I'm not sure where this book is (The Spectator Bird by Wallace Earle Stegner), maybe passed on and not recorded? Now being repurposed as a e-book journal for 2020.

(16/01/20)
Read 1/2020
Quakernomics: An Ethical Capitalism by Mike King (not registered)

This is a very interesting and unique book, in fact 2 books; a history and analysis of Quaker entrepreneurs and businesses, and; a 300-year history of economic theory and related political theory. The link between the 2 parts is the search for evidence of ‘ethical capitalism’ in mainstream writings and thought, and parallels or divergence from Quaker business practices. The first part is a revelation, who knew that such a small and historically persecuted religion could be the driving force behind so much of the industrial revolution and English commerce from the mid 18th century until - almost - the modern day. This entrepreneurship included steel and iron (Ironbridge and the Crystal Palace), railways, pharmaceuticals, luxury biscuits & chocolate, and banking.

The key features of this approach is honesty (mostly), concern for fairness in dealing with employees (‘Bournville’ and other company towns and shops) the role of the Meetings as proxy committees and moral guides, family and wider networks of partners and investors. The latter benefited from the nascent investment banking sector and innovation in Lombard St. which saw the birth of both Lloyds and Barclays (both Quaker-owned) and so-called ‘total Capitalism’.

In the second part of the book I loved the summary that included Adam Smith, Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and many others that I had not heard about.

The key criticism of the book(s) is the general feeling that this was a research dissertation, King constantly repeated and recapped, referred to his main aims and objectives … as a reader of ‘popular’ business books I do not need to see [his] workings. But that doesn’t distract from a fascinating and insightful book.

(27/01/20)
Read 2/2020
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

(02/02/20)
Read 3/2020
We Don't Die of Love by Stephen May (not registered)

This is a very readable little novel, ostensibly about a middle-aged man losing his wife, but more about growing up generally and friendships & relationships in modern Britain. The main narrative plot involves the gentrification of a Northern English city, some good-old British criminality revisited for the C21st, and the lead's cafe (?) caught up in the middle. Good fun, very assured, if not entirely plausible!

(19/02/20)
Read 4/2020
The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons (not registered)

It had me with the cover testimonial from Lee Child, "Spectacular!" And indeed it is, the first (of many I hope) books featuring maverick DC 'Max' Wolfe. In which we meet Max, to all intents and purposes a single father to his spunky little family, daughter Scout and dog Stan. He starts the book following a dangerous hunch and taking an incredible professional risk on a possible terrorist threat, and continues in the same vein; sometimes a lone voice against the police establishment he sets out his stall as a deeply moral policeman, father, and seeker of justice, whatever the person cost might be. I'm looking forward to reading more of these.

(20/02/20)
Read 5/2020
Decline of the English Murder by George Orwell (not registered)

For a series on 'Great Ideas', this seems a bit lightweight, although the selection of small essays is interesting ... but definitely of its time (inter-war). Orwell writes a lot about popular boys & girls magazines and saucy end-of-the-pier postcards, and a very little about crime, vis-a-vis the title story. The 2 most interesting sections are about Orwell living on the streets in London and hop-picking in Kent, and getting drunk and trying to get put in jail for vagrancy. I assume both come from the book, 'Down and Out in London & Paris', and I have to congratulate him for his dedication to his writing craft and full immersion!

