What I'm reading ...

I have returned to Failed State, as I am back from holiday. I will pause it again, when we go away in 9 days time, unless I have finished it by then.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers - by Samuel Burr

I was initially concerned - mainly by the title - that this book would be rather “out there”; I thought that it might have a strong fantasy element and that is not to my taste. My fears were unfounded.

It is a strong story written in two timelines. It has intriguing details and twists and turns that all come together by the end. Throughout, the reader is kept guessing about various aspects of the story and the characters. By the end, I had guessed a couple of things, but others remained to be revealed.

For a debut novel, in particular, it was a very good read. 

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr. I needed some more holiday reading and it was time for fiction. This looked like it would do the job. Here’s the blurb:

Clayton Stumper is an enigma.

He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt.

Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.

When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.

Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve - and it's a secret that will change everything...

Hungry - by Grace Dent

 An excellent book. I always like a memoir, but I have to get the impression that it is honest and that I will learn about a life different from my own. This book delivers on those counts and is very entertaining along the way. Although the author is primarily known as a food writer and restaurant reviewer, she is an excellent wordsmith who could apply that skill to any genre, IMHO. I had never heard of her before reading this book - I don’t really follow celebrities - so maybe I’ll look her up on YouTube or wherever.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Hungry by Grace Dent. Having suspended reading Failed State - that was an interesting book that I will return to, but not really for reading during a sunny holiday. Hungry was recommended as a suitably entertaining read. Here’s the blurb:

From an early age, Grace Dent was hungry. As a little girl growing up in Currock, Carlisle, she yearned to be something bigger, to go somewhere better.

Hungry traces her story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of Britain’s best-loved food writers. It’s also everyone’s story – from cheese and pineapple hedgehogs and treats with your nan, to the exquisite joy of a chip butty covered in vinegar and too much salt in the school canteen on a grey day. And the Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut from a hospital vending machine that tells a loved one you really care.

Grace’s snapshot of how we have lived, laughed and eaten over the past 40 years reveals the central role food plays in either bringing us together or driving us apart – from toasting a large glass of warm Merlot to grimly polishing off a wilted salad.

Heartfelt, witty and joyous, Hungry shows us what we’ve always known to be true. Food, friends and family are the indispensable ingredients of a life well lived.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Failed State by Sam Freedman. I am always keen to try to understand contemporary politics and society issues and this fairly new book looked like a good source. Here’s the blurb:

Why does nothing work in Britain?

It’s harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Real wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises inexorably. Why is everything going wrong at the same time?

It's easy to blame dysfunctional politicians who are out for themselves. But, in reality, it’s more complicated. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And ours are utterly broken.

In Failed State, Sam Freedman, one of Britain's leading policy experts, offers a devastating analysis of where we’ve gone wrong. With historical depth and plenty of infuriating examples, he explains why British governance has fallen so far behind. Speaking to politicians of all stripes, civil servants and workers on the frontline, this book bursts with insight on the real problems that are so often hidden from the front pages. The result is a witty, landmark book that paves the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.

The Last Marriage of Dot Brightmore - by Laura Pearson

Having read this book to find out what happened after the previous one, I was not disappointed. The story was continued, with various twists, and concluded neatly. As with the previous book, the author is good at sharing the protagonist’s emotions, which almost makes them infectious.

I will investigate the author other work.

What I'm reading ...

In an unprecedented move, I have started The Last Marriage of Dot Brightmore by Laura Pearson. This is the follow-on book from the last one that I have just finished. I broke my usual habit of swapping between fiction and non-fiction and just ordered this book to see how the story continued. Here’s the blurb:

Dot Brightmore has never been one for lists. But now she’s been given one of her own, by the love of her life, with whom she’s finally been reunited. Dot’s list has just two words on it:

Marry me

The problem is, Dot can’t get married. Because what Dot hasn’t yet told anyone is that she’s still married. To a man she hasn’t seen in years.

But her beloved Mabel isn’t a woman who can be stopped easily. After all, her own last list helped her find Dot again. So now – together and with all the other friends they’ve met along the way – they have to find a way for Dot to answer ‘yes’ to the question on her very first list…

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont - by Laura Pearson

A very enjoyable, easy read. The author has the knack of saying enough to intrigue the reader, but not saying everything; thus, the pages keep turning. I would not class this book as “great literature”, but I did learn about how the world might seem through the eyes of other people.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson. Time for some readable fiction and this looked interesting. Here’s the blurb:

The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first…

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’.

