OneGuyFromBarlick

David, Sorry to hear that. Have a look at THIS, Half price and better condition. It's in Lewes as well. I have bought from them in the past....
You can still get Brownie Points from the poet!
Later, I opened up the Met Office weather forecast and guess what the targeted advertisement was, the image of the Whitaker you posted yesterday from Bookfinder. As you say at times, spooky!

I finished Wolf Hall yesterday and replaced it with 'Bring up the Bodies'. I was tempted to start indexing Whitaker but before I do that I want to file the index cards I have in the small index box where I put new cards as I write them. If any of you are doing research I can't emphasise too much how useful an old-fashioned bank of index cards can be. (They don't need backing up!) I've never counted mine but after 40 years there are many thousands.....

I finished Mantel yesterday so I am ready for the third book when it is published. Started on Whitaker and did some very satisfying indexing. I started on Marton. I have never had the access to be able to read this book so thoroughly.... I am enjoying it but he is very old fashioned, hardly any mention of society, work or industry, he's more interested in the aristocracy, fine houses and churches. Still there are nuggets to be discovered.

I've finished gutting and indexing Whitaker and it was well worth the effort. I am going to repeat the process with Warner as I am sure there is much I have forgotten..... The index continues to grow.

After my indexing bash I gave myself a treat and read Len Dighton's 'Bomber' again. If you've never read it, have a look. I'm into 'Goodbye Mickey Mouse' now, same sort of subject but Deighton's account of American fighter pilots flying Mustangs with the Merlin Engine. Even if you have no interest in the technical or historical side they are absorbing reads.

Finished Mickey Mouse, good but not a patch on Bomber! I'm looking at Spy Story now for light entertainment.

Chris Aspin sent me his latest two small books and I read them, one on Mysterious Happenings (Tales of the supernatural) and one of Nonsense Verse. Chris is very good on the latter......

Mary Queen of Scots, By John Guy. 'now made into a film'. A historical biography which reads like a novel. One one the best of its kind I've come cross. 500 pages broken down into 30 bite size chapters. A bit short of plate illustrations which means you are relying on written descriptions. Lots of political intrigue with a mind bending number of characters partially made more complex by using both their given names and their titles to identify them. The final forensic analysis of of all the various letters and documents of her trial gets a bit heavy going but overall its an easy read and well worthwhile the effort.

Sounds like an interesting read P.
Spy Story is a bit boring, Deighton was going through his Philip Marlow phase and it shows......

I realised yesterday that I had not got or ever read Len Deighton's 'Fighter'. Can't think how this happened, I shall go on Bookfinder and rectify this!

I put Spy Story back on the shelf and went back to the last part of Jon Griffin's biography. Ordered 'Fighter', £1.25 including P&P.
By the way I have a book on the way from America on Medieval Scottish weights and measures. It will fit nicely with a classic I have on the Scottish Watermill. (And some of the measures spilled over the border.)

I've finished John Griffin's biography and while I wait for a couple of books ordered to turn up, one from America, I have started to read up on monastic granges......

Gulliver's Travels. by Jonathan Swift. Normally seen as a child's fantasy story but actually a very hard hitting satire on the politics of his time. The background notes take as much reading time as the story.

Quick excerpt . "But, by what you I have gathered... I have concluded that the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth". (King of Brobdingnag).

Same thing applies to 'The Wizard of Oz' if you dig into it P. It's actually a political polemic.

Platt on Granges is good value, I am learning a lot! Enough for a series of articles...

I noted that Simon Armitage has been appointed 'Poet Laureate' , and in an effort to modernise the role has been told he doesn't have to do poems about the royal family if he doesn't fancy it. Probably not a good idea to tell a Yorkshire man (from Marsden between Huddersfield and Saddleworth), what to do. I bought his book 'All Points North' on the recommendation of Richard Broughton of this parish. I read it but was a bit disappointed. Not sure why - I'll have to read it again. I searched the site, but could find only references to Wendy having attended a reading of his. Maybe it was on the old site? I'll discuss it with the poet next door when they are back - she'll put me right.

I like some of his poetry but his lugubrious delivery nags at me.
Finished Platt and read some of my own Naïve Occasional Papers (Published on LULU.com) and really liked them! That's ego for you......

I'm not a fan of poetry but I do like Simon Armitage, I enjoyed his "Walking Home" about a journey along the Pennine Way, it's worth a read.
https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571249886-walking-home.html

Stanley wrote: ↑13 May 2019, 03:14 but his lugubrious delivery nags at me.

That's the word - lugubrious. I was tempted to say humourless.

Or if you would rather pay just £2.27 go here

Stanley wrote: ↑13 May 2019, 03:14 That's ego for you......

No one has ever accused you of lack of ego.

I wasnt expecting you to buy a hardbook at full price Tripps, it was just the simplest description of the book that i could find ...my copy was a cheap paperback. He has a gentle and self deprecating sense of humour .... not humourless at all!!

Fair enough. It's a while since I read it. I've invested £2.27.

Words are our business David...... Ego? Moi?
Len Deighton's 'Fighter' arrived today. Pencil it in as my reading for a few days!

Fighter is a gem. How did I miss this until now!? The Intro by A J P Taylor is worth the price by itself....

First quote from critics on the back cover of fighter is an endorsement by Albert Speer. Lots of new (to me) facts about the Battle of Britain.

My book on Scottish weights and measures arrived yesterday from the US....