CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done. Off to Oxfam with it. Rather hard going with small print and even smaller print in the footnotes.

Next: "Call for the dead", John leCarre.

Still haven't found "A murder of quality" despite the illusion* of having seen it somewhere in the garage on Monday. Ho hum.


*More like a delusion but there you go: certainly seems to have been some sort of mirage.

And a delusion it proved so to be: found in the bookcase behind this very chair, accompanied by a paperback copy of "Smiley's People" (this last particularly gratifying since I spent a whole £1 on a hardback bookclub edition a fortnight ago*), so:

Next: "A Murder of Quality" by John Le Carre (1962).


*Kept the hardback & got shot of the paperback: a £ well spent then.

[DoctorStrangelove]

And a delusion it proved so to be: found in the bookcase behind this very chair, accompanied by a paperback copy of "Smiley's People", so:

Next: "A Murder of Quality" by John Le Carre (1962).

Done. Very good. I like short books. .

Next: "The spy who came in from the cold" by John Le Carre. Once I've found a copy.

Found one in Waterstones once I'd figured out they shelved it under C rather than L. .

[Uncle Albert]

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie. I like a bit of Rushdie from time to time.

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The Dam Busters" by Paul Brickhill (1952, revised 1983).

So the film covers the first dams op, the book goes on to cover many more ops.

From bouncing bombs they went on to precision bombing with Tallboy and eventually Grand Slam bombs which Wallace had suggested in 1939 but The Powers That Be said that 500lb bombs were perfectly adequate and 12,000lb and 22,000lb bombs were a figment of his imagination.

The rate of attrition was dreadful.

Off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Reach for the sky: biog of Douglas Bader" by Paul Brickhill. This one is a 1950 hardback.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "A History of Wales" by John Davies being a translation of "Hanes Cymru" into Saesneg for the monoglot.

Done. The bits from 800 to 1282 were somewhat hard going. In fact I read it in chapters starting at the end & working back towards 800. His chapters were loooong.

Off to Oxfam with it, whence it came at the end of May.

Next: "The Arms Bazaar" by that Anthony Sampson geezer of "Anatomy of Britain" fame.

[vetran]

"The Dam Busters" by Paul Brickhill (1952, revised 1983).

So the film covers the first dams op, the book goes on to cover many more ops.

From bouncing bombs they went on to precision bombing with Tallboy and eventually Grand Slam bombs which Wallace had suggested in 1939 but The Powers That Be said that 500lb bombs were perfectly adequate and 12,000lb and 22,000lb bombs were a figment of his imagination.

The rate of attrition was dreadful.

Off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Reach for the sky: biog of Douglas Bader" by Paul Brickhill. This one is a 1950 hardback.

As it ever was, the idiots are in charge while brilliant minds bash their heads against the wall

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The Arms Bazaar (1977)" by that Anthony Sampson geezer of "Anatomy of Britain" fame.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. First read it back in the 70s. Maybe selling all that stuff to the Shah wasn't altogether a good idea.

Next: The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. A bit lighter, this one.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. A bit lighter, this one.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Amusing enough.

Next: "Trinity" by Frank Close: the tale of the Atomic Spy Klaus Fuchs Not in the mood for that at the moment.

"The Kennedy Conspiracy" by Anthony Summers. More bollox which may be replaced in turn by "Jambusters".

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The Dam Busters" by Paul Brickhill (1952, revised 1983).

Next: "Reach for the sky: biog of Douglas Bader" by Paul Brickhill. This one is a 1950 hardback.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Not as interesting as the Dam Busters, apparently Bader was upset with the amount he received in royalties, he was still upset after the agreement was altered, so it took decades before he watched the film.

Next: "Jambusters" by Julie Summers. I expect this to be an easier read. .

For the usual reasons I had two copies of this.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Amusing enough.

Next:
"The Kennedy Conspiracy" by Anthony Summers. More bollox which may be replaced in turn by "Jambusters".

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Wilderness of Mirrors & all that.

Next: "Fire and Steam" by Christian Wolmar, being Another Book About Railways. Dunno how long I've had this one but it must be 15 years or more. My dad had the paperback version which met Oxfam years ago in the ongoing but vain attempt* to thin the shelves a bit.


* well there are spaces now that there didn't used to be. . Thinning progresses.