It’s diverting to think what books one would want on a desert island. Social distancing, in its seventh or eighth week depending on where you are, is probably the nearest most of us will come to such isolation. And it’s changed my perspective, tipping the balance toward lighter books that lift the spirit or make one laugh.

This thought arises because I entered the lockdown equipped with bleaker reading than perhaps desirable. I’ve nearly finished Inferno, Max Hastings’s account of World War II, seen from the perspective of ordinary people, not that of governments and grand strategists. It’s a magnificent work, but diaries of people in London, Stalingrad, and Berlin enduring bombardment makes for, not surprisingly, harrowing stuff that doesn’t turn social distancing into a barrel of laughs.