My Weekly Book

This was an entirely practical read – and one I wish was mandatory for anyone who has ever said: “What are the odds of that happening?” before expounding at great length on how 9/11, the moon landings, aircraft contrails and flouride in the water supply are all massive government conspiracies.

So, the unthinkable has happened. After 13 years of Labour government the British public found its recollection of exactly how dreadful it was to actually live in a Conservative-run country sufficiently muted to vote the buggers back in – sort of, anyway.

It’s sometimes easy to forget just how long the Springwatch phenomenon has been going – and how many different incarnations (and presenters, for that matter) it has been through. To celebrate the launch of the latest series, always essential viewing in this household, I thought I’d take a look at this book published after the 2006 series had been broadcast.

This book is one of the definitive accounts of a troubled period in English history – a closely-interconnected series of northern rebellions starting in 1536 with the potential to topple the throne of Henry VIII. This event, coming as it did so soon after the Wars of the Roses, and at a period when some of the most significant shifts in English history were taking place, would doubtless have changed the destiny of the country significantly.

This is one of those books that makes you want to recklessy throw around the words ‘towering achievement,’ although these are obviously not words to be used lightly. Seierstad, who is a Norwegian foreign correspondent, spent four months living with a Kabul family shortly after the fall of the Taleban. This is an account of her time there.

This was a great read, funny, shocking and anger-inducing in about equal parts. Especially the section about how it nearly didn’t get published at all, thanks to the good offices of Rupert Murdoch.

I’ve just finished this travel book picked up from the Official Bookcrossing Zone at Julian Graves in Norwich and I would say that it was definitely a successful experiment.