Recent leisure reading
Faulks, S. (2010). A Week in December (1st ed.). Doubleday.
I listened to the LONG version on my iPad. Great experience. Having recently returned from my own December in London, I felt most at home with this novel as it lead me through familiar spots, and an interesting perspective on the personalities involved in the Great Financial Crisis.
Faulks, S. (2007). Engleby: A Novel (1St ed.). Doubleday.
Grim. Tormenting. And yet, and element of doubt remains about ‘who done it?’!
Follett, K. (2010). Fall of Giants. Dutton Adult.
Just began this magnum opus. Starts in a little mining town in Wales. Reminds me delightfully of my early childhood growing up in a little cathedral city near Cardiff. Exceptional attention to technical detail, such as the mining disaster that opens the story. Having recently viewed Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, I find pictures easily popping in to my mind as I read this novel.
Macrae, S. (2011). Winston Churchill’s Toyshop: The Inside Story of Military Intelligence (Research). Amberley.
MI(R) was established with direct responsibility to World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to develop quickly new technical solutions to military problems. Delayed action fuses, pressures switches, anti-tank bombs (the Sticky Bomb) and the like. The true story of what we would now term a highly intrapreneurial success…. Their methods meant that incumbent institutions, such as the Ministry of Supply found great dificulty in collaborating and supporting MI(R)’s inestimably valuable wartime work. Fortunately for Britain, Churchill had the last word. One of my favourite lines: ‘Sticky Bomb. Make one million. WSC’. (p. 89)
Michener, J. A. (1946). Tales of the South Pacific. Curtis Publishing. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=q588PgAACAAJ&cd=1&source=gbs_ViewAPI
It took a while, but it eventually dawned on me the stories sounded familiar….
Pearl, M. (2012). The Technologists: A Novel. Random House.
A ‘science faction’ adventure tale set in mid-18th century Boston. A new educational institution dares to teach the arts and sciences of engineering so that real world problems can be addressed. MIT’s mission challenges the long-established values of the incumbent, Harvard University. The story captured my imagination, and resonates with my own journey amongst the first cohorts of B.Tech students in New Zealand at Massey University in the mid 1970s. Now, my own institution, Unitec Institute of Technology, faces the same rivalries.
Smith, A. M. (2005). Friends, Lovers, Chocolate: An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery. London: Little, Brown.
Just fun. Always a delight to read whatever Alexander McCall Smith produces.
Wall, K. (2010). I say tomato: a novel. Carlton North, Vic.: Scribe Publications.
Quick, fun, silly read about an Australian seeking to make it good in Hollywood.
- James Michener - Style Icon (waldina.com)
- The No?1 Ladies Detective Agency author Alexander McCall Smith puts British to shame (telegraph.co.uk)
- ‘Downton Abbey’: ‘Love’ Magazine Takeover! (justjared.com)
- Discussion on ‘A Week in December’ by Sebastian Faulks (athenebristol.wordpress.com)
- Unexpected crowds weep at Winston Churchill U.S. exhibition as America shows admiration for the British Bulldog’s powerful speeches (dailymail.co.uk)
- Winston Churchill: America’s enduring love for Winnie and his words (telegraph.co.uk)
- Review: A Wonderful Biography of Winston Churchill (readingandwritingcafe.wordpress.com)
