What I wrote at Lib Dem Voice

July 02, 2007

Joining me on the beach this year...

My alter ego over at Lib Dem Voice has compiled a list of some Lib Dem MPs’ summer reading suggestions. Feeling rather left out, I’m publishing mine here:

Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin - we’re told this is most assuredly not the seventh instalment of his superb Tales of the City series. Whatever, Maupin has perhaps the most acutely empathetic ear for dialogue of any living writer.

The Battle for Spain by Antony Beevor - I don’t generally ‘do’ military history, but I’ll make an exception for this work, especially as I’m returning again to Spain in August.

The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown - I idly picked this up in Borders bookshop the other week. As a non-Royalist, I was surprisingly gripped by Tina’s friskily witty and judicious account.

Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzellman - as is traditional in such lists, I’m including one by a friend. But, seriously folks, the reviews are fantastic, and Alex is a scarily talented writer. Plus it’s only a tenner from Amazon.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling - I’m more excited than is seemly for a mature adult about the publication of the final Potter book. 21st July is blocked out in my diary as a reading day.

Dalziel & Pascoe - I’ve bulk-ordered the six novels I’ve not yet read in this fantastic detective series. Please don’t judge them by the appallingly hoky TV series (which not even Warren Clarke’s and Colin Buchanan’s fantastic performances can redeem) - these are intelligent, witty, deeply literary novels. I love ‘em.

Oh, and I guess I’ll give in and buy The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell, too.

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