Authentic thriller reading - "Rip Tide" by Stella Rimington

I feel a connection with Stella Rimington. Her Mum used to live in the same street as my Mum, in a house to which I, as a boy, regularly delivered the village newsletter, though not, I think, at the time that the aforementioned mother lived there. That came later, and was surrounded by some wonderfully naive gossip about the special protection laid on by Britain's security services for the mother of the head of MI5. Well, this was pre-9/11 and not a lot happened (or indeed happens now) in this place, so it's entirely reasonable that the occasional unfamiliar car parked in the street should provoke a little flurry of excitement about "heightened security". 

Zeitgeisty reading? - "A Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes

I feel a strong sense of guilt about this book, which is perhaps I haven't got round to reviewing it before completing the next book (following review). This is a slim volume, barely 160 pages in its hardback manifestation, and should be one of those novels (some have even called it a "novella") which you digest quickly in satisfying chunks. The guilt comes from the fact I read it in an itsy-bitsy kind of way, distractedly, and now I can't work out if that is entirely my fault, or has something to do with the book itself.