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

[Dark Black]

Been reading quite a few biographies recently.

Currently, "Blade Runners, Deer Hunters & Blowing the Bloody Doors Off ..." by Michael Deeley

Makes for a good read about the life of the producer of a number of cult movies over the years.

Amusing fact:

The Black Daimler used to pick up Michael Caine's character from prison near the start of the film, where he picks up a flag from the glove box and exclaims "This car belongs to the Pakistani Ambassador!".... was actually the Pakistani Ambassador's car. It was regularly serviced by the garage that had been tasked with supplying many of the cars for the move and was quietly lent to the film crew without the owner's knowledge. The line was written in to the film as a result.

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The illustrated history of Gadget Warfare: The Vietnam War" by F. Clifton Berry Jnr.* 82nd Airborne.

All that materiel, all those crazy weapons, Puff the Magic Dragon, Agent Orange, Daisy Cutters, CBU-55 FAE.

And they still lost to little men with AK47s and bicycles.

If there's something to be grateful to Harold Wilson for, it's keeping us out of that mess.

*That's the late F. Cliffton Berry Jnr.

https://www.airforcemag.com/f-clifto...-jr-1931-2020/

Done. I have no idea why it's taken 30 years to get a round tuit.

Next: "The Donkeys" by that Alan Clark chap, celebrating the genius of Kitchener, French, and, of course, dear old Dougie "Butcher" Haig.

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The illustrated history of Gadget Warfare: The Vietnam War" by F. Clifton Berry Jnr.* 82nd Airborne.

All that materiel, all those crazy weapons, Puff the Magic Dragon, Agent Orange, Daisy Cutters, CBU-55 FAE.

And they still lost to little men with AK47s and bicycles.

If there's something to be grateful to Harold Wilson for, it's keeping us out of that mess.

*That's the late F. Cliffton Berry Jnr.

https://www.airforcemag.com/f-clifto...-jr-1931-2020/

[eazy]

Just Bought : Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities - Bettany Hughes
Reread & recycled : Battle Circle - Piers Anthony (found it in the loft)

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "AD500" by Simon Young: a fictionalised journey through the dark age British Isles by a Byzantine "embassy".

Can't say it's a brilliant read but it's a good deal easier going than the aforementnioned.

Done. Amusing enough. One can see why the Sais were so loved.

Next: TBD. There's so little choice. .

A book extracted from a bookshelf upstairs:

"A brief history of Stonehenge" by the recently late Aubrey Burl (1926 - 2020). Mostly Sais free I'd have thunk since they didn't start turning up until about 400 AD and it would appear that those who built it buggered off before the Celts turned up.

Ancient Alien Researchers are of the opinion that the Aliens from the Pleiades abducted them.

[DoctorStrangelove]

A bit of a change: "Garry Halliday and the disappearing diamonds".

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garry-Halli.../dp/B0000CKQWV

You really have to be an to remember these epics.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162080...m_flmg_act_134

as watched on a 12" 9" b&w Pye console TV back in the mysts of time of 1960.

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1950-Pye-CV306.JPG

Done. One had forgotten how dumb Bill Dodds was, played by the late Terrence Alexander rather before he became Jim Bergerac's father in law.

Next: TBD.

[sadkingbilly]

rereading the jean le flambeur series by Hannu Rajaniemi.
my brain hurts ;-)

[DoctorStrangelove]

A bit of a change: "Garry Halliday and the disappearing diamonds".

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garry-Halli.../dp/B0000CKQWV

You really have to be an to remember these epics.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162080...m_flmg_act_134

as watched on a 12" 9" b&w Pye console TV back in the mysts of time of 1960.

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1950-Pye-CV306.JPG

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: next: The Vitamin Murders by James Fergusson: the murders in France in 1952 of the Drummond family. (Seems like an easy read, must have matured on the shelf for about 10 years or so).

A Brief History of Science by Thomas Crump. The existence of a preface of some 20 pages may bode ill on this one.

Done: A book I ended up reading the chapters thereof in reverse order.

It was still hard going.

Next: "AD500" by Simon Young: a fictionalised journey through the dark age British Isles by a Byzantine "embassy".

Can't say it's a brilliant read but it's a good deal easier going than the aforementnioned.

[ladymuck]

I haven't read a book in ages. Every time I see this thread pop up I feel ashamed for not making an effort.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: next: The subterranean railway by Christian Wolmar, being the history of the London Underground.

Probably not as easy a read as the Vitamins book but probably easier than The Brief History of Science has proved to be. .

Done. Quite inneresting in its way, lots of places I've never heard of & dunno where they are.

Next: "Drugs of Hallucination" by Sidney Cohen.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

[oracleslave]

Lonesome Dove - Larry Mcmurtry

[Andy2022]

Just finished

Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World's Most Secretive Industry – a really good read on an investigation into a hijacked tanker

The Glass Hotel – fiction novel by the author of Station Eleven, not quite sure what I think of it but tempted to read it again (was read on a long overnight flight)

[DoctorStrangelove]

Done: next: The Vitamin Murders by James Fergusson: the murders in France in 1952 of the Drummond family. (Seems like an easy read, must have matured on the shelf for about 10 years or so).

Done: next: The subterranean railway by Christian Wolmar, being the history of the London Underground.

Probably not as easy a read as the Vitamins book but probably easier than The Brief History of Science has proved to be. .

[northernladuk]

I'm currently reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome.

As they say, a book is a magic portal to another dimension.

Before The FOG By Finnerty-Morris, Mary