READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

I still haven't finished Third Cruise! I seem to have lost that reading feeling.......

[Tripps]

Having raised the subject of my schooldays here and elsewhere - I looked again at Anthony Burgess - Polymath (he'll explain it himself ) author of A clockwork Orange etc. The quality of the alumni of the school interested me. since compared with their near neighbour Manchester Grammar - it is abysmal. I have a good idea why.

Burgess and Caroline Aherne seem to head the list.

He is a complex chap, but seems to mix fact and fiction readily. I find a lot more material on Youtube than I expected about him. I started to read one of his novels (name?) and changed my mind a little bit - as surprisingly I found it quite interesting. His vocabulary is colossal and he drops foreign words in at will. To someone who uses adapted Malay words for passwords this is attractive.

Now to the point - I just bought a biography "The Real Life of Anthony Burgess" by Andrew Biswell. Cheaper than a decent cup of coffee - just £3.22 deliverd in three days. First impression - it seems promising.

[Stanley]

The low prices of good books delivered is sometimes astounding. The cost of postage goes up but the price we pay for the books sometimes seems like a joke David.
I tripped over a first edition of Bessie Dickinson's book on James Rushton the other day and snapped it up. As seems fitting for a left-wing publication it is printed on what we used to call a Roneo duplicator and is bound A4. I think it was a tenner. They will be quite rare now, it's in perfect condition.

[Tripps]

The two Nigel Lawson books I ordered arrived as I was posting.

The biography is a thousand page monster - dipper on for later.

The ' climate change ' book is smaller and looks as expected very interesting. The introductory quote says -

"There is no opinion, howewver absurd, which men will not readily embrace as soon as they can be brought to the conviction that it is generally adopted".
(Schopehauer Die Kunst Recht zu behalten). ( The art of being right)

That seems true when you constantly hear the phrase "the science is settled"

[Stanley]

I confess that these days it's as much as I can do to keep up with Private Eye. My eyes make it a struggle..... (Like so many other things!)

[Stanley]

I'm happy to report that I have finished my re-reading of Ransome's Racundra's First and Third cruises. I was going to go straight into a re-read of Joshua Slocum but have decided to have a break from the sea by reading 'The Offing' again. It's by Benjamin Myers and If you haven't come across it I highly recommend that you seek it out and read it. It's a delightful and intriguing book.....

[Stanley]

I am really enjoying 'The Offing'. A delightful book.....

[Tripps]

"“That distant stretch of sea where sky and water merge. It’s called the offing.”

In modern slang it would mean the 'killing'. I'm qute pleased to read the above.

[Stanley]

It's calling now. I am just about to log off and go and read David..... Quiet pleasure.

[Stanley]

I finished 'The Offing' yesterday. What a lovely book. That won't be the last time I read it.......
Today I shall launch into Joshua Slocum.

[Stanley]

I had a pleasant half hour reading Arthur Ransome's introduction to the Reprint Society's 1949 edition of Sailing Alone around the world. If you are buying a copy look for this one as it also has in it 'The Voyage of the Liberdade' a rare book written by Slocum and virtually unobtainable anywhere else.

[Stanley]

A very pleasant hour before my visitors came..... I can think of worse ways of spending an afternoon!

[Stanley]

My afternoons spent with Joshua are very pleasant. If you've never read the book I urge you to try it, a classic......

[Stanley]

I am rationing myself to one chapter of Joshua a day......

[Tizer]

I recently enjoyed reading Rory Stewart's latest book `Politics on the Edge'. It covers his time in Parliament and government and is 400+ pages of well-written account without any padding. An inside view of his experiences in various departments and the problems he faced with our present bunch of ministers. He doesn't waste his time slagging off politicians and civil servants but objectively judges the people and events and describes how his colleagues undermined his attempts to get good things done. Like the day he took time off and the next day his boss, Liz Truss, asked why he wasn't available. He told her `My father died yesterday'. Truss replied, `Well get this report finished quickly and sent him away'. And I didn't know his mother had been taken into hospital as an emergency the day before he did that final round of TV debate and lost to Boris Johnson - in national polls he was way ahead of Johnson too.

[Stanley]

Sounds interesting Peter and reinforces the impression I am getting at the moment from the current round of testimony to the Covid Enquiry. That Westminster is a snake pit and why anyone should want to go into it beats me.
It demonstrates how bad we humans are at managing power. We simply can't do it and should never be allowed anywhere near it!

[Tizer]

That Westminster is a snake pit and why anyone should want to go into it beats me.

That comes out strongly in Stewart's book. He was an honest man trying to do an honest job among a lot of liars. He was betrayed by many who promised to back him and the victim of misinformation in the press and elsewhere. When he resigned he was invited to lecture again at Harvard and to write his book. He's now spends much of his time in the Middle East where he and his wife run charities.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

This is the time of day when I have done all I have to, Uncle Bob has been a good lad and sent me today's anniversary note and so I can go and have a sit with Joshua. We are half way across the Pacific now.
There is much to be said for old age!

[Stanley]

I left Joshua in the passage through the Great Barrier Reef. A wonderful book.

[Stanley]

My Xmas present arrived yesterday, Lady Chatterley's Lover. I realised while listening to a radio programme about it that I have never read it. I shall rectify that!

[Tripps]

Make sure that your servants don't get to read it. . . .

Lady Chatterley trial

[Stanley]

That must be one of the most famous questions ever asked in a court of law and speaks volumes about attitudes in 1960. Can you remember that high on the titillation list then was the BBC series on Casanova? Things have changed a bit now..... (In matters of public dress as well, see my comments on spiking earlier....)
I shall try not to get to worked up when I get round to reading it.....

[Tripps]

Odd what seems important. I found a book on eBay yesterday, by Gerald Kersh - 'Fowler's End' I already possess two or three copies of other editions, but this one is the American Edition published by Simon and Schuster. I have tried over the last thirty years or so, to get a copy of every book he wrote, and this one had slipped the net. The quest which has been casual, not too obsessive, and interesting, will never be fulfilled as his first book is very expensive. Jews Without Jehovah though it's been for sale for a long time.

I think a good bid might get it. . . .stop it . . .

It seemed expensive, but a quick look on Abebooks showed this was not so, and the postage from America where all the copies seem to (undertandably) be adds to the expense. Pockets in shrouds and all that and it's on its way. We're all on the spectrum somewhere.
They can't touch you for it.

Here's the opening page

[Stanley]

Books can have that effect David. As evidence I proffer the case of my experience with 'National Income, Expenditure and Output of the United Kingdom. 1855 to1965' by CH Feinstein. CUP.
I found a mint copy of the rare edition that contains all the tables and commentary in the Strand Bookshop NY for $10 in 1980. I sold the book by mistake during an unpleasant period in my life and always regretted it. I found a copy at Plurabelle Books, Grey Barn, Purbeck Road Cambridge in 2008 and decided to heal the wound. It cost me £124. I have never regretted it.