READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Get 'Puck of Pook's Hill' by Rudyard Kipling and if you like that follow it with 'Rewards and Fairies', I think you may be delighted.
Cramer goes well. Dense text but very rewarding and I'm enjoying it. The detail he has prised out of the documents is superb.

[Stanley]

Some interesting connections between Cranmer and our locality have cropped up. I can feel an article coming on!

[Stanley]

Finished Cranmer. Not the easiest read in the world but I now have a far better idea of the social and political currents in the 16th century! Wonderfully well researched book. At the moment I'm reading one of my mate Bob Bliss' recommendations, 'Angle of Repose' by Wallace Stegner. It won the Pulitzer prize and I have never come across him before. Very dense read and I'm enjoying it but wouldn't call it a page turner. Funny thing is that I completely lose track of time when I'm reading it, most unusual for me.....
More books on the way. The Book of Common Prayer (1662 version) A book on the history of the Bible and one on the James VI Bible. What triggered me off was the realisation that so many of the disputes about scripture in Cranmer's time hinged on the exact translation into English. For instance, there is no Hebrew equivalent of 'prince' so every time you see it in the Authorised Version it's a mis-translation. So, more theological reading! (Looking for a loophole?)

[Stanley]

Should get books today...... Took my own advice and read Revelation again yesterday. I don't know what St John was on at the time but it must have been powerful stuff!

[Stanley]

Revised the Reformation in 'A History of Christianity' and started on a book delivered yesterday by Naomi Tagor on translation of the Bible from Hebrew. Very expensive, £40, slim volume and I have never seen a book before where on many of the pages the text is one paragraph and the footnotes in fine print extend onto the next page! However, it's good research and new work and I'm learning from it. It's a leap of faith many a time going for a book as esoteric as this, in this case and expensive leap! Ah well.....

[Stanley]

As it happens, though expensive, Naomi Tadmor's book is fascinating! I can see an article for BET coming out of this.....

[Stanley]

Finished Naomi and plugged the gap until the next book arrives on the Bible by re-reading Bancroft on Tall Chimney Construction (1885). Amazing the knowledge there is out there if you take the trouble to pursue it. This is where Tinternetwebthingy can be so useful, the copy of Bancroft I have is from a complete transcript on the web which I downloaded and printed.

[Stanley]

Still waiting for the book on Bible history but a fictional biography of Joe Hill the famous Wobbly dropped through the letterbox.... (A Wobbly was a member of the International Workers of the World, the IWW, a very militant trade union in the early half of the 20th C in USA) This and better will do!

[Stanley]

The book on the history of the Bible arrived yesterday but I have almost finished Joe Hill so I'll get that done and then plunge back into religion! I've ordered 'Little Exiles' by Dinsdale.

[Tripps]

" a fictional biography"

That's an interesting idea. Covers most of the genre to some degree I'd say.

[Stanley]

Stegner based it on the evidence but there has always been controversy about whether Joe was guilty or just being bloody-minded and wanting to be a martyr. Good read and probably close to the truth, the martyr theory. He puts in scenes and dialogue that explore the subject but are fictional, hence fictional biography. Finished it yesterday and wrote my third article so today can be wall to wall Bible study! I can start on Testament.

[Stanley]

'Testament' by Romer is good stuff. He's an Egyptologist and can bring his knowledge of the Near East to his analysis. We are deep into Genesis and Exodus at the moment and it's interesting that most of the stories in Genesis have earlier versions in Egyptian myth and folklore. Fascinating stuff and of course, being rooted in Abraham is pertinent to Islam as well.

[Stanley]

Enjoying Testament. Very persuasive evidence for all sorts of surprising facts. For instance, did you know that when Cyrus, King of the Persians, overran the Babylonian empire where the israelites were held in exile he helped them return to Jerusalem and gave them all the loot the Babylonians had stolen from the Temple? The Persians had a concept of heaven and hell in their religion and it was about this time that this same concept surfaced in the Jewish faith.
'Little Exiles' arrived yesterday. I shall read it after Testament and report for Cath and Maz. (Must stop buying books!) (Mind you, I was talking to a bloke this morning whose friend had spent £230 on a night out in Liverpool....)

