Currently reading . . .

John Mortimer's Rumpole Rests His Case. I think this was originally intended to be the last ever Rumpole book as he has a heart attack in the last story. John Mortimer did say after Leo McKern died he would not write any more because he could not envisage another actor playing Horace Rumpole. He was of course persuaded to write Rumpole and the Primrose Path, Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders and The Anti-Social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole. Then Penguin have just published a collection of the Rumpole stories written at various times for magazines and newspapers - which I'm pleased about as I haven't read any of them before so I'm saving it for Christmas.

I've gone back to Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots which is fascinating though difficult to read because it is over 700 pages and a very heavy paperback - not ideal for reading in bed.

I've just started reading Justin Pollard's Secret Britain: The Hidden Bits of our History - which features a section on the exploits of Arthur Ransome in Russia! I've also started a book called Heresy by S J Parris which features Giordano Bruno as a detective working for Francis Walsingham to unravel some grisly murders in Elizabethan Oxford while is searching for a copy of the works of Hermes Trismegistus. I've read about 50 pages and it looks good so far.

A pretty eclectic selection I think!

Very mixed reading

I gave up on Richard T Kelly's Crusaders and put it on the charity shop pile. I couldn't even bring myself to write a review of it.

I am currently reading: Ariel Leve's The Cassandra Chronicles - a collection of short pieces from one of the Sunday papers. Michael Mansfield's autobiography - Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer. Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: Why we Tell Stories. As a little light relief I'm still reading John Mortimer's The Third Rumpole Omnibus. A pretty varied selection!

Currently reading . . .

The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner - I've been reading this for what seems like eternity and I keep thinking I'll stop and admit defeat. It is just too much attention to bodily functions, dirt and incomprehensible people who might or might not be dead.

Crusaders by Richard T Kelly - again I've been reading it for too long and keep thinking I'll give up. It's quite good and an interesting subject but about 150 pages too long and rather over written.

The Third Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer - a pick up and put down book as it's short stories and always a joy to read.

Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 by Lisa Appignanesi - I've just started this and it's very interesting. I had completely forgotten that Mary Lamb murdered her mother. Surprisingly enough she did not end up in prison but spent a short time in a private asylum and was then released into the care of brother Charles. She used to have a relapse every so often and would pack her own bag and tell her brother he needed to take her to the asylum.

Waiting in the wings - Anne Brooke's The Bones of Summer and Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. I've wanted a copy of this ever since it came out and I finally decided I'd have to buy it. At 700 pages it is going to take some reading but I shall give it a go.

I also need to read - and write a review of - The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton which seems to be a sort of DIY story in that you could almost read the chapters in any order. I've read about 20 pages and have totally lost the plot. I think I'm going to have to start again with it. Reviews seems to suggest it is very clever - which I suspect translates as the reviewer couldn't understand it and hopes someone will enlighten him/her as to the meaning of the whole thing.