A personal review of books, the only link between them is that there is NO LINK!
This book will give the reader an understanding of the tragedy of the French Revolution. A Revolution that failed to feed the population, a Revolution that failed to protect the population from outside invaders, and a Revolution that failed to protect the population from corruption and tyranny. A failure on all accounts.
Nero has seized control of Rome and the crown. He is willing to destroy anyone that gets in his way. no one is safe - not even his scheming mother.
by Roald Dahl ISBN: 978-014-0056-068 First published 1954 (1,2) 1960 (3,4) 1977 (5) 1980 (6,7,8,9) 127 pages Publisher: Penguin Group Cover illustration N/A 4 / 5 Stars A collection of 9 weird stories from Roald Dahl, some of them filmed for Television, as below. Poison Series 2, Episode 5 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28912885/ The Sound Machine Series 4,… Continue reading More Tales of the Unexpected
by A.J.P. Taylor ISBN: 978-0-140-02481-4 First published 1963 287 pages Publisher: Penguin Books Cover photograph: British soldier at Ypres (Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images) 5 / 5 Stars Very interesting book, and a very useful book if you are to visit the battlefields, cemeteries and graveyards of World War in Northern France or Türkiye. And there are… Continue reading The First World War
A really interesting introduction to the history of the Cathar movement.
The dark side of childhood rhymes and stories
Drugs in Nazi Germany By Norman Ohler ISBN: 978-0-141-98316-5 First published 2015 281 pages Publisher: Penguin RandomHouse UK 5/5 Stars A rather remarkable book, translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside. This book focuses on the pharmacological underpinnings of the Third Reich. With the ascent of the Nazi Party to power in 1933, recreational drugs… Continue reading Blitzed
A History of the Crusades III : The Kingdom of Acre By Steven Runciman ISBN: 978-0-241-29877-0 First published 1954 401 pages Publisher : Penguin Classics Cover illustration: Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 6/5 Stars A wonderful end to the trilogy of books written about the crusades. The attention to detail and fast pace reminded me of Stieg… Continue reading The Kingdom of Acre
By Toby Ralph ISBN: 978-0-14-357058-5 First published 2012 135 pages Publisher: Penguin Specials 3/5 Stars An interesting short read into how to run an election in a war zone. Slightly tarnished by Ralph's own pontificating "...typically I'm engaged to manipulate truth for electoral gain", and "... I could still earn four times as much ..."… Continue reading Ballots, Bullets & Kabulshit
The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 by Roger Crowley ISBN: 978-0-571-23231-4 First published 2008 301 pages Cover image: The Naval Battle of Lepanto by Antonio de Brugada Cover design: Gavin Morris Publisher: Faber.co.uk 5/5 Stars The great empires of the 16th century, the Ottomans versus the Hapsburgs, the Spanish versus the Turk, Christendom versus… Continue reading Empires of the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway ISBN: 978-0-09-991010-7 First published 1929 293 pages Cover illustration: Unknown Publisher: Penguin Random House 5/5 Stars A part-fictionalized version of the Italian defeat at Caporetto. Part-auto-biography, part fiction, the writing is always lucid and always exact. Hemingway's prose has a sing-a-long quality, which he directly intended. The paragraphs can be long or short,… Continue reading A Farewell To Arms
by M.T.Anderson ISBN: 978-0-7636-9100-4 First published 2015 383 pages Cover illustrations by Kikuo Johnson Publisher: Candlewick Press 4/5 Stars A horror story. A real-life horror story. A horror that, for residents, seemed to have no end. Leningrad was left to starve intentionally during World War 2. This is the longest siege in the history of… Continue reading Symphony for the City of the Dead
The Eclectic Book Review 