My current reading.
Final reads of 2025 Read on Kindle: Dynasty Tom Holland. The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar I was so taken with Pax that I decided to read the entire trilogy. This one takes us through Caesar and his murder, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero, the better known Emperors, but he is always [ ]
A very chaotic year, but these are the books I have read this year. 1421 Gavin Menzies. The year China discovered America. This is absolutely fascinating and a sequel to his previous book, but this is far more detailed about how several enormous Chinese fleets, often of 500 boats, composed of huge Junks and lesser [ ]
Intermezzo Sally Rooney I like the way she writes. I found the first half gripping, then felt it was going adrift, but returned to it with delight, because of her prose and the fresh way she writes about people. Especially in sexual relationships. I keep going despite several breaks because she can really write. However [ ]
2024 Ok I’m still playing catch up. Many of these I read some months ago. I’m unsure in which order but I start off as usual with a re-reading of: Tender is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald Which I enjoyed more than ever and indeed am now convinced that this is his greatest novel. I [ ]
2023 This was the year of Downsize Abbey. We pack up and leave our old home.. The library of 4,000 books goes to a bookshop in Covina. We move to a temporary rental round the corner. Sadly, though I have been reading (and buying) of course, I seem to have fallen severely behind in [ ]
Regeneration Pat Barker 1917 Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart. What to do with one of theirs who protests the war. With Wilfred Owen. The Eye in the Door Pat Barker The next in the series. I don’t find Prior a realistic character. Certainly not as realistic as the Poets. Pandora’s Jar Natalie Haynes Women in the [ ]
I have to confess I haven’t written my reading blog for ages, though I have been reading. Of course. I have been bingeing Patricia Highsmith. She is quite wonderful. I think what she gets is the ability of people to appear one way and yet underneath be totally monsters. And vice versa. She knows perfectly [ ]
Silverview John Le Carré A posthumous novel completed by his son. Camino Winds John Grisham Ok. The Deer Park Norman Mailer Re-reading this book always gives me the utmost delight. It is one of my favourite novels. It has the ring of reality. It is written with effortless energy. The characters are instantly recognisable, [ ]
Frostquake Juliet Nicolson I well remember the winter of 1963. So bloody cold. Snow till May. Inside Comedy David Steinberg Me too. Henderson the Rain King Saul Bellow He writes so divinely. The Mystery of Charles Dickens A. N. Wilson. Beautifully written, elegantly told, I loved this book. It’s amazing to me that I did [ ]
Philip Roth. Blake Bailey. The Biography. I wonder if the biography of a novelist is ever as interesting as his books. I doubt it. This one certainly isn’t and now I find the book itself is actually more interesting because it has been cancelled and withdrawn by the Publisher. We seem to be heading into [ ]