(26/02/20)
Read 6/2020
London Made Us: A Memoir of a Shape-Shifting City by Robert Elms

To borrow a phrase; if you were to cut Robert Elms in half it would read ‘London’ all the way through. This book is part-memoir, part-history/geographical/cultural guide, and entirely a love letter to London. The author has traced his family back to the late C19th and imagines great-grandfather 'Little Freddie' Elms walking from the far reaches of Uxbridge to find his fortune in West London, the Ladbroke Grove & North Kensington/Notting Dale (who knew!) area. Several generations of street traders later and the slum clearance and the imposition of the horrible Westway flyover led the young Robert and family to move to a shiny new estate in Burnt Oak. The bulk of the book is about RE trying to get back to the centre and find ‘his’ London. He is nostalgic for some of the rougher parts of the city with the creative energy, the unreconstructed neighbourhoods, pre-gentrified melting pot of exotic characters, waves of immigrants, students, poseurs & gangsters … exemplified by the old SoHo, before Paul Raymond and the money and the tourists moved in. I can forgive the author his self-indulgence to tell his-story, and have a grudging respect for his desire to live city life to the full. Although of a similar generation and socio-economic group, I fled the bland suburbs as soon as possible and have now all-but lost my ties to Laarden; expect maybe a soft 'estuary English' accent.

Lastly, in a slightly more reflective and metaphysical section about the former St.Giles slum area (‘rookery’) which includes the Tyburn gallows, he imagines a persistence spirit of the place, not entirely lost under the relentless onslaught of new building overground and underground (Crossrail/Elizabeth Line). This reminded me of ‘Lady Ty(burn)’ and the Rivers of London series … Ben Aaronivitch’s homage to an ever-changing city with ancient roots and endless stories.

(28/02/20)
Read 7/2020
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

(5/03/20)
Read 8/2020
Notes On a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

This is mostly what I expected; a messy (deliberately so according to Haig!) pop-psych look at our increasingly chaotic lives, the impact of technology, and tips and advice to re-balance our chi to be more aware, more mindful, less fraught and more happy. All good. I didn't expect such a lot about mental health, including the author's own history of panic attacks, anxiety & depression. This feels honest & well-meaning, but also vaguely smug and exploitative, in the way that self-help books can be.

(10/03/20)
Read 9/2020
Broken Jewel by Sid Stephenson and Aaron F. Diebelius (screenplay, not registered)

This was a very different reading experience for me; it being a film script, with asides and directions (for the director I assume!) I can’t give many plot details as it has been jointed written by a friend and is still being touted around for a potential buyer. Suffice to say it’s a thriller set in Africa and the English Lakes with a great ‘cinematic’ sweep, lots of realistic dialogue, and camera, lighting and sound jargon … reading in 3D with my ears and eyes!

(20/03/20)
Read 10/2020
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (nr)

This is a brilliant travelogue of the American South (‘a place not a direction’) and proxy history of the Civil War, or as the defeated confederacy called it, the war between the states. The sense of outrage and feelings of Union invasion and unwanted federal interference seem raw and palpable in the mid-1990’s when the book was written. Maybe things have changed since then? However, this book is much more than the ‘reb’ flag, Dixie and hard-core reenactors; we find out a lot about the people, history and culture of this unique corner of North America. It makes me want to travel there now to soak up the atmosphere – what better testimonial!

(26/03/20)
Read 11/2020
Machines Like Me (and People Like You) by Ian McEwan (not registered)

This is typical of the best McEwan books, clever, insightful, and multi-layered. Written – I assume – at about the same time as ‘The Cockroach’ this book does a similar trick imagining an alternative reality, in this case a believable scenario where the Falklands War is lost, Thatcher limps to an early crushing election defeat, there is a new socialism (not Blairite) and a different perspective on the Brighton hotel bombing. But this is all window-dressing, the most important change to the 1980’s Britain is the arrival of synthetic human beings, ‘Adams & Eves’ developed in part by Alan Turing.

The slightly unlikable narrator Charlie* buys an early Adam and we see first hand how a thinking and ‘feeling’ AI machine tries to understand humans and navigate our world of messy contradictions, irrational behaviour and concepts such as love, justice, joy, death, deceit & free spirit. Spoiler; it doesn’t end well for Adam! However, the wet-ware humans survive and thrive (because of all the above?) to steer a rocky path to a possible happier future. There is a lot to think about here, a brilliant novel for our times.

