Tag: Books

Time to let go!!!

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Well, it’s the first post of the year and, unbelievably, it’s already February!! I’m already a month behind, what I thought would be a new period filled with lots of spare time! Ha ha.

So what is this post all about? With vinyl undergoing a big revival, I thought I’d recommission my old Hi-Fi stereo system (the actual equipment setup is for another post), which we haven’t had running for fifteen/twenty years.

As with many things in life, one thing leads to another, and of course the first question is: where does it go? Large floor speakers take up space, and stereo units from the 80s/90s are far too big to slip under a small table! Yes, it really is that old.

Why don’t we buy a new system? No way — I like a challenge!

So, back to finding a location for the stereo. Let’s put it on top of the nice big Welsh dresser we have. But what about all the stuff already on top of that? Well, we could move it into the nice tall, glass-fronted “Billy” cupboards we have… but wait a minute — they’re already full of books. And then…

We arrive at the point of letting go!!!

I’ve collected books for most of my life, particularly coffee-table books, which for me have always served as reference books on various subjects. Such as…

So the time has come to make some space and decide what to keep and what to let go! I’ve looked at some of the “buy my books” websites, but most of the offers are pretty paltry — in one case around £4.50 for ten books!!

I’ve also tried eBay a few times in the past, but when you see the wide array of prices for the same book — anything from £52.00 to £9.99 — it does make you wonder whether any of them actually sell.

So some will be going to a local secondary school library, where I know the good reference books will be put to use, and the rest to a recent find: a local Oxfam bookshop, where I’m sure someone will enjoy their contents.

Before I disposed of them, I wanted a way to catalogue all the books I have dotted around the house, and I finally settled on Handy Library. What a great app. It’s very easy to use: it can scan book ISBNs and add them to your own created ‘shelves’, you can manually add books, or even search for them on the web and import the information from there. It has full editing capabilities, tagging, and — most importantly — it backs up the content (in my case to Google Drive). Not only that, but it will also export your lists to Excel! What more could you ask for?

Anyway, that one room done, only four more to go!!

Books I’ve Read – 12

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What can you say about this author? Another amazing book from William Dalrymple that is the result of immense research. Though a long read of 567 pages, the last sixty-four taken up by chapter notes, an extensive bibliography and a substantial index, it will keep you turning pages to understand more about the intrigue of Afghanistan.

I must admit, it’s not a part of the world that I knew much about. I guess; like many people today, I learnt more about it during the aftermath of 911 and the resultant so-called Global War on Terror wars.

Although centred on the first British invasion of Afghanistan in 1839, it delves much deeper into that invasion and as the many other invasions have proved, overcoming a tribal based nation with massive forces does not always work out the way it is initially intended. A very good read.

This is the second book I have read by William Boyd and it turned out to be a very good read. Written in Journal form – which took a bit of getting used to – it documents the life of a Logan Mountstuart as he meanders through various careers from Writer to Spy to Art Gallery Owner.

It’s a great story full of surprises and references to real life events that are cleverly woven into the tale. As usual, I can’t help myself when reading any story today without having a tablet/smartphone at hand to follow up on various ‘stuff’ in any book I am currently reading.

From this story, one of the best hoaxes ever played on the so-called experts of the Art World by the author. A good sense of humour!

Book four of the Plantagenet and Tudor Novels series if like me, you are reading them in the order recommended by Phillipa Gregory.

This time centred on the Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick – aka The King Maker and his ambition to have control over the ‘puppets’ he wanted to install on the Throne of England during the War of the Roses.

Central to this story though are his daughters Anne and Isabel Neville, the whole story is told from Anne Neville’s narrative point of view.

Another very interesting story of the destructive ‘Cousins Wars‘ era of English History, with its never ending plotting and killing of one another. Great read and now understanding the different viewpoints.

Four books in this post!

A good spy story and short read. I do like William Boyd’s story telling.

