Agatha Christie, Poirot Investigates, Max Adams, In the Land of Giants: Journeys Through The Dark Ages

Comfort reading at Duesseldorf Airport, and then a very of-the-moment meld of dark ages history and travels through the british landscape. V aspirational, we all want to be Max Adams as he travels leisurely through the islands with no day job, having serendipitous encounters with local experts, or seals, or undiscovered Iron Age Barrows. I'm completely, utterly jealous of his life ;-)

Bibs is being absolutely charming at the moment. He fetches my slippers when I get through the door, gets Helen a cup for her tea and is just generally lovely and so easy to make laugh. The long campaign to rename him Billy is still bumping along: Libby has pledged her preference for 'Billy', but has yet to use it, and Fred doesn't like it. It does sound odd on him, to be fair: 'Bibs' has become fixed in my mind for him.

Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, The Leopard, Philip Cowley & Denis Kavanagh, The British General Election of 2015

'The Silk Roads' wasn't quite what I was expecting; I was hoping for a history of medieval Central Asia, but it was actually a geopolitical history of the world emphasising the role of the region as a key point. Very ambitious and readable, but I was just after a narrative and was required to think. The Leopard has passed me by; not sure I appreciated quite why it's considered one of the most important works of literature in the 20th Century (maybe something was lost in translation), but it made me smile in places and just want to visit the never-changing Sicily all the more.

The latest Nuffield study was devoured on a business trip to Germany. Very pessimistic reading of course, and right now it's difficult to see how Labour will get back into power for generations. Scotland is lost to the SNP, voters in the north don’t see the Labour Party as representing them any more and are edging in enough quantity to UKIP and in the south, 'Tory Lite' doesn’t convince when the real thing is available. And now Corbyn is in power (whose policies I agree with and for whom I voted), we're moving further and further away from being seen as a centrist party capable of governing.

I'm calling Bibs' first word; it's 'banana'. He's definitely saying 'nana' when I point at one, and while Nana may claim he's saying 'Nana', it's 'banana' alright.

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

Had to slog through this at first, but it had me captured by the final 200 pages and I neglected other activities to finish it! I am a bit dim though, so needed to check with wikipedia afterwards to make sure I'd understood what had happened. Just as well as I didn’t realise it was built around a novel in a novel in a novel rather than just a novel in a novel. Maybe some light reading is needed to follow

Had a lovely haul of books for Christmas; Barry Cunliffe's new book, Nairn's London, a biography of William Marshal as well as my standard post-christmas hoovering up of the books I wanted but didn't get. The Nuffield study of the 2015 election is out now, which I'll devour (all the time feeling the pangs of agony at the result), but have just started on The Silk Roads, a present from Helen's Mum and Dad

Andrea Camilleri, The Scent of the Night, Simon Goddard, The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life

A couple of lovely bits of easy reading, although reading through the second, it's surprising how many Smiths songs I'm unfamiliar with. All that untapped (for me) great music. Dylan's Basement Tapes is the next big project though, so Morrissey & Marr will have to wait. Current favourite bedtime songs for Libby are Morrisey's' Interlude', the White Stripes' 'We Are Going To Be Friends' and (still) Emily Barker's Blackbird.  Fred seems to have gone off the idea of songs at bedtime, but we’ve been reading 'Stig of the Dump' recently. Some nights he seems to be really into it, and then other nights he shows no interest at all and want to read fact books about cars and animals instead. He really seems to struggle with sustaining interest in a story. I'll keep plugging away until we find a book that stimulates him. Might try Norman Hunter next

Graham Greene, Our Man In Havana, Jenny Uglow, A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration,Robert Merle, City of Wisdom and Blood, Tom Buk-Swienty, 1864: The forgotten war that shaped modern Europe

Reading rate has increased substantially as the daylight hours diminish. Too dark to run in the mornings now, so the default setting is now an hour on the bikes in the gym, which is where most of the above were read. I'm tantalisingly close to hitting my target of 550 miles run for the year, even after falling out of a tree. Two more runs and I should be there; I'm hoping to go out tomorrow lunchtime as I'm working from home.