*At one point Charlie and Adam are mixed up by an old relative, which is a clever twist on the Turing Test for artificial intelligence

(02/04/20)
Read 12/2020
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (not registered)

Once again, a jolly fiction-non-fiction jaunt for AH as himself and real retired detective [Daniel] Hawthorn. Horowitz inhabits the role of dim-witted narrator ‘Watson’ role very well, and continuously plays with the reader on what’s real (very little, maybe some names, locations and background detail such as Foyle’s War filming) and what has come from his fertile imagination. I love that the adult-oriented AH is writing these books, and Holmes, and Bond and other stand-alone crime fiction in different voices and styles. The crime is neatly solved by Hawthorn (pick your motive from divorce-related/money/reputation, revenge from an historical potholing accident, or simple old-fashioned hatred), and Horowitz/Watson gets it wrong many times and also gets harassed and abused for his trouble as commentator and biographer. Great diversion, good fun.

Spoiler And now I know what '182' means in txt speak!

(10/04/20)
Read 13/2020
Origin by Dan Brown (nr)

If it weren’t already a thing, I would coin the term ‘Brownian motion’ for the constant travelling that Robert Langdon/Tom Hanks does to solve the fiendish puzzles and evade the bad guys, whilst keeping his pretty (but intelligent) side-kick Ambra Vidal safe. The formula is reliably followed again here, but RL stays in one country (Spain), specifically a Gaudi-fest in Barcelona.

Spoiler alert!
Underneath all the usual nonsense I really enjoyed this, combining the search for the meaning of life with the rapid progress of AI. An Elon Musk-like tech billionaire hero(?) Edmond Kirsch dies early on when he is about to reveal the mysteries of human birth (our Origin story) and our destiny, which triggers the race against time and powerful enemies … maybe not the Catholic Church and Spanish Royalty that we imagine … ! As well as the fascinating tech – organic/neural computing and another level AI assistant ‘Winston’ – there were quotes from Churchill & Blake, and references to Dawkins & Turing. What’s not to like. And I found the final reveal very interesting, especially after reading ‘Machines Like Us’ recently, and knowing a bit about Asimov’s robot laws. I think that’s enough clues, enjoy ;)

(p39) I started Deep South by Paul Theroux. The writing is rich, with lots of geographical and literary references ... but i'm struggling with it ATM, no doubt I will find it on my bookshelf again another time!

(26/04/20)
Read 14/2020
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

(30/04/20)
Read 15/2020
The Selfish Gene (30th Anniversary Ed.) by Richard Dawkins

(04/05/20)
Read 16/2020
Under the Same Stars by Tim Lott (nr)

I have read this out of order, this is my last, not his, although all TL’s books are stand-alone (except White City Blue/When We Were Rich). As with most of his books it builds a strong character-led story around contempoary events, in this case the 2008 crash and Barack Obama election. But that is an aside, this is an unapologetic road book and redemption story. Estranged brothers Salinger and Carson Nash are on a trip to see their – even more estranged – sick father, travelling from New Orleans to Texas. As the boys explore and rebuild their relationship and mutual history there are sub-plots about a photo (no spoilers), their wives/partners, and the circumstances of their father absconding to live in America. We also get lovely little comic-tragic snippets from the trip; the Indian healer in the teepee, the loss of the car, dead dog, and US-UK cultural interplay are highlights. This is a great book, what an assured writer Lott is … now to move on to his 2 YA novels!

