Books - Reviews by ppint.

Books - Reviews by ppint.

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
ppint. 7th Jul 2022		Book Simon R. Green - Hawk And Fisher (1990)	Review an indication of how much control most authors have over how their babies get presented to the public: ''my hawk and fisher titles were perfectly acceptable to my british publisher, but not to the u.s. ''no haven for the guilty'' became ''hawk and fisher''. because: it was the first of a series starring hawk and fisher. ''devil take the hindmost'' became ''winner takes all''. because: the publisher believed most americans wouldn't know what hindmost meant. book 4, a gothic romance pastiche, was ''vengeance for a lonely man'' in the uk, and ''wolf in the fold'' in the us. because: the title was too long for the spine. and book 6, ''two kings in haven'' in the uk, became ''bones of haven'' in the us. because ... i haven't a clue. anti-monarchist feelings?'' - simon r. green, in drl's ansible #169, 8/2001 (lines re-set by yr hmbl srppnt.) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 5th Jul 2022		Book L. Neil Smith - Bretta Martyn (1998)	Review sequel to ''henry martyn'' l. neil smith (1989), q.v. more piracy in space, more buckles being swashed. fun. also a sequel to ''the wardove'' l. neil smith (1986), q.v. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 8th Jun 2022		Book Brian W. Aldiss - Barefoot In The Head (1971)	Rated 10/10 colin charteris, the viewpoint character(s!), is on a road trip across a europe devastated by an undeclared world war fought making unrestricted use of psychotropic weapons: as he progresses across the continent from italy through france and into britain, which was targeted particularly heavily by the military psychedelics, observing the chaos, confusion and destruction wrought by them, he himself becomes increasingly affected by their residues, is adopted as an increasingly influential hippie cult leader, but also finds it increasingly difficult to keep full control of his own mind, and impossible to distinguish reliably between psychedelic effects (his visions?) and reality - assuming this still has any meaning at all... - not the easiest of reads by any means, but well worth the effort. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 21st May 2022		Book Kenneth Grahame - The Wind In The Willows (1965)	Review ''as a contribution to natural history, the book is negligible.'' - the times literary supplement 1908 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 16th May 2022		Book Robert Nye - Merlin (1979)	Review the not-entirely coherent memoirs of one engendered by the devil upon a woman, so half-human, half devil and intended by his father to be the antichrist key in his revenge upon heaven for the harrowing of hell, but saved - or, half-saved? - by the intervention of heaven, constantly re-involved by his demonic relatives in their plots and schemes, ever-hopeful of winning him back to the one true infernal path, whilst he is - by his account - striving to - mostly - do right, whilst definitely not immune to succumbing to the most appealing, delightful - or appalling - temptations, told from his final imprisonment which, having essentially been brought upon himself, by himself, may yet prove to be eternal. . . - not to be recommended to proponents of the one, true, heroic and even knightly way of the round table. - not entirely serious. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 17th Apr 2022		Book Alastair Graham - Full Moon Soup (1991)	Rated 10/10 as the management, maids, porters, guests and kitchen staff - and the ghosts in the attic - at the hotel splendide prepare for a relaxing summer's evening for some, including the grande dame arriving by chauffeured limousine - and the hard work of preparing everything just so, in the public and private rooms, and of producing perfection under the eagle-eyed gaze of the chef for others, only the lovers spooning on the top floor's balcony have noticed - and even they totally misconstrue - it's the night of the full moon... - with individual plots starting off in the different rooms, running and up and down the staircases, and through the attics, and in the cellars, as well as in the kitchens, and moving - sometimes with difficulty, sometimes running rampant - from one site to another in the cutaway double spread cross-section views of the hotel, their interweaving makes it seem perfectly reasonable that a great ape in a voluminous dress should somehow take centre-stage for a while, for some, whilst a misguided flying saucer crashes into one tower of the hotel - and the bopping vampire disturbs someone or other's mummy, and her majesty's finest boys in blue break in to - well, make matters even worse, in fact... - and aliens kidnap the possibly innocent chef from the midst of all the chaos caused - with what in mind, exactly ? - and all, to what end? - and where did the over-excited, over-sexed boa constrictor come from ? - not to mention the passing pink elephant poling, or rather, being poled, by ? - ah; but that would be telling... 