OneGuyFromBarlick

That sounds interesting and you are tempting me.... Question is, do I need more books.....

Engel's England is a delight!

Told you it was Stanley. Matthew Engel is one of the sharpest and at the same time funniest writers around.

Now you need to get his 'Eleven Minutes Late', on his journey around the rail network. Sample prose (on a little known architect of rail privitisation): 'a man so intelligent he had gone full circle and become stupid'.

I have been away travelling recently; I will pop a few thoughts on the various boards.

Richard Broughton

You were dead right Richard. I don't know whether you picked up the fact that I sent a copy to my mates Martha and Roger who have just re-located to Somerset on retirement from teaching in Minnesota.... I've told them it is essential reading! I shall order 11 minutes late.... ( just done it, hardcover for £2.90)
I was looking for a book the other day, Phil Smith's 'The Century Speaks' and realised I had lent it to someone and it had not come back. So I ordered a copy from Oxfam for £2.90 and guess what, when I came to shelve it.....

Richard, '11 Minutes Late' has arrived, clean hardback from RSPCA for less than £3. Very pleased!

You may find the 'A Bazaar Life: ' Autobiography of David Alliance (main owner of N Brown) recently published of interest. Its on E-Book and presumably for now a pricey Hardback, it might be gettable via the local library, but a fair chunk of the history of the 60s and 70s is digitised on GoogleBooks to get a good flavour from the preview on his views on consolidation of the textile industry in Britain at that time.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ypY6BgAAQBAJ

I found it today via a web search for something somewhat unrelated which had just a two line, but interesting, mention.

Brief Candle in the Dark. by Richard Dawkins. (Lancashire Libraries). A biography of his scientific life. Very easy to read and far more complimentary to others than when he wearing his 'atheist' cap. Gives a different dimension to the man than his book "The God Delusion".

I have just read the most brilliant book
Invisible by James Patterson.
I couldn't put it down, a really good read, saying that, it gave me the odd nightmare, but brilliant. Cannot recommend it enough.

I'm still working my way quietly through Matthew Engel, 'Engel's England'. The shed has been my main preoccupation of late....

I've just started 'The Diaries of Nella Last', being an extended version of the books which inspired 'Housewife 49' starring Victoria Wood. It's very detailed, but seems authentic. I was curious to find why WW II seemed to have had little effect on my parents, and relatives. The main reminiscences afterwards were always about queuing for stuff, and missing bananas.

We lived about a mile or so from AVRO factory producing Lancaster bombers, which I would have thought was a prime target, but there were no bomb stories.

I've also just had delivered - 'A Cotton Fibre Halo' by Angus Bethune Reach, edited by Chris Aspen, with a credit to one Stanley Challenger Graham for his transcription. It's roughly contemporaneous (1849), with Engels' visit to Manchester.

Was that the factory at Woodford David?
Yes, when Chris told me that Reach existed I couldn't resist transcribing it and giving him the digital file, that's what triggered the original publication. Most of what I did is on the site and it was also the inspiration for my 'Drugged to Death' articles.
Have finished Engels. England and am half way through his 'Eleven Minutes Late'.

"Was that the factory at Woodford David?"


No it was the other one - A.V.Roe at Chadderton

I remember that one as well but Woodford was of course on our doorstep in Stockport....

Not quite seasonal reading but it does no harm to reflect on these things no matter what time of year.
Britain and France in Two World Wars Truth, Myth and Memory. Lancashire Libraries or:-Book. A series of well written studies into the politics and mind set of both the British and French during and after the two world wars. Easy to read in digestible sections that move along the time line of both wars. Initially recommended to me by my french friend who agreed with the general analysis. Very informative and well worth reading.

P, I've spent the last couple of days watching back to back episodes of Jeremy Isaac's 'World at War' for much the same reason. Come to think, both these are a good reason for voting to stay in the EU! Anything is better than that madness....

Just read ‘Badgerlands’ by the journalist and writer Patrick Barkham. A lovely book on you’ve guessed it, the badger. The badger is also known as a pate, hence Pateley Bridge. And brock, hence the many Brock-, or Brox-place names. Never knew this. Recommended.

He is a good writer Patrick Barkham and I am now moving on to another one of his ‘The Butterfly Isles’, in which he documents his quest over one summer to spot every species of butterfly in this country.

I’m into ‘nature’ books at the moment.

Richard Broughton

Your book choices are always so tempting Richard! It was thanks to you I became a fan of Engels.... Luckily, at the moment cocks and valves are draining the piggy bank so I am book-proof!

Inside the Banking Crisis: The Untold Story – 24 Apr 2014 by Hugh Pym (Author) (LANCASHIRE LIBRARIES).
A good inside account of what went on during the 2008 and ongoing banking fiasco. Brown's and Darling's aversion to nationalization probably made the banking recovery a bit more difficult. We shall never know. Easy to read with a clear continuity of events.

The biggest financial cock-up of my generation..... We are still paying the price....

‘H is for Hawk’ by Helen MacDonald.

Beautiful book. She was always fascinated by hawks and falcons etc. and following the death of her father, and as a part perhaps of her grieving/acceptance process, she purchases and trains a goshawk (apparently the most difficult to train), which she calls Mabel (ascribing this choice to the superstition among owners that the more mundane the name, the fiercer the bird). As we have falconers, for the goshawk there are austringers; as usual these ancient terms fascinate me.

It’s just so beautifully written; I cannot recommend this book enough.

Richard Broughton

Lovely to see such enthusiasm Richard. I'm afraid I am putting all my time into the shed at the moment and books have slipped down the agenda. But I have noted the title and will keep it in mind......

Having said that, I ordered a book yesterday. Published in 1977, a McGraw Hill manual on the technology of machine tools. I bought it because it will detail many techniques which have vanished now with the decline of old fashioned machining without the benefit of modern computerised machines which have destroyed many of the old manual skills. I spent £8......

The technology book was good. I learned things from it that I never knew. Most shocking of the lot, I found I had been sharpening drills the wrong way all my life!
The recent enforced rest prompted me to drag a book off the shelf to pass away the resting time in the rocking chair in the kitchen. I settled on Dan Brown, 'Deception Point' and then the 'Da Vinci Code'. I know all the arguments about Dan and the criticisms that have been levelled at his writing but I must have a simple mind. I love the way he keeps a story going, infuses new thoughts and facts and makes you turn the pages over. I've read Umberto Eco, 'Foucault's Pendulum' and know that Da Vinci is a pale imitation of it but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment of reading a fast paced tale....

I'm reading the Shetland novels by Ann Cleeves and thoroughly enjoying them. The stories and characters have been changed somewhat for the TV series, Jimmy Perez is tall, dark & gaunt, his dead partner's daughter Cassie is much younger and his female assistant doesn't exist...but Sandy is spot on! I've just started the most recent book, and will try and read it slowly to make it last.
Luckily there is a pile of "Vera" novels by the same author waiting on the bookshelf!

I might follow you Wendy. I have converted to a Shetland fan and am watching all the back numbers I missed on the UKTV Drama channel on Wednesday evenings.