Bettany Hughes, Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities

A big book for a big subject, with things like the Varangian Guard, or the Battle of Manzikert, or the displacement of the  Greek population after the First World War, dealt with in a few pages or even a few sentences when they warrant massive books in themselves. Very ambitious and a great overview of a city with three names. Another holiday read, often first thing in the morning while it was cool and I could sit on the verandah drinking coffee while the others snoozed (except William, who was off playing football as soon as the sun came up).

Francois Mauriac, Therese Desqueyroux

I wanted to read something set in the locality, but I knew absolutely nothing about Bordeaux or Les Landes. This was recommended in a guidebook and I bought a copy in Daunt, and  I'm starting to believe it's impossible to buy a bad book from there. There's a bar set by the fact that most book there have been translated, and who is going to translate a bad or unsuccessful book?  Audrey Tautou from Amelie is on the front cover of the edition I bought, as she made a film based on the book in 2012. It's the story of a murderous bourgeois woman trying to make her way and assert her independence, but it's very much set in the pines and flat sandy landscape of Les Landes, so i could look up from the book and see the very countryside where it is set.  Luckily Helen didn't attempt to poison me as Therese does to her husband. 

Ned Boulting, 1923: The Mystery of Lot 212 and a Tour de France Obsession

Second holiday read in the mad sun of Biscarrosse, and this read almost entirely by the pool on a lounger in the share. Ned Boulting is always worth reading, very funny and engaging, and what sounds like a dull read  - one man's boredom during covid leading him to investigate to the nth degree some old footage of a cyclist crossing a bridge in the 1923 TdF turns out to be quite a read after all. Probably helped that the TdF had just finished, and the Paris Olympics just started.

Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz

First book read on our holiday to Biscarrosse, which I am writing about two weeks later so it seems a long long time ago. We got in at 2 in the morning last night so I am tired and grumpy today. Parts of this read on the plane, parts on the veranda of our chalet and most by the pool as it was so very hot. The first weekend there it was about 30 degrees and I couldn't go into the sun for more than a few minutes. i managed a few run in the morning but it was too much and I switched to cycling. Cahokia Jazz was terrific, set in an alternate US where there is a semi-independent Native American state in the Mid-West. Beyond that it was a crime procedural, but very refreshing and enjoyable - will encourage Helen to read it 

Robert Blatchford, Merrie England

 Read this before going on holiday and cannot remember much now. The normal preaching to the converted. 

Italo Calvino, Into The War

 3 short autobiographical stories, not sure they would be published still if not by Calvino, who has written some brilliant stuff. Interesting in understanding more about the author and his wartime experiences, but that's it. We go on holiday to France tomorrow, I've sorted out the books I'm taking, but that's it - will need to start packing soon. . . 

Noreen Masud, A Flat Place: A Memoir

Somewhere between an exploration of flat environments - Orford Ness, The Fens, etc and a memoir, and much more about complex PTSD than I was expecting, and far more personal than other psychogeographies. The author, who grew up isolated in a strict conservative Pakistan bares her soul and writes candidly about her trouble connecting to others. Really I wanted to be reading about the places though, I'm not one for deeply personal discussions, which just shows how repressed I am and how it would do me good to have just such a discussion!