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 13th Apr 2022		Book Harry Harrison - Montezuma's Revenge (1975)	Review very slight novel of an innocent way out of his depth: a bad case of montezuma's revenge isn't the only dangerous affliction to be faced by tony hawkin, a man whose deep experience as an fbi operative prior to getting involved in the mexican connection's artworld crime caper is restricted to running the bureau's ground-floor gift-shop. . . 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 21st Feb 2022		Book Alastair Graham - Full Moon Afloat (1994)	Rated 10/10 it's a balmy evening, and the ss splendide is taking her customers on a leisurely cruise through tropical seas; unfortunately, their chief cook is the former head chef of the hotel splendide the crew'd rescued from the sea as they were passing the place where the alien who'd abducted him had dumped him; - and - once again - it is the night of the full moon. . . a multi-plotted novel told in full-colour, double-page plates without words - and a second tour-de-force. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 22nd Jan 2022		Book Chapman Pincher - Their Trade Is Treachery (1981)	Review non-fiction, espionage, politics: chapman pincher was a right-wing journalist and political commentator with excellent contacts in some parts of britain's intelligence, spy and counter-intelligence services. this allowed him privileged access to quite a few ''real-life'' espionage stories, particularly those revealing or emphasising the threat from the infiltration of the trades unions, the political party they supported, the newspapers that were generally sympathetic to them, and journals & journalists likewise - whether or not these stories were in fact true... - he also helped break the stories of philby, burgess & maclean, three british communists working for the soviet union within the british counter-intelligence service, and eventually also anthony blunt, keeper of the queen's art collection. - strangely, he completely missed the british secret service's plot to overthrow the democratically-elected, mildly left(''-wing'') labour government of harold wilson... - which was eventually published by heinemann australia, despite the government's very heavy-handed threats and other attempts to suppress its breaking into general public knowledge. - nevertheless, this is an absorbing - and largely true, if somewhat partial - overview and account of the world of espionage, especially through the nineteen forties, fifties, sixties and seventies, as seen from the eyes of a very well-connected right-wing british journalist and entertaining writer. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 22nd Nov 2021		Book C. J. Cherryh - Cyteen (1989)	Rated 10/10 hugo award-winning novel voted best science fiction novel of the year 1988 by the members of the 1989 world science fiction convention. ariane emory, highly respected, one of the most powerful people in resuene - and therefore, in the union, leading socio-political theoretical and practical scientist behind the development, production, education and (some) socialisation of the ''azi'', the ''bottle'' or ''test-tube'' clones who've provided the man- - and woman- - power for union's successful revolt against rule from light years away - and years, even decades behind the times - earth company, and earth company's fleet - and for the absolute requirement that all azi education, socialisation, including military, ''tape'' programming be supervised and controlled by reseune - - feared by some - and hated - perhaps by even more - - ariane emory is working late in an old, familiar lab with its known faulty door propped open, to compensate for its failing heating, and with known inadequate security because of its age - - and is discovered in the morning frozen to death, with the faulty door slammed shut - but also with a bad head wound sufficient to've knocked her unconscious. - was it an accident ? - if so, it was remarkably convenient for her political and business competitors and enemies, inside reseune as well as outside, and for her personal enemies, too - one of whom is known to have visited her that evening, and argued vehemently with her... - was it the accidental outcome of this vehement argument's becoming literally violent - or, with the known suspect's storming out unaware that by letting the door slam shut, he was condemning her to a slow freezing to death, in the course of which she got up, fell, and accidentally knocked herself out? - or was it out and out murder ? - and whichever it was, can reseune retain its power - even survive - without her insight, her ability, and without her clear-sighted steering - or, as her rivals and political opponents within and without reseune might prefer to term it, her bloody-minded dictatorial and domineering directorship of reseune - can the company that is the heart of union, and the dominant power on cyteen, steering the union's politics and colonisation programmes always in the progressive - or ''expansionist'' - directions that also - purely incidentally, of course - ensure reseune's continued domination of the union's policies, budget and politics - can reseune and even the union survive ? (more follows during december-january) (sorry: yr hmbl srppnt. got distracted...) (''more eventually'') 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 20th Nov 2021		Book Annie Bullen - The Little Book Of The Tudors (2016)	Rated 2/10 excessively