(14/05/20)
Read 17/2020
The Digital Organisation (Allied Signal) by James D.Best (nr)

I have no idea why this book floated to the top of my to-be-read pile; an IT book written a lifetime ago (1997) and withdrawn from Suffolk library and somehow into my possession, but I am glad I did! Best is writing from a period in history just before I embarked on my own career in IT, although for him he was coming to the end (more about that later). He has to steer a careful line between too much technical detail that will age a book, but enough relevant anecdotes and specific examples to make the book relevant at the time … he almost carries is off! In this period Big Blue and ‘big iron’ seemed to be coming to an end, replaced by Client/Server, desktop and network computing, and the new kid in town ‘internet/web’. Ignoring the obvious, and some of his hit-and-miss predictions for the future, I really enjoyed this. Best selectively examines themes and steps required to make a ‘Digital Organisation’, essentially managing IT and large change programmes. For example, tips on strategy, budgets, infrastructure, selecting technologies, people, change, suppliers etc. This may only appeal to a small group of geeks of a certain age, which is a shame, because hidden in the slightly inelegant language is a lot of sound advice and good practices, even in tech-savvy 2020. To paraphrase, those who ignore history (and wise people who were there and earned the T-shirt!) are doomed to repeat its mistakes. To take one section title for example, the culture clash between mainframe and network technologies and their respective champions, ‘Dinosaurs and Whippersnappers’, there is, and probably will always be, newer sexier tech stuff, and the need to reconcile different perspectives, individuals and their passions & motivations, compromise is king (in most cases, except where it’s not!), but a big dollop of agnostic awareness, discipline and sensitive management is also called for.

ps. I found James D Best, who is still writing, but has moved on from IT into other non-fiction and a successful career as a fiction writing. I found him still there on Twitter, embracing the new, but with a wary and slightly cynical eye on the old.

(16/05/20)
Read 18/2020
Night School by Lee Child

(17/05/20)
Read 19/2020
Precious and the Monkeys by Alexander McCall-Smith (nr)

OK I know this little book is for children ... but I have a right to know how the young Ramotswe developed her detective smarts! This lovely story has the 8/9 year-old(?) solving a riddle at school, who is stealing and eating food from her school friends and teachers? It touches on her enhanced empathy skills dealing with bullying and prejudice. I think this story could run and run ... ;)

(29/05/20)
Read 20/2020
Battle Flag by Bernard Cornwell (nr)

The 3rd of the 4 Starbuck Chronicles sees the war swing back north to the various rivers, fords (inc. Bull Run) and bluffs that cut through the Virginian heartlands between Richmond and Washington. In a fantastic flanking move, ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s and then Lee’s armies harry and then defeat Pope’s army facing the wrong way before McClelland’s forces can join him. This leads to the 2nd battle of Manassas, and returns Starbuck to the beginning. However, in the meantime he has become a proper soldier and leader of men, also finding time for improbable reunions with friend-turned-traitor Adam Faulkoner and his estranged father … a preacher-tourist visiting the battlesites from Boston!

With the Confederacy in the ascendancy, the final book moves into Union territory for the first time with the Battle of Antietam. I’m missing the series already :(

(08/06/20)
Read 21/2020
No Logo by Naomi Klein

(10/06/20)
Read 22/2020
The Eye on the Door by Pat Barker (nr)

I can’t believe that it’s taken me so long to read this sequel to the award-winning Regeneration, and the middle part of the trilogy of the same name. It continues the story of famous neurologist and social anthropologist William Rivers and his fascinating clients; the pacifists, malingerers, 'conchies' and sodomites, in what we now know is the final year of WW1. Billy Prior has fugues, disassociated states where he goes missing for hours on end, to be replaced by his other self, born in a muddy bomb crater. And Siegried Sassoon has his own 'Jekyll and Hyde' duality, as both an efficient and enthusiastic soldier, and an anti-war poet. I loved the period detail of a country grown so worn down by the total war that it is obsessed with a high profile sex scandal, and the publication of a list of potential traitors, "The First 47,000", singled-out for their alternative lifestyle and love of the exotic. There is a complicated sub-plot about a failed murder attempt on Lloyd George - which wasn't - and Billy trying to clear her name.

It is a very rich and dense book of ideas, cleverly blending fact with fiction, which leaves an afterglow and a strong sense of place and time ... something I might need to read again after going back to Craiglockhart where it all started!

