britain

 A very beautiful book with some lovely woodcuts, and lots of good press, but I couldn't really get in to it. Short stories inspired by fragments of early medieval tales from across the British Isles with explanations afterwards.