
This is probably unspeakably tiresome, so don’t feel obliged… It’s a list of the books in my to-read pile. It’s overwhelmingly dead, white, European – in fact English – males, and this bothers me.
- The Cinque Ports, a Historical and Descriptive Record – Ford Madox Ford
- Return To Yesterday – Ford Madox Ford (now)
- The Way of all Flesh – Samuel Butler
- A High Wind in Jamaica – Richard Hughes
- Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales– Richard Garnett
- Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
- The Invention of Nature: How Alexander Von Humboldt Revolutionized Our World – Andrea Wulf
- A month in the country – JL Carr
- The Journal of a Disappointed Man – WMP Barbellion (next?)
- Hot Water – PG Wodehouse (done)
- The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918 – AJP Taylor
- The Red House Mystery – AA Milne
- The Parthenon – Mary Beard
- In a Class of Their Own: A History of English Amateur Football – Terry Morris (done) My Amazon review here
-There’s some quite demanding stuff here so I’ll have to leaven it with some Terry Pratchett and some Milligan, who are sadly also DWEMs.
-It’s about time I reread To The Lighthouse and Scenes of Clerical Life, so DWEW get a foot in the door.
-I haven’t read any Wilkie Collins for a while either. Dickens is covered for now as I’ve got Little Dorrit on audiobook, beautifully read by Mil Nicholson.
-Additionally I’ve got about 20 books on my A****n Wish List, none of which are shown above, so I’d be immensely grateful if #Bookshambles, @backlistedpod and others would lay off telling me about great new stuff and just recommend things I’ve already read for a few months if that’s OK.
-Of course if Gotham Season 2 comes on Netflix soon, if Hastings United make a serious promotion bid or if I just come over all anti-intellectual I’ll only be able to manage reading Angry People In Local Newspapers & When Saturday Comes. but that’s OK too.
-A good thriller. Someone recommend me a good thriller.
PS I had the great pleasure of briefly meeting Alan Judd on the train on Monday. Mr Judd wrote this biography of Ford Madox Ford , which he’ll be delighted to know I instantly ordered when I got home. He’ll be less delighted when I say that I bought it 2nd hand for 1p + p&p.