Reader Ken Buxton writes to point out the elegant writing and political prescience of Lawrence Durrell, author of the Alexandria Quartet.

I had a shot at that massive work years ago and reeled away defeated. But I recall a stunning, lyrical description of an early morning duck-shooting expedition. The reader reviews at Amazon give a good account of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. which is not to be attempted unless you have stamina and are keen on High Literature.

My own link with Durrell is more prosaic. From 1948-52 he had the job of Press Attache at the British Embassy in Belgrade, a position I too had many years later. And he wrote about his diplomatic experiences in a surreal style, with wit and aplomb.

So many of these short stories stand out, not least the one describing the trip to Zagreb by train across communist Yugoslavia organised for the Diplomatic Corps, where one Ambassador was knocked out by a passing railway station. And the one where the Ambassador swallowed a moth at a festive dinner for the Serbian Communist Timber Workers Collective or somesuch. 

Here it is. Buy it, and be much amused.