hagialogical - especially as very sparse, withal - even fawning account of the franco-welsh dynasty put on the throne of england by a combination of mostly french force of arms, the tiny rump of the die-hard lancastrian unreconciled with richard III, and the treachery of one turncoat, a man who owed his survival and that of the noblewoman he married to richard's clemency - - a dynasty of men - and a woman - so voraciously power- and money-grabbing, and so paranoid, they wiped out all of their remaining near, and even distant relatives, overthrew roman (vatican) control of the church in england, grabbing it - and all the churches accumulated wealth, land, patronage and power for themselves, and were so virulently and rabidly ''christian fundamentalist'' they encouraged and even promoted the slaying of thousands for the religious crime of not being sufficiently narrow-mindedly protestant, or of not being sufficiently narrow-mindedly roman catholic, and whose abuse of their powers was so egregious - - that it seems a major miracle that they eventually produced a ruling queen who was head of the english church - - yet refused to condemn loyal catholics without evidence of treason°; who was so skilled a political operator her most serious critics in parliament insisted, or tried to insist, that she marry for the good of the realm, managed to keep the two major european powers so greatly in competition with one another, they were ultimately prepared to tolerate her and england's independence, and outright piracy - philip of spain, admittedly, only after the failure of his grand armada - and all this upon a shoestring budget grudgingly voted her by parliament, and whilst - mostly - making good her declaration of tolerance, accepting the official minimum outward conformity with anglicanism (the compromise english church which could accept forms of worship ranging from ''high church'', with some incense, through ''low church'', with fire and brimstone sermons, and lacking most hymns) with the declaration that she would not seek to make a window into men's souls. - but instead of following, even in a simplified outline, the story of the three or four power struggles that were running throughout tudor times - and occasionally, running wild - this book gives little more than a clichéed and honeyed - or rather, sickly sugared - synopsis of the official tudor apologists' and outright proselytists' propaganda machine pr releases: - and worse, it's boring. - avoid. ° - save once; and the undoubtedly loyal englishman in question insisted on standing up to be counted an enemy by elizabeth's parliament 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 26th Sep 2021		Book Tony Hawks - Round Ireland With A Fridge (1999)	Rated 9/10 well worth a read: it's great fun, really silly in parts - not least, the whole idea in the first place - and interesting people are met, and places seen; their stories told at least in part; and not a few of the friendly folk convinced it's *proof* that all brits are cracked :-)); and interesting titbits introduced from time-to-time, too. . . - but it's a ''once only'' read, for all that - what's there is all on the surface, what you (i) read the first time around: there's no depth beneath that; and i think there could have been. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 23rd Sep 2021		Book Thor Heyerdahl - American Indians In The Pacific (1952)	Rated 10/10 thor heyerdahl's magnum opus, in which he details all the evidence for american indians' venturing into the pacific ocean from both north and south america, their use of both colonisable islands and of islets incapable of supporting human life & societies, of some of the societies they established and the development of their languages, religions, agriculture and other introduced crops and their origins, likewise their crafts and architecture - including, on some island, major sculptures and artefacts in wood, and truly monumental stone moai developed uniquely in these colonies, from traceable precursors on the main american continents... ..and also the near total lack of most major cultural and agricultural staples and other foods and animals from societies to their west in the pacific ocean and its south-eastern asian mainland, or in micronesia, or melanesia or, to their south-west, in australia. detailed study of work published before his magnum opus, the examination of alternative possible explanations of the observed facts, detailed original research into many of these and other areas of study make this a multi-disciplinary tour-de-force, and one which should be read and understood by any and everyone *before* they seek to criticise his work, analyses and exploration of the possible, impossible, likely and unlikely explanations for the considerable body of evidence. - through the rest of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first (- and as recently as 2024 c.e. -) further evidence has come to light in the field of dna research strongly suggesting that thor heyerdahl's studies, experimental research, hypotheses and major conclusions are substantially sound, even where these - and he, himself - have been much criticised, and from time-to-time lampooned. