Tart

HAVE just finished a great read by Peter Fleming, older brother of James Bond creator Ian, which I spotted in a branch of Oxfam for £2.25.

News From Tartary is his account of a seven-month journey from Peking, as China's capital was commonly known in 1935, to Kashmir in what was then the British Raj.

The 3,500-mile trip was conducted while a Times correspondent, and involved much desert traveling in tough and often tedious conditions.

Some of the tediousness comes through in the book, but mostly it is an engaging and revelatory read.

Travel classic

There is not a lot of military history per se, but there is quite a bit about the state of warfare between various Chinese factions, particularly the Nationalists, those paying lip service to the Nationalist cause, and those groups controlled or heavily influenced by Moscow.