In the shadow of the fire

 by Herve le Corre
This is an odd but interesting book. It is a love story, a police investigation into abduction, and a history of the Paris Commune or more particularly, it's bloody final 10 days. At times I found it a bit drawn out whereas at other times it fairly rattled along. It managed to portray both the horrors and the hope of the Commune and in some way explain why that hope has travelled down through the years. 7/10

Sigmund Freud

 by Stefan Zweig

A brief introduction to Freuds life and work, written during Freud's lifetime (1931). It was interesting but a bit dry in the delivery at times. 5/10

A Murder of Quality

 by John Le Carre

The second Smiley novel and very good. No spies in sight but a straight whodunnit in a posh english public school. 8/10