Brian.
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Posts posted by Brian.
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I bought this yesterday so will hopefully get around to reading it before the end of the year.
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Having finished with The Vaccine by Joe Miller my next book will be The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri.
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On 11/1/2022 at 11:03 AM, Brian. said:
I am also thinking of starting Insurrection by Robyn Young so that I have some fiction on the go alongside the non-fiction.
I gave Insurrection a few chapters but it wasn’t grabbing me so I put it aside for the time being. Instead I picked up Before the Frost by Henning Mankell which is the only Linda Wallander book. Apparently Mankell had planned a trilogy of books but the actress who played Linda in the Swedish TV took her own life. He was so distressed over this that he couldn’t bring himself to write anymore books in the trilogy.
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I had no idea there were only 4 novels. The short story collections are presented in publication order so I’ll read them in that sequence. The books also has illustrations from The Strand magazine which is a really nice touch.
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13 hours ago, willoyd said:
Have you just read the novels, or have you managed any of the short stories? I am a big Holmes fan (grew up with a father who was an expert in the subject, and led guided walks following him round London), but there's no doubt in my mind that the real strength of the books is in the short stories. Of the novels, only Hound of the Baskervilles gets close to being in the same league. The novels are OK, but definitely not as good.
I have a single book containing all the novels which is what I'm planning to work through. There is a section at the back called The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes which I'm assuming are short stories. If they are short stories I will probably dip in and out of them while I'm working my way through the novels.
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At the moment I am currently reading:
- The Vaccine by Joe Miller
- Echoes of War by Bernard Lovell
I am also thinking of starting Insurrection by Robyn Young so that I have some fiction on the go alongside the non-fiction.
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Up at 5:30 to get my gym workout done early. Then I’ve got a variety of house maintenance jobs to do at home as well as fixing my parents oven this afternoon.
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3 more books finished since my last update.
Why Running Matters by Ian Mortimer (2/5)
The blurb on the back of this book says "You might run for fitness. You might run for speed. But ultimately, running is about much more than the physical act itself. It is about the challenges we face in life, and how we measure up to them. It is about companionship, endurance, ambition, hope, conviction, determination, self-respect and inspiration. It is about how we choose to live our lives, and what it means to share our values with other people. "
This sounded interesting to me and I expected something along similar lines to What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami which I enjoyed. Sadly this book is nothing more than a loose running memoir about the running exploits of the author. The book is full of contradictions and just comes across as pretty self indulgent. He claims that time doesn't matter to him, but every run documented includes him focusing on his and others' finishing times. He claims he is an average runner, but given his age his times are very impressive. This isn't a horrible book. It's pefectly readable but just doesn't add much to a genre which has far better books.
Churchill by Andrew Roberts (5/5)
For most of the year I haven't had a target number of book that I wanted to read. The main reason behind this was that I wanted to read some of the bigger books I would probably otherwise avoid. Coming in at over 1000 pages this biography of Churchill definitely fits this category.
I haven't read any other books about Churchill but I thought I knew about the man pretty well. Having read this book I can safely say that this assumption was very wrong. I assumed that most of the book would be about his time as a war time Prime Minister but again I was wrong. In fact, it takes well over half the book before we get to the war. One question that I imagine a lot of people would have before reading this book is, "is it balanced?" I would respond with "yes, but." On the whole Roberts presents Churchill warts and all but nearly always offers justifications, or probable justifications for some of his more questionable actions. This is understandable as I think it's obvious that during the research and writing of this book Roberts grew to greatly admire Churchill.
I really enjoyed this one and it's right up there with the very best non-fiction books I've ever had the pleasure of reading.
The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes #2) by Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
As I'm taking a break from the extended James Bond series I wanted something else that I could read in parts. Something that isn't modern and something that had a strong main character. That was when I remembered that I had read the first in the Sherlock Holmes series but then stopped. Looking back at my records, I read A Study in Scarlet back in 2020 but with a character like Holmes I wasn't worried about the break between books.
In this story Sherlock Holmes and Watson are visited by a woman called Mary Morstan. Mary tell them that her father had disappeared 10 years earlier but 4 years later she received an expensive gift. This has happened every year since and she doesn't know who sends the gift. She has recently received an invitation to meet the person who sends her these gifts and she wants Holmes and Watson to accompany her.
