My Book Reviews

When Juliet Armstrong is recruited by MI5 in 1940 she expects quite a lot. It must have been disappointing that the job mainly existed in typing. Transcripting audiotapes into typed text. After some time she notices that nobody in the job is who they pretend to be and is astounded that this also goes for herself. 10 years later she finds herself haunted by things and people she had chosen to forget. The book is a very pleasant read. I love the almost cynical, nonchalant style. Like not a lot is a reason to get worried or excited. Kate Atkinson is a writer I very much admire!

I was a bit disappointed with this book. Of course I knew it was not a popular fiction book, but a scientific historic work. The writer did his best to make it as easy to digest as possible. Maybe it could have been done better, certainly not by me. I was after more knowledge about the start of papism, the first popes and who ruled (western) Europe after the Roman Empire collapsed. I learned about a lot of new people who had power in the (early) middle ages and before that. Names like Zeno, Basilium and so on. I knew about the Visigoths but nothing about Theoderic. And he might be called "The Great" because he managed to be named an emperor. His empire did collaps after he died. I did know about the Merovingians and the Carolingians, not about how the family of Charlemagne took the power over the Franks. I did know about how part of his empire grew to become "the Holy Roman Empire". It had not a lot in common with the Roman Empire. Yet this make me finally understan