Wartime: Britain 1939-1945

[HoneyGirl]

I am just wondering if anyone has read the book in the thread title, as I am just looking at it on Amazon and the preview pages look very interesting. But I am interested to know what people on here think, if they have read it

 

Thank you in advance

[Roland Butter]

Yes indeed, and I'd recommend it very strongly. It's the best account of life in wartime Britain that I can remember reading - thorough, well researched but very readable too. If it's a reasonable price, I'd go for it (or put it on your Christmas list ....)

 

David Kynaston's books on post-war Britain, Austerity Britain and Family Britain, are also really excellent if you're interested in that period of history (and I sense you are )

[HoneyGirl]

Oh brilliant, thanks Roland B, thats really made me more confident now to get it. I will try to get it at a good price - I do like to shop around for bargains!

I have also been curious about the Austerity Britain and Family Britain books, I am glad you mentioned them - and you are indeed correct, I am very interested in the post-war era too

 

Any other recommendations you have would be greatly welcomed. I spend many hours browsing through Amazon, reading reviews and adding books to my wishlist.

[Lumo]

I had not seen these books before, but have also added them to my wishlist as I'm now interested in reading them :-)

[HoneyGirl]

Glad my post has made you get some more books on your wishlist Duncan, you will have to remember to let me know how you enjoy the books when you get them.

[Lumo]

Well you have inspired me HoneyGirl, the last book I ordered from Amazon seems to have gone astray in the post, so while I chase that one up I decided rather than agonising over what to get next from my wishlist I would go ahead and order "Wartime: Britain 1939-1945". I nearly bought the Austerity one by David Kynaston instead, (mainly because there was a good price on a second hand copy) but thought even if not by the same author it might be worth reading these in chronological order.

 

I also saw a link to How We Lived Then by Norman Longmate. I am pretty sure I saw this on my dads bookself, and can almost remember him saying it was a good book (and being an historian he didn't praise history books quickly) which seems to deal with a similar theme and might be worth looking at.

 

I'll definitely let you know how I get on with Wartime Britain :-)

Edited October 25, 2011 by Duncan

[HoneyGirl]

Very glad to hear it Duncan and way to go on ordering it so fast too! You can do me a little review/run down of the book once you have read it, that is if you want to of course, I would be very interested to know what you think.

 

I have only just been looking at How we Lived Then on Amazon also, I thought it looked very interesting - since you have mentioned that your dad enjoyed it and was a historian himself - then that is also going on my wishlist

 

Think my wishlist is going to be a mile long very soon!

[chaliepud]

I have How We Lived Then on my shelves, I've only dipped in so far, but it is very good.

[HoneyGirl]

Thanks for that Chaliepud, its very handy to be able to come on here and get advice on books like this.

 

I see we've been moved to Historical Fiction - apologies, I thought I had posted this in the correct place (its not fiction though! )

Edited October 25, 2011 by HoneyGirl

[Michelle]

The reviews I quickly read looked like fiction.. I'll move it later to the non-fiction section.

And don't worry, we often move things if we think they're best suited elsewhere.

[HoneyGirl]

The reviews I quickly read looked like fiction.. I'll move it later to the non-fiction section.

And don't worry, we often move things if we think they're best suited elsewhere.

Thanks Michelle. I wasn't complaining you know, I was more worried that I'd put something in the wrong place!

[Lumo]

Well I was planning to read Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 as soon as it arrived, and looking forward to it. However, I have sort of told someone I will read Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View by Stanley Milgram before I next see them at a conference in around 2 weeks. Hmmm, I probably won't then see them for ages, so I think I need to delay Wartime Britain until after the authority one. I also have to find the authority one, there's not much time and super saver from Amazon can take a while getting here, I'll see if I can get a copy in Waterstones tomorrow...

[HoneyGirl]

Duncan you probably weren't meant to be amusing there but you just make me chuckle - hope you can manage to find the book tomorrow, I'll keep my fingers crossed (you will have to let me know if you're successful so I can un-cross them again!! )

[Lumo]

Thanks for crossing your fingers HoneyGirl...however, I still couldn't find the book. I looked in two Waterstones, another bookshop and a charity shop that has an academic/student section (the authority book is sometimes a standard text on psychology courses, so I thought I might find a second hand copy there). There are no more bookshops here, well not nearby anyway, so I'll order it on Amazon tonight and try and speed read it.

[HoneyGirl]

Ah isn't it always the same Duncan, you can guarantee once you get it then you will see copies of it everywhere - happens to me every time!

Is it a very long book?

[Lumo]

Yes, I had thought just the same, that as soon as I order it on Amazon I bet I see it sitting in the window of the second hand shops.

 

Not sure how long it is...Just checked on Amazon and it says 231 pages, so not massive but as it is a description and interpretation of a set of related psychology experiments I suppose it might be heavy going or repetitive in places.

