Charles Portis, The Dog of the South

 'True Grit' was really enjoyable, and written in such a convincing 19th Century firs-person narrative that it came as a surprise to realsie that 'The Dog of the South' was far more contemporary, set in the '70s and published in 1979. GQ called in 'the funniest novel in decades', so I had high hopes, but after hooking me in at the start to what seemed like a quest to recover a lost wife, it got very odd and weird and hallucinogenic, with the action switching to a swampy Belize best by hurricanes and full of eccentric characters.  I found myself nodding off while reading it and not able to follow the plot.

Shashi Tharoor, Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India

Absolutely relentless in its demolition of the idea that British rule of India was somehow beneficial or benevolent. Very uncomfortable reading, but so important when there are millions of Britons who still feel the empire is something to be proud of. There is a chilling quote from Boris Johnson's biography of Churchill which sums up the attitude:  'die-hard defenders of the Raj and of the God-given right of every pink-jowled Englishman to sit on his veranda. . . and glory in the possession of India'.

George Saunders, Liberation Day

 I loved 'Lincoln in the Bardo', a supernatural play for voices which had such a warmness and love to it, despite  being set in a Washington DC graveyard full of spirits trapped in limbo. 'Liberation Day' was a collection of dystopian short stories, normally set in a tyrannical, exploitative world where humans are treated as objects to serve others (so pretty much like all human history). I need to learn to read short stories in bites rather than gorging like a novel. I've become so accustomed to read and read and read i don't have the discipline to stop and put it down. It's the same with chocolate and other sweet things, I'm just a natural glutton I guess.

Tabitha Stanmore, Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic

 I've read a few books on the topic recently, it seems to be a boom area in Academia.  It's interesting that the writers go to great lengths not to judge or make the assumption that magic didn't work - the point is that people at the time really did seem to believe in magic. To someone like me without a spiritual or mystical bone in my body though it just comes across as a load of scammers grifting the gullible out of a few quid. Stull makes it a good read, but I'm missing that extra dimension of understanding why people fell for the grift. The heatwave has finally hit Britain, and the tent is now up in the garden. William and I have slept (fitfully) in it for the last two nights, with Buzz getting very excited, scratching it up and getting stuck between the layers. He likes to perch between the outer layer and the membrane at the top of the tent, which starts to sag until he nearly reaches us. Then he gets stuck, panics and causes a kerfuffle trying to right himself. 

Martin MacInnes, In Ascension

 An immensely ambitious work of science fiction that requires a few laps of the imagination  that mankind discovers a method of propulsion that can take us to other galaxies, and that  there are organisms on earth that live forever, can reproduce and grow independently  and can be harnessed and grown. I only understood a tiny part of it and couldn't get my head round the huge ideas of connectedness and creation and circular time and Cassini ovals. Fred's just finished his GCSEs and I've been of no help to him at all when it comes to Science. It's rather embarrassing that I can't do Science, but every question seems to lead to more questions that are even more confusing. 

Ian Mortimer, Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter

Ian Mortimer's argument that the Medieval era is far more important and influential than historians and the general public think, and that the western world in 1500 is far more similar to 2000 than it was to 1000. Sometimes selective, but a strong argument on many topics, looking beyond technological advances to show how the language of 1500 would be intelligible to us today, but not to someone from 1000, that their approach to religion and individuality has more in common with us, and even their housing and some comforts (stone/brick houses with chimneys, windows, living in towns).

Claudia Pineiro, A Crack in the Wall

 A book by Argentina's most popular thriller writer as discussed on R4's A Good Read recently. I did enjoy it, and it had a twist I didn't see coming involving the unsatisfied architect with a guilty secret turning the tables on his employer. I read the whole thing at Bisley, as Fred was in a Shooting competition for the Explorers. He thought he'd be the only one from his group there, so I said I would stay. as it turned out, there were a couple of kids he knew and he was fine without me, so I could have left. It was a nice sunny day though so I found a bench on an idyllic green enclosed by the verandah'd cabins of various rifle clubs, looking like a colonial hill station. It's lovely there, and now I know how easy it is to get in I may go back more often when I need some peace and quiet. . .