Stefan Zweig, Chess

This is the book I read on my 50th birthday between my run and the Circle Line. It's very short and I've been saving it as I enjoy Stefan Zweig immensely and it was a nice birthday treat. It's the tale of a very intense game of chess aboard a cruise ship between two very odd, very enigmatic incredible players - one a world-famous grandmaster and the other a mysterious stranger whose ability to play chess like the devil is inexplicable. As very often happens, it made me want to live in the world Stefan Zweig characters inhabit, while being aware that if I did live in that world I'd be the put-upon servant that may get to see the glamorous life of the wealthy and rootless but never really participating. I was very worried about whether we'd be able to complete the Circle Line at our advanced age, but it was a great turnout and we got round, although more sensible people left early or came along later. It took me a long time to recover, I still wasn't back to normal 3 days later when I set off on my cycling adventure (see next few books), and I don't think we'll be doing it ever, ever again. It was great to see Clay, Dunc, Wendy and others though. I have absolutely no memory of getting back after the Princess of Wales, but I was on my own and somehow negotiated SWT and got off at Woking.

Barry Unsworth, After Hannibal

Made me realise I've been getting Barry Unsworth, Barry Hines and Barry Cunliffe mixed up for some years! 'After Hannibal' was very funny, set in an idyllic Umbrian village where the characters all share a dusty ancient road. I got the impression Barry Unsworth was taking revenge on characters based on his real-life neighbours in his own mediterranean village, with some horrible things happening to naive americans and brash english bankers instigate by cunning locals. I'm just getting ready for my 50th birthday in 3 days - a bit worried about how I will cope and recover on the Circle Line more than the cycle, which I'm not so worried about. Let's see how I feel this time next week.

Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway, Wickham Steed, The Doom of the Hapsburgs

 Absolutely loved 'The Lincoln Highway', got really invested in the fate of the characters and it was just a joy to read. Started as a Steinbeckesque trip from Nebraska to California, but the journey quickly changed into an odyssey. Woke up early on a Saturday to finish it. ' The Doom of the Hapsburgs was written between the wars by an editor for The Times, who seemed determined to prove that he knew best all along, had warned everybody that WWI was going to happen in exactly the way he predicted and that the Habsburgs were doomed as a result. I could hardly resist buying and reading a book with that title, and he unquestionably knew the regime having worked as correspondent in Vienna, but it was all a bit 'I told you so'.

Ruth Herman, Grub Street: The Origins of the British Press

Before reading this, I'd have said that 'Grub Street' and the start of the British Press was in the 8th Century, with the sort of rags and scurrilous rumours associated with John Wilkes. Ruth Herman explains that independent news, opinions, adverts and other elements started to emerge much earlier than that, and faced many challenges, not least from a tyrannical government that wanted to control the message and information. She seems to have had a whale of a time poring over old newssheets and extracting stories as illustrations

Ivy Compton-Burnett, Daughters and Sons, W.G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn, Raymond Williams, People of the Black Mountains Vol Ii: The Eggs of the Eagle, Alistair Moffatt, Italy's Paradise: A History of Tuscany, David Fonekinos, Second Best

 'Holiday reading on another wet and muddy Easter trip to the Peak District. This time we stayed in the SE near Matlock in a village called Birchover. We dragged the kids over Stanton Moor to see the Nine Ladies stone circle, which was at least livened up by the presence of an orienteering competition happening at the same time, so puffing, frantic athletes kept popping up from all over trying to work out where on earth they were. Very entertaining, but I felt a bit sorry for the guy who got caught on a barbed wire fence, then saw us and had to go back over to avoid disqualification. We were also thrilled to find out that buttercup's Farm from 'The Princess Bride' was filmed in Birchover so we went to the dilapidated old cattle shed to take a look. the set designers and cinematographers did an incredible job. The cottage was really lovely and even had a secret room which the kids loved. Fred only got to cross off two more places on his scratch-off map of the Peaks, so we'll have to go back. I didn't really understand 'Daughters and sons' which was all clipped dialogue and very difficult to follow - every voice sounded the same. 'the rings of Saturn' is the sort of psychogeography I would have run a mile from 20 years ago, but now the vague ramblings and non-sequitirs and flights of fancy rather appeal. 'People of the Black Mountains' was local colour for my planned cycling trip to Hay in a few weeks, 'Italy's Paradise' was a straightforward chronological history of Tuscany (as it said on the tin) when what I really wanted was a travelogue full of stories about good wine, good food and beautiful landscapes and art. 'Second Best' was a very funny novel about a fictional boy who just loses out to Daniel Ratcliffe for the role of Harry Potter and how it affects and influences his life from then on. It's the second book I've read in translation by Foenkinos and I'm keen to read more

Jeremy Black, Paris: A Short History

A straight history with not a lot of colour or fun. Even the little vignettes that featured seemed dull. There was a personal anecdote about the author's watch stopping which I didn't even understand

Tim Burrows, The Invention of Essex, Hernan Diaz, Trust

'The Invention of Essex' was enjoyable, and just what it said on the tin - an exploration of the notion of Essex in popular culture and the landscape and people of Essex itself.  Lots of salt marshes, trading estates and the beautiful north of the county. 'Trust' I read in a day and really enjoyed too. A story told from 4 different angles that kept me hooked and had a very satisfactory ending.