Heretic

Bernard Cornwell - Read August 2013

Another Cornwell story where the down at heel hero start as a lowly but skilled man, an Archer this time, and through twist and turns of fate he gets finds fortune, losses it, get the girls and fight plenty of battle both big and small. As ever he wins through.

   Regular Cornwall stuff and as usual well researched and a good story. 

HMS Expedient

Peter Smalley - Read January 2014

A good story with engaging characters and the interesting plot twists. Smalley is not O'Brian. He captures some of the sense and colour of the era but all the same it was a good read. I am not saying anything about the plot as that would spoil it for you, the reader.

Reign of Hell

Sven Hasesl - Read December 2014

This book is about the journey to Warsaw and what they did when they got there. The top echelon of command do not come out of this book well.

SS General

Sven Hassel - Read December 2013

There is a good description of getting out of Stalingrad battle back to the German lines. The stupidity of the regime is seen again. Sense waste of life when the rules and only the rules are followed to the letter. No wonder they lost the war.

Liquidate Paris

Sven Hassel - Read December 2013

More death but this time in occupied Paris. Interesting view on how everyone was suspicious and feared everyone else. Tiny and Porta continue scheming and stealing and getting away with it.

March Battalion

Sven Hassel - Read November 2103

More a Sven's graphic detail of the myriad of ways to die in battle. All of it senseless. The front line soldiers are scared of there own political officers, military police and secret service as they are of the enemy. 

Monte Cassino

Sven Hassle - Read November 2013

Not so much about the battle of Monte Cassino but it has the gory descriptions, but as much about the political manoeuvring to blame the USA/UK led forces for the destruction of the monastery. More of the same from Sven.

Assignment Gestapo

Sven Hassle - Read November 2013

More stupidity of totalitarian state. The worst of mankind. Not a fun read.

Comrades of War

Sven Hassle - Read October 2013

Blood, gore, food, sex and brutality. That's it

Sword Song

Bernard Cornwell - Read October 2013

   Next in the series following the trials and tribulations of Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Can he keep true to King Alfred. Will Christianity over whelm him? Will he find contentment?

   Bernard weaves a compelling tale with some unexpected twists. A thoroughly good read.

The Lords of the North

Bernard Cornwell - read October 2013

   Another in the series following Uhterd of Bebbanberg. A confused young man living and loving fast but his responsilities are being to way on him. He has made oaths. Will circumstances allow him to keep them?

   I found it a good read.Bernard strings a good tale. Lots of historical references and asides to life inthe those ages. Not Patrick O'Brian of the Saxon times but a good read.

The 80 Minutes MBA

Richard Reeves & John Knell - Read October 2013

   A quick read. More than the 80 minutes of the books title. It is a distillation of an MBA course mixed with input from other esteemed writers on business. There was not really anything new for me. There was a the acronyms and the buzz words. Topics were neatly explained in a light and compact manner.

   Certain chapter chimed for me and I expect different passages would do the same for other readers. All in all a good read.

JLA Riddle of the Beast

Alan Grant - Read October 2013

   A new genre for me. This a graphic novel i.e. a comic albeit very well rendered by artists. This a DC Comics publication where they take well known DC characters and write them into new stories. The stories are not one of the characters own genre but they are placed in new situations and not necessarily together. This one has Robin as the hero and Batman as the anti-hero.

  Nicely drawn and painted. Easy to read. A few ideas for costume were drawn from the pages.

Wheels of Terror

Sven Hassel - Read October 2013

  Next book in the Hassel Series. Sven continues in the 27th Panzer Regiment. They fight, love, freeze, bicker in the Russian winter. The battles are confused and vicious. Russian commissars do not come out well from this book. Russian soldiers are in much the same boat as the men of the 27th. Later in the book civilian are caught up in the running battles. There is nowhere for anyone to hide. Death is all around, brutal, pitiless and senseless and yet there are lighter moments. Not many but they arises from the confusion of the battle and pockets of fleeting respite in the arms of his loves.

