40. My Secret Falklands War - Sidney Edwards

Talked about by Lindybeige here who gives a wider picture of the Falklands war and the involvement of Chile.

39. Brexit without the Bullshit - Gavin Esler

 

Published in June 2019, obviously before the Covid-19 crisis which finally put the madness of Brexit into some sort of perspective.  This book had no new surprises for me.

I expect to be tweeting:  "Well, what did you expect would happen?" for the foreseeable future.

The real question remains:  what is the real goal of those pushing for Brexit?

38. Fake Law - Secret Barrister

 

Another Twitter author.  At this rate I am never going to read any of the classics piling up on my shelves!

37. Anti-Social - Nick Pettigrew

Yet another recommendation from Twitter.

Being managed by case numbers is familiar to me, but the behaviour of residents is another world to me.

36. The Constant Rabbit - Jasper Fforde

Yes, I managed to buy two copies!  One ordered in advance (so I had forgotten about it) from Waterstones was signed on an extra page.  The other from Bookish, who held a publication day video link event, is stamped and signed and also came with a postcard.

35. 52 Times Britain was a Bellend - James Felton

Horrible Histories for adults?

34. A Curious History of Sex - Kate Lister

Dr Kate Lister runs the Twitter account @WhoresofYore.

33. The Joy of Tax - Richard Murphy

Refutes the idea that governments should act like companies when setting budgets etc.

Shows that George Osbourne's austerity was bound to fail and make matters worse!

32. The Reason of Things - A. C. Grayling

If it seems like I'm rattling through books, it's because I'm finishing half read books.

This Has been on my bedside table for a while.  The books comprises the collected articles from the Guardian and so was handy for a few pages read before bedtime.

31. The Wall - John Lanchester

I heard the first and the last episode of (I think) Radio 4's Bed at Bedtime reading of this book.

It is a dystopian view of Britain post perhaps sea-level rising or Brexit-type event.

I notice that what used to be Sci-Fi sections of many bookshops are now "Science Fiction, Fantasy and Dystopian".

11 of the best dystopian novels listed here as:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1968)
Children of Men by P.D. James (1992)
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (1999)
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
The Wall by John Lanchester (2019)
Vox by Christina Dalcher (2018)
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

So that's 6 out of the 11 that I have read, and I could reread any of those.

30. The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde

29. Haven't You Heard - Marie Le Conte

The role of gossip in the Westminister bubble

My reading list seems to be mainly generated by my YouTube viewing and my Twitter following,

She talks about the book here and is on Twitter (as @youngvulgarian) here.  She has some of her articles here.

28. Humble Pi: a comedy of maths errors - Matt Parker

Matt Parker appears on youtube channels standupmaths and numberphile and also appears at the beginning and end of this video.  He talks about this book here and here,  So, while reading this book, I heard his voice in my head!

27. To be taught if fortunate - Becky Chambers

Picked up, almost at random, at Waterstones; I noticed it was a signed copy but was attracted by its small size!

Full of good ideas

26. Twas the NIghtshift Before Christmas - Adam Kay

25. Slaying Brexit Unicorns - Edwin Hayward

Rathering like preaching to the choir, but it was free from Amazon for a while.

One aspect that I did learn something about was that the "Remainer Unicorn" that Brexit was all about avoiding EU tax rules was untrue.  I had thought that tax rules was insufficient to explain why the rich wanted Brexit - after all, the rich can move their money about as they wish.

The book was obviously written before the election and so is almost out-of-date.  But if people didn't learn what Brexit was about in the last three years ... they are about to find out.