Apparently I’m a dyed-in-the-wool librocubilarist – who knew!
Very short anecdotal read on human fallibility when it comes to our favourite subject – BOOKS.
We had our breakfasts – whatever happens in a house – robbery or murder, it doesn’t matter, you must have your breakfast.
–THE MOONSTONE BY WILKIE COLLINS
Jam Roly-Poly and all!
This is quite a step up from your average cookbook, J F-W has some lovely stories to tell, nostalgic asides, and some great quotes from literature. The downside – no piccies.
A definite keeper.
Description: For two years, Qanta Ahmed worked in one of the world’s most modern hospitals in Saudi Arabia. In ‘A Stranger in the Kingdom’, she recalls her experiences of being a woman in a fundamentalist Islamic state.
Opening: SEEKING RESPITE FROM THE INTENSITY of medicine, I trained my eye on the world without. Already, the midmorning heat rippled with fury, as sprinklers scattered wet jewels onto sunburned grass. Fluttering petals waved in the Shamaal wind, strongest this time of day
Some aspects were fascinating.
From the description: This is a book for everyone who has ever wondered why pubs should be called The Cross Keys, The Dew Drop Inn or The Hope and Anchor. You’ll be glad to know that there are very good – strange and memorable – reasons behind them all.
After much research about (and in) pubs, Albert Jack brings together the stories behind pub names to reveal how they offer fascinating and subversive insights on our history, customs, attitudes and jokes in just the same way that nursery rhymes do. The Royal Oak, for instance, commemorates the tree that hid Charles II from Cromwell’s forces after his defeat at Worcester; The Bag of Nails is a corruption of the Bacchanals, the crazed followers of Bacchus, the god of wine and drunkenness; The Cat and the Fiddle a mangling of Catherine La Fidele and a guarded gesture of support for Henry VIII’s first, Catholic, wife Catherine of Aragon; plus many, many more.
Here too are even more facts about everything from ghosts to drinking songs to the rules of cribbage and shove ha’penny, showing that, ultimately, the story of pub history is really the story of our own popular history.
Alphabetically listed, here is an example of the goods:
The Alma: THE WAR TO NAME ALL PUBS: There are many inns around Britain bearing this name, or a variation of it. The Battle of Alma, Heroes of Alma, Heights of Alma and the Alma Arms are just a few examples. The Alma is the name of the major river running through the area of the Ukraine formerly known as the Crimea. On 20 September 1854 it became the scene of the first key battle of the Crimean War, fought by the British and her European allies against the Russians over lands once occupied by the declining Ottoman Empire.
Definitely one to keep on the e-reader when out and about in UK. Wouldn’t it be fun to make a holiday just ticking off the names. haha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hukbu…
Description: For the mere sake of adventure, danger, and the “fun of the thing,” Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak minded friend, Charles Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, a perfectly harmless man named Ronald Raglan. They place the body in a wooden chest, and to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead youth’s father, to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. The horror and tension are worked up gradually; thunder grows outside, the guests leave, and we see the reactions of the two murderers, watched closely by the suspecting lame poet, Rupert Cadell. Finally they break down under the strain and confess their guilt.
Opening: On 7 November 1801, under conditions of the greatest secrecy, two figures were discreetly admitted to the gardens of Government House in Madras.
501 pages; withdrawn from Hampshire County Libraries. Maps, and photos galore; of wrist-breaking proportions.
5* City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi
4* Nine Lives
5* In Xanadu: A Quest
6* From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East
5* The Age of Kali: Indian Travels & Encounters
5* Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan
3.5* White Mughals: Love And Betrayal In Eighteenth Century India
Narrated by Grover Gardner 6 hrs and 50 mins
Description: Day of Infamy is Walter Lord’s gripping, vivid re-creation of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The listener accompanies Admiral Nagumo’s task force as it sweeps toward Hawaii; looks on while warning after warning is ignored on Oahu; and is enmeshed in the panic, confusion, and heroism of the final attack.
The best title for today, after the Friday 13th terrorism in Paris yeah, Day of Infamy indeed.
Short enough to keep my attention whilst hands were busy with chores, unsettling that no-one took the radar blips seriously.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06p48lz
Description: Out of the blue, Clare’s husband goes missing leaving her alone with their seven year old son and a huge black dog to look after. Award-winning playwright Katie Hims’ funny and moving play about family, loss and love, starring Claire Rushbrook.
Original music by Nina Perry
Cellist ….. Danny Keane
Directed by Mary Peate
Katie Hims is one of Radio Four’s most prolific playwrights. Listeners will know her writing from Radio Four’s World War One drama series Home Front and many other acclaimed radio dramas including Lost Property and King David and adaptations of the original Nordic Noir series Martin Beck, Elmore Leonard’s The Hot Kid and Black Beauty. Katie’s most recent stage play was Billy The Girl for Clean Break Theatre Company.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0075bbg
Visiting her dad in the asylum, Angela is curiously affected by the situation of his loyal secretary. Stars Barbara Leigh-Hunt.
Bettie's Books 