Tag Archives: history

Hungry City – Carolyn Steel

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Ela

(Chatto & Windus 2008) This book has been sitting in my to-read pile for quite some time, and it’s only now that I’ve got round to reading it and wishing I had done sooner. I should state upfront that Carolyn … Continue reading →

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Travel books – Lawrence Durrell

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Ela

My first acquaintance with Lawrence Durrell was as Gerald Durrell’s irascible brother Larry in ‘My Family and Other Animals‘, and then through his thriller, White Eagles over Serbia, and Antrobus stories. Recently I’ve been reading his travel books – the … Continue reading →

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‘The Ascent of Money’ – Niall Ferguson

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Ela

Trying to make sense of the current global financial meltdown is not easy, but Niall Ferguson’s very accessible and readable history of money (and its derivatives, such as bonds, insurance and banking) is a good place to start. The book … Continue reading →

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The Mask of Dimitrios – Eric Ambler

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Ela

I’d heard of Eric Ambler before, seen his books in second-hand shops, known him as a writer of thrillers, but never read any of his novels. The Mask of Dimitrios begins prosaically by introducing Charles Latimer, the novel’s protagonist, and … Continue reading →

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Churchill’s Wizards – Nicholas Rankin

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Ela

Subtitled ‘The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945’, this is a history of those men (and they were nearly all men) who began and continued the arts of wartime deception: propaganda, camouflage, ruses, misdirection, rumour-mongering, double-agents, false suggestion, and so on. … Continue reading →

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C. J. Sansom’s Tudor mysteries

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Ela

Dissolution / Dark Fire / Sovereign – C. J. Sansom These are a trilogy of Tudor-set detective novels which provide a vivid and thrilling glimpse into England during the 1530s and 1540s, during the later part of the reign of … Continue reading →

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