It may be a bit ambitious, but I'm hoping to finish all these books this week for Bout of Books, plus a slim guide to the workings of the economy by Yanis Varofakis that's not in the catalogue. Even if I don't finish them all a few done would be great. I was just ironing and listening to the BBC adaption of The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde). I'm nearly finished it and it's proving fantastic, with performances from Judi Dench and Colin Firth. I'll have that finished by tonight.

The challenge today, introduce yourself in six words:

Words abound today, why not always?

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy...

Historically, all the states resulting from agricultural societies distributed their surplus in an outrageously unequal manner, to the benefit of those with social, political and military power. But as strong as these rulers were, they were never strong enough to face down the vast majority of impoverished farmers, who if they joined forces could overthrow the exploitative regime in a matter of hours. So, how did these rulers manage to maintain their power distributing surplus as they pleased, undisturbed by the majority? The answer is: by cultivating an ideology which caused the majority to believe deep in their hearts that only their rulers had the right to rule. That they lived in the best of all possible worlds. That everything was the was it was destined to be. That the situation on the ground reflected some divine order. That any opposition to them clashed with that divine will, threatening to send the world spinning out of control.

I decided to read The Glorious Heresies another time as I have it in print at the minute and I'm having some issues with my eyes, due to hayfever, so reading on my kobo is working out much better. Seeing as I decided to set that down, I had a normal roll plus the 3 extra one's for Independence days.

Roll 1: 6 & 3 which took me to:

For this I'm going to read We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

Roll 2: 4 & 1 which took me to jail! For this I use my pocketed racing card to take me to: 

For this I'm going to read The Secret Barrister by...The Secret Barrister

Roll 3: 3 & 2 which takes me to the cat card, which I pocket and roll again

Roll 4: 5 & 5 (doubles!) This takes me to square:

• For this I'm going to read Talking to my Daughter about the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis. As I rolled doubles I got to roll again.

Roll 5: I rolled 6 & 1 which took me to the Go square, so I rolled again.

Roll 6: I rolled 5 & 4 which took me here:

For this I'm going to read You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson

Roll 7: I rolled 2 & 1 which took me here:

For this I'm going to read Conviction by Denise Mina

It's going to take me forever to read all 5 of these books! I'm really glad I've got my reading planned so far in advance, but fortunately I won't get to roll again for a while *sniff sniff*

I didn’t expect this to be a horror story, but it is. At a time of Brexit and the rise of racism and xenophobia encouraged by its proponents, being pro-European is almost an obligatory stance. This book reveals how toxic the European Economic Union has been from day one, and how economic policy has been weaponised to crush “unworthy” members with punitive debt and economic disaster, likely to spread if left unmitigated.

The book is straightforward and easy to understand, especially for a text on Economics and International Post-War Economic History. Perfect for the layperson who wants to learn about a system that is facing a period of dismantling. It is, however, very repetitive, to the extent that I could have skipped about one third of the pages and still read all the book has to say.

I’m left thinking that a united Europe is a fine idea in theory, but something we have yet to achieve.