Someone saw me reading Any Human Heart and gave me this one, so I guess that I am hooked! Finished it in a day and a half.

I’ve not seen the TV version of this one – he wrote the screen play for this one (as well as many others), but I would assume that there would be quite a few flashbacks in it as this is style of this story.

Another very good tale and I’ll search out the TV version, when I have time!

Books I’ve Read – 11

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The second book in the Languedoc Trilogy by Kate Mosse. Another great read – I do like her style of writing – this one is written a standalone story, but does carry on the themes established in the first book – Labyrinth.

I didn’t know a great deal about Tarot cards before reading this story, but their meaning and interpretation is revealed throughout this tale. Another great story. Backed up as usual with abundant and relevant info at the back of the book. A very well researched book.

Not sure why so many books I read at the moment seem to cover the same area in France that I have visit many times over the years, I need to go back.

We all sat through various history lessons about Henry VIII at school, right?, But what about the years before he arrived on the scene? Not covered that much, well certainly for me. This story sheds more life on that period known as the Wars of the Roses – yes, I’ve heard of that!

The third book (based on the order suggested by the author) of The Plantagenet and Tudor novels takes us through another chapter of the Cousins Wars and their never-ending struggle for supremacy over one another.

As per previous books, I spent a lot of time on the Internet following up information from the book. Another great book. Kingmaker’s Daughter next.

A new writer for me, but another great read. A bit far-fetched in places, but nicely put together to make a good spy/adventure story with a great deal of verifiable facts in the tale. Turns out to be the first of a trilogy, so now I have to read the others, of course.

The author also has a past connection to Touch of Frost – a great TV detective series which ran from 1992 to 2010.

It’s amazing to me, just how much research goes into novels to get the stories just right to make them believable. Let’s hope the others are as good as this one.

Books I’ve read – 9

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If you are as old as me, then you will remember the Pentagon Papers (first mentioned in the New York Times in 1971 and the furore they caused, which turned a Daniel Ellsberg into a hero (in my opinion) of free speech.

The Afghanistan Papers is a similar set of data, mostly from declassified secret interviews (SIGAR) of US military and others involved in the Afghan conflict, collected into a riveting read by the Washington Post Journalist & author Graig Whitlock.

If you want to know why and how the US government tried to keep their many secrets secret about the Afghan conflict, then this book is a must-read.

Yes, I am back to reading another of Kate Mosses historical fiction books. This time, book one of the Languedoc Trilogy, Labyrinth. It’s a lengthy read, with some 694 pages! But a great story. Again, based on methodical research.

I am not sure what draws me to her writing, maybe it’s the area this one and the previous The Burning Chambers series are set in.

I’ve been to this area of France a number of times over the years and interestingly looking at the end pages at the back of this book and looking over some old photos, I seem to have done The Labyrinth Walk of Carcassonne without even knowing it! A great read. Sepulchre is next!

Now for a bit of education. What do I know about the eastern regions of Russia and China? Siberia, a desolate place full of past Gulags and China with its vast agricultural areas and its Ice Festival in Harbin!

For much of its length, the Amur River forms a water border between Russia and China, this book looks at the history and peoples of these regions. Colin Thubron (80 years old when he made this trip), brings to life the different regions on his journey, following as closely as possible the route of the river.

It taught me a lot about this area and extensive use of Google Maps helped understand that these regions are not a desolate as I first thought.

Books I’ve read – 7

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Five months! Now, where has that time gone since I last posted about books. But at least I have been reading. Here’s another three…

A very interesting book that explains the background, origin and battles fought over earlier centuries that today allows us to simply pick up a jar of Nutmeg, Cinnamon or many other spices without having any inkling of the history of the contents.

This another book that benefits from the use of the Web. Well, at least in my case. So much extra info to be read about as you work through this book.

Packed full of notes, a great Bibliography, lots of illustrations and an excellent index, this book will take you on a great journey of exploration into the history of just why Spice’s meant so much then and still do today.

