It’s not too long until I down tools and take two or three weeks off. This time last year I was starting to write my next book (A Brief and Affectionate History of GDP, out in January). So I’m looking forward to reading a lot this summer. Here is the leisure pile – Orhan Pamuk’s novel [amazon_link id=”0571275958″ target=”_blank” ]Silent House[/amazon_link] is on the way too. I have a couple of new economics books to review as well – hardbacks so they’ll wait until later in August. They’re Tim Harford’s [amazon_link id=”1408704242″ target=”_blank” ]The Undercover Economist Strikes Back[/amazon_link] and Philip Mirowski’s [amazon_link id=”1781680795″ target=”_blank” ]Never Let A Serious Crisis Go To Waste[/amazon_link].

Summertime fun

I already started another summer book, Anne Applebaum’s [amazon_link id=”0713998687″ target=”_blank” ]Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe[/amazon_link].

[amazon_image id=”0713998687″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56[/amazon_image]

It’s wonderful, deserving of comparison with Tony Judt’s [amazon_link id=”009954203X” target=”_blank” ]Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945[/amazon_link]. Judt’s book makes clear the links between western and eastern Europe; our histories are intertwined. Appelbaum’s is both a detailed account of post-1945 events in countries about which many people (certainly including me) actually know very little, and a really moving testimony to the successive traumas inflicted on the people of central and eastern Europe in the 20th century. When I’ve finished I’ll write a proper review.

I do think anybody reflecting on the future of the whole of Europe should read these two books.