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My resistance to Kindle deals has been very weak of late. I know there are goodies too numerous to mention, but just this morning I picked up:

Callander Square by Anne Perry; it's the 2nd in a series I can't quite seem to make time for the first, but somehow I think I'll like it

Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi; this wasn't on my radar, but the more I looked, the more I thought I might like it; it's short and I will make room for it before the end of the month.

Recently, and coming in a physical copy are:

The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin; new author for me, but from a direction that has appealed to me more of late; hoping to get to it next quarter.

Death In Disguise by Caroline Graham; making reading for the next buddy read in The Detectives group.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "My resistance to Kindle deals has been very weak of late. I know there are goodies too numerous to mention, but just this morning I picked up:

Callander Square by Anne Perry..."</i>

I thought [book:Pereira Maintains was excellent. I don't usually give books five stars but with this one I did.

It was partly based on your review that I decided to get it now.

Now, I am nervous. I hope you are pleased.

LOL - I had looked at it and dithered about it, so I was already leaning toward getting it. I will substitute it for a longer book because it has won a Spanish award (for my awards challenge over this month), which will get me a couple more days to read books for this group.

I have a kindle copy of Pereira Maintains, although I haven't read it yet and can't remember who recommended it to me (several Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ friends gave it good reviews).

A visit to Shropshire at the weekend saw me gather a haul of books including Diana Mitford's Pursuit of Laughter (mostly reviews and editorial pieces, I think) and a book about the Lone Pine children's adventure series. I'm now planning a complete reread of the Lone Pine books, which I used to love when I was a child. (But do I still have them all?)

Could you tell me the title of the book about the Lone Pine books, Annabel? I used to love those too.

Somehow, I thought you might, Susan! They are wonderfully written adventures which seem to have completely vanished from popular culture - my own children won't read them, which is a huge disappointment to me. One of the things that intrigued me, reading them as a child, was how the characters were allowed to age over the course of the stories, unusual for a children's series. (To be fair, it happens in the Narnia books as well.)

The book is The Complete Lone Pine by Mark O'Hanlon. I haven't started it yet - it looks to be part bibliography, part exploration of the landscape where the books were set, so it looks as if there isn't as much discussion and analysis of the books themselves as I would have liked, but I still couldn't resist. He has apparently also written a biography of Malcolm Saville, which I am also tempted by.

Thank you, Annabel. On my wish list :)

Came across this recently, which I thought looked interesting. I was sure we had a thread for working class writing somewhere, but I can't find it (or may have imagined it).

Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution

Author Selina Todd seems to have written some interesting titles about working class culture and history.

I think the working class writing thread was on BYT - perhaps we should start one here?

That book sounds marvellous Susan

Nigeyb wrote: "That book sounds marvellous Susan"

Thought I recalled the thread from somewhere, Nigeyb. Yes, I thought the book sounded really interesting too.

I recently picked up Black Sun by Geoffrey Wolff (/book/show/2...) and Agrippina by Emma Southon (/book/show/4...). (Sorry, I have issues linking from my phone.) I’m in the middle of a couple books right now, but can’t wait to get to them!

The Furrowed Middlebrow blog (an excellent source for good, little-known works) led me to Susan Alice Kerby. I found a copy of "Many Strange Birds" (1953) on abebooks, and liked it so much that I've been tracking down her other books. Unfortunately I can't locate the FM-recommended "Miss Carter and the Ifrit." I'm contemplating a trip to London (from the States), and I dream that I'll unearth a copy in some dusty bookshop corner....

You never know, Susan! London still has lots of good secondhand bookshops, including still some surviving on the Charing Cross Road. I hope you enjoy your trip.

Annabel wrote: "You never know, Susan! London still has lots of good secondhand bookshops, including still some surviving on the Charing Cross Road. I hope you enjoy your trip."

I just discovered that Dean Street Press is reissuing "Miss Carter and the Ifrit" this summer, hurrah! But I have a long list of other things to look for in the corners of London!

I can't believe I just bought this massive 914 page hardback of
MARGARET THATCHER
The Downing Street Years
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20...
Published 1993. This fits the bill for reading the 20th Century - History and British politics.
Twenty-eight chapters including 'Over the Shop', 'The West and the Rest', (hmmm), 'The Falklands War: Follow the Fleet', 'Disarming the Left', 'Mr Scargill's Insurrection', 'Keeps Raining all the Time', 'Putting the World to Rights', 'To Cut and to Please', 'The World Turned Right Side Up', 'No Time to Go Wobbly', and 'Men in Lifeboats'.
I briefly dipped into this at various places of interest and looked at 'The World Turned Right Side Up': visit to Washington in July 1987, at a time when MT's political fortunes were riding high and President Reagan was reeling under the continuing 'Irangate' revelations.
This tome should be very interesting as long as I can keep the Iron Lady's political predisposition in perspective.

The book only cost one dollar. It's in near-new condition.

I have meant to read a biography of Thatcher for a while now, Greg. Be interested to hear your thoughts - I found the recent documentary series on her, fascinating. It was eye-opening for me, as I really remember her mostly from the perspective of a child/teenager.

Yes, like her or loathe her, her life and career were certainly interesting.

Despite vowing not to buy any more books at the moment, a trip to the charity shop to offload some made it too hard to resist. I got an ancient but quite good condition The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark, and a nearly new copy of Game Control by Lionel Shriver.

Both sound well worth picking up, Pamela. I have enjoyed all the Spark's that I have read so far.