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 2nd Sep 2021		Book Anne McCaffrey - The Kilternan Legacy (1979)	Review an irish-american divorcée still bruised and battered from the experience looks to find refuge and a peaceful life for herself and her twin children when she inherits her aunt's estate in ireland; but what with disappointed local heirs and her ex-husband's ugly determination to get equal, things do not turn out quite as she hoped... (there may be some elements anne took from her own experiences around the time this novel was written, but it is *not* autobiographical.) 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 17th Aug 2021		Book Robert Silverberg - Edge Of Light (1998)	Rated 10/10 this was - is - a superb omnibus of some five of the very best sf novels by one of the very best writers of science fiction, during the middle third of his career as sf author, when he was writing at the height of his creative ability°. there are, of course, other writers who've written classics in the field as brilliant as silverberg's best; there are even other authors who've written about as many classics in the field, as has he: but there are none that would have written these books, dealing with these matters, these topics, through telling stories so fluently readably as robert silverberg. ° - which was kicked off by an altercation with frederik pohl, then editor of galaxy, if and worlds of tomorrow, who'd reproached ''Agbob'' with writing perfectly competent, run-of-the-mill uninspired work so much less than he was clearly capable of, when asked by silverberg why pohl never bought any of his stories: the upshot was an arrangement unique in the worlds of science fiction, and possibly in publishing, ever: frederik pohl guaranteed to buy every novel robert silverberg wrote, for serialisation in galaxy or if, and to give one entire novel's notice of ending this arrangement, on condition that silverberg wrote to the very limits of the best of which he was capable. (frederik pohl had ''his'' magazines sold out from underneath him by their owner, which nobody had expected, but ejler jakobsson, the editor taking over from him, inherited and honoured the arrangement for as long as silverberg needed or wanted it - until pretty well every novel he wrote sold to hardcover, as well as mass-market paperback publishers, and he was financially secure.) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 16th Aug 2021		Book J. F. Bone - The Lani People (1962)	Review over-high testosterone-flooded pubescent male wish-fulfillment sf, anyone?°,°° (° - john clute & dave langford have a bit more to say about it, but...) (°° - n.b. jimess's later review, above, is much better - and maybe somewhat fairer) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 16th Aug 2021		Book Roger Zelazny - The Illustrated Roger Zelazny (1978)	Rated 7/10 ''good in parts'' - not as bad as the original cartoon, ''the curate's egg'' - but, though there's quite a lot of good art inspired by zelazny's fantasy, there's rather more as is mediocre.. and some is downright poor; - and overall, it's too insubstantial. the new shadowjack story isn't strong enough to carry the book on its own, and the illustrations don't add enough to it, to make them the core of the book; - the character impressions of amber, for example, are good; but they don't amount to, nor compensate for the absence of, an absorbing amber novella or novelette, or a graphic cartoon-strip format story of amber - an adaptation of a novel extract, maybe - or a graphic expansion, say, of corwin's encounter with dara - or, even better, an original tale from the courts of chaos - that a project of this nature was crying out for. . . (there is also a standard format mmpb of this book published by ace/baronet (1979), q.v.: the great majority of the contents do not work well in so greatly reduced a format: - avoid it. i didn't re-stock it after seeing the first couple of copies i ordered for single step, and i didn't keep a copy of this mmpb edition myself, neither: very disappointing.) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 15th Aug 2021		Book Anne McCaffrey - The Survivors (1984)	Rated 4/10 the very poor sequel to ''dinosaur planet'' (q.v.), this reads as though it was a hastily and uninspiredly-completed contractual obligation novel, compressing the events of the outlined second and third books in an intended trilogy into one novel, and getting the pain out of the way quickly. avoid, if you can tear yourself away from completing a series. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 7th Aug 2021		Book A. E. Silas - The Panorama Egg (1978)	Rated 8/10 without attempting to copy his stylistic techniques, ann elizabeth silas manages to share much of the feel of some of jack vance's borderline sf fantasy novels. a professionally successful lawyer drowning in his work is drawn - possibly tricked?, or hypnotized? - into entering another world, a world in which life is frequently strenuous and sometimes dangerous, by a - or, rather, the melaklos, a user of magic who has tasks for him and a couple of ill-assorted companions - tasks, and warnings, and occasional partial explanations that don't satisfy, though they may turn out to be true, and who seeks to prevent a magician of far greater power than she taking over this world and destroying its patchwork quilt of different cultures and generally unco-operative towns, cities and island kingdoms... this first (and only?) novel by the author rates an impressive ''8'' on re-reading - which i've happily just done, having accidentally unearthed the novel from the oubliette into which it had fallen... the time and scene shifts are often abrupt: this is evidently her deliberate choice, but it's sometimes a bit disconcerting. (there's one short story i have by this author, ''mistaken oracle'', in ''heroic fantasy'' ed. gerald w. page, hank reinhardt (1979), q.v., but i know of nothing else by her.) