READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Stanley]

Finished Silent Spring and yes, I'll admit that I gutted it rather than read every word, it was so depressing to read and reflect that many of the ills she described in the 1960s are still with us today.
Moved on to a new book by Brian Lavery, 'Conquest of the Sea', good reviews but it turns out to be a coffee table book and quite shallow. I'd have liked more detail. I shall finish it and then re-read 'God's Playground', by Norman Davies. It's his two volume history of Poland and I think that I'll get more out of it now bolstered by some of my recent reading.

[Stanley]

Rattle through 'Conquest of the Sea' and have started on the more meaty two volumes of 'God's Playground'. Norman Davies' history of Poland. Hard work but rewarding. Who knows, I might even understand Northern Europe eventually if I keep at it!

[Stanley]

God's Playground is going well. Solid, well written history. Well worth the effort reading it.....

[Stanley]

I found this in Norman Davies' 'God's Playground:
In 1519 Maciej Miechowitsa's 'Cronica Polonorum' was the first printed work in Poland to be withdrawn by the ecclesiastical censor for naming the lady who, in 1493, on return from a Roman Pilgrimage, introduced syphilis into Poland.
I do like a good little known fact!

[plaques]

Not exactly in the “lately” category but willing to sit down and read again.
Looking at current events both at home and abroad I would recommend..

Spies / Surveillance “1984” George Orwell.
Capitalism / Austerity “Animal Farm” George Orwell.
World order / Satire “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley.
Afghanistan / Syria “Charlie Wilson’s War” George Crile.

These things are happening now to those who can see.

[Stanley]

Not much reading going on the last few days as I build a stockpile of articles for the BET.

[Stanley]

Same report. I keep dipping into Vol1 of God's Playground for light entertainment but all my time goes into the LTP at the moment.

[Stanley]

Finished Vol 1 of God's Playground. If anyone thinks English history is complicated they should try Polish history. I think I'm beginning to get my head round the story to 1795, now I get onto the modern stuff which is just as complicated. But in a slightly more understandable way....

[Stanley]

Finished Vol 2 of God's Playground. What a story..... Not sure what to look at next, I'm waiting for a book coming....

[Stanley]

I've been relaxing after my blast on the LTP by re-reading some of the early le Carre books. I have a book ordered but it's not come, must tweak Amazon! I'm thinking of reading Phillipa Gregory after seeing the mess that has been made of the White Queen....

[Stanley]

I'm reading a book, 'An Underworld at War' about spivs and racketeers in wartime Britain, mainly London. Not the best read I have ever seen but a good reference book for many rationing matters in WW2. I've ordered the Cousin's War trilogy by Phillippa Gregory after hearing her splendid two part series on BBC2.

[Sue]

What are the titles of the individual books in the trilogy Stanley. I think I have read them separately.
I have read a lot of Phillipa Gregory.

[Stanley]

White Queen, Red Queen and Lady of the Rivers. Slightly confusing because there is also 'The Women of the Cousin's War, The Duchess, the Queen and the King's Mother' but I think that's a separate volume.

[Sue]

No I haven't read it. I ave read The White Queen, The Queens Fool about Hannah Green, and a trilogy about the Boleyn sisters and another couple which are in France so I can't check. I also have some on my Kindle but I get them mixed up with Alison Weir novels.

[Sue]

The Kingmakers Daughter and The Lady of the Rivers. I have also just read on my kindle The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer, written some years before The Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England, which I also have but have not yet read. I enjoyed the former considerably, very informative and a pleasant read.

[Stanley]

The plot thickened when the books arrived. The 'trilogy' includes 'The Kingmaker's Daughter' as a fourth book!

[Sue]

After reading these I read a bit of non fiction round the subject too. I like to follow a historical novel with a bit of research.

[Stanley]

Same here Sue. I was up to speed I think and Philippa is very accurate and favours some of the later research. Finished 'The White Queen' yesterday and enjoyed it because she brings immediacy to the bald historical record. I trust her.....

[Sue]

Interesting as I never knw if I am taken in by a good novel!

[Gloria]

Hi Sue, I bought an Alisonl Weir book at the airport. I had never had one of hers before, but I really enjoyed it--A Dangerous Inheritance. I used to be an avid reader of Jean Plaidy years ago.

[Sue]

I don't think I have read that one. I have read Innocent Traiter and a couple of others which I can't remember. They may be in France.


Oh yes, The Princes in the Tower

[Stanley]

I'm enjoying the Red Queen but reading may be on hold for a day or two as I do more work on the 2013 version of the LTP.

[Stanley]

Finished 'The Red Queen'. Glad I wasn't married to her! Now I am on 'Lady of the Rivers' the story of Margaret d'Anjou so we're back in Jeanne D'Arc country in the 1440s. Interesting seeing Philippa's take on the same period from different angles. By coincidence there was a prog on BBC4 last night about the same events.....

[Sue]

That's is what I thought Stanley. I liked Lady of the Rivers best.

[Stanley]

What strikes me is that 'history as fiction' is often decried by 'serious historians' but if, like Philippa's work it is firmly based on historical research, it can be much easier to grasp. I certainly understand the Wars of the Roses much better now.