Reply to: CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[Croesus]

Duple: 70 Years of Coachbuilding by Alan Towsin.

As an ex Mech. Eng. an interesting read.

Had no idea of the origins of the company name - the founder's original venture was the production of a convertible pick up - during the week, you used it for deliveries and on the weekend, you removed the truck bed and you were left with a family car.
Hence the name Duple - reflecting duality of purpose.

The duality didn't stop there - They company, now making buses, relocated to Blackpool and found that all their orders were being produced during the winter leaving the workforce little to do during the summer months so during this time of year, they were all deployed to pull pints in the town's many hotels and pubs.

I would imagine anyone over the age of 50 will have memories of coach trips or maybe being taken to school in a Duple coach.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The Reluctant Gunner" by Bernard Small, being the story of a 41 year old conscripted as a gunner in WWII and who hated every minute of it.

Remained a gunner until VE day, then was transferred and ended up RAMC in Greece in an Indian regiment (or whatever), even worse than the preceding business in Italy. Demobbed December 1945.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: TBD.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "All quiet on the western front" by Remarque.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "The Reluctant Gunner" by Bernard Small, being the story of a 41 year old conscripted as a gunner in WWII and who hated every minute of it.

Remained a gunner until VE day, then was transferred and ended up RAMC in Greece in an Indian regiment (or whatever), even worse than the preceding business in Italy. Demobbed December 1945.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The Don Camillo Omnibus" by Giovanni Guareschi. (Actually reading "The Little World of Don Camillo" since that's the mandatory other volume I have & will be off to Oxfam quicker).

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Rather enjoyable. The situation in Italy post WWII was rather "inneresting" to say the least. Particularly liked "Comrade Camillo". The story "Three stalks of wheat" makes one think of all those poor bastards who disappeared into Siberia never to be seen again.

Next: TBD.

[WTFH]

In Mandarin ??

It's from Yorkshire, nowt foreign in it.

[sadkingbilly]

Currently reading: 28 page instructions on building a shed (excluding the roof, which has its own 8 page book)

In Mandarin ??

[WTFH]

Currently reading: 28 page instructions on building a shed (excluding the roof, which has its own 8 page book)

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Weapons of Mass Destruction" by Robert Hutchinson (2003).

Done: off to Oxfam with hit. Really dated, being 2003.

Next: "All quiet on the western front" by Remarque.

[Croesus]

I've just finished Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell.

A fascinating account of 3 bloody days in 1815.

I really want to go and visit the site now as I feel so aqcquainted with Hougement, La Haie Sainte and the hillslopes atop which Wellington stationed his men.

Some years after the battle, they constructed a giant mound in the middle of the battlefield with a monument on top of it.

Apparently, Wellington was not best pleased when he discovered this.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The Once and Future King" by T.H.White. The Arthurian Leg End. A sword. And some sorcery.

It's a bit fecking long at 800 pages. So starting it on 4/4/26, we'll eventually find out how gripping it proves to be. .

Well the first book* was amusing enough: it was downhill all the way after that. The last 20 pages took a week mostly due to a reluctance to read any more of it.

I suspect much of it was rather over my head, as a rude mechanical, like. . They fecking love it on goodreads: I'm with the one star reviewers: long, tedious, and hard to read, without much of a story once you've read the fecking thing. Definitely £11 down the swannee.

Off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "The Don Camillo Omnibus" by Giovanni Guareschi. (Actually reading "The Little World of Don Camillo" since that's the mandatory other volume I have & will be off to Oxfam quicker, er, they're going at the same time as it transpires).

*turns out Book One: The Sword in the Stone was used in the Disney film. Wisely enough, Disney ignored the remaining 600 pages of philosophy and tedium.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "I was Hitler's Chauffeur" by Erich Kempka. He wasn't very keen on Martin Bormann.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. He seemed to like the mad bugger, but there you go. Bits of it made one almost sorry for the poor sods in the bunker, especially the Goebels kids.

Next: "Weapons of Mass Destruction" by Robert Hutchinson (2003). Chapter one: "Doctor Strangelove lives!". .

Some doubtful stuff in there: in particular Fat Man was not a gun device. Sadam didn't have WMDs. etc. etc.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The canopy of time" by Brian Aldiss. 1959 collection of short stories.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Some good stories, many were pretty meh, to be honest. Never been one of my goto authors.

Next: TBD.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Time Trap" by Keith Laumer. The one with the giant rutabaga aliens.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Took no time at all to read that, a refreshing change from some of the turgid tomes. .

I remembered reading it back in the 70s: the rutabaga thing being so memorable.

Next: "The canopy of time" by Brian Aldiss. 1959 collection of short stories.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Vile Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: TBD.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Decline and Fall" by Evelyn Waugh.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Vile Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh.

Not getting much out of this one. .