When I was growing up I was given a book of short stories written by Ray Bradbury (A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories). I remember loving it so much I read it several times over the next few years. The title Story (A sound of thunder) explored time travel and the effects a time traveller could have on the future.

Perhaps I had expectations too high for this book because of my fond memories that I found myself disappointed at the end of almost every story. There was one story that I loved when I finished. Since then a couple more have grown on me and perhaps that’s the key to this book. The stories are so unrelated, so unexpected, so ‘short'(!) that before the idea has had enough time to settle on the mind the story is over. It’s probably a book that many people will find one story in they like but I found it a little bit of a chore to work all the way through to find them.

Just over 500 pages long, this book finishes with an exquisite twist. A story of how an aging diplomat averts world war 3, we read of his past during World War 2 and are lead slowly towards the answer. In so many ways a typical spy novel but having read the first few chapters I couldn’t put it down.

What do you get if you cross a classic Bernard Cornwell Sharpe book, the American fight for independence and a love story?

Redcoat! A pleasant book which I found to be as much a love story as a book of action. Our hero is British soldier serving in the ranks and he falls in love with a girl who happens to be helping the American Rebels. It’s as well written as all the Sharpe books and it reveals some of the subtleties of war, like how would the rebels find out about a planned attack? I wouldn’t go looking to read love stories but I found this a very enjoyable read.