The Way We Live Now Trollope. Seems quite a good insoight into the social scene of the aristocratic but not affluent world of 1880s England. So far, it does not strike me as one of his better novels, although it is very useful background info. for me. I prefer Phineas Finn and most of the Barchester novels, especially The Warden.

I am also slowly reading Hell's Angels,Hi, Musick! which is a very interesting insight into the motor-cycle cult of California in the 60s and 70s. Fascinating reading, although a bit repetitivie at times.

Just starting Dennis Judd's Empire which charts the later rise of British Colonial power. This is definitely work, not pleasure, although it's a well written and well researched book. Sometime next summer, it will be regurgitated, synthesised with other books and presented to an unsuspecting public as a twenty-hour course on The British Empire (or some such title.)