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'Boneland' by Alan Garner. A sort of sequel/closure to the Brisingamen/Gomrath books of the sixties. Difficult, brilliant, but it'll take a few more re-reads before I really suck the marrow out of this book. Allusions to the legend of the Green Man/Knight and the triple aspect of the moon (maiden/mother/crone) and much more. Garner rarely writes a sentence without forethought and research, let alone a paragraph or chapter.

I loved the original two books and was afraid to take the plunge with a 21st-century follow-up. It's not in the style of the first two, and much of it is vague and allusive. However, I think I was right to read it after all. He leaves much of the conclusion, if there really is one, to the reader.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Can you tell us about the private life of a gerund?

Very snobbish, especially when it meets a Gerundive. Damn its pointy nose!

 

By the way, I only realised recently that Gabbitas & Thring really exist!

 

Meanwhile, nearer and nearer creep the ghastly THING, hem-hem.

Edited by Futtocks

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Just started volume 3 of the Warlord trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, its his take on the Arthurian myth. pretty gritty like most of his stuff, very little chivalry in this account.

"Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice, socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality" - Mikhail Bakunin

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Just started volume 3 of the Warlord trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, its his take on the Arthurian myth. pretty gritty like most of his stuff, very little chivalry in this account.

Years ago, I read 'Sword at Sunset' by Rosemary Sutcliff, which was another take on th Arthurian legend. I remembered the title recently and got it on Kindle for nostalgia, and it's still good.

I'm currently reading 'Fibber in the Heat' by Miles Jupp, about how he managed to blag his way onto an England cricket tour of India as a sports correspondent, despite being nothing of the sort. Amusing.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have just finished 'Rock Stars stole my Life' by Mark Ellen (formerly - take a deep breath - Record Mirror, NME, New Musical News, the Old Grey Whistle Test, Smash Hits, Q, Select, Mojo, The Word, John Peel stand-in, Live Aid presenter, bassist in 'Ugly Rumours' with a certain Tony Blair on vocals). A warm-hearted and un-snobby love of all kinds of music and some great anecdotes. His dad's despairing response to the Kinks (then Frank Zappa), the disastrous Jimmy Page/Roy Harper interview and the very funny press mutiny aboard Rihanna's jumbo jet.

 

Oh, and his first band was called Ian Bentley's Rectal Prolapse. Schoolboys, eh?

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I have just finished 'Rock Stars stole my Life' by Mark Ellen (formerly - take a deep breath - Record Mirror, NME, New Musical News, the Old Grey Whistle Test, Smash Hits, Q, Select, Mojo, The Word, John Peel stand-in, Live Aid presenter, bassist in 'Ugly Rumours' with a certain Tony Blair on vocals). A warm-hearted and un-snobby love of all kinds of music and some great anecdotes. His dad's despairing response to the Kinks (then Frank Zappa), the disastrous Jimmy Page/Roy Harper interview and the very funny press mutiny aboard Rihanna's jumbo jet.

 

Oh, and his first band was called Ian Bentley's Rectal Prolapse. Schoolboys, eh?

Oh, and the obligatory middle-aged rock hack's Morrisey bit is mercifully brief.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I've been thumbing through a book called "Yorkshire - a hundred years ago".

 

It's full of photographs of Lancashire.

                                                                     Hull FC....The Sons of God...
                                                                     (Well, we are about to be crucified on Good Friday)
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  • 3 months later...

For those of you who enjoyed Danny Baker's 'Going to Sea in a Sieve', you might be interested to know that the second instalment of his autobiography is out next week (25th Sept). 

 

If it's only half as good as the first one it will still be well worth the cover price....

 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/danny+baker/going+off+alarming/9550018

 

 

9780297870111.jpg

Edited by Leeds Wire
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For those of you who enjoyed Danny Baker's 'Going to Sea in a Sieve', you might be interested to know that the second instalment of his autobiography is out next week (25th Sept). 

 

If it's only half as good as the first one it will still be well worth the cover price....

