September 2022 Reading List
Hey friends,
Last month was a good month for me reading-wise. I managed to read a lot of books, more than I normally do. This was because the majority of them were around 100 to 200 pages and were either biographies or short stories. Still, they were all fascinating and the short stories were better than I thought they would be.
If you want to read some philosophical, two great short stories and three biographies on early English kings, then you’ll love what’s about to follow!
Gray’s Anatomy - A collection of essays from the philosopher John Gray. He’s an interesting thinker, and his pieces will make you stop and think about a wide range of issues he touches upon here. The book is nicely broe down into different sections, that helps piece his thoughts together. I bought this book when I was in the Netherlands and read most of it while I was there. I like Gray as he challenges your preconceptions and there was no shortage of that in this book.
Flatland - The main reason I bought this book was because I was intrigued by the title. It sounds alluring and drew me in. The book was a slight letdown, in that it wasn’t as exhilarating as I thought it would be, but considering this is an early piece of science fiction, I think it holds up reasonably well today. The premise of the book is that we hear the thoughts of someone who lives ina two-dimensional world who discusses his thoughts on being exposed to life in three-dimensions. It’s interesting and irrevent at times, although you can see it was written over a hundred years ago, especially in regards to the depictions of women, which are extremely dated.
Aethelred the Unready - Aethelred is a former king of England, and like Athelstan below one I hadn’t heard of. The history curriculum doesn’t tend to stretch past the Battle of Hasings in 1066 here in the UK, so I knew next to nothing about him. The Penguin Monarchs Series is illuminating in that it gives you a lot of information and details on lesser-known kings and Queens. I enjoyed this book in particular, because I was learning a lot about a new period of English history for me. This series is great and I hope they decide to do more on the monarchs of different countries such as France and Germany too.
King John - John is widely regarded to be one of, if not the worst monarch in English history. I’d studied him a bit at school but that was a long time ago and this short book was a nice primer on his reign. What I remember from my studies was more or less correct. John was a terrible king who lost territory in France, caused his lords to draft the Magna Carta to rein him in and was more prone to parties and boorishness than effective governance. I felt there were a lot of parallels with Boris Johnson in that neither of them were fir for high office bu found themselves there anyway and the subsequent travails were almost inevitable as a result.
Athelstan - This is the first in the Penguin Monarchs series, which looks at the numerous English and British monarchs who’ve reigned down the years. I was unaware that Athelstan was the first until I bough this book. Despite possessing a degree in history and studying the subject for most of my academic life, I’d never come across him before. That’s a sad indictment of the British education system and shows how useful this series is. The book is written brilliantly by Tom Holland and really brings Athelstan to life!
The Train Was on Time - The title of this book doesn’t sound too appealing but it’s a brilliant piece of writing that transports to the banality of the Second World war. We follow a soldier from Nazi Germany who is getting a train to the Eastern Front who has a premonintion along the way that he will die in five days. It makes for a fascinating plot device as we see him grapple with this ‘vision’ and the mundane sights and sounds he comes across. Above all, the book highlights how utterly destructive and pointless war is. There’s no glamour, no joy just the crushing realisation that this is all at the behest of leaders who have little regard for the people they send to die on their behalf.
I hope you get around to reading a few of these selections. Whether you read them in the next month or year, I’m not bothered. The idea of my reading lists is to encourage you, the reader, to read more.
If more of us read, and read books outside of our comfort zone, the world would be a better place. You don’t know what you don’t know. Reading is one of the best ways to fill in those gaps in your knowledge.
If you have any comments about the books, maybe you’ve read one before. Or if you have some recommendations for me, I’m all ears. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Until next time,
Tom