(21/06/20)
Read 23/2020
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

(29/06/20)
Read 24/2020
The Knox Brothers by Penelope Fitzgerald

(04/07/20)
Read 25/2020
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

(16/07/20)
Read 26/2020
American Nations by Colin Woodard (n/r)

This is a great alternative history of North America, mostly the USA with bits of Canada & Mexico, along ethnographical-cultural lines. It's fascinating how the English Puritan Pilgrims Fathers were preceded by other colonies in the south (Jamestown), and Spanish- French- and Dutch-influenced settlers as well as Irish-Scots (Appalachia) and the Anglo-Normans (Deep South and other bits). Due to geography, religion, philosophy, and certain tribal traits these groups developed recognisable separate cultures that can still be seen today in relation to internal and international politics, freedoms & prejudices. This alternative regional map makes a lot more sense considering the USofA as 11 competing nation-states rather than 51 fairly random federal united-states. This is a rich and minutely detailed history, and hints at possible alternative futures if the war of independence and the Civil War, and expansions in the south, north and west had turned out differently, for example, which were more like internal rebellions and localised tribal wars when seen from a different perspective. Thanks bro, you know my reading habits so well!

(22/07/20)
Read 27/2020
Child 44 by Tim Rob Smith

(01/08/20)
Read 28/2020
No Middle Name by Lee Child

(07/08/20)
Read 29/2020
The Four-Dimensional Human by Laurence Scott (n/r)

There is a chapter in this book called ‘Style After Substance’, about the ability of the fourth dimension to both solidify thoughts, ideas and human behaviour, but also make it more transient and hard to grasp. This book is full of such insights, contradictions, philosophy and, dare I say, sophistry?! Not that Scott is trying to deceive us, but he doesn’t make it easy to follow his trains of thought. The central idea about how ubiquitous technology, the ‘always on’ of modern digital communication, and lives increasingly lived in cyberspace, is brilliant. However, it is just a little bit too rich for me as a whole book of thought-provoking tech-prose. I'm more of a shallow pop-science kind of reader ... although not as shallow as 'Hit Refresh'! (see later review)

(09/08/20)
Read 30/2020
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (n/r)

I’m only sorry that I didn’t read all 3 books together, to remember where it all began for Billy Prior and W H R Rivers, Sassoon & Owen, in Craiglockhart. The fate of the the real characters is a matter of record, but it wasn’t clear whether Prior died in the final days of WW1 (I assume so), or what happened to any number of the damaged men, mentally or physically scared by the Great War. And what of the pacifists, conscientious objectors & homosexuals? In this total war for the hearts and minds, Rivers as the ultimate [somewhat over-invested] observer and seeker of truth, whether in a hospital ward, consultancy room or south sea native hut. Barker achieves a double triumph, to bring new insights to both the war and home front, but also to create rich and poetic tapestry of real and imagined lives, scenes & conversations. I imagine (and hope) that I read the trilogy again some day.

(17/08/20)
Read 31/2020
Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella (n/r)

This is about as far removed from ‘The Four-Dimensional Human’ as possible and still be the same language! That said, Nadella talks/writes in a odd cross-cultural mix of strident US commercialism and a softer Eastern humanism. I guess this reflects his countries of birth and adoption, and a telling statement of where Microsoft is going, the people, culture and ethos at the top-end of global tech. Not that I think Nadella is being disingenuous, but it all comes across as a trite cliche-filled homage to all things Mircosoft. There are some glimpses of the future, as CEO of one of the major worldwide players her should know, what this space for the next big things; AI, mixed reality (I’m sure he means ‘Augmented reality?) and Quantum Computing. I would have preferred more of the gritty back-stabbing and the leading-edge tech & science and a bit less from the right brain, empathetic, caring-sharing, we’re-only-doing-it-to-make-the-world-better tosh!