I think this tome will be interesting, now with some distance looking back to that era.
I watched an interview with Margaret Thatcher PM on Firing Line with William F. Buckley, July 25, 1977 with the loaded title 'What Have We Learned from the Failure of British Socialism?'
It's breathtaking, the absolute black and white political view.

Her memoir of The Downing Street Years will be a valuable look back to those years and events.

I think distance is important, Greg. She was such a divisive figure that you need to look back to really get clarity on that whole period.

Susan, this memoir is daunting and extensive in the geo-politics and National domestic issues MT covers, and MT acknowledges many people in assisting in the preparation of the book, but has written it herself.

Two books arrived today I bought online. One I'm keen to start, a biography on the English artist Matthew Smith, a favourite artist of mine, 'Matthew Smith: His Life and Reputation' by Malcolm Yorke. The other book I was looking forward to reading is an 800 page biography of Simone de Bourvoir by Deirdre Bair. unfortunately the copy I received is in Dutch. I'll have to return it.

Greg wrote: "unfortunately the copy I received is in Dutch. I'll have to return it. "

I look things up here to make sure I order the edition I want to buy and read. The language and format are given.

Yes Elizabeth, I always check and make sure the edition is in English, especially if the original is in a different language, or if the subject is in this case French. I'll check back with the seller.

Second hand books are not always as described. I once received someone's clarinet music instead of the book I ordered and another time a Farsi edition of (I think) the correct book.

It must be different ordering books in the UK.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "It must be different ordering books in the UK."
That depends who you order from!

One of mine was from the UK, the Farsi one, but I assume Greg's was ordered in Australia.

Hugh wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "It must be different ordering books in the UK."
That depends who you order from!"

Ha! Exactly. I'm sure there are booksellers in the US who screw up. It just seems when you order online by ISBN it's harder.

I've just order The Road From Wigan Pier: A Biography Of Les Cannon by Olga Cannon.
Sir Les Cannon CBE was a prominent Trade Union official who uncovered ballot rigging within a trade union.
I bought it as one of my friends is a relative of Les and he was instrumental in the creation of the new EEPTU, of which my dad was a member!

Just picked up the new Furrowed Middlebrow-Dean Street Press reissues of WWII-era works...mostly fiction, plus a memoir. Nine intriguing titles!

I'll be interested to hear what you think of the new Furrowed Middlebrow books, Tina - I want to read more of theirs. I still have a few of their past freebies on my Kindle - have loved most of those I've read so far, although I am struggling with Evenfield which I am halfway through.

Tina wrote: "Just picked up the new Furrowed Middlebrow-Dean Street Press reissues of WWII-era works...mostly fiction, plus a memoir. Nine intriguing titles!"

I have read a couple of these ones now, Nothing to Report and Beneath the Visiting Moon. Both excellent. I have Somewhere in England to read next.
I have also just bought 3 Persephone books, Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood, Milton Place by Elisabeth de Waal and They Knew Mr. Knight by Dorothy Whipple.Looking forward to all of these.

Update on wrong book.
Satisfactorily resolved. This was the only time I've experienced a problem.
Abe Books and the seller, Better World Books both replied quickly and gave me a refund and said to keep the book.
Great customer service.

Yes that's right Val, books ordered in Australia, mostly from the UK.

Two books I've just bought are:
'The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film', by W. K. Stratton.
Really enjoying this. Absorbing reading on the research and writing of the development of the era the story is set, at the end of 1913 or the first few months of 1914. The Old West meets a new era of cars, planes, and Mexican society reaching a breaking point in the early twentieth century as the oppression of Dias's autocracy became too much to bear.'
There's reference to another book that looks worth reading, by Barbara Tuchman, 'The Zimmerman Telegram', 'a book detailing Germany's meddling in the Mexican Revolution as Kaiser Wilhelm II sought global dominance for his country during the early years of WWII.'

One boggling statistic about The Wild Bunch is that 'Peckinpah had shot some 330,000 feet of film. I would love to know what happened to the footage the edited.
The Wild Bunch is widely accepted as the best western ever made.

The other book I bought is equally interesting, by Robert Vaughn (yes, Napoleon Solo)
his Ph D thesis in 1970.
'Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting.'
This looks at the Hollywood blacklisting in the 1940s - '50s.

I have recently brought Blitz Writing: Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time which one of Nigeyb's posts alerted me to, The Children's Book via Val's recommendation and pre-ordered a signed copy of Hilary Mantel's forthcoming novel from Foyles, which was a little indulgent...

Wow, that was quick Susan. I only mentioned it a few hours ago in the Orwell thread

#impressive #decisive

More like no willpower - see book, think, hmmm, looks good, and that one-click is just too easy :) Looks great though.

It does. I’m keen to read it too.

A couple of other titles I want to read are: Spam Tomorrow and Joining the Dots: A Woman In Her Time

I really want to read Spam Tomorrow too... buddy read?

Love to, Judy, but I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. We have no buddy reads listed for November? Is that too far off?

Same here, so I'm happy to go for a few months' time! We will still be doing Life and Fate in November - do you think we can squeeze Spam Tomorrow in then as well, or possibly wait for even later?

It could be a lighter choice, with all that Russian angst to cope with? I am happy if you want to put it later though, it looks good and I always enjoy discussing books with you and whichever of our lovely group members wish to join us :)

Maybe add it in for November and move it if we feel it will be too much? I always enjoy discussing books with you and our lovely group members too :)

I'd love to read Spam Tomorrow too, I won't be reading Life and Fate so can do November or later if it gets moved.

Good to hear, Pam and Judy. Spam, at some point, it is, then :)

Me too for 'Spam'