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 3rd Aug 2021		Book Peter Currell Brown - Smallcreep's Day (1965)	Rated 10/10 aloysious smallcreep has tended his machine press in the great factory faithfully and unquestioningly, stamping out the same part day in, day out, since the first day of his employment; now, upon the day of his retirement, he is suddenly taken by the notion to discover what it is the widget he's been making for so many years is actually used for, what it does: and so, for the first time ever, and on the very last day it will be possible for him, he sets off upon an adventure into the unknown... 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 19th Jul 2021		Book Paul Capon - The Caves Of Cornelius (1959)	Review friends on holiday discover a clandestine underground goods railway, and stow away on board under a tarpaulin (as one does) to discover a relict colony of - apparently - the roman empire°, still functioning - and when discovered, they get away with their strange behaviour there because it's saturnalia - or at least they do, to start with... ° - the first clue as to the language people there were speaking was overhearing an obsequious ''beany, beany, dominay!'' from a worker unloading the train to a supervisor... it's far too long since yr hmbl srppnt. read this out of the children's library to judge it fairly now, or rate it; but a young me definitely enjoyed reading it enough to find it again and re-read it. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 13th Jul 2021		Book Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich (1973)	Review distillation into one typical day in the life of a prisoner working in one of the ''gulag'' forced labour camps of alexander solzhenitsyn's experience of three years in the ekibastuz gulag camp in kazakhstan, 1950-1953. ralph parker's translation is of the censored russian text originally published in novy mir 11/1962; first published in h/cvr edition by victor gollancz (london) and dutton (new york), both 1963. the only english translation from the uncensored russian text is stated to be that made by h. t. willetts, first published by farrar, strauss & giroux (new york) in 1991. (source: solzhenitsyncenter.org) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 5th Jun 2021		Book Rosemary Sutcliff - Frontier Wolf (1984)	Rated 9/10 the third in rosemary sutcliff's extended matter of britain historical novel sequence, q.v., running from the investigation of the disappearance of the ninth legion through the attempt to set up an independent empire of roman britain and gaul, the withdrawal of the legions, the fight back by the romano-britons against the saxon invasions and colonisation, to preserve civilisation against the relatively barbarous frisian saxon invaders from the angle, through the final breaking of romano-british at aquae sulis - and the reappearance, flickering but still lit, of hope. this novel is set in 323 a.d. (ce), in the period when the ''frontier wolves'' of the legions, still patrolling and still somewhat policing the vast area between the long-abandoned antonine wall and hadrian's wall, came under so great pressure from an alliance of irish and pictish tribes with the conservative religious elements within the local allied tribe, as to be forced to make a fighting retreat back to the main base of their operations - and what they and their commander, alexius flavius aquila, found there, and how he and they further fared. and thus, how the flawed emerald dolphin ring - and this member of the aquila family - survived the crisis. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 23rd May 2021		Book Rosemary Sutcliff - The Eagle Of The Ninth (1977)	Rated 10/10 first and first-written in rosemary sutcliff's extended ''matter of britain'' sequence of historical novels: #1: ''the eagle of the ninth'' (1954), (this novel) aka ''the eagle'' (film tie-in covers, some editions from 2011), q.v. #2: ''the silver branch'' (1957), q.v. #3: ''frontier wolf'' (1980), q.v. #4: ''the lantern bearers'' (1959), q.v. #5: ''sword at sunset'' (1963), q.v. #6: ''dawn wind'' (1961), q.v. with a definite link, but no plot connection; so maybe it's just an ''easter egg'': 2#1: ''sword song'' (1997), q.v. (found in her papers: published posthumously) 2#2: ''the shield ring'' (1956), q.v. marcus, a newly-qualified junior officer in the legions, arrives at a garrisoned fort upon the great northern wall forming the limes of the roman empire in the province of britannia, a posting he's chosen for his family's connexions - his father served there as standard-bearer in the ill-fated ninth hispana, and an uncle chose to retire there rather than