In the year 1570, at the age of thirty-seven, Michel de Montaigne gave up his job as a magistrate and retired to his chateau to brood on his own private grief – the deaths of his best friends, his father, his brother and, most recently, his first-born child. But finding his mind agitated rather than settled by this idleness, Montaigne began to write, giving birth to the Essays – short prose explorations of an amazing variety of topics. And gradually, over the course of his writing Montaigne began to turn his back upon his stoical pessimism, and engage in a new philosophy of life, in which living is to be embraced in all its sensory, exuberant vitality – the smell of his doublet, the pleasures of friendship, the intelligence of his cat and the flavour of his wine.

Quite frankly I was surprised by this book. I knew nothing of Montaigne to speak of, and could easily have mixed him up with Montesque. Now I have discovered what I have been missing. Montaigne was not only a great thinker and writer and philosopher, but he was also some one who was very human and whom we get to know in intimate detail..whether it was the agonising problems he had with kidney stones, the circular stone library he loved to inhabit, his love life, his problems with his vineyard, his close involvement with the horrific Wars of Religion then raging in France, or his attitiude to the foreigners he meets on his travels, it all adds up to making him a man we can almost regard as a friend…such is the acuity and cleverness with which Saul Frampton paints his picture.

Indeed Saul Frampton offers a celebration of perhaps the most joyful and yet profound of all Renaissance writers, whose work went on to have a huge impact on Shakespeare (very interesting this….Shakespeare virtually copies and pastes huge chunks of Monataigne into his plays) , and whose writings offer a user’s guide to existence even to the present day. I shall certainly now be reading some of the Essays as a result of this marvellous introduction which made a thoroughly enjoyable read.

 A classic ghost story but with an original twist, this is not a tale for the faint-hearted. Young Michael’s mother has recently died and he has passed into the care of a mysterious benefactor. He is taken away from his home in the city and is brought to his new carer’s manor house. When he arrives strange things start to happen throughout the house and Michael’s sanity is tested as he is visited time and time again by a mysterious presence. Can he find the source of the disturbances, or has he truly gone insane? A thrilling read for teens and adults alike.

A story, rather remarkable really, of someone who decided to live in a run-down, isolated, virtually derelict cottage in mid-Wales where he saw no-one for weeks on end. So this is a lovingly-written account of his communion with nature and all the multifarious creatues that surrounded him. Lyrical and magical are two words that would best describe it.

Because he had little to do, other than survive, he came to know every inch of ground around the cottage and he knew the animals and birds almost by name, certainly as individuals. Such a privilege is rarely given to anyone. Indeed very few would put themselves in his position to find out.  We learn about bats and goshawks, otters and ravens, sparrowhawks and starlings….and we feel we get to know them as intimately as he did. A wonderful book. So much missing in our lives!

Also published for the occasion of Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee is the Royal Collection’s Souvenir Album. This is a lovely, small-sized coffee table book with many photographs that chronicle the life of the Queen: the many gifts from around the world presented to her, articles of clothing and jewellery for official appearances, letters, books and even early toys and pets.

With his usual flair Andrew Marr turns his attention to Elizabeth II and the events of her Reign. He looks at her role and influence as Head of State and her position within the great but unwritten constitution of Britain.

Rather than writing a chronological biography, Andrew Marr has arranged his book by theme: relationships with Politicians, her role in our economic fortunes and her work abroad for example. He gives us an almost photographic insight into what the Queen actually does with her time from the hours spent with red boxes, to the meticulous organisation of a walkabout. He argues carefully, and with the great skill as a journalist and historian, that far from being a detached but privileged family, under her scrutiny the Royal institution has been made into something already fit for purpose for a 21^st century society.

Replete with Marr’s engaging style and the thorough research for which he is rightly so highly regarded.

Just the words are enough to transport you back to what must seem like historic times to most people….Sindy dolls, ten bob notes, Play Doh, felt-tip pens, Velcro, Teasmades, the Mersey Sound, Blue Peter, Steptoe, Thunderbirds, Simon Dee, Spam, Beeching, Murray Mints, Opal Fruits, Smash, donkey rides….the text might wander, but it wanders into some very interesting and nostalgic places…a real treat (only if you grew up in the sixties of course)!

No doubt you will be familiar with the tv series in which we follow Michael Portillo’s train journeys around the country using his Bradshaw. It was amazing to us that no-one had planned to re-print it before now. When the first series was shown we were inundated with requests for it. Anyhow here it is, and fascinating reading it makes too. Mind you, Bradshaw doesn’t make too much of Warwick…” a dull town..”. However he does go on to give a detailed account of the castle..”one of the finest specimens in the kingdom of the ancient residences of our feudal ancestors”. Leamington is his preference…”fifty years since (it) was an obscure and humble village..(and) is now, though still rural and picturesque, become a large and handsome town…and is proverbial for being better paved, lighted, and regulated, than any other town of its size in the kingdom.”

Whatever his particular views, it remains an utterly absorbing guide as to how the town and country looked in 1863. You can’t help but dip in, and follow his routes across the ever-widening rail network, and compare then with now. A ‘must-have’ book.

Greece in the age of Heroes as the jacket says. We follow the intertwined lives of Patroclus, a teenage prince exiled to Phthia, and his hero Achilles. They become friends and then lovers and then kinsmen set for war…the Trojan War. What is startlingly original about this book is that not only do we follow Achilles and Patroclus through all their trials and tribulations (and homo-erotic love which plays a large part in proceedings), but we follow the Greek Gods as real beings whose interplay with humans is an accepted fact of life. And it does work well. We accept the Gods, and their characterization, without concession as they are so convincing.
The Trojan War comes to dominate proceedings of course, and we become embroiled in all the machinations governing events. Fascinating stuff, exciting and full of interest. I really enjoyed the book and for those who want to learn something of those times a great read…..

Claudius was considered a pitiful idiot, but his reign as reluctant Emperor (he wished nothing more than to restore the ancient Republic), which included the conquest of Britain, proves him to have been anything but. He was sustained by the common people and the soldiery in his efforts to repair the damage caused by the reign of his nephew, Gaius Caligula. His downfall was brought about by his unwise marriage to the very beautiful but totally corrupt and sexually licentious Messalina, who could and did, twist him round her little finger. When his eyes were finally opened to Messalina’s foul iniquities and treachery, his vengance was swift and terrible, but he never got over his love for Messalina and never recovered his equanimity. Thereafter, he actively promoted Lucius Domitius (Nero), the son of the dreadful Agrippina whom he now married, as his heir in order that Rome might be compelled to learn necessary Republican wisdom from the terrible experiences that Claudius knew Nero’s reign would bring.

Claudius the God is a brilliant and masterful faux historical reconstruction, cast in the form of Claudius’ own memoirs. But it is more than an historical tour de force, becuase in the lame and stammering Claudius, Robert Graves has created a literary masterpiece, a character to compare with any of Dickens’ gallery of memorable creations; or indeed with Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff. Older readers will not be able to forget the remarkable performances of Sir Dereck Jacobbi in the role of Claudius, Brian Blessed as Augustus, Stanley Baker as Tiberius and John Hurt as the damaged Caligula, in the nineteen-seventies BBC TV production of this remarkable work.

This was my third or forth reading, and I find something new in it every time.