(19/08/20)
Read 32/2020
The Midnight Line by Lee Child

(28/08/20)
Read 33/2020
Language Maid Plane by Anthony Burgess (n/r)

Despite the assurances from AB that this is an introductory 'primer' on linguistics, there are some heavy details here! I was mostly fascinated by the way that the vocal organs create sounds and how these have mutated over time as languages have moved geographically, and morphed, split and merged in relatively recent human history. We mostly know Burgess as a fiction author (The Clockwork Orange), but he was also an educator, lecturer in phonetics, and 'colonial' before writing full time in his mid-forties, hence Malay crops up here alongside more familiar indo-European languages. He is obviously fantastically gifted and knowledgeable in learning and analysing language and writes from a forgotten era of classics and the power of the written word. I don't think this book would exist or have a ready audience today in the internet age with the wider spread of English as the world's lingua franca.

(29/08/20)
Read 34/2020
Normal People by Sally Rooney

(9/09/20)
Read 35/2020
The Bloody Ground Bernard Cornwell (n/r)

This is the 4th Starbuck Chronicle, and the last for over 20 years, so maybe it's the end of the series*. It also marks the high water mark of the Confederacy’s brief incursion into union territory, not unrelated I think? The battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg was also significant as the bloodiest day in American history, with 20,000+ dead. The dogged defence of Lee’s army, and McClelland’s dithering and shambolic leadership of twice as many men, led to a stalemate on the day. However, it was a strategic victory for the North, as Lee had thrown all-in to consolidate his march towards Washington and sue for peace. In the end he had to withdrawn his weakened army back into Virginia, to fight and win another day. There is a side story about Adam Faulconer and Lee’s leaked battle plans (based on true events), but this book is mostly about the Harper’s Ferry and the build-up to Antietam. It is worth repeating; no-one writes a better blood, guts & fury account of war than Cornwell! It’s obviously not like ‘being there’, but it provides a sobering and human counterpoint to the maps, geo-politics and anodising effect of history.

*That said. our hero continues to grow as a Sharpe-like solider and commander of men, both the Faulconer Legion and his new ‘yellowlegs’ battalion. Although, I don't know what Cornwell will do with [Starbuck's] newly disfigured face and the brief rise and then decline of the south over the next 3 years?

(15/09/20)
Read 36/2020
Alan Turing's Manchester by Jonathan Swinton (n/r)

I picked this book up on a trip to Manchester to try to ‘discover’ Alan Turing, with only a vague idea of where (and if?) his soul might be resting as he watches the future of computing that he imagined unfolding. This book turned out - in retrospect - to be a perfect companion and introduction to the academic and cultural life in the ‘industrial dismal’, the place, and the time, when Turing arrived in 1948 to his untimely death 6 years later. The book is not a biography, in fact there is relatively little about Turing himself and nothing posing as a 'first person' account; Swinton defers to the Alan Turing the Enigma by Andrew Hodges as the definitive reference work.

I will return to this book and Turing’s life and contributions again, and hope to visit Manchester again with this book as a better guide than my random rambles along Oxford Road.

(17/09/20)
Read 37/2020
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (n/r)

*Includes Spoilers*

After the little sojourn in the country everything is back to normal in Aaronwitch’s beloved London. Peter Grant and Bev ‘Brook’ are getting closer, until a rather wistful warning from big sister Tyburn. In fact the rivers get a lot of coverage, starting with younger sister Olivia and an indiscrete outing to a posh rave. I admit to losing the thread of all the posh girls in her circle, and I can’t remember all the references from previous books, but that doesn’t really matter with Rivers of London. We are also introduced to more characters in the world of magic, international magical jurisdictions and the demi-monde. The plot is thickening like a London pea-soup’er.

More importantly, the Faceless Man now has a name and Lesley has a new face, actually multiples faces! Both the above escape a showdown at the aforementioned high-end apartment block in Hyde Park, but a fox is hunted down. Also, some important artefacts are recovered, including Newton’s lost third principia - lost again to a separate homespun female magical line, more future plot lines here i’m sure.

