Friday, September 09, 2011

Recently Read



This first book was not one to simply read through like a novel; although an utterly fascinating book, it would have been far too indigestible . A few pages a day was all I could manage, but it really was a riveting look at the secret life of the classical recording industry, and also a list of the very best - and worst - recordings ever made. Great fun for anyone with an interest in classical music and musicians.



This charity shop bargain was a hardback, complete with dustwrapper and cost me all of 50p. Made my day, and the story was jolly good too :-)



Robbing the Bees was utterly wonderful, and definitely a keeper.  She outlines her own adventures as a beginning beekeeper, interspersed with visits to established beekeepers and businesses, describes how bees live and work, how honeycomb is processed into honey and the myriad uses (including medical) of the amazing foodstuff, culled from historical and modern sources. I love bees, and was really sad to reach the end of this book.


44 Scotland Street was great fun to read. A light-hearted but thoughtful insight into the lives of the people who live in flats at the eponymous house, it produces some wonderful characters, the most poignant of whom is the rising 5 year old boy Bertie, who is being relentlessly and cruelly hothoused by his awful , pushy mother. My herat ached for Bertie, and I was silently cheering him on in his acts of rebellion :-)



Greece On My Wheels is a re-read, but I enjoyed it immensely the second time round too :-) A pensioner cycling round Greece makes for good reading, even more so if you ignore the introductory drivel written by his son, the soi-disant comedian Harry Enfield.



I remember the Neil Boyd stories from my youth, but I never actually read this particular volume, Father Under Fire. Boyd was a RC priest for some time before being laicised, and these reminescences of his life as a curate  are delightfully irreverent in places but never actively unkind. Tragedies as well as episodes of great humour cover the whole spectrum of life rather neatly.


Strange as it might sound, Dark Winter was a comfort re-read. Gripping, terrifying plot involving terrorism and biological warfare, it is immensely well-written.




Dewey is also a re-read. It's a nice book, but much too long.

Firefight was an amazingly good recent purchase, and will certainly be meriting a re-read in the near future. A much more thought-provoking book than is usual for this genre, dealing with some of the more despicable aspects of recruiting spies, and how easily it can all backfire.........
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