Books, Books (Chapter 11)

Here are some more books that I have recently read and HIGHLY recommend. Click on the links if you want to buy them. If you click on the link and purchase something a lovely charity called the Living by Giving Trust (see here) will earn some money to support its causes. :) I supported them recently, and though I've not been to any of their events, I have supported them as much as possible. This is one way I can do that.

I am a Doctor Who fan, especially a Hartnell fan (first doctor). It's also the 50th anniversary this year, so in amongst other books, I've decided to read some of the old Target novelisations (novels of the TV episodes). A lot of these are hard to find these days, but I highly recommend people try. :-)

First up is Doctor Who-Marco Polo. It's a really good read, especially as I don't think I watched it back in 1964. I also find the soundtracks quite hard to follow, so I am now experimenting by reading these Target novels first, and then listening to the CD. This method works very well, so I'll keep doing it this way - The Crusaders is next. The novel itself is very simple to follow, but this is not a bad thing at all. I also suspect that the description of the landscape and journey look much better in my mind than they did in the TV episodes! It's a good adventure story, and well worth a read. 8/10. 

Next up, I read Doctor Who and the Crusaders. The novel itself is very well written (though in an old style) and has some excellent illustrations too. I read the 2011 version, which has an excellent introduction and an excellent conclusion - fitting it perfectly in to the time of its initial publication (i.e. the 1960s). The story is so very good, and like Marco Polo probably describes amazing landscapes that would not have looked so good on screen - though unlike Marco Polo, I could (if I wanted) go and look at episodes 1 and 3. 9/10

Finally, I've read Doctor Who - The Myth Makers The novel itself is very well written and done so in the first person as Homer. This sometimes makes it quite difficult for Cotton to follow the actual plot of his script, but it is still a very good way of telling the story. This also distinguishes the novelisation from others and that is very much a good thing. The book came out in the 1980's, when a lot of Target novelisations had already come out - so a change in style is a good idea. Cotton is obviously a classicist too - because he knows his Trojan war history - and even explains why Homer was supposedly blind; and thus why he writes about a Cyclops in the Odyssey. All in all a good tale. Well worth buying a second hand copy from somewhere. 8/10

More to come...

Happy New Year

Another year is here and I'll be reading more books too. I was so pleased with how many I read in 2012, so now I'll try and beat that number in 2013. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts...

Books X

Here are some more books that I have recently read and HIGHLY recommend. Click on the links if you want to buy them. If you click on the link and purchase something a lovely charity called the Living by Giving Trust (see here) will earn some money to support its causes. :) I supported them recently, and though I've not been to any of their events, I have supported them as much as possible. This is one way I can do that.

I love reading by the way! Can you tell? I've always got five or six books on the go, which is a bit silly - but then I eventually find one I finish; and then move on to another one I've half-read. To be honest, it's very easy to start reading a book on a long train journey and get bored of the reading - so it's good to have another book waiting to be read. So, this is why I end up with a few books on the go - but it works for me at the moment. Anyway, here are some books that I've read over the last few months, and I really do highly recommend them all!

This is an oldie book, but there's nothing wrong with that! Is there? No! The Real Benny Hill is a really great, great book, and so interesting. Benny Hill was such a sorry and lonely figure - but then I suspect he was OK with this. The book is written by one of his friends and is a really intimate and beautiful portrait, but it is also one that tries to understand Mr Hill. Pick up cheap copy today? Use the link above.

Secondly, if you're interested in the family background of Princess Diana, you can't do better than The Spencer Family by Charles Spencer. It provides another intimate portrait - this time of a famous family throughout lots of English history, and then a VERY famous family after Diana Spencer married Prince Charles. Well recommended.

And finally for now, and away from the biographies, here's my next recommendation, which is a classic: King Solomon's Mines (Oxford World's Classics). If you want to read a classic Victorian-era novel, full of adventure and high-jinks, then you can't go far wrong with this book. Read today.

More soon! :)

Books IX

Here are some more books that I have recently read and HIGHLY recommend. Click on the links if you want to buy them. If you click on the link and purchase something a lovely charity called the Living by Giving Trust (see here) will earn some money to support its causes. :) I supported them recently, and though I've not been to any of their events, I have supported them as much as possible.

As you can probably see, I've not had time to update this recently, but that's because I have been travelling the world. Why? Well, because I am in my 70's and have always wanted to see a bit of this world I read about. This has meant that I've had an opportunity to read (mainly dog-eared copies) a few books, which I will outline below (and in further blogs)...

The First World War: John Keegan is a really excellent historian and author. The First World War was a truly awful tragedy, and should never ever have happened. This book looks at all the causes, the after effects and then looks into the different fields of war - East; Africa; Gallipoli and then the Western Front. If you want a good introduction with lots of detail - here is the book for you. Read today.

As you will have seen in my last blog (see here), I love any historic book - especially if it's Roman stuff. However, I also like novels written about the era. The next book I read recently was Roman Blood (Gordianus the Finder 1). What a book this man has written and he describes the period so brilliantly and makes it feel so very real. I must read more of this authors books, and have now purchased Rubicon so I can read much more. I can't recommend these books as much as I do. Get it today, the author (Saylor) is well worth a read.

If you have not read any Adrian Mole books, you really must. I've just read the next edition, Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (Adrian Mole 4), and it was truly excellent. I can't wait to read the next one now.

