Dear Readers, it’s fair to say that it’s been a week of ups and downs – the cat falling ill is one thing, and my lack of sleep due to pain in my leg is something else. But at one o’clock in the morning, when you can’t take any more painkillers for two hours and your ice pack has turned into a bag of lukewarm water, there is nothing better than a good book, and I am currently blessed to be reading three, rotating between them according to my mood.

Mark Hamsher is a Friend of Bugwoman, though we’ve never met, and I cannot tell you how moved I was when he sent me a copy of his Dad’s book “The Balkans by Bicycle”. This is just the kind of book to take me away from my bedroom in East Finchley, and what an adventure it is! In total, the author travels by old-fashioned bicycle all the way from Leipzig to Istanbul, with a sojourn at Mount Athos en route. I am loving how the people and sights along the way are so beautifully described, and how sharp and individual the author’s perceptions are. Plus, there are the problems of regular punctures en route, bandits, bike theft and angry dogs, and I’m only about a quarter of the way through.

The book itself is so beautifully designed, with photographs, a map (I do love it when travel books have a map), and all sorts of little bits and pieces that make the book feel so personal. What a labour of love by Mark and his siblings! If you fancy a copy, Daunt Books and  John Sandoe have it in stock. Highly, highly recommended.

And here’s something of a contrast.

‘Kairos’ by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, won the International Booker in 2024. It’s not that cheery a read – it tells the story of Kristina, a nineteen year-old East German girl, who gets into a relationship with Hans, who is 34 years older than she is and married, in 1986. The relationship gradually darkens, and I’ve found myself longing for Kristina to tell him to eff off. But what is really interesting is the way that the relationship moves from the days of the DDR to the fall of the Berlin wall. I had never really thought about how the reunification of Germany, which looked so positive from our Western perspective, also changed the lives of the people who lived in East Germany, and how it wasn’t necessarily the joyous event that we imagined for everybody – the currency collapsed, people who had been exiled in the west came back and claimed the housing that had been taken from them, and the speed of the change was overwhelming for many people. West Germany gave all the people who crossed the border 100 Deutschmarks, which Kristina refuses, and I found this quotation particularly interesting.

“The freedom to consume seems like an india rubber wall to her, separating people from any yearnings that might transcend their personal and momentary wishes. Is she about to be another customer?”

All in all, this is a bleak but beautiful book. I have about 3 percent to go (according to my Kindle) so I will be interested to see how it ends. I love it when a book makes me think more deeply about things. In particular, I wonder if anything in life, however positive it seems, is an unalloyed blessing. Hmm.

And finally this book, sent to me by my oldest friend S. She knows me so well.

I hadn’t read any Christopher Fowler before, but I immediately liked his style, and this is the book that I turn to when I have barely any brain power. It makes me laugh out loud, though this is tempered by the fact that it was a) published posthumously, after Fowler’s death from cancer, and b) that he discusses going through treatment during lockdown, which was clearly a challenge. He has such excellent advice for anyone going into hospital (such as ‘memorise your hospital number’ and ‘bring a variety of books and, if you are a writer, a notebook’). In my own relatively insignificant recent hospital encounter, I remembered the former but forgot the latter. Thank goodness for having a mobile phone to make a few notes on (another Fowler tip – remember your phone/Kindle chargers!). But this is a wonderful book, whether you’re a writer or not – it contains everything from recommendations for Agatha Christie novels to digressions on how consultants broke bad news when they were head to foot in PPE and you could barely see their faces.

So, Readers, you are never alone with a book, and I can’t tell you how often these three volumes have taken my mind off the cat/my leg/all the other things that bounce around in my head when I’m both wired and tired. I am forever grateful for the kindness and thoughtfulness of so many people, and would love to know what your ‘comfort reads’ are. Do you go for something familiar that you’ve read before, or something that takes you to somewhere new? Do you like comedy, or something more serious and thought-provoking? Do share!