 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/danny+baker/going+off+alarming/9550018

 

 

9780297870111.jpg

Looking forward to it. The first one was an amazing mixture of anecdotes and the famous names his life intersected.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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For those of you who enjoyed Danny Baker's 'Going to Sea in a Sieve', you might be interested to know that the second instalment of his autobiography is out next week (25th Sept). 

 

If it's only half as good as the first one it will still be well worth the cover price....

 

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/danny+baker/going+off+alarming/9550018

 

 

9780297870111.jpg

Great. The first one was really good. If you get the audiobook he reads the whole book himself (unlike a lot of writers) and a lot of the stories, particularly the ones involving his dad, are even funnier with him doing the voices. (Skulduggery boy!).

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Great. The first one was really good. If you get the audiobook he reads the whole book himself (unlike a lot of writers) and a lot of the stories, particularly the ones involving his dad, are even funnier with him doing the voices. (Skulduggery boy!).

Brilliant, thanks. I've never owned an audio book but I'll give that a go.

Danny's anecdotes about his Dad are the highlight of the book. I dare anyone not to laugh out loud!

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Brilliant, thanks. I've never owned an audio book but I'll give that a go.

Danny's anecdotes about his Dad are the highlight of the book. I dare anyone not to laugh out loud!

Spud Baker made Del Boy look like a rank amateur.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Excellent. Genuinely can't wait - the first volume was one of the best celeb autobiogs I've ever read. Was a bit sad to see this book get delayed just before release last year. Hope there are more volumes to come - you get the impression he could easily release ten books and not run out of stories. I heard he opens this new book with the fact he forgot to put an incident when he was shot when he was younger in the first book!

Also heard rumours the first volume is being adapted for tv - not too sure about that. Could go either way, although there are enough ripping yarns in there to be fair.

Edited by Amber Avenger

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Excellent. Genuinely can't wait - the first volume was one of the best celeb autobiogs I've ever read. Was a bit sad to see this book get delayed just before release last year. Hope there are more volumes to come - you get the impression he could easily release ten books and not run out of stories. I heard he opens this new book with the fact he forgot to put an incident when he was shot when he was younger in the first book!

Also heard rumours the first volume is being adapted for tv - not too sure about that. Could go either way, although there are enough ripping yarns in there to be fair.

It is definitely being adapted for TV, from what I've read - some award-winning screenwriting talent behind it too.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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It is definitely being adapted for TV, from what I've read - some award-winning screenwriting talent behind it too.

Latest news: originally going with ITV, now the series will be an 8-parter on the BBC under the title 'Cradle to Grave'. Rumour has it that Peter Kay is a possible casting for Danny's dad.

Edited by Futtocks

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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By the way, 'Going to Sea in a Sieve' is now available as a Kindle download for £1.49! I'm aware that Danny Baker's not to everybody's taste, but this is a funny book, and one from a man who was at Ground Zero of the Punk explosion in the UK. And at that price, it isn't a massive financial risk.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Just read a book about the life of Nikola Tesla, the man who invented the 20th Century or similar.

What a blinking utter genius. He had visions of things like the internet in the early 1900's. Not to mention the small matter of AC electricity. He waved away the rights to a contract that would have earned him a Billion (billion!!) dollars because the guy who wrote the contract had believed in him earlier.

Truly incredible guy. Check it out

Here's a couple of brilliant photos of Tesla in his laboratory: http://www.retronaut.com/2012/08/nikola-tesla-in-his-laboratory-1899/?utm_content=buffer5966f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Currently on Steve Job's autobiography. Nothing that I didn't already know before but an interesting insight into how he managed to be so successful.

Have Slaughter House 5 and The Selfish Gene queued up on the kindle.

Fides invicta triumphat

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Just finished "This Boy" by Alan Johnson. An autobiography of a remarkably impoverished upbringing, one that was more Dickensian than post war.

"it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it."

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Don' bother looking for it under the 'comics' or 'science fiction' sections of bookshops or e-bay.

 

It's a reference work in Manchester Central Library.

...and the PlanetRugby website doesn't have a shop. :P 

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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