But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’.

Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.

What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again…

Travelling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell - by Ann Powers

I have abandoned this book. It wasn’t sparking joy. Essentially it was too self-indulgent; I learnt more about the author than I did about Joni Mitchell, which was not the point. There are too many books that I want to read and I do not have limitless time.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Travelling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers. I have enjoyed Joni Mitchell’s music for most of my life, so I thought that it would be interesting to learn more about her as a person. Here’s the blurb:

What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it’s a tale of long journeying through a life that changed popular music: of a homesick wanderer forging ahead on routes of her invention, and of me on her trail, heading toward the ringing of her voice.

One of the most celebrated artists of her generation, Joni Mitchell has inspired countless musicians and writers, while never stopping still herself.

In Travelling, celebrated music critic Ann Powers seeks to understand the paradox of Mitchell – at once both elusive and inviting – through her myriad journeys. Drawing on extensive inter­views with Mitchell’s peers and deep archival research, Powers takes readers to rural Canada, charts the course of Mitchell’s musical evolution, follows the winding road of Mitchell’s collaborations with other greats and explores the loves that fed her songwriting.

Kaleidoscopic in scope and intimate in detail, Travelling is a fresh and fascinating addition to the Joni Mitchell corpus – and one that questions whether an artist can ever truly be known to their fans.

The Storyteller - by Jodi Picoult

As expected, this was a great read that kept me turning the pages. This author never disappoints. As usual, I feel I have learnt stuff; in this case I now know more about the process of Nazi hunting in the US and about the awful circumstances at Auschwitz etc.

I came across a curious use of a word, which I can only assume is a subtle difference between American and British English. The word “caretaker”, to me, refers to someone who looks after maintenance etc. in a building; I guess in the US they’s say “janitor”. In this book it refers to a person who is providing personal care/assistance to an elderly person. I think that we would say “carer” or “care giver”.

What I'm reading ...

Time for fiction again and I have turned to a favourite author and started The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. Here’s the blurb:

A heart wrenching and unforgettable tale about the line between justice and mercy from the internationally bestselling author Jodi Picoult.

Could you bring yourself to forgive the unforgivable?

After a tragic accident which left her deeply scarred, Sage Singer retreated into herself, allowing her guilt to govern her life. When she befriends kindly retired teacher Josef, it seems that life has finally offered her a chance of healing.

But the gentle man Sage thinks she knows is in fact hiding a terrible secret. Josef was an SS officer during the Holocaust and now he wishes to die - and he wants Sage to help him.

As Josef begins to reveal his past to her, Sage is horrified.

Does this past give her the right to kill him?

Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy - by Tim Harford

As expected, this was an excellent book. Each chapter is a more-or-less standalone essay about an invention or idea which are as diverse as concrete and paper money or insurance and the lightbulb. My accumulation of mostly useless knowledge has been increased.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy by Tim Harford. I am very familiar with this author from his work on Radio 4. I am confident that this will be an interesting and informative read. Here’s the blurb:

Who thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down?

The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost every one of the planet's seven billion people. It delivers astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it. Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what's going on.

How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend?

From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next.

Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We'll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We'll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we'll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.

Enough - by Dawn French

I really enjoyed this book. It is quite well written, with a good pace and well-drawn characters. It manages to address a very serious subject, while still injecting humour. It is quite emotional, particularly the twist towards the end. I was entertained and made to think - just what I like in a book.

I have one downer: the quality of editing - or lack thereof. At one point there is a flashback, where Etta aged 5 uses the word “ninja”; this word was not in the English vocabulary in 1963. At another point someone is slapped in the face and there is a reference to a “welt”; this word refers to a serious, but not open, wound, like you might get from a whip. Was the editor lazy or incompetent or do publishers skip such editing for high-profile author or are they just saving money. Disappointing either way.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Enough by Dawn French. Although the author is best known as a TV personality, I have always thought that she sounded interesting and was curious about her writing. She was interviewed on the radio and this intrigued me enough to buy the book. Here’s the blurb:

Etta is sixty-eight years old. Happy, healthy and an active participant in her world, she’s gathered her family together for an unforgettable weekend.

Tick.

