Summer Reading

I usually manage to get a little more leisure reading done in the summer than during term time. I am keen to read the biography of Alan Clark by Ion Trewin, and will not doubt also read ‘The Third Man’ by Labour’s third man, though I am not sure that it adds greatly to what we already know, based on what has been in the Times and other media so far.

On the fiction front there are one or two Robert Goddard’s I have not yet read but I hope to catch up on, and I will no doubt dip into a re-read of some PG Wodehouse. I have also discovered Sharmini Flint who has written some South East Asian whodunits which appear to be very good. All of these plus some Colin Dexter’s and Ian McKewan’s ‘On Chesil Beach’ are on the ‘to read’ list.

I am also keen to read on one of my long train journeys through Europe ‘Halfway to Hollywood’ the Michael Palin diaries from 1980-1988. His kindly and ironic eye make for a very good read.
In passing, I am much relieved to find that Arthur Ransome, who was a staple when I was a school boy, has been cleared as a spy and was in fact responsible for recruiting MI5 agents in the Soviet Union for Britain. It is just as well, ‘Swallows and Amazons’ and ‘Coot Club’ would never have been the same again!