Tag: booknerd

The Night of The Panthers by Piergiorgio Pulixi

Wow, superb read and I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I had started it a long while ago and put it down due to being quite deep in other books and picked it up again last week to try an Italian crime book that wasn’t a Montalbano, Ricciardo or Bordelli. This was one heck of a read throughout and so much going on.

A great noir and it was full of twists and I gasped several times, absolutely thrilling and violent but not too voilent. It worked. Reminded me of Suburra, I think like Suburra it would make an excellent film/series. I enjoyed the characters and the relationships between them and I was expecting a few turns and double turns in the betrayals. A satisfying read and conclusion.

I believe in Italian this book is part of a longer series but sadly in English we have only this book translated, which is a shame as I would love to read more both by this author and of this series.

Babylon Revisited by F Scott Fitzgerald

My fifth read of the year done. I do enjoy F Scott Fitzgerald though I have only read The Great Gatsby despite owning his full library of novels and short stories.

This one is a short book of three short stories, about 100 pages or so long.

Babylon Revisited

Reading this I felt I had read this one before and it seemed familiar to me, I only bought this the day before so maybe its a part of an anthology I have read before or a sample I started long ago (EDIT – I seem to have read this in 2020). It was a bit of a sad read a father from the height of Jazz age Paris trying to regain his daughter from her guardianship, proving he is responsible and safe to his sister in law. The thing I notice is the women are always weak and prey to their nerves. I wonder if that was true to the time or just how they are charactised?

The Cut-Glass Bowl

A haunting read following the life of a beauty where a large cut glass bowl seemingly has been the catalyst of pain and decline of a woman’s life. From the decay of her marriage and love, to the disability of her daughter and the ruination of her husbands upcmoming business partnership, finally to tragic consequences.

The Lost Decade

Short and sweet, not much really to say about this one.

Overall I quite enjoyed these but I got the feeling I had read them before somehow, I don’t recall reading this book before but perhaps I have.

The Rest Is History by Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook

Very productive so far this year, another book done for our provisional target of 25. So that makes it 4 so far. Not bad considering how unproductive I was last year. I do still read several at a time but that’s how it works for me and I am quite enjoying the Kindle Colorsoft too.

This book is a very fun read from two highly respected historians. Some interesting and funny topics like for example the history of St Patrick which makes the whole fuss over him seem like Americanised bullshit. It seems he wasn’t even Irish either but like me and Welsh. And the myth around him could have been a mix of another person and them become merged as one.

The Dan Brown section was also funny and their investigation into the basis of The Da Vinci Code and the inspirations and fiction behind the “facts”.

Overall very enjoyable and I wasn’t familiar with the podcast before this book but I am familiar with both historians and I will check out the podcast when time permits. As well as read their new book The Rest Is History Returns.

I am a third of the way through my next book too, its just a short one Babylon Revisited by F Scott Fitzgerald.

Steve Wright’s Further Factoids

Three books down for the year. I tried this on Kindle Unlimited for something to read that was short and sweet. Being a fan of his radio show it was an enjoyable read. Poorly formatted and very dated to read today though.

Does make me miss Steve on the radio. BBC Radio 2 hasn’t been the same since he left the afternoon slot and passed away last year.

A very British book with most of the facts or factoids. Has an amusing triumvirate with factoids featuring Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall – all three since discovered to be historic paedophiles.

2/5 for content and 3 for nostalgia

I am deciding what books to commit to, I have dipped in and out of several but not got into any enough to commit yet. I do find the new Kindle to be excellent and I am enjoying the colour. The covers really do make a difference.