Do members of the forum have any suggestions for this year’s holiday reading?
I must mention “A Mother’s Reckoning” by Sue Klebold, a deep and moving account by the mother of one of the killers at Columbine.
James Kessler QC
15 Old Square
Lincoln’s Inn
I recently enjoyed “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry, set over 100 years ago but striking modern resonances. No legal connections but a good read.
Iain Cameron
Star Legal
For extended holiday reading, I recommend the Morland series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. At 35 volumes it has taken me several months but this series which follows the Morland family from the War of the Roses in 1434 to the eve of WWII is well written and has revealed a great deal about the history of our country to me of which I was unaware (having covered the Vikings three times in my school career and leaving out great swathes of the rest of it).
Not simply moving from battle to battle but interwoven with social history and the story of the family I have found them a joy to read and am feeling not a little bereft at having finished the series.
I have now embarked on ‘Eragon’, the first in ‘The Inheritance Cycle’ by Christopher Paolini, thoroughly recommended by both my 12 year old son and my husband. If I follow their example, I will be oblivious to everything and everyone until I have reached the end of the fourth and final book…
Suzanne Stevens
Marshall Hatchick
Having just returned from my holiday (Florence/Rome), I am enjoying ‘The Italians’ by John Hooper. The book is a mixture of fact and humour and the Telegraph reviewer commented that it was a ‘fascinating, affectionate and well-researched study that delivers the tantalising flavour of a country as hot, cold, bitter and sweet as an affogato’.
A good affogato* cannot be beaten, so I have to agree!
(*Superb Italian vanilla ice cream onto which is poured an espresso.)
Jill MacMahon
Thackray Williams LLP
I have just raised my head to find that, to my great consternation and not a little trauma, the world is in the 21st century and the clients and the family are
clamouring for attention, whilst I am still in Tudor England following the twists and turns of fortune of the lawyer Matthew Shardlake in Sansom’s series of I think only three books, Dissolution, Dark Fire and Sovereign. Good yarns and with no pretence at absolute truth or learning, though the historical detail is excellent.
Elizabeth Muston
Downs Solicitors
You might be pleased to know that there are actually 6 in the Shardlake series
4 – Revelation
5 – Heartstone
6 – Lamentation
all equally as good
Belinda Poulter
Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors LLP
Try “Dark Wake” the story of the Lusitania sinking with details of the politics behind it, the German Navy’s perspective and the lives of some very interesting passengers…
Bruce Hogarth-Jones
Plantagenet Partners LLP
I have just finished reading The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier (1956) with my sons. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for family summer reading or, for that matter, to any adults who didn’t read it as children.
Oliver Marre
15 Old Square
Lincoln’s Inn
I recommend Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time, a re-telling of The Winter’s Tale set in post financial crash London and a city in the US called New Bohemia - a good read.
Kate Willis
CIOT
A book I’ve enjoyed this year is Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver. A novel with very believable characters, and you also learn a lot about monarch butterflies. If you haven’t read her before, I also recommend the Poisonwood Bible.
I load one of the Shardlake series mentioned by others onto my kindle each holiday and hope he writes another one before I run out.
Carol Haworth
Thomson Reuters Practical Law