More updates soon, but please keep reading; and let me know what you think! :-)

Doctor Who - Colin Baker era, part 1

After all that reading, I thought it was time to talk about something else in my blog: my favourite programm, Doctor Who! As you would have seen before, I am a big big fan of when Doctor Who first started, and particularly the first two Doctor Who's. However, I am not one of those fans that will dismiss all the hard work of later producers, and I find a lot to enjoy in the eras of Pertwee, Baker, Davison, Baker, McCoy, McGann, Ecclestone, Tenant, and Smith. I particularly enjoy the McCoy era, because I think it was finally trying to get Doctor Who back on track, and it was 80% successful; I also really enjoy the modern era of Doctor Who (and love the Hartnell/Troughton retrospective stuff - like the photo, or the Macra!). Anyway, I thought I would do something very different on this blog as I thought it was time to re-look at the Colin Baker era.


I have met Colin Baker and do feel sorry for him (and McCoy) sometimes, because they are often lambasted as the wreckers of Doctor Who (though I think the blame is really at the door of JNT, BBC politics, Coronation Street, and so much more). In fact, both Doctor's were really excellent and playing the part at the wrong time - people had simply stopped loving Doctor Who. If you listen to them from Big Finish - this is how things should have been - you'll love them. Buy the first audio from here - The Sirens of Time (Doctor Who). Anyway...


...here are my views of the first quarter of Colin Baker's television time as Doctor Number Six! Click on pictures if you want to buy them. If you click on the link and purchase something a lovely charity called the Living by Giving Trust (see here) will earn some money to support its causes. :)





The Twin Dilemma: The problem with this story is that it comes along straight after Doctor Who - The Caves Of Androzani , which was Peter Davison's final story. The Caves of Androzani is everything that the Twin Dilemma is not: stylish, clever, sad, brilliant, beautiful. Why and how could this have happened? Well, John Nathan-Turner had decided that it would be a great idea to copy the production team of 1966 and bring in the new doctor somewhere in the season, so that the audience could see the new doctor, and then (according to his theory) be more excited when Colin Baker returned. Alas, this does not work in 1984, for various reasons, but especially as the production team had run out of money, so the Twin Dilemma looked cheap and a bit rubbish. Plus, the new Doctor was so different from the fifth incarnation, viewers were left shocked and (like me) a bit appalled! In 2012, however, and viewing the story out of this context, it is not all bad. It has some interesting elements, like the characters of Azmael and Mestor and I enjoyed this side of things..but the rest is pretty rubbish! I'd give it a 5/10. Sorry! :(





Attack of the Cybermen: Now this is more like it. The Attack of the Cybermen is the first episode of a new series, and is a good story. As ever, with this season, the story relies on past stories of Doctor Who, including The Tenth Planet and The Tomb of the Cybermen (which as a big fan of that era, I love the connections!). The TARDIS is lured to Earth in 1985 by a distress call sent by Lytton, who has made contact with a group of Cybermen based in London's sewers. The Doctor and Peri are then captured and forced to take Lytton and the Cybermen in the TARDIS to the Cybermen's home planet Telos. The Cybermen have stolen a time vessel from another race and plan to change history by crashing Halley's Comet into Earth and obliterating it before it can bring about the demise of their original home world, Mondas, in 1986. 8/10. Doctor Who is back on track. Well done to all involved on this one, I loved it. :)


Part Two coming soon, but for now please let me know what you think?

Books VIII

Here are some more books that I have recently read and HIGHLY recommend. Click on the links if you want to buy them. If you click on the link and purchase something a lovely charity called the Living by Giving Trust (see here) will earn some money to support its causes. :)

The Odyssey (Penguin Classics): This is the all-time classic mythology piece from Ancient Greece. This story (by the mysterious Homer) is about a great Greek hero of the Trojan war era: Odysseus. He is the King of Ithaca and in Homer's The Iliad (Penguin Classics), he is seen characterised as a very resourceful and clever man (who had the idea of the Trojan Horse). Unfortunately, unlike the other Achaean Kings, he does not get home straight away and a number of fascinating adventures ensue. Odysseus is also constantly at odds with the great sea-god, Poseidon and he requires the support of the goddess Athena to get him through it. I don't want to give too much more away, but Odysseus meets such fascinating creatures, such as a Cyclops; The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis; and so much more!

I love and still love this book - it really is a brilliant story AND one of the oldest ever in western civilisation. I highly recommend this book. 10/10.

Doctor Who: Shada: The lost adventure by Douglas Adams is lovingly novelised (and edited) by the great Who author, Gareth Roberts. I don't want to spoil this book, but it really is a beautiful masterpiece and I highly and utterly recommend any fan of Adams or the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who buy it and read it today! You will not regret it at all! 9/10. :)

Another book recommendation

I've just finished the first book of CJ Sansom's series about a hunchback lawyer. It is so very rare to find historical fiction that actually makes you think and feel like you are in the time being described. However, Sansom perfectly manages it in Dissolution (Shardlake).

The novel is set during the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and in these pages we meet or hear about great historical figures like Cromwell; Anne Boleyn and so many others. However, we also get to read how a monastery and its monks must have felt during the time of Henry VIII's changes, and it is a really amazing depiction. We also get to hear Shardlake (the main protagonist) sharing his view of how good he thinks the changes are, and how annoyed he gets with the monks.

I couldn't put this book down, please go out and read it today!

Dissolution (Shardlake)