in italia - and not a little to get as far away from his prim, proper and oppressively stultifying uncle and aunt who raised him after his father, together with the whole of the ninth legion, disappeared somewhere north of the wall. he makes a fair start, not too many mistakes - and after those he does make, shows his experienced subordinates he's really interested in learning from their advice; but he begins to notice small changes in the attitude of the native britons and recalls the warning that just one really poor harvest can provide tinder for a rekindling of resentments against the eagles later on that year, when midwinter comes, and food runs short - and indeed, that winter, a night assault at the very start of a local uprising very nearly takes the fort's defenders by surprise. after surviving the assaults of the attack, badly wounded, he's sent south to his mysterious uncle near calleva, on the chalk, to convalesce - which proves not to be so simple a matter as he'd hoped, and has to come to terms with the truth that he'll never again be fit for service in the legions. he also acquires a slave - and a wolf cub; and a friend. and, in talks between his uncle and a legate, learns that the assault that almost overwhelmed his fort wasn't just the result of poor harvests combined with the burden of roman taxation, but part of a larger, more worrying banding together of tribes north of the wall against the roman occupation, and one inspired both by religion, and by the possession of some symbol of the native britons' power to triumph over the hated legions - possibly, a captured eagle standard. marcus conceives of an audacious, and strictly unofficially authorised, spying mission to find out the truth of the matter and, if possible, to retrieve (or ''rescue'') what can surely only be his father's ninth legion eagle - and, after convincing both the legate and his uncle that it is practical, and the only way to discover what's actually happening, prepares and then sets off, disguised as the travelling opthalmologist demetrios of alexandria, equipped with (and instructed in the use of) an array of real eyesalves, accompanied by his bodyslave... how marcus and esra fare, and what they discover of the possible eagle, and of the fate of the ninth hispana, is much more than he imagined possible, and riskier by far, for the two of them - and not all is welcome knowledge to him; but it is important news, and both a burden and a prize that must be conveyed to the legate. the first in a series of historical novels written with the intention of setting the story of the fictional viewpoint characters, and the lives of their friends, families, colleagues and conflicts with their enemies, against as realistic a description of their society and account of the historical events (from their point of view) as possible. rosemary sutcliff wrote many very fine historical novels set from pre-roman times in britain onwards; some of them, based upon the romanticised tradition of ''king arthur and his knights of the round table'', also deal with ''the matter of britain'' in their way; but are decidedly *not* historical novels written with the intention of portraying the historical events in which they are set as accurately as possible: they are novels based upon the historically impossible norman, plantagenet etc. troubadour creation, of tydder (tudor) re-confection, and victorians', of knights in suits of plate armour, heraldic devices upon their shields, jousting nobly bearing the favours of their lady loves... 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 15th May 2021		Book Rosemary Sutcliff - Dawn Wind (1961)	Rated 10/10 superb historical novel in rosemary sutcliff's extended matter of britain sequence running from the decline of the roman empire in britannia, the attempt by carausius to establish an independently defendable roman britain, through the withdrawal of the legions, the campaigning and success of artorius - ''artos'' - later re-invented as the romantic ''king arthur'' - to halt the saxon colonisation of britain and preserve romano-british britain as both a haven and a beacon of civilisation and hope - and its eventual failure. ''dawn wind'' tells of the final catastrophic battle that saw the permanent sundering of south-west britain - devon and cornwall - from west-and-north britain - eventually diminished to wales - at aquae sulis, bath; and of the survival of one british lad and a dog from that battle, and his wandering, lost and purposeless, and his discovering another lost british refugee, surviving in the ruins, and hearing her story, and telling his; and how they fare together, looking for some reason, some purpose, and together attempt to re-establish their lives - but are taken and enslsaved by saxons; and how they fare separately; and how, at the end, there is a glimmer of hope... 