Helen's been back at work now for a few months, and it's tough. When the kids are well we can just about manage, but when one or more is ill we really struggle. Both of us have run out of leave now, and if one of them falls ill (as has been happening frequently over the past weeks) we're stuffed.  I'm seriously considering grabbing redundancy if it's offered and not working for a few years to look after the kids and home. I talked to H about it last night, and she's not up for it, as it would mean her going back full-time. Right now though it's so difficult to cope. Luckily I have a very understanding boss and can work flexibly.

Four very good books. Our Man In Havana was an indulgent reread, Uglow's book has been sitting on my shelves for years, and was finally picked. I'd bene put off thinking it was a straightforward biography, but it's far wider than that. Merle was the second in the Fortunes of France series which are now becoming available in translation. A cast of thousands, with characters either goodies or baddies - like Dumas, Sabatini or Cornwell. Lovely enjoyable stuff.

Neil McGregor, Germany: Memories of a Nation

Neil McGregor has recently announced he's leaving the British Museum to go and work in Germany, which is obviously a country he has a great deal of affection for. The book is not a history of Germany as such, but an attempt to explain the German character and culture through experiences and art from the 15th Century onwards. It's very readable, no specific knowledge is required, and some of the illustrations are fabulous. Lovely maps too.

Freddie had his first swimming gala at the weekend, finishing 10th out of 11th in Front Crawl and 11th out of 11th in Back stroke. He was really disheartened at the time, bless him, but we're trying to encourage him as it was his first ever gala and the others (although the same age) are a lot more advanced. We've been swimming since, and he was back to having a smile on his face and being cheeky to the teacher, so hopefully he'll keep enjoying it.  We've just signed him up for cello lessons next term too. Helen and I had a bit of a spat about an incentive for him if he completed the course. Helen suggested £10, which I thought was just insulting for all the work he'd have to do. Maybe I'm too soft.

Captain Marryat, The Children of the New Forest

The Children of the New Forest has been on the bookshelf for ages now, and my Tsundoku backlog has got so big the bookshelf in the small room broke, and now only holds non-fiction, with fiction piled by the radiator. I think I bought it for Ella, and it's a book I'd love Fred to read in a few years, although right now he doesn't seem interested in 'chapter books' at all. Every now and then it seems we've cracked it and he gets really into a book, but it only seems to last a night and then it's a trial to try and get him to read again. Factual books seem to interest him, but not fiction. Having said that, we've been reading a graphic novel of Tom Sawyer which he does seem to want to read independently, but he doesn’t seem to have much comprehension of what has happened. Even with me reading to him he only wants the first chapter or two and then isn’t interested. Danny The Champion of The World, the BFG, The Dark is Rising: We've read the first few chapters of each before he has lost interest.

The Children of the New Forest is set just after the civil war, about 4 noble children whose father died fighting for Charles I, and have to fend for themselves hiding in the woods with the support of some loyal retainers. Naturally it all turns out ok in the end, but it's a good read for kids longing to escape adult controls and society. Although obviously sympathetic to the royalist cause, it's not as laughably one-sided as the Scarlet Pimpernel at least.

Being the uncultured slob that I am, the thought of the Scarlet Pimpernel conjures up the image of Sid James as the Black Fingernail in my mind, with Kenneth Williams in  hot pursuit. Fred came home from school the other day full of enthusiasm for a poem Mrs Sinhal had read - The Jabberwocky. He seemed stunned that I knew it, and as he enjoyed it so much I had him listen to Rambling Sid Rumpo's 'The Ballad of the Woggler's Moolie' which he found absolutely hilarious, something he has in common with his Grandad (and his Dad, for that matter). I've downloaded the album now and he barks with laughter in the car. I'm hoping a lot of it will go over his head for a few more years at least. ..