Another enjoyable read, but for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on, I struggle to get on board completely with the Holmes stories I have read so far. I will continue the series, maybe I just need more time with Conan Doyle's writing to get used to it.
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A bottle of Adnams Broadside and probably a dram or two of Old Pultney 12 year old later this evening.
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Taking it relatively easy today after working nights the last few nights. I'm catching up on some home admin at the moment and then the plan is to go for an easy paced run and then relax with a book or two this evening.
Glad to hear you are feeling better @poppy
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I polished off the last of my Glengoyle 21 year old at the weekend and that lead to me ordering 3 new to me whiskies. Aberlour A'Bunadh, Kaiyo Mizunara Oak, and Deanston 18 year old. Should keep me warm over the winter 😀
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One of the good things about Calibre is that you can take books off your Kindle that you have purchased from Amazon. This means that if you ever lose your Amazon account (and this has happened to people before) you don’t lose access to all the ebooks you’ve purchased.
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I just want to add something to the above. I have not been paid to promote Calibre, I'm just a very happy user of the program.
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I always recommend the Wallander books by Henning Mankell and anything written by Val McDermid. Fantastic crime books which don't rely on over the top characters.
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On 10/20/2022 at 9:06 PM, nikolah said:
Hello all, I'm a student of International Relations who loves to read. Currently I am very interested in the (political) situation in the UK, I want to learn and know more about this topic. So do you have any books recommendation for me? I'd like to read books that will help me understand why it all look like this, how and why some things happened. Books that bring me the historical context in more details than in school are also highly welcome. If there is no book that comes to you mind directly connected to historical/political/current situation in the UK maybe you can recommend me a book that will bring me closer to UK culture and help me understand British people more?
I'm not particularly well read when it comes to UK politics but a few books come to mind. The first is Posh Boys by Rober Verkaik. In Posh Boys Verkaik looks at why so many British politicians all come from the same group of private, fee paying schools. It explores the fact that they are all given a helping hand into politics and how very few of them have much in the way of experiencing life as a typical citizen of the UK. There isn't much in the way of political analysis but it is a decent look at the education/class divide which still exists in the UK. This book was written before Boris Johnson became Prime Minister and have very accurate predictions about how his leadership would be if he ever made it to the top job.
Another book which I have heard good things about but haven't read yet is Why We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman. This book looks more at how our politics and politicians work and how is bascially isn't fit for the world we live in now. The main crux of the book is about how so many of the politicians we have do things to benefit their own careers instead of what is best for the country.
There are also a few books about Brexit out there and one of them would definitely be worth a read as it's been the move divisive issue in modern UK politics.
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On 10/22/2022 at 1:23 PM, nikolah said:
Hello all! I'm having a films marathon with group of friends soon, but unfortunately I'm not the biggest films enthusiast. Everyone is supposed to bring one film title to share so we could all watch it together. I have no idea what to watch with them, but since I am a huge books lover I thought we might watch a film that is a book adaptation. So here's my question: do you have any favourite film adaptation? or what is the best film adaptation of a book in your opinion? I'm obviously going to read it first anyway.
The Lord of the Rings movies are generally well respected and do a pretty good job of living up to the books. My personal favourite adaptation which comes to mind is The Godfather. The book is great but the movie(s) manage to be even better in my opinion.
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From time to time questions pop up about the Kindle so I thought it would be good to have a topic where we can collect any tips and tricks together in one place.
For those who want to source ebooks from somewhere other than Amazon file format is often a confusing issue. Ebooks purchased from the Kindle store use Amazon's own file format known as AZW. The main reason for using this format seems to be that it is marginally smaller than the .mobi format and that it allows DRM to be used. The other main file format that can be used directly on a Kindle is .mobi and that is widely available across the internet. There are a few other file formats that can be used directly such PDF, RTF, and word files. However, in my experience these can be displayed in an unsatisfactory way on the screen and are best avoided if possible.
The other common file format found is EPUB but Kindle devices won't play these All is not lost though and this is my first tip. Use Calibre. Calibre is a free to use program which acts as an ebook manager. It can be used to manage your ebook library on your computer and your chosen device. Instead of using Amazon's janky system for emailing files to myself I use Calibre. It's as simple as plugging in my Kindle and chosing what files I want on it. The best part? Calibre automatically converts any files incompatible with Kindle to .mobi files before sending them to my device.