At 5am that Saturday morning, Etta wakes her daughter, her granddaughter, her son and her daughter-in-law up to lead everyone down to the beach. To ‘Etta’s Hollow’, where a roaring fire has already been lit. Drowsy but delighted – the sun is just starting to rise for a glorious dawn – Etta’s family bask in the beauty of the moment. A memory to be cherished forever.

Tick.

Until twenty minutes later, when Etta announces to her assembled beloveds something as shocking as it is alarming. ‘I have brought you all down to the beach this morning to tell you something important. You see, the thing is, today is my last day alive.’

Boom.

Over the next twenty-four hours, Etta and her family are about to have the most surprising, affecting and life-affirming day of all their lives.

The Finest Hotel in Kabul - by Lyse Doucet

As expected, this was a very interesting read. It is, essentially, a history of Afghanistan over the last three decades told through the experiences of various members of staff at Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul. This makes it very personal and, IMHO, very powerful. It took me a while to read, but it was time well spent.

The author often refers to herself in the third person, using the contracted form of her name that the locals used: LyseDoucet; initially I thought that this was odd, but realised that it made sense, as she was just another reporter, not one of the main protagonists of the story.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet. I am very familiar with this author from her work on Radio 4 and saw her at a book festival last year, talking about her career and this book. Here’s the blurb:

In 1969, the luxury Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul opened its doors: a glistening white box, high on a hill, that reflected Afghanistan’s hopes of becoming a modern country, connected to the world.

Lyse Doucet first checked into the Inter-Continental on Christmas Eve 1988. In the decades since, she has witnessed a Soviet evacuation, a devastating civil war, the US invasion, and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban, all from within its increasingly battered walls. The Inter-Con has never closed its doors.

Now, she weaves together the experiences of the Afghans who have kept the hotel running to craft a richly immersive history of their country. It is the story of Hazrat, the septuagenarian housekeeper who still holds fast to his Inter-Continental training from the hotel’s 1970s glory days – an era of haute cuisine and high fashion, when Afghanistan was a kingdom and Kabul was the ‘Paris of Central Asia’. Of Abida, who became the first female chef after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. And of Malalai and Sadeq, the twenty-somethings who seized every opportunity offered by two decades of fragile democracy – only to see the Taliban come roaring back in 2021.

Through these intimate portraits of Afghan life, the story of a hotel becomes the story of a people.

Precipice - by Robert Harris

As expected, this book was a great read. The story is very well paced, with just the right amount of detail. Also as expected, I learnt a lot about the time period - 1914-15. I now know much more about the beginnings of the war and the circumstances leading up to it. I have always respected the author’s integrity, as I know that he does meticulous research. His “author’s notes” give clear details on what is fact and what is fiction.

An example of something I learned: communications were quite different in those days. Telephone was used, but not much; I guess that only a small minority of people were connected. Telegrams were used extensively for everyday notes and also for international communications - much as we might use email today. The postal service was also much more extensively used. In London there were 12 postal deliveries per day, 6 days a week [a few less on Sundays]! A letter posted in the morning could be relied upon to be delivered before the end of the day.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Precipice by Robert Harris. I am looking forward to reading another book by this tried and tested author, who never disappoints [me]. Here’s the blurb:

Summer 1914. A world on the brink of catastrophe.

In London, 26-year-old Venetia Stanley – aristocratic, clever, bored, reckless – is having a love affair with the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, a man more than twice her age. He writes to her obsessively, sharing the most sensitive matters of state.

As Asquith reluctantly leads the country into war with Germany, a young intelligence officer is assigned to investigate a leak of top secret documents – and suddenly what was a sexual intrigue becomes a matter of national security that will alter the course of political history.

Seamlessly weaving fact and fiction in a way that no writer does better, Precipice is the thrilling new novel from Robert Harris.

Reality is not What It Seems - by Carlo Rovelli

This book took a while to read. Despite the book being well written, it is a complex subject and the author addressed it quite well.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Reality is not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli. Time for non-fiction and what better for light reading than an explanation of quantum gravity. 🙂 Here's the blurb:

Do space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. In this mind-expanding book, he shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries, from Democritus to loop quantum gravity. Taking us on a wondrous journey, he invites us to imagine a whole new world where black holes are waiting to explode, spacetime is made up of grains, and infinity does not exist -- a vast universe still largely undiscovered.