Many of us like mushrooms and as part of the Fungi family, this book opens up a whole new world about how fungi are interconnected and how that affects just about everything we touch, smell and see.

I’m pretty sure I did not know much about Fungi, apart from those you ate or saw growing on a rotting log on the country walk. However, but this book has certainly changed that.

With over 20 pages of notes, some great illustrations, an extensive bibliography, this book takes some reading, but in the end you get to know just what’s under that mushroom you have just picked!

Amazingly, I purchased this book in 2016 and then somehow it disappeared into a box in my study till rediscovered during a tidy up earlier this year!

I served in the Royal Navy for nearly 16 years and apart from a short stint (four days on loan to fix some equipment) submarines we definitely not for me.

This book (all 835 pages!) is a great read and amongst the many subjects it covers, it is also a great way to find out about the Perisher, or Submarine Command Course to give it its official title. All potential Submarine Captains must pass it first time, if you don’t, you’re out! Surprisingly, there is some thinking about changing that.

Books I’ve read – 6

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What a book! It’s taken me over six weeks to read this book. It contains so much information about a subject I thought I knew, but clearly didn’t. Also, as is custom now with me, when reading factual books it took me to many places on the Internet.

I just did not know how much fighting there was between the various ‘tribal’ factions before the Europeans came to India. I also did not know how much Afghanistan and other States had invaded these lands.

It’s the first book written by William Dalrymple that I have read, it’s a very well researched book with great footnotes and explanations and a real insight in into the way the East India Company operated across the various states of India. History is sometimes not very pretty, but this book is straight forward in its telling, including all its gory details. A very good read.

This is the fourth and final instalment of The Joubert Family Chronicles series from Kate Mosse. What a great read and finale to a story that has spanned some 300 hundred years in its making.

I did not like the third instalment – The Ghost Ship – as I thought it wandered of the main the theme and to me at the time of reading, it was just a bit of a Pirate story. However, in hindsight (always a wonderful thing) and now having read the last instalment, I see it a bit more clearly in the whole series.

I have not read any of Kate Mosses books before these, but it has spiked my interest and will be using a birthday gift voucher to purchase The Languedoc Trilogy.

James Clerk Maxwell is not a name that springs to mind in most people’s thoughts. But if you look around at the modern world, his influence is everywhere. As the person who discovered Electromagnetic Waves, his discovery led to the eventual development of the Radio, Television, Radar to name a few and even today’s ubiquitous Smartphone. I also know his name from a photography point of view, as he is credited with taking the first colour photograph.

This excellent short book from Wiley is well worth the cost and Basil Mahon (ex REME) has done a very good job in covering Maxwells life and works and how he influenced the work of many others including Albert Einstein. In a modest way, I would not have had a technical career in the Royal Navy without Maxwells discoveries

Books I’ve read – 4

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More of what I have been reading since returning to physical books.

What a great book! It’s really two books in one. Not only covering one of the worst winters the UK experienced in my lifetime, but also a well-documented history of the many social/political changes happening in the UK during the early 60’s including the emergence of the ‘Swinging Sixties‘, the start of the Mersey Beat sound through The Beatles and of course many others.

Some other highlights of the book included revisiting the Profumo scandal and of course, as I found out through internet searches, the author‘s family connection to Sissinghurst – which is worth a separate post – which I have visited a few times. Great anecdotes.

We lived in Plymouth at the time of the ‘Big Freeze‘ (Video) and as a 13-year-old I did not mind at all that the buses could not negotiate the hills to take us to and from school, Extra holidays!! Though, I do remember my father taking us on a trip to Okehampton to see some relatives during one of the easier driving days of the time. My mother was not amused!

I have read a number of Max Hastings books over the year, I read this one last year after watching Ken Burns and Lynn Novick‘s excellent and must watch documentary about Vietnam.

A very detailed book that did add to my already reasonable knowledge about the conflict from the many other books that I have read including – In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, We Were Soldiers Once…And Young, A Bright Shining Lie – and definitely a book to keep for future reference. I especially like the collections of images and maps that helped to understand what happened.