   A bitter indictment of the men who run wars and force men to fight and to the many who enjoy wreaking devastation. There are many of these types on either side, made the worse for the treatment of civilians, young, old, man, woman or child.

The Legion of the Damned

Sven Hassel - Read October 2013

   A World Wars two story from the perspective of a poor Danish worker chap caught in Germany at the outbreak of war. It is not an autobiography but is based on Sven's war time experiences and the tales of others.  Sven is imprisoned for desertion then "rehabilitated" in a concentration camp. Germany is in need of soldiers so  Sven is trained for tank duties.

   It is a gritty story of the brutal Nazi regime, the horrors they inflicted on their own population and the realities of war under allied bombing and on battle field. Hunger, love, bullying, banter, comradeship, lust death and mutilation,. Brutal and poignant. Billed as an anti war story. It is certainly leaves the reader under no illusions of who ran the war and that most soldiers were just trying to survive.

   A good read but relentlessly sad and sicking.  

Star Wars - The Clone Wars

Adapted by Tracey West - Read October 2013.

  So waht is to say about this book? The guidance rating is seen years plus [7+] so it is not hard to read. In fact I read it in an evening. I read it as research for some Star Wars character work I anm doing. At least I know al the characters and their relationships.

  It is a simple story. Crazy mixed up grown up battleing with the past has young apprentice thrust upon him. The apprentice is young gifted, wise cracking and seeks approval. Baddies kid nap a warlord's child. Schemeing takes places as baddie try to kill the goodies. Goodies are misunderstood by the warloard when child is returned. Everyone nearly dies. Then they don't. It works out in the end. It is Star Wars and for 7 year olds.

Imperium

Robert Harris - Read September 2013

   This story relates the story of the early years of Cicero up to the point where attains Consul of Rome. It is written and narrarted by Tiro, Cicero's slave secretary. It is based on true events with the drama, intrigue, sights and smalls of Rome provided by Harris.

  It was a good read. Having read the story it is no wonder Rome fell.  

The Pale Horseman

Bernard Cornwell - read August 2013

Cornwell is probably better known for his "Sharpe" series. The Pale Horseman is set in the turbulent times of Alfred the Great. The hero of the story is again the lowly but honourable outsider that is council to Kings. It is a good tale based on historical events and deals with the political intrigue as well as the fate of lesser people. As with Shape, the hero gets the girl.

A World Without Bees

Alison Benjamin & Brian McCallum - Read June 2103

   This book pulls together all the information and supposition on the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD] since it was first reported in november 2007. The book was written in May 2008. The book also looks back to reference in ancient Greece and neolithic cave painting to examine the relationship between Man and honey bees. The first couple of chapters are a very good and concise explanation of the lifecycle and statistics on the activity of bees.

   The story mainly relates to the migratory beekeeping in America but covers the experiences in Europe, The Far East and China. Given what we see reported in the press today and the position as related by the book in 2008 the outcome of the story is a bit depressing. However it has spurred me on to try to do something about it.

   Follow me on www.justbeeing.co.uk to keep up with my beekeeping adventures and misadventures. 

Two Degrees West

Nicholas Crane - Read June 2013

   Nick Crane, before he came to our notice on the TV series "Coast", did long and strange walks for a living and wrote about them. I read one of his other books Clear Waters Rising. In this book Nick walks the length of the prime meridian of British Isles. The meridian is two degrees west of the Greenwich meridian. He walks from the Berwick upon Tweed by the North Sea to the English Channel near Poole in seven weeks. He never uses road vehicles in all that time and more surprisingly walks the 400+ miles never deviating more than 100 meters either side the the meridian. Again we meet his unique father and the folks the walk throws up.

   My kind of book. Essentially a diary with anecdotes, wit, anger and ways of dealing with aggressive people. Very easy to read.