What book you reading ?

[mothhawk]

Dog's Best Friend : A Brief History Of An Unbreakable Bond, by Simon Garfield

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
Finished that little book of reflection of and already a chapter into Victorian Villainies, I bought this book for the wife many moons ago when I had the silly belief Sue would read it back in the eighties and she loved it so much that it has been secreted in the attic since we moved in 25Yr's or so ago......

Anyway having decided to clear all the unwanted junk this book surfaced and It is up to me to do the honourable thing and read it, four stories/Books in one sitting.

Fraud,Murder,Political Intrigue and Horror In Four Stories Of Victorian Villainy.

The Great Tontine, Considered to be Hawley Smarts best book concerns the unforeseen dangers of trying to make money in a lottery.

Arthur Griffiths made a special study of the French police and his sardonic amusement over their methods is evident in the classic train thriller The Rome Express.

In The FOG Richard Harding Davis’s ingeniously plotted novel is one of the very best accounts of foggy Victorian London.

Haunted by figures of strange Horror Richard Marshes The Beetle sheds fascinating sidelights on the forgotten aspects of Victorian age.

All in All, a splendid selection of works rescued from dusty oblivion.

( The above courtesy of the inner dust jacket notes )

EDIT:- Well I got through it and rather all in all I enjoyed this compendium of books with I would say the Beetle being my favourite. I can add that the Victorian English is very non Pc, these days the woke brigade would have a field day trying to ban this published work as for them certain words that are used would have them in a meltdown...........

Geoff.

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
I am Halfway through Philip Glenister's - Things Aint What They Used To Be published in 2008. Being totally honest I suppose you have to be of a certain age to get the feeling of this book, recalling your own memories of the items brought back to life by your own memories from the era he is recalling.

Fitting well within the bracket and recalling the same emotional attachment with the these items he does as all those memories long forgotten flow back to the present day from the forgotten depths of your psyche.

Either that or I am a sad old bugger!...........:- )

Geoff.

[bramble]

The Holiday by T M Logan.

[Florence Fennel]

Mrs Fytton's Country Life - Mavis Cheek

[Florence Fennel]

Just finished A Terrible Kindness by
Jo Browning Wroe - very good

[Florence Fennel]

Now on Coming Up For Air by George Orwell. Eclectic or what?

[Florence Fennel]

Just read Home by Penny Parkes, just ok

[1batfastard]

Hi All,
Five chapters into ( Banzai You Bastard's by Jack Edwards & Jimmy Walter ).

The story of the hell-mine of Kinkaseki ranks with the "Bridge over the River Kwai" as one of the most appalling episodes of the war in the Far East. Yet until now it has been known only to a few. At Kinkaseki, on the island of Taiwan, Allied POWs were forced by the Japanese to slave underground, year after year, in conditions of extreme danger, subjected to savage floggings if weakness or illness prevented them from digging their required quota of copper ore. Starved, tortured, ravaged by dysentery, they died in hundreds.

Written by one of the men who survived, who has since fought ceaselessly for compensation, "Banzai, You Bastards!" describes with moving simplicity the indomitable spirit of men who refused to be beaten into submission. An important first-hand document of history, it publishes for the first time a copy of the secret order from the Japanese High Command to massacre all POWs and 'leave no traces'. This order, known only to a select, secret committee of prisoners, which included the author, hung over them for nearly a year before the A Bombs and until they were released by the US Marines, after the surrender of the Japanese in September 1945.

[This book] records one of the most terrible aspects of warfare. Its closing words "None of us should forget" have been choses for use on six War Memorials to date in Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand and Yeovilton, England. -- Back jacket cover

(Synopsis Courtesy Google Books)

EDIT:- Nine chapters in, I knew it was a brutal regime under the Japanese but this makes for some horrific reading.

The descriptions of what occurred makes you realise that the way the war was brought to a close would have literally saved many thousands or more from the same fate, even though it took the destruction and taking of thousands by two Atomic bombs.

Sadly you can only draw one conclusion we as a species have only our imagination to halt us with inflicting pain and death onto others across the globe for serving no other purpose than showing who is in charge at any particular instance.

Geoff.

[mothhawk]

Just finished re-reading Saki's Short Stories, I love his unconventional wit and satire.

Now I've started Terry Nation's post-apocalyptic fiction, Survivors, the book of the seventies TV series. Does anyone else remember it? Absolutely unmissable every week.

[Florence Fennel]

Shelby Vane Pelt - Remarkable Bright Creatures - about an octopus!

[Nicos]

I’m reading a recommended child rearing book which differs greatly from the modern western approach.
It makes good sense tbh and based on the idea that the child willingly learns by actively participating in every day activities
’What ancient cultures can teach us about raising children’

Hunt, Gather, Parent. by Michaeleen Doucleff

Very readable and logical.

[Florence Fennel]

Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus, really enjoyable so far

[rary]

Reading a book by C.J.Box, was at the library on Friday and came across one called Dark Sky a Joe Pickett novel, there are 19 of them as far as I know, interconnected but not continuations so can be read in any order, just like Jack Reacher novels, finished the first one and now have picked up another two, ideal for a quick read with very little bad language, I will let you know if I enjoy reading them

[Florence Fennel]

Commonwealth, Anne Patchett. Struggling if I'm honest - I wish she'd get to the point!