READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Not allowing the BCG to get me down! Lancashire monasteries arrives today and a book that Tiz recommended to me on Krakatoa is in the post. I have Cromwell to finish, then monasteries and then Krakatoa for light relief. It's hard but someone has to do it!
(Yes, I do keep saying that I have enough books but then I find I need just a couple more. I shall have to start using the top shelf in the front room for less important tomes to give space on the lower shelves.)

[Sue]

This is one of the best non fiction books I have read. It kept me gripped until the end as the final conclusions and confirmations onlycome in the last few pages. I will say no more, in case you read it.

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[Stanley]

Looks interesting Sue.... Stop tempting me!

[plaques]

Just finished 'Oscar Wilde, Biography by Richard Ellmann'. The first 300 pages were heavy going but the next 250 were very enlightening once you know the background. Wilde is a bit like Shakespeare you have to analyse each sentence to find out his real thoughts. Must re-read some of his works.

[Stanley]

I like re-reading, it's never a waste of time.

[Sue]

Looks interesting Sue.... Stop tempting me!

Its also very sad!

[Stanley]

Monasteries has arrived and despite the low price is in excellent condition with an intact book jacket. Very pleased.....

[Stanley]

I shall finish Thomas Cromwell today and expect the arrival of Krakatoa..... I have Last Days of the Monasteries to read first!

[Stanley]

Krakatoa has arrived. Clean hardback First Edition signed by the Author.

[Stanley]

I finished Cromwell and all I can say is that when Hilary Mantel described the book as "The Biography of Cromwell we have been waiting for for 400 years." Quite right, it's a magnificent piece of work.
I am well into the last days of the Lancashire Monasteries. Good to tell why Diarmid read it, it is crammed full with surprising detail. Just reached the Pilgrimage of Grace.......

[Wendyf]

Having been a bit under the weather recently I managed to finish a book I have been struggling with for months. A search of the book shelves threw up two of Ian Rankine's Rebus novels that I hadn't read.... What joy! I couldn't put them down and now I'm feeling the need for another good read.
A quick check on Amazon showed 2 Ann Cleeves novels that I haven't read yet, the last in the Shetland series and the last Vera, both of which should arrive today.

[plaques]

Life and works of Tolstoy. Heavy going, the biographer assumes that the reader is familiar with all his works and discusses them in depth along with an analysis of Tolstoy himself. Bearing in mind this was a period in Russian history where the aristocracy, of which Tolstoy was only one layer down from the Tsar, owned about 99% of Russia's wealth and 90% of the people, euphemistically called soles, in the form of either slaves of serfs. On top of that they didn't pay taxes and were immune from prosecution. Does this sound familiar? Tolstoy himself was very much on the side of the peasants which was reflected in his novels.

[Stanley]

I finished Lancashire Monasteries and have started writing it up. To keep me going I'm reading Wolf Hall again.....

[Wendyf]

Oh dear, what a lightweight I am!!

[Tripps]

I'm sending for a 'Vera Stanhope' book. I watch it on TV - mainly because I like the settings, and the Geordie accents. I think two hours is usually a bit long though. Be good to compare the book with the film.

I should be safe - it has the imprimatur of the Daily Mail -

"An absorbingly cunning mystery." --"Daily Mail "(UK)

[Wendyf]

I've enjoyed all the Vera Stanhope books ..... but the tv series are only "loosely based" on the novels. It's the same with Shetland, for a start Jimmy Perez is tall and dark and his daughter is just a child.

[Stanley]

Oh dear, what a lightweight I am!!
Nonsense Dearie! Remember it was me who read all three volumes of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and then gave it to my kids!

[Stanley]

I expect Whitaker to arrive today..... Dying to see what I have spent £90 on!

[plaques]

50% of Dr Whitaker's vol 2 on Lancashire was in Latin. Hope your memory is up to it.

[Stanley]

I'll let you know P. This the 1878 Leeds edition and only one volume so it could be different! The Compotus for Bolton Priory is in Latin and I managed to extract the juice out of that but at some personal cost!
It could arrive today.......

[Stanley]

Rest easy P. Whitaker is in Kings English! It arrived yesterday and my first instinct is to drop Hilary and plunge into Whitaker but I shall be disciplined and finish Wolf Hall first!

[Tripps]

Well done - I approve.

I checked it all out, and hidden among the many 'reprint on demand' rubbish, and facsimile editions was this published in 1805.

Whitaker's Craven

Worth taking a look at the seller's photos. Not cheap though.

Where would we be without the internet. I spent years trying to find a particular book pre - web, finally using a book finding service who got it from the USA. It's a lot easier now.

PS - a few more clicks reveals the seller is called Poor man's books Perhaps it shuld be Rich man's Books?

[Tripps]

I can't resist a list so looked through all the books offered. Now I find that almost by accident (It's far too easy to buy on Abebooks), that I've bought The Book of British Ballads

Very timely - since I went to a fundraising event on Friday, where the folk songs collected locally by Vaughan Williams were performed and poetry was read by the authors. ( Don't knock it till you've tried it ) It seems that he lived in the village for a while, and as an additional benefit, this purchase will gain me a great number of Brownie point with 'her next door' the poet.

[Stanley]

David, I have been told that the third edition (mine) is a good one because there are additions and corrections. Bookfinder is a wonderful resource.



I've had to do some engine-shifting and rationalisation so as the have Whitaker to hand so it can be consulted easily. Not sure if I have too many engines or too many books!

[Tripps]

(It's far too easy to buy on Abebooks),

It didn't end well though. I noticed after buying that it said 'front cover detached'
That's not good I thought, so I sent an email to abebooks with a query - did that mean what I thought it meant? Within an hour or so - I got a reply from the top man at the book store - in New Jersey USA at about 9.00 am on a Sunday morning, apologising for describing the book as 'very good' and pointing out that in fact the photo showed an elastic band holding the cover on. I had not noticed that, and accepted his offer to cancel the order.

I looked at the photo again - I had thought the elastic band was a problem with the camera or the lighting.