Kevin's Watch

I read a very good review in the BBC History Magazine today of a new book - "Britain Begins" by Barry Cunliffe - which is a history of Britain (including Ireland) from 10,000 BC to the Norman Conquest. I'm about to download it to my kindle for less than half the original price, and was just reading the reviews on Amazon, of which this is the funniest I have ever read!

"I bought this for my husband for Christmas, obviously he hasn't read it yet but he says it looks very good."

I'm glad to say that most of the other reviews were excellent.

The Wildlife Trusts Guide to Wild Flowers

Krazy Kat wrote:The Wildlife Trusts Guide to Wild Flowers

Really??

"Britain Begins" is brilliant. I had no idea that the Beaker people came from near Lisbon!

Mainly just pictures. I can't draw or paint from memory and needed the book to add illustration to a letter I was writing.

The Dog Rose Rosa canina is a personal favourite.

Ah, my parents had some of those. I don't think they have a scent? Not like the Dog Daisies I have in my garden. I told the grandsons not to sniff them and guess what?

Wuthering Heights.

Just 'finished' The Broken God. I say 'finished' because I skipped a chunk towards the end. Shhhh... don't tell Danlo, but I got bored. Loved Neverness, but for me, TBG got the mix between plot and ideas wrong; not enough of the former. It either needed more action or, cough, an edit. Don't get me wrong, I love ideas in my books but, in my subjective opinion, they needed condensing here.

Ok, off to read Emily and check to see if Danlo has unfriended me yet.

At the start of the week I read Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And today I finally managed to churn out a review on the blog. Excellent book.

I just finished The Golden Cup by Belva Plain. It was fun to read, but I do not know who or what the golden cup was. It must've been some artsy metaphor that went over my head. I have another Plain book on the shelf that I will probably read someday, but now it is time to re-read the Chronicles, so my reading agenda is all booked up for 2013. ( I read slowly, and do not invest much time in the day to reading, so I only get in about one book a month )

Shaun das Schaf wrote:Wuthering Heights.

Just 'finished' The Broken God. I say 'finished' because I skipped a chunk towards the end. Shhhh... don't tell Danlo, but I got bored. Loved Neverness, but for me, TBG got the mix between plot and ideas wrong; not enough of the former. It either needed more action or, cough, an edit. Don't get me wrong, I love ideas in my books but, in my subjective opinion, they needed condensing here.

Ok, off to read Emily and check to see if Danlo has unfriended me yet.

How long did you wait between DoD and TBG?

It works a lot better if you just read them as one big book.

--A

One after the other, no break.

Willing to admit it may have been 'attention span' issues on my behalf, but still can't help feeling TBG could have benefited from a little more story in the mix. All subjective of course and either way, both books a phenomenal achievement.

I have The Wild and War in Heaven here to read but I think I'll spend some more time in the 19th Century first. Have you read these two, and how did you go with them?

Earlier this week I read Starve Better by Nick Mamatas. It's subtitled "Surviving the Endless Horror of the Writing Life", and is a collection of articles on how to write, and how to get paid for, short fiction and nonfiction. Lots of honest and no nonsense advice, very good. Though I'm probably never going to do the smart thing and follow it.

Reading Morgan Llywelyn's On Raven's Wing, the story of Cuchulain, one of the great heroes of Irish Storytelling.

--A

Shirley, Charlotte Bronte.

And Murrin, might have to take a look at Starve Better - awesome title btw. Will soon be leaving the security of full time work to return to the joys of freelancing, and will probably be looking at more writing and less editing gigs.

Avatar wrote:Reading Morgan Llywelyn's On Raven's Wing, the story of Cuchulain, one of the great heroes of Irish Storytelling.

--A

Is that her new one? I thought she'd done him already.

It's not new, I've just never read it before. Published in 1990 actually.

It's not bad, a bit more "magicky" than I'm used to from her. In the past, its always been more subtle. It reads like an early novel...I was very surprised to discover it was written after Bard. Although apparently before Druids which I also liked.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it incorporated the story of Deidre and the Sons of Uisnach as well. In fact, it could be considered an extensive expansion of it. Almost all the details of the original are incorporated, including the names of everybody involved.

--A

I remember that! She did a nice job on poor Deirdre's tale.

Ah, her new one is After Rome: A Novel of Celtic Britain. Another to add to the tottering TBR pile.

Looked her up and surprised to see there are plenty I've never heard of. Will no doubt accumulate them over time.

--A

Oh yes, I'm back to Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles...picked up book one where I left off for a nice long sci-fi binge.

(Oh, and yesterday I read Bill Brysons Notes from a Small Country & Notes from a Large Country in one volume.)

--A

Reading That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx at the moment. I don't read that much 'literary' fiction (where's luci anyway? ), but this is good stuff. I think I read The Shipping News years ago, but have no real memory of it. Proulx does quirky characters really well, and the consistent quality and density of her writing is impressive.

u.