Current Reading

1. War Paint: Madame Helena Rubinstein and Miss Elizabeth Arden - Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry by Lindy Woodhead. Dreams in creams. Sounds fluffy, but this is serious (and seriously entertaining) stuff. A grand summer read.

2. Them: Adventures With Extremists by Jon Ronson. This book came out in 2001 and there was a companion TV series, which I watched, on Channel 4 in the UK (titled The Secret Rulers of the World). The series was pretty damn good, but the book is even better. Ronson is a journalist, and I've always enjoyed his writing.
I've just finished the chapter on demented conspiracy theorist (and former footballer-turned-BBC sportscaster) David Icke. He believes the secret rulers of the world are twelve-foot intergalactic space lizards in disguise. The Anti-Defamation League say that Icke's use of the term 'lizard' is a cipher for 'Jew'. Hmmm.

3. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Quite simply, the best novel I've read in the past several years. It's a weighty volume, and I've been taking my time with it since last winter. Put a drive on it recently to try and finish, as I'm in an online bookclub which is discussing this book in chat (tonight, in fact), but decided it was too great a treat to rush through. I may leave the last 200 pages or so for autumn. This is not a book for summertime; it's a book to be read during long winter evenings, in front of a crackling fire, and with a draught of some heady beverage to hand.