Recommended by Thelma, I've been looking at the trips Mike Belton runs for Wild Frontiers in Turkey. For my first trip in 2012, I've booked Wild Frontiers' Wild Walk in the Taurus Mountains. We walk parts of the St Paul... Read more
Deftly connecting characters from previous novels in the Shardlake series to Henry VIII's futile final war against the French and the sinking of the Mary Rose. Smashing. Amazon.co.uk link: Heartstone - C J Sansom... Read more
Catherine Musgrave's mother died when she was 6 months old, leaving her daughter a Memory Box. Thirty years later, as she at last tries to understand the significance of each item her mother put into the box, Catherine discovers that... Read more
Daniel Metcalfe's 2004 journey in search of "the lost peoples of Central Asia". Leaving Iran he travelled through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, winding up with the Kalash in the NWFP valleys of Pakistan. A good read if you're... Read more
Another jolly good read as Yashim encounters Greek history, Scottish doctors, Albanian watermen and a French femme fatale. Amazon.co.uk link: The Snake Stone - Jason Goodwin... Read more
Married man leaves wife and family for his mistress.... who realises she doesn't want him now she has him 24/7. Amazon.co.uk link: Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon... Read more
In 2006, Chinese Canadian journalist Jan Wong returned to Beijing, with her family, on a quest to track down the fellow student she had shopped to the Maoist authorities in the early 1970s for wanting to leave China for America.... Read more
We did it! Yes, we climbed those three high passes and two high peaks (mainly) in great weather (from the Renjo La to the Kongma La at least) and definitely in great company, so a big thank you to fellow... Read more
Another loan from Hazel during our Three High Passes to Everest trek. In this short novel (novella really) Kate Mosse tackles war, (male) grief and the final suppression of the Cathars in the south of France. Amazon.co.uk link: The Winter... Read more
Borrowed from Hazel during our Three High Passes to Everest trek, a good read - a crime story with a modern magical London twist. Amazon.co.uk link: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch... Read more