READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Thanks to Royal Mail and Tiz and Mrs Tiz three books arrived yesterday. I shall attack the Pagans first, I'm looking forward to re-reading it as it was one of the main sources for my Pagan/Christian Timeline.

[Stanley]

I finished Flat Earth yesterday. To be honest I skimmed the last half because he'd made his point and was only reinforcing it. Very good overview of the global market, the effects of improved communication and the possible outcomes in terms of employment in the Western economies. Good quotation from Marx and Engels 'Communist Manifesto' of 1848 in which they predict exactly what has been happening but go one further by saying that the flow of jobs out of the Western Economies due to capitalist profit taking by going for cheaper production and labour abroad would trigger a reaction, in other words The Revolution!
Am reading a book on nutrition that Tiz sent me and have two books on order which give an idea where my brain is at the moment. 'Monastic Art of Northumbria' and 'Blood and Mistletoe'.

[Stanley]

I was taken to the cleaners yesterday with Monastic Art of Northumbria. It arrived, £14.26 inc P&P. It was a small 32 page exhibition catalogue! Memo to self, make sure you know exactly what you are buying. I note that only 2000 cop[ies were printed, so I suppose I have paid for Rarity! Bloodied but unbowed.....
Consoled myself by reading the Freebie Tiz sent me, 'Know What to Eat'. Fascinating and totally convincing text by two of those pesky scientists. Only just published so the references and information are bang up to date. I find I am doing all the things they recommend apart from using white flour half and half in my bread. I shall go on to 100% wholemeal as soon as the white flour is finished. Lots of common sense in the book, including convincing accounts of the sugar industry going down the tobacco companies path of denial to protect their market. Worthwhile and I shall keep reading it until Blood and Mistletoe arrives!

[Stanley]

Blood and Mistletoe has arrived! In contrast to the exhibition catalogue, for the same price (£14), it is a genuine hardback, beautifully designed for Yale University press, printed in Padstow and over 490 pages. Lovely book and spot on the subject..... This is probably the definitive work on Druids and so far no surprises, I seem to be fairly well abreast of the latest theories.

[Stanley]

For light entertainment I'm reading a book Mrs Tiz sent me, 'The Last Runaway' by Tracy Chevalier. A book I would not normally have come across but well written and I'm enjoying it.

[Stanley]

Finished The Last Runaway. Good read. Tell J I shall give it to Susan tomorrow....

[Tizer]

She's seen your post and we're pleased you enjoyed it - she thought you would.
For anyone else who might be interested see this link:
http://www.tchevalier.com/index.php/inspiration

[Stanley]

For light entertainment after finishing the church series I've been re-reading C S Forester.... He has worn well, still good books.

[Stanley]

Got 'Brown on Resolution' which had gone AWOL. If you've never read it, have a look at it. Am re-reading Hornblower again. Forester knew his navy and seamanship, still good stories.

[Stanley]

Had to stop re-reading Forester as I have run out of books! Have ordered the ones that have gone AWOL and some will arrive today. Am reading Conrad 'Twixt the Seas' to fill the time in! (Must get some el cheapo reading glasses to tide me over the gap between my second eye op and the eye test when the lens have settled down.)

[Stanley]

First batch of Hornblower arrived but I shan't start on the re-read till I have the early ones. Finished Conrad, God what depressing stories! Keeping the maritime theme I got an old favourite off the shelf. 'Sixteen Bells' by Gilbert Hackforth-Jones. Brilliant naval stories, published in 1946. If you're interested in the Navy and haven't read it, seek a copy out. I promise you will not be disappointed!

[Tripps]

I've now got "Bad Science" by Dr Ben Goldacre. Thanks for the recommendation Bruff. It's an excellent read. He does have an' I'm cleverer than you' attitude at times - but then again he probably is. Parts of it make your head hurt, and he's not infallible; e.g. he says homeopathy never did any harm - what about homeopathic anti malarial treatments? I'd love to see what he makes of climate change.

I truly think that this sort of thing should be given a name, and made part of the syllabus of all schools, alongside all science subjects. 'Applied scepticism'?

[Stanley]

The Open College at Nelson and Colne College used to do a foundation course called 'Study Techniques' and I found it very useful. Years after when asked to comment on it I said that once you had done the course you could never listen to a politician again without bursting out laughing.
Had a bad moment yesterday when I realised that my replacement copy of 'The Patchwork Book' edited by Marghanita Laski had gone AWOL. I ordered a replacement immediately! If you've never seen it seek it out. Probably the best 'dipping in' book ever.

