Mick Herron, Joe Country

 I very much enjoy the wit and dialogue of Mick Herron's books, and the wonderful characters of Jackson Lamb, Roddy Ho and Diana Taverner. There's a TV version coming out in April starring Gary Oldman and I'll be watching it excitedly. But after six or seven books with similar plots and politics, it's becoming samey. Some new faces join the slow horses for unfair reasons, someone is trying to frame them, the Park massively muck up and expose state secrets, there's a climax involving blood and death and then Jackson Lamb saves the situation while picking his nose. I bought a book of Mick Herron's short stories, it will be interesting to see how much I enjoy his writing outside of the world of Slough House

Owen Wister, The Virginian

 I was really looking forward to this, billed as the first western and immensely influential on 20th Century American culture. I could cope with the dated supremacist mindset similar to Gone With The Wind, but I guess that for me the western is primarily a cinematic medium, and I want to see the epic scenery, the harshness and beauty of nature and the lone hero with his code of honour prevailing against the odds.  I got all that, but the environment didn't come to life on the page and there was far, far too much of an interminable courting of a dull prim schoolmarm that would have been at home in any Victorian hack's novel

Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: A Detailed Journey to the roots of The Lord Of The Rings

 . . . Or There And Back Again. A study into Tolkien's inspirations and creative process for the development of Middle-Earth, a life-long labour of love by a philologist to produce a mythology for England. And along the way creating some of the most popular works of fiction in the 20th Century, almost as a by-product. Intriguing how Tolkien did not seem to care for consistent plotting, or character development, but what did matter was that all the names of everything had to be rooted in the ancient languages he loved. I did skip large parts of it, just like the interminable poetry in the books. Libby is out of isolation following her second COVID bout, everyone else is fine, THFC have had yet another disappointing transfer window, can't see Conte hanging around sadly. The Prime Minister and Chief National Embarrassment is defending his conduct following the report into the parties at 10 Downing Street during lockdown, and I've stuck a tenner on Tom Tugendhat as the next leader of the Tory party, as I cannot imagine the Tory MPS putting Liz Truss on the ballot or Tory members voting for Rishi Sunak or Michael Gove. I'm an awful pundit though, so sorry for ruining your chances, Tom.

Jerome K Jerome, Three Men In a Boat

 Had forgotten quite how funny this book is. It would have been better read on a hot idle summer's day than puffing on an exercise bike through the drear of January, but still enjoyable. I can't think when I last read it, but it must be nearly 30 years as I wasn't at all familiar with the geography of the Thames at the time, I'm sure. Also noticeable that people who I saw as impossibly posh and well bred then are now lower-class snotty clerks. What have I become?

William Golding, The Spire

 I had to read the wikipedia entry after to understand what was going on, as a lot of the imagery and symbolism went over my head. Set in a medieval cathedral city, it is the story of the Dean of the cathedral's obsession with constructing a magnificent spire to reflect the glory of god. It's a lot darker than Ken Follett's rollicking efforts with similar set-ups, as the Dean's obsession becomes all-consuming, he neglects his flock and his own spiritual salvation before everything comes crumbling down. Yesterday poor Libby tested positive for COVID-19, the second time for her and likely the new omicron variant that seems to be much more infections if not so serious in effect as previous variants. so many cases around at the moment, and restrictions are being lifted, so it's probably only a matter of time before the rest of us succumb. I still find it incredible that Helen, Freddie and William could live in a house with Libby and me when we were infections and not pick it up first time round.

Martin Latham, The Bookseller's Tale

 'Very eclectic, a mixture of the history of the book (rather than the history of reading), of libraries and the personal reminiscences of the former manager of Waterstone's in Canterbury. A comfort read, which also identified some more potential comfort reads - The Man Who Was Thursday, The Shooting Party and Cloud Atlas are all on my list now. Libby tested positive for COVID-19 this morning, every day there are more revelation about parties Boris Johnson has had at Downing Street and Russia are poised to invade Ukraine. It's also a dreary Tuesday in September and when I went to The Wheatsheaf last night they were out of proper beer. I've been in better moods.

Alan Garner, Treacle Walker

 A mixture of english folklore and particle physics, although I only learned that last bit from listening to a podcast about the book afterwards. To me it seemed to be about comics coming to life rather than the elasticity of time, the duality of things and the ability to exist and not exist simultaneously. But I  probably just don't think enough about books or take the time to reflect on them before cracking open another. Alan Garner is so feted I should spend more time getting to know his books, I've only read The Owl Service before, which was ok but didn't envelope me. Maybe I would have felt differently reading it when I was younger, I'm not really the demographic now.