However, I cannot get over Max Hastings not sacking Boris Johnson when he was his boss at the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Perhaps if he had, we might have been spared his atrocious attempt at being UK Prime Minister.

Another book that I read a while ago but came up in a recent conversation. This book, written by Alan Turing‘s nephew Dermot Turing, covers the often overlooked work that Polish Code-Breakers did in the early days of trying to break the Enigma cipher machine codes used by the Nazi Germany during World War Two. It’s a very interesting read and add more detail to that part of history.

History is also a funny thing; early on while serving in the Royal Navy through the various jobs I did, I came across some (then classified) machines that were used for manually encrypting communications much like the Enigma did. It was part of the job to look after them – maintenance etc. Though, there was not a lot you could do in reality. You did what you did with them and really did not think too much about it, as it was just like any other piece of equipment, be it radio transmitters or radar systems.

Imagine my surprise when in 1974 a book called The Ultra Secret: The Inside Story of Operation Ultra, Bletchley Park and Enigma by F. W. Winterbotham was published as the first book in English that suddenly divulged what until then had been the secret world of World War Two cryptography. I then suddenly realised that I had been working on one of the successors of the Enigma, the Adonis/SEC/KL-7!

Books I’ve read – 3

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It seems that I have got back to physical book reading in earnest.

I read this first book of the six-book series 18 months ago while on holiday in Spain and got through it in two days!!! What a fantastic tale, I love these sorts of books that meld historial facts with historical fiction. When done well (which this has), it creates a very exciting story line. The Great Fire of London and its aftermath told over the five subsequent books have been woven into a great tale.

Having been born in London and visited many of the places mentioned in this and the subsequent books such as The Monument, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower to name a few, again shows the research that Andrew Taylor must have done to produce these books.

A recommendation from my sister, and what a great story this turned out to be. I had not read any books by Kate Mosse before, but this story centres around people from different sides of the then religious divide during the initial French Wars of Religion affecting the Huguenots and the Catholics.

Set across Southern France, mainly in Carcassonne, Toulouse and the small village of Puivert, it’s a great tale that again shows the huge amount of research that must have gone into the writing of this book by Kate Mosse.

I’m glad I read this book, which also brought back memories of my many travels in France for business and pleasure – though in the 20th century! I will look forward to reading the next one in the series – The City of Tears, which carries on with the story, but this time relocating to Amsterdam and Northern France,

It’s strange how you come across books to read, while reading The Burning Chambers and looking at some online search results about its story content – I do that a lot; up popped a link ‘if you read this, then you might like this‘ and that is how I discovered Phillipa Gregory. Then I found the list that she had put together for the series of The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels to be read in which order.

So this is how I came to read The Lady of the Rivers. I really enjoyed this book, though I was a bit unsure till I got to halfway thought it and then I was hooked. A great story set during the latter years of the Hundred Years War and the various royal intrigues of the time.

Who would have thought that a 14-year-old girl from Luxemburg would end up affecting the history of the next 100 odd years through her marriage and descendants. A great book, I already have the next one – The White Queen – in my stack of books to read. It turns out that there was a BBC adaptation of this broadcast in 2011. Not sure that I remember watching this at the time, so it will have to be either online from Amazon or a DVD purchase (probably not), as it is no longer in BBC iPlayer.

I’m looking forward to reading the whole series of these books.

Books I’ve read – 2

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Following on from my return to physical book reading last year, here are a few more of the ones that I have found to be good reads, again more of a record for myself.

What can one say about Robert Maxwell that’s not already been said? This is a great book that sheds more light on his background and eventual demise and sad end. Did he jump or was he pushed? I don’t think we will ever know.

