Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish, William S Burroughs, The Naked Lunch, Malcolm Hislop, How To Read Castles

Helen and I have been watching 'The Witcher' on Netflix, the latest attempt to fill the GoT gap in the schedules. Helen is really enjoying it, but I'm finding it a bit meh. However, I read an interview with the author of the books, and he came across as very dry and funny, so I wondered what the books would be like. It was an enjoyable slice of fantasy, much more than the tv series, but nothing really made me want to read more. It was certainly an easier read than 'The Naked Lunch', which I trudged through. No narrative to speak of, just a serious of disonected vignettes filtered through a drug addled hallucinogenic lens. 'How To Read Castles' was pitched just right. Freddie could have picked it up and learnt from it, it was written in such an accessible, organised way. The true test will be to take it to a castle and see how useful it is. So that's what we will be doing at Easter, whether the rest of the family want to or not!

David Markson, Wittgenstein's Mistress, Robert Macfarlane, Underland: A Deep time Journey

Wittgenstein's Mistress was one single stream of consciousness from the last surviving human on the planet. She was an unreliable narrator of course, and presumably mad, although how much was true and how much her fantasy is not clear. 'Underland' has had fabulous reviews and Robert Macfarlane gets a lot of praise on Twitter, but I didn't like it at all. Possibly I'm just too familiar now with the genre and have turned cynical. It's vicarious nature writing for the urban, urbane reader who wants to be at one with nature, receiving profound wisdom and a better lifestyle from communing with an unspoilt environment. all the charcarters met in these books are poets, or immensely talented musicians or craftsmen, as well as being world authorities on caving, or fungi, or tidal erosion, as well as living in windmills or on boats or in a hammock in a mountain cave. It's all wish-fulfilment tosh and what remains unsaid about all these characters (who are undoubtedly exaggerated and had their potted biographies very carefully curated), is that they are only able to live these lives because they have massive trust funds or made a fortune in the city at Daddy's bank.

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up The Bodies

Just wonderful. Cromwell walking the tightrope and deftly dancing around all the conflicting interests and courtiers that wish him ill while managing to make real a king's whims. Can't wait for the 3rd book in March. At home, William is coming in to his own and developing his own character. He's had trouble with speech and doesn't pay much attention to people either at home or school, but he's still a charmer. He took some chocolate 'dinosaur poo' into school on Friday for Show & Tell, and when he came home proudly announced that as a direct result he now has a girlfriend. A teacher must have said something to him, because he then declared 'Well, it's one way of getting a girlfriend!' Later on he rushed to the loo, and after the flush stated loudly 'That's that mystery solved!'  I investigated no further.

Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fraz Kafka, Metamorphosis, Martyn Rady, The Habsburg Empire: A Very Short Introduction

I think that's the third time reading Wolf Hall, and I'm still spotting new things, Little throwaway lines or comments that you realise with hindsight will have massive repercussions later on - the appearance of Mark Smeaton, of Jane Seymour, Cromwell's profound thoughts about what he will have to do or forego to survive and navigate his way through court politics, and the quiet, assured and competent way he goes about avenging Wolsey. Just about to start Bring Up The Bodies so I am ready for the release of the third book, The Mirror and The Light, in March. I've booked the day off work to read it. 'Metamorphosis' was darkly comic and more of a satire of bourgeois mitteleuropean morality than I had realised. Apparently the biggest issue about having a son turn into a cockroach is what the lodgers and neighbours will think. 'The Habsburg Empire' was perfect for me. Facts and quirks that could be read in an hour or so and provide the most superficial understanding of a subject. It was part of the Oxford 'Very Short Introduction' series, and I think this could well become a rich seam of reading material. Very close to finishing the '100 essential novels', although the thumping 1000+ pages of 2666 and Anna Karenina are intimidating me from the bedside chest of drawers.

Ben Coates, Why The Dutch Are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands

Was disappointed with this. A lazy, pop history by someone who has only lived in the Netherlands for a few years. There were whole sections, such as football or Amsterdam in the Golden Age, when I wondered why I was reading it, as the author obviously knew very little and was cribbing the information from other books. Was also a little unsettled when he talked about 'Dutch' people (meaning white) being hardworking and law-abiding while 'Moroccans' (dutch people of Moroccan descent) in his neighbourhood weren't. Not surprising to find out that the author used to work for the Conservative Party. On the home front, Freddie took part in a swimming competition for his school last week and did really well, and it seems to have rekindled his motivation after a tough few months. It's a tough period for him as he is getting a lot of growing pains and his hormones are all over the place. The littlest thing becomes a major disaster - misplaced pencil case, can't find his belt - but when he is laughing and happy he just seems so joyous.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Have been putting this off for a long, long time as I thought I knew what to expect - a bleak tale of one man's obsession overriding all over concerns and driving him to his own destruction. Or, alternatively, the first Great American Novel, an allegory for the zeal that drove Americans to conquer the wilderness and imposed man's manifest destiny on nature. Turns out it's neither of those things really, it's just a book about whaling, but someone who really really likes whaling. It reminded me in parts of a Radio 4 documentary where you have some eccentric old buffer enthusiastically explaining his love of horse brass collection,  or performing forgotten Slovakian folk songs. It was very funny too, it its bombastic use of language and determination to prove that whaling is a noble profession on a par or even superior to any other form of human activity, whether it be poetry, jousting or something more prosaic.

George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Magnus Mills, The Restraint of Beasts

Two books I haven’t read for a long time but which I admire greatly. I remember being naively surprised at the political infighting on the republican side, which stayed with me more than the descriptions of the war. It's apposite at the moment as the Labour Party is particularly riven at the moment as the various factions battle for control. I'm now worried that after what the right sees a massive mistake in 'allowing' Corbyn to get onto the ballot sheet, they will seek to stitch up all future elections and also purge the left (including me) from the party. The latest is the list of demands from the Board of Deputies to restore confidence in the Labour Party in the Jewish community, which, if followed to the letter, could be used to expel tens of thousands. The 'zero-tolerance' approach means that people who defend, support or share a platform with people who are accused of anti-semitism can be expelled and never allowed back in. Given that there are many on the left who feel that some of the people accused, suspended or expelled like Jackie Walker and Chris Williamson have been unfairly treated and are not at all anti-semitic, this coud very easily be weaponised. All the leadership candidates have signed up to the pledge. The 'Restraint of Beasts' was not quite the novel I thought it was, I think I must have got it a little mixed up with other Magnus Mills novels. It was marvellous though, and stands in stark contrast to all the classics I have been trudging through, as it is about working people and their day-to-day existence. No worries about neuroses or ennui or angst, but about where the money for the next meal or catalogue payment is coming from. How odd to read a book I think of as contemporary, but set in a world with no internet or mobile phones.