It was my birthday yesterday, so not a lot of time to put an update together on some of the things I am following. The upside of a day like that is of course gifts and the above three books came from close family. I really can’t wait to dive into Bill Browder’s new book, his first one, Red Notice, was a riveting page-turner and offered us a depressing view into the workings of Russia in the early 21st century. I also enjoyed Browder’s anecdotes on his early banking career in London as we overlapped there in the early 1990s (but never met).
At some point I will have to weigh in more on US politics and Peter Baker and Susan Glasser’s tome on Trump looks very promising. Finally, Pieter Waterdrinker is one of The Netherlands’ top novelists at the moment and also a noted Russia expert. He lived there and he is providing some unique insights into daily life in the former Soviet empire. So I am going to read one of his key books on the subject, ‘Tchaikovsky Street 40’ in Dutch, but it is also available in English under the title The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street.
Enjoy the weekend, it is still beautiful and warm here on Canada’s west coast where local elections will keep a lot of us busy tomorrow. See you next week.
Ha Pieter, nog van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag!;-).