Partly as an act of filial piety I have nearly finished Rudyard Kipling's Kim.

It is a nice hard back copy, satisfyingly a bit smaller than a paper back, which was in our house all my childhood.  It was published by Macmillans in 1939, when dad would have been 11.  His name, in his hand writing, is inside the front cover, with the price in pencil of 4/-, ie 20 pence in modern money.  I wonder if he bought it second hand, as his handwriting does not look childish.

The book itself is quite different from Kiplings imperialist reputation. Although there is no criticism of the British rule of India, there is not much explicit support for the English, viz this about the Anglican chaplain "Bennet looked at him with the triple-ringed uninterest of the creed that lumps nine-tenths of the world under the title of "heathen"."

I find the use of the archaic second person singular - thee, thou - to represent Indian languages a bit hard to follow.

Don Z - looks good!  Why are there so many recommendations on this thread which mean my bank balance will be smaller and smaller......?

I've just finished this:



Aftre a few pages I was annoyed by the Daily Express recommendation on the front cover:  "If you like Sebastian Fawkes and Carlos Ruiz Zafon then you'll love this."  I think they may have just thought "Let's see which two writers we can stick together to make 'Spanish War Story' seem to come alive".  In my opinion it is nothing like either.

Ignoring that, it was good, but not a book which pulled me in and consumed me.

Some books, if written well, make me believe I am the main character, especially if those books are written in the first person.  Other books manage to do this even if they are written in the third person, but only if the storyline focuses on one character with whom I am led to identify (and again, only if well written).

C. J. Samson's Winter In Madrid seemed really well written in terms of the pictures it painted and the way the auhor let things unfold, but didn't have the "consuming affect" on me.  It is the story of three main characters.  It's written in the third person and the chapters alternate between them.  So I did not get time to become one of the characters - as soon as I started identifying with, say Bernie, I'd be thrown out of a chapter and had to try to start identifying with Barbara or Harry.

So, in the end I just watched the book from the sidelines, as an observer.  Very good plot, interesting viewpoint, but just not gripping.

Tommo

I finished the Book Thief.   I thought it was written in a very unusual way and a very good read. I've lent it straight out to some friends.  Because there are a variety of sub-headings right through the book, it is easy to dip into.

Like any chronicle of the sufferings of war-torn innocents, it is harrowing, but definitely food for thought.  These things should never be forgotten in the hope that eventually people will learn lessons from past horrors.  I don't see much evidence of that when I think globally, but I suppose where there is life, there is hope.

Sitting on my desk is a book that I know I'll enjoy but which I haven't yet given more than a few glances: From Parry to Britten - British Music in Letters, 1900-1945 (Lewis Foreman, Batsford, 1987).

Perhaps I'll start it this weekend.

FK

I am reading a collection of 'antiplatitudes' by Florencio Asenjo. He probably will be pleased to know that I have no idea what to make of most of them.


I feel like this is provoking thoughts in me, but is that sensation the same as actually having thoughts?

I've read a few of Sansom's other books, part of the Matthew Shardlake series set in Reformation England, which also seem well-written and researched.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Sansom

David

IGI, I sort of enjoyed that one but ultimately found the humour precious/ self-conscious. What I do remember is that the character of the elderly father is exactly like my late dad! (Except for the obsession with tractors. Substitute homeopathy.  )