We usually stay at home in August, taking holiday at a less busy time. So things are reasonably quiet in our neck of the woods at the moment. I suggested to John we have a ‘reading week’. Instead of fitting reading for pleasure into the short time before falling asleep at night, we would instead put it first and everything else could take second place. Harder to do than envisaged but at least it has partially worked.
Reading Week with tea and an iced bun … and an old favourite author …
I started off with ‘Imperium’ by Robert Harris – one of his ‘Cicero’ series. I had already read his bestseller ‘Pompeii’ , which was riveting. A wonderful story. I did enjoy ‘Imperium’ but at a time when many of us are depressed by the state of our country and of the world in general – a world also riven by a glut of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and the ever growing threat of climate change – I have been made very aware of the lack of political leaders with vision in our governments.
Our politicians do not seem to have learned from the past – how many of them have even read and understood a lot of history and then related it to present day problems? The corruption and venality of Rome in the time of Cicero, Caesar and Pompey unfortunately continues very much alive and well today. Just as if all those politicians have been mashed up like potato and reformed again and again throughout the ages. Of course there are good ones among the squalid many – but we don’t seem to have made much progress from Roman times – short term gain still rules the roost.
Why are we cursed with such incompetence, venality and general ignorance? At the moment many of us feel weighed down with apathy and paralysed by fear. Fear bringing anger. Anger bringing fractures in society. We are warring against one another when the ever growing threat of natural disasters and climate change will finally make war irrelevant. Will we be leaving the planet to animals and insects, who will do better without us? It’s sad that what a few great brains have achieved to date, which greatly benefits humanity, will be lost. Maybe this is the planet’s answer to too many people.
‘Imperium’ by Robert Harris – an eye opening and fascinating historical novel into the the wiles and interstices of Roman politics …
I needed next to read something different to try and lift my gloomy, negative mood. What better than Levison Wood’s ‘Eastern Horizons – Hitchhiking the Silk Road’. I’m very much a one-to-one person and he travels mainly on his own or with one other person from time to time – I can relate to that. He knows what he will be doing is at times risky and downright dangerous – but he wants the freedom, the sense of adventure and the challenge of living off his wits – the kindnesses he meets do go a long way to restoring my faith in individual human beings. This is a journey I would never have been capable of doing myself but I feel I am with him every step of the way. He’s a true explorer and a great guy, with a depth to him.
A great adventure …
Levison Wood also mentions Rory Stewart (now an MP) in the book, who walked alone (latterly with a stray dog) across Afghanistan and wrote about it in ‘The Places Inbetween’. Both these books are tremendously rewarding. I saw Rory Stewart in Sloane Square recently and thought I might stop him to say how much I enjoyed that book – he’s one of the few MPs I have trust in – but he was in a hurry and so I just smiled as I passed him.
Read this too …
Some time ago I came upon a republishing of Eric Ambler’s detective stories, which are brilliant. They are set in 1930s Europe, now reintroduced with new, enticing jackets in colour. ‘Epitaph For A Spy’ and ‘Journey Into Fear’ are both unputdownable. This is detective story writing at its very best.
Eric Ambler – a great treat …
We (I) tried to keep the world of work at bay – John read other books – I would say our ‘reading week’ was 75% successful. We had one lunch out, (which wasn’t the best), we enjoyed sunshine and tea in the garden, and went to the theatre to see David Haig’s ‘Pressure’ – about the vagaries of the weather around D-Day, which proved to be excellent.
The high point was definitely the invitation from the Netflix team to the preview of the first episode of Hania’s show – ‘The Innocents’ – on Netflix. This was at the Curzon Mayfair, followed by a glitzy party and by the end of the week we had watched and very much enjoyed all eight episodes.
‘The Innocents’ – written by Hania Elkington and Simon Duric …
All in all, a very memorable week!