[Lumo]

Well Wartime Britain arrived this morning. With the authority book only having been dispatched today, and the resend of my lost astronaut biography (the book got lost, not the astronaut) still in the post, and having finished To have and Have Not last night, I think I will make a start on Wartime Britain. Of course there are a dozen or more other books sitting around the flat that I also intended to start soon, but they can wait ;-)

[HoneyGirl]

Wow Duncan, sounds like you are surrounded in books at the moment Thats good news that Wartime Britain has arrived, you were certainly onto that quickly - within the week! How are you enjoying it? You'll have to let me know what you think of it.

 

What about your astronaut book, has the resent one arrived yet?

[Lumo]

I'm only about 90 pages or so into the Wartime book, but so far I am enjoying it. It's very readable and certainly eye opening as to what life was like in the 1930s/40s (even without the war aspect, which is also interesting). Last year I read Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain which describes a slightly later period, I found that book a bit tougher going, I was reading it mainly for enjoyment and some of the passages full of specific references to people and dates (which while probably necessary for that kind of) made it a bit heavy going at times.

 

Yes, the astronaut book arrived today, but I think that will have to sit on my shelf for a while. I watched Apollo 13 on an aeroplane recently (limited choice of film), I have mixed feelings about spaceflight, generally seeing it as such an expense and extravagance that I find reading or talking about it off-putting, but nonetheless when I actually see some of the pictures or films about the flights I am continually impressed with what people managed to achieve. Even watching the last shuttle mission take off, I thought I would just see it as a whole lot of money getting burnt up in a big rocket, but when I actually watched it online I did think it was pretty darn impressive that such a machine works (well worked). So I thought I would read a book about spaceflight, and this one got good reviews.

 

I do however, have very little time. I should be writing my PhD thesis but somehow I convince myself I have time for many other things too. Today I kind of agreed to do some consultancy/report writing work (my supervisor suggested it and started the conversation with 'you probably don't have time for this, but...') and other non work related things keep accumulating. I think the more I have to do, the more efficient I become. If I have one thing to do all day then I might spend all day doing it, but if I have 5 things to do I do them all much more efficiently and enjoy all of them more. However, I am concerned that I am now pushing this a bit too far, at least for the next few months I need to watch what extra things I take on.

[Lumo]

Well the authority book arrived, and so did the original lost astronaut book...

[HoneyGirl]

Glad to hear your books arrived Duncan How are you getting on with the Wartime Britain book now? I've stalled on Billy Brown as he was doing my head in - seems to me that there is nothing Billy Brown could not do at aged 8 - just starts to grate on my nerves after reading two thirds of it. Its going back to the library on the 15th so I will finish it before then but I had to put it down for a while which is a shame as I had been speeding through it and really enjoying it. I'm a bit disappointed in it.

 

You sound like such a busy person, what is your PhD?

[HoneyGirl]

Hi Duncan, I don't want to push more books onto you but have you heard of How We Lived then by Norman Longmate? It sounds brilliant, just up my street so think it may appeal to you also.

Oh and did you know that Dr Julia Gardiner has two other books out? One about The Blitz and the other covering the 1930's - they're all on my wishlist now, got to save up as been cleaned out by Christmas approaching!

[Roland Butter]

The Blitz: The Britsih Under Attack is also a very good book, and if you enjoy Wartime Britain you'll certainly like that as well.

[HoneyGirl]

Yes thats actually one of them I have added to my wishlist Roland, it looks excellent. My wishlist grows weekly by quite a lot, I just wish I could get all the books all at once - imagine the postie having to deliver all those!

But I am quite excited at finding these books we're discussing as they are perfect for what I am interested in, I just love reading about this era so I cannot wait to collect all the books and get stuck in!

[Lumo]

I finished the obedience book and managed to stick to the plan of giving it to the person at the conference, who is reading it now (will probably not right now at this exact moment). I also went for a short holiday after the conference and now I'm back home to the rain.

 

However, as a result of this I haven't had too much time to read the Wartime Britain book. While being on holiday sounds like the perfect time to read, I actually hardly read anything, I did walk for miles and miles and miles each day and saw lots of new things, which was fantastic. I should have more time soon and plan to get back into it, it's already sitting out ready to read. I listened to an audio book on the planes, I find I can't read for hours on end on an aeroplane but quite enjoy listening to a book. I used to hate plane rides, not a fear of flying, just not liking sitting there simply killing time until the plane lands, so the discovery of audio books was great and now I start listening and don't really mind how long the trip is.

 

My PhD is on Psychology related themes - looking at ways in which learning occurs (or does not occur).

 

How we Lived Then is on my wish list ;-) and I'll check out the other Julia Gardiner ones, I don't think I have seen them.

 

Did you ever finish Billy Brown?