The series is looking increasingly like a street-smart version of Harry Potter, leading, one assumes, to a final battle between Grant and ‘the faceless man’/Voldermort! That said, I will continue to enjoy the chaos and magical carpet ride for as long as it lasts.

(29/09/20)
Read 38/2020
The Body by Bill Bryson (n/r)

This wasn’t as scary as it could have been, as Bryson is the master at keeping his readers engaged, with short focused chapters, and just enough anecdotes and biographical detail to balance the obvious technical bits. Above all, is [his] ever-enthusiastic and gleeful tackling of a subject matter that is interesting, and making it digestible. No pun intended. What a fascinating and inexplicable thing the human body is; it does feel like we are only scratching the surface of the complexities (let alone the evolution) of us as a skin bag of chemicals!

BB is very quickly building up a non-fiction library of everything (to add to his travelogues, memoir/biography). After the English Language, history, the home, and dipping into history (1927), this very much is the Body, sorted! What next geography, cooking, science, or even Science Fiction?!

(05/10/20)
Read 39/2020
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

(12/10/20)
Read 40/2020
Fearless by Tim Lott (n/r)

This is Tim Lott’s first YA book, after an excellent memoir and contemporary novels. I’m normally a fan of YA, but I found this a bit too contrived and child-like for me, written for Lott’s daughters I think? The ‘Fearless’ of the title is the nickname of a spunky child in a dystopian world where delinquent, orphaned, or just plain ‘ornery’ children are kept in a virtual prison/slave labour camp. In true Orwellian style it is called the City Community Faith School for Retraining, Opportunity and Hope. Fearless is a ‘Y’, lower than the bullying X’s, but higher than the newbies Z’eds. So Fearless rises about the dehumanising school, escapes (several times), and eventually brings about an expose of the abuses behind the walls … but also she provides the spark to challenge the wider political manipulation of The City population. Again shades of 1984, which is OK as an homage, but as I said not for me.

(14/10/20)
Read 41/2020
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman n/r

Gaiman has pulled off a great feat here - and who would have doubted him - by making the huge body of Norse myth and folklore understandable, digestible and fun. Also, from my personal nerdy perspective he has provided some of the back-stories for MCU characters Thor, Loki, Odin and the other Asgardians. The overriding feeling is that of a privileged and profligate Gods indulging in playground politics, with scant disregard for the people and other beings, including fellow Gods, that they harm. Maybe that’s the nature of the ‘old Gods’, thinking about Old Testament fire and brimstone? Modern religions and folktales have a lot of the edges smoothed off, and in so doing have lost the magic, the incredible and the unworldly, which is the point after all, they are not meant to be tales of everyday folk.

(27/10/20)
Read 42/2020
Transcription by Kate Atkinson n/r

This is different in structure from Atkinson’s last 2 novels, the companions Life after Life and A God in Ruins, although historical it does not have a alternate reality ‘gimmick’. In fact the author has based the main events and protagonist Juliet Armstrong (and her various aliases) on real WWII and cold war espionage. The story features 2 main timeframes 1940 and 1950, with echoes from the former bleeding into the latter, and a mopping up of some loose ends in 1981. Without giving too much away, Juliet is co-opted into an MI5 operation to take transcripts of meetings between a double agent and potential Nazi fifth columnists. Post-war she still has a part-time role providing a safe house for the secret services, in this case smuggling a scientist out of Russia into the west. I recognised her peacetime job in the BBC, the mother ship, which is closely modelled in Penelope Fitzgerald’s Human Voices. There is, inevitably, a big twist at the end, more like a complete pivot on the roles that we think some of the main players are, erm, playing.

This would make a great film, I imagined Juliet as Peggy Carter from the Marvel Comic Universe, but without the aliens and superpowers!

