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What are you reading - Part II


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16 hours ago, Ray S said:

I am revisiting a book I read when I was about 10 or 11 years old, Moby Dick.

 

"Ahab beckons. He's dead, but he beckons."

 

Cheers,

Bill

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8 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

 

"Ahab beckons. He's dead, but he beckons."

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

I remember him 'waving' when wrapped up with Moby Dick at the end, and that is probably all I do really remember of it @Navy Bird

 

Ray

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just bought three old Ngaio Marsh hardbacks for a quid in the charity shop which will keep me going for a while. 🙂

 

Actually the majority of my reading comes from charity shops and when I've read them I donate them back again.

 

#Recycle.

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On 3/2/2023 at 12:58 AM, Navy Bird said:

"Ahab beckons. He's dead, but he beckons."

 

On 3/2/2023 at 9:03 AM, Ray S said:

 

I remember him 'waving' when wrapped up with Moby Dick at the end, and that is probably all I do really remember of it @Navy Bird

 

 

Well, I got that wrong, those words were not in my book! Perhaps it was a memory from the film. I am now seriously wondering if ever I did read it after all - I have images in my mind of the school room, the book cover and where I was though. I must be going slightly doolally! Oh yes, and in the book it was the Parsee who was seen wrapped up in hemp with Moby Dick, not Ahab which surprised me too as it did not tally with my memory either. Doh.

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book, despite struggling with the prose at times. I liked the way it became a documentary at times, and the final acts were a rivetting read.

 

Cheers,

 

Ray

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4 hours ago, Ray S said:

Well, I got that wrong, those words were not in my book! Perhaps it was a memory from the film.

 

Yes, it's a quote from the movie. Script by John Huston and Ray Bradbury of all people.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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The Day the Nazis Came: - Stephen R Matthews...

 

The true story of a childhood journey from being deported from Guernsey to a German prison camp....

 

(Edit: I've just noticed we're on page 40 after nearly 4 years,,we need to read more)...

Edited by Vince1159
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I've just finished 'Inside The Wicker Man: How Not To Make A Cult Movie' by Allan Brown.  If you're a fan of the film, as I am, then this is a book you will enjoy.  Loads of fascinating stories from the cast and crew, and the whole tangled story of it's distribution and the mystery of what happened to the missing footage, was it burned to recover the silver from the negative, or was it buried under a motorway.

 

Included are the tales of Britt Ekland's stunt derriere, and how the crew had to transport trees with artificial blossom on from location to location (the film was set in spring but was actually shot in October and November.  Cold!)  One story from Ingrid Pitt, who played the nymphomaniac librarian, tells how how Edward Woodward, in breaks from filming the final scenes, when he was barefoot and just wearing a thin shift, would put his freezing feet up Ingrid's dress and warm his feet on her thighs.  Not very gentlemanly of Mr. Woodward, and it apparently took a hell of long time for Ms Pitt to get her thighs warm again.

 

The book also has the story of the sequel, written by Anthony Shaffer, but, thankfully, never filmed.  

 

A great read, I enjoyed it.

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Having finished Andy McNab’s whatever it takes, I’m now into The Apollo Murders, by astronaut Chris Hadfield, set during the mid ‘70’s, when Apollo 18 went to the moon and   ………….. American and Russians race toward a secret bounty ….. the title of the book gives an element of the plot away!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Nobody read a book since 17th March??

 

I've read the following;

 

The Apollo murders as described above;

 

The story of the Marquee by Nick Pendleton

 

This is a fascinating account of the world's greatest music club, the Marquee in London. If you were a band, you couldn't become a star until you'd played there, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stones, Queen, Who, Elton John, Faces, Guns n Roses, AC/DC, Clapton and so many more - I am sure I noticed the Beatles name as playing there, though I don't think Kate Bush or the Beach Boys did.

 

Its heyday was 1963 to 1978, which covered the pop and rock and punk eras. The band's that played after then, and at the new premises when it was forced to move to Charing Cross Road were never quite the same as in those 15 years.

 

If you've ever heard of the Marquee, or you're interested in the "pop/rock" era, I would break my golden rule (never recommend a book/film/album that I like to anyone else) and say this is essential reading.

 

Denim and Leather by Michael Hann

 

The story of the new wave of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM , again a fascinating and compelling read if you like rock, or metal music. 

 

It is packed with interviews of people involved in the music, from Neal Kay, the DJ who first championed the music, to Def Leppard, Diamond Head, Tygers of Pan Tang, Venom, Judas Priest, Saxon, and many many others.

 

Again, if you are interested in this music, I recommend it as an essential read - one thing though, I guarantee you will be as outraged at the many accounts of managers blatantly ripping off many (some very young, just out of school) bands and leaving them penniless, and in some cases, the premature break up of promising bands.

