Hiroko Oyamada, Weasels in the Attic

 A very short novella that was quite nice but far too short. The best thing was seeing the inscription from Libby wishing me a happy 49th birthday. Will add to Helen's Tsundoku because of the Japanese connection

Steve Tibble, Templars: The Knights Who Made Britain

Steve Tibble is at RHUL apparently, which was a pleasant surprise. Interesting to read about the Templars in Britain, but they weren't nearly as common as I had though and much more administrative - there were never cadres of elite warriors at their manors and holdings, just a few quill-pushers and the elderly and infirm. they had a holding in Cranford, which i never knew. Have to look into that. Fred has been at college for a few weeks now and seems to have settled in. Hard to say for sure as being a teenager it's all a bit monosyllabic and grunty. He has a driving experience this weekend and we are getting him a new bike, so that should hopefully put a smile on his face. He also needs to help me fix the shed roof though. 

Amor Towles, Rules of Civility

I really enjoyed 'A Gentleman in Moscow' which has since been made into a lovely TV Drama starring Ewan McGregor. 'Rules of Civility' was a first person narrative from a young, single woman in '30s Manhattan. Her voice and dry humour and observations were entertaining, but nothing much seemed to happen and some of the characters just weren't memorable. My fault for not concentrating enough probably. At home we are having a bit of a clear out and have emptied the shed of all the old bikes and scooters. Helen's taken them to the dump today and found it a bit of a wrench. It's cleared some space though so hopefully we can now fill it with some of the crap from the garage so we can fill the garage up with crap from the rest of the house so we can buy more crap. Still cheaper than an extension though.

Dan Jones, Henry V: The Astonishing Rise of England's Greatest Warrior King

Concentrated much more on Henry's early life than other books, and those were the parts I enjoyed most. Hadn't put 2 + 2 together and realised that when he was born, there was no chance of him becoming King, and royalty was thrust upon him by his father's usurpation. so he had a relatively obscure birth, above the gatehouse in Monmouth Castle. Dan Jones is a fan, and that shines through, accentuating many positives such as his behaviour, his approach to justice and politics as well as the brilliant martial reputation Henry has (and is that really a positive?). I did find the familiar list of battles won and court intrigue a little boring towards the end. 

David Benioff, City of Thieves

 Bought second hand as I recognised Benioff's names as one of the showrunners of Game of Thrones, which despite the disappointment of the last series was brilliant TV. It also turned out he wrote the script for Wolverine, which we coincidentally also watched this weekend, as Libby is working her way through the X-Men movies. The book was really enjoyable, a fictionalised account of the deprivations Benioff's grandfather experienced during the Siege of Leningrad. How much is fictionalised I don't know, but the tale of two  ragamuffin chancers given a second chance to save their skins if they can perform an impossible quest and find two dozen eggs in starving, siege-ridden Leningrad was super. Would make a great TV series too. . . 

David M Gwynn, The Goths: Lost Civilizations

Bought this at the British Museum at the weekend. I took William and his friend Alex up for the 'After Dark Ages' Sleepover. They tried some archaeology, listened to Saxon stories (mostly Beowulf), learnt a few phrases of Old English and Norse and made some Saxon jewelry. I think they enjoyed it, although it went on until midnight so poor William was falling asleep during the last activity. The kids are all getting a bit old for this sort of thing now though, William is just on the cusp of finding it a bit sad and thinking it fun to heckle the performers. Ah well, kids grow up. Fred had his fist lessons today at Woking College, and there was a panic this morning as he couldn't printout the homework he had been given. Valuable lesson there though - never trust the reliability of a printer and never leave it to the last minute. The book was very readable, and examined all aspects of 'Goth' from the ancient tribe through medieval architecture and the romantic movement to horror stories and the mergence of the music Goths in the '80s. V enjoyable, and fascinating that one word covers so many meanings, many of which appear to be contradictory. what unites them all? I dunno - kicking against authority/the settled state of things maybe?

J.L. Carr, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup

Surprising it's taken me so long to read one of the few classic novels about football. It's very strange, and has the feeling of a pre-war book, but was actually written in the'70s, so references to televised matches and Alan Hardaker jar. An eccentric Roy of the Rovers story of how a village team take on all comers and make it to the FA cup final where they beat Rangers, with some odd incidents and characters along the way. J.L. Car was obviously enjoying himself immensely writing this flight of fancy, but I'm not sure it should be considered a classic.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I should have read this long ago, being one of the most important works of American literature and philosophy. But anything abstract repels me, and the word 'transcendentalism' makes me run for this hills, and that is often used in connection with Thoreau. I did enjoy this, but Thoreau sounds like an absolute charlatan, a dreamer of a man who can fool himself completely, he'd be great fun to be around. the thrust of the book is Thoreau's self reliance and simple life in nature, unsullied by civilisation and mammon, but the reality is he was living in a bustling community, eating ad his friends' houses, taking his laundry home to his Mum and had a housekeeper. Not at all the rugged individualism surrounded by nature of a Grizzly Adams, more of a bohemian student life, shirking real work to draw butterflies and potter around a pond. I don't mean that to be disapproving, that sounds ideal to me. just a reminder though that anyone's dream of splendid isolation and self-reliance is a mirage - we are all dependent on others and life alone would be hard, short and unbearable. 

Graham Swift, Last Orders

 his was recommended to my by Helen's Uncle Ray as a wonderful book that made him cry. I was aware of the film, but it had not been on my radar before. I read it over a weekend when Helen and the kids were away, and indeed found it very emotional, a story of loss, tragedy, of humanity making mistakes, of regrets of a life lived. The best part was the voices though, as the characters were Bermondsey based and spoke like it. So refreshing to hear the familiar banter of an older London generation without it being patronising. I didn't quite cry when Amy visited her brain-damaged daughter to tell her her Dad has passed away and that she would no longer be visiting, but it was pretty close. I watched the film as soon as I'd finished the book, and it's grand. Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay and Ray Winstone. Can't believe I haven't seen it before

John Kampfner, In Search of Berlin: The Story of Europe's Most Important City

 A pop history, and one with a debatable title. There are a fair few better candidates for the title of 'Europe's most important city' - Rome , Istanbul, Paris, London, Moscow.  It may not even be the most important Germanic city historically; Vienna would make a fair claim there. A nice read by someone who knows the city well, and Berlin is a fascinating place with a complex culture - simultaneously militaristic and authoritarian with a liberal, creative counter-culture. There's nowhere quite like it, but honestly I've no desire to visit, there are so many dark periods in its history it's not somewhere I would think I'd be comfortable.