February 20 2016

Four studies in loyalty - what a magnificent book - 100 pages in a sitting and not realising the time going is testimony to that.

Sykes the type of Englishman almost now gone - rich enough to be devoted to study - what do the wealthy do now?

Bahram - devotee of all things English "I am surprised that you are so foolish as to make such a suggestion to a Balliol man." p.79

Robert Byron - taken too early - Keith Douglas the same. The "what might have been" cuts both ways though. All of Byron's writings flawed in some way - flaws that are forgiven by his tragic end. Sykes hits the nail on the head re Oxiana - its problem is pace. I wish I had read this before I tackled it the first time - trick is to read the whole thing slowly.

Byron blind to Shakespeare p. 152 "They are exactly the sorts of plays...that I would expect a grocer to write."

Sykes of course writing about the loyalties of his subjects, but his loyalty to them shines through the pages as well.

Listening to Pictures at an Exhibition - piano version so much more powerful that the Ravel orchestration - Great gate of Kiev played well surpasses the whole orchestra.

Books read: Four studies in loyalty by Christopher Sykes