I did meet him once in person, and then had some dealings with him later when I worked for an American Publishing-Software company trying to get its first sale in the UK in the early 80’s. Wouldn’t talk directly to us – he sat in a back room – but negotiated by phone via one of his M.D.’s. He told me that he had been sacked three times by Maxwell for various reasons, HR just told him to ignore it and go back in. However, on the fourth time, he just never went back. I think he then became a teacher; probably less stressful!

I’ve read a number of books about this period in history quite a long time ago, but this one seemed to be a much easier read than the others and full of information I had not come across before or probably had forgotten!

Clearly Richard Huscroft carried out a massive amount of research for this book and covers in quite some detail, all the events that you might think ‘well, it’s just history‘ but, as has been proved over the years, had many ramifications for the present world that we live in today.

With an excellent Index and an eight-page section on Suggestions for Further Reading. This section will keep me going for quite a while. A very good read.

I was given this book as a Christmas present in 2024. To be honest, I was not sure that it was for me. However, what a great book, easy to read and full of astonishing facts that really make you think about everything that has gone before – am I getting old!

As the title says, it’s divided up into succinct stories, some very short and some not. But each a stand-alone event that somehow in their whole all pull a story together that once again tells ‘us’ why we are where we are today.

I’ve not read any of Neil Oliver‘s books before, but have seen him on TV a number of times. I like his writing style, easy to follow and quite humorous in places. Another good read.

Follow-up. I posted before about Hilary Mantels final part of the Wolf Hall trilogy, The Mirror and The Light. This was a great read but I needed to re-read some parts twice to get a real understanding of it.

Now having seen the final season of the BBC TV adaptation of Wolf Hall, I can only say what a masterpiece! The TV programme further explained (for me) some of the passages of the book that I struggled with due to her writing style. But what an epic piece of TV and getting the two main actors to reprise their roles again was also a masterstroke of planning. I shall make a point of watching both series again at some point, and perhaps even buying a disc set! Wolf Hall DVD. The Mirror and The Light DVD (tad expensive!).

Books I’ve read -1

MikeLeave a comment

I have got back into reading physical books this year, I read a lot many years ago, but seemed to drift away from them with technical work I was doing and reading on PC screens. This didn’t stop me from buying physical books and gradually my ‘tower’ of unread book increased in size. Until I was given a particular book that suddenly relit my interest in physical.

So, here is an overview of some that I have read this year, more a record for myself.

I was in the Far-East area, serving in the Royal Navy during the Vietnam War period, running into USA servicemen on Rest & Recreation (R & R) visits in Bangkok and visiting Subic Bay – a large US Navy/Air Force base – as part of our deployment. I also subscribed to Time Magazine at the time, so I was aware of much of what was going on around the Vietnam War.

Sharing the same surname as the early years of the war, USA Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara and subsequent author of this book also added extra interest to read more about his involvement and his subsequent changes of opinion.

It’s a very interesting book, full of – up till its publication – previously unpublished ‘intel’ that certainly throws a different light on his involvement/decision-making and the fall-out from the war. It’s very much a must-read for anyone who had/has an interest in the Vietnam War years.

As an interesting footnote, my copy has turned out to be a pirated copy, produced on a photocopier/scanner, but that’s a story for another post.

A detailed book that shines the light on exactly where Vladimir Putin came from and how he has continued to stay in place throughout tthe massive chnages that have happen to the former Soviet Union (USSR).

Great use of pictures through out showing his various connections with the Russian Mafia, KGB, Stasi as he rose to power.

As with any book of this nature, there are 90 pages worth of comprehensive end notes and a 27-page index.

A very good read.

The Mirror & the Light is the final instalment of the Wolf Hall trilogy (Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies being the previous parts) by Hilary Mantel.

Be prepared for a long read, this one is some 870 pages long! However, as with the previous books, it’s another masterpiece of story telling, albeit sometimes a bit confusing that requires some rereading. But that is outweighed by a great tale that brings an obvious conclusion to the Thomas Cromwell story. Took some effort to read, but well worth it.

Just announced, the TV adaptation of this final book will be on BBC ONE November 10th.