So that's my first tip. Feel free to add your own or ask any questions.
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52 minutes ago, lunababymoonchild said:
Just bought, Two Maigrets and a Hans Fallada on Kindle : Félicie: Inspector Maigret #25, Maigret's Memoirs: Inspector Maigret #35, Alone in Berlin
Alone in Berlin is an all time favourite of mine. I hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to read it.-
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3 hours ago, Hayley said:
I’ve never actually been! Was it awkward to get to?
The transport links to it are pretty good to be fair, it’s just where my train arrives in London which isn’t ideal. I have to travel into London from the north and my train arrives at St Pancras. To get to Ally Pally I then have to get a Tube heading back the way I’ve just come for at least half an hour. It’s not so bad going to a gig but heading home afterwards turns into a bit of a chore. -
54 minutes ago, Madeleine said:
I remember the TV version of The Mermaids Singing, that was pretty gruesome as well!
I never realised there was a TV series made. I now want to watch them all but know that I can't until I've read all the books as I don't want to spoil it for myself. 😄
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I'm still working my way through the mammoth Churchill by Andrew Roberts so I have only finished a few books since my last update.
The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (4/5)
I've read all of the books in the Karen Pirie series and one standalone title by Val McDermid and enjoyed them all. I think it's fair to say that the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series is her best known work and thats what I decided to read next.
The main focus of this book, and I believe the series is serial killer investigation. Four men have been killed and tortured in the city of Bradfield causing panic amongst the public. Pressure is mounting on the police to solve the murders so they bring in clinical psychologist Tony Hill to work alongside detective Carol Jordan.
I won't go into the plot too much as I want to avoid any potential spoliers. We have all the usual stuff in a crime novel here with the addition of sexual tension between the main characters. A refreshing change with Hill and Jordan is that they aren't rogues who get things done at any cost. They do things largely by the book while having to manage the senior officer(s) above them. They also have to try and steer the investigation in the correct direction against the prejudices of some of their colleagues.
I enjoyed this a lot but at the moment I think I still prefer the character of Karen Pirie to either Hill or Jordan. I'm sure that will change as I read more books in the series though. I would raise a point of warning for prospective readers of this book. It is pretty graphic. This doesn't bother me but it's definitely one of the most graphic crime novels i've read so far.
A Prayer Before Dawn by Billy Moore (2/5)
I've had this sitting on my kindle for a few years after buying it for 99p in one of the many sales Amazon have on kindle books. It is the true story of Billy Moore's fight for survival inside Klong Prem prison in Thailand. I've read a few 'banged up abroad' books in the past and found them quite entertaining and thought this would be more of the same. In the end the book is fine but doesn't bring anything new to the genre. Moore was a criminal and drug addict before going to Thailand and throughout the book says he regrets being sent to Klong Prem. He plays the victim a bit but it's clear that he deserved to be found guilty as he was dealing drugs in Thailand. At the end of the book he makes out as if he will never do anything illegal again and that he has learned his lesson. After his release, a movie was made of his story but he missed the premier as he was in prison for burglary. So much for learning his lesson.
The rating is purely for the book and not related to how I feel about Moore. It's was ok but it's no where near as good as books like Marching Powder by Rusty Young or Hotel Kerobokan by Kathryn Bonella.
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On 10/12/2022 at 9:58 PM, Hayley said:
I haven’t heard of Parkway Drive for years! Going to have to look them up again. Alexandra palace must have been a pretty impressive venue to see them too.
It was the first time I've been to Alexandra Palace and I was really impressed wih it as a venue. It would have been helpful if it was closer to the centre of London but we can't have everything.
I've just secured tickets to see Iron Maiden again next summer, this time in Amsterdam.
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14 hours ago, Hayley said:
Which one!?
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
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I just got an email from Folio Society. 16 new editions in the run up to Christmas including the next in the Bond series and one of my favourite books so it looks like I will have to place an order soon.
World Cup 2022
in Sport
Posted
For past World Cups I have taken the entire competition off work and usually watch every game but I just can't get excited about this competition so far. It's at a totally wrong time of year and the location is just proof of the corruption than runs through FIFA. Injuries always play part but we seem to be losing high profile players at a much quicker rate than previous years.
Although they have already lost Pogba, Kante, and possibly Varane, I think France will be my pick for winners.