[Stanley]

Whilst enduring my self-imposed abstinence from Hornblower as I wait for the book on his early career I have gone back to the book Tiz gave me, 'Know What to Eat' by Booth and Bilton. Well hidden, it's not on Amazon or Google. Pity because it is excellent. These two pesky scientists blow apart the false stories foisted on us by the food industry and prove (with cast iron references) why saturated fat isn't bad for you, fat free diets make you obese, and the latest research on statins. Written in technical but straightforward language this book will never be recommended by the food industry! I like it because it confirms my prejudices based on common sense and the message throughout is that the more natural food is the better it is for you.
By the way, have you seen the advertisement promoting fast food giving the message 'Don't cook, eat!" It should be banned.....

[Stanley]

Finished Know what to eat yesterday. Brilliant (if dense) book and I have ordered a copy to give to my GP when I see him in a fortnight. Started reading the Faber Book of Irish Short Stories (1932) and then my third copy of 'The Patchwork Book' arrived. Best one yet, Clean first edition (1946) with a good dust jacket. I shall not let this copy out of my sight! Still waiting for the early Hornblower.
Got a pair of el cheapo (£1.99) reading glasses yesterday to tide me over between second eye operation and proper reading glasses. They tell me that I should wait for four weeks before going for the test..... Can't possibly give up reading for that length of time!

[Tripps]

Just received 'It's a Mean Old Scene' a history of modern Bradford from 1974. by Jim Greenhalf. He is a poet, and his day job is as a reporter on the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. I have his book Salt and Silver about the saving of Salts Mill. Those with a good memory will recall I put a chapter of it, about Titus Salt's funeral, on the old site. I sent him an email asking if it was OK to do so, and got a very terse Yorkshire reply "Yes".

It's surprising how one forgets things that have happened comparatively recently. Do you remember when ITV was off the air for 3 months, and the Times did not publish for over a year. Almost unthinkable these days - though following the internet - I don't think anyone would care.

Karl Marx by Francis Wheen is a long time coming. The first seller reneged on the deal, and a second attempt is late. I'm starting to suspect a capitalist plot.

[Stanley]

Good lad David! Marx was one of the greatest thinkers of the mid 19th Century and if you can read him without allowing yourself to be brainwashed by those of the Right who have never read or understood him, you'll realise how far-sighted he was. He describes many of our current ills.
Irish Short Stories are going down well. Forgotten authors and brilliant short stories.

[Stanley]

Young Hornblower arrived yesterday so I can get cracking on the re-read. Also, a spare copy of Know What to Eat from Tiz which I shall give to my GP for his further education! I was a good lad and finished Irish Short Stories.

[Tripps]

Karl Marx has just this minute arrived. Delivered by a Polish lad in a very capitalist tatty old van. Poetic really.

It's the worst condition book I've ever had from abebooks, but readable. Looks like it's been dropped in the bath, and then rescued.

I don't get the economics of the deal. It cost me £3.60 including individual delivery by a large diesel van. That can hardly have paid for the fuel used. I wonder how much the driver got. He called me 'Mister'. Capitalism at its finest.

[Bruff]

I am currently reading a really excellent book by Ann Wroe called 'Perkin' about the 'Pretender' Perkin Warbeck - who he was (or wasn't), where he came from (or didn't) and so on and so on so that we imagine 'Perkin' as the book notes, as a vessel for other peoples' plans.

The scholarship in it is astonishing, and even though the author notes in the acknowledgements it's a book she started on at school(!), how anyone can assimilate and then distill all these sources is a marvel to me. Word of warning - it's not an easy read; her prose is florid, sometimes dreamlike and hard to keep a grip on.

I have another book of her's 'Pilate', about Pontius. I imagine this is much the same.

I thought Wheen's 'Marx' was good. But I preferred his 'The Soul of Indiscretion', a biography of Tom Driberg. Hilarious, and as for Driberg, what an ermmmm...character.

Richard Broughton

[Tripps]

"and as for Driberg, what an ermmmm...character."

I had a book about him on my shelf for a long time. Not sure if it was by Francis Wheen. It sat there a long time before I looked at it, and I pretty quickly threw it in the bin. I don't do that with many books. I wonder how he would have coped with the Internet age.

Lord Boothby was another " ermmmm...character."

[Stanley]

The antidote to heavy reading is Hornblower.....

[Stanley]

Revelling in Hornblower and the Hotspur.....

[Stanley]

Still deep in Hornblower and regretting the fact that eventually I'll reach the end! Wonderful stories.....

[David Whipp]

Still deep in Hornblower and regretting the fact that eventually I'll reach the end! Wonderful stories.....

Where are you at?

We'll get ready for the withdrawal symptoms.