Sebastian Faulks, Jeeves & The Wedding Bells, Robin Fleming, Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070: Anglo-Saxon Britain Vol 2 (The Penguin History of Britain), Rachel Joyce, Perfect

Was concerned  that Sebastian Faulks' latest homage (after his Bond novel) would be a disappointment, but he's obviously a huge fan and stuck generally to the formula. There were a couple of notes that made for a better novel (it was a novel rather than the short stories of Wodehouse), but didn't ring true; Bertie is given more of a back story and is occasionally given to contemplation of the horrors and loss of the Great War which had no place in the sunny Sunday afternoon atmosphere of a Wodehouse story. 'Perfect' was the follow-up to 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'  which I really enjoyed, with it's shameless tugging of the heart strings. 'Perfect' took longer to grip me, but it kept me rapt towards the end, the sort of book you read every spare second you have; walking along, on the loo, surreptitious glances at work. . .

Libby, along with every other UK female aged 3-11 is absolutely obsessed with the film 'Frozen' at the moment. She had a Frozen-themed birthday party with games like Pin the Carrot on the Olaf and just about every card or present had Elsa or Anna on it. Disney are now responsible for a generation that will pronounce 'Anna' with an r sound after the first 'A'. I love her here singing so much. She doesn't know the words, and only just about knows he tune, but she belts it out like a club singer just the same, bless her. Fred & Lib have come to expect my rendition of 'One Spring Morning' and 'Sally Brown' as their lullabies, so both can belt those out too. Last night Lib decided to accompany 'One Spring Morning' by singing an entirely different song (Do You Want To Build A Snowman?) at the same time

Emory Thomas, Robert E Lee: A biography, Peter Ackroyd, The Death of King Arthur, Brendan Simms, Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present

Not  a lot of light reading there: next up is Sebastian Faulks' Jeeves & Wooster homage to Wodehouse as some relief from three books full of internecine massacres and unfathomable strategic decisions. I think the American Civil War may be emerging as my principal interest for the next few months. Helen's parents' trip down the east coast jolted memories, and after watching 'Gettysburg-The Movie' I'm back marching with the Army of Northern Virginia. It is most alarming that I instinctively side with the very wrong but wromantic confederacy over the right but repulsive Union. I know perfectly well that at the time I would have supported the Union fully (at least, I would have after the emancipation proclamation), but figures like Lee are just so attractive, noble and dedicated to their forlorn cause.

Michael Pye, The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are, Jo Nesbo, Police

Michael Pye's book has had some great reviews, and the early chapters are very interesting and offer a new perspective, but towards the end it seemed to descend into a fairly standard history of early Modern Europe.  Harry Hole was as entertaining and gory as ever, although no Arsenal-supporting villains cropped up this time. Freddie seems to have turned a corner with reading, and is now doing it voluntarily and for fun. Just Tintin for now, but we all start somewhere. Bibs is an absolute joy - he's so placid, particularly given his big sister pulls and pokes and picks him up against his will all the time. I get a smile whenever he sees me, which  is so lovely. Still haven't run this year, and there's the Surrey half marathon in just over a month. Can't see it being a record pace. . .

Sebastian Faulks, Devil May Care

It's a Bond novel, but very much Fleming's Bond rather than the Bond of the films. That suits me, although there was an element of Bond by Numbers about it; the descriptions of everything Bond eats and drinks, the competitive element sparked in a sporting contest with the main antagonist, and lots of gritty determination and injury to Bond. I love all that through, so really enjoyed it! Libby came in again last night, so her spending the night in her own bed may have been a one-off. . . 

EF Benson, Mapp & Lucia, Tristram Hunt, Ten Cities That Made An Empire.

It's still too dark to run at the moment and I'm missing it very much. I don’t really get the chance at the weekend as I tend to be looking after Fred & Libs. There's a Park Run in Woking that I'm keen to get along to, particularly as Freddie can take part too; it clashes with Libby's Ballet on Saturday morning though, unfortunately.  Lib is still insisting on me taking her to ballet, even though the door is locked for the duration and we can't see what is going on. On the other hand, she did stay in her bed the whole night last night for the first time in months, and I actually managed to get a decent night's sleep. Let's hope she keeps it up. Lots of praise required

Back in November, Fred and I ran a mile down at Guildford Athletics Track: I'm so proud of him for doing it. He didn’t stop once and was faster than many of the older kids. I ran round the track with him to encourage him and keep him moving. What a star. I don’t want to push him to much, but it's great exercise and something we can do together. As the Park Run is only 1K, hopefully it'll be ideal. Helen's talking about taking part too, but she'll have to work up to it.

Mapp & Lucia was lovely and a joy to read, and read at the same time as the BBC adaption over Christmas. Maybe not as funny as Wodehouse, although I've recently become aware of a male/female split over Wodehouse; women seem not to find him quite so funny as men. Tristram Hunt's book was a very interesting take on the British empire seen through the history of ten cities shaped by and that shaped the empire. Starting with  Boston, then to Bridgetown, Dublin, Cape Town and further east as the empire changes. He's a Labour MP now and the shadow education secretary, but he doesn't seem that inspiring in a field Labour should be wiping the floor with the Tories. Labour's in a state full stop though; to scared of offending the right wing media and the middle-of-the-road voter to offer anything genuinely radical. Rather than do something populust and left wing like bring the railways back under state control, they seem rather to be trying to talk tough on immigration to match UKIP. Embarrassing.

Peter Ackroyd, Tudors: A History of England Volume II (History of England Vol 2), Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Parker, The Empire Stops Here: A Journey along the Frontiers of the Roman World, PG Wodehouse, Lord Emsworth Acts For The Best

I'm full of snot and cold at the moment, and have been since Christmas Eve, which has affected the family enjoyment of the period. Poor Helen has had to cope with the kids as I've been useless and laid up in bed for large periods. The kids seem to have had a good time of it though, with Scalextric being Freddie's new obsession (will it overtake Lego in the long run though?). Libby is still a real handful, so physical and always jumping at me, climbing over me or generally launching herself. She does it to Bibs too, which is worrying, and I spend too much time telling her to be careful of her little brother. 

Karl Ove Knausgaard A Death in the Family: My Struggle Book 1, Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Broken Road:From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos, Paul Kingsnorth, The Wake, David Crystal, Spelling, John Updike, Rabbit Run, James Falkner, Marshal Vauban and the Defence of Louis XIV's France, Robert Merle, The Brethren, Roger Crowley, City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire, CJ Sansom, Dominion, Patrick Barkham, Badgerlands:The Twilight World of Britain's Most Enigmatic Animal, Agatha Christie The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, David Abulafia, The Great Sea: A Human History, Max Adams, King In The North: The Life & Times of Oswald of Northumbria, Georges Simenon, Pietr The Latvian

Ouch, far too long left again. Work has been very stressful and three kids are keeping us v busy. Nearly all the reading has been done on the exercise bike in the gym at work. None of the non-fiction stands out, but A Death in the Family, Dominion and The Wake were cracking reads. Was a bit worried that Knausgaard might be a bit emperor's new clothes, as he appears to be a writer beloved by writers rather than readers, but despite it being a Seinfeldesque 'book about nothing' it kept me reading. Dominion was set in an alternative world where Britain surrendered in WWII and is now led by a fascist government under (who else?) Beaverbrook.

Since that last paragraph, a further 3 books have been read with no commentary, one largely on a flight to and from Dusseldorf for work