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I am just finishing Birth of the West by Paul Collins. His thesis is that the outline of modern western Europe and modern Western civilization was born in the tenth century when the Saxon kings organized the Holy Roman Empire. His coverage is from the Cadaver Synod to the death of Otto III. Overall an interesting read, although the big problem with a survey like this is trying to keep track of too many similiarly-named magnates behaving badly.
I have also been reading Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England by Neil McKenna, about a group of gay and transgendered persons, including Frederick (Fanny) Park and Ernest (Stella) Boulton, who were tried in a sensational trial in London in 1871, under the 1861 buggery statute - a view of a different world in so many ways.
This week I plan to start rereading Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time cycle.
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