Category: READING

Last night I finished reading Francis Wheen’s book “How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World“. This is a book by Guardian journalist Wheen that sets out to explore how modern thinking has been taken over by irrational and ill-supported ideas and frameworks. I picked it up in my local Oxfam shop and thought it looked like the kind of book I might enjoy; the cover claims that it is “hilarious” and there are other reviews that describe it as “entertaining” and “amusing”. I didnt really find much to laugh at in it and rather plodded through it, not exactly not enjoying it but certainly not lapping it up with gusto. I guess it required a bit more political knowledge than I possess and so I probably didn’t get all of the points it was trying to make. Still, there were some interesting part (I can’t remember any detail about what they were though…) and it certainly stretched my brain into areas that it doesn’t normally go why can’t be a bad thing.

Last night I finished reading “Fighter Boys” by Patrick Bishop, the very well written and thoroughly research account of how RAF Fighter Command won the battle for the skies over Britain in the summer of 1940 (the period commonly referred to as the Battle of Britain). The book is based on diaries, letters and records kept by various fighter pilots at the time and with interviews with surviving family members. It’s a fascinating read that left me wondering whether it would be beneficial for every young person in the country to read this book and to discover more about the fortitude and resilience shown by everyone involved in the efforts to defend British shores from German attack. I’m a bit of a sucker for old planes going back to childhood days building Airfix models but I didn’t properly know the history and when it is written down like this, with real people and real memories it hits home quite hard. So often you find yourself reading about the exploits of such-and-such a pilot only to end the paragraph with a short sharp sentence noting when and how they were killed. Sad, uplifting, interesting and challenging in equal measure this is a great read – perhaps a little on the long side, but then those who fought off the enemy forces day after day would also have enjoyed a little more brevity and they didn’t have any choice…

I recently finished reading the seventh novel in the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser – Flashman and the Redskins. MacDonald Fraser’s takes the character of Flashman from Thomas Brown’s “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in which Flashman is the bully who torments Tom Brown at Rugby School. In the Flashman novels, Flashie has grown up to be a high ranking soldier, knight of the realm, womaniser, cad, scoundrel and coward who works his way around the globe in a series of sdventures that bring him into contact with many famous characters and situations from real history. The novels are very cleverly done, being lightly edited versions of Flashman’s memoirs, backed up by footnotes to various types of corroborating historical evidence.

In Flashman and the Redskins, Flashie returns to the United States of America, first escaping from a tight spot by joining the wagon trains to the Californian goldrush and then, later in life, fetching up by a fairly convoluted route as a witness to General Custer’s last stand with the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. The two sections of Flashman’s life are cleverly tied together and the level of historical detail is so great that it almost spoils the flow of the story. Of course there is never any doubt that Flashman will come through unscathed with a few more female conquests along the way but the story gives another very readable dose of Flashman magic in another unusual setting.

I’ve never been much of a history buff but I do quite enjoy reading a bit of history and I have recently really enjoyed Robert Lacey‘s “Great Tales from English History 1: Cheddar Man to the Peasants Revolt”. The book covers the period 7150BC to 1381 via a series of short sharp chapters each telling the tale of a person (or group of people) who have some historical significance. So, in this volume, which is the first of three, there are chapters on well-known figures such as King Alfred, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart along with lesser-known ones like Elmer the Flying Monk. This is an easy read which whizzes you through this early period of English history (or at least history of the land that eventually becomes known as England), entertaining and informing along the way. Thoroughly recommended for someone like me who stopped studying history atthe age of about 13 but likes to know how everything fits together.

Sometimes I buy books not because I know that they are a good read but because I like the look of them. It might be the weight or feel of the volume or it might be the cover design but sometimes there’s just something about the book that draws me to it. This was the case a while back when I first saw the paperback editions of Andrea Camilleri‘s Inspector Montalbano novels (translated into English by Stephen Sartarelli). “The Snack Thief”  is the third Montalbano novel. Like the rest of the series (so far at least) the action is set in Sicily and although there is a crime (or two) to solve the books are really about the quirky characters of the Sicilian police and the bizarre goings on of the quirky Sicilian people. I enjoy these books because they are laced with subtle humour and charm. When I read them I feel like I should go to Sicily, but, perhaps surprisingly, it’s not the Mediterranean scenery that attracts me, it’s the food. Montalbano just adores traditional Sicilian food and throughout the books he is fed well by his housekeeper and by the chefs in the various cafes and restaurants he visits. These books make me want to eat food.

Just for completeness, I should add that The Snack Thief involves a murder, a small boy who steals other children’s lunch snacks, a snuggling racket, a secret service plot, another murder and lots of good food.

Did I remember to mention the food?

Usually when I write about a book that I have read I am writing from a perspective of having enjoyed reading it or, at least, having found it useful. Sadly, this time this isn’t the case. I came across the book “Problem Solving 101” by Ken Watanabe via Dan Roam’s Digital Roam website and because I had enjoyed Roam’s own book “The Back of a Napkin” I thought I would trust his recommendation… PS101 is a book about problem solving but it is written for children (this could be the root of my problem with it…). However, it is described as an adult bestseller “thanks to the powerful effectiveness” of the techniques it describes. I should have been more suspicious of that “adult bestseller” bit. PS101 is just too simplistic, rather silly and, in truth, doesn’t really provide anything that could be described as a powerful technique. As I read the book I was left with no feeling that there was any evidence to suggest that the stories being told had to turn out the way that they did because of the powerful problem solving techniques and that they could just as easily ended up with the child or children involved failing miserably to solve their problem(s). So for me this book was a dud although there is one thing good about it – it’s one of those small, perfectly formed hardback books with nice paper that just feels and looks good – it’s just a shame about what is inside.

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading John O’Farrell’s book “The Best A Man Can Get”. It tells the story of a married man with two young children and a third on the way who has set up a second life in which he goes to work writing advertising jingles whilst living a lazy and relaxed life in a room in a rented house with three other blokes. The idea is that he has got it all, a family life that he can return to for a few days at a time and a “single-bloke” life that he can escape to from the family life. Not surprisingly, in the end he gets found out and it all goes horribly wrong but in ther process he discovers much. It’s an amusing book at times but also rather painful to read – many of the observations do ring true though…

Over the last few years I have been working my way through Bernard Cornwell ‘s “Sharpe” series of novels. Richard Sharpe is an English soldier from the early part of the 19th century fighting battles in India, Denmark, Portugal and ultimately France (though I haven’t got this far yet). Each book follows a basic pattern – you know that Sharpe isn’t going to get killed and that the English will win so the drama always comes from two sources – i) there’s always someone, often on his own side, who Sharpe gets into a personal feud with who ultimately gets their comeuppence and ii) there’s always a girl who despite her best intentions to do otherwise falls for Sharpe (it’s just a question of how many pages into the book this happens). So the Sharpe novels are highly formulaic, but because of this picking one up to read is like getting in touch with an old friend and Bernard Cornwell is undoubtedly a master of the genre. Sharpe’s Escape is set in Portugal and involves Sharpe and his companions effecting a rather messy escape froma tight spot to re-join the English and Portuguese armies as they hold the French at bay north of Lisbon. I’m reading the series in historical order (not the order they were written) – so far it has been Sharpe’s… Tiger – Triumph – Fortress – Trafalgar – Prey – Rifles – Havoc – Eagle – Gold – Escape… next comes Fury.