As most of you know, if I am not writing, or helping others write and self-publish their books, I read.
I cover a pretty wide range of topics and have started to read more fiction. I find reading relaxing, inspiring, though-provoking, sometimes challenging (as in requiring me to rethink views I’ve had on some topics) and joyful.
Below I share some of the books I’ve read over the year that you might want to add to your summer (or winter) reading list.
- The Dictator, by Robert Harris. A novel about Cicero and his battle with Caesar it takes us back to some of the most epic events in history and explores the relationship between power and principles, ego and humility.
- Big Caesars and Little Caesars. How they rise and how they fall – from Julius Caesar to Boris Johnson, by Ferdinand Mount. This is a great read and I’ve put that many Post-it note tags throughout it that I simply have to re-read it over the break. It covers some great/horrible leaders and shows that most share errily similar traits and use the same tactics to rule. If you think Donald Trump, Putin or Orban are anything new, think again.
- The Fund. Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates and the Unravelling of a Wall Street Legend, by Rob Copeland. I must admit I was one of the millions that bought Ray’s book, Principles. I also have to admit that I still haven’t read it…and now I’m not sure that I will after reading this book. Ray applied an approached called ‘radical transparency’ except that it didn’t really apply to him or the way he eviscerated people at Bridgewater. Hubris writ large.
- The Red Hotel. The Untold Story of Stalin’s Disinformation War, by Alan Philps. Given my Political Science background specialising in Russian politics this book is not such an unusual one for me. This book is really about the capture of war correspondents in Stalin’s Russia who were most housed (isolated) in the Metropol Hotel in and the Soviet women translators who worked with them.
- The Wizard of the Kremlin, by Giuliano da Empoli. A wonderful novel that could really be (and perhaps is) the story of someone who tries to cross their leader. As the Amazon review share: Known as the “Wizard of the Kremlin,” the enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming a political advisor to “The Czar” (aka Putin). After his resignation from this position, legends about him multiply, with no one able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, when he tells his story to the narrator of this book…He immerses us in the heart of the Russian state, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime’s main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage.
- Papryus. The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, by Irene Vallejo. Of course I’d buy and read a book about this. It’s not just about the history of the written word from scrolls written on papyrus through to the present day. It explores important writing and books and sometimes their authors. Cicero turns up here as does Herodotus, Margaret Atwood and Viktor Frankl. It’s way more than a history of early writing and books.
- Empire of the Steppes. The Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation by Kenneth W Harl. This is a BIG book at 570 pages and thoroughly researched and footnoted. I have to admit it took me a while to get through it and I had to red some other books at the same time as there was only so much I could absorb at any one time. It’s a fantastic read though if you are interested in this part of history. And it kind-of led me to the next book.
- Sovietistan. A journey through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland. This is a terrific read by a first time Norwegian travel writer. Travelling the Silk Road is on my bucket list and this book has encouraged me to add ‘the Stans’ to my multi-year project. Erika provides interesting and thoughtful commentary on each of the countries and their peoples, plus their relationship to Russia.
- Numbers don’t lie. 71 things you need to know about the world, by Vaclav Smil. With so much fake news going on around the world about everything, especially the climate, food, populations, transport and more, this book delivers ‘facts’…and some of them you might not like – which is why you need to read it and his other book, Hoe the World Really Works. If you want to have facts and your fingertips at Christmas and New Years’ parties these books are a great start.
- The Parisian by Isabella Hammad. A novel set between Palestine and Paris in the years before World War II, it is the story of Midhat Kamal and how he lives two quite different lives and how re reconciles the two.
- Edda Mussolini. The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Caroline Moorehead. What a great read this was. I knew nothing about Mussolini’s daughter, Edda or her husband Galeazzo Ciano. A terrific ‘first’ introduction to Italy under Mussolini and not the last.
- Table for Two by Amor Towles. I first came across Amor with his book A Gentleman in Moscow (and no I haven’t seen the Showtime adaptation as Ewan McGregor doesn’t fit the idea I have in my own mind of Count Rostov.). Table for Two is really the follow on story of Rules of Civility – a must read. Beautiful writing set mostly in the New York and Los Angeles of the 20s and 30s
And here’s what I have stacked up to read over the break.
- Other Minds. The Octopus and the evolution of Intelligent life, Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Banquet of Consequences Reloaded. How we got into the mess we’re in, and why we need to act now, by Satyajit Das
- Nexus. A brief history of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, by Yuval Noah Harari
- The Island of Missing Trees, by Elif Shafak, and award-winning British-Turkish novelist.
- 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this strange world, by Elif Shafak
- The Men Who Killed the News, Eric Beecher. I’ve been saving this one up. It seeks to answer the question, What’s gone wrong with our media?’ It’s the story of how a small group of flawed and narcissistic media moguls create a shadow of power that has contributed to making the media an agent of mistrust. And gosh, we’re about to watch this play out in even more frightening ways.
And, if you want to keep up with what I am reading, follow me on Goodreads. I mostly track what I am reading and my thoughts.https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14409532-jaqui-lane