Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?

Always a sucker for wilderness, especially Alaskan wilderness, I delved into This Much Country. Oh, my word. Kristin Knight Pace has a belter here. A life being lived to the max. And then she went to Alaska. Where, amongst other things, sled dog mushing became a thing. A Thing. The pages are riddled with emotions, and dogs, and tears. It’s hard to read through tears. Soddit, the girl can write too. Terrific.

Only 160 pages in - but I can already appreciate the immense quality of the writing. Something really special. What a great legacy. And a dramatic back story of how the manuscript was microfilmed and smuggled out of the Soviet Union. It made me think of the drama surrounding the early life of Shostakovich 7th Symphony.

Fourth in the series of Gereon Rath crime novels set in the Weimer Republic. These get better as the series progresses and the political situation worsens. And Gereon himself becomes a little more sympathetic - for all his faults at least he’s not a Nazi.

This is a really powerful novel about two second world war survivors Jakob and Emmanuelle … As I read it, I teared up. It is definitely a must read too. Not only does it supply the reader with essential details on their life in the States, the novel also deals with the provoking yet important themes of failure and hardships. I loved reading it however. A rather stirring story for sure!

And very good it was too. I particularly enjoyed the way Olive was revealed to us in parts, sometimes at the centre of the story and sometimes almost with sidelong glances.

Very readable and punchy - his tough personal history of child abuse and ensuing mental illness, addiction and recovery is interspersed with his passion for classical music and anecdotes about great composers and their own personal challenges. A really good read.

It’s a strong book that I both admired and enjoyed. The novel deals with the relationship between Edward and Jo Hopper through their relationship with two young boys who are staying nearby. Michael is on holiday and has been adopted.

This sometimes doesn’t work out but I thought the boys were fully realised characters in their own right and not awkward and overly naive. There are devastating moments in the book like small short stories such as when Jo visits Mrs Sultz, a friend, in a care home. As you would expect Hopper’s painting fill the book and the narrative seems to fit them. Wars are ever present both past and future. An effortless read.

Quite a saga about his family history in the 20th Century, which won the Libris history prize in 2015 but has only just been translated into English… It’s an amazing tale of a family that “dysfunctional” is barely adequate to describe. Some are quite odd, one lives a life of tragedy she doesn’t deserve, and a couple are just plain vile.

He gives fascinating examples to show that empathy, fairness and ethical behaviour can be seen in the actions of some other mammals, particularly primates such as the bonobo. He therefore proposes that morality is not a product of religion or particular to human society but is rooted in biology. We clearly have a lot to learn from other primates, the bonobo’s preferred “genito-genital rubbing” approach to conflict resolution would certainly enliven UN-sponsored peace talks.