- Dishonesty Is The Second-Best Policy and Other Rules to Live By” by David Mitchell
- “Michael Palin In Venezuela” by Michael Palin
- “Happiness: Lessons From A New Science” by Richard Layard
- “The People on Platform 5” by Clare Pooley
- “Encyclopaedia of Narrow Gauge Railways of Great Britain and Ireland” by Thomas Middlemiss
- “Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System” by Martin Sixsmith
Started: 28th January 2026
Finished: 11th February 2026
3/5 stars
A very interesting account of the coup in August 1991 that saw Mikhail Gorbachev briefly overthrown by Communist hardliners. I remember it happening at the time, but didn’t really follow what happened very closely.
This account by a former BBC Moscow correspondent was full of interesting background, including all the pressures and problems the Soviet Union was facing in its final days. It ends with a chapter about what the future might hold, which was written in 1991 – sadly, it foresaw many of the problems we now see, including the invasion of Ukraine.
It’s a little heavy going in places, and I found some of it hard to follow as I wasn’t massively familiar with some of the background, but as someone fascinated by the history of the Eastern Bloc and the Cold War, there was lots to appreciate in this well-written eyewitness account.
