Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Magnus Mills, All Quiet on the Orient Express, Simon Cooper, The Otter's Tale, Agatha Christie, Death's Folly, Robin Cooper, The Time Waster Letters, Mick Herron, Spook Street, Agatha Christie, The Hollow, Simon Winder, The Man Who Saved Britain. John Steinbeck, Cannery Row, Agatha Christie, Appointment With Death

3 Poirot novels as my comfort reading continues in lockdown. It really is an omnishambles at the moment in the UK. The government are utterly incompetent, the advice given is unclear and contradictory and they genuinely don’t seem to give a stuff about the welfare of ordinary people. Johnson appears on TV and just blusters and bullshits. Last night there was a photo of him holding up some Timtams in triumph at the prospect of a trade deal with Australia. I assumed it had been photoshopped, but it turns out that no, it was real. That's why he's triumphant. Because apparently the massive damage done to the economy and to our international standing  done by Brexit is all worth it because it means we will be able to buy some penguin knockoffs. It's too depressing to point out that we can buy them anyway, hence why he is fucking able to hold some. and yet this lazy, lying, adulterous, dim buffoon is running our country and still ahead in the polls. No wonder I'm taking refuge in the certainty of the rarefied, civilised locked rooms of Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie, Before The Flood, Kapka Kassabova, To The Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace, Niklas Natt och Dag, The Wolf And The Watchman, John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley

Two fantastic books in a row. Agatha Chrisie was comfort reading, to the Lake another examination of the nuttiness of ethnic, linguistic and religious differences in the Balkan. The Wolf and the Watchman took the Scandi-noir police procedural, with it's grizzled and flawed investigators, its seedy and depraved underbelly of a respectable society, and misogyny, cruelty and torture and moved them all to 18th Century Stockholm for a really refreshing spin. And then Steinbeck. I've not read much Steinbeck, and none of his non-fiction, but this was incredible. Later in life, Steinbeck sets off in a trailer with his dog Charley to go look for the real America. He writes so well - self-deprecating, honest, insightful. He was away a wee bit too long as he starts having conversations with Charley in print, but what he has to say about the creeping consumerism and materialism in America, and the peculiar issues of the Deep South are still as relevant today.

John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy, Shusaku Endo, The Samurai, Stephen Moss, Mrs Moreau's Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names, Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Still lockdown reading! Finding it hard to get the time to read as my normal routine of reading on the exercise bike is no longer an option. I did purchase a cheap exercise bike just before the lockdown started, but didn’t read the reviews and it is too small for me. So I bodged a seat post extension, sat on it happily reading a few times until the casing snapped and I went a over t taking the bike with me. I ended up on the floor of the garage with the bike on top of me and my right shin cut to shribbons. Couldn't help noting that throughout it all the book remained clenched in my left hand on the correct page. I've rebodged it, but not high enough to sit back and read, so instead I'm listening to podcasts. On the books, I loved The Samurai, a historical globe-trotting novel from a Japanese perspective. I've put the 100 essential novels on hold with just two to go, as the two remaining, William Gaddis' Recognitions and Roberto Bolano's 2666 are huge tomes and I just can't face them without dedicated reading time. Instead I'm going to try to read some classics or oldies, hence The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Agatha Christie is on the list next.

Suraiya Faroqhi, The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It, Sam Byers Perfidious Albion

Lockdown reading. The situation in the UK seems to be getting worse and wore, as the death count rises each day and Boris Johnson has been rushed to hospital.  The UK Government's response to the outbreak has been appalling, they've not taken it seriously enough, given out mixed messages -  'stay in!' 'it's ok to go out for exercise', and our PM was only a few weeks ago boasting about shaking hands with everyone in a hospital. It looks like it will hit harder in the UK than anywhere else in Europe because of a) our government's wrong headed response and b) the deliberate underfunding of our health and social infrastructure for the previous decades. Despite this, Johnson appears to have record levels of approval, is eulogised in the press and has people all over the country praying for him.

Magnus Mills, The Scheme for Full Employment, Jerzy Kosinski, The Painted Bird

Can completely understand why The Painted Bird was on the list. It's visceral, brutal and shocking, and presents a harrowing counter-picture to Eastern Europe under the Nazis. No wonder it was banned in the Eastern Bloc as it shows the fear, cruelty, superstition and collaboration of peasants in the persecution of others under the Nazis. Very different from the official history of heroic resistance and solidarity in occupied territories. It's semi-autobiographical apparently, and it's difficult to believe that this boy being beaten, raped, tortured and witnessing horrific acts carried out so casually is only 8 years old. another reminder, like the Handmaid's Tale, that for most of humanity in most of history their lives have been miserable, fearful and oppressed.
THSFFE was a reread, and a reminder of how much I enjoy Magnus Mills. Have just ordered a load more of his books to get through the lockdown

Helen Castor, She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth

First book read under lockdown. The gym has shut so my normal time reading while on the bike has stopped. As my ankle is still painful following the Surrey Half, I cannot run either. We are all allowed out once a day for exercise, so I am walking a 5 mile circuit each morning. Great for catching up on podcasts, but no good for reading. So have been reading She Wolves as and when I can, so haven't really been absorbed by it.

Seishi Yokomizo, The Honjin Murders

A vintage Japanese locked-room mystery, translated into English for the first time. It was funny to read something so familiar but in an unfamiliar setting. It reminded me of nothing so much as an episode of Jonathan Creek, with an incredibly convoluted and complicated mechanism and set up. The suspension of disbelief and elaborate staging required is entirely unbelievable, but still very enjoyable. I guess the skill of the greatest like Agatha Christie lies in making an artificial unbelievable scenario seem credible.