(30/10/20)
Read 43/2020
Sinkhole by Sid Stephenson

This is the second screenplay I’ve read of Sid’s (a friend) after Broken Jewel. It feels much more contained, in geography and timeframe, which ironically gives it a bit more space to develop characters and the tension. However, the twist at the end - actually several twists - make for a much bigger picture. And I now know that this is potentially the 1st of 3 parts, which is likely to move away from the Lakes (Ulveston) and the former tin mine sinkholes of the the title. I enjoyed this, and think i’ve getting the hang of the style of writing, i.e. to present a cinematic story that appeals directly to film backers. I'm looking forward to following Stiv, Bob, and possibly Dave, Mike & Iris on there next adventures!

(02/11/20)
Read 44/2020
Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersley-Williams n/r

I was looking forward to this, as an, erm, fan of the periodic table. However, the book doesn’t really explain Mendeleev's iconic table, but follows a more meandering path of the author’s making. Aldersley-Williams seems to be amateur chemist and would-be collector of the physical elements, interested in the people and places rather than atomic weights and codification. He collects the elements in a rather odd sequence, grouped by themes, by historical, geographical and cultural references, in sections called ‘power’, ‘fire’, ‘beauty’, ‘craft’ and ‘earth’. I feel that the resulting muddled patchwork is an opportunity lost to add some broader and deeper insight. That said, it was fun to immerse myself in the ‘curious lives of the elements’ that literally shape who we are.

(08/11/20)
Read 45/2020
The Pale horse by Agatha Christie n/r

I’ve had this on my shelf for a while, i’m not sure if its a 1st Ed. or just an old (1961) crime book club edition? I read a lot of Christie’s in the past, but not I think narrated by Mark Easterbrook; writer, history and not particularly good amateur sleuth. This is an atmospheric book, which starts with a death, seemingly by natural causes, and then a brutal murder. There’s a weird Shakespearian ‘3 witches’ pastiche, with undercurrents of magic as well as a more familiar (mostly timeless) rich set of characters in class-conscious London society and English-village secrets. But, without giving too much away, the outcome is more prosaic and ‘human’. Suffice to say this book (and the unusual method of murder), was mentioned in a book about the periodic table! Unlike modern thrillers, Christie is of her time, writing on a smaller scale, with some cleverness but missing the crushing detail, sub-plots and sheer number of words of, say, a Galbraith/Rowling!

Not finished A Very Short Introduction to Quantum Theory by John Polkinghome

This was disappointing, in a book series called, 'A very short introduction ...', it is not written very well for the lay-person IMHO. It reminds me of A Brief History of Time, maybe the writer and a cabal of scientists and [quantum] physicists want to keep their experteese looking complicated and mysterious! Anyhoo, I gave up on p.19

(21/11/20)
Read 46/2020
MacBeth by Jo Nesbo

(28/12/20)
Read 47/2020
Ulysses by James Joyce

(31/12/20)
Read 48/2020
How to be Invisible by Tim Lott (n/r)

I think this brings me up to date with Tim Lott’s back catalogue? ‘Invisible’ is his 2nd YA book, aiming I think for a more mainstream readership - hints of Millions or Simon Mayo’s Itch books? This is about a nerdy and awkward black 13-year Strato, recent moved to the countryside from London, who is also having to cope with his strained home life and bullying at school. He escapes into his ‘safe place’, books and science fact, until he finds a dusty book in a mysterious bookshop and learns his power! In the end he gets some resolution in his private life, makes a friend or 2. The book, the shop, the 'cunning folk', and the magic disappear in a Mr. Benn way … although I have the feeling there are sequels here if Lott wants them? Some of it is a bit cliched, but this is aimed at a particular sub-genre so I suppose it has to follow the rules? It was a light read and fun while it lasted :)

To help me keep track of wanted and 'to-be-read' books:

The Body by Bill Bryson

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Battle Flag by Bernard Cornwell
Night School by Lee Child
We Don't Die of Love by Stephen May
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan