Tag: bookworm

Villains of All Nations by Marcus Rediker

Its been a few weeks since I finished my last book and I haven’t been neglecting my reading, I have been chipping away at two books, this one and Eye of The Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman which should be finished in a few days.

This is a book that I have owned for 10 years or more and wanted to read it for so long but always put it off. I decided to give it a proper go and what a great and surprising read. It is a very detailed book and not dry but can seem a tad repetitive. It changed how I see pirates, we see them as villains and to the authorities they were BUT amongst themselves they were very social and making sure they all had fair treatment, rations and despite being disorderly and violent they had charters and good conduct amongst themselves. A bad captain was demoted by popular vote, stealing rations was punishable, women and children not allowed on board to keep the peace and if a woman was part of a captured vessel she would be protected and any pirate who tried to be with her unwillingly was executed.

The pirates came from legal privateer, merchant and Royal Navy stock and had suffered mistreatment whether it be by poor treatment, unequal rations and withheld pay. For the pirates being an honest fellow was more important than someone’s status. Their reputations of course were deserved but they were ahead of their time too with equality and democracy among shipmates. The truth of a pirate is in the middle of the romantic and legal view.

A surprise too was on the rare instance of a female pirate, they are more than matches for their male counterparts and certainly had balls of steel and were as strong and able as any man. The most notable being Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Anne Bonny said to be an inspiration for the Statue of Liberty and the painting of Liberty Leading The People by Eugene Delacroix

It was a great read and I am glad I have finally read this book. I would enjoy reading more about pirates and piracy in general. My only complaint with this book is that a chunk of it is Index and Notes.

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.