Moab is my washpot by Stephen Fry.

An autobiography about Stephen Fry’s first twenty years of his life, including his sexual awakening, a suicide attempt and a spell in prison. Sounds like a dark mix, but there is much humour here too, and you can hear his voice in the way he writes. I devoured it all in three days.

Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House by Michael Wolff.

This was written two years ago, but so much has happened since then that it seems like ancient history now. If only we knew that there was so much worse to come. It contains fascinating glimpses into the early days of Trump’s presidency, however, and provides context for what’s happening now.

To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek.

Historical fiction about a three people traveling from England to France in 1348, during the Black Death.

Pretty easy to draw parallels between their lives and our own current experience of living through a global pandemic.

Blurb on the back:

A tremendous feat of language and empathy, this novel summons a medieval world that is at once uncannily plausible, utterly alien and eerily reflective of our own…set against one of the biggest cataclysms of human history. 

I really wanted to enjoy this, but I found the language a bit hard to get to grips with, and the constant switching between the three character’s viewpoints made it more difficult to get into the story.

Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney.

Yes, the title is ridiculous and annoying to type.

But the book is hilarious, so I think I’ll forgive him.

Another autobiography, similar to Stephen Fry’s, that mixes humour with dark events. Delaney’s alcoholism is well documented and here he takes you back to his days of drinking himself into oblivion. His narrative culminates in a car accident, serious injuries and a spell in rehab. Oh and he talks about his asshole. A lot.

What have you been reading this month?