Hold Back the Night - by Jessica Moor.

Overall, I thought that this was an excellent book. It fulfilled my main requirements in a fiction book: an engaging story, believable characters and an opportunity to learn something (although there was a slight wrinkle with the last of these - comments below).

The story is set in three time periods: 1959/60, early 80s and 2020. The story was characterised by the events around each of these time periods, respectively: the treatment (torture?) of patients in a mental hospital to “cure” them of their homosexuality, the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and the COVID lockdown. There are story threads that run between the timeframes and the author subtly compares the times and events.

A really clever device is used to show that the story is essentially constructed as a recollection from the 2020 version of the main protagonist: the first two periods are written in the third person, but the last in the first person.

In terms of my education, I did learn from this book. Specifically, I now understand much more clearly the inhumane (by today’s standards) practice of endeavouring to “cure” homosexuals. However, I am always a little wary of how assiduous an author's research has been when I spot a glaring error. In this case, it is no big deal, but there is a reference to blood being stored in bags in 1959. At that time, glass bottles were used; bags did not come into use until the '70s. Just me being pedantic perhaps …

What I'm reading ...

I have started Hold Back the Night by Jessica Moor. This is another book which I have, but have no recollection of how that came about. But it looks interesting. Here’s the blurb:

March 2020. Annie is alone in her house as the world shuts down, only the ghosts of her memories for company. But then she receives a phone call which plunges her deeper into the past.

Year 1959: Annie and Rita are student nurses at Fairlie Hall mental hospital. Working long, gruelling hours, they soon learn that the only way to appease their terrifying matron is to follow the rules unthinkingly. But what is happening in the hospital's hidden side wards? And at what point does following the rules turn into complicity - and betrayal?

Year 1983: Annie is reeling from the loss of her husband and struggling to face raising her daughter alone. Following a chance encounter, she offers a sick young man a bed for the night, a good deed that soon leads to another. Before long, she finds herself entering a new life of service - her home a haven for those who are cruelly shunned. But can we ever really atone?

A Different Kind of Power - by Jacinda Ardern

I started reading this book with a biased viewpoint: I had regarded Jacinda Ardern as one of the most influential politicians [or world leaders] of my lifetime. This is simply because she is unusual [IMHO], but thankfully not unique, in being in politics for all the right reasons. She was not interested in power for power’s sake and not looking to financially benefit - her simple goal was [is] to make the world just a bit better for as many people as possible.

I really enjoyed reading her story of how she developed her interest in politics and how that became focussed, culminating [so far] in her becoming Prime Minister of New Zealand. Unlike many political memoirs, she does not spend lots of time telling the reader how great she is or celebrating her achievements. To me, she comes over as a real person, suffering the Imposter Syndrome that most of us seem to exhibit.

In summary, the book delivered on the promises of its blurb. We see [or at least I do] that Jacinda Ardern is very intelligent and driven, with a large dose of empathy and compassion. The world needs more people like that. I very much hope that we haven’t heard the last of this extraordinary woman.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern. I always enjoy reading autobiographies and to look into the life of one of the most inspiring [to me] politicians in my lifetime is a very attractive prospect. Here’s the blurb:

The deeply personal memoir from the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to become a mother in office.

Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she became a global icon for her empathetic leadership that put people first. She guided her country through unprecedented challenges, from the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks to a global pandemic. She advanced visionary policies to address climate change and child poverty. And all while juggling first-time motherhood in the public eye.

This is the inspiring story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt changed our assumptions of what a leader can be. A Different Kind of Power is more than a political memoir. Powerfully evocative and refreshingly open, it is a profound insight into how it feels to lead, it asks: what if you, too, are capable of more than you ever imagined?

My Favourite Mistake - by Marian Keyes

I have enjoyed the complexity of this author’s books in the past and this one fits the profile. It’s essentially a “who done it”, where “it” is a series of crimes, but not murder. The threads are a little complex, but make sense. Mostly the story is focussed on the residents of Maumtully and the protagonist’s family and the interactions between them.

A strong thread through the story - alongside the main theme in a way - is the romance. Although this is described well enough, I wonder if the story could have worked well without it? Maybe it is just expected in this type of book. Also I did get a bit confused by the enormous number of characters, but perhaps the complexity of the story needs them.

Anyway, I am sure that I will read more of this author’s work.