READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Gloria]

Sorry Wendy, they’ve all been passed on, we had quite a few but they’ve been handed around by the bag full.

[Wendyf]

Thank you for having a look Gloria. He has quite a stack of them to read!

[plaques]

Wendy. Why don't you put a request in at the Colne library. They have loads of Lee Child books. You may even be able to get a bag of six within a week of asking. No charges at present. On line of course.

[Wendyf]

If he is still enjoying reading them after finishing this lot then I might just do that Ken, thanks.

[Wendyf]

The first book I downloaded onto my Kindle was Pattie Boyd's autobiography, the story of her time as a top model in the 1960's, marriage to George Harrison and life with the Beatles followed by an even more damaging marriage to Eric Clapton. I grew up with the Beatles and matured into a fan of Clapton in the 1970s but this story of their wild, excessive but empty lifestyles has left me with a deep feeling of sadness. I do hope that those stars of the 60s and 70s who survived to tell the tale have found some happiness!

[Stanley]

There were a lot of very well off and very unhappy stars then Wendy and from the look of the news isn't much better now. I've always said that there were advantages to being poor....

[plaques]

Makers and Takers. How Wall St Destroyed Main St. by Rana Foroohar. (Finacial Times and CNN global analyst.
Explains how the rise in the American stock market creates stagnation in wages and increased dept. Where too big to fail is also too big to manage. Goes to great lengths with loads of examples as to why the American financial system is broken. Heavily references Thomas PIketty and Stiglitz as a counter weight to what is happening. Easy to read but sometimes labours the examples a bit more than necessary.

Cover price £12,99. 325 pages. Free at the library. Verdict. interesting for such a heavy subject.

[Stanley]

Harold Robbins dropped in yesterday. Ex Northern Ireland libraries and a plastic covered paperback in perfect condition from the 2003 reprint. I looked at the first couple of pages and before I knew what was happening had read a chapter! It is, as I remember, a page turner. I shall finish Tomblands first!

[Stanley]

Finished the seventh Shardlake, 'Tomblands'. Started on Carpetbaggers. Complete contrast but it's a page turner and a trip down memory lane. The NY critic said it was a pity it had been issued as a book, it would have been better 'inscribed on the walls of a public lavatory'.

[Tripps]

Just got Tales of a Rat-Hunting man by Brian Pluimmer. - It's a gem. The book has the narrowest print margins I've ever seen.

Random exerpt -

"A word of advice to the rat hunter. Whenever even your tamest jill emerges after her battle with the rat, she is usually extremely highly strung and ferocious. If snatched up or even handled roughly she will often strike out at the hand of her owner, or even attack the dog marking the earth. Ferrets always seem a little schizoid after a tussle with a rat. Allow her to calm down before picking her up. I have always offerd a palmful of milk to a ferret emerging from a rat earth with a tail fluffed like a bottle brush and a heart full of hatred. The bottle brush tail and the hissing and spitting signs should be regarded as a danger signal by the wise rat hunter. Let her calm down before picking her up."

Pity Richard Whiteley didn't see the signs.

[Stanley]

I never used Winnie for rats, always Rabbits. They didn't wind her up at all, more enjoyment and when she'd had a couple of livers she would go to sleep inside my shirt on the way home. Kept properly and loved, ferrets are very intelligent, clean and friendly animals.

[Tripps]

More from the Rat-Hunter. Fascinating.

Rats.pdf

[Stanley]

He needs to be less sceptical. I have told my story about the tide of rats I saw in Manchester and am not going to repeat it. I can see them now David when I think of it. I never saw a King Rat, I don't believe that bit but the mass migration is real. Ever heard the saying about rats leaving a sinking ship?

[plaques]

Metamorphosis & other stories. by Franz Kafka, Considered a classic. To me it was like climbing in someones brain examining all the thoughts about a particular subject and coming out again without knowing why you went in or what the end result was. This man is certainly different and would probably make a good PhD psychology study.

1999 reprint £6 99. 220 pages. Free at the library. Comment.... Very very different.

[Stanley]

Sorry to lower the tone but I am almost at the end of Carpetbaggers. I now have the choice of the GCHQ history or the book about the Periodic Table....

[Stanley]

Finished the Carpetbaggers and went back into this week's Private Eye. Then back to 'The Disappearing Spoon' by Sam Kean which I believe was recommended by Peter's family.... It's based on the Periodic Table about which I know zilch.

[plaques]

Stanley, just looked up Sam Kean in the Lancashire Libraries, couldn't find The disapearing spoon, perhaps it vanished altogether. Ordered Ceasar's last breath.

Author Sam Kean takes us on a journey through the periodic table, around the globe and across time, to tell the story of the air we breathe, which, it turns out, is also the story of earth and our existence on it. With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world

[Stanley]

I looked for the ISBN but couldn't find it so I thought I'd send the relevant page from the book.

[Stanley]

Started Disappearing Spoon yesterday Ken and soon gave up to it. It's all way over my head! If you want to read it call in when you're in Barlick. It's yours.
I'm reading the last 100 pages of Millennium III by Larsson while I recover. Then I go to Behind the Enigma.

[plaques]

Thanks Stanley, It could be just up my street. I'll still keep mine on order. I am also interested in the book by Alan Duncan, The thick of it. new exposure on the Tory party. A bit expensive at the moment. Not on the library listing but I will ask on my next visit and try to get in early.
Last few pages of a re-read The War of the Windsors. More interesting the second time round.

[Stanley]

I started on Enigma, that'll keep me going for a while.

[plaques]

Enigma, Don't forget to index all the name abbreviations as you go along. Its worth putting a bit of effort into this listing you will need it later.

[Stanley]

You're not serious are you? I tried a couple and found them in the index.

[Stanley]

Quietly into Enigma. Needs to be read very carefully!

[Stanley]

I'm having a problem. I have absolutely no desire to read about the matters contained in 'Enigma'.
I shall persevere but it seems to me to be a badly written and boring book. No doubt in my mind that it's accurate and it will be a good reference book but it's definitely not a page turner and I am not going to pretend it is.
I have a feeling my perseverance won't last long.......