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 9th May 2021		Book Antoine De Saint-Exupéry - Zbor De Noapte / Pilot De Razboi (1968)	Review ''vol de nuit'' (1926), winner of le prix femina, and ''pilote de guerre'' (1942), winner of le grand prix littéraire de l'aero-club de france - are autobiographical novels by antoine de saint exupéry. the latter was written to show quite how hard the french army, and in particular l'armée de l'air, fought their battle against the german invasion in 1940. it was banned by the collaborationist vichy french government shortly after its publication - and then by the free french government of charles de gaulle in algeria, also in 1943, making it perhaps unique to have been banned by both sides, and scarcely improving de saint exupéry's opinion of politicians in general. it was, however, successfully published in both french, and in english translation, in north america. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 9th May 2021		Book Antoine De Saint-Exupéry - Citadela (1993)	Review found incomplete as well as unfinished after antoine de saint exupéry's death, the barely or unrevised-by-the-author manuscript (typescript) of ''citadelle'' was tidied up and published by gallimard in 1948, whereupon it won le prix des ambassadeurs, on the very first occasion this prize was awarded. in it de saint exupéry sought to derive a philosophical, religious and practical firm foundation of values upon which to base one's life from his personal experiences and observations of the emptiness of modern life and the failure of modern values - or the lack thereof - visualised as the efforts of a berber lord to establish his citadel upon foundations of the shifting desert sands. (bookcat lacks a ''genre'' of philosophy, hence a combination of personal development and society, under the over-all genre of non-fiction.) 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 4th May 2021		Book Franz Kafka - The Castle (1969)	Review ''das schloß'' was started in 1922, but left unfinished, and probably incomplete°, by kafka when he ceased to be capable of writing, and subsequently died. it's an account of the viewpoint character's arrival at a village (or town) dominated by a castle and its occupant(s?), and his attempts to get accepted into the position of surveyor to which he's been appointed, in the face of a labyrinthine stone-walling°° of every effort he can think of making to get recognised - or, indeed, anywhere. the ordinary people he meets are all dominated by their fear of officials and the dire and dreadful unspoken punishments or sanctions, and fate, that inevitably awaits anyone as durst step out of line - including by helping anyone so evidently disapproved of, from their being unrecognised by the castle. and though he receives some written encouragement from an official of the castle, in its details it is decreasingly consistent with both the reality that he observes, and that which he experiences... ° - given the nature of the beast, it's possible there could be, and could never have been, any conclusion - and certainly, no resolution... °° - pun intentional - but intended by whom? 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 3rd May 2021		Book Joel Levy - 101 Problems For The Armchair Scientist (2017)	Review first quarto publishing plc quid publishing imprint h/cvr printing, first edition cover art none, exactly; cover design with cartoons and internal spot colour (yellow, green, blue, mauve, orange etc.) on b+w cartooned illustrations by michael windsor (credited) cover price rrp £12.99 224pp. including 7pp. titles, indica, table-of-contents, introduction etc, 5 end pp: 2pp. bibliography, 3pp. index; sewn in signatures and bound with green endpapers between printed, non-gloss laminated boards, distributed without d-j organised by five themed chapters or sections: everyday life, being human, the rules of the universe, in space, the natural world; the editorial department publishing category/genre/term is "a bog book" - which, for obvious reasons, is not emblazoned - or even mentioned - anywhere upon or in the book: it's not designed to be read from cover-to-cover (though it could be), but to be dipped into for diversion, for brief entertainment, and then put down again - 'til next time... 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
ppint. 28th Apr 2021		Book Bill Bailey - Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To British Birds (Pocket Version) (2018)	Review a good starter's field book, unsurprisingly, as bill bailey is a dedicated bird-spotter (or birder) as well as a stand-up comedian, and his photos, drawings & paintings of the birds are well done, helpful (some drawings humorous cartoons), the information on the fifty-odd birds detailed, and this ''pocket edition'''s pages are sewn in signatures, glued onto a tough flexible backing strip, and in turn bound with endpapers into a tough, flexible cover. also includes: do's and don'ts in the countryside (and notes that access rights differ in the different countries in the yuk-of-gb-&-ni), what people'll need for days & longer out bird-watching or spotting, checklist for birds spotted, place & number for those wanting to record this and space for notes - use a soft (2B or B) pencil! - how to report sightings to the rspb and rspb birdwatching/spotting code, list of best sites in the uk for particular species/families of some birds, by english county and by other uk country, seasonal guide including year-round. third covid-19 lockdown's tapering off, hopefully not to be repeated, i want to find myself a copy of this. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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