Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World

Niall Ferguson (2002)

4/5. Finished Sunday 11 November, 2012.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Shibumi

Trevanian (1979)

4/5. Finished Saturday 10 November, 2012.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Excession (Culture, #5)

Iain M. Banks (1996)

Without a doubt my favourite book (so far) in the Culture series, a book I can read again and again. The premise that one can rationalise oneself into evil acts is only made stronger by having it apply to Minds as well as people!

As usual Iain Banks manages to full all the characters, places and species in this book with convincing detail and lovingly-crafted back-stories. He also manages his trick of providing paragraphs-long digressions that add immensely to the texture of the writing without getting in the way of the plot.

5/5. Finished Saturday 10 November, 2012.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Red Plenty: Inside the Fifties’ Soviet Dream

Francis Spufford (2010)

2/5. Finished Saturday 10 November, 2012.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West

Edward Lucas (2012)

3/5. Finished Saturday 10 November, 2012.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)