READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Tripps]

Books can have that effect David.

Not arf. . . .

The penalty for me not bothering with TV at the moment, is that I am able to delight and inform you all, about my interests. "Oh good they all cried" . . . .

Here's a scholarly link A gallimaufry of Kersh

Whilst for those who crave yet more information on Kersh, and the novel Fowlers End should look here Fowlers End How else would I ever have heard of the Agapemonites

Participation in any way, in all this nonsense is purely voluntary of course.
For me it is, and has been for more than fifty years, simply the best book in my collection.

[Stanley]

That's another effect books can have on you..... If I had a Fowler's End it would be Puck of Pook's Hill. Written for children and therefore exactly on my level......

[Tripps]

I may have mentioned this book before. It (and Sue's recommendation) was what got me to subscribe to the Manchester online newspaper The Mill. It didn't end well.

Anyway the book Caliban Shrieks has finally been re-published.

It's now hit the big time - featured in The New Yorker, but behind a paywall. George Orwell visited him, and Hilton recommended that he continued his research in Wigan. The Road to Wigan Pier might have been The Road to Mumps Bridge.

The pub which the reporter found the person who knew Jack HIlton was 'The Sportsmans Arms', at the junction of Broadway and Foxdenton Lane in Chadderton, (Suranne Jones was born down there). so I feel some sort of connection.

The book waitng room is overflowing at the moment, but I suppose I'll have to buy it.

[Stanley]

"The book waiting room is overflowing at the moment, but I suppose I'll have to buy it."
I know that feeling well David!
At the moment Dorothy Hartley sits waiting patiently for me on the other side of the Kitchen table....

[Tripps]

I'm part way through Caliban Shrieks, and sadly a bit underwhelmed. Still - it's a good converstion piece.

"you got me there David, I had to go and search for the meaning of the reference to Lord Copper".

For anyone not too familiar with the works of Evelyn Waugh - it's from his novel "Scoop".

Lord Copper, the newspaper magnate, has been said to be an amalgam of Lord Northcliffe and Lord Beaverbrook: a character so fearsome that his obsequious foreign editor, Mr Salter, can never openly disagree with him, answering "Definitely, Lord Copper" and "Up to a point, Lord Copper" in place of "yes" or "no"

All his stuff is worth a read - Brideshead Revisited of course - brilliantly created as a TV epic.

My personal favourite is "Decline and Fall"

" We class schools, you see, into four grades: Leading School, First-rate School, Good School, and School. Frankly,’ said Mr Levy, ‘School is pretty bad".


PS - narrow escape on Abebooks. I looked up Evelyn Waugh and found as expected most of his books are cheap as chips. One jumped out - and is a First Edition signed by the author for only £30.

Wow Carpe diem - and started to buy it. Got to checkout and found it was in fact £30,000 !
Some hasty back tracking, with just a trace of panic. I think I'm off the hook.

[Stanley]

I can just imagine that getting your attention David!
If you look back to my February post I am sorry to report that Dorothy Hartley still sits there waiting for me. I seem to have gone orf reading lately..... Partly as a result of deteriorating eyesight but also laziness, YouTube is too easy.....

[Tripps]

Partly as a result of deteriorating eyesight but also laziness, YouTube is too easy.....

Snap. . . .

[Stanley]

We must both try to do better David!

[Tripps]

On another thread a while ago Stanley recommended "The Crossman Diaries" .
I had to get it of course. I went for the "abbreviated" version which arrived today and I find it has 764 closely typed pages. in the smallest font readable by man.

I dipped in at random, and on p. 386 found this interesting passage.

Soon after we came back from the recess Roy Jenkins had come to see me in my Privy Council Office to tell me that he might need a slot for legislation to deal with the problem of Kenyan Asians with British passports. There were some 200,000 of them who are now threatened, as a result of the black African policy.This morning he put the problem to the Home Affairs Committe in a very indecisive way. I couldn't blame him for that. It's quite clear we couldn't allow some 50,000 Asians from Kenya to pour into Britain each year. On the other hand It's doubtful if we have any legal or constitutional right to deny entry to these people from Kenya as they have British passports.


Beyond comment really - in contrast to the present Labour Party policy - Oh and Africans can be racist too.

[Stanley]

Morning David.... It's a long time since I read the diaries but I remember thinking at the time that there was so much more behind the scenes discussions before they went public than I had imagined. I have a feeling it's a lot harder edged now. (and more complicated.....)

[Gloria]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, if not, please put it where it should go. It’s the current catalogue of Bob Dobson books, he is selling up, and I’m sure there are bargains. Make sure you read the preamble first.

Lancashire Catalogue.doc

[Tripps]

Wow - that's an impressive list. It's the wrong end of the County for me, and I think demand for this type of book is dying - if you get my drift. For instance he has a trilogy of Ben Brierley books from 1896, at £20 (after reduction). I just bought the same set without trying too hard from Ebay for 99pence plus postage.
Good luck to his efforts though, - there's enough for a small library. I take it that Rex Watson is aware.

[Stanley]

I seem to have lost the reading habit since I discovered YouTube. A dreadful admission but my eyes are so bad, it makes reading for any length of time a pain.....

[Gloria]

I’m not sure if this is the right page for the book catalogue, I looked for a family or local history page but couldn’t find anything. Is there somewhere else to add it to?

[Stanley]

I think it's good Gloria. You could always duplicate it on 'May I recommend'.