A Reading List
This is the time of the year for reading lists and 'book of the year' supplements. With this in mind prof.so brings you the best of my recent reading, recommended to those of similar eccentric taste.
A Classical Education
by Richard Cobb
Faber and Faber (2008)
Richard Cobb was a distinguished historian but this sharp and rather strange book is the personal and partially autobiographical account of a school friend of his who murders his mother. Often described as a minor classic it demands to be read as much for its style as for the story which is disturbing but also compelling.
Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes
by Ferdinand Mount
Bloomsbury (2009)
Ferdinand Mount writes extraordinarily well as he recounts the world of his family and in particular talks of his mother and of his relationship with her. He wittily describes the social milieu of his parents yet there is something very moving in the slightly distant precision with which he recalls his upbringing. A wonderful and unexpected book.
A Nervous Splendour: Vienna, 1888-89
by Frederic Morton
Viking (1981)
Popular history at its finest. A wide ranging account of Imperial Vienna as it converges on the catastrophe of Mayerling (my grandmother cried when she took me to see the film, my first recollection of adult tears). This book takes in art, literature and music as well as popular mores. Sharp pen portraits and plenty of colour a really good read.
The Reason Why: The Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade
by Cecil Woodham-Smith
Penguin Classic Military History (2000)
This is an account of stupidity, rancour, prejudice, honour and heroism. Cecil Woodham-Smith provides an account of the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' that is insightful and readable. You can see tragedy as it is bound to unfold and yet you cannot see how it is to be averted.
The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France
by Eric Jager
Arrow Books (2006)
This is the story of the last trial by combat. An account that is amazing and reveals how truly strange the past can be, it is also a book of suspense in which the outcome is uncertain. Deserves to be widely read.
Isaiah Berlin: A Life
by Michael Ignatieff
Vintage (2000)
This is a superb biography that captures the life of Berlin: as philosopher, academic and public figure. It also seeks to understand him as a Russian and as a Jew. The book gives a succinct account of his thought but presents it in a personal context. It is a wonderful tribute to a refugee intellectual and an anatomy of his contribution to our collective understanding of liberal democracy.
An Un-American Life: The Case of Whittaker Chambers
by Sam Tanenhaus
Old Street (2007)
When I first read an account of the Chambers and Hiss cases I was struck by the fact that here were two distinguished men, one of whom was lying, persistently and over an extended period, the other was a victim of this - and, from that first account, I could not be certain which. It is now known that, beyond any doubt, Hiss was the liar. Tanenhaus provides a biography of Chambers and tells the story, providing the political and personal context. It is enthralling, readable, instructive and of great interest as history. Above all it is a human story with the shape of a Greek tragedy.
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin
Atlantic Books (2009)
A great biography of a flawed hero. This book presents the life of Oppenheimer and the contradictions of his achievements and his politics. A balanced and thoroughly researched account, the book is sympathetic to Oppenheimer but does not allow this to stand in the way of a lucid and informed analysis of his behaviour.
The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion
Harper Perennial (2006)
The best description of grief I could imagine. An amazing, clear sighted, but also engaged account of the sudden loss of her husband and its aftermath. A book of quiet power and sharply insightful on the experience of loss. A classic.
Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation
by Sherod Santos
W.W. Norton & Co. (2006)
Bought on a whim at Daunt books, when visiting my father at the Royal Free Hospital. The poems are beautifully translated with both a delicacy and a sharpness that makes them a pleasure to read. I have revisited them many times already. The poetry also possess that strangeness and at the same time familiarity characteristic of classical literature.