Reading Material

While we are travelling, we usually manage to devour a considerable collection of books. I am still very grateful for my first Kindle - still going strong after 6 years - and while I enjoy holding a real book, I appreciate the freedom that the Kindle gives me when we are on the road for 6 or 7 weeks.

As usual I chose a work of history to underpin my reading for the trip - The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan is probably one of the best I have read for some time. Last year it was Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples which contributed to his Nobel Prize citation but I think Frankopan's book was more readable and covered a much wider scope. While it's a pity that events of the last year or so in Syria and Iraq were too late to be included, I thought that his focus on the effect that events in this region have had on the rest of the world over the ages were particularly apposite.

Of course there had to be some 'lighter' material and William McIlvanney's 'Laidlaw' trilogy provided some rather dark relief. It was hard not to recognise the progenitor of so much 'noir' writing - whether in Scotland or Scandinavia. It also taught me some Glaswegian phrases that I'm unlikely to hear from my wife and my mother-in law.

In contrast, I started reading Kate Atkinson and enjoyed 'God in Ruins' so much that I went on to read 'Life after Life' and have already downloaded 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' for the flight home.
Of course I also managed a couple of Camilleri's 'Inspector Montalbano' novels as light relief along the way.

Linda has enjoyed  both the McIlvanney and Atkinson books but is saving 'The Silk Roads' for the journey home.

God knows what I will read when I get home - but at least I will have the Daily Telegraph crossword.