That looks tremendous, Iain. I love the old Penguins.A great game classic - apart from the short story The Man Who Would be King - the best of Kipling for me. I'm just about to re-read the following, my sister sent me a handsome vintage Penguin edition. - I.
View attachment 76760
@Scotshave @Blademonkey
My sister collects first edition Penguin crime fiction - the book she sent me came from here - https://www.thepenguinchap.com/That looks tremendous, Iain. I love the old Penguins.
I'll read "The Man Who would be King" next as I have only seen the film...A great game classic - apart from the short story The Man Who Would be King - the best of Kipling for me. I'm just about to re-read the following, my sister sent me a handsome vintage Penguin edition. - I.
View attachment 76760
@Scotshave @Blademonkey
Much scholarly study has been devoted to Kipling's inspiration for the story - the author never explicitly said. In my opinion most likely to be either Alexander Gardner or Josiah Harlan, or indeed, a conflation of the two. Kipling working as a journalist in northern India would have put him in the right place to pick up traveller's tales of the extremely eccentric pair. There are excellent biographies on them - well worth a read if you are interested. - I.I'll read "The Man Who would be King" next as I have only seen the film...
Much scholarly study has been devoted to Kipling's inspiration for the story - the author never explicitly said. In my opinion most likely to be either Alexander Gardner or Josiah Harlan, or indeed, a conflation of the two. Kipling working as a journalist in northern India would have put him in the right place to pick up traveller's tales of the extremely eccentric pair. There are excellent biographies on them - well worth a read if you are interested. - I.
I’m just running through the Tom Clancy’s in chronological story order, not the published order. In the first few chapters of Debt of Honour currently.
Spent a lot of last year and the early part of this re-reading the Hornblowers, Patrick ’O Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series and the Julian Stockwin Kydd novels. Thundering, swashbuckling stuff with the reek of the ages and fabulous, intricate characters and interwoven plots.
I like Tom Rolt. His ghost stories of Britain’s waterways and similar areas can be very chilling.With the Kaiser being given the boot in Arabia by Peter O'Toole I've two more on the boil. The first is LTC Rolts bucolic jaunt through the Irish canals in the late 1940's. The second is Max Reisch's adventures with the Afrika Corps and escape to Sicily after the German surrender in Tunisia.
View attachment 76802
View attachment 76931
Not my usual sort of thing - my prior crime fiction reading was really just limited to Chandler and Conan Doyle but I hugely enjoyed this. It was sent to me by my sister who is a bit of an expert on the genre. Set in 1937 rural Japan and the gruesome events surrounding a high status wedding in a remote house. It is winter and snow is falling. Highly atmospheric, it falls into the category of a 'locked room' murder - doors and windows sealed from the inside, no evidence of anybody entering or exiting but corpses none the less. Local police baffled until an eccentric young private detective arrives...... Charmingly written - the author has an endearing habit of breaking the 'fourth wall' and speaking directly to the reader in places. It isn't that long - I read it in a couple of sittings and found myself caught up in the atmosphere it creates. The solution is brilliantly ingenious but I'm not going to tell you - obviously. You have up until chapter 13 to work it out for yourself - the reveal begins in the next chapter. Highly recommended - one of my books of the year so far. Cheers - I.
@Scotshave @Blademonkey @Missoni
I do like Japanese literature. Despite his right-wing sympathies in some of his works, Yukio Mishima fascinates me. I also think that the Japanese have a particular art in portraying existential dread; in book and in film.View attachment 76931
Not my usual sort of thing - my prior crime fiction reading was really just limited to Chandler and Conan Doyle but I hugely enjoyed this. It was sent to me by my sister who is a bit of an expert on the genre. Set in 1937 rural Japan and the gruesome events surrounding a high status wedding in a remote house. It is winter and snow is falling. Highly atmospheric, it falls into the category of a 'locked room' murder - doors and windows sealed from the inside, no evidence of anybody entering or exiting but corpses none the less. Local police baffled until an eccentric young private detective arrives...... Charmingly written - the author has an endearing habit of breaking the 'fourth wall' and speaking directly to the reader in places. It isn't that long - I read it in a couple of sittings and found myself caught up in the atmosphere it creates. The solution is brilliantly ingenious but I'm not going to tell you - obviously. You have up until chapter 13 to work it out for yourself - the reveal begins in the next chapter. Highly recommended - one of my books of the year so far. Cheers - I.
@Scotshave @Blademonkey @Missoni
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?