 

The Gift by Alan Titchmarsh

 

If you like a gentle, easy read, based in his home territory of Yorkshire, this is for you. I read his books partly as an antidote to some of the more - visceral, shall we say books I read, but this is very much his style, farming in the dales, a gift, and the vicissitudes that visit the family of sheep farmers, and partly for a couple of night's gentle reading before turning the light out at bedtime.

Edited by Whofan
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Knowing there are probably a few Discworld devotees on here… I’m currently reading, and much enjoying “Terry Pratchett: a life with footnotes” by his long time assistant Rob Wilkins. It’s informative, moving and funny (sometimes laugh out loud), and written in a style that’s not pastiche Pratchett, but appeals in exactly the same way to Pratchett fans as the True Voice(fn1)….

Highly recommended, if you like that sort of thing.

best,

M.

fn1: no that’s not a Discworld reference, despite the Capital Letters

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I'm on the last part of Three days in June by James O'Connell

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Days-June-Minute-Minute/dp/B08WJKQYXQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1DCIHO7JIS5SY&keywords=three+days+in+june&qid=1681588787&s=books&sprefix=three+days+in+june%2Cstripbooks%2C109&sr=1-1

 

An oral history of 3 Para's battle to tale Mount Longdon in the Falklands. What a read! 

Essentially the battle is recounted over and over by members of each unit as they lived through it. Radio transcripts are in there too.

You feel the cold, the darkness, the tracers, incoming rounds, and the pain of your mates as they are hit. 

If you have even a passing interest in the Falklands conflict, This is a Must read.

 

 

 

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A Handful of Good Men: The SAS & the Battle for Rhodesia, by Hannes Wessels. My first read after reading nothing much during the hop harvest, too tired to concentrate for long. I borrowed the book from a friend who served for a couple of years with Intaf, Rhodesia's Internal Affairs Dept, during 1976-77. For many it would be a polarising read, dealing with what was a very controversial subject in its day. The language in describing the rebels/freedom fighters, depending on your point of view was certainly not that of today's PC world but overall, I found it an interesting, enjoyable & informative read about events that occurred in my younger days & which I'd really only being aware of through mainstream media with their not always completele objectivity. Accounts in the book of some of the behind the scenes political manoeuvring came as a revelation. Apart from anything else, it has some excellent descriptions of operations at the time. An era that history has shown the truth to be somewhere other than reported at the time.

Now reading, Heat, Thirst & Ivory by Fred Everett, the story of a teenage elephant poacher in what is modern day Botswana, in the 1930s, borrowed from the same friend & quite a lovely read despite the blood thirsty seeming topic, some lovely descriptions of the area, the time & its wildlife.

Steve.

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21 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Knowing there are probably a few Discworld devotees on here… I’m currently reading, and much enjoying “Terry Pratchett: a life with footnotes” by his long time assistant Rob Wilkins. It’s informative, moving and funny (sometimes laugh out loud), and written in a style that’s not pastiche Pratchett, but appeals in exactly the same way to Pratchett fans as the True Voice(fn1)….

Highly recommended, if you like that sort of thing.

best,

M.

fn1: no that’s not a Discworld reference, despite the Capital Letters

 

Yes, I read it a while ago and enjoyed it very much.  Rather a difficult read at the end though.  Sir Terry is sadly missed, but I wonder what he would have made of todays world?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Doctor for friend and foe - Rick Jolly. I'm about halfway through and have to force myself to put it down when it's time to go to sleep.

I'm not sure if this is a rewrite of his Red and green life machine book which I read some years ago. But that was good too.

 

In Spalding today and found the Marie Curie charity shop down a backstreet. Lots of good books and music in this one.

I found another Falklands book. Hostile Skies by RAF Sea Harrier pilot David Morgan DSC. They do have more but I resisted!

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I've just started No Plan B, the latest Jack Reacher book.

 

Having just finiashed Vera Wang's unsolicited advice for murderers, by Jesse Sutanto, which isn't instructions for murderers at all.

 

It's a book about a Chinese tea shop owner who solves a murder, and is reasonably entertaining.

Edited by Whofan
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm now well into Bad Actors, by Nick Herron, the latest Slough House book, featuring the slow horses led by Jackson Lamb, another deliciously unputdownable book.

 

With a number of other books to go on the bedside cabinet, I'm wondering if I'll get any modelling done!

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A quick read but a darned interesting one was "Flying High" by Rex Thompson, a Kiwi that served as a Wop/Ag in the RAF from early 1943 till demobbed in 1945. The book was much more than just this though, it is a full autobiography, starting with a rather harsh upbringing in the back blocks of the central North Island pre-war to a career as a builder post war, a lot of interest for me as a reflection of New Zealand & its values through those times.

Now just about finished "The Hunters Wife" by Katherine Scholes, chic lit set in Africa, I've read several of hers & the settings are convincingly portrayed & the tales are well told. Nice escapist reading. :)

Steve.

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