[Stanley]

We are on to the New Testament now. It struck me that Christ wasn't actually a Christian, he followed the Judaic teachings. Could make a good pub quiz question......

[Stanley]

Finished Romer's 'Testament'. Wonderfully informative and I'd recommend to anyone. Have started on 'Little Exiles'. I shall report later......

[Stanley]

Finished Little Exiles and have reported to Maz and Cath. Bleak read, good reporting of what went on but not comfortable reading.
I was having a conversation the other day with my old friend Dr Constantine and we were talking about readings on the history of food. I mentioned that I had John Burnett's 'Plenty and Want' and was going to read it again. He said Oh no you haven't! You gave your copy to me! I went and had a furtle and he's right so I ordered another copy dirt cheap on Bookfinder! As a stop gap I am reading Drummond's 'The English Man's Food' again. Wonderful ground breaking book written in 1938. Drummond was in charge of nutrition at the Ministry of Food from 1940 to 1946 and was largely responsible for the policies that improved our diet in the War despite the shortages. My generation owes him a lot. Yes, it's the same Drummond that was murdered in France together with his wife and daughter while on a camping trip.

[Stanley]

Drummond is full of good information and a good reminder about diet.

[Stanley]

Drummond is very rewarding. He mentioned an 1898 book on corn milling and when I did a search I found it was available print on demand. Someone has taken the trouble to scan the original and republish it for less than £18 inc P&P. It will be a good addition to the library!

[Stanley]

Finished Drummond and my next book has arrived, John Burnett's Plenty and Want but before I read it I am going to re-read 'The Vitamin Murders' by Fergusson which continues and expands the Drummond story including the murder in France. The strange thing about Drummond is that his field of research shifted to modern organic chemicals for pest control, the sort of stuff that eventually gave us Agent Orange. Very strange....

[Stanley]

Read 'The Vitamin Murders' again and finished John Burnett's 'Plenty and Want' yesterday. Immensely informative but quite depressing. You wouldn't believe the number of 18th and 18th century quotations that apply as much to food and nutrition today as they did then.
One of the things that struck the researchers then and now on re-reading the results, is the way people managed to achieve bare survival on totally inadequate diets. One thing that can't be quantified is the augmentation of diet by hunter-gathering and pilfering. Hungry people are very inventive and I know from my own experience how diet can be augmented by illicit means.....

[Stanley]

I'm waiting for an old book on corn-milling. I was going to read 'Queen of Fats' again but decided to read a history of Margarine making first. It's about the technology not the tycoons and there is some horrific reading about the raw materials and how they were processed. Many of the problems are still there today but they don't want is to know about it. Simple answer, eat pure butter and lard.

[Stanley]

Reading the book about margarine technology is depressing. What strikes me is that they keep referring to it as a 'natural' food even though the level of chemical engineering carried out on it is horrendous. One good thing has surfaced, there is a mention of 'greaves', the residue left after primary rendering of meat for oil and fat. I came across this horrible substance in my days on the tramp but have never found any evidence that I had the name right.

[Stanley]

Finished 'History of Margarine' and decided to read the history of Unilever.

[Stanley]

Wilson on Unilever is a good read. The story about how a major international business started in the golden days for entrepreneurs in the last half of the 19th century. Fascinating stuff about capitalism red in tooth and claw.

[Stanley]

Finished Vol 1 of Unilever just as a book dropped through the letter box. It was from George Ingle and is his latest publication, 'Trouble at t'mill. The 1826 Yorkshire Weaver's Riots'. Sat there and read it right through. It's a lovely, well-researched account of the riots using a lot of new information and filled in a lot of the gaps in my understanding. Lots in at about Barlick and the Rev. Mordaunt Barnard's efforts to get relief funding. See Atkinson's Old Barlick in Rare Texts for mention of this but George has filled in the picture. Well worth getting and reading if this period interests you. Published by Royd Press, Hebden Bridge.
On another matter. I have just found that the book on corn-milling I ordered is from a Russian publisher and has been dispatched via US Postal Services. I suppose it's globalisation!