The Opposite of Chick lit

Something about this latest bout of breast cancer is bringing out the opposite of chick lit in me, for some reason. Normally I like chick lit, but for weeks now all I've been able to read is Philip Roth - worked my way right through - and having finished, of the pile of books littered next to my bed the latest to keep my attention is Justin Cartwright's The Song Before it is Sung, based on the story of a friendship Isaiah Berlin formed with Adam von Trott, one of the people hanged for attempting the bomb plot against Hitler. I interviewed Cartwright some years back.