The Mistress of Paris

 by Catherine Hewitt

The rags to riches story of a nineteenth century courtesan. The story was really interesting, Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne as she ended up calling herself moved in the highest circles of society and became one of the richest people in Paris. She was clearly single minded and ruthless in the operation of her profession. I did at times feel the author was a frustrated fiction writer but that aside had clearly done a lot of research. 7/10

Anthony Trollope - A Victorian in his world

 by Richard Mullen

This book, published in 1990 is clearly written by a Trollope enthusiast and is none the worse for that. It is a very readable and comprehensive introduction to the man and his writing. It quotes widely from the novels showing how his writing is drawn from his life which was lived at a crazy pace. As well as writing 80 books he had a 30 year career in the post office and travelled widely around the globe and Europe. 

The writing is very readable and the author's asides (mimicking Trollope?) are very amusing. A very enjoyable read. 9/10 

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

Citizen Clem

 by John Bew

This is a very readable biography of Clement Atlee.

He covers his life from childhood and makes a point of starting each chapter with a piece of poetry linked to the period in his life he is covering. He refers a lot to correspondence with his brother Tom who he was very close to. This despite the fact they had very opposing views on war and pacifism which must of dominated their lives in their early twenties and middle age when Atlee was deputy prime minister. I would have liked to see this explored in a bit more detail. However, that aside, I thought this was a very good insight into the life of a very private person, whom duty(?) drove to become prime minister of the UK and leader of the labour party for 20 years. This idea of duty and loyalty to country reminded me of DeGaulle and his sense of destiny. 9/10

A World to Win

by Sven-Eric Liedman
Finally, a year after starting this book I have finished this interesting and informative biography of Karl Marx. I found it heavy going in places but really absorbing in others. It is told chronologically and provides a great introduction to Marx's major thought and writings.
It had a useful but far too short summary of where Marxism has gone since Marx's death. It had the effect of sending me off to check things out elsewhere to try and understand alienation or commodity fetishism etc. Could influence my reading list for a while! 8/10

Balzac

by Graham Robb
Telling the life of a figure like Balzac is difficult. He spent much of his life constructing stories about his life while running away from his creditors or lovers that seperating fact from fiction becomes very difficult. Robb recognises this difficulty but puts together a very readable account of A life of Balzac. However, I finished by thinking this was one life amongst many that could have been constructed and many others that probably died with Balzac and his acquaintances. 8/10

My Life, Our Times

by Gordon Brown
A fascinating self portrait of Gordon Brown in power. He tries to spell out why he thought and acted as he did, much of which was admirable. The book really comes to life with the financial shocks of 2007-8 and their aftermath which Brown played a leading role in.
A man like Brown seldom seems to think they are wrong and the apologies he makes in this book are of a minor nature. The true assessment of Brown as Chancellor and Prime Minister will have to come from others.
A minor criticism but I did find the prose rather clunky in places 6/10

Thomas Hardy-The time torn man

by Clare Tomalin
This book was a joy to read, especially as while reading it we stayed for a couple of nights at the Old rectory in St. Juliot, where Hardy met his first wife.
The book is very accessible and paints a great picture of the contradictions and tensions in his life and particularly with his women. It also gives a great picture of the novels and their setting which makes you want to visit Dorset and read the books again. 9/10

William Morris

by Fiona MacCarthy
This is a heavy tome in terms of weight but is a very enjoyable read. Published 20 years ago it looks at the phases of life that Morris went through and is particularly good on his socialist phase-how he arrived there and the contribution that he made to the early days of the labour movement. I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to know about the man and his relationships with Burn-Jones(a lifelong friend) and Rosetti etc. 9/10
ps To protect your wrists from permanent damage buy it for your kindle!

Napoleon the Great

by Andrew Roberts
This is the first biography of Napoleon I have read but I found it engaging, informative and, despite its size of 800 pages, interesting both when describing